Captivation

Captivation Part 13

Jared frowned at Caitlin's sudden departure. And then he followed her.

He caught up with her at the back door. She was frantically trying to open it, and failing in her clumsiness and desperation. Automatically he reached forward and his hand stilled hers. Then he opened the door.

Caitlin flew down the two steps and took great big gulping breaths. It was then, despite being in semi darkness that he could see that she was shaking. Visibly shaking. How had he missed that indoors? He rubbed at his forehead, and remonstrated silently with himself. He'd been too scared for her. His every sense had honed in on the fact she had nearly been attacked. He was so busy trying to deal with the fact that finding her in that position had scared him witless that he hadn't noticed how scared she was. Hadn't notice her trembling.

Ok, he admitted, she wasn't as untouched by this as he thought. And he certainly hadn't helped matters by drawing attention to how close she'd come to being harmed. He wanted to kick himself for being such an idiot. Why hadn't he taken a moment, he would have seen that she was petrified. Seen that she was in shock. Seen that she was near to tears. And near to being violently ill. Instead he'd forced her to replay the scene over and over just because that drunken oaf hadn't apologised.

Caitlin swallowed great gulps of air. She closed her eyes and pretended she was on her own. But she knew he was there. Her humiliation was complete. She was never going to live this down. But at least she had managed not to throw up.

The bracing air was exactly what she needed. The queasiness began to recede. The perspiration felt cool as the outside air fanned across her forehead. Her clammy palms and racing pulse began to regulate. She felt calmer.

"I'm sorry." Jared told her quietly, not sure whether she'd appreciate a hug under the circumstances. He could see she was fighting to regain control. Could see that she was also mortified to find herself in this situation. He wanted to tell her not to worry about it.

Caitlin opened her eyes. Time to face up to matters. She wrapped her arms around her, hugging herself to steady herself. It was then that she realised she was still trembling hard, trying to stop herself from shaking apart. So she said nothing. Just closed her eyes again and took breaths to try to calm down.

Jared threw caution to the wind. He came closer. She had her eyes closed tight, but still a couple of tears escaped. Jared's heart clenched. He suddenly felt out of his depth as he saw the effort she was making to hold onto her composure. And the fact that she was crying made him feel like a jerk for not realizing just how upset she was. She'd almost convinced him, inside, that what had happened was nothing major. But given her reaction know, she knew how close she'd come to being molested. And he'd made it worse by going on and on about the situation. Instead he should have given her a hug.

Intuitively he draped an arm along her shoulder. Giving her an opportunity to shift away. He wasn't sure how she'd take another man's hand on her. So he placed his arm gently on her shoulder, took a moment to allow her to decide whether she was comfortable with him holding her and then said, "Ok, ok, take it easy." Then he turned her into his shoulder.

She sighed and muted a sniffle as he drew her close and hugged her close. Then Jared gently rubbed her back. His palms stroked from shoulder to hip, soothingly as she shook uncontrollably. His heart tightened in dismay, as he felt her control fade.

Caitlin couldn't help it. It was his gentleness that undid her control. With a sob she gradually fell apart. Until this moment Jared had never realised he could feel such deep concern for someone he barely knew.

He brought her closer. "It's over. You're safe. It's ok." Jared kept rubbing her back in gentle soothing circles for several seconds. Eventually he felt her breathing ease, she wasn't shaking quite so much and her sniffs had all but disappeared, so he figured she had stopped crying. He felt a calm steal over him. "Caitlin. You're ok. You're ok." He told her gently.