Bar Red's Redemption ✔

c h a p t e r. 23

"It has been women who have breathed gentleness and care into the hard progress of humankind."
—Queen Elizabeth II

prepare yourselves for a different POV focus

chapter 23

Clementine didn't know whether to be angry, disappointed, or shocked— so she settled for all three.

He's going to give me another bloody nose.

That's what Bartholomew had said— she heard him, there was no way she could have missed what he said.

Obsidian, her own brother, hurt her Oly even after knowing how important he is to her?

When? Why?

Did Oly really do something to provoke Obsidian that much, to the point of violence?

Clementine had so many thoughts— so many questions— flying in her head, making her heart rate soar.

It didn't make sense, she had never even seen her brother throw a punch before.

And, like any siblings, when they used to wrestle or fight or anything of the sort, Clementine usually won because her twin was just that... docile.

Weak doesn't seem like the right word but it wouldn't necessarily be wrong.

But now, he had given her brute a bloody nose?

It just seemed wrong and Bartholomew didn't even tell her about it, neither did her brother!

It wasn't a betrayal, but it felt like it was.

He had been hurt and he didn't even tell her?

Why?

"Babygirl, it's not as bad as it seems," Bartholomew's eyes were wide and had that look in them— the look he often had whenever he was upset but felt like he deserved it.

Clementine absolutely hated that her Oly felt like that, and that she could do nothing to help it.

She wished she could.

She could help if she knew what caused it but she didn't. And, somehow, that just made everything worse in her mind.

She was sitting on his lap, enjoying his closeness and since his face was right before hers, she could see the quick emotions that flashed through his eyes.

His eyes showed her so many things that his face did not, so many feelings and desires.

She always felt like his eyes could hold her in place and then pull her in almost unknowingly, they were enchanting. She always liked brown eyes but his were just something else— his were a deep mahogany that melted into a beautiful, glowing bronze. The orbs had had an almost black ring around the outer irises and tiny, almost unnoticeable flecks of gold in them.

His eyes always screamed of intelligence, and pain— heartbreaking pain, and an understanding that most of the time seemed unworldly.

Everyone said eyes were the window to the soul, but Clementine felt as though his were something more. His were the window to something beyond, perhaps.

Either way, her Oly's eyes were something magical.

And now, his eyes were contradicting his words.

It's not as bad as it seems.

If that was true, why would he have that pained look? If it wasn't bad, or an accident, why wouldn't he tell her?

"What h-happened?" Clementine asked, shifting on his lap so she was straddling him— not even caring that Law and Gus were seeing them like that. "Why would, why would Obby do so-something like that? He c-can't even punch!"