Safe In A Stranger's Arms

Chapter Twenty Five

Caitlin's POV

Pain. It could be felt in many ways, whether it was physical or emotional. The pain you felt when you tripped and scraped your knee on the ground was typical. Every seven year old has experienced something like that. Although this pain was far more different. It was an emotional pain that hurt you physically, all at the same time. You could feel it in your chest when you try to breathe and in your heart when you try to speak. That was the type of pain I was feeling.

"Oh my god," I whispered as I dropped the towel in front of me, never minding the fact that it was picking up a million germs from the tiled ground. My heart was beating out of my chest as I walked closer to the door of the bathroom and touched the material with my hand, feeling the smooth and rich texture of the silk.

It was a dress that hung up on the door, along with more women's clothing. Elegant cardigans, a small jacket and more dresses. Not any of them were mine and that's what bothered me the most.

The last time I came to Justin's bathroom, I didn't see any of these here. It was just casual clothes that belonged to him or his brother. Now it was like a model's closet hung up here and it made me sick. I reached my hand to the next piece of clothing, another dress. This one looked much more familiar. I was deep in thought until I finally realized where I had seen it from. It was the dress I tried on at the boutique when Justin followed me.

Why did he have it here? When did he even get all these dresses? Did they belong to another girl? I felt my knees growing week as more and more questions flooded into my mind, making me a confused mess in a matter of seconds. Just when I thought I was about to break down, I heard Justin's voice coming from the room.

"Hey Cait?" he said before knocking on the door. "Do you need anything?"

My eyes widened and I quickly cleared my throat before speaking. "N-no, I'm fine. I'm just um, I'm just changing," I replied, trying my utter best not to sound suspicious.

"Alright, I'll be waiting for you in the living room." And with that, I heard the faint sound of his footsteps as he went down the stairs, leaving me all by myself with my crazy and uncontrollable thoughts.

I took a deep breath and tried to relax myself as I continued to get ready. I couldn't afford being late, especially since I was coming to class on time. So with as much courage as I possibly had, I got changed, did my hair, applied my makeup and walked out of the bathroom the same way I walked in.

But all that motivation and attempt at pretending to be happy came tumbling down when I reached the living room. I couldn't stand being in the same room as Justin or even look at him to be honest. For all I knew, he was probably cheating on me and didn't even care about how I felt.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He stood up from the couch and walked over to me as a look of worry was recognized on his face.

"Nothing, can we just go please?" I muttered as I slung my bag over my shoulder and headed to the door.

"Are you sure nothing's wrong? You look upset," he replied after pulling out the car keys from his pocket.

"I'm sure, now I'm running late so we seriously need to go." I quickly slipped on my shoes and opened the door, then made my way to the car and settled into the passenger seat. I watched him sit next to me in the driver's seat and put on his seat belt. The minute the engine turned on, he reversed out of the driveway and we were off.

-

"Please make sure to print your good copy, double spaced, and hand it in on Friday," the professor spoke to the class as we were all packing our stuff and getting ready to leave. "Have a good day."