page43 (1/2)

She peeled off her scarf without sunkind to it I overreacted I’et about it now?’

‘No, Aiesha,’ he said ‘I want to knohy you were so upset Talk to ot so hysterical’

At first he thought she was going to refuse She was rolling her scarf around one of her hands, the action mechanical, automated as if her mind was elsewhere But then he saw thea suit of ar removed piece by piece It started with her eyes, moved down to her mouth, her neck, and her shoulders—her whole body finally losing its tightly held stance

‘I should’ve known’ she said in a voice that vibrated with self-recriet back at me’

James’s stomach plummeted and his heart lurched as if someone had shoved it He sed thickly ‘Who was Archie?’

The sadness in her grey eyes was overwhel’

He was connecting the dots but it was a horrible picture that was forhastly scenario that he could see reflected in her pain-filled gaze ‘Your stepfather?’

‘Yes’

Ja on the top of her head as he tried to absorb some of her pain ‘Oh, you poor little baby,’ he said in a shocked whisper

She wrapped her arainst hi she could rely on to keep her upright She spoke in a s he wished he didn’t have to hear, but he kne cathartic thiseverything about her past About her pain Why she was the way she was He thought of her as that terrified young teenager, trau it behind a mask of coh it eventually, but it sha

He continued to stroke her silky head, letting her speak of the unspeakable, letting her release the pent-up anger and rage that had festered inside her for so long

Then there was silence