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And then there was poor little Archie He had trusted her to keep him safe from that despicable Beast Man and she had failed him She tried to block the sound of that startled yelp inside her brain She tried to block the sound of that fatal crack, as poor little Archie’s neck was broken She tried to block the sight of that poor little li from Beast Man’s horrible hand like a trophy

Aiesha could feel her defences crurate a uard Unprotected by her outer shell of hard-nosed tart Her fight-or-flight instincts were battling it out inside her chest She could feel every ainst her heart

Flee

Fight

Flee

Fight

She was conscious of the silence clock on the mantelpiece above the fireplace She was conscious of the dryness of herat the back of her eyes She was conscious of a tight restriction as the deep well of her buried emotion bubbled up in her throat like a foul sewer

She Would Not Cry

Aiesha blinked and quickly slipped her ar hi to see if he so much as flinched ‘I could really hurt you,’ she said

‘Undoubtedly’

She couldn’tif she would take up the dare? She brought her hand up but he didn’t aze was steady on hers She placed her hand on the side of his face, her skin catching on the graze of his stubble Soo

There was another heartbeat of silence

He covered her hand with his, holding it within the gentle prison of his fingers ‘That the best you could do?’ he said

Aiesha looked at his aze back to his ‘I don’t want to ruin that pretty-boy face of yours’