I had to admit, that was not what I was expecting. I stared at her for a few moments as she gazed back in silence, trying to gauge my reaction to the news. I suspected a part of her thought I would be angry, which I suppose was rational enough since she was effectively lying about her identity, but I wasn't. I'd seen this kind of thing too many times before. 

I nodded. "What are you running from then?" 

"What?" She blurted out, startled at my question. But I could see from her eyes that I'd hit the nail with my assumption.

"Usually when someone changes or lies about their name, it's because they're running from something." 

I'd met a lot of women who never revealed their true identity. The ones who ran in demonic circles usually had drug debts or trafficking ties they were trying to avoid, and they never hung around for long. It was strange that when I first met Carmen, I thought she was nothing like these women I socialised with, but perhaps she had more similarities with them then I'd previously assumed. Maybe she had an inkling of the fear that drove these characters into the beds of strangers, searching restlessly for some kind of safety, some kind of solace, in the arms of desolate men who gave little but took gladly. 

She avoided my gaze for a few moments. "You're not wrong." 

I waited patiently for her to continue, restraining the urge within me to bombard her with question after question. I had always known there was more to her than met the eye, and now my suspicions were about to be confirmed. 

"Do you remember when I told you I moved around the country a lot because of my dad's job?" I nodded. "Well we actually settled down somewhere when I turned seventeen. I finished school and I met a guy." 

"A guy?" I asked, my jaw tensing slightly. 

She rolled her eyes at me and laughed. "Yes, a guy. I do have a bit of a past Roman." 

I frowned. I wasn't jealous. I couldn't be jealous. This man was surely history and wasn't any kind of competition for me now. But on the other hand, if they had been together then he would've touched her in all the places I touched her, kissed her in all the places only I was allowed to kiss her. 

I narrowed my eyes and my nostrils flared. Okay, I was jealous. I'd guessed that she had partners in the past like any other beautiful girl in their twenties, but the confirmation of it made my insides burn. I hated the thought of her with another man, no matter how long ago it was. 

"Are you jealous?" She said, trying and failing to suppress a grin. 

I gave her a dark look in response, my gaze burning with envy. 

She gripped my biceps and inched closer to me, her smirk turning into a coy smile. "Don't be. I can't even think of anyone else when I'm with you..."

She trailed off and gave me a look of lust that called to the base desires deep within me.

"Damn right," I growled, before pulling her to me and kissing her hard. She gasped at my sudden movement and I took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, claiming her as the jealous beast inside of me demanded. She responded hungrily but couldn't match the passion I was pouring into the kiss, fuelled by the green within, and she immediately found herself submitting to me. 

As we drew away she nestled her head into the crook of my neck, her lips slightly swollen and her face flushed. She looked up at me with a gorgeous, dreamy smile that made me feel strangely warm inside and at once my envious rage had been forgotten. 

"See," she said in a voice barely louder than a whisper. "It's only you." 

I nodded, a goofy grin taking over my face. "I've missed you. Let's not fight ever again." 

She giggled. "Ever?" 

"Ever." 

A blissful silence surrounded us for a while and I found myself becoming so comfortable that the idea of sleep threatened to overcome me, but I fought against it. Now was not the time to be resting when Carmen was finally opening up. 

"So, what happened with this guy?" I prompted, breaking the peace with a reluctance I hoped wasn't present in my voice. 

She sighed and the dazed look of contentment left her face sharply. She lifted herself up from my shoulder and took back her original position on my lap, giving herself some distance to think clearly.

"Well, at first, he seemed perfect to me. He was so nice, he gave me a lot of attention and I just felt so flattered. I really fell for him," she said, glancing away with regret glinting in her eyes like flashlights in the dark. "After about a year together things started to go downhill. We were arguing a lot and I began to realise he was a really toxic person. He was controlling and a lot of our lifestyle revolved around alcohol to the point where we both became dependant. Eventually we were drinking so much that we lost our jobs and then..."

