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The back of my throat stings. “Your mother? Did she hurt you?”
I ache for him then, hearing that pain in his voice, letting a fragment of his true self slip away.
“Never mind her. She’s not worthy enough to be spoken about between us. Now, please change before I do something we both regret.”
“Maybe you’d regret it, but not me.”
My gut recoils as I imagine how disgusted he’d be if he saw my body. Saw the cuts that no longer bleed, the scars that no longer throb.
“I’d never regret you.” He says that as though it’s as true as the sky is blue.
But that’s not the truth, now, is it? He can’t know that, not until he sees it for himself.
I move back, my body trembling inwardly as I clutch the hemof my hoodie and start to take it off, pushing it over my head.
My entire body fills with nerves I can’t shake, my hands quivering.
“What are you doing?” he barks, anger radiating in his tone.
But I continue, hands on my sweats now, rolling them down slowly until I’m able to step out of them. Even as the anxiety settles inside me, I maintain eye contact, knowing he’s looking right back.
“Kayla,” he warns. “Don’t.”
My cotton panties come next, and this part is not even the hardest. I’ve done this before. Taken off my clothes in front of strangers.
The cotton drops to my ankles until it’s forgotten. His fists clamp tight, knuckles white.
“You can’t be doing this.” He forces himself to turn.
“No!” I stamp out. “Look at me, God damn it!”
“Kayla…” The word strangles in his throat.
“Please, I need you to see me. All of me. I need you to know everything.”
It’s as though I’m begging for acceptance. Begging for someone to finally see every inch of me and tell me it’s okay.
It’s then he slowly returns his attention back to me.
I start to remove my tank top, my breasts popping free. And once I let my shirt fall and I turn around, that’s when he grows completely silent.
He growls, more animal than man.
“Who—” He pants. “Who did that to you?”
There’s pain and rage in his words as I let him see me. Marred and cast aside.
“Savages,” I tell him without looking his way. “The ones who took me and my friends, the ones who tried to make me turn onElsie when she escaped. But I wouldn’t give her up. No matter what they did to me.” An ache catches in my throat. “They thought I was weak. They thought they could break me.” I grin even through the tears. “But they never realized I was already broken.”
“Tell me their names, and they will never know another sunrise.” He sounds so brutal, like he’d burn the world for me.
Tears bathe my eyes just as he marches forward until he’s there behind me. His body heat radiates in waves.
Before I can wonder what he’ll do next, I gasp as his fingers gently trace one scar, then another, and another. I heave a gasping cry, standing there until he’s outlined every single one.
“This is just skin, Kayla. Beautiful skin. It doesn’t matter to me what it looks like.”
Silently, I cry, not knowing if I even believe him.
