Keeping Claire

Chapter Twenty Three

                Chapter Twenty Three

Claire’s POV-

                Cody still had blood all over him. As pissed off and afraid of him as I was right now, I couldn’t let him go on trying, and failing, to get it off of him.

                He was standing over the kitchen sink, scrubbing at his hands and arms. A small smile threatened to show, but I reminded myself that I was supposed to be mad at him. I walked over to him and pushed him down onto one of the chairs for the table. He gave me a confused expression, but I just ignored his big, huge, puppy-dog eyes.

                I grabbed some rubbing alcohol from under the sink and got a clean wash cloth. As I cleaned his arms off, he watched me contently. After a few minutes, he began to speak. “It was necessary, by the way.”

                I didn’t respond.

                He continued, “I know what he does to girls. I ‘m actually pretty ashamed to say that I used to be at least a little like him. I didn’t want you to fall victim to a guy like him. I knew what he was thinking and told him a couple of days ago to stay away from you.” His jaw tensed as he spoke.

                I thought about his explanation as I continued trying to scrub the blood off of his lip. His eyes willed me to say something.

                “That still doesn’t make it okay for you to almost kill him.” I reasoned.

                Hurt filled his eyes even more. “I just got carried away, Claire. I’m sorry.” He mumbled.

                We sat in silence for a few more minutes. As I looked at his face for the first time, I could see tears running down his face.

                I had never before had a guy, or man for that matter, cry in front of me. Surprisingly, I was okay with it. Sure it melted my heart, but I felt like he trusted me.

                “Why are you crying?” I whispered, putting my hands on either side of his face.

                “Because I just did what I vowed that I wouldn’t do.” He replied through the tears.

                I didn’t understand. “What are you talking about?”

                “I told you that I would never hurt you, and I did tonight.” He reasoned.

                I was amazed. He really meant it when he said it. I mean, I knew he wouldn’t deliberately hurt me, but I didn’t realize that he could feel this guilty about something like this.

                He was still crying when I started to say something. But what was I supposed to say? It isn’t easy to reply to someone that feels bad because he broke a small promise he made to you.

                “Don’t apologize.” I said.

                He looked up with a disgruntled expression on his face.

                I laughed a little. I couldn’t help it. “Do you know how many people would actually stick up for me like that?”

                He shrugged.

                “Let’s just say that I can count them all on one hand.” I said.

                Tears were still flooding out of his eyes as he stood up. Then he picked me up and sat me on the counter. He went to stroke my hair, but I flinched slightly. I was sensitive when it came to people, even Cody, touching me, especially after what I witnessed tonight.