Page 26 of Redemption

Megan

When Gawain returned home last night, he barely spoke two words to me before disappearing into the gym and then going to bed. I didn’t know whether I should follow him or what to expect after he’d given me an orgasm yesterday, so I retired to my own room. I woke in the middle of the night and was surprised to find it wasn’t as a result of a bad dream, but because Gawain was also in the bed with me. He must have got in at some point during the night. I don’t know whether the reason Arthur needed to see him had anything to do with M or not, but maybe this is what he’s like after killing someone. It can’t be an easy thing to do. I’ve never thought about it before, but the man I’m in bed with kills people for a living. Bad people, though, and only those who deserve it. As long as he is saving girls like me, I’ll be at his side. I snuggle back down in the bed, and he wraps his arm around me.

* * *

Iwake in the morning, and we’re still lying in the same position.

“Good morning,” I say as I turn in the bed to face him.

“Good morning,” Gawain responds, and there’s a light behind his eyes as if a weight has been lifted.

“Are you ok?” I ask, not really expecting an answer.

But then he surprises me by saying, “Last night, I killed the man who sold you.”

His words shock me, and I sit bolt upright in the bed.

“You found him?”

“Yes. We’ve destroyed the whole smuggling ring. We’re still working on finding all the girls, though.”

“Thank you.”

He doesn’t accept my gratitude. He slides from the bed and walks back to his room.

“Gawain?”

“You shouldn’t thank me.”

“Why? Because you killed him? It means we are closer to finding M now.” I shift to the end of the bed. My baggy pajamas hiding my newly discovered modesty.

Gawain shakes his head and looks toward the floor.

“He was my father.”

“What?” I gasp.

“The man who sold you. He was my father. I knew what he was doing twenty years ago but did nothing to stop it. I was young, scared, and foolish.”

“Little more than a teenager,” I interrupt, confused as to what I’m hearing.

“Sixteen.”

Realization dawns on me.

“You lost your virginity to a purchased girl.” I can’t help but get up from the bed and try to put as much distance between us as possible. Bile rising in my stomach.

He nods.

“You raped someone.”

He nods again.

“My father took me to his office, and a girl was brought in kicking and screaming. I was told to take her. I didn’t move until a gun was pointed at my head, and my pants were pulled down.”

My heart breaks, imagining Gawain as a sixteen-year-old boy being forced to do what he did. He would have been as terrified as I was the first time I was taken. He’s a victim just as much as I am. The next thing I know, I’m flying across the room and wrapping my arms around him.

“No, stop now. You saved me. You killed the man who caused this. What happened to you wasn’t your fault. You were so young. You’ve been making up for it ever since.”

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