Page 63 of Protecting Christina

“Like I French-kissed a chimney.”

“That sounds terrible.”

“It was.”

I wondered if she meant more than the fire. “Do you want to talk about what happened?”

She shook her head.

“I’m ready to nail the bastard to the wall in court whenever you’re ready to tell your side of the story.”

She turned toward the window again. “I don’t know how I feel about sharing all of that in public. It’s not something I’m proud of, you know.”

“I know,” I said.

“Is this where you tell me I told you so?”

“No.”

She rolled her eyes. “I guess I should thank you for sending your boyfriend to the house to save me.”

I frowned. “My boyfriend? Who said he was my boyfriend?”

She shrugged. “The way he talked about you when he came in to check on me. Said he would take care of any hospital bills and not to worry about anything except getting better. Figured you bagged yourself some hotshot lawyer.”

I smiled wryly. “No lawyer I know would run into a burning house.”

“Then he’s not a lawyer, but he is your boyfriend?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to think about that right now. The only thing I’m focusing on is making Simon pay for what he did to us.”

“Us? I don’t remember seeing you locked in that house.”

Shit. Did I say ‘us’?

“I meant you. And you should testify. Don’t let him get away with it. You owe it to yourself.”

“That’s just like you, Christina. You always think you know more than I do.”

“How would you know anything about me? You haven’t seen me since I was twelve years old.”

She crossed her arms over the white sheets. “Oh, here we go again. You’re going to complain about how we weren’t there for you.”

“I’m not complaining. It taught me a lot about the world.”

“So, you’re thanking me now?”

“No.”

We both sighed but ignored each other’s discomfort. “I didn’t come here to argue, Donna. Just think about it.”

“Fine. I’ll think about it.”

“What about the other women? Will they testify?”

“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask them.”

Her lips tightened, and her eyes turned cold. I recognized that face. She was done talking. “All right. I’ll check on you later.”

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