Page 53 of Pushed Through The Dark
Chapter Twelve
Koa
Aubrey. . .
She actually said it out loud, she gave me her name. I was still surprised. It was the last thing I expected her to say. I thought she'd scream for Knox to die, or condemn him to hell. But she didn't, instead, she gave me her name.
Helping her into the bathtub, she lowered herself slowly as she held the edges of the clawfoot tub. She looked so sore, like an injured bird. She's been trying to fly, but her wings were too thin, too small, and she just keeps plummeting into the dirt instead.
It's not her fault. None of this has been her fault.
Dropping to my haunches, I dipped the sponge in the water as I watched her pull her knees to her chest, hugging them close, and laying her head down.
Squeezing the sponge so water spilled down her back, I gently ran it over the deep purple bruises my brother left on her shoulders. Her body was marked, covered with visual battery, old and new.
I could see small fingertip shaped bruises necklacing the skin of her throat, and the raw skin around her fingertips from clawing the floor. Her cheek was swollen from where he slapped her, and the skin under her left eye was puffy.
Her back was riddled in faded scars. Some were thin, some were thick, all of them going in different directions.
It enraged me to visibly see what she had been through. It wasn't just a pain she had to carry inside, it was something she had to see every day. A visible reminder she'd never be able to get rid of.
"Ah," she hissed as her back jerked in pain.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."
"It's alright." Sitting up straight, she bent left and right, trying to stretch the soreness away. "I guess I've gotten weaker since being here. Normally, I wouldn't feel so sore after something like that."
"You shouldn't compare one beating with another. This should have never happened to you, it's wrong."
"It's not your fault," she said.
"I can't control what Virgo did you too, but I invited my brother here. I brought him to you. It's my fault. If I had just done this meeting by myself—"
Cutting me off, she looked directly into my eyes. "You aren't responsible for his choices. He chose to do this, there's nothing you could have done. If it didn't happen now, it would have eventually." She lengthened her legs, relaxing back, and allowing the bubbles to cover her body. Closing her eyes, her hands floated on the top of the water, swashing side to side. "If there's one thing I've learned from everything I've been through, it's that you can't control what other people do."
"I should have fucking killed him." The words came out under my breath as I stared blankly into the water. "I could have fucking killed him."
"Don't say that," she snapped quickly. "He's still your family, he's blood. That always has to mean something."
"How can you say that after what he did?"
She looked into the bathwater, moving her hands slowly to create small waves. "There are only two people in this world I wish death on; Virgo and his right-hand man Blue. Your brother might be empty on the inside, but he's impressionable. He got sucked into the idea those men paint. That we're just here for pleasure or whatever sick desire someone might have."
"After everything, after all, you've been through, how you can you not wish death on him?"
"I believe that people have the ability to change, and sometimes, what you originally thought about someone, turns out to be wrong." Her eyes drifted up to mine, settling easily on my face. "I understand now, I do. Your brother isn't like you, he's cold and emotionless, but it doesn't change the fact he's your brother and he respects you."
"Respects me," I said with a single chuckle. "He doesn't respect shit, he fears me."
"Even fear is ingrained with respect. It's built differently, but it's there."
"No, fear isn't respect." Disagreeing, I grabbed a bottle of shampoo and nod my head for her to sit up. "Fear is just that; it's terror, it's a pit in your stomach, it's a lump in your throat. Respect is different. My brother doesn't respect shit."
"If he's so horrible, why do business with him at all?"
Sitting quietly for a moment, I didn't have an answer to give. "I don't really know."
