"Good morning, Cersei Lannister," Luke smirked over his cup of tea. "How was sex with Jamie?"

Sky's cheeks heated all the way to her ears as she sank into her seat next to Luke, slamming her tray on the table. "God, say it a little louder will you? I don't think everyone heard you yet."

"Well, you're lucky everyone didn't hear you, girl. Or your brother. Oh, Sky—! Touch me, do what you want, anything—!" Luke did a rather good impression of Cody's lust-strangled voice, which Sky didn't find funny at all, considering they were in the breakfast room.

"Haha, very funny. Care to stop now?" She muttered and glanced around the room. Luckily no one seemed to be paying any attention to them - the staff was piling more pancakes and yogurts on the buffet table, only a couple of kids had yet arrived, and all of them were practically snoozing over their cups of tea.

Lukes sighed melodramatically and flipped his neon locs behind his shoulder. "Damn, you're edgy. One would have thought you'd be a bit more cheerful after that incest fest."

"You're awful. You know he's not really my brother."

"I'm just kidding," Luke replied with a gentler tone. "Let me have some fun! This is the most exciting thing that has happened here since Kimmie LaRue smuggled her pet tarantula in and managed to keep it in her room for two weeks before it escaped and caused a hell of mayhem."

"Kimmie who?" Sky frowned.

Luke brushed that off with a swift movement of his hand. "You don't know her, she got kicked out."

"Because of the tarantula?"

"Well, yeah. Be careful, Sky. Smuggling in some hairy-legged spider is one thing, but smuggling in a lover? That could get you in a shitload of trouble." Luke sighed, but quickly his worried expression turned into a wicked grin. "Still, I think that was romantic as Hell. That cutie, sneaking in pretending to be your brother, and then discreetly banging your brains out - sweet Jesus! How did he do that by the way?"

"What?" Sky almost choked on her tea. "I'm not gonna give you any dirty details!"

"No, jeez, I meant how did he sneak in here? How did he even find you?"

To get a moment to think about her answer, Sky buttered her toast, added some jam, and took a bite, then flushed it down with the disgusting herbal tea. Of course, she had known she would have to explain things to Luke, but still, she hadn't been quite prepared for this inquisition. What had happened with Cody was private. It felt intimate, fragile, beautiful, and she couldn't quite make herself laugh at Luke's rude jokes. With a frown, she sipped some more of her tea - and made a face to the taste that reminded her of dirty socks and soil. If only she had coffee— She could use something that would help her brain to make sense of everything that had happened. But maybe Cody would bring her some next time he visited—

Sky's stomach clenched into a tight knot of anxiety, and she placed down her tea cup to hide the sudden trembling of her hands.

I bet he never wants to see me again. I never should have said anything.

"He– he had a fake ID," she said to Luke, forcing herself back into the conversation. "And he had forged Dad's signature on the visitor's permit form."

Luke's brows arched high. "Damn, that boy is committed. I gotta give him that."

"He went through an awful lot of trouble to see me," Sky admitted. "I don't really know what to think about it."

That part was true - she was more confused about Cody than she had ever been before. First, there had been the letter, then the visit - and all Cody had said when holding her in his arms. How sorry he was, how he would do anything for her, anything. Those weren't things you said to a friend, they were something more. Sky knew Cody could have any girl he wanted, that he had dated half the school - clearly, he wasn't just after sex either, there were a thousand easier ways to get pussy than to sneak into a rehab center breaking a dozen laws. So maybe Moon and Sam had been right? Maybe Cody did have a crush on her? Sky's heart sank, it fell into her gut, leaving behind a hollow, desolate emotion. Whatever feelings Cody might have nurtured towards her, they were surely gone now. Sky had made sure of that by telling him just how unlovable she really was, how disgusting. Now he was probably gone for good, thanking God for the fact that he had dodged the bullet.

"I bet he's in love with you," Luke noted, unaware of Sky's dark thoughts, making her glance snap up from her plate back at his face.

"What— what makes you say that?"

"The way he looked at you, my God, girl, if you can't see it, you're fucking blind."

Sky's heart twitched painfully. "Well, if he is, then why– why hasn't he said it?"

"I don't know." Luke shrugged and leaned back in his chair, looking mellow and relaxed as always - the complete opposite of how Sky was feeling. "Maybe he's scared that you don't feel the same. Cause you don't, do you?"

Sky swallowed hard. Her appetite had disappeared completely, and she placed her toast back onto the plate. "To be honest - I don't know what I feel about him. Besides, he's probably not even going to come back. Not after what happened yesterday—"

"Why? Was the sex that bad?"

Sky rolled her eyes at him. "No, asshole. The sex was amazing. I just— we talked, and I… I told him something, and…"

"And?"

"Even if he had some feelings for me—" She shrugged, feeling miserable. "They're gone now. He probably thinks I'm fucking disgusting."

Luke let out a long sigh and gave her a worried glance.

"Girl, what the fuck did you tell him?"

Sky had told Cody about Matt.

Maybe it was because she felt so incredibly soft and safe in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder as they lay on the bed after the sex, still high in their post-orgasmic bliss. Or maybe it had something to do with the weird, feeling in her heart when she thought about the things he had said, that he would do anything for her. Anything. That word was enormous, it was too big, it made something flutter in Sky's heart, it took her breath away, and yet - yet, it was suffocating, because he was so fucking kind, and that brought back the voice in the back of Sky's mind, the voice that shouted clear and loud that no one would be this kind to her if they knew what she was.

If Cody knew how truly unworthy of anyone's affection she was, he never would have wasted his time or his kindness on her.

Quickly, before losing all courage, her words falling off her lips silent and fast, she told him about how Matt had abused her, how he had pushed her down the stairs, and then - her voice almost failing - she told him about the night when she had passed out on the couch and Matt had raped her.

The silence that fell in the room after she had finished, was painful. Sky drew in a shaky breath, preparing herself for the undeniable outcome. Cody would get up, he would shove her away, and leave. He would be disgusted, he would hate her—

He stiffened on the bed, his chest rose and fell with fast, ragged breaths that told of emotion her words had caused, but—

"Shit— Sky, you— you must truly hate me." When he finally spoke, his voice was thin, strained. "What I said to you that night— when we first met— I… I had no idea something like that had happened to you. I'm so sorry. I'm a fucking idiot—"

Sky's heart was in her throat, tears burned behind her eyes when he wrapped his arm tighter around her and she pressed her face against the soft fabric of his T-shirt. She felt how his heart was beating in his chest, fast, hard, uneven.

"You did nothing to deserve that," Cody continued, his voice breaking. "Not what your ex-boyfriend did to you, nor what I said—"

"What you said was one stupid thing. What Matt did, it was—" She couldn't finish that sentence, it got caught in her throat painfully, as if the words had vicious thorns that hurt her mouth. After all this time - it was more than a year and a half - and she still had no words for how badly Matt had broken her.

Cody's voice was silent, throaty. "I've been a complete asshole. Had I known—"

But what would have he done had he known the truth, Sky didn't get to find out. His sentence was cut in half as they heard someone approaching. There was a sharp knock on the door, and it made Cody jump up from the bed with lightning speed.

The moment was gone. Sky's heart was so heavy she was surprised it was beating at all.

I'm such a fool. I've ruined the one good thing I had left.

When Cody walked out of her room, his face was set, his jawline as hard, as if it had been sculpted from marble. He didn't even look at her when he left.

Thanks for all the support.