Guarding Light by Cate Mckoy Page B

know.
       "'Cause, wench, you should have called us!" Ignoring Tasha's scolding, Catlyn frowned.
       "Did he tell you what he and Sara did to me at the hospital?"
       "You mean, tell the cop you were mistaken about J.T. being the one to hurt you? Yes he did."
       "I was NOT mistaken. J.T. Dark raped me, Sara Dolson and Jack Gard covered it up for him."
       Tasha gave her a compassionate look, putting her hand on Catlyn's shoulder. "Kitty Cat you were always messed up and super emotional when it came to J.T." She hurriedly continued when she saw Catlyn about to erupt. "I'm not sayin' it wasn't justified, just sayin' he was an evil bastard and he affected you badly, your very own personal boogey-man."
       "I was never mistaken in my ID of the person who attacked me. My so called best friend defended my attacker over me." Catlyn nearly shouted.
       "Jack would NEVER do something like that, especially not to you. He loved you." At Catlyn's look of disbelief Tasha nodded. "Why do you think he enlisted? The pain he caused you was tearing him apart."
       Catlyn didn't need to hear how heartbroken Jack had been. Her heart had shattered that long ago day in the hospital. "If he had felt anything for me, he never would have lied to protect a piece of scum like Dark."
       "Jack didn't lie!" Tasha was very quick to defend.
       "Oh, so, what you're saying is that I was the one lying?"
       Tasha paused considering. "No sweetie, not lying, but, confused."
       When Catlyn remained silent Tasha pushed on. "Jack is an honorable man. One of the few I've ever met. And his respect for women knows no bounds. He stands by the women in his life and would defend them to the death."
       Catlyn crossed her arms totally unimpressed. Seeing her cold look Tasha went on, "You know I wish Jack wasn't so honorable. Because if he wasn't he would have fucked you way back when and fucked you right! And then your first time wouldn't have been so horrible and you wouldn't be such a cold bitch right now." Tasha looked her up and down with scathing contempt and then walked out of the bathroom with her head high.
       Catlyn uncrossed her arms, clenching her fists at her side. She was not a cold bitch. Jack's touch had left her feeling very hot. Enough so that she had allowed him to make love to her on a table-top! In a police station! She had been flabbergasted when her body had actually responded to Jack's kisses and caresses. It was because of the surprise that she allowed Jack to continue touching her. In twenty-five years her body had not reacted to any man. Well, except for that one celebrity from that one show. Catlyn never understood why just the image of the star on the screen stirred her. But it did. However, Jack was the only flesh and blood, real life man to affect her.
       It was as if her body had been in dormant stage. And then Jack touched her and it awoke. Her body had come alive just as it had all those years ago when he'd given her a first kiss, first hug, first make out session and her first sexual release. It was the one and only time she had come by the touch of a man. These days she used her trusty vibrator while images of the sexy celebrity doing equally sexy things to her body floated around in her head.
       The rape had left her damaged. She couldn't bring herself to be intimate with any man. She had truly tried over the years. But no man had been able to break through her wall of fear and revolution of being touched.
       It had taken several months to heal physically from the rape. And she had had three years of therapy until she couldn't take it anymore. She found physical exertion helped with her emotional pain. She had turned to all things physically exhausting, jogging, running, climbing, martial arts training. It all satisfied a deep need to control her body. And it all worked to keep her in balance, controlled. That was until she met Jack Gard again. Her body had recognized its owner.