“Mia, you don’t have to do this,” he said.
“Yes, if we’re going to get married then I’m not going to let you do this without knowing the truth. I’m not some weak-willed girl you have to take care of, Curse.”
Pushing hair out of her face, she turned in her seat to look at him in the face. “Ashley’s mother died when she was born. It was only her and her father for the longest time. He was a nice man for the most part. I liked him. He was more than happy to have me around for her.” The memories were bitter, the truth harder for her to realize.
“Anyway, Ashley was a cheerleader in high school while I was a book nerd. I was always into the books, and I didn’t want to do anything else. I was more than happy to be confined to the library rather than go out and do other things.”
For so long she’d kept this story to herself.
“She changed. Not overnight but it took months. She became withdrawn, and she started wanting boys to notice her. I remember the clothes getting shorter, and she’d snap at her father. Ashley stopped letting me sleep over at her home, and she always came to my place.”
A lump filled in her throat.
“Shit, Mia.”
“No, you’re going to listen. You wanted to know the truth. This is me giving you the complete truth. I’ve never told anyone else this. On prom night Ashley was late. I was meeting her at the school, and we were going together.” Licking her lips, she tightened her grip in his hands. “I took a cab to her home. The lights were on in her bedroom. I opened the door like I had all the time growing up. The moment I entered the house I heard Ashley begging and pleading for him to stop.”
The memories crashed over her, but she forced them out.
“I went upstairs. Her prom dress was torn. The dress she took hours picking. I hated seeing that torn dress, but then I saw what was happening. Her father was raping her. I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know how long I stood there, but it couldn’t have been long. He might have stopped, I don’t know.”
Tears filled her eyes and spilled over.
“Baby, stop.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m not going to stop. He told her to be a good little girl like she’d always been.” Wiping at her nose, she gasped around the pain squeezing her chest. “I heard the fight go out of her. My best friend in the whole world had been attacked by her father years ago and I didn’t even know. In the corner I spotted the metal lightshade. She loved the lightshade. I think it was her mother’s before it was hers. Without thinking, I grabbed it and smashed it over his head. I didn’t stop. He was inside her, and I just kept hitting him. The blood was everywhere, but I didn’t care. Ashley screamed for me to stop. She shoved him away from her, and I kept hitting him. I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. She ended up grabbing my arms to stop me from hurting him.”
“This is why he went missing a couple of days after prom night, but you told the cops he went out that night and never returned?”
“I failed her. I killed him. We checked for a pulse, but he was dead.”
Licking her lips, the tears fell down her cheeks, and she wiped them away gently.
“What did you do?” he asked.
“We wrapped his body in a shower curtain. I could drive; Ashley couldn’t. We stored him in my car and drove him out to middle of nowhere. We buried him deep into the earth. I was going to go to the police, but she wouldn’t let me. She told me not to go down for him. When we got back, we scrubbed the house clean. In the backyard we burned our dresses and everything we wore.”
Curse pulled up a chair, and he cupped her cheeks.
“Baby, look at me,” he said.
She returned her gaze to his.
“You waited the weekend and said he went out that night.”
Mia nodded. “Yes. We stayed home. No one saw me at the school. We stayed in eating ice-cream and cursing all men. No one has ever found him, and Ashley didn’t return to his house. Ashley took the money her mother left her, and she stayed with me for some time before I went away to college. I kept this secret for a long time. I’ve got blood on my hands, Curse. I’m not some innocent woman.”
He pressed his lips to hers, and she moaned. She didn’t expect him to kiss her like this after what she told him.
“Why?” she asked, breaking away from his lips.
“Do you really think I’m innocent?” He ran his thumb along her lip. “I’ve killed more than one sick fuck who needed it, Mia. You shouldn’t stop yourself from loving or being with a man because of guilt. That fucker doesn’t deserve you to think about him. He was raping his own daughter. Don’t give him the satisfaction of letting him win.”