Page 69 of Red Hunt

I shrugged. “You thought I was one of your tormenters. I’m just glad we could sort it out.”

She nodded, then shook her head, anguish written all over her face. “Did you watch the video? Did you see me?” Her voice had turned almost pleading as if hoping my answer would be no.

I looked down, then gave a sharp nod. She deserved the truth. Deserved so much more than that. She deserved retribution. She deserved everything. Especially not being hurt or reminded over and over again. But I couldn’t give her any of that.

Her breath whooshed out of her as if she’d received a hit to her solar plexus. I could hear it from across the room. The corresponding sharp pain in my chest almost knocked me off my feet. This was hurting her. I never intended to hurt her.

“I’m just glad it happened after we’d had sex,” she said.

My head shot up. “Why?” Why would us having had sex be better? Because we reached a level of trust through spending the night, or because she got to know me better?

“Because it would be much harder now.” She played with her hands, avoiding my eyes.

“What would be much harder, dove?”

“Being intimate.”

I closed the distance between us, then sank down on my knees on the floor in front of her. “Why?”

She shrugged but avoided looking at me. The pressure in my chest increased. Why wouldn’t she look at me? “Milli, talk to me.”

She inhaled, then held her breath.

Never a good sign.

“Because…” she faltered.

“Yes?”

“Because now you know.”

“Know what?”

“How damaged I am.”

There was a pause, and she took a deep breath, then nodded once.

“I was a child prostitute.”

“You were what?”

She swallowed. Looked at me, as if gauging my reaction. What was she expecting? Well, by the way she seemed to brace for impact, nothing good.

“A child prostitute.”

“No, you weren’t.”

Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. Then her face changed. A redness tinged her cheeks, and her eyes turned hard.Anger, good.At least better than the helplessness before.

“Look at me.” I settled my hand against her cheek, my fingers disappearing beneath her hair and my thumb slowly caressing her cheek. She didn’t flinch, not for a split second, which made me beyond grateful. “Whatever happened to you. You were not a child prostitute.”

She nodded, then shook her head. Clearly, she thought I didn’t understand when nothing could be further from the truth. “You’re not listening to me. You were not a child prostitute—”

“But.”

“Shhh.” I shushed her with my finger against her lip. “Because there’s no such thing as a child prostitute. To become a prostitute involves a choice. Children cannot choose something like that. Most importantly, no child would ever choose to go through what you’ve gone through. You are a victim. You got victimized by some sick adults. You are a survivor. None of what happened to you was your choice. Don’t, for one second, think that any of that is actually on you. It’s not. It happened to you. And the only thing you have control over is how you live with it. How you overcome it. How you fight for the life you’ve always deserved.”

Milli pressed her lips together, but tears gathered in her eyes.

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