Chapter 3

“You like that, babe?”

“Yes,” replied Shane, doing his best to sound genuine.

He’d learned the hard way that even in rare romantic moments, Tyler’s switch could be flicked, and the gentle thrusts and tender kisses could erupt into something considerably more violent and aggressive.

“I love ya,” said Tyler between kisses. “You’re a fuckin’ little idiot most of the time, but I love ya.”

Shane remained silent. Tyler could force him to say or do almost anything, but the one thing he was powerless to make Shane do was to say that he loved him, for he did not. He hadloved him once. Devotedly. Passionately. But over the four years they’d been together, as the slaps and punches had started, along with the verbal humiliations both in private and public, his love for Tyler had been knocked out of him. There had been too many tears and bruises, and too much blood, for there to be anything warm and fuzzy left.