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Lo scrambled to his feet, falling down as he ran toward the door. Glancing back, he noticed Liam coming after him.

“Oh shit!”

He grabbed the doorknob, but his hand slipped from the sweat coating his palms.

“Get back here!”

Liam grabbed the waistband of Lo’s shorts, determined to get them off. Lo twisted the knob, finally getting the door open but Liam’s strength pulled him back.

“Get the fuck off of me, pussy!”

Lo had been filled with terror in the beginning.

The thought of this predator trying to violate him left him horrified.

Now that he was showing no signs of letting him go, Lo became vexed.

The Crown spirit that Dax always gloated about had entered him, possessing his body and mind.

Lo didn’t see any color except red. Murderous thoughts entered what used to be an innocent mind.

Lo was appalled. Downright flabbergasted that this man thought he could violate him without repercussions.

Liam slung Lo’s body toward the desk, knocking him into the chair. Lo held onto the surface, noticing a pair of scissors in a cup.

“I tried to be nice to you, Kylo, but you’re taking me for granted!” Liam gritted behind him.

In the quickest motion, Lo snatched the scissors from the cup, turned around and jammed it into Liam’s face.

“Aaaarrrgggghhh!” he bellowed.

Lo had never heard a man scream that loud. It was piercing, almost mirroring the sound of a woman. The scissors were deeply embedded in his cheek.

“Pussy-ass bitch!” Lo spat before running out of the door. He ran down the small steps, coming into contact with one of the female instructors.

“Hey, what’s going on?” She grabbed his shoulders.

That touch instantly made him feel like he was immersed in more danger. Was this their signal? Did touching shoulders initiate the violation that would soon follow? Lo was paranoid and immediately pushed her back.

“Heeeyy!” she yelped, crashing on her bottom.

“Get off me, bitch!”

Everyone was a suspect. There was nobody Lo could trust. So, he ran away into the woods, into the darkness of the night, into potential safety. His destination was unknown but all he knew was that he couldn’t stay at summer camp anymore.

The exchange of their gazes were filled with so many emotions that Bria had to blink away her tears just to get a clear vision of Lo.

She would remember this night for the rest of her life.

The moment where Kylo Crown revealed the part of him that he was ashamed of.

The place in his life that changed the trajectory of his existence. Bria would never forget this second.

Hours before, she hated the ground he strolled on.

Bria declared that this was the end of her and Lo.

She was ready to move on and leave him behind.

Nonetheless, her mood had changed. Like the seasons, she went from a cold, hazardous winter to blossoming springtime within minutes.

The flowers of sympathy had bloomed, and she wanted to extend them to Lo.

Bria yearned to renew him and promise to be there to help him through the trauma that had built a home inside his body.

“Lo,” she mumbled, trying to find the words. Instead, she reached for his hand, and he placed it inside her palm.

Their touch signified a heartfelt bond. One that was deeper than the mysterious bottom of the sea.

“I’m sorry that happened to you.” Bria meant that with every cell in her body. “…Is that why you’re so… I don’t know… up and down? Angry then cool? Triggered then relaxed?”

Lo nodded his confirmation.

“What happened after you ran into the woods?”

Lo exhaled as his gaze descended toward his lap. He’d somehow retreated back inside his mind. His safe space. The place where no one had been allowed until now.

“I don’t wanna get into the rest of that. I’m drained.”

“It’s okay. I get it…” Bria wanted to be so careful with her words. She ruminated over each question flooding her mind. Throwing out what was appropriate and keeping what was safe.

“Does anyone know exactly what happened to you? Meaning, the details?”

He shook his head, tucking his lips between his teeth. For a moment, silence engulfed them until he cleared his throat.

“They all know something happened. Meco don’t wanna know details and I don’t think Devyn does either.

They don’t want it on their mind. My parents kept asking me what happened, but I couldn’t tell them for some reason.

Maddy knows he tried me, but she don’t know I had to fight my fucking way out of that room. ”

Bria gulped, digesting every word from Lo’s lips like an aged wine.

In this moment, shared between them, she was hurt but honored at the same time.

She was in pain because someone had tried to rip his innocence from him.

His predator had ruined him with trauma and a lifetime of sadness.

She was honored because he trusted her enough to share the most vulnerable piece of his past with her.

“Have you tried therapy?”

He scoffed, rising from the chair. “I tried it twice. Once when I was a kid and when I was like twenty-five.”

“And what happened?”

“That shit didn’t work. The first time I went, I was like fourteen. As soon as I saw that it was a white man, I got the fuck outta there. Then when I went the last time, he was Black, but he didn’t understand me. He kept trying to tell me what was wrong when he wasn’t right.”

“A therapist did that?” Bria asked, confused.

“Yeah. It’s like he didn’t have the knowledge to connect with me. I don't think he knew how to counsel somebody who had been violated. So, I got fed up and stopped going. After that, I was done with that therapy shit. It don’t do nothing but make me think about what happened.”

