Bent to his task, she thought he wouldn't want the distraction of her talking, but he surprised her.
“Full story. I'm listening.”
The sour taste of that story filled Dillon's mouth, but she was proud of where her first terrible experience with domestic violence brought her.
“My roommate in college and I were close. We were both alone in the world, no other family to speak of, both at UV on full scholarships.
"Tally had been with her boyfriend since high school, and I hated his guts. Not just a little hate, like, I wanted to stab him in the eye with a dull spoon every time he opened his asshole mouth.”
Nasa grunted out a laugh in response to her bloodthirsty desire, but didn't interrupt her.
“I didn't like how he had this gorgeous woman on his arm and always stared at me like he was picturing me naked.
"Tally seemed happy; she told me she loved him, so I just got in the habit of avoiding situations where I had to be in the same room with him, and did my best to support her because we were friends.
"As long as she was happy, I let her be. Thankfully, Todd didn't much care for me either, so our interactions were limited.
“One day, Tally didn't come home after spending the night out with Todd. She wasn't at class, she wasn't answering her phone, and after one full day of nothing, I got worried.
"I called around, looked everywhere I could for her; I even called Todd, and he said he hadn't seen her since dropping her off at the dorm.
“He sounded genuinely concerned, and considering how possessive he was about Tally, I didn't doubt him. I was about to call the cops when the hospital phoned because Tally had put me down as her next of kin.
"When I got there, they told me she'd been raped, and so badly beaten the doctors had to put her in a coma for a few days.”
Dillon blew out a breath, remembering the horrified disbelief she'd felt as she'd walked into Tally's hospital room, seeing her popular, bubbly little roommate so bruised and beaten her face was unrecognizable.
“I'd heard stories and seen photos of women in abusive relationships, but I hadn't ever seen it firsthand. I sat there, holding her hand, very calmly planning her boyfriend's murder because I knew he was responsible.
“Todd never dropped Tally at the dorm. He walked her upstairs and made sure she went straight to her room, every single time.
"Then when he was downstairs, he'd call up, make Tally come to the window and wave at him to confirm she was still where he'd left her. It was a routine he never deviated from, so why start?”
Nasa made a sound to say he agreed and was listening, but didn't interrupt.
“The cops came and asked me a bunch of questions, and as soon as I told them Todd was Tally's boyfriend, suddenly, the questions went from serious to patronizing. They asked me if I'd been drinking or out at a party with Tally and lost track of her.
“Would I be willing to take a drug test? Did anyone else notice she'd been missing? Was Tally the type to sleep around?
"All that bullshit, because Todd's father was some high-raking big-wig in the police force, and the two detectives weren't interested in believing the son of a cop might be a rapist.
“Tally had no family to support her or protect her, which made her the perfect target for someone like Todd, and I couldn't believe I hadn't seen any signs before that day.
"We'd slept in the same room for two years, and I never saw any bruises or behavior to suggest Todd was anything more than a narcissistic, jealous douche.”
Men like Todd were excellent actors, and victims of spousal abuse went to great lengths to hide their injuries out of fear or shame.
Even as classy as her fashion major roomie had been, Tally always wore sleeves that came down to her elbows, high-collared shirts, and her skirts never fell any higher than an inch below her knees.
Dillon couldn't remember a time when she'd seen Tally wear anything even remotely revealing, and as her relationship with Todd went on, Tally only covered up more.
She took showers late at night to avoid being seen in the dorm bathrooms, had a dressing screen on her side of the room—which Dillon had always thought was a silly modesty issue for a fashion student to have—and slept in long sleeves and leggings even in the heat of the summer.
It hadn't even occurred to Dillon that Tally was hurting, because Tally always went on and on about fashion and clothes, her hair and make up. Things Dillon had zero interest in, so she tuned them out.
“When Tally woke up, the first thing she said to me after I told her why she was in the hospital was, 'I shouldn't have made him angry. It's my fault.'
"I hadn't known I could be so angry and so patient with someone at the same time, but I finally got Tally to admit he'd been knocking her around for the entirety of their relationship because Tally needed Todd to teach her how to behave. How it was her fault if he hit her because she knew the rules.”
Nasa's fingers stuttered across the keyboard, briefly clenching into fists before resuming his task.
“Was she too scared to leave him? Or too conditioned at that point to even consider it?”
Even as his voice rang with incredulous outrage, there was compassion for Tally.
“Both. One of the nurses clearly had experience with battered women, and she didn't sugarcoat it when she told Tally if she went back to Todd, there would come a day when he would put her in the ground instead of a hospital bed.
“The nurse suggested a women's shelter, but because of his connections to the police force, I wasn't sure Tally would be safe there. I also knew that without irrefutable proof Todd was abusing
