Free Desperate Choices by Kathy Ivan Page B

nothing of the dirt, grass and Lord knows what else from being left on the side of the road.
    “Max, you need to understand, I was helpless at this point. Traumatized, abused. My mind had shut down. But Remy’s didn’t. He was my rock. He stripped off my clothes and held me under the shower while he was fully clothed, and he cleaned me up as though I were an infant. That’s how helpless I was.”
    “He can be a rock when he needs to.” Max’s voice brought Theresa back to the present and out of the vicious pictures playing in her head.
    “Once he cleaned me as best as he could, he took me out of the shower and bandaged all my cuts. He got me fresh clothes and dressed me as though he had been doing it all his life. Then he put me in bed and pulled up the covers, all the way up to my chin. Through all this, I hadn’t said a word. I had shut down.”
    Theresa met Max’s gaze directly as she spoke. “Remy stayed with me until it was time for my father to come home. He even made dinner for my dad, so he wouldn’t know anything was wrong. I made him promise me, while we were still on Marshall Road, he would never tell anybody about what happened. I think if he hadn’t given me that promise, I’d probably have died there by the side of the road. That or I’d have killed myself.
    “Somehow I managed to hide what happened from my father. I called in sick to school for the next couple of days, stayed home and tried to cope with everything. Remy came by the next day after school and checked up on me. He came by the next day, and the next. He always asked me the same question. Who were they? He wanted names.”
    “Damn right he wanted names. I do, too. The sons of bitches have to pay.”

Chapter Eleven
    Max could barely contain the rage roiling through him. Damn them to hell! Theresa stood in front of him shaking her head.
    “No. You don’t need their names. I never gave them to Remy, either. Nobody knows who they are but me. You can’t make them pay for what they did.”
    “Like hell I can’t! Just watch me,” Max insisted.
    Theresa walked over to the sink, resting both hands against the rim, her head down. She turned slowly around. “They’ve already paid.”
    “How?” Max’s deep rumble filled the room.
    “Less than six months after it happened to me, they raped another girl from our school. She was braver than me. She reported it to the police. They were arrested, convicted and sent to prison. They’re still there.”
    “Good. I hope they rot in prison.”
    A broken laugh escaped Theresa before she bit back the sound. “In that we’re in total agreement.”
    Max stood directly in front of Theresa, placing one finger under her chin, tilting her face upward. The light from the overhead kitchen fixture revealed the trail of tears across her pale cheeks. Cupping her face in both hands, he gently wiped away the tears with his thumbs, whisking away the moisture. He placed a tender kiss against her forehead.
    “Baby, words can’t express how sorry I am for what you’ve been through. I wish you had been able to confide in me sooner.”
    “Max, I—”
    “No,” Max interrupted. “I understand why you couldn’t. At least, I’m trying to.” He reached forward and grasped her hand, giving it a tug. Stepping behind her he gave her shoulders a soft nudge, pointing her toward the stairs leading to her apartment. Twisting around, Theresa looked back at him before starting up. Max followed right behind her.
    At the top of the stairs, he stopped when Theresa paused in the doorway. He’d been in her apartment before, many times. It was a homey, comfortable place. The décor suited her to a T. But he wasn’t really seeing it now, he was solely focused on Theresa. Empathetic he wasn’t but he knew she was hurting. He just wasn’t sure what he could do to help.
    Nudging her forward again, he directed her to the sofa. Hands on her shoulders, he guided her back onto the cushions. He could read the stunned,