Chloe (Made Men, #3)(10)

Chloe quickly went to work. She was going to work her ass off until the bell rang. That way, Elle wouldn’t have to come over.

There is no way I am not going to finish this project.



*

Brrring.

She did not finish their project.



*

“Mom, Elle will be here any minute. Where are you?” she whispered into the phone.

“I’m running late at the office. I’ll be home in an hour.”

That was all Chloe heard before the beep came through the phone, telling her that her mother had hung up.

Crap!

She was about to do that exact same thing in her pants as she watched her dad pick up his bottle to fill up his cup again. Her mother had advised her that she was a failure in the first place since she hadn’t finished it at school. Then she had advised her to finish it up at Elle’s, but when Chloe had explained Elle’s situation, her mother had no longer cared.

Her mother had quickly realized Elle didn’t come from money since she couldn’t recall the last name of Buchanan having any real standing in Kansas City, Missouri. In turn, she couldn’t give two shits what she thought about her family. However, her mother had promised her that she would keep Maxwell contained. Clearly, that was low on her to-do list.

Ding.

Just don’t answer it. Maybe she will go away.

Ding.

“Are you … going to ans-s-swer the damn … door?” Maxwell started going toward the door himself.

Chloe quickly got up and passed him. “I can get—”

“I can get it myself!” He put his hand on Chloe as she passed him, pushing her forcefully out of the way.

Opening her mouth to scream as his hand made contact with her arm, only her breath came out as she fell to the floor.

All of a sudden, she could feel the rough hands holding her down while she tried to scream and fight them off her as she lay on the cold table.

The sound of the door opening and the cold air of the night touching her face brought her back to the present.

“Hello, Mr. Ma—Chloe, are you okay?” Elle’s face had changed from a smile to concern as quickly as her tone did.

Staring at her face from the floor as Elle stood on the other side of the doorway, Chloe was too stunned to speak.

Maxwell took it upon himself to answer for her. “She’s fine … She tripped. Who are you …?”

I tripped. No one hurt me.

Desperately trying to shake off the fall and the memory banging at the door in her head, she began to get up to avoid raising any alarms for Elle.

“Um, I’m Elle. We are supposed to finish our science project.” Her eyes danced between father and daughter.

“Do-Don’t you r-remember?”

“No, because-s-she you didn’t tell … me.” He went back to fetch his alcohol. “Get rid of her,” he voiced to Chloe as he walked past, uncaring if the girl at the door heard.

Putting her eyes on the floor, Chloe did as she was asked. “I-I’m sorry. Now’s not a g-good time.”

Elle waited until Maxwell was no longer seen and hopefully out of earshot before she went up to Chloe, whispering, “Are you okay? What happened?”

“Yes, I-I tripped.”

“Bullcrap!” Elle whispered harshly. “I’m calling my mom to come back. You can come home with me.”

“No, I’m fine!”

Elle pulled out her cell phone, not listening to Chloe’s pleas, and told her mom to come back. Once she hung up the phone, she addressed Chloe again.

“Is he the one who hurt you?”

Shaking her head, she looked back at the floor.

“And I’m supposed to believe you!”

“Yes. He’s just been drinking. T-that’s how he handles what … happened to me.”

Knowing she was telling the truth, Elle relaxed just a smudge. “You’re still coming with me.”

“N-no, really. It’s okay. I swear he’s never physically hurt me before. My falling was an accident.” I’m sure he didn’t mean to. “Mom is almost home. I don’t want to leave him alone.”

She could see the wheels turning in Elle’s head before she nodded. “Okay, I’ll ask my mom if you can come over to my house tomorrow to finish our project.”

“I thought you said your parents didn’t want company over?”

“Yeah, well, I lied,” Elle answered as she headed back out the door. “See you tomorrow.”

“Um, okay …” Chloe closed the door behind her when she saw Elle’s mom pulling back into the driveway.

Heading back into the house, she hoped that she could tiptoe up to her room unnoticed.

“Sit down, Chloe.”

Stopping in her tracks, she saw her father sitting at the dining room table. She also noticed his tone had changed to a somewhat more pleasant one. Maybe he wants to apologize…

Taking the seat in front of him, she sat down at the table.

“Does she know what really happened to you …?” He took a sip from his glass.

Chloe violently shook her head, scared of where this was heading.

“Why not? It’s written all … over the paper what really hap-p-p-pened to you.”

Staring at him, she didn’t know what to say.