Sean's Sweetheart by Allie Kincheloe

sank down to sit on the front porch steps.
    Keeping her motions slow, Anna sat next to Talia. She made sure to make no sudden movements. Didn't want to scare the nervous young woman off.
    "Talia, I have to ask. Did Turner assault you? Were you raped, honey?" The police officer kept her voice steady and low.
    Talia's eyes grew wide and her chin dropped to let her mouth hang open in shock. "What? Oh God, no! Nothing like that! No! Why would you even think that?" She blurted out her response and jumped up to pace in front of the porch.
    "Then what happened? Honey, you yelled at him, slapped him on the chest, but then flinched away when he tried to touch you. What did he do? What are you doing hanging around with a guy like him anyway?"
    Her young neighbor looked anxious. She glanced about and opened her mouth to speak before closing it right back. After a couple false starts, she brought her hand up to fiddle with her hair and started to speak. "Sean and I are just friends. He helped me out of a tight spot recently with a guy. A guy closer to my age, I might add. We went hiking today up at Garden Falls, Sean and I. He… Well, I like him, a lot, and I thought he liked me too. Man, is this embarrassing to say out loud. I… I kissed him today, and he flipped out and brought me straight home."
    She picked a flower and stared at it like it held all the answers. "I cried because I embarrassed myself today. That's why I yelled at him too. He's told me a couple times I was too young and I suppose my actions today proved it. I really made a fool of myself over him." Talia blushed, her fair skin pinking up brightly.
    A dark spot on the girl's neck caught Anna's eye. Leaning her head to get a better look, Anna reached out and grasped Talia's chin. Talia recoiled like she'd been slapped and Anna knew. She closed her eyes and inhaled sharply. Someone had hit this girl. Someone had taught her that a touch was something to be feared. And so help her, if she got her hands on the bastard who did it, she'd put him under the jail.
    "If Turner did nothing to you, why are you flinching from me with a hickey on your neck?"
    Talia's hand rose up to cover the left side of her neck. Her lips tipped up in a little smile. "He left a mark?"
    "Someone sure as hell did. You told me nothing happened today. Explain how he marked you if nothing happened."
    "It was nothing. I kissed him, and he responded for a moment. I didn't think…" She closed her eyes and sighed. "Anna, Sean hurt nothing more than my feelings. If he left a mark on my neck, it's because I threw myself at him and he reacted like a man. It didn't take long for him to shove me away and drive me straight home."
    The tension in Anna's shoulders eased. She could detect no deception in the young woman in front of her, as well as no physical signs of trauma outside of the love-bite. She had never been so grateful to have been wrong about a situation.
    Still, she felt an obligation to warn Talia what he was really like. "I'd hate to see you hurt. Do me a favor, would you? Stay away from Sean Turner. He's not right for you. He may have helped you out, and I'm not exactly sure what you meant with that, but he's not a good man. He has issues, big issues. I know. I arrested him in the past. He tell you about his record?"
    "No, he didn't. He's told me he's not right for me and I can do better than him though. I'm too young. I wouldn't know what I was getting into. Things like that. But honestly, Anna, he made it clear today that he's not interested, so you have nothing to worry about," Talia said with a deep sigh.
    Anna flinched at that sigh. Talia really liked that asshole for some reason. At least Turner had done the right thing and walked away.
    She patted Talia on the shoulder. "I'm glad I was wrong about him this time. And while I wish you hadn't gotten your feelings hurt in the process, I think he made the right choice. Try to stay away from him, will you?"
    Talia nodded, but kept her gaze on the