Chapter 120: The Virgin And The Masters, Part 31, Aftermath

MICHAEL

In the apartment, Charlotte charges straight into the bathroom, strips off, dropping her clothes to the floor as she vanishes into the shower. The clothes are disgusting. I scoop them into a plastic waste bag and dump the lot, hovering over the laundry chute, before settling for the garbage. She herself, even under the clothes, is filthy.

In the lounge, James and I wait together. "What´s our line?" he says quietly. "How mad at her are we?"

How do I answer that?

The woman I love abandoned me and left me numb with fear for her...

"Hugs first," I say. "Mad later... Mmmm... I´m just going to take a look at her, now the worst of the dirt should be off. See what state she´s in."

With the shower running, dousing herself from the head downwards, facing up into the water stream, she doesn´t hear me enter. On her arms and shoulders, down her thighs, all over her body, she is covered with bruises, just fading to blue and purple. And clean, her face shows more bruising; over on