Page 92 of The Photograph

Cara stares at me for so long, I shuffle on my feet and bite on my bottom lip.

She frowns. “Why? What happened?”

I shrug and when my eyes meet hers, she pulls me into her arms. “Come here, angel.”

Burrowed into her arms, we settle on the sofa in the living room where I hug my legs while Cara sits close and watches me with worry in her eyes.

“Cara?”

“Yes, angel.”

“Why do you call me ‘angel’?”

I rest my chin on my knees while Cara sits back to face me and grins.

“Because you are. When you came to live with us, you were so quiet and little, then one day, Mom organized one of her lah-di-dah bullshit picnics and dressed us in white dresses. We were in the backyard, and I don’t know how, but five minutes later, you were covered in mud and Mom was having a fit because your dress was new. But you didn’t care, you just held my hand and said, ‘It’s okay if I’m dirty. I’m an angel’. You looked up at me with so much confidence with that big grin of yours and you became my angel.”

I don’t remember that day, but as far I can recall Cara has always been my whole world and I only wanted to spend time with her.

She strokes my hair. “Why are you asking? What happened with Gabe?”

I shut my eyes and askthequestion. “When our father did… After he violated me, did you think different of me?”

“No! Come here.” She unhooks my arms and holds me against her.

I pull back to get her eyes. “Did you think I was … tainted, damaged?”

Her eyes blaze with barely contained anger. “Did he say that to you?”

“I was changed after. Is this why you were so protective of me? Because I was … broken?”

“Jesus. What did that asshole say to you?”

“He didn’t say anything. Do you think I’m broken, my Cara?”

“God no. What Dad … what that monster did to you, broke a part of you but not you, not

who you truly are. You were a baby and you still managed to build beauty and love around what he did to you. You’re even more my angel now than you were then.”

Something unfurls in my chest and breaks a dam of tears. “Are you proud of me, my Cara?”

She cups my face and drills her eyes into mine. “No, Aelin, I’m in awe of you.”

I return to the safety of my sister’s arms, and we stay like this for a while, lingering in the moment until I sit up. “Since I told him about what happened to me, Gabe won’t have sex with me.”

“But that’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

I’m too ashamed of my pathetic attempt at seduction to talk about it.I shake my head slowly and nibble the inside of my mouth “I don’t think that’s why he’s doing it, he’s … scared to touch me as if I’d break. I asked him if he still wanted me, he said yes but… I don’t think he does. Not like before.”

Cara’s eyes soften. “It’s good that he’s careful, it means he likes you, angel.”

I groan. “But I don’t want him to like me, I want him to fuck me.”

Cara’s eyes and mouth open wide before a grin slashes her beautiful face. She tries to talk while her chest shakes with laughter, so within seconds we fall into a fit of laughter. When our hilarity settles down, I rest my head on her shoulder and sigh.

She kisses my hair. “Have you told Gabe how you feel?”

I shake my head. “All we do is talk and eat and watch movies. When we make out,

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