He needed me. He needed the influence and the help of my family. This thought amped my strength and lent me a surge of misplaced courage, and so I opened my mouth to speak.
But I never did get to talk.
I never even saw Shawn moving.
One minute he was several feet away from my high bed, and the next second he was right there, looming over the edge. In that same heartbeat, he had raised his hand and swiped a brutal arc at my cheek.
I only realized what had happened when my head snapped to the side, the world blurring as a startling, white-hot pain filled the nerves of my cheek and pervaded my senses.
It was so painful, so utterly shocking, that I went completely dumb for more than a full minute.
I sat there, frozen, while he heaved in and out like the monster I was slowly realizing
