I scoffed at the idea. Graham was twice my size. There was no way we needed to eat the same amount.
I broke off a large chunk and handed it to Graham before nibbling on my own piece.
The bread was stale and extremely bland but it was better than nothing. It did the job and took the edge off my hunger. I wish I could see Graham better. I had a feeling he wasn't eating. He seemed like the martyr type.
After what felt like hours of silence, I spoke up. "At least the bread is fresh."
"Uh-huh," was his only response.
"You're not eating because there's no way you could consider this anything but stale," I confronted him.
"I'm not hungry."
“Yeah, okay. I don't believe you."
Graham released an annoyed sigh. "Fine, but I've gone longer without eating. I'll be fine."
My heart broke at the thought there was a time when Graham was forced to go any length of time without eating. He mentioned being tortured before, but that didn't make hearing about it any easier.
"I don't care how long you've gone. You need to eat. It's theonlyway to heal."
"You sound like you know that from experience."
I took a deep breath but replied on a whisper. "I definitely do."
I should've known though that Graham would still hear me. He seemed to be in tune to everything around him.
"Tell me," he growled. And all I could think was how it was the sexiest sound I had ever heard. Which should worry me because I learned the hard way to avoid alpha men. I thought after being in a foster home that having a big strong man who could protect me was exactly what I needed, but I was wrong.
"I haven't always made the best choice in men. After I left the foster home, I just wanted someone who could love and protectme. What I found instead was someone who just wanted to control me."
"How?"
"How, what?" I was genuinely confused.
"How did he want to control you?"
Oh. It helped that we were in a dark space. I don't think I would've been able to spill my guts if we weren't.
"The usual way. He separated me from the few friends I did manage to make after high school. Made me quit my job so he could take care of me. Told me what I could and couldn't eat." I cleared my throat. "Well, more like he would make comments when I ate food that would make me fat. He was constantly reminding me that I carried a few too many pounds and being tall didn't count. He was constantly making me weigh myself to see what my BMI was."
Now that I started, I couldn't stop. "The physical abuse didn't come until much later. Then it was always in places that could easily be covered up. My ribs especially, but his favorite was to pinch me to keep me in line."
"Did he break anything?"
Memories of the last fight we had before I finally straightened up played through my mind. I could still hear the crack of my ribs and I shuddered at the thought. "Yeah." One word was all I could manage.
"Is he still alive?"
There was something off about the way he asked, so I hesitated in answering. "I . . . think so?"
It was more of a question than anything.
"You don't know?"
"I left him three years ago and never looked back. I couldn't say for sure if he is or not. I wasn't the first woman he took advantage of and I'm sure there were others after me. He lovedto remind me that he had better options and could leave my ass at any point if he wanted.
Except he never did, no matter how much he belittled me. There were so many times that I wished he would've."
