Chapter 16: I Said Yes by Staying

"Yes," I said into the microphone. "I slept at their flat."

A sharp hush fell across the room.

Clemens stood at the foot of the stage with his mouth open.

He had expected me to deny it.

He had built the whole night on it. I would stammer and cry and say it wasn't true, and sixty people would watch me look guilty.

"I slept on their sofa from Thursday," I said. "Because you had my lease, and I had nowhere to go."

"You admit it!" he shouted.

"I'm not finished."

I felt Florian reach the edge of the stage, and I did not look at him.

If I looked at him I would lose my place.

"On the first night I lay on that sofa and pretended to sleep," I said. "And two men put their hands on me, and I let them.

"I was awake every night. I said yes by staying.

"I didn't say it out loud, and I'm saying it now. I wanted it. I still want it. Nobody took anything from me.

"They asked me every single time, in their way, and I answered in mine."

Somewhere in the crowd a woman said, "Oh my God," very softly, and it did not sound shocked.

It sounded like she was impressed.

"Clemens," I said. "You've told this room I was ruined. I am not.

"I walked out of here on Thursday with nothing but a handbag and a bad dress.

"I have a bed, and people in it who tell me the truth. I've had the best week of my life, and I'm planning another."

A man near the front laughed, once, and stopped himself.

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