Page 56 of The Young & the Sinner

“But can’t you see why I’m worried about her?”

“Yes. You really do love her, don’t you?”

“More than anything else in the world. Grace might have left her and me behind, but I don’t feel her loss as strongly as I thought I would, and it’s because Olivia is here. Taking her in and taking care of her have given me a new perspective in life. One that I was blinded to before.”

“I know. She’ll be a part of our family forever. I won’t do anything to hurt her. I promise.”

Max sounded resigned when he said, “Good. See that you don’t. When she wakes, can you make sure she comes down for breakfast? I’m making all of her favorites and it’s important to me that she doesn’t stay holed up in her room all day.”

“I’ll try my best.”

Max left, and then the room was bathed in silence. There wasn’t any way for me to go back to sleep now, but waking so soon after Max and Mason’s conversation might give me away. I stayed where I was, and then I felt Mason’s touch on my face.

He moved a piece of hair away from my face before running a calloused finger across my cheek. And then he climbed off the bed and walked out the door.

I opened my eyes and took in my surrounding. There was something surreal about waking up in a bed that smelled like Mason.

I realized as I laid there that I had lied to him last night.

He asked me not to change. He wanted me to stay as I was before Lorenzo tainted my first sexual experience with violence.

I said I would. But I lied.

I had changed. Everything had changed.

* * *

The weeks followingthat horrible day were some of the most eventful of my life. As promised, Mason took care of all the legal issues that came along with pressing criminal charges against the son of a millionaire. Vincent Vitelli was willing to go to great lengths to protect his son.

But Max was a powerful man who had connections all across the globe. That was one of the reasons we were able to reach a resolution so quickly. We were also able to keep this out of the media, and Mason worked his magic on everyone involved, whether it meant dealing with the cutthroat lawyers Mr. Vitelli hired to pressing charges and making sure that even with a plea deal, Lorenzo still got the terrible end of the stick.

Unfortunately, he was only serving less than two years at a state prison, with the chance of early release for good behavior, but per the agreement drawn up, Lorenzo would be transferred to a correctional facility six hours away. I was also told he had to stay at least 250 yards away from me for the next five years and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Yale revoked his acceptance when Mason emailed them to inform them of what Lorenzo had done, so who knew where he would end up when he was finally released.

Lizzie didn’t think he was punished sufficiently enough, but I was ready to put this whole thing behind me. I didn’t want to deal with Lorenzo anymore, and if I never had to see him again, I would call that a divine blessing.

Mason had wanted to keep fighting. He thought we could make Lorenzo pay even more than he already had if we kept dragging it out in court. Max, even though he wasn’t entirely happy with the result, didn’t want to prolong the process. He didn’t want me to have to relive the worst moments of my life in front of a whole bunch of strangers.

I was grateful for that, even if it was only a small reprieve.

Lorenzo might be gone, but the things he did to me still occupied my mind, no matter how many times I talked about it with Dr Greene. I knew it wasn’t my fault. I knew I didn’t “ask for it,” and I knew there was something seriously wrong with Lorenzo, but it still didn’t stop making me feel dirty.

I had been wet when he had his fingers inside of me. But I didn’t want to be, I knew that much. Dr Greene said my body’s physiological response was not the same as my psychological one. It was a natural response my body had due to the stimulation, I supposed. Still, shame coated me like a second skin, and no matter how my showers I took, it was still there.

The bruises on my skin had faded, and I didn’t even have a physical scar to show for it, but the wound inside was still there and still very much present. And I wasn’t the only one who still felt the aftereffects of all that had happened.

That first morning when I came down for breakfast, I made the mistake of not covering the hickey on my neck with makeup. Max had taken one look at it and almost broke down. There were times after that, where he’d looked at me with a haunted look in his eyes, and I didn’t know how to make it go away. If I thought he was overprotective before, that was nothing compared to how he was now. Max didn’t want to let me out of his sight. He took two weeks off of work to stay with me and would have continued to do so had I not urged him to go back.

My eighteenth birthday passed by in a blur. I couldn’t even remember it, but I was told Max made my favorite meals and that there had been cake. Cake that hardly anyone touched and that we had to throw out a week later.

Lizzie started hanging out at my house more, because I knew Max felt anxious every time I left, though I thought it was ironic, considering my assault happened right here in the living room. Not wanting to make this any harder on him then it had been, Lizzie and I spent the summer mostly at home.

Then there was Mason.

He always seemed to know when things had become too much for me. He was always there. And he was the one I thought about when I could feel myself slipping into that dark place.

Max wasn’t wrong to be worried. If my attraction toward Mason was considered deep before, I don’t even have the words to describe it now. I knew a part of it was just me reacting to this traumatic event, yet another part of me realized how inevitable it was for me to fall in deeper with Mason with each day that passed, trauma or no trauma.

K.H. Knight’s painting came five days after the incident, and I still haven’t given it to Mason. I haven’t even opened it. But now that everything was behind us, now that we could work toward building a semi-normal existence, I wanted to give it to Mason. I wanted him to hang it proudly in his apartment. And I wanted to be there when he did.

Summer was ending, and with only two weeks left before school started back up again, I didn’t want what had happened to be the only thing that happened to me all summer.

It was time I took control of my life again, starting with Mason Kade.

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