Our Forbidden Love 2

34: Alexander

"Alex," Starley whimpers, "Alex, help me."
Instantly, I go to her. She's lying on the floor on what was Peter's and her half of the room. When I reach her, she starts crying even more than before and all I can do is try to get my head around the state she's in. Her face is purple from crying, though it's a darker colour on one of her cheeks, in the shape of a handprint resembling Peter's. There's a cut in the side of her neck, which is bleeding her purple blood out into the water around us. Above the cut in her neck is an ugly, palm-sized hickey, courtesy of Peter. That absolute son of a b***h! I was going to single-handedly murder him.
"Binah," I say, turning to look at her. She's kneeling on the floor beside Whitney, quietly whispering to her. She looks up at me. "You're a Healer, right?" She nods. "Can you please come and heal this please?" She nods again and makes her way over to Starley and I. She visibly stops when she sees Starley's condition and she too has to get her head around it. She leans down to place her hand over the top of the cut in Starley's neck. Her purple magic seeps through her fingers and out the end of her fingertips and carefully repairs the cut skin.
"Thank you," I say and she nods to me with a small smile before heading back over to Whitney. Suddenly, I start feeling guilty. Why had I called Binah over? She is with her loved one who died, and somehow I think it's okay to prioritise my loved one, just because she's still alive.
I'm sorry, Binah. I say, telepathically. I feel her recognition. She turns to smile at me and says, you have nothing to apologise for, Alex. I turn back to Starley.

"Starley, what do you need?" I ask her. She's still lying on the floor, her hands still up near her head, her small body shaking with the reality of it all. She tries to sit up and eventually she gets there. I hold my arms out to try and give her a hug, but again, she's tentative and scared to hug me. "I won't hurt you. Ever." This statement seems to help her slightly as she collapses against my body for a hug. She instantly starts sobbing again and I rub my hand up and down her back to try and comfort her.
Eventually, she manages to say some words, though they come out shaky.
"He tried to get me to kiss him," she whispers. "And I wouldn't, so he kept hitting me."
I hold her closer to me, her head against my chest and her body moving with the great sobs of her crying.
After a while, I say, "You know you could've kissed him."
"Why should I?" says Starley, her voice still cracking in the middle of crying. "I'm loyal to you."
And I knew that. She was loyal to me, that's why I didn't have to worry about Lilliana, not really. I loved how loyal she was, it gave me a security I knew some relationships and people in general didn't have. Starley always knew what was right and wrong in our relationship; what was cheating and what wasn't; but this time she'd been wrong.
A kiss is nothing compared to her life, which I know Peter wouldn't have hesitated in taking had Weedy given him more time alone with her. I appreciate the loyalty but I'd rather her live her life with me than die because she is so loyal to me.
"Do the thing please," she says, holding her hand out to me. I take it in mine and start rubbing my thumb over it, it comforts her and makes her feel protected when I do it, so there probably wasn't a better time for me to do it.

While Starley's in my arms and I'm rubbing my thumb over her hand on the floor of the Scout School, I feel Starley feed me a memory. It's the one of her and Peter; she wants me to see what happened. She closes her eyes and burrows further into my chest. I watch the memory she's fed to me.
Peter Parker on top of Starley Star-Bub on the floor of the Scout School in Oceanum Villa. Starley in a traumatic state, crying and screaming. Peter ignores her cries of  "get off me" and "get away from me".
Peter, still on top of her, moans in pleasure.
"You turn me on so much babygirl," he says.
"F**k off!" Starley screams, trying to use her hands to push him off her. He pins her hands down. "Get off of me!"

Once I finish watching the memory, I sit in silence. He's unbelievable. I can't believe he thought all of that was okay to do to her. I hold Starley closer to me. I didn't try hard enough to try and get her away from him. I should've killed him when I had the chance, before Binah and Whitney arrived, before he got a chance to further take advantage of Starley. She's my girlfriend, I should've done more to help her. Reading my mind, Starley says, "it wasn't your fault."
I stay silent, I still think it is my fault that she now has a hickey, handprint on the side of her face and trauma. I'm responsible for this, I know I am, but Starley will try and take the blame off me and put it on Peter. But for once, I hadn't done all I could to save her. I nearly got her killed. I should've done more. I could've done more. But I didn't, and now I have to sit with the guilt for the rest of my life.