TWENTY NINE

He was everything a girl could want, rich, influential, and handsome, but as the muscles of his back rose and fell with each deep breath, she saw nothing but power. Alecia pushed his arm off of her and slipped out of the bed. She stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, staring at the girl she had become and not recognizing herself. Dark circles remained under her eyes; her skin blanched. Did Ryder still find her beautiful? To her, she looked dead.

“You’re only twenty-one and your life has been lived,” she whispered.

Ryder walked into the bathroom and ran some fingers across her back. She flinched and turned to him as he took off his black pajama pants and got in the shower.

“Alecia, it’s Saturday get in here with me.”

She tapped her fingers on the counter. He had always spoken to her like that, but now it held a different meaning. How could she have been so blind? Was she just too enamored with him to realize how he treated her? She slipped off