Chloe (Made Men, #3)(48)

“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 …



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



Crack.

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.



Turning 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…”



There 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.”





Thirty-Eight





I Can’t Be Fixed. Not by You, Not by Anyone. I’m Just Broken





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