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"careful," Clarence said softly as we exited the shower.
I stayed silent and grabbed a towel, drying myself off.
We decided to shower together, nothing sexual—I just needed his presence.
After we were dressed we laid cuddled on the bed, me clinging to his larger form tightly.
"I'm sorry.." he said lowly, "I should've been here with you—I should've protected you."
"it's not your fault," I spoke finally, holding back tears.
"It is, I left you he—"
"It's not, you didn't know those men would take me, you can't blame yourself." I said honestly.
"Well I still do." He sighed, "I promise you, nobody else will lay a finger on you—I swear on my life, if somebody even breathes the wrong way near you, I'll kill 'em." He said darkly.
Usually his tone didn't scare me, but this time it did—I felt like he was complete serious. He would actually kill someone over me.
"I-I heard your offer..." I said cautiously, changing the subject.
"about Jave?" He asked.
"Yes.."
"I wasn't thinking, I don't know why I did it—especially over him. I've known him for like a week and I just put my life on the line for him, I don't get it." He said, almost more to himself than me.
"You care about that kid Clarence, and that's ok. It's ok to care about somebody other than me and André." I told him softly.
"Is it?" He questioned, "the more people I care about, the more people I have to protect... and we see how good I'm doing at that." He said, hinting at my condition.
"Clare...." I sighed, not wanting him to continuously blame himself.
"Ok baby, I'm sorry." He said lowly, placing a kiss on my forehead.
My cheeks heated after that, causing the bruises and cuts on my face to seemingly become an after thought.
"I love you..." I heard as I snuggled into his chest. _________________________________
"Stop, STOP PLEASE!" I cried out—tears streaming down my face.
Another slice was placed on Clarence's chest from the masked men in front of me.
Blood erupted from his mouth as they continued, each gash going deeper and deeper.
Despite all of that Clarence didn't move, his face looked at my dryly as if he wasn't being cut.
As the blood seeped out of his mouth, he spoke low words, voice croaking.
