Chloe (Made Men, #3)(37)

*

Anger exploded out of Chloe as she stared at the beast. It was a feeling she hadn’t felt this pure probably ever in her life. It only grew worse with each tear that fell down her friend’s face. She had seen Elle get the shit beaten out of her, but she had never witnessed her in this much pain.

They had just caught Nero, Amo, and Vincent in a fight, but that wasn’t the worst part. When girls in tight dresses had wrapped themselves around the boys, Chloe certainly hadn’t been shocked Vincent accepted it or even Amo, but she had been shocked Nero had a girl wrapped around him. Chloe could see it in Nero’s eyes every time he looked at Elle: he loved her. She didn’t know why he would f*ck all that up.

“Let’s go,” Elle told Chloe through the tears. She had basically just told Nero to go f*ck himself and only wanted to get away from him.

The anger hit its reaching point inside of Chloe. I thought we were all starting to be friends.

Nero and Elle were what was holding the alliance together. Without them, there was no friendship, especially since he had done something like this to cause such heartache to her.

She knew exactly who had played the major part in this. I can see it on his freaking face.

Rearing back her foot, she kicked him in the shin as hard as she possibly could.

“Ow! What the f*ck did I do?” Amo yelled, holding his shin.

“You should be ashamed of yourself.” She then pointed at Vincent who started to back away from her, afraid of the safety of his own shin. “And you, too.”

Looking back at Amo, she let him know she knew this had all happened because of him. “I know you put him up to this.”

Walking over to her now crying and somewhat smiling friend, Chloe stopped and looked at Nero. “I have nothing to say to you. You know what you just lost.”

With each step to her car, the anger slowly left her body, making her realize what she had just done. It was like … I was possessed.

Getting in her car and seeing Elle in the passenger seat wiping away the tears, Chloe felt the need to cry hit her, too. If she could, she was almost certain she would cry right beside her.

Fear set into her, but it wasn’t the kind she was used to. Back there, she had thought Elle was the one with the most to lose with Nero. However, she felt like she had lost something just as great. Every day, Amo surprised her; every day, she had trusted him a little bit more; and every day, she could feel the start of a friendship blooming.

The fact that she was feeling the start of a friendship with Amo scared her. The fact that a strong sadness came over her since she wasn’t going to see their friendship bloom truly frightened her …



*

Did she just f*cking kick me? Amo’s leg still stung as he walked to the car.

Damn, she did just f*cking kick me!

She had blamed him for Nero going out with another girl, but the only reason Nero had gone out was because he really hadn’t had much of a choice. He had set the date up before Nero had realized he fully wanted her. Amo knew Nero would come to the conclusion of picking Elle over the job. It was obvious he liked her too much. However, Nero had to pretend to the boss that he wasn’t falling for her, because if the boss found out about them and then they canceled, it would look suspicious. Nero’s father was already skeptical of his loyalties.

Cassandra had also been supposed to be here tonight. Since she had been suspended this week, they hadn’t seen her. They wanted to talk to her outside of the school, force her to tell them all the shit they had done to Elle and Chloe.

Nero had planned to kill two birds with one stone tonight: gain his father’s trust and get his hands on Cassandra. But it all had gone to f*cking shit the moment Elle had showed up.

They didn’t even understand why she had come to Poison, anyway. It was a lounge for teens and definitely not somewhere Elle or Chloe had ever gone before. Elle had said she had gotten a text from Nero to come here, but he hadn’t sent one.

We’re getting played somehow. Someone was one step ahead of them, and he could feel it. He just hoped it didn’t come to bite him in the ass before he could see it coming.

You should be ashamed of yourself … Chloe’s words swirled in his head. She could barely look him in the eyes day by day, yet tonight, she had stared the beast down and kicked him. He was used to seeing that hint of fear in her eyes every time she looked at him, but for the first time, he had seen it disappear for just a moment.

Fear was the only thing he had thought lived in Chloe. But, damn, I was wrong.

A smile touched his lips. No girl had ever dared to do something like that to him. Not only that, but he had let her live to tell the tale. Whatever he had done to change her image of him had worked. He hadn’t seen it until now, but that was exactly what he had hoped for.

There was no doubt Nero was getting Elle back, which put him right back where he wanted.

Before he opened the door to his car, the clicking of heels came up behind him. “Amo, you didn’t forget about me, did you?”

Turning around, he saw Christa perking her boobs out for him to stare at. Instead, he turned back around to get in his car. “No, I didn’t.”

“But-but, I thought I was going over to your house tonight.”

Amo opened the door and slid in, ignoring her obnoxious baby voice and fake tears.

“How am I supposed to get home?”