gangs

Thirty-two

I sat beside him on the kitchen counter, holding a cookie in my hand as we quietly talked about everything.

Everything from the second the police told them I was missing to the second Ashton got my text.

"Do you really think he loved you?" Luke asked me.

"I truly don't know" my voice cracked.

"I think it was mainly lust and him liking the fact that he held ownership over me, but it was still weird" I shook my head slowly at the thoughts running through my head.

"Like, if he didn't love me, why did he care? Like every time I cried he would do anything to make me stop, he made sure I was eating, he cooked specific meals that he knew I liked, and I mean- if he just wanted sex, I don't think he would've gave me the little bit of respect that he did." I spoke slowly to him.

"He respected you?" Luke asked.

"A little" I mumbled.

"For the first two days, when he would touch me- I would say stop the first time and he immediately would, but the closer we got to the end of the week, the more fighting it took, but I don't know- I don't understand why he listened" I continued.

"Bite" he spoke, holding his own cookie to my mouth, looking to the cookie that I had yet to bite into, I was just holding it and looking at it.

I traded cookies with him, just needing the guarantee that it wasn't drugged, even if I knew deep in my heart that these boys weren't going to hurt me.

"Are you in any pain?" He asked me.

"The bandaids hurt, and I'm a little sore, but I'm good otherwise" I spoke to him.

"The bandaids are coming off first thing in the morning" Luke spoke firmly, making me look to the clock- seeing it was a little past midnight.

"Where are you sore?" He asked me.

"My hips are really sore, other than that it's my arms, but nothing compares to my hips." I told him.

Luke shook his head, looking away slowly.

"Can I ask you something?" I whispered.

"Yeah" he whispered back, making me smile.

"I haven't known you guys very long at all" I mumbled to him slowly.

"But you guys make everything so-easy" I mumbled.

"Like, talking about this- it's hard and it's embarrassing, but you just help me word it to where it's easy to talk about and where I'm not ashamed" I finished

"That's the doctor in us I think, we just know how to read people and how to understand when it's time to stop a conversation or how to change it to where it's not focused on the bad." He mumbled slowly.

"Is there anything you want to talk about that we haven't initiated?" He asked me slowly.

"Not really, I think you guys have managed to get everything out of me" I mumbled, seeing him slowly nod.

"I'm glad you trust me, you don't understand how much this means to me" he exhaled.

"Why does it mean a lot to you?" I asked him.

"Because you went through something traumatic that I thought you'd never trust men over again, but you're taking slow steps, you took a big one with me tonight and I'll cherish that. I love you, kid" he spoke, smiling to me as he slowly slipped his own body off the counter as tears came into my eyes at the words he spoke.

Once we made eye contact- his eyes widened.

"Why are you about to cry-" "you told me you loved me." My voice cracked, making his eyebrows move together.

"I'm sorry- I didn't know it would upset you-" "I'm not upset" I panicked- realizing that he was associating me almost crying with negativity.

"I just- I didn't expect it and I don't know why, but it makes me happy."