“Um…” I feel my cheeks burning with shame, even though I didn’t do anything. I wasn’t smart enough to avoid a guy like Leon though, and apparently that trend continues, but Carnage does seem nicer.
“You can tell me,” he says, gently touching my knee.
Squeezing my eyes closed, I let the words flow. “He was planning to share me with a bunch of guys. Like, pass me around and let them all… you know. I had to get out before that happened, and I don’t even know when his birthday is, so every day I wake up wondering if it will be that day and, and… Thank you for saving me. No matter what happens, at least I didn’t have to do that.”
“Jesus fucking hell,” Whisper mumbles from the front. “You just tripped the alarm, kid.”
“What?”
When I look at Carnage, he’s visibly seething, and suddenly his moniker makes a whole lot of sense. His rage isn’t aimed at me though, so that’s comforting. Kind of.
“We might not be the most upstanding guys in society,” Whisper says, “but we have our limits on what we tolerate and what we don’t. Hurting innocent people whether through sex or other means is a hard limit for us.”
“Oh. He didn’t actually do it yet.”
“Did he touch you?” Carnage asks through gritted teeth. “Did he take from you without your permission?”
“Sort of.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
I flinch, moving back slightly.
“Settle, brother,” Whisper says, his tone firm but kind.
Carnage turns his head away for a second, dragging his hand through his hair before exhaling slowly. “Sorry. Tell me what he did to you.”
“I’d rather not talk about it any more, if that’s okay.”
“Rue, I need?—”
“Carnage,” Whisper says. “Give him time. He’s been through a lot.”
Carnage nods, scrubbing his hand over his face. “Yeah, okay.”
He leans back in his seat, staring out the window and away from me. Whew, he’s intense. Whisper seems to be the calming influence, but how often does Carnage need to be calmed down?
“I meant what I said when I met you in the bathroom,” I say softly, carefully reaching out to touch his knee.
“What?”
“I’ll do anything you want to thank you.”
He scoffs. “Rue, please. I’m not Leon.”
“I know that. I just, I don’t have money or anything I can offer, but if you want… me… I guess we could?—”
“Stop it.” He turns to me. “You think I’m some kind of asshole who’s gonna take advantage of you? You think because you’re reluctantly offering that I see that as consent? Dude, please. Don’t insult me like that again.”
His response startles me. A hit man with boundaries and morals? This is so weird.
“I didn’t mean it that way.”
“Don’t do that to yourself, okay? You’re more than your face and your body. You have worth, and just because Leon made you think you didn’t, that doesn’t mean you have to believe it.”
I hang my head as his words swirl around me. Could that be true? Could he just want to help out of the kindness of his heart? I can’t imagine a world where someone does something just to do it.
“Do you have family?” he asks. “Parents, siblings, someone looking for you?”
