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needed to be the one in power. I needed to know that pain

could feel good. That it could be pleasureful. It was actually

my therapist who suggested it, so that I could learn to heal.

I’m not sure she meant for me to take it as far as I did and

have, but she made me learn how to be comfortable with who I

am. She helped me realize that not all sex is bad and that being

forced was and always is wrong.”

Claire hadn’t realized she’d stopped looking at Haley again

until she was just a breath away. She blinked, confused for a

second. Her vision was swimming. God, it had been so long

since she’d cried. She’d always thought tears were pointless

because they changed nothing, but her eyes were hot and

grainy now and it didn’t feel pointless.

Haley swiped the tears away as they fell, the pads of her

thumbs so soft and gentle. “Claire,” she whispered. “I’m so

sorry.”

If there was ever a time that Claire felt like breaking down,

it was now. Her insides twisted into a sickening mass, and she

could feel the past festering. Old wounds didn’t heal. They

didn’t ever heal.

Haley ran her fingers through Claire’s hair. She didn’t step

closer. She didn’t pull her into her arms. She kept her distance,

trying to give Claire respect, not forcing anything, but Claire

needed her. She needed her close. She needed Haley like she

needed air. She felt like she was floating away, scattered into

tiny little pieces, and Haley was the only thing holding her

together.

“I understand,” Haley whispered. “I get why you did what

you did. Now. All these years later. Why you never forgave

him.”