Chapter 200

• With regret, I roused Jess from sleep and let her know I was going to take Kat home. Eyes closed and hands rubbing her head, trying to moisten her dry mouth with her tongue, she grunted that she would join us later.
• I carried Kat to my car. Her body was fighting the stimulant effects of cocaine and nicotine with the sedative effects of the heroin, and I just wanted to get her home to sleep it off. When we arrived, she was still a little on the hyper side, so I stripped her down and put her in the shower. Her body looked like a battlefield. There were ligature marks on her wrists and ankles. Her neck was bruised, and she had hickeys on her breasts and thighs. Her nipples were reddish and raw, her pussy bright red and swollen. There were welts on her ass and a couple spots where David Johnson had broken the skin. His stated goal was to punish her, and he had done that thoroughly.
• I waited for Kat to wash herself off but didn't join her in the shower. I waited outside with a towel I had warmed in the dryer. Kat turned off the water and stepped out in a plume of steam. I wrapped her in the towel, dried her, and carried her to bed.