Hidden Under Perfection

Chapter 15: Claire

I look at Doran and we wordlessly agree to go upstairs for some alone time. I grab his hand and pull him up the stairs after me. I open the soor and he closes it behind him. He pulls me to him and lowers his head down to mine. His solf lips press against mine slowly and tenderly, then I moan in theback of my throat. The kiss deepens and soon he has me pressed against the wall. My leg slides between his and the kiss deepens.

All of a sudden I am taken over by a wave of sadness and I don't relize that I am crying until Doran pulls away and wipes away the tears with his thumb. He pulls me against him and my head rests on his chest. the sound of his heartbeat offering a little bit of comfort. He rubs my back and whispers reassurances in my ear. Soon, his shirt is soaked through with my tears. He leads us to the bed and I curl up in his lap. My body shakes with each breath. Doran kisses my forehead and brushes my hair from my face.

I am so scared, and it is hard to turn my focus away from the paralizing fear that not all of us will get through this alive. I am scared that I will lose everyone, and that I will have to face this myself. Doran places his hands on either side of my face and tilts it up so that he can look me in the eye. It is hard for me to look at him because I am afraid he won't love me anymore once he sees my flaws. He stares into my eyes and what he finds makes his expression deepen with understanding, he has these demons as well. He is making himself strong for me, and I have to make myself strong for him. I straighted in his arms and turn to face him, I wipe the tears from my eyes and then thread my fingers through his newly dyed hair, I miss the blond from before.

I wrap him in a hug and his face nestles into my neck. We hold each other together, and we keep going. It scares me that after all of this we won't have each other, but we have to perservere for the sake of knowing the truth. We stay like that for a long while, understanding each other and holding the peices of ourselves to gether. I press soft kisses to the top of his head everytime he sqeezes me harder. We are both suffering from the demons plaguing our minds. I thread my fingers through his and we both squeeze as hard as we need and neither of us complain about the pain.

He pulls away and I look into his eyes, the green in his eyes are darker, it looks as if someone has crushed him and I kiss the space right between his brows and he pulls me close. My head rests on his shoulder. Eventually we calm down enough that we can look at each other without wanting to bury our faces in out hands. I kiss him softly and lay down on my bed. He lays down with me and I drape my leg over his legs. I lay my head down on his shoulder. My heartbeat matches his and soon we fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.

When I wake up Doran is still next to me and I nestle my head deeper into the crook of his neck. He turns towards me and kisses the basse of my neck, making my heart race a little faster. I purr when he reaches the sweet spot on my neck. Turn my head and kiss him gently on the lips. We are tangled up with each other kissing whenever we feel like it, a grin forms on my face. Being with him makes me extremely happy.

There is a knock on my door and before I can reply John peaks his head in and says, "come on love birds, we better get started."

I sit up, reluctant to leave the Doran and the comfortable bed. We head down stairs, our fingers linked. What happened yesterday night has brought us closer and I can interpret his looks easier. I grab two granola bars from the pantry and give one to Doran, we each eat it and then we look at John, waiting for him to explain.

"I am worried about The Clandestine catching on to our plan. I think that the sooner that I get a job the better. That is why I wanted to talk to you, I think that it is time for me to do just that. It is time for me to start being usefull and help out. The question is, How do I manage to get a job at a super secret company?"