I was fuming at that point! That woman raped a child, she should not just get a slap on the wrist.
Right! I'm so glad a few of us recognize this for what it was. He was a freaking kid! A middle schooler if I remember correctly. I saw in some of the other comments how ppl were getting on him saying that he never stopped even when he knew it was wrong bc they obviously didn't realize that he was trapped in that f*ed up manipulative relationship with the step mom. And I'm saying trapped, bc when he realized it was wrong he didn't actually want to continue with her. Like, do ppl even realize the effects of psychological trauma? For example (& I know it's not the same but I'm just trying to make a point), an abused person in a domestically violent relationship knows that being abused is wrong but will continue to stay in the relationship until some kind of intervention is made. I'm just saying. I wonder if the genders were reversed and it was a middle school or HS girl and her step dad in that kind of relationship, if the comments would still be the same? I dunno. I was mad how this turned out too. I feel cheated, like the bad guy got away.
If I found out someone had been raping my kid, especially someone I thought I could trust, the absolute last thing I'd do is slap them once and then say "come on let's go home", js. The conclusion to poor ML's backstory was just as infuriating as the rest of it.