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SNIPPET 8
Feeling happy again, I let go of his hands and moved to climb off his lap, only to Here when Hugh yelped out in pain. "What's wrong?"
Nothing, nothing. I'm fine," he groaned, squirming around on the treehouse floor with his hands pressed to his crotch. "You just kneed me right in the nuts."
"What's the nuts?"
"The testicles," he clarified through clenched teeth, as his face turned a deep shade of red. “Fuck that hurts so bad.”
"It hurts?"
He nodded stifly, still squirming. "I'll pass in a bit."
"Don't worry. I know how to fix that thing." I reached for the waistband of his shorts and tried to pull them down. "I'm good at it."
"What? Wait! Liz, no!" Jerking away from me, Hugh bolted to the opposite side of the treehouse. "What are you doing?"
"I know how to fix it," I explained, crawling back over to him. "I can make you
feel better."
"No, Liz!" He held out his hand to stop me. "You can't."
"I can't?"
"No," he repeated, shaking his head. "You can't."
"Oh. Kneeling with my hands at my sides, Ilooked up at him, feeling like my whole world was about to crumble. I didn't know what I'd done to make him so upset with me, and that devastated me. Tears prickled my eyeballs. I was so bad. "I'm sorry, Hugh." He eyed me warily. "Why did you do that?" I shrugged, unsure of how to answer. "Don't know."
"You can't do that, Liz."
I couldn't?
"You are not allowed to do that," he repeated in a stern voice. "You are never allowed to touch someone like that."
I felt my face grow hot.
"And no one is allowed to touch you like that," he added. "Especially not under your
clothes. Only grown-ups are allowed to touch other grown-ups like that." I stared at him in confusion. I didn't understand.
Was I bad? Did he hate me? What was he saying?
"That's a bad touch," Hugh continued to explain. "And nobody is allowed to do
that to a kid.
