“Is he dead?” Charlotte asked me.
“No, I just immobilized him.” Charlotte started to cry then, not great sobs or anything, just the tears rolling silently down her cheeks. I should have killed him, I realized. She would’ve preferred for me to kill him.
I opened the kit and dabbed a cotton ball in the liquid antiseptic. I held it to the open wound on her lip and she winced once. I looked at her and our gazes locked. I don’t know why I did it, maybe the vulnerability in her eyes, but I kissed her softly and stopped just as abruptly. I had perfect control over my emotions, my actions, but she was flipping my world upside down.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that,” I said and pulled away.
“I should go home,” she said and pushed her chair backwards.
“You can’t go home,” I said to her. “
