No Hero

*****

TRIGGER WARNING

*****

Lila

Even when they stopped talking Chris didn't move, like he didn't want to leave. Lila wasn't sure whether to be grateful he was protective, or freaked out that he was watching over her. They watched a stupid television program, but Lila couldn't stop thinking about that video. About the way young Dane had acted—what he'd been forced to do. Because that was the story she knew, that no one knew she'd known. 

Dane told her. Everything. She knew every black mark of his past—she'd forgiven him, and kissed away the tears. But she knew from what Dane had described at the apartment, and during those hours in his father's grip, when he'd been writing on her palm, terrified that his father would learn he'd equipped her to understand… the same message every time: He wants to get in your head, make you question everything, and turn you around so you don't know which way is up. So you can't trust anyone.