Page 46 of Burn With Me

“I don’t think so,” Kim answered, her small shoulder lifting in a shrug.

Kim pulled the cuffs of her sweater down until her hands disappeared. There was something about her posture that was calling to me. The way she wouldn’t meet Vi’s eyes and how she was folding in on herself. There was something she wasn’t sharing, but she didn’t want to say. I used to make that pose whenever the teacher, social worker, or anyone else asked if my father hurt anyone in my home.

“So you never heard her get into a fight? Maybe you weren’t supposed to overhear with someone on the phone?” Again Kim shook her head no. “Was your mom dating anyone?”

Kim’s shoulder lifted again. “I don’t think so.”

A thought came to me, and I quickly stepped out of the room. I rounded the corner to knock on the door that Vi was behind.

Vi poked her head out. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Ask her if her mother hurt her,” I whispered, and Vi’s eyes went wide.

“I can’t ask her that. She just lost her mother.”

“I know. I need you to trust me,” I said.

Vi took a deep breath, but nodded before closing the door to the room again. I quickly made my way back to the viewing room.

“What did you tell her,” Doctor Sinclair asked.

“Probably nothing that you’re going to like. I’m sorry.”

The woman gave me a strange look until Vi opened her mouth.

“Kim, I’m going to ask you something, and it’s going to be a really hard question to answer, but I promise you that whatever you say won’t ever leave this room. This is a safe space.”

“Okay.”

Vi leaned forward, her voice lowering to just above a whisper. “Kim, did your mom have a bad temper?”

Kim instantly curled in more on herself, but her eyes lifted to Vi’s as she nodded ever so slightly. “Did she ever scare you?”

Big tears filled her eyes, and I knew I’d been right. I hated that I was or even recognized it as a possibility.

“It’s okay, sweetie. Here you go,” Vi said, reaching back and grabbing a box of tissues. “Remember, whatever you say stays between us unless you want to share it with someone else.” Kim took the offering and nodded again.

By the time we walked out of that building, I was strung out and ragged from listening to stories that, in so many ways, mirrored the childhood I wished I could forget. Nothing I did let me forget the sound of my mother screaming or the look on Derek’s face whenever he’d push me out of the way to take the abuse.

My hand clenched into a fist, my muscles tight as those images once again danced before my eyes. A dark tableau of blood and pain that cost me so much more than the physical abuse ever could. That was what people didn’t see. That was what they’d never understand. It stuck to you like an inky ghost and would slip into your mind's crevasses and poke out when you were least expecting it.

“Hey, are you okay,” Vi asked, her hand touching my forearm. I looked down at her hand and was tempted to tell her to take it off—the old need to control everything once more rearing its head. I didn’t just live the lifestyle I did because it brought me pleasure, although it did. I lived it because it helped me harness the rage and the fear that was toxic to my soul.

Instead, I grabbed her face, and her eyes went wide, but she didn’t resist as my lips crashed down on hers. There was nothing sweet or romantic—it was all-consuming. Pushing her back, she bumped up against my truck, and as she moaned into my mouth, my body shuddered in response. Vi tasted like so many sweet things that I couldn’t pick out a single flavor. She reminded me of spring when so many new flowers were growing that your senses were assaulted.

We were both panting hard by the time I broke the kiss off, but I didn’t want to let go of her. I nipped at her lower lip as I enjoyed the flushed look on her cheeks.

“You’re such a naughty girl, Vi. I should order you to get down right here and suck my cock for being so damn tempting,” I whispered in her ear.

Her hands tightened where they held my waist, and dragging her into the back of my truck became a very real idea in my mind.

“Say it. Say you’re a naughty girl.”

“I’m…I’m a naughty girl,” she said, her voice wavering.

Pulling back, I stared into her bright sky-blue eyes and saw the desire burning in their depths.

“Good girl,” I said, and she licked her lips like what I’d just said tasted good. My lip curled up. “You like that, Vi? You like being my good girl?” Her cheeks flamed so red that it traveled right up to the tips of her ears, and I’d never seen a more adorable and sexier sight.