12: Safe

'If i wanted, i could destroy EVERYTHING. But i'm a good girl.' 

-Unknown

"Candice? Who did this to you?" He asked, pointing at her bruise.

"B-Bella..." She said, barely whispering, but Bryan heard it clearly. 

"Wait...what?"

Candice sniffed, "It was Bella..." 

"Bella?" Bryan repeated out, "Why would she do this to you?" He demanded. "When did all of this happen?" 

Candice sniffed, looking straight at the floor. "I...I knew you were still thinking about her...so i visited her and- and i wanted to persuade her to talk to you. But she just got angry...like she just...lost control...she scared me..." 

Bryan's grip on her tightened, "I can't believe she would do that to you. I can't believe i ever loved her. She shouldn't have lashed out at you, i'm sorry Candice." 

"No, i'm sorry. I...I was stupid for ever even going there anyway...But...i thought that-"

"Candice." Bryan interrupted her, "Me and Bella...we're nothing to each other anymore." 

Candice stared up at Bryan, bewildered, then blinked. "Really? Oh..." She mumbled.

"I'm gonna call the fucking cops-"

"No! Don't!" Candice protested, grabbing Bryan's arm.

"What? I have to! Look what she did to you!" He shouted.

"She's just...she's just in a bad place. I forgive her. Look, she needs help. We don't know what's going on with her...or why she did the things that she did but...but i think bringing the police into this will only make it worse."

Bryan wouldn't give up, "I don't care. I don't care about the reasons why she did it i just want her to pay for what she did. I want her locked up." Bryan shook his head, "What the fuck happened to her."

Candice shook her head, "I don't know. She didn't seem like herself. Which is why we shouldn't call the police-"

"Then i'll deal with it myself-"

"Bryan!" Candice pleaded. "You're just gonna do something stupid."

"You have no idea how furious i am right now."

"I know but trust me."

Bryan locked into her eyes for a second, then dropped his shoulders, then lifted his hand to touch her face. "Where does it hurt?" He asked.

--

I can't believe she did that...this is messed up." Bryan said, holding an ice pack against her forehead. 

"I know..." Candice mumbled, looking into thin air. "I didn't even see it coming....she just lashed out at me." 

 Bryan sighed, shaking his head. "I gotta call Samantha." He mumbled, about to get his cell phone out.

Candice rolled her eyes, "Please tell me you're not actually gonna call my mother." 

"I have to. This is serious. Something worse could've happened to you."

"Which is why there's no point telling her. She'll just...freak out." Candice said, narrowing her eyes.

"She has to know." Bryan simply said.

"Then...i'll tell her myself." Candice said, then quickly planted a kiss on his lips. This time, Bryan was the one surprised, as she quickly pulled away. 

"Fine." Bryan finally breathed out, after his heart started beating at a normal pace again. 

 Candice twitched as Bryan realized his hand was resting on her thigh. 

"Sorry." Bryan cleared his throat. 

"It's fine." Candice quickly said, and placed his hand back on her thigh, then grabbed him by the back of the neck, pulling him in for another kiss.

Bryan put his arms around her waist and pulled her closely, her legs around his waist, as her inner thigh pressed up against his leg. 

His lips moved along her neck, as she gasped and threw her head back, shivering from his electric touch. 

His grip tightened around her as he lifted her up and laid her down on the couch. He had the sudden urge to strip her clothes off right there. But does she really want that? Bryan looked into Candice's eyes, as she looked as if she was miles away, but there was a look of need and passion in her eyes, as her fingers gently tightened at the back of his neck. 

She twitched as Bryan pulled down the straps of her short play-suit and began planting kisses on her stomach shoulder, her skin heating up at the spot where he would kiss her. 

He stopped himself. 

Candice looked down at him, giving him a reassuring smile, "It's fine..." She said, "It's different with you." 

Bryan sighed, What am i doing? He mentally whispered to himself. But he wrestled his shirt off anyway, and ripped Candice's play-suit off her and threw it on the floor, he slowly pulled down her underwear as her breathing grew heavy, and she felt herself becoming hotter. She held onto Bryan's hands, as his trailed up her waist, until he reached her shoulder. Her lips tingled as Bryan's finger brushed over it, as he looked at her adoringly. 

 He slowly inched his face towards her, as they closed both of their eyes, impatient to taste each other's lips again-

"RING!" The sound of the doorbell rang, as Candice's eyes flew open, fully alerted, and Bryan groaned audibly, getting himself off Candice, visibly irritated. 

