I was naked below my waist and my torso might as well have been the way they tore open my blouse. I didn’t want to let anyone see my shame.”“You... shame?” Nick growls.“Yes! For tempting him! For letting him take my precious virginity. My gift to my husband, which no man would ever be.”“He raped you. His friends held you down. They did not allow any permission.”“The devil made me like this. Tempting men.”“No! You made no display. You did not tease. They took you without provocation. And even the. The last thing he remembered was that he could feel his life fading as darkness descended...He bolted upright with a gasp and ran his hands all over the parts of his body showing above the covers. He ran his fingers over his head through his hair, ending with a quick rub on the flesh of his neck. He paused when he felt a twinge of pain from the right side and explored that with his fingertips. There was a small scab there that flaked off even as he worried at it. He went back to the left side,. It was an echo of a rat-a-tat sound of falling rain on a tin roof, a cycle that seemed to repeat itself over and over again. I had been here before but I had a feeling that once I left- I would never, ever, return. The phone rang and I answered it- even then I could tell she was wearing that damn mask. The one with emerald eyes and clown painted cheeks. I could tell through her muffled voice and the way she spoke through her ceramic pretense. She whispered lighthearted limericks and laughed. It wasn't a special occasion we just decided to have an evening away in Manchester. We decided that we would go to a nice restaurant for some overpriced food and then head out to some bars for drinks. Everything was going smoothly and the food although priced way beyond what I would normally consider acceptable was tasty. We decided to head over the road to a nice bar and have our first drinks. Well one became two and two became 5 or 6, you know the drill.At this point I needed to go to the.