so the more they 're down on me , the more he pretends he loves me . this was their usual way of dealing with things-to ignore them , to pretend they 'd never happened , to forget about them and hope they might go away-and normally that was just fine with peter . the hand in my hair tightened , not enough to hurt , but just enough so that he could use it to tilt my head backward slightly . i 'm down to nothing but my boots-just the way he wants me . 