Chloe (Made Men Book 3) (21 page)

Lucca flipped his lighter open and lit the end, making it burn a bright red as he inhaled.

“You don’t mind, do you?”

Chloe slowly shook her head. She wished she could look away from him, but she was too afraid. She could tell he was Nero’s brother without a doubt; they both oozed confidence and sex. They looked very similar, as well.

Lucca had the same skin color, but she couldn’t quite tell if his hair was black or brown. The same went with his eyes; she couldn’t tell if they were blue or green. She would swear they were one color before the string lights picked up the other color, changing her mind all over again. Lucca, however, was a billion times more frightening and a million times more handsome than Nero. She figured it had to do with the age gap, but one thing they were very different about was the way they dressed. Nero only dressed in button-up shirts and slacks, while Lucca was wearing a black sweatshirt and dark, loose jeans.

She wasn’t used to seeing hair as long as his. It was swept back, yet it touched the back of his neck. He clearly didn’t care if it wasn’t trimmed and neat, just like his unshaven stubble. Everyone she was around always looked immaculate, making his bad-boy appearance more like ‘don’t cross me, or I will murder your entire family tree.’
I don’t think it matters what he wears; he would look like that, regardless.

“Aren’t you a little cold out here, darlin’?” His voice also oozed just as much confidence as Nero.

She felt uncomfortable with him calling her that.
If I tell him my name, he’ll stop.

“M-my name is Chloe.”

She watched him smile as he took a puff, holding the cigarette between his thumb and index finger. He exhaled. “The mayor’s daughter, right?”

Chloe nodded gently. She knew that practically everyone was aware she was the mayor’s only child.
Right?

“You were in that car wreck a few years back. I remember reading about it in the papers. Is that how you tell everyone you got those scars?” Lucca tapped his ashes in the snow without moving his eyes from her.

Chloe swallowed and looked back down at her hands. “That i-is how I got them.”

“No, it’s not. I know a knife cut when I see one.”

Chloe glimpsed back up at him.
How did he know?
“I-I d-don’t know what you’re t-talking about.”

Lucca flicked his cigarette in the yard. “Yeah, you do.”

A chill went down her spine at his words, causing her to stand, not able to stay around him any longer and not liking where this was headed.

She walked a step forward, hoping he would move. His muscular frame was blocking the whole entryway. She didn’t want to know how many hours he’d spent in the gym; she could see his muscles through his thick, dark sweatshirt. When he still didn’t move, she gradually moved up more.
Please move, please move.

Chloe was now just a few small steps away, refusing to go any farther. “C-can you let me through?” Her legs started to shake when he dipped his hand back into his pocket. Her heels made it hard for her to hold herself up.

Lucca pulled out another cigarette and flipped his lighter open. He slowly lit the end, not moving his eyes from her. He blew the smoke out, making it roll over her body. Instead of putting the lighter back in his pocket, he flicked it again, and the silver Zippo shot out a flame. Lucca did one of his tricks, rolling the lighted Zippo in-between each of his fingers.

“I will if you tell me how old you are.”

Wait … what?

Chloe became entranced, staring at the flame expertly passing through his fingers. She didn’t know how he didn’t let it burn himself.

Chloe mindlessly answered and asked her own question, captivated by the glow. “Seventeen. You?”

Lucca suddenly flipped the lighter closed. “Twenty-six.”

Something told her he wasn’t very happy about her answer by the look on his face.

Twenty-six.
She had no clue why she’d asked how old he was.

After she’d watched him move slightly to let her pass, she really wished he would give her more room than that.

Chloe slowly walked up and turned her body to the side, keeping her eyes on him, afraid he would move when she passed through. She held her breath as she carefully started to move by him. Her face came to the middle of his chest, even in heels, and his shoulders came right above her head.

When she had successfully passed him, somehow with just mere centimeters apart, Chloe started walking as fast as she could, trying not to run back to the house.

Lucca’s voice carried across the yard. “You can’t run from the truth forever, darlin’.”

Chloe picked her feet up faster.

Yes, I can. I’ve been doing it for years …

S
he picked up her feet
, going toward the man with the blue-green eyes who commanded her body …

C
rack
.

The sound of broken bones greeted her ears as a baseball bat slammed down into a limp body.

Snap.

Another flash of the bat making contact with the man’s leg, the man who lay practically lifeless on the floor.

He raised the bat once more, pausing only to look her in the eyes. An evil pair of blue-green eyes stared back at her, making her blood run cold. She watched him grip the neck of the bat with a force so intense she was positive it was going to shatter before the bat was brought down for its final time.

Crunch.

As she watched the man inhale the air around him, he looked crazed, his appearance disheveled. Then he slicked his overgrown hair back in place, and you could see the slight smile come to his lips.

T
urning
her eyes back to Amo, she saw him screaming, horror gripping his face to get to her, to save her …

“
I
’m the nice one
.”

Glancing at him for a moment, she began to think she might have been too harsh on him. This clearly was a touchy subject for him.

“I guess you will have to prove it.” She smiled at him.

He smiled back. “I can do that…”

T
here was always
a moment in time one faced in life when a choice must be made, and this was her moment.

Time unfroze. She kicked her feet up off the ground, running into the arms of the man she had chosen to protect her. His arms circled around her as she took a shuddering breath. They were the first arms to hold her in years.

Holding her close, Amo whispered into her ear, “I’ve got you.”

C
hloe squeezed
her hands together on her lap, silently staring ahead as Amo drove her home.

