Page 152 of Injustice and Absolution

“It’s okay.” I turn to him and shake my head as if to tell him to let it go.

If Royce gave up any information about what I endured the past couple months, I know it was for good reason. I return my attention to Maggie, determined to say what I was trying to a moment ago.

“This isn’t the first time I needed saving.” Maggie’s features remain hardened, but she stays quiet, allowing me to continue.

“I don’t know if you remember the day specifically, but it’s one I’ll never forget. We were fifteen. I came over here with a black eye.”

Her eyes soften as she recalls details of our childhood.

“You had a lot of black eyes … and bruises...” Her voice is free of the edge it held until now.

“I blamed it on being a klutz because that’s what he forced me to say.”

Her brows furrow as confusion sets in.

“My father.” My clarification shocks her, and her eyes flare in surprise. “He abused me, raped and molested me, for eight years. Eightlongyears until Royce put an end to it.”

Her eyes move wildly, as though she’s putting together every piece of my puzzle she was never able to fit into place before.

“That day at the table...” Her eyes fly to Royce. “You gave her a steak...”

She looks down, fidgeting, her thumbs tracing the tips of her fingers.

“Your dad didn’t leave...” Her eyes shoot to mine again as clarity finds her.

“No.” Royce chimes back into the conversation, confirming her claim and stealing her attention.

He takes my hand once again, as though he knows I need to lean on his strength right now.

“You killed him.”

Her eyes shoot to our joined hands. She doesn’t let him respond before she retrains her attention on me again. There is a fight in her eyes, her emotions warring between confusion, anger, and repulsion.

Before I can continue explaining to her how we got from there to here and how my feelings have grown for Royce over the past two years, she speaks.

Her voice is calm, but her heart is far from peaceful.

“So you replaced your own father … with mine.”

Royce’s hand squeezes mine as Maggie shoots her wounded, emotional bullets at us. Cupping my other hand over his, I urge him to keep his composure.

“No, Maggie. It’s not like that.” But my words fall on deaf ears.

“Have you been fucking him ever since? As a thank you? Or did you miss your daddy so much you found yourself a new one?”

“You don’t talk to her like that.” Royce practically lunges at Maggie, and though her biting words weaken me, I hold him back.

My heart splinters, hearing her make the same rationalization about my feelings for Royce that Drew once did. Though Drew’s hurt was fabricated, Maggie’s is very, very real.

“And you...” She turns her ire to Royce again. “You practically fucking raised her. She’s like a daughter to you.”

A humorless laugh escapes her.

“Or maybe she’s not. You don’t resent her like you do me. You can actually stand to be around her. You don’t treat her like she means nothing to you.”

With a pained, bitter smirk, she stares at us, shaking her head.

“Maggie, please try to understand—” I make a final attempt to get her to listen, but she cuts me off.

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