Chapter Twenty-Three

“I didn’t know what I was doing... I was so drunk,” he continued to explain himself. “I was angry about some-thing that night and I took it out on you. I didn't mean to hurt you, Arianna. Do you hear me?”

Of course, she could hear him, but she couldn’t speak as she wrestled with her own emotions, her tears.

He pulled her closer again, tightening his arms around her shaking body. But his image remained behind her eyelids as she closed her eyes and willed herself to calm down.

His presence, the warmth of his body, the familiarity of his smell... was threatening to crush her sanity.

Why was he acting as if he cared? It was making her feel things she didn’t have a right to feel. But the relief to know he wasn’t angry at her was overwhelming that she couldn’t breathe.

Again, she remembered how gentle he'd suddenly become when, despite his drunkenness, he’d noticed how frightened she was that night. She took deep gulps of breath and the sobs subsided.

A few moments passed, and she tried to