Because of You

Returned

This chapter was originally over 5K words, so I decided to split it into two. Sorry it took so long-these two chapters HATED me. Like, we were not getting along. There was rivalry. And that last episode did not help :'((Oh, also, this is not edited so ignore any errors.) Please review!

I stood there for a moment, dumbfounded, rooted to the spot. I thought back to the anxiety I'd seen in Bellamy's eyes. Had he known?

Anger surged inside me. Hot and boiling. It made my mouth go dry and turned my blood to ash. A metallic tang filled my mouth and I was suddenly walking over, hands clenched, teeth ground so hard my jaw hurt.

At my approach, Octavia's eyes met mine, a confused expression already on her face. Did she know who she was talking to?

"Hey, Clarke," she said, a little dubious. She glanced between the door over my shoulder and me. "Were you . . . going to detention?" the bewilderment in her voice was twofold.

Yes, she knew.

"Nope," I answered automatically. Not anymore. Not with him right here. I didn't care how much time had passed.

I looked at the man opposite of her. His eyes were the same color as Octavia's and at first glance, they looked inviting. But there was a glacial edge to them, cold and sharp. He smelled of prison and, unsurprisingly, tobacco.

"Hi," he said, and gave another scratch of his temple. He gestured to Octavia before holding his hand out to me. "I'm Jeremy, but people call me Jae."

I looked at his outstretched hand, tanned and wrinkled like old paper. No scars.

I don't think I can touch him, I thought. How do you shake the same hands that had once been used to beat a little boy?

I caught Octavia's look of apprehension. There was a flash of fear there, like she'd read my mind.

I didn't want to alarm her, so I placed my palm in his, only for a moment, and pulled it back before his fingers could curl around my hand. I stifled a shudder that ran up my back.

"I'm just here for a short visit." He smiled at me, but it seemed strained, as if his lips didn't quite know what they were doing.

I felt like something made of stone, everything in me as taut as pulled wire. My walls were raised so high they could compete with China's.

I looked into his glacial eyes. At the barb I saw, drifting just beneath the surface. A large freckle decorated the bridge of his nose.

He may have been a nervous man, here, in front of his daughter, but I knew what he was capable of. I'd seen it for myself.

"I need to speak with Octavia," I said, bypassing the expected it's nice to meet you. Because it wasn't. And I wanted Octavia away from him. Forget whether or not it was my place to enforce it.

I motioned for her to come with me, but a look of hesitation crossed over her face. Her brows furrowed and she looked between me and her father, torn. And it suddenly hit me: She knew who he was, but that didn't mean she knew of all the things he'd done. For all Octavia had understood as a kid, her father had been sick. And now he wasn't. Maybe to her, he was nothing more than a distant recollection; just a man who had made some bad decisions in his life.

But to me, he was a monster.

I tried to convey my message through my eyes alone. I hoped Octavia saw the plea. The desperation. The warning I felt, running over me like ice water. "It's about your brother," I added, like that would help, and I cut a quick glance to Jae, gauging for any change in expression. It was small. Marginal, even, but I thought those glacial eyes turned wary. They narrowed, ever so slightly.