Page 71 of Red Rabbit
Not even within yourself.
She walked to the bathroom and I stood in the doorway. I could tell her hip still hurt her but she seemed to be doing better overall. Physically. Mentally she still seemed a little shaky. She still flinched at me anytime I moved quickly or spoke loudly. I could tell she was uncomfortable with being touched for too long even though she seemed to need comfort. I saw the way she didn’t move away from me when I was close to her and how she leaned into my touch as though she craved the gentleness.
“Are you just going to stand there while I pee?” She asked.
“Until I know you’re not going to off yourself, yes,” I said crassly. She sighed.
“Will you at least turn around?”
I frowned but turned around and leaned against the door frame. When I heard her finish, I turned back and saw her looking in the dingy mirror, a frown on her face. Her hands were trembling and she gripped the edge of the sink.
“I look awful,” she murmured.
She said it so quietly I wasn’t sure she meant to say it out loud. I saw her rub a finger over the scab on her forehead and her eyes shadowed briefly at whatever memory flashed through her mind. Her fingers continued down over her cheek where there was a nasty bruise along her jaw and then stopped at her neck where blatant finger marks stood out dark against her pale skin. Seeing those strangle marks infuriated me but I forced it down for now.
I reached out a hand and brushed a finger over her arm. I didn’t want to startle her, even though she knew I was there. She still jumped slightly when she felt my touch and turned to look at me. I could see her come back from whatever dark corners her mind had been. I reached out and gently took her hand from her throat, holding it in my own. I ran my fingers over her knuckles.
“Is this okay?” I asked quietly. She jerked her head in a nod. “Do you want to talk about any of it?”
“We have to stop Cooper,” she said. “What he’s doing there—it’s barbaric. It’s not just human trafficking, it’s inhumane. Evil.”
“Let’s focus on getting out of here first,” I said. She swallowed and nodded.
“I didn’t think I was going to get out of there alive,” she whispered. “He was going to kill me.”
“Well, he’s dead now,” I said darkly. “He won’t ever touch you again.”
“Only in my nightmares.”
She was silent for a long moment, lost in those dark memories. Then her forehead furrowed and she looked confused.
“The first man—who bought me—he was good to me.”
“What does that even mean?”
“He didn’t hurt me,” she said quietly.
“You’re right, the bar is in hell,” I growled.
“No—he—he made me feel really good actually.”
“Kaelin, that’s still rape.”
“I know,” she looked miserable. “But he was the only one who protected me in there. He said he’d try and come back to get me out.”
“And you believed him?” I asked darkly.
“I had no reason not to,” she shrugged.
“It doesn’t matter—” I said flatly. “If anyone comes close to you again, I’m going to kill them. What kind of sick fuck goes to a place like the Warren and makes someone feel good?”
“I don’t understand it either. I don’t think he was there entirely for himself though. He mentioned he was there to find out who the big players were, like networking. He’s shady and definitely a crime lord or something but he isn’t—like the others.”
“So you’re saying if I ever run into him I can’t kill him?”
“He saved my life,” she said. “The one you killed, he wasn’t the first to hurt me. And for the life of me, I can’t quite bring myself to condemn Kraven, even though I know it’s Stockholm Syndrome...”
“Wait, Kraven? Like the comic book?”
