Forever.

Chapter 8: Instead

Claire's P.O.V. (Continued)

My chest tightens and it feels like I've been shot in the stomach. Is it me? Am I just undateable? I understand that we fought, and I understand that it was about me, but I didn't know it was this bad. I didn't know he would do something like this again.

"I guess I mean nothing to you." I say, my voice sounding strangled. He pulls back from Andrea suddenly and looks at me. He gets the same horrified look I saw the first time he cheated.

"Babe, what's she doing here? I thought you ended it with her." Andrea says.

"I'm sorry I interrupted." I manage to choke out.

"You should be, now get out." Andrea snaps. Braden stays frozen with a look of terror on his face.

I nod in response.

I drop the bags and close the door behind me when I leave. I want to cry, but I can't. I'm all cried out about him and the things he does to me. I get out of the elevator and head towards the main doors of the apartment building. It's dark outside, but I honestly don't care, I need to clear my head and try to understand why Braden did that.

I step outside and almost no cars are on the road, so there is very minimal light. I take a right, hoping it will lead me somewhere where I can be alone. I don't know where I'm going, but I do know that I want to be alone.

"Claire!" I hear Braden yell from behind me. I turn around and stop walking. He comes running at me full speed. He slows down so he's in front of me, and I keep a straight face to hide my emotions. "Please let me explain." He pleads.

I keep a straight face and cross my arms.

"The fight totally messed me up. I have no idea why I called her, but I swear that kiss meant nothing to me. Everything I said earlier about loving you for you is one hundred percent true. I swear to god that you mean absolutely everything to me, and there's nothing in the world that I wouldn't do for you. You need to know that I love you so much." He says. He tries to take my hands, but I step back. "I'm so sorry." He says.

I stay frozen with a straight face and my arms crossed. Multiple agonizingly slow seconds pass before he tries to take my hands in his again. I take another step back.

"Please, say something." He pleads.

I stay frozen.

"Do something, please." He pleads.

The corners of my mouth curve down and I shrug my shoulders.

"Like what? What am I supposed to do?" I ask.

"I don't know, anything. Yell at me, hit me." He says. He then nods a little. "Yeah, hit me." He says.

"I'm not gonna hit you." I say quietly.

"Then do something. It will make me feel better." He pleads.

"And what about me?" I ask.

"What?" He asks.

"What will make me feel better, huh?" I ask.

"I don't know. Tell me what do to do make this better." He says as he folds his hands in front of him. "How many times do I have to say I'm sorry to fix this?" He asks.

"You can say sorry as many times as you want. It still doesn't change the fact that you did it." I say with a blank face.

"I know." He says sadly as he drops his head. "There aren't enough words to express how sorry I am about this. I had no intention of doing it, but that fight screwed with my head and I wasn't thinking about what I was doing."