Chapter 15
Chloe
My heart broke for Priest.
I was seriously pacing my apartment trying to figure out a way to unalive that woman. She didn’t deserve to live.
Who the freaking flip did she think she was?
The nerve of some people.
Just as I moved to make another pass around my living room, there was a knock on my door.
When I moved to it, you could have knocked me over with a feather.
Because standing on the other side of my door was Asher’s wife.
I may have seen her in a brief moment, however, for as long as I live, I will never forget her face.
I sighed and decided to be the bigger person; therefore, I opened the door.
And the moment I did, she looked at me, smiled, and asked, “Hi, may I come in?”
I didn’t move, no, I said I would be the bigger person, which was why I opened the door, now... everything else was up in the air, I asked, “What are you doing here?”
She smiled sadly, “I came here to maybe help clear things up. I promise not to upset you. And if I do, I’ll gladly sit here until Asher arrives and carts me off to places unknown, never to be heard from or seen again.”
I lifted a brow, “Why would you do that?”
She smiled, “Because I finally found what I had been looking for all these years. And if I can help you, forgive Asher. Then I’m going to do that. And I hurt my daughter a long time ago. This won’t fix everything, and I know that, but maybe it’s a start.”
I sighed, then opened the door for her.
She smiled and then nodded her thanks.
I was being the bigger person, which was why I offered her a glass of water.
I got myself a beer, and I could have laughed that she sat down on my couch in the same manner that Stella had at my parent’s house.
Once she took a sip and cradled the glass, she said, “I know people think that I’m a bad person. And a lot of them would be correct. I was young. Sure, people like you, who have their whole life planned out, would see it that way.”
She swallowed and continued, “I wasn’t ready to be a mother. I didn’t fully understand the concept of loving one person. My parents had what is called an open relationship, and it worked for them. And for a time, it worked for me. Until I slept with Asher’s uncle.”
I gasped, “Wait, he has an uncle?”
She nodded, “Yeah, he did. You’ll have to ask Asher about that. It’s not my story to tell. But all I can say is that I was young and stupid. Thought it was cool that this older man who said he had money only wanted to be with me. That was a laugh unto itself. I’ll let Asher tell you the full story.”
I sighed, another person wanting me to listen to Asher.
“After I left them, I went to Mexico. Had a procedure done. I wasn’t motherly. At all. And I knew that I wouldn’t change my mind. And all these years later, I still haven’t changed my mind. Some women are born to be mothers, and some are definitely not.”
“I understand that.” was all I said.
“We were young, Chloe. So young. Looking back on it, we never should have gotten married. Asher was never in the wrong about anything he ever did. But I didn’t love him. And he sure didn’t love me. I mean, I might have thought at one time that we had. I’m not going to lie. But the way he watched you walk away from him? It looked like he was thrown into the fiery gates of hell, had his skin flayed off, and his bones ripped from his body. He was torn and shattered. When I left, he didn’t even react. He simply turned and walked back into the house after he watched me flee the house that night.”
Then she smiled, sat her glass of water down on the coffee table, opened her phone, and pulled out her phone.
“This is what he looked like when you left. Watch it. Then make up your mind, honey. Because if my man looked like that, and I truly loved him, it would tear me apart.”
I looked at her phone, hesitant to take it when she offered it to me, which was why I asked, “Where did you get this?”
She smiled, “Charlie, I told him I was going to talk to you. He got that off a camera in the clubhouse.”
Only then did I take the phone from her, sat my beer down, and hit play.
I watched the video again and again and again.
But what caused my emotions to feel as though they had been ignited were the words that rumbled out of him, “Whit, your acting Pres. Until I win her back.”
“No. Fuck no.” Whit disagreed.
“I’m not the man y’all need without her by my side. I’m better with her there. I’m stronger. And I’m whole. I’m half a man right now.”
“You’ll get her back,” I heard Creature’s low tone rumble out.
Rome nodded, “Yeah, she loves you. Everyone knows it. Love like that doesn’t simply go away.”
After I watched the video one more time, I handed her phone back to her.
“Any man who's willing to walk away from one of the only things he’s ever really known for a woman, that says it all right there. Take your time. Think. And thank you for allowing me to talk to you.”
And with that, she smiled, got up, and walked out of my apartment.
Sadly, she was right. I had a lot to think about.
I sighed as I looked at the clock, well, I wouldn’t be thinking about that tonight.
I had somewhere to be.
Asher
“Umm, pres.… you’re not going to like this,” Pagan said when I answered the phone.
I growled, “Spit it the fuck out, boy.”
“Chloe is on a date.” Those four words were like a knife in my belly.
At his words, I stood up so fast that the chair I had been sitting in slammed against the wall.
I only had one thought in mind: grab what I needed and go find my wayward woman.
I stalked to my office and grabbed the divorce decree. Fuck doing this tomorrow. Fuck my plans.
It was happening now, right this very fucking second.
Walking back into the main part of the clubhouse, I barked at Pagan, “Where?”
Once he relayed where that fool woman was, I stalked to the doors, then kicked them open and stormed to my bike.
Arriving at the restaurant, I tore off my helmet, lifted my leg, and planted my other boot on the pavement.
Reaching into my saddlebags, I tagged the gift box I had and then stalked into the restaurant.
My eyes immediately scanned the inhabitants.
Some woman standing at the hostess stand said, “Sir, can you tell me the name of the party you are looking for?”