She nodded, carefully trying to construct her next sentence. “So, do you blame your parents for what happened?”

Lo’s stare cut into her. “Hell yeah. I told them repeatedly not to send me to that shit. I even called my mama when I was there and told her I wasn’t comfortable.

You know what she did? Nothing. Ignored me like she always did.

That’s why it’s been fuck them for the last twenty years.

They didn’t do their fucking job. They helped that cracker ruin me…

there’s a part of me that hate them. I wish I can make it go away but I can’t. That shit is just in me.”

Bria was stunned but didn’t showcase it through her features. She had so much to say. So much to suggest but now wasn’t the time for her to be a therapist. Nursing the wounded part of Lo was her only priority at the moment. The other shit could wait.

“I understand.”

Lo lowered himself to his knees, rubbing his face before his red-tinted eyes landed on her.

“Do you really? ‘Cause people been making me feel crazy for cutting them outta my life. They make me the bad guy, and I can’t understand how they don’t see where I’m coming from.”

“Oh, baby.” She joined him on the floor, holding his wrists and gazing deeply into his lenses. “I understand you completely now. You’re not wrong for the way you handled your parents. Everyone became a suspect. I’m sure you didn’t know who to trust.”

Lo’s head bobbed slowly. “See, you get it but everybody else don’t. They ain’t never been violated like me, so they don’t understand all the paranoia that comes with it. I love my people but fucking with them was something I couldn’t do. They didn’t handle me with care, and I’ll never get over it.”

Lo’s pain radiated off of him like the sweltering heat on a hot summer day. She felt his agony. He had infected her with it. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled him into her, hoping to collect his trauma and carry some of the load.

“I understand you, babe. I get you. If no one gets you, it’s me,” she murmured in his ear.

Lo hugged her so tightly, she felt her breaths becoming constricted.

Bria didn’t mind it though. If she had to comfort him in this position for the rest of the night, she would without hesitation.

Lo needed this. She sensed it by the tightness of his arms. Reluctantly, she pulled back, gazing into eyes that held a lifetime of pain.

“Thank you for trusting me with your past.”

Lo studied her face, making her wonder what thoughts were flashing through his mind.

“I told you because… I love you and you make me feel safe. I know I said in the past that I was scared of you, but you’ve proven to be a person I can bet my life on.

You saved my brother from getting killed and you’ve dealt with my triggers and attitude.

And this don’t mean you had to struggle with me to gain my love.

That’s not what I’m saying. I just fell in love with you.

I’ve been fighting it because it’s unfamiliar but it’s real and that’s why I told you what happened to me. ”

Awkward silence filled the room. Words had suddenly failed Bria.

They had been locked in this marriage that was more difficult than her training for her Don Quixote performance.

It was mentally taxing but so thrilling.

Lo matched the roller coaster rides at Six Flags.

He would take her on a high then dip her in a valley only to pull them back to a peak.

“Don’t say it back. Not now. I don’t wanna feel like you only said it because I did. I want you to feel it so just don’t say it.”

But she wanted to profess how she had fallen into a deep pit of love for him.

How the waters were so deep that she couldn’t bring herself to the surface.

Lo swallowed her whole. His grip on her was so fierce that she had no room to breathe.

He was a force that she had no choice but to submit to.

He was broken. He was insane, and he was traumatized.

In spite of that, Bria loved every inch of him, unapologetically.

Lo released her from his hold and stood. Bria followed suit and did the same. He rubbed his hands down his face before inhaling deeply.

“I gotta go.”

“Wait, why?” Bria questioned, not liking the idea of that.

“I got some shit to do.” Lo snatched up his hoodie and put it on.

“Dev keep hittin’ me up so I gotta go. Look, I know you said you're done with me, and I get it. Meco and Kaylona are planning a trip and they're inviting everybody. She’ll probably call you with the details. If I see you there, that means you still want a nigga. If I don’t, then I get it. ” He smirked.

And just like that, Lo had snatched her rose-colored glasses off and brought her back to their reality.

Despite his revelation, they still possessed issues that she didn’t want to deal with.

Lo was a jumbled puzzle that she didn’t have the patience to put together.

Bria was still wrapped up in the whirlwind of his past. Before, she wanted him far away from her as possible.

His mere presence rattled her nerves. Now, she was confused, knowing whatever she decided would hurt either her or him.

Lo pulled his phone out and tapped on the screen. He then peered at her, causing her skin to prickle with chills.

“Come on so I can walk you to your room.”

Bria nodded as he grabbed her hand. Lo walked her down the hall and stopped at her hotel room. Leaning forward, he pressed his lips against hers, evoking a feeling of yearning to brew deep in her core.

“I’ll holla at you later.”

Bria hated to see him go but she nodded and entered her suite. As soon as the door closed, she slid down the wall and cried for Lo.