[center] There was a swirl of emotion coursing through her that had been so terribly overwhelming that the only thing Clara could hold onto was the mere submission to what Jaden had wanted. The sooner she listened to him, the sooner she could get far away from the depths of that club, and the sooner she could be alone to deal with the questions and frustration that was swimming throughout her thoughts. She didn't want to be near Jaden, at least not then. She couldn't quite understand it, or how everything had entirely happened, but she knew she was partly to blame. She had willingly fell into temptation through her own anger, having felt slighted that he had asked her to attend the club with him, and at the first chance he had, he had left her by herself. Perhaps she was sensitive when it came to those things; no matter how hardened she had become over the years, the thought of being left alone and cast aside for something better had eaten at her and had pushed her directly into someone else's arms – well, someone else who just so happened to be the same person. That thought had troubled her the most.
 
Everything that had happened the night before: the most intimate and erotic night in her entire life had turned into more of a nightmare more than anything else. To wake up in the middle of that club, in the middle of all of those bodies and then to have Jaden burst out that it was all him – that the person she had recklessly given herself over to the night before was [i]him[/i], she almost felt sick to her stomach. How she could have never figured out such a secret throughout the centuries that she'd been with him had been beyond her. How he could have lied to her in such a way had made her feel unsettled. The man she had been living with all of the time; the one who had taken her in, who was supposed to keep her safe, had been a different person altogether – one who had taken advantage of her and now knew her in the most intimate of ways without her even meaning for him to.
 
She was silent as she followed him to the car, and even in her seat she had pressed herself the farthest away, trying to keep her focus out the window or even shut her eyes when she could. His wild driving had driven her close to the edge; close to her breaking point where she was so terribly close to snapping that she didn't know just what she would do if she couldn't get out of that car soon enough. She tried to ignore it all, tried to block out the incessant things he would drive into – and even the poor dog that hadn't even been spared in his wake.

She felt sick and she wanted a shower. She needed to think; she needed to breathe.
 
As soon as they arrived back at the estate, Jaden had opened her door but she immediately avoided his touch – she didn't want to feel it; didn't want to feel his skin against hers, at least not in that moment. She was silent even as she moved past him and into the house, immediately bounding her way up to her own room with a slam of the door behind her. Part of her wanted to drink; wanted to find a way to instantly numb it all but then again, that was what had gotten them into this mess, hadn't it?
 
With the frown still on her lips, Clara had made her way to her bathroom where she ran the hottest water that shower could muster before she shoved off her dress and stepped in, letting the hot water sting her skin as she closed her eyes tight, wanting to wash away every bit of the night before. She had been in there for a long time, scrubbing furiously at her skin until it nearly felt raw, pink with abuse both from her scrubbing and the hot water that continued to rain down upon her. It was all too close to what had happened before – how she had given herself over in the heat of the moment and had woken up to the absence of the one person she ignorantly thought she could trust, abandoned and cast aside like a piece of trash. This time, it somehow hurt even more than that – the only person she had let close to her had lied to her, let loose whatever the hell side of him that was, and had entirely consumed her and spit her out. She felt [i]used[/i].
 
Yet, amidst all of her confusion, feelings of betrayal, feelings of disappointment and her broken trust – anger bubbled within her.
 
Once the water had been turned off and she was able to scrub off everything that could have clung to her body, she stepped slowly out of the shower and wrapped herself up. She dried herself off quickly enough, throwing a large t-shirt over her head, slipping on a pair of shorts beneath that before she had aggressively brushed through her long hair, little waves popping through in the brushes wake. She'd left it down, tossing the brush onto her counter carelessly before she turned out of her room and headed back downstairs to where she knew he would be.
 
"…What the [i]fuck[/i] Jaden?" They were the first words to fall from her lips as soon as she had laid eyes upon him. Her hands had curled into tight fists at her sides, her bright gaze narrowed upon him. "[i]You[/i] were supposed to be the one I could trust. [i]You[/i] were never supposed to hurt me…" Her words came out fast, almost as if she wasn't entirely thinking them through. Or perhaps they were all of her collected thoughts in the shower, bursting forth in a collective word-vomit, hoping that she wouldn't forget a single thought. "I know I'm already fucked up, Jaden – but now you've just added a whole new level to it…" Clara had kept the distance between them, knowing full well her anger could bubble out of control; she wanted to kick and scream and beat the hell out of him to make him feel just what she was feeling, but she kept herself grounded. "If you hadn't fucking run off the first moment you could, maybe this wouldn't have even happened!" A pause. "Hell! If you even [i]told[/i] me about all of this, it probably [i]wouldn't[/i] have happened! Jesus Christ, Jaden…" [/center]