I, of course, ignored her.
Looking left, then right, my eyes hit every single female in this building, and then when my eyes landed on my heart that was sitting in a booth across from some punk ass motherfucker I growled and then stalked over to their booth.
The moment I reached her table, I ignored the limp dick-looking mother fucker and slammed my divorce decree down on the table in front of her.
Then I laid the box down in front of her, and then I walked the fuck out, sat down on my bike, and waited.
And then I waited, then waited, and then waited some more.
When I didn’t see her, I got up off my bike and stormed back into the restaurant.
The hostess didn’t bother saying a word to me.
When I reached her table, I said, “Gave you time to walk your gorgeous ass out to me, Chloe, ain’t waiting for another second longer for you to be in my arms.”
She sighed, then looked up at me and said, “I’m busy, Asher. And this decree doesn’t change anything. You were married. You should have told me. You didn’t do that. That’s on you.”
I braced my hands on her table, lowered my head, locked my eyes with hers, and said, “Well, you're right about one thing. I may have been married to that bitch on paper, but in my heart, I’m married to you. And you can bet your ass, no matter what I have to do, you will be married to me before the sun sets tomorrow.”
Her eyes flared, and I watched as they softened slightly, I would take that.
I would even take her temper she was about to throw at me, which she did in the next instance.
She threw her hands up and snapped, “You think I’m going anywhere with you? You’ve lost your ever-loving mind.
I grinned, “Chloe, I divorced her ass. I’m fucking yours.”
She snapped, her voice raising, and I didn’t give two shits if we gave the customers a show, “You were hers when you almost kissed me. You made me the other woman. And that’s so far from okay that it isn’t even funny.”
Then I growled to hide my grin, “I never fucking loved her, Chloe. I fucking love you.”
I ran my hand through my hair, I didn’t plan to tell her like that, “God damnit, Chloe. Just let me explain. Okay. Half an hour, that’s all I’m asking you for. You fucking owe me that much.”
And that was the wrong thing to say, and I knew it when she gasped, stood, grabbed the glass of water in front of her, and then threw its contents in my face.
Then she looked at the limp-dick motherfucker I was having a hard time with, not slamming his face into the table for even daring to spend even two minutes in her breathable atmosphere.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Everett. I apologize on behalf of Sheridan Accounting for our meeting being ruined. Please accept my deepest apologies and take in everything about our company before this rude individual interrupted our meeting when you make your decision. Thank you, and I hope you have a great weekend.”
And with that, she moved me out of her way and stormed out the door.
I stood there as I took in exactly what I just did. Then I ran my hand through my hair and said, “Well, shit.”
The man laughed, “I don’t envy you. Tell me, would you do it all over again if it meant you got even a minute of her time?”
I looked at him and did one thing: I nodded.
He smiled, “Well, at least you didn’t claim to love your wife and then ended up knocking four different women up.”
I scoffed, “Damn, man. Nah, I even get around another woman who isn’t Chloe, feels like my dick tucks itself into a deep corner and hides.”
He laughed.
I sighed and asked, “Anything I could get you to do to go with Chloe and her firm?”
He shook his head, “My mind was already made up before this meeting. This was only a formality. They just didn’t know it.”
I nodded.
Then I stood up, grabbed my wallet, and tossed some cash that should cover her meal, then looked at the man and said, “No one pays for my woman but me.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded.
Then I tagged the divorce decree and the medium sized black box.
Once I got on my bike, I thought about where I needed to go. Where would Chloe go?
But after an hour of looking everywhere for her, I headed to my house.
Only to stop my bike beside her little Honda.
I grinned, I should have known.
And there she was, sitting on one of the rocking chairs, curled up under a red blanket she keeps in her car.
Walking up the steps, she said, “I want to know everything.”
I looked into those eyes of hers I wanted to stay lost in.
Then I leaned back on the railing, crossed my arms over my chest, and told her everything.
“So, why did you stay married to her all this time?”
I sighed, then ran my hand through my hair, “She was a vindictive bitch. Told me that if I ever tried to divorce her, she would take the evidence she had of what I did to the feds. Believed her. So, I stayed the course. Allowed her to basically keep hold of my balls technically. Until you were sixteen.”
She tilted her head, “Why when I was sixteen?”
“Cause I realized you were the one I had been waiting on all my life. Realized that if I didn’t see you, then the sun didn’t rise for me. Lived in darkness ‘til I saw your eyes.”
“Evelyn might have held my balls, but I didn’t want her to. I wanted you to be the one. ‘Cause if you told me to go jump off a bridge to make you happy, I’d do it. Just to see your smile one more time.”
I watched as a tear trailed from the corner of her eye.
I had to beat back the need to move in and wipe it from her cheek.
She sat there, using one foot to rock back and forth, and then she stopped and asked, “You killed your so-called uncle because he slept with your wife?”
He shook his head, “No, I killed my so-called uncle because he thought that if he slept with Evelyn, that meant he could also sleep with Stella when she was old enough.”
Vehemently, she gasped then furiously; she shook her head, “Well then, he deserved everything he got.”
“I haven’t seen her since that day. I should have done more. Should have just pushed everything, but honestly, I haven’t been looking for her as I could have. Didn’t really start looking for her until you were eighteen. I’m fucking sorry.”
She looked up at me, then nodded. “Okay.”
I grinned back, “Okay.”