Phenomenal

34 ~ No Surprise

"Can I ask you a question?"

Clarissa shrugged off her coat as she hit the light switchs on the hall wall, lighting up the hall and living room.

"If you want," she said, dropping her coat on the floor, kicking off her shoes and walking towards the kitchen.

Damien closed the door behind them, glancing to the open door of Charlotte's empty bedroom. "Why does this bother you?" he asked, picking up the discarded coat and hanging it up before hanging up his own coat and pulling the tie from his neck.

"Excuse me?" Clarissa asked, looking at him as she turned on the kettle.

"The cheating, why is it that this is the thing that gets to you?" Damien asked, unbuttoning the top few buttons of his shirt and untying his hair, letting out a breath when he finally got some breathing room around his neck.

"Wouldn't anyone be annoyed when they find out their partner cheated on them?" Clarissa asked, pulling out two mugs.

"Oh sure," Damien said, walking over and folding his arms on the counter, looking at her, "I get that bit... but frankly Brett has done a lot of things, many of them a lot worse, why is it that this sets you into a rage?"

"It just does," Clarissa said, dumping two teabags into the mugs and pouring the water.

"... I don't get it," Damien said, straightening up, shaking his head.

"I'm not asking you to get it."

"Well I want to get it. God sake, Clarissa, that man has been repeatable abusive, both verbally and physically and yet an affair from – what? – six months ago? That's what pisses you off?"

"Yes! Yes that pisses me off," Clarissa snapped, finishing the teas.

"So you'd continue to date him, despite the brusies and tears, so long as he didn't cheat on you?" Damien snapped back.

Clarissa glared at him, then turned away, walking around the counter, passing him to go to her room to change.

A hand closed on the back of her neck, tightening on the spots that Brett had left bruised after Halloween and she was suddenly pulled backwards, Damien's arm coming around her waist, fingers pressing on the back of her neck making her squirm, digging her nails into his arm.

"Damien!"

"So you don't care about the pain? You'll let a man treat you however he damn pleases without saying a word so long as he's loyal?"

"It's not like that!" Clarissa snarled, twisting her neck out of his grip and her elbow shot backwards, right into his stomach making him choke, tightening his arm around her as he curled in on himself.

"Ow..." he muttered, forehead dropping onto her shoulder, "well good to know your fighting spirit wasn't just a one off."

"Of course it wasn't," Clarissa said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Now stop trying to be a tough, bad boy, it doesn't suit you. Weren't you the one said you weren't a bad boy?"

Damien lifted his head from her shoulder, fingers, gentle once again, brushing her hair from her neck and soothing the skin. "Did I hurt you?" he muttered.

"No, you didn't."

"Sorry."

"It's fine, you were clearly trying to prove some point. To answer your point, no I won't let a guy treat me however he wants so long as he's loyal. It's not like that, there's more to it... to all this. But..." She took a slow breath in through her nose and out through her mouth, pushing away from him at the sound of her phone buzzing a text.