Lucca’s face was going to haunt her for the rest of her life. The look he had given her as Amo carried her out of the mall was one she would never forget. It wasn’t going to haunt her because it scared her; it was going to haunt her because the look in his eyes had shattered her. He didn’t even meet her eyes when he ordered Amo to immediately take her home.

“Is the air conditioning too cold?”

Lucca’s face disappeared from her mind at Amo’s question.

“N-no.”

What had her shivering was not only Lucca’s face, but also sitting in the car with Amo. His dark gaze kept coming to her face as if he wanted to say something.

She was so tense it was a relief when he finally pulled into her driveway. Chloe brought her hand to the door handle, prepared to jump out of the car.

“Wait.” She froze at his word. “Stay and go to college here … with Elle and Lake.” Amo shifted in his seat to face her fully. “I could take some classes. Who is going to walk you to class when Elle or I aren’t there?”

Chloe kept her gaze down, looking at him through her lashes. “I’ll have to get used to being on my own.”

“But if you stayed here, you wouldn’t have to.”

What had happened at the mall hadn’t changed anything for her. It had only solidified that she had to keep running.

“Elle won’t have to watch out for me anymore. She can finally enjoy school at college with me not getting in her way. I want that for her.”

“What about you? What about me?” He tried to keep his voice even.

“I’ll adjust. It will be good for me. You have Nero and Vincent and your job at the casino hotel to keep you so busy you won’t even remember me.”

“I’ll remember you …” Amo whispered.

Her heart started to hurt for him. She could feel her resolve begin to slip away. If she didn’t get out of this car, she was afraid he might change her mind.

“That you walked me to class for a few months? That my best friend is your friend’s girlfriend?”

Amo pounded his hand on the steering wheel. “You’re not like any other girl I know, Chloe.” Calming his breathing, he whispered the words, “I love you.”

Chloe’s heart beat against her chest. That was exactly what she had been afraid of.

Jumping out of the car, she ran toward her front door.
He can’t. He can’t love me.

“Fucking wait!” Amo ran to her with pleading eyes.

Kill it. You have to kill what’s between us
s
o you won’t kill him …

“We’re friends, Amo. If I stay … I can’t. I will never be what you want. You need a girl like Elle or Lake. Even a girl like Cassandra would be better than me. You love being with your friends, and I like being alone. That’s why I’m leaving,” she lied for Amo’s sake. He deserved a normal girl, not someone who was afraid of her own shadow.

“No one likes to be alone,” he told her softly.

Chloe wished she could brush away normal tears, not the ghost tears that wanted to fall down her cheeks.

“I’m not normal; I’m a freak.” Taking a harsh breath, she hated herself for the words she was about to say. “You said so yourself.”

Amo paled.

“Fucking freak!” was said, followed by laughter filling the space with continuous echoes of the word “freak.”

She had watched him mouth the word freshman year as she entered the lunchroom for the first time with her new scars.

He looked away from her. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“What was I suppose say?” Chloe put her hands on the front door. “Bye, Amo.”

Tears filled his eyes. “I didn’t mean it …”

I know you didn’t.

“It’s okay, Amo. We’re even. I called you a beast.” She opened the door, going inside. Then she reached out to close the door. “I can’t be fixed. Not by you, not by anyone. I’m just broken.” Shutting the door and closing out his glossy dark gaze somehow broke her even more than she already was.

Chloe wiped the scar on her cheek, feeling moisture. A single real tear had finally fallen.

I’m so sorry, Amo …

* * *

C
hloe quickly shoved
her suitcases into the trunk of her car, wanting to be long gone before her parents got back from a dinner after his City Council meeting. The last suitcase, which she had actually taken from her mom’s closet since she hadn’t been able to retrieve the one she had bought, was finally shoved in.

After Amo had left, Chloe had decided she needed to leave …
now.
She was afraid to see how she felt in the morning, and she didn’t want to give Amo a chance to meet her at the airport before her flight took off. Therefore, she had called and gotten her flight changed to leave in three hours.

She had written two notes. One was for Lana, which she had left in the cleaning closet, telling her that she loved her and not to worry about her and also how she was sorry she didn’t say good-bye to her face. The second note was for her parents, telling them that she had decided to leave early and that the key to her car would be placed in the hidden key box above her tire.

It was sad that the one she had said I love you to wasn’t the one you would think.

Getting in the car, Chloe took one last look at the house that had never been a home, but had been her prison. As she drove away, she could feel the chains slowly start to break as she left her prison and then her city behind. Breaking free was a paramount feeling she would always remember.

Chloe rolled down the window, letting the warm summer air whip across her face. Taking a deep breath in, she felt the last chain break.

I’ve finally reached freedom.

It was going to be close, but she would make the plane. Most of her time was spent trying to find the correct parking area.

Chloe parked her car in the desolate-looking parking garage. Pulling out her suitcases and backpacks, she locked her doors then went to her rear wheel. Her fingers fumbled as they searched for the hidden key box that was stuck to the underside of the car.

Bending down farther to look for it, her fingers finally grasped the box.

“Got i—”

A hard body wrapped around her, along with a cloth covering her mouth and nose. The hand behind the cloth stifled any screams or protests she could have made, and the strong body kept her in place.

Stay still, little girl.

There was no fight to be had. Her vision went blurry as it all started to fade away.

Or it’ll just hurt worse.

She had known it was too good to be true. Her soul belonged to the devil …