He was asleep behind me with his palm set possessively on my thigh. Hot breaths crawled along my skin and wrapped around my neck like an invisible noose, stealing the air as I struggled to suck it into my lungs. My body felt like dead weight as I lay beside the last man I’d ever have chosen to give myself to. Had I been marked for this life before I was born? Fated before time to suffer at the hands of the ones who were supposed to care for me? Or was it the choices I had made that led me here? Did one fatal mistake send me on a collision course, or was this simply a consequence of a lifetime of naivety and fear? I retreated further into myself, seeking shelter in the shadows of my mind. There were few things there of comfort. But the small amount of comfort that remained shined bright. William’s face, laughing and kind. “Maggie,” he had murmured as he rolled to tug me on top of him. I giggled and relaxed into the firm body below me. William chuckled from deep in his chest and held me even closer as he buried his face in my hair.
