Page 161 of My Skin Begs You Please

After everything he’d been through, he deserved that. We both did.

Chapter Thirty-Four

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Minty

Pamela Novik’s officewas in the basement of the Psychology building on campus, and this early in the morning it was just starting to bustle with the arrival of secretaries, receptionists, professors, and grad students. It was still a few more hours before the undergrads could be expected to show their faces.

The police hadn’t called last night or this morning. I’d woken in the night feeling listless and scared again, half expecting the pounding of their fists on the door demanding to know why I’d lied about Kyle and arresting me in his stead. But they hadn’t even called before I left for Pamela’s office.

Luke had wanted to come with me, but he had to be at work. He’d already missed too much lately with the circumstances around re-homing his father, and then yesterday with me. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” he’d said, batting his eyes above his new and fascinating beard. I kept wanting to touch it. “But I’ll find someone to go with you. My little god will be protected.”

I reminded him I didn’t need protection; I knew Aikido. But he’d ignored me saying, “Sorry, it’s protocol, Your Majesty.”

I’d snorted, amused and annoyed by how eagerly he’d bought into my fairy prince style of domination, but also touched. He clearly enjoyed worshiping me and, for some reason, in this context alone, I could let him.

After I consented, he’d called Windy and asked him to escort me to the appointment. Which he had.

Now my friend waited outside in the hallway on a stiff-backed chair, while I sat on a sofa across from Pamela in her quiet, windowless office. She looked a lot like her sister—including having kind eyes—but dressed with a lot more pizazz. I admired her layers of patterned shirt, sweater, and scarf—all different, but all complimentary.

As for me, I’d carefully chosen out a pink sweater, pink tights with red hearts on them, and a fluffy, navy lace skirt that I’d found in a costume shop downtown. I wore pink lip gloss, some glitter on my cheekbones, and loads of mascara. On my feet were my cowboy boots.

I was armored up and ready to run. Let Windy and all my fear chase me if they wanted to.

Pamela leaned back in her overstuffed loveseat, looking sleepy and sucking at an enormous mug of coffee. “Can I get you anything?” She waved at her coffeepot. The room smelled like a mixture of coffee and peppermint, and there was a small Christmas tree in the corner decorated with lights and angel ornaments.

I shook my head. I was still jumped up enough on the adrenaline of having turned Kyle in and the terror of what followed to not need any liquid sources of anxiety.

“Mitchell,” Pamela began, leaning forward with those dark, kind eyes. “I’m excited to get to know you, but first, before we start, I have some interesting news.”

I braced myself. Interesting news was a curse in China, wasn’t it? Something like that.

“As you know, the police went to your abuser’s dorm last night with an arrest and search warrant.”

I nodded.

“Well, apparently, they found things there which led them tothe house where he’d intended to take you. After getting an emergency warrant for that property, they found things there. Incriminating items. Unrelated to you.”

“Unrelated to me?”

“Yes.” She cleared her throat. “I wasn’t given the details, as I’m not your attorney. You can find out more from Lydia possibly, but I’m not certain she’ll be able to give you much more than what I’ve just told you due to confidentiality issues. But the implication is that he had materials—photographs? maybe video—of criminal behavior.”

I squeezed my fists tight. “Like what?”

“Well, we could speculate based on what you know of him, but truthfully, I don’t know. I wasn’t told. If you should decide not to press charges, there’s a chance you’ll never truly know either.”

“Not press charges?” Was she encouraging me not to? Lydia had seemed to want me to press charges very much.

“Lydia said to tell you she’ll speak with you later today. But they have enough, Mitchell. They don’t need you.” She sipped her coffee again, and my stomach tumbled over and over. “They can prosecute him and get him off the streets with all they’ve found. To quote the police captain who called her this morning, ‘his goose is cooked,’ and he’ll be looking at years in prison.”

My mind swirled. What had they found? Child stuff? Rape tapes? Had he harmed someone before me?Killedsomeone?

“As I said, I’m not your attorney,” Pamela went on, “and you really should consult with Lydia before you decide, but what I’m saying is, if you don’t want to go through it again, you don’t have to. You did the right thing going to the police. Your recording was enough to get the search warrant, and now they don’t need your testimony to put him away and protect others from him.”

I stared at her. The strangest emotions and sensations rolled through my body. First, and most startling, was hurt. I hadn’t beenspecial? I hadn’t been the only person on earth to push Kyle to these sorts of extremes? I’d been one of…how many? And one of how many ofwhat?

Then another emotion slotted into place. Anger. He’d lied to me. He’d made me believeIwas his weakness—me, personally, not as a piece in a bigger whole. He’d made me believe I was his god.

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