Page 107 of Hunting Pretty

“Even though you think what he did was wrong?”

“Yes… No…” My voice was barely a whisper. “Maybe?”

Dr. Vale shifted in his seat and studied me. “Ava, what makes therapy work is the bravery to speak freely. I’m not here to judge you. I’m here to guide you. So…?”

I sat there, my hands twisting in my lap, trying to find the words.

The large office felt too small, too heavy with everything I wasn’t saying.

Dr. Vale watched me, waiting, as if he could see straight through me. I hated how calm he looked, how easily he seemed to read the confusion swirling in my head.

“I… I should turn him in,” I finally said, the words coming out flat, but my voice didn’t carry the conviction I wanted it to. “He hurt someone. He went too far. I know that…”

I paused, my throat tight.

The real truth, the one I could barely admit to myself, sat just under the surface, waiting to be dragged out.

“But?” Dr. Vale prompted.

“But part of me…” I trailed off, my chest tightening as the words struggled to come out. “Part of melikesthat he did it. For me.”

Dr. Vale’s expression didn’t change, but I could feel his gaze sharpen, waiting for me to continue.

“I know it’s twisted,” I continued, my voice softer now. “But the way he stepped in, the way he punished this person for threatening me… I can’t help but feel—”

I shook my head, trying to clear the thoughts.

“Go on, Ava,” Dr. Vale urged, but there wasn’t a hint of judgment in his voice.

I guess that’s what made me feel safe enough to confess.

“I feel safe. Even though I shouldn’t. I should be scared. But instead, I feel protected. And that scares me even more.”

The weight of my own confession settled heavily on my chest.

“How can I feel this way?” I said, my voice rising as I rubbed my palm back and forth over my wool skirt. “He’s dangerous. Iknowhe’s dangerous… How can Ilikethat he’s willing to hurt people for me?”

I closed my eyes, my voice barely a whisper. “What the fuck does that say about me?”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Ava. We’re wired to respond to that kind of care, even if it’s twisted.”

I sank back into my chair, gripping my teacup in my hands, trying to let the warmth of the ceramic soothe me. “Really?”

“But…” Dr. Vale leaned forward slightly, his eyes narrowing, as if the gravity of what he was about to say weighed heavily even on him. “You need to remember that actions—no matter the intent—have consequences.Hemay have been protecting you, in his own way, but if he chose violence, it’s crossing a line that, if left unchecked, could only get worse.”

“He’dneverhurt me,” I said, my voice vehement.

Dr. Vale’s voice dropped lower, more serious now. “Ava, giving him the choice to turn himself in doesn’t mean betraying him. It means giving him the opportunity to face the consequences and make a different choice. A chance to stop before it’s too late.

“But if you don’t… you may not like what happens next.”

A strong wind rushed through the trees as I emerged from the building of Dr. Vale’s campus office.

My dark hair lashed my heated cheeks as I fumbled in my purse for my cell phone.

Students with upturned collars and squinched faces ran for cover as big drops splattered the bricks. They caught my shoulders as they hurried past and though I was jostled this way and that, I did not move from the very center of the path.

I ignored the rain and typed with gritted teeth that jolted every time I stomped my heels into the brick:

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