ALLISTER
I spent a long time scrubbing his filth off my body. I didn't want a trace of it on my skin. That jerk was the most disgusting scum I'd ever known, and I didn't even know many details of what he did to her as yet. I had a fair idea, of course, and he was going to pay for it. But what I was worried about was how Xyla was dealing with all of it on her own. Keeping all that bottled up inside her, not crying the way she should have, not talking about it, it wasn't good for her health. Maybe I could try talking to her, but I didn't know if she'd be comfortable. I knew I was the one she was closest to at this point, but the way she acted towards me just now showed that she'd never open up to me about this. I shouldn't have returned to the room with so much blood on me. But I'd felt she
