An Exchange

Chapter Thirty-Eight - Strained

Giles

The pounding on the door startled everyone. Sarah and Cassie dashed down the stairs, whispering. I stayed in my room and listened as Mom rushed to the door. A few moments later, she came to me. “Giles, it's Penny. She looks a mess.”

I leaped to my feet and muttered, “What has he done now?”

“Who? Ryan again?”

I nodded. “She was supposed to be spending the evening with him. He must have done something.”

I hurried passed her and found Penny standing in the living room looking the worse for wear. Her hair hung like strings from being out in the rain, she had mud on her shoes and the bottom of her jeans, and her jacket she wore to school was gone. Her eyes swam with tears.

I grabbed her arm and pulled her out the back forsome privacy, and sat her on a chair. But before I could sit, she jumped up and latched onto me as her tears burst from her. What had he done to her?

I sat us on the porch stairs and held her as she cried into my chest. What happened? What had Ryan done? Maybe his dad had done something. He had been cruel to Penny in the past. I stroked her hair wondering how anyone could disapprove of her or want to hurt her.

Her voice cut through my thoughts. "Sometimes they used to beat me, but mostly they would tease me and try to catch me out."

She was talking about the people at her school back in Australia, but what could have brought those memories back to the surface? "They aren't here now."

She nodded and tightened her grasp around me. "He tried to touch me, then he told me that I was stupid for letting religion rule my life. Why would he say that?"

Indignant, I almost jumped to my feet to hunt Ryan down and rip him limb from limb. He tried to touch her! That meant somewhere he shouldn't. When she had refused him, he'd blamed the one thing he didn't understand. The one thing she had been tortured over for years—the church. That must have really hurt her, hearing him say that when she thought he was so different. I looked down at her and spoke while trying to suppress my rage. "Because he doesn't understand."

She looked up at me, her eyes glistening. "Why are you so wonderful?"

My heart softened, her eyes tearing down the rage inside me. I wiped away her tears. "I try, but it does come naturally."

She laughed and slapped me playfully on the chest. I caught her hand and rested it back on my chest again as I touched her face. Her gaze darted up and locked with mine. Her eyes were so beautiful. That deep, mesmerizing blue. As I gazed into them, I felt like she was letting me in, baring her soul to me. In her vulnerable state she had come to me, no one else. She trusted me completely, more than even Ryan. I felt briefly elated, but saddened that she had been beaten down and brought to such a state when she was so amazing, so lovely. I said, "Why do you let people treat you like that?"

She blinked, startled, and I could see in her eyes she was thinking something. She leaned just a little closer. I brushed her cheek with my thumb. Was she finally seeing that I had feelings for her? I tried with all my might to let her know without words that I did.

But guilt flashed across her face and she turned away. "I don't know."

I sighed, disappointed, and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her head onto my shoulder. "You know, I never would. You deserve better."

She clasped tightly onto my shirt. We sat silently for a few moments before she spoke again to recount the details of the night. I listened, suppressing the urge to leap up and hunt Ryan down when she told me he groped her against her will. As she told me about the party, I could hear the regret in her voice for putting Maria in danger and making such a bad decision. I knew she only did it because of the pain Ryan kept inflicting on her. She acted out to spite him, and she regretted it because she had only hurt herself more.