Nefarious ➛ Theo Raeken [2]

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Clarissa Bane felt a sense of relief for the first time being back in her own room, it was no longer a tomb to her, a place where bittersweet memories suffocated her. For the first time since Theo had gone underground, she finally felt like she could breathe again.

The sound of the shower cutting off paused her in her steps, the shirt in her hand going still as she heard the heavy breaths that were coming from the small room and the sound of a heartbeat slamming rapidly inside of his chest. She could smell the fear radiating off of him and she wondered if he was in the same boat as she was, waiting to wake up from what could only be called a sweet dream.

She placed the shirt down on the bed softly, her small feet carrying her to the bathroom door at the sound of glass smashing. She didn't want to startle him, not when he had obviously been put through hell, but she couldn't let him inflict more damage on Evelyn's house.

"Theo." Clarissa tapped on the door softly, her fingers shaking as she realized that maybe the whole day had been a form of her imagination. Her sanity had been slipping in the past few months, so it wouldn't be a surprise to her that she imagined him coming home again. "Everything okay in there?"

He didn't answer her and she felt her heart stutter inside of her chest that maybe it had all been a dream. She opened the door with a shaking hand and felt the air leave her lungs at the sight of him in front of their mirror, blood dripping in the sink from his covered skin and glass covering the surface of the floor.

Crimson blood trailed down pale skin to hit the porcelain underneath hands that were holding the cool surface in a bruising grasp. Shimmering glass in his hands proved that he wouldn't heal until the offending objects were removed from his skin, but from the look on his face, she didn't know if he wanted to heal or to feel something other than numb.

She gave a mournful sigh, one filled with as much sympathy as she could muster for the man in front of her. Part of her was resentful of him and the bitter part of her wished that he felt horrible for the pain that he had caused. The other part of her, the part that was winning out the longer she looked at him, wanted nothing more than to shelter him away from the others.

She moved on autopilot, grabbing the towel from underneath the sink and the rubbing alcohol that would prevent the infection that would never come. She didn't blink when he flinched as her chilled hand touched his own, she didn't bat an eyelash when he barely moved as she cleaned the glass and blood away from his hand, she frowned though as she noticed the look in his eyes. It was haunted and she knew that the place that Kira had sent him had never been pleasant, not from the way she said that they were waiting on him.

"I'm sorry."

His voice was weak and mournful and if the bathroom hadn't been hauntingly quiet, she might have missed it.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

The words played on a loop in her head, two words in a broken voice that would have meant more to her before he had gone underground. She had wanted an apology, as childish as it had been in her mind, for everything that he had done.

He had killed Josh, but the scathing part of her mind reminded her that she had killed Tracey. The rational part of her brain knew that there was a difference though, Josh had been innocent, but Tracey had not been.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

He had stolen his powers and lied to her on multiple occasions. He had almost killed Lydia twice. He had almost electrocuted her brother and Evie. He had scared Corey. He had scared her brother and Brett. He had scared her.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

She moved robotically, her eyes never lingering too far from the glass that was slowly falling out of his hand and the blood that coated her fingertips as she wiped it away in the towel. She feared that if she looked at him, her fury would consume her and she had felt that way before and it scared her.