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He’s waiting for ht and waits for me to reach hi to my neck There are bruises there froht, but it’ll probably look even worse by the end of today, thanks to what Asa did this ht now that I’m choked by two different men in the span of twelve hours?

"I’ly

Carter lifts his hand and touches a finger to my throat "It’s bruised," he says "Did Asa notice?"

He runs the back of one of his fingers across my neck I know it’s out of concern, but whenever he makes any sort of contact with et just how capable I as I’ve learned to numb ates all that effort

"He noticed, but he wasn’t suspicious He thought he did it himself"

My words cause Carter to flinch His eyes flick back tohis head He pulls his hand away froh his hair I can see the roll of his throat as he ss back what looks like pure hatred at the thought of Asa’s hands on me He’s obviously worried about me, which I completely understand But he also knohy I stay and he doesn’t seee me for it He actually understands my situation and sympathizes with it I like that about hi Asa has probably never felt for anyone his whole life

Carter lays a gentle hand on et our seats" He makes an attempt to direct me toward the door, but I pull back

"Carter, wait"

He turns around to face lance down the hallway to the left and then to the right "I have to tell you soer he felt He nods and leadsfor somewhere more private We pass another door and he checks the , then the doorknob It turns, so he pulls open the door and leads me inside

It’s an eainst one wall and several desks arranged in a circle in the middle of the room When the door closes behind us and we finally have privacy, I expect Carter to ask me what I need to tell him Instead, as soon as I turn around, he pullss htly without a word, yet I can feel everything he’s saying And I realize that since last night-since everything that happened with Jon-he’s probably been worried sick about ht As soon as he saw s aren’t so simple in my life

I wrapthe subtle hint of his cologne He smells like the beach I close my eyes and ere there Away from all this bullshit