*Jackson*
I see how her jaw tightens, and see the way her shoulders tense and rise, and I know she is trying to shake her head. Like she wants to deny it, but she can’t force herself to do it.
I walk toward her ... slowly, respectfully, my eyes finding hers.
She is hurting, that much is obvious. She is hurting so much that it spreads through the air and wraps around me, around my heart. I ache for her. It is a physical thing, terrible and sharp, and for the first time I am beginning to doubt my own ability to make it go away.
But she would hurt even more if she knew the truth, if she knew what Giselle told me. About how Maceo and Ivelisse plan to sell out her father for their own safety, despite her giving into their blackmail, yes I know about the blackmail, why she agreed to the