She stopped for a second and a sinking feeling made its way into my gut, her story starting to confirm a suspicion I'd had for a while. I felt like I knew where this testimony was going. 

She shook her head and took a deep breath, and I was surprised to see how painful this was for her. I took her hands in mine and squeezed them softly, before she started to speak again. 

"When he lost that job something in him snapped and the boy I'd fallen in love with changed. Every moment he spent with me he was angry and soon enough he started to...hit me." 

I let out the breath I didn't know I'd been holding in and let out a curse, wanting to beat the shit out of this cowardly kid. But I wasn't shocked. The Oracle had already shown me this scenario, had already made me live through it myself. I had just hoped that it wasn't the reality, that a woman as lovely as Carmen hadn't been through something as scarring as that. But it'd been wishful thinking rather than evidenced belief.

In any case, it seemed like The Oracle had finally proved herself to me. I couldn't exactly call her a waste of space anymore. 

"At first he was really apologetic about it, but then it kept happening and he stopped showing any signs of remorse. After one particularly bad night I left him and went to stay with a friend, but he found me and dragged me back. I kept trying to leave him but he'd always find me, and I couldn't go to the Police because his father was the chief constable and covered his back. He had me trapped." 

Hearing about this fucked up guy was making me angrier and angrier by the second, but I kept myself calm and composed because I knew she didn't need that right now. 

"What did you do?" I managed to get out without conveying the fury within.

"I'm glad you asked," she said, with a look of mischievous delight. "We were drinking heavily one evening like we always did, except I had swapped the vodka in my bottle for water earlier on in the day. So he drank himself into a stupor whilst I stayed completely sober. I'd legally changed my name to Carmen Summer earlier on in the week and booked a flight to New York. When he was asleep I took his car, drove to the airport and got on my flight. He went looking for me though." 

She shuddered intensely for a moment. 

"I saw his face once in New York. He didn't see me, but I saw him. As soon as it happened I picked up all of my stuff and left, and that's how I ended up in L.A. I still go back to alcohol sometimes, so that's why I can drink a lot, but mostly I've been pretty sober ever since being away from him. It reminds me of that life too much." 

I expected her to keep on talking, but she finished then and left the room in a stunned silence, as if even the air had been silenced by the heavy sense of melancholia Carmen was experiencing. 

"Do you want me to kill him?" 

She looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. 

"Do you want me to kill him for you?" I repeated, venom coating my words as my effort to keep calm reached its end. 

"No!" She gasped, looking at me like I was crazy. "I don't want you to have anything to do with him!"

I didn't say anything for a while, and she looked at me nervously, probably half-wondering if I was going to go off right now and track him down. The idea of that was very attractive and I was considering it, but it would mean I'd have to leave her by herself again. 

And I had no intention of doing that. 

"So he's not that slimy piece of shit I saw you arguing with outside of your apartment?" 

She let out a giggle. "No. That's just Gerald. We went on a few dates but then I found out he'd slept with three women so I broke it off. He's a moron." 

"Right. So what's this other guy's name?" 

She pursed her lips and frowned, her voice conveying a strong reluctance to divulge any more information. "Ben." 

I nodded, and there was another pause. 

"If he comes anywhere near you I will kill him," I promised her in complete sincerity. 

She nodded. "I knew you'd say something like that, and whilst I don't condone it...I understand." 

"Good." I tilted her chin up so that she was forced to gaze into my eyes. "I will always protect you, and I will never lay a hand on you. I hope you understand that." 

Tears sparkled in her eyes and she threw herself onto me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders as she engulfed me in a hug. I held her tightly as she cried quietly into my chest, and I vowed to myself that unlike all of the other women I'd met who could never find safety in their new identities, I would be the place of solace that Carmen needed. I would be the one to protect her from the world and all of its darkness, even if it meant giving up everything I'd ever stood for. 

Even if it meant giving up whom I really was.