Forever.

Chapter 23: Ten Million Dollars

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

"Miss me?" He asks with an evil smirk.

I'm not going to let him get to me. What he did happened eleven years ago, I'm not going to let him think that he impacted my life at all.

"What are you doing here?" I ask blankly.

"I thought that I'd pay you a little visit." He asks with a smirk. His dark jeans and black shirt don't make his creepy face any less creepy. He looks pretty much the same as he did eleven years ago, except his hair is more gray.

"Why?"

"I wanted to see how you grew up. I can see that you filled out." He says as he stares at my chest. I cross my arms protectively and take a small step back.

"I don't want you here, get out." I say.

"Come with me. Now." He says seriously.

"No."

"No? Remember what I used to do when you said no?" He asks.

"Yes, I remember."

"Then how about we re-visit that method?" He asks.

"No, that's exactly what got you arrested in the first place." I say. "How did you get out so soon?"

"I was presenting good behavior, so they let me out early. So let's get going." He says.

"You have no power of me now." I say seriously. I don't know where he's going to take me if I go with him.

"Yes I do. You're so scared of me that you'll do anything that I want. You haven't changed. You still chew the inside of your cheek when you're scared, and you still attempt to have an intimidating look on your face, but you still don't have one." He says.

I roll my eyes and turn around to walk away.

"Come with me, or I'm talking to Braden." He says as he takes a step forward and whispers in my ear.

No. He can't see Braden, he can't talk to him. He might hurt him, or Braden would try to hurt Eric, but that wouldn't work at all.

"Where?" I ask.

"Just out. I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to talk to you, catch up for old times sake." He says like we ended on good terms.

"Can I go talk to my boyfriend and tell him that I'm leaving?" I ask.

"I'm going to listen in, and if I hear one word about who I really am, then I'm going to hurt you." He says, using the same voice he would use to scare me when I was little.

"I just don't want him to worry."

"Let's go." He says. He leans in again and places his mouth by my ear. "I know where his room is, so don't try to do anything funny."

I slightly nod, and head off in the direction of Braden's room.

I'm only cooperating because I know what he's capable of, and I don't want Braden to see me like this.

I reach Braden's room and go in, making sure that he can't see Eric.

"Hey, do we get to finish?" He asks with a smirk.

"Can we take a rain check on that?" I ask.

He stands up again, only using his left leg. I slowly walk over to him.

"Everything okay?" He asks.

"Yeah, it turns out that I do know James, and we are gonna go grab a bite." I say. It kills me to lie to him, and it hurts even worse because I told him that I would never lie.