CHAPTER 110

“Show us your back,” James said bluntly. “Or if you aren’t comfortable with me in the room at least show Sophia. I doubt you can see if the skin is broken but it needs to be looked at just in case.”

Karla had ignored the pain over her shoulder blades because the pain in her heart overshadowed everything else. Slowly she turned, presenting her back to Sophia and James, and allowed Sophia to lift the T-shirt she’d changed into at home so she could see the damage inflicted by the strap.

She heard Sophia’s swift intake of breath and James’s savage curse. She winced at the colorful expletives that exploded from James’s mouth.

“How bad is it?” Karla whispered.

“Bad enough,” James said, but then he was never one to sugarcoat things. Karla had only known him a few months, but she liked his no-nonsense air and the fact that he was always plainspoken.

“The skin’s not broken, thank God,” Sophia said, soothing over James’s more terse response. “But there are raised welts and bruises already formi