“Yes. You grabbed me on the street when I was walking home, and you said so many hurtful, awful things to me.” Those tears making my eyes go watery? Pure performance.
“What? Why… I don’t understand.”
“You… you kept calling me terrible things. You said I was a slut and a whore and…” I broke off with a little sob. “I can’t. It was too awful.”
I reached up, wiping a tear off my cheek.
“Something happened to me last night.”
“You were… unhinged.” That word was pushing it, but it was also accurate.
“I was drugged. I don’t even remember it. I don’t even know how I got to the hospital.”
“I called the police,” I told him. “You stumbled and then just… you just fell. You were unconscious. My phone was dead, so I had to run and call for the ambulance.”
“Oh. That fills in some gaps.” He seemed relieved at that. I hated that I gave him even a second of that. “Monroe, you have to know, I wouldneverput my hands on you if I were in my right mind!”
Oh, yeah?
I had a band of bruises that said otherwise.
And I wasn’t going to let him off that easily.
“You really hurt me,” I told him, sniffling. “It still really hurts,” I added.
His gaze slid to my arm again.
“I can’t believe I did that.”
“It’s not just that. Those terrible things you said…” I shook my head, my gaze sliding away like I couldn’t even look at a man who thought those things of me.
“I was out of my mind! I would never say things like that to you. I know you’re my good girl.” Oh, gross. “Maybe I thought I mistook you for someone else. I would never say things like that about you. Or put my hands on you. I… I’m horrified.”
That makes two of us.
“Itwashorrible.”
“What do you need? What can I do? I can make this right.”
There was nothing anyone could ever do to make up for bruising you on purpose.
“I don’t know. I can’t even… think about it.”
“I’ll think about it. I’ll figure something out. I can’t stand that you can’t even look at me.”
He couldn’t stand that he thought his chances of getting me on my back or knees were gone. That was all this was.
“I hate that I’m thinking about you differently now.”
“You don’t have to! I would never, ever do that to you if I wasn’t drugged.”
Except he had.
“Look, I have an important meeting tonight at Hell’s Kitchen, but tomorrow, tomorrow I will sort this all out and make it up to you. I promise.”
I gave him a little nod, my gaze averted.
Which was good.
