Safe In A Stranger's Arms

Chapter Thirty Eight

"I'll never be your mother's favorite,
your daddy can't even look me in the eye.
If I was in their shoes, I'd be doing the same thing. Sayin' there goes my little girl
walkin' with that troublesome guy"
~ Bruno Mars

Caitlin's POV

I felt as if my mind was riding a never ending roller coaster. Ups, downs, turns, drops. It was fast and the adrenaline wasn't a good one. I felt sick to my stomach and all I wanted to do was get off.

"What?" I yelled. "No, you can't do that dad. This is my home. You can't just make me drop everything and expect me to come with you. I'm leaving my job, my friends, and my education behind. Don't you want me to finish university?"

I watched my father intently as he put his head down and kept his hand on the doorknob. I expected him to give in and say I could stay and that this was all pointless but instead, he sighed and said "Twenty minutes, Cait. I mean it."

"God, you're so fucking selfish!" I shouted. My eyes widened at my use of language. I was never the one to use foul words but I couldn't help it, the man standing in front of me made me want to use every bad word in the book. He made my blood boil and the fact that he thought he could control me made me want to rip my hair out.

"Babe, calm down," I heard Justin say as he stepped towards me.

"It's okay, Justin. I got this," I whispered. I felt his hand reach my arms as he rubbed them. His soft skin against mine relaxed me as I stood in front of my parents.

"Dad, come on!" I said in an attempt to persuade him.

"I'm coming back in twenty minutes and you better be ready," he ignored me before opening the door. "Come on Sheryl," he called for my mother and in a blink of an eye, they walked out of my apartment leaving Justin and I alone in the middle of my living room.

"Justin," I turned around to face him. My voice began to break as each word left my lips. "What are we going to do?!" Before I knew it, tears began to softly fall from my eyes. I was caught in a mass of thoughts and all I needed was Justin's support. "I don't want to go back to that horrible town, I hate it there. I don't want to leave you. I want to be with you forever."

"Caitlin, listen to me," I heard Justin say as he placed his thumb underneath my eye. He gently wiped my tears as he began to speak. "Your dad just needs time to calm down. He's a smart guy, he'll realize soon that going back to Arizona wouldn't be the right thing for you."

"No Justin, you don't understand! He'll never take his eyes off me now that he knows I'm with you. He wants me back home so he could watch my every little move and make sure I'm not up to anything." I argued as I continued to sob hopelessly. "How did this all happen? Who took those damn pictures? God, who the hell is doing this to us?"

Justin's POV

Derek. That was the only person that came to mind. Ever since he lost his precious pills and blamed my brother for it, he wanted revenge and Caitlin was one of his targets.

However, this wouldn't have happened if Dylan didn't kidnap her (read chapter 4 if you don't remember.) If he just left her alone, none of us would be in this situation. But no, I had to be the wise one and walk her home that night, just to make sure she didn't call the cops on me or my brother. Matters got even worse when Derek laid his eyes on her outside that convenience store (chapter 5.) He knew how vulnerable she was and he took that as a chance to scare her.

Just thinking about that night made me irritated. I got her into this mess. I was the one who made her feel like she was in danger. It was all because of me. I was the one who followed her around the city for days just to make sure that she was alright and Derek didn't pull anything on her. Although I wanted to tell her everything about Derek and why he was doing this, I knew it was best if I didn't.