"Oh my god, are we where I think we are?" Mandie gasped at the sights in front of her.
"Yeah Paris, you've never been here, right?" Brad commented, pulling more on her arm.
"I-"
"Yeah, I know, you got offered a modeling job here, and now you're going to take the job, come on," he dragged her some more. She didn't know exactly where they were going, but she was sure when they got near the Eiffel Tower, it wasn't good.
"Where are you taking me Brad?" Mandie asked worriedly.
"Don't worry about it...you're safe with me."
"Bullshit�I don't feel safe."
"But you are baby," Brad put his arm around Mandie's back and escorted her to the Eiffel Tower.
"Really? What are you trying to do?" she yelled as the private guard opened the elevator door and Brad led them inside.
"I'm going to teach you to skydive," Brad said way too seriously, "God damnit, Mandie! We're going to see Paris in the morning."
"I don't trust you, Brad," Mandie said fearfully as he tried to pin her to the wall of the elevator and tried to kiss her, "Get the fuck off of me," Mandie pushed Brad and he hit the other side of the elevator. The happy glaze in his eyes turned evil and he ran over to Mandie and slapped her.
"Don't you ever push me away from you again when I try to kiss or you or I'll really teach you how to skydive without a parachute!" he slapped her again and now Mandie was afraid for her life.
*Meanwhile*
Cass was sitting nervously on the plane, fidgeting with her hands, nervous about saving Mandie.
Justin looked at her from where he was sitting, "I can't bare to see her like this, I'm going to calm her down," he got up and Lance tried to stop him, but there was no use trying to tell him to stop.
He walked over to her seat and sat in the empty seat next to her. She turned her head towards him "Hi," she said silently.
"Hi Cass," he took off his hat and sunglasses.
"Justin, what the fuck are you doing here?"
"Helping you. I couldn't stand to see you go, I had to come, I was worried," he looked at her sincerely and was itching to kiss her, but decided not to when he saw her face.
"Justin! Damnit! You can't trust me, can you? I can handle this!" she yelled, "And furthermore, Brad insisted I come alone or he'll kill Mandie. How could you jeopardize her life like that?"
"I'm not... I'm trying to help�he doesn't need to know we are here," Justin quietly said.
"WE?" She looked at him.
"Yah Lance came..."
"My god Justin!" she said annoyed and felt tears but never let them go, "He's gonna kill her Justin�what part of that don't you understand?"
"Cass, you don't realize something," Justin grabbed her hand to stop it from shaking, "I can't let you do this alone. We need to take this risk together."
"I can't let you be worried about me," she pulled her hand away from him and looked into his eyes, "I can't love you. I can't let myself."
"Where did this suddenly come from?" Justin asked, totally confused.
"Well, there's this thing with Brad-"
"What thing with Brad?" Justin asked and pushed back some of her hair from her face.
"He raped me when him and Mandie were dating."
"What???" he asked in shock.
"Well, he almost raped me, I shouldn't say raped, he's wanted to, and..." Cass took a pause and wanted to cry, but held herself back, "Nothing Justin, just forget I said anything."
"No, Cass," he left a delicate kiss on her cheek, "You have to let this out."
"No, I can't! I don't want you worrying about me, Justin," Cass felt so helpless inside, but she would never show it to even Justin even if she wanted to.
"Cass please tell me," Justin held onto her hand, "I don't like seeing you like this..." he rubbed his thumb on her cheek, "I care about you Cass."
"Yeah I know you care about me, Brad said he cared about me, too," Cass replied, turning her head from him, "I can't tell you, it hurts me too much."
"Not to disrespect you, but I feel like I should know just to know you're not indestructible," Justin looked at her again and Cass turned her head around.
"You think I'm indestructible?" Cass asked confused as Justin looked into her eyes.
"Yes I do, I need to know you have some kind of weakness," Justin lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it lightly, "Please tell me."
"I don't know if I can, Justin," she let out her tears that she hadn't let out in 3 years.
"I know you can�please Cass tell me," Justin wiped away some of her tears. He looked into her eyes and noticed a hidden sparkle�he wished he could make it shine.
"Justin, I can't, I haven't know you long enough," Cass tried to stop her tears but couldn't, "but then again, I haven't cried in 3 years. That must be some kind of trust for you."
"Cass, just get on with it," Justin leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the lips and Cass gave him a fake pout, "Keep procrastinating or you'll never get more than that."
"Justin," she noticed him giving her a puppy dog face, "Fine I'll tell you," she looked down and looked back up at him. "When Brad and Mandie were dating...I ruined a lot of chances for Brad to get lucky with Mandie...so a lot of the time he would come in my room and harass me and hit me and tried to rape me...and when Mandie dumped him he kept coming back and blaming it on me..."
"Oh my god Cass," Justin took her into his embrace.
"Justin, whatever you do, don't feel bad for me," Cass pulled out of his embrace, "That's why I can't be in love with you right now."
"But that'd be a reason to get closer to me, Cass, this is so confusing to me!" Justin ran a hand through his blonde curls, "And you said you were in love with me already. Man, I don't know what's going on with this relationship, but it's weird."
"I said I loved you?" she asked him in a strange tone, "Because I don't."
Justin felt his lip tremble, "No matter what happens, this won't change how I feel about you Cass," Justin got up and walked back to his seat knowing they'd be landing soon.
Cass sighed, she hated lying to him but she knew somehow it'd be better if she did. He wouldn't be so clingy to her. She felt so uncomfortable when Justin touched her, like when Brad had tried to rape her. Harsh touches, brutal beatings, she shuttered at the thoughts. She looked back at Justin, who was now talking to Lance and sighed again. She was in love with him, she didn't want to let him into her complicated world.