TWENTY FOUR

"My parents were junkies most of my life it's only been Nicole and me she looked out for me,made sure I was okay and never went to bed on an empty stomach.After mom died Nicole turned to drugs to ease her pain,at least at the time I was old enough to look after myself.I found work part time to pay rent and put food on the table.When I was eighteen I was raped by a friend of my sister's. Unfortunately the evidence wasn't enough to prosecute." She fell silent as she remembers that awful day when they told her the case was thrown out due to the lack of physical evidence.

Cathrina placed her hand on Avery's shoulder."I can see the ordeal still affects you."

She nodded."I trusted him.Thought he was a good man since he came from a decent family but we don't always really know anyone.Do we."She set her tea down."After the ordeal I was never the same.I turned to a life that suppressed the painful memories.I became a stripper."She kept quiet waiting for some sort of judgmental opinion from Cat