Given by Ashlynn Monroe

heard
humor and decided declining the challenge wasn’t going to fix the tension
between them.
    “Sure.”
    He stepped closer to her and took a small cigar from his
shirt pocket, bit off the end, then lit the tip. Max handed her the glowing
stogie carefully.
    “Thanks,” Krista said. “This is my first time smoking.” She
took a puff and began coughing hard. “Ugh!”
    “You okay?” She could hear the humor in his voice, and it
was both annoying and a relief.
    “A…Ah, I—gross.” She took another
more delicate drag, coughing again.
    Max chuckled. “Here, drink this, it might help.”
    She took the glass from him and the moment the liquid hit
her throat she began choking. Gasping loudly, she coughed again. “Are you
trying to kill me?” She managed to spit the words out between coughs.
    “A little brandy will fix you right up, besides a cigar
isn’t the same without quality booze.” One of the security lights flipped on,
illuminating his amused face. For a grumpy man, Max had a beautiful smile,
Krista decided.
    “I’ll take your word for it.” Krista sat the cigar down in
the ashtray and then placed her hand on his back. He flinched and his face
twisted in revulsion. The look stirred a memory.
    There’d been a girl brought into the Young Woman’s
Educational Protection Facility about a year after the government had mandated
all females not in a Giving contract live in custody for their own protection.
This girl was used in propaganda about how great it was to live in the safety
of the center. She’d been repeated raped by her uncles who’d kept her hidden away in a basement. She’d suffered for years. During one
of the assemblies, they’d brought her up to speak about how much happier she
was to be safe, and a caregiver had inadvertently touched her arm. The girl had
jumped and turned, wearing the exact same expression as Max had on his face
now.
    “Who hurt you, Max?”
    His eyes widened, and then narrowed. “What are you talking
about?” She’d seen the honesty of his surprise. He wasn’t going to fool her.
    “I won’t tell the others. Who hurt you?” She repeated the
question quietly. Krista knew any sexual abuse in his past would’ve made him
ineligible for the lottery based on the stringent restrictions for
participation. She knew why he’d hide it. “Your outburst, it wasn’t about what
Mal said, right?”
    “Don’t play head games with me. Go to bed.”
    “I just want to understand.” She genuinely did want to help
him, and not just to keep the peace in her new household.
    Krista cried out sharply as he literally picked her up,
crushing her against the wall of the house. They were out of sight, deep in the
shadows now.
    “You want to understand? This is what it feels like to be
helpless and afraid. Need me to show you how it can
hurt worse?”
    “N—No, please, I’m sorry, Max,” she stuttered, afraid of
what she’d unleashed in him. “I just want to understand, really. I don’t want
you to be in a situation that makes you uncomfortable, like earlier. I didn’t
know. I swear, I won’t tell the others.”
    He relaxed his grip on her, slightly, glaring into her face.
While he wasn’t her favorite person right now, he might someday father one of
her children, she needed to help him. “Let me help you,” she pleaded.
    His lips descended and he kissed her with punishing force.
Max let go of her arms and she wrapped them around his neck, trying to show him
comfort. She didn’t know what he needed, but he’d instigated this kiss for a
reason and she wasn’t about to risk destroying the tenuous connection they had.
He pushed away from her as abruptly as he’d grabbed her.
    “Go to bed, Krista.”
    “If you would like your turn, I’d understand. I promise I
won’t call for another group session again. I just want us all to get along. I
want to help you.”
    He put his hand against the wall and leaned down, very close
to her face. “Don’t pretend a good fuck