My Prince Charming *Completed*

Chapter Six: Cleo

"Does this look good on me?" I asked while holding a light blue dress up in front of my body.

When I was met with silence, I turned around to see Gabriel studying the dress intently. "Try that red one over there," he said while pointing to a dress hanging off of a chair. Grabbing the dress, I made him close his eyes before slipping into it.

"How's this?" I asked while watching his blue eyes open.

"Wow," he said while pulling a blanket closer around his body. "That hits you in all the right places. Sebastian's going to love it."

Smiling, I turned around to stare at myself in the mirror before frowning. Everything on my body looked like it fit in, besides the bracelets on my wrists. They seemed to stick out like a sore thumb.

Gabriel must've noticed my sudden change of mood because he walked over to me, his larger body towering over me. "What's wrong?"

"I just..." Tears were suddenly rolling from my eyes as I slowly ran my thumb along the multiple bracelets. Red had always been my favorite color but once I started harming myself, it seemed more of an awful color now. What once reminded me of happiness now showed me what I had become.

Gabriel put his arm around my body, gently running his hand up and down my arm. "You can always talk to me Cleo, I'm here for you."

Before I could say a word, I was crying so hard my body started shaking. I quickly turned around to wrap my arms around Gabriel, needing to feel like I belonged somewhere. Anywhere. His long arms wrapped around my body and pulled me close. He didn't try to say anything; he let me get all my tears out first. By the time my sobs had finally settled down, I felt pathetic.

I glanced up into Gabriel's comforting blue eyes and watched as he moved some hair from my eyes. "Want to talk about it?"

When I nodded he walked me back over to my bed, before draping a blanket across my shoulders. We remained quiet for awhile until I slowly started to take the multiple red bracelets off of my wrists. When all twenty were sitting on my bed, I took a shaky breath before holding my arms out so Gabriel could he. He gently touched the multiple scars lining my skin, remaining silent as I talked.

"I had a really terrible childhood. I was put into a foster home at a really early age, because my birth mother didn't want me anymore. She's really an awful person, she even came after Cameron. I knew her for five years before she got tired of me. When she didn't want me, I was hoping someone else would. There were days I dreamed of being with a family that loved me, and wouldn't want to just give me up,"

"I ended up in foster home after foster home, for many different reasons. There were some families that treated me like absolute garbage and many that abused me. None of the other foster kids were ever nice to me, so I was always alone. I got severely depressed and ended up cutting myself. Sometimes I'd cut myself only once, but sometimes I'd end up cutting myself multiple times until I couldn't see my skin color, just blood,"

"I'm just not sure why anyone would want to be with me. Sebastian seems like a really good guy, he doesn't deserve to be with someone so emotionally messed up."

When I stopped talking I looked up to see Gabriel giving me a soft smile while he pulled my body closer to his. "He does deserve someone like you, because you're such a strong woman. And just because you were put into a horrible situation doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with you. You know, I used to be the same way." He then held his arms out so I could see his skin, which was covered in scars I've never noticed.