RIVER

SOMETHING HAD shifted in the air. Krew seemed kinder, cool, calm, and collected—not that I was complaining. Just maybe, he was apologizing in his own way. I could also sense it, and it was all in his eyes as he pinned his gaze at me.

I felt a sudden self-consciousness. The fact that my nipples were reacting to the way he looked at me, I wanted to squirm and dance a Kumbaya at the same time that he finally saw me—noticed me.

He hadn’t done anything to me, yet I was burning inside out. Those reactions I bottled up for years were just started uncorking. If I wouldn’t do...