==================== “Hey, I can’t go on the beach,” Stephie protested. “Why not?” Carrie demanded. We were standing on a dune, looking out ...n the vast beach. It stretched in a gently curving arc for nearly a mile, and with the enormous tide at its nadir, it was 300 yards from where we stood to the water’s edge. Even on a hot day like this, we were the only souls to be seen. “My boot!” Stephie cried. “I’ll get sand in it, and besides it’s not supposed to get wet.” “Steph, don’t be such a ....”. “You can’t keep running, and you can’t keep attacking everyone in sight. I know you can never put it behind you completely, but you have to find a way to stop your past ruling your life or you’re going to end up miserable and alone. Is that what you want?”“No, but I don’t need sympathy.”“I get it. You don’t want people to feel sorry for you, because maybe it means you’re weak. It doesn’t make you weak, and it doesn’t make you less than you are. It’s also not what the person you’re mad at is. Once, they caught her in the back yard and dragged her between a tree and the fence. They beat her with a fallen branch. That was the oddest incident. They hadn’t tried to fuck her or make her suck them. They just wanted her to fingerfuck herself, while they swatted her already black and blue ass. That time, she couldn’t cum, because they kept switching who swatted her. Her suffering was endless. Robert eventually called a halt to it, “Before she falls unconscious.” He’d said.Then he surprised. He didn’t want to start a scene with Lance. Not here, not now. ‘Do you want me to fuckin’ withdraw us? I will. I ain’t watchin’. Period.’ Lance scratched at the back of his neck and glanced towards the judge approaching them. He knew that Wesley wouldn’t withdraw them, but he also knew that he was pushing some major boundaries. ‘What’s the big deal? It’s a race … it’s been three and half years, Wes. You need to do this and you damn well know it.’ ‘No! I ain’t watchin’, damnit!’ Wesley’s mood.