Chapter 87
LILY
Trusting Mason will follow, I turn on the water, testing the temperature with my hand. The heat rises in waves, and I adjust it until it's almost scalding.
I start undressing.
My movements are stiff. I pull off my shirt—Kelly's blood is dried on the cuff—and drop it on the tile. My jeans follow. My boots. Each piece of clothing feels like shedding a layer of what happened, what he tried to do.
When I'm down to my bra and underwear, I pause.
I can feel Mason watching me from just outside the bathroom. His presence is a weight in the enclosed space, heavy and intense. Part of me wants to hide—the part that's been trained by trauma to make myself small, to disappear. But that's not who I am anymore.
I refuse to be her.
Reaching behind me, I unclasp my bra and drop it on the pile of clothes. Then I step out of my underwear and turn to face him before I step into the shower.
Our eyes meet.
"I'm not going to cringe.” It's a promise to both of us. "I'm not going to let him take this from me. Not this, and never you."
Turning, I walk into the shower, letting the hot water cascade over my skin, washing away the dirt, the fear, the feeling of that man’s hands trying to get on me.
Once the water runs clean, I face Mason again. “I'm alive, I'm here, and I'm choosing you. I won’t let Kelly steal anything from me, especially you.”
And I hold my hand out to him.