Read Online The Lovers by Eden Bradley - Free Book Online

pants.”
    â€œYes,” I say a little too quietly.
    She looks up then. “Hey. Are you okay?”
    How does she seem to know something is going on with me from nothing more than a drop in my tone? But she does.
    I shrug, lie. “Sure. Yes. I’m fine.”
    â€œBut…?” She arches a brow, clearly waiting for me to answer.
    â€œBut…I’ve had some…less than stellar experiences with men.”
    â€œWelcome to the club, hon.”
    She doesn’t say it sarcastically. She means it.
    â€œWhat happened to you, Audrey?” I ask quietly.
    She shrugs, goes back to painting my nails. “Same old story most girls have, I guess. Date rape.”
    â€œJesus, Audrey.”
    Another shrug. “It happens. I was at a frat party with a friend. I wasn’t actually in college yet, but I went to the parties all the time.” She is stroking the polish onto my toes in short, even streaks of pink. “He was so cute, and I liked him. That part really bummed me out. Disappointed me. But I grew up that night, you know?”
    â€œMaybe. But I don’t get how you can sound so casual about it. Wasn’t it awful? It must have been.”
    â€œOh, it was.” She bites her lip for a moment as she applies a second coat of polish to my toes. I wish she’d look up at me, that I could see her eyes so I’d know what she really feels about what happened to her. “And that wasn’t the only time. Happened to me again a few years later, and that time it was my boyfriend. He just didn’t want to hear the word no. But it’s part of life. I don’t let it get me down.” She’s quiet a moment, studying her handiwork. “I don’t let anything get me down.”
    â€œI don’t know how you do that. I wish I could.”
    â€œI refuse to give anyone that kind of power over me. It’s as simple as that.” She looks up finally and her eyes are blazing. She is not as unconcerned about what happened to her as she claims to be. She gets up, brings the bottle of wine back with her, fills our empty glasses. “You shouldn’t either, Bettina.”
    I shake my head, drinking more wine, letting it warm my limbs. “I don’t know. I don’t think I can do that. I can’t think of it that way. I’m not a strong person, Audrey. I’m not like you.”
    â€œWe are all a lot more alike than we think we are,” she says. “Tell me what happened to you, Bettina, because I can tell something did.”
    I shake my head again, but I take a long swallow of my wine and tell her. “It was a friend of my dad’s, another college professor. They had one of those cocktail parties people in academia seem to have all the time.” Hard lump in my throat, but I continue. “I was hiding away in my room, listening to music. He came in, said he was looking for the bathroom. But I’d seen him watching me before, and I knew he’d come looking for me. He was a little drunk.”
    â€œBut not enough that he didn’t know exactly what he was doing,” Audrey says, her voice low, dangerous.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAsshole.”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œHow old were you?”
    â€œFifteen.”
    â€œFuck.”
    â€œHe didn’t…I mean, he touched me, but he didn’t…you know.” I shake my head. I want to tell Audrey everything about me, just open myself to her, yet this is still hard to talk about. Even with my therapist. It’s hard to think about.
    â€œHe’s still a reprehensible bastard, Bettina! He probably would have done more if there wasn’t a party going on in the next room.”
    â€œMaybe. I don’t know.”
    â€œAnd it doesn’t even matter. What matters is the intent. That he meant to do whatever he wanted to you. That he made you a victim. That he took your power from you.”
    Why does she seem more disturbed by my experience than by