Page 82 of The Cruelty of Thorns

I snorted. “Seems like you mastered the technique.”

“Shut up.” She pretended to be mad, then grinned sheepishly. “I’m not completely horrible, am I?”

“Not completely. But you could work on your people skills.”

“Like you’re one to give advice about that.”

She had me there. She was quiet for a few minutes, then drew in a deep breath as though preparing for a major dive.

“Okay, don’t get mad at me, but I did something this afternoon.”

Great, now what, I wondered. “Yeah?”

She seemed hesitant to continue. “I went to see Ron. Now, before you say anything, just listen, okay?”

I sighed. “Okay.”

“I asked him what the hell was his problem. Why was he treating my girl like crap.”

I bit back a chuckle; I could imagine his reaction to that. “And what did he say?”

“Well, at first he was kind of surprised that I was talking to him. Apparently he’s managed to alienate everyone he knows since the attack like a total dick.”

“Did you tell him that?”

“That he was acting like a dick? Yeah, I did.”

I couldn’t help it, I laughed out loud. “Bet that went over big.”

She shrugged. “I call ‘em like I see ‘em. Anyway, he wasn’t going to answer me at first, but when I made it clear I wasn’t leaving until he did, he kind of caved.”

“You are a bit relentless.”

She smirked. “It’s one of my better qualities.”

“That’s debatable,” I muttered. “So what did he say?”

“He told me he was embarrassed.”

“Embarrassed? By what?”

“By the assault, I guess. I mean, didn’t you say the nurse told you he was raped?”

“She said it looked like he’d had sexual contact.”

“Do you think that was consensual?”

I thought back to how Ron had left me the night before the attack. I’d gone over this in my head a hundred times, wondering if he somehow had a male lover I didn’t know about. I hadn’t known him that long, but Toby was his best friend and roommate and he was adamant that there was no way that was possible.

“No, I don’t.”

“Then it was rape. And I guess, looking at it that way, you can kind of understand why he feels embarrassed. I mean, it’s bad enough for a woman when she’s raped, but for a guy? They’re supposed to be strong.”

“Yeah, but he has to know no one who cares about him would hold that against him.”

“It’s a guy thing. They’re clueless about stuff like that.”

“Maybe. But that’s no reason to ghost everyone.”

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