He snatched his shirt from the floor and put it on, while trudging to the door. Candice, flustured, slowly grabbed her underwear and play-suit, and slipped them on. 

Bryan swung the door open, with hard eyes and clenched jaw, he brusquely said, "Can i help you?" 

"Package for Samantha Harrington?" Said the mailman, raising both eyebrows at Bryan's rudeness. 

"She's not here right now. I'll sign it." 

Candice watched Bryan as he was done, then closed the door. He turned to Candice, only to find that she was dressed again.

She smiled innocently and shrugged, "Better luck next time."

--

"Samantha... can i talk to you for a second?" 

Samantha stopped walking, as she turned around, now face to face with Marcus.

His facial expression was much softer than it was the last time she spoke to him, and his head wasn't raised proudly. 

"Yes Marcus?" She said, professionally. 

"I called Candice and...i told her that it can't happen."

Samantha pursed her lips, but remained calm, crossing her arms. "I figured." She deadpanned. 

"Samantha." Marcus began. "Look- i'm sorry but...It'll just be difficult. And i think she'll be better off with you-"

"But she hates me, Marcus. Because you're not there for her and it's all my fault!" Without warning, tears dropped down Samantha's cheeks. No. Why did she have to cry in front of her ex husband, while at work? All this time she was pretending to be strong, but he's going to know that it was all pretend. 

Yes, she was lonely. She couldn't cope with Candice by herself. But why did she feel this way? Like she wants Marcus back? Like she wants everything to go back to normal again? 

When he treasured his job more than his family, it hurt her deeply to the point where she doubted herself, asking herself questions; 'Am i a good wife?' 'Does he really love me?' 'Is there someone else?'

He made her feel like she wasn't good enough. But all the same she really did love him.

 She shook her head profusely and aggressively wiped her tears away. "Forget it." She snapped, "I just lost control there. I guess i'm only human." She sniffed, and met his eyes again, "Now if you'll excuse me." 

--

"Dammit." Hissed Bryan, as his call to Bella went straight to voice mail. "Okay, look Bella. I don't know what's gone into lately but if you pull anything like that again to Candice i'll..." He took a deep breath, and composed himself. "You make me sick, you know that right? You're not even...the same person you were when we first met. Was that just pretend, huh? I'm warning you. Stay. Away. From. Candice." He said, is voice low and threatening. 

He heard the front door opening as he looked up to find Ms Harrington stepping into the house.

She sighed to herself, and slowly shut the door. She gasped when she saw Bryan standing there. "Oh! I'm sorry you startled me." She said, putting her hand over her heart. She threw her bag on the floor and took her long blazer off and hung it on the coat rack. 

"How's Candice?" She asked. 

"She's...fine." Bryan said, awkwardly, standing up.

"Fine?" She repeated, then turned to him. "You look distracted are you okay?" She asked, "She's not giving you any trouble, is she?"

"No, no. Um...i'm fine. What about you? You seem tired."

"Uh..." Ms Harrington groaned, rolling her eyes. "Don't even get me started." She said, "Candice's father is driving me crazy."

"He called today." Bryan pointed out, remembering what happened that afternoon.

"He told me...do you know what it was about?" 

"Yeah..." Bryan replied, putting his hands in his pocket. 

"She...she didn't take it too well did she?"

"No...she didn't..." He remained silent for a bit, "Actually, Candice isn't fine- she...injured herself."

"Is it bad?" Ms Harrington asked, worriedly. 

"No. I took care of it. I'm sorry." He said, look down, a strange expression on his face.

Ms Harrington frowned, confused about Bryan's deeply sad expression. "It's fine, really. If it isn't anything serious. So what did that reckless child do now?"

Bryan took a moment before replying, ""She...she wouldn't tell me."

Ms Harrington's frown deepened. "Huh...okay well- you must be tired. So i won't hold you up any longer. Thanks for everything, Bryan." 

 --

Candice smiled at the pictures her friends took while in class. Should she really go back to school? The thought alone makes her sick to her stomach. 

She carried on scrolling through the images, until she stopped on one specific image. A picture of Brandon...the guy she feared since that night, the guy that always seems to make his way into her nightmares...

One of Candice's friends was smiling up the camera, next to Brandon. Since when was her group cool enough to hang out with the popular crowd anyway? A lot has changed. No, too much has changed. And what about her friend? Did Brandon try to...? No...she needs to warn her...no one is safe around a monster like him.