Disordered Daggers : The Anarchists' Club by Alex Reeve (2019)

 

( She looked so miserable, I felt the urge to give her a hug, but of course I couldn’t. When I was young, my life had been full of hugging and touching, with my mother and Jane and my father’s dogs, and Bridget brushing my hair or straightening my clothes. But now, I had to suppress it. What if she was able to feel the narrowness of my arms, the inward curve of my waist or, worst of all, the edge of my cilice beneath my shirt? Those few inches of air between me and everyone else kept me safe. )