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an irresponsible
teenager.”
    “You don’t know anything about him.”
    “I know that any man who lays hands on a
woman—“
    Ivy put a hand in her mother’s face.   “Stop it.   Just stop.   He didn’t lay hands on me.”
    “Look me in the eye and tell me those
marks on your neck aren’t from him.   This wonderful man you love so much.”   Her mother’s eyes were like daggers,
impaling her with their accusing glare.
    “I’m not doing this right now.   I have to go.”  
    Her mother watched her as she walked
away.   “If you think I’m going to
let him get away with this, you’ve got another thing coming, young lady!”
    Ivy waved to her.   “Go home, Mom!” she yelled as she waved
a cab down, finally.   “I’ll call you
later!”
    But her mother didn’t move.   She stood there on the street and
watched Ivy leave without budging, as if she’d become rooted to the sidewalk.
     
    ***
     
    There was a tremendous sense of guilt
about leaving her mother on the street corner, but Ivy told herself that it was
her mother’s fault.
    I
can’t let her guilt trip stop me from doing what I need to do.
    Although, she was a little concerned
about the marks on her neck.   Opening her pocket mirror, she saw that there were indeed a few slight
discolorations on her neck.
    They weren’t anything major—they
could easily have been hickeys or something.
    Except
for the inconvenient truth that they’re not hickeys.
    They
came from Cullen’s hands being wrapped around your throat.  
    But
most likely, it was from me encouraging him to squeeze my neck tighter.
    Cullen
never even came close to hurting me.   Never.  
    Ivy considered applying some light
foundation to mask the marks on her throat, but decided not to.   She felt like doing that would imply
that she was hiding something.
    I’m
not hiding anything.   We haven’t
done anything wrong .   Plenty
of people like to do kinky things during sex.
    The cab dropped her off in front of
Cullen’s home and then she saw the door opening, as Cullen came outside and greeted
her.
    He was wearing a light blue suit, and it
matched his eye color almost perfectly.   He looked handsome, devastating as ever.
    “Ivy,” he said, sounding formal, as she
reached the doorstep.
    “Is it all right if we take a walk
outside for a bit?” she asked, remembering his father’s instruction to talk out
in public where they couldn’t be easily overheard or spied on.
    Cullen gave her a curious look.   “A walk.”   He shrugged.   “Sure, why not?”
    So he shut the front door and locked it,
and then the two of them began walking down the street together.   “I guess you’re probably wondering why I
came here,” she said.
    Cullen ran a hand through his hair.   “I wanted to see you too,” he said.
    His comment caught her completely off
guard.   “You did?” she said,
surprised at his admission.
    He stopped walking and took her hand in
his.   “I miss you already,” he told
her.   “I thought that I could
somehow stay away from you, Ivy.   I
told myself that you’d be better off without me.   And I’m certain that’s true.”
    “Cullen—“
    “Let me say it,” he told her, his pale eyes
intent on her now.   “I’m no good for
you, Ivy.   You are perfect, and
beautiful, and sweet and innocent.   And if I could somehow erase my presence from your life, I’d do it so
that you wouldn’t be burdened by my darkness.   But I can’t seem to live without
you.”    
    “You’re not evil,” she told him.   “You think you’re so dark and horrible,
but you’re not.   I can see who you
truly are.   And I still love you.”
    He reached out and caressed her
cheek.   “I could never hope to
deserve you.”
    She smiled at him and bit her lower
lip.   “We might be crazy,” she
said.   “Like—really, really
crazy.”
    “I’m crazy about you,” he said, still
stroking her cheek as the wind picked up and ruffled his dark hair.
    And