“Tell me everything, Penelope,” he says.
Emotions clog my throat.I shake my head and fill my lungs with his unique woodsy scent.
“I can’t,” I whisper.
Annoyance streaks through me as an errant tear slips from the corner of my eye and soaks into his shirt.
“You said they didn’t lock you in the closet again that year, but they did later?”
I nod.
“Did they do anything else?”
I press my forehead against his pectoral and give my head a tiny shake.
“Not while you were there,” I whisper.
His big, warm hand rubs up and down my back.
“Do you mean not while I was in the room or…?”
I take a big, shaky breath before responding as evenly as I can.
“They glared at me in the hall and whispered about me behind their hands, but that’s all they did before you graduated.”
My heart pounds in the silence.
“But it got worse?”he asks.
I nod.
“How bad?”he grinds out.
I shake my head.
“The scar on your head isn’t from an accident, is it?”he demands.
I fist his shirt and breathe through my nose.Responding is too hard.
“There’s more, isn’t there, Penelope?It’s why you freaked out when I crowded you under the table, why you kicked me when I grabbed your head during our kiss, and why you were catatonic when I opened the server room door, isn’t it?”
I manage the barest hint of a nod.
Even though every molecule in my body insists I tell him, a small, terrified part of me demands I run away.Every time someone I thought I could trust dismissed me, I lost another sliver of hope.I’ll never survive if he displays the tiniest bit of doubt.I want him too much.
“Where else did they hurt you, sweet pea?”he rumbles.
There isn’t enough oxygen in the room.Acid eats away at my lungs.My scars burn.Disgust and humiliation hold me hostage.
“Tell me, Penelope,” he demands in a low, coaxing tone.
I can’t.The walls have already closed in.His body is the only thing stopping them from crushing me.If I speak, everything will come fountaining out of my mouth, and I’ll lose him.I’ll lose everything.
“You can’t tell me?”he prods.
I force my diaphragm to pull in another breath.
“How about you show me?”he suggests.
