Fifty-Two

He looks at her and then at me, bows his head and walks out the door, closing it behind him, but I see him stop and stand in front of the door through the clouded glass. Ava then turns back to me,

"Do you mind if we take this off?"

I hesitate for a moment. I don't like anyone seeing my scars. They remind me that I failed to protect myself when I got taken by Valentino. The only one to have really seen them is Zachariah, but I still don't feel comfortable with even him seeing them, as my body is no longer beautiful because of them. I reluctantly remove my shirt, allowing her to see the damage done. I don't miss as her eyes go wide at the scars, but she doesn't say anything about them.

"Can you lay down? I will need to re-clean the gashes from this morning and clean the new scratches. I will also need to reapply the healing cream and restitch the gashes... Is that okay?"

"Of course."

Another small wave of heat goes through me, and I don't miss the low growl that comes from the other sid