Loving Every Curve(Completed✔️)

Ch 17

 I was still shaken by the incident, but I managed to share everything without breaking down. So, I'm proud of myself.

He wasn't looking at me, he was just staring straight ahead with his hand on the steering wheel. He was gripping it so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.

I could sense his anger. I felt guilty for getting myself into this situation. I shouldn't have agreed to go out with him. I glanced over at him and admitted, "It's my fault. I knew I shouldn't have gone on a date with him," I said, lowering my head and staring at my lap. I saw him glance at me and then back at the road. There was a moment of silence before he finally spoke up,

"It's never your fault. It's never the victim's fault. Someone made a terrible choice and hurt you. It's not your fault. So don't blame yourself. Of course, I'm upset. Why wouldn't I be? He hurt you for what? You're one of the kindest people I know. You don't deserve to be treated like that by someone you barely know. Yes, I am angry. I care about you deeply, and seeing you hurt, seeing you upset breaks my heart. Whatever little heart I have," he said with a chuckle. "But seriously, I do care about you. It's just guys like that who give all men a bad reputation, and I'm tired of it. But it's okay. I know you're not to blame. I know that it's common for victims to blame themselves at first. I know it will take time for you to realize you did nothing wrong, but I'm here for you. I'm here to listen. I care about you, and I know you don't have many friends."

"Excuse me. I do have friends," I replied, with a slight laugh.

"Well, excuse me. Every time I ask you about your weekend plans, you say you're just chilling at home. Most people go out with friends for lunch, but you stay in the office and eat alone. You hardly text anyone. I never see you on your phone. So, it all adds up to not having many friends.

I'm not trying to be rude or anything. I'm just trying to say I can be your friend. So, you know, you have someone to talk to."

"I appreciate it. Alexander. I know. You don't have to be so nice to me and I appreciate you being so nice to me"

We get to his house and he opens the door for me. I get out of the car hesitantly and I follow him into his home.

"Make yourself at home," he said dropping his keys on his coffee table."

I sit down on the couch and I immediately start to shake uncontrollably.

"I'm so stupid I let this happen to me I could have avoided it but I didn't and now look at me I look dumb sitting here on this couch," I said as tears rolled down my face.

Alexander walks over to me and she sits down next to me on the couch.

"Aaliyah it's ok you can cry just let it out," he said grabbing me and pulling me closer to him.

I laid down on him and I slowly drifted to sleep.

It's been a couple of weeks since it happened since I was attacked. I haven't been doing much lately. Alexander gave me some time off work and told me to focus on taking care of myself instead. It was surprising to hear that work wasn't a priority.

I still don't understand why he did what he did. I've been lying in bed, deep in thought, trying to make sense of how things went so wrong. I blame myself for trusting someone I didn't even know. I don't hold Shyla responsible though. She had no idea he was like that, and she's been texting me nonstop since I shared what happened.

To be honest, I haven't been very responsive to her messages. I needed some time to myself. I didn't tell my mom about it either, since we're still not on good terms and she'd probably just blame me.

But today, I made up my mind to stop wallowing in self-pity and take action. I'm heading to the gym. It's a nice place, and I've decided to work out and build my strength so I can better protect myself. The bonus is that I'll also get in shape while learning self-defense.

I threw on some sweats and a hoodie. Right now, I don't feel comfortable exposing my skin because of everything that happened.

I grab my keys, put my wallet in my fanny pack, and get ready to leave.

I receive a phone call. It's from Shyla.

I was unsure whether to answer the call or not. The second ring came and went.

Finally, I decided to pick up the phone call. So I did.

"Hello?"

"I'm so sorry. I'm relieved you answered my call. I'm so sorry, please, please don't be mad at me. I didn't know he was going to do that. I didn't know he was like that. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay."

"What happened? I know you mentioned he assaulted you. But how, what happened? What did he do? And if you're not comfortable discussing it, I understand it's your business, not mine, but I want to be here for you and help you in any way I can."

"Well, he tried to rape me. He took me to a room, saying there would be other people there. But when we got there, it was just me and him. He started touching me. I said no, that I wouldn't have sex with him, and then he became violent and forced himself on me. I fought back, pushed him away, and ran. I called my boss to pick me up because I didn't want to involve you, being your cousin. I didn't have all the details and didn't know if you were aware or if it was planned. I know you're my best friend, and I trust you wouldn't plan something like that. But at that moment, I was lost and didn't know who to turn to. I couldn't call you because he's your family. So that's what happened. I'm not ready to go into specifics. I'm not prepared to talk about it in that way yet. But he sexually assaulted me."