Chapter 47
Chloe
Finally // Beautiful Stranger—Halsey
The shower rained down on me, ice-cold droplets pelting my back as I sat shivering on the tiled floor, legs pulled up into
my arms.
I could still see her features, twisted in anger. The scent and taste of the liquid she’d thrown at me felt like it had washed
over every single one of my senses.
Security followed protocol, using the on-hand medical wash to clean my face. In the car, Calvin held me down in a panic as
they all but waterboarded me.
When we’d gotten to the hospital, it was clear that there was no damage and confirmed after the person responsible was caught
that it was a mix of vinegar and lemon, a mix only supposed to scare me.
Calvin had taken me back to a private apartment, the security firm recommending a more secure location after the near miss.
It could’ve been anything in that cup. They could’ve done anything to me.
I jumped at the sound of a soft knock at the door, my heart racing in my chest until I heard her voice.
“Chloe?” Inés’s panicked accent rang around the white marbled bathroom. Even the sound of her voice was a basic comfort. “Can
I come in?”
“Yes,” I managed to croak, watching as the bathroom door opened.
I nearly broke again at the sight of her.
Her face two shades paler than normal, eyes wide, I could see the restrained fear across her face, a sadness I couldn’t erase.
She didn’t hesitate, walking around the glass partition, braving the shower fully clothed.
Inés sank to the floor, bundling up my naked body in her arms and pulling me impossibly close.
“Joder, Chloe, the water is freezing,” she murmured, my head buried in the crook of her neck.
“It was the only way I felt better.”
After a checkup in the hospital, I still hadn’t felt clean, the sensations still prickling against my skin, the smell still
held in my hair.
The second I’d convinced Calvin to leave me alone, I’d crawled inside the shower and sat under the water. Even with the hospital’s
confirmation that I was unharmed, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something still clung to me, seeping into my pores.
Her hands held me tight, the safest I’d felt in hours as I relaxed into her.
“Can we get out?” she asked. I could hear the chill of the water in her voice, but I still wasn’t ready. Wasn’t clean.
“I haven’t washed my hair.” I could still smell the sharp scent, still needed to erase it.
“I’ll do it for you.” She warmed the water up gradually, enough that I stopped trembling.
Starting with my neck, her fingers caressed the tight muscles there, working each one as they relaxed under her touch, my
body slowly unwinding from the stress.
My breathing relaxed, shallow breaths turning deep as Inés gently lathered the shampoo into my hair. Her delicate fingers
massaged my scalp, taking her time to give me all her attention, a luxurious and relaxing scent replacing the vinegar.
Slowly, my mind began to relax, untangling from the events of today, and my eyes closed, allowing her to work as she needed.
I realized how stupid I had been not to take everything seriously. I’d thought the security guards were an overreaction by
my parents, but I should’ve understood how significant the threat was when Calvin was on board.
She took the showerhead, using it to wash the bubbles from my hair, the water still warming my cold body, before applying
the conditioner to the ends of my hair. All the while, her voice murmured soft nothings, telling me how much she cared for
me, how beautiful I was and how she would never let anything happen to me ever again, sometimes slipping into the occasional
Spanish, continuing as she used the warm water to rinse the conditioner out.
After the shower, Inés bundled me up in a fluffy cotton bathrobe, allowing me to wrap my hair in a bath towel. She discarded
her clothes, wearing a matching robe as we left the bathroom.
Every step, every movement she made softly. A gentle kiss on my forehead, her hands on my arms, keeping me close. Like she
couldn’t possibly leave me alone.
“Are you hungry?” Inés asked, settling on the plush sofa, the apartment living room lined with large windows overlooking the
park. We couldn’t even hear the city below us, like we were trapped in a separate world, only the two of us.
I shook my head, not telling her that I didn’t remember the last time I had eaten. Every synapse in my brain still felt too
fuzzy. All I really knew I wanted was her.
Her brown gaze looked me up and down, the hesitation clear. I didn’t know what to expect from her next, so she caught me off
guard when she told me to turn around. I did as she said, unsure as she took the towel from my head, before softly pulling
a brush through my long hair.
Then her fingers began to twist at the crown of my head, pulling damp strands as she began to plait my hair, and for the first
time in hours, the storm inside me calmed to a gentle drizzle.
“Chloe, I’m . . .” She hesitated briefly, her fingers tying the bottom of the complicated plait. “I’m so sorry about what happened. I should’ve protected you.”
I twisted around, ignoring her apology as I wrapped my arms around her body. We slid together like two puzzle pieces, robes
moving and allowing for bare skin to meet, thigh gliding against thigh.
“None of it was your fault.” I pulled back, my hands gripping her arms, making sure her gaze was connected with mine. “Did
you see the latest rumor?”
She nodded, the sadness in her eyes growing deeper. “The breakup.”
It was one of the lies we’d told our team. Now we knew who it was.
Her mouth opened and shut, a flicker of something behind her eyes. Her lips twitched as if she was deciding whether to argue,
but the words didn’t come.
“Back at the stadium, Calvin said you needed time, but if I had been there I could’ve—”
“You couldn’t have done a damn thing,” I said, cutting her off, my stomach tugging at the memory of what had happened. And
while my words were true, I was glad she hadn’t been there. If there had been any other danger, it would’ve included her too.
The only comfort I had was the fact she had been safe. “Calvin was right to send you away. But now? I want this. I need you.”
“On court. I . . .” She trailed off as if she couldn’t bring herself to say she regretted winning, the competitor in her the
thing I’d found myself most in awe of.
I reached out and squeezed her hand. “Don’t you dare tell me you regret winning.” Her eyes met mine, surprise clear in the
dark brown. “If you’d played it any differently, you might have lost. And you’d only regret that,” I said, my voice steady.
“We knew what we signed up for. This is our life. And if we can’t get through playing against each other, then . . .” I paused,
swallowing hard. “Then it’s over before it’s even begun. And that’s the last thing I want.”
“I don’t want that either.”
“Good,” I answered.
“I think we have to trust that this, what we have, is bigger than tennis. That no matter what happens on the court, we come
back here, to each other. And we don’t let the rest of it get in the way.”
Her words hit me like a serve to the chest, knocking the air out of me. “You can do that?”
“I have to,” she said, her fingers closing around mine. “Because I can’t do this without you.”
I stared at her, the weight of her words settling in my chest. “You’re not going to lose me. Not over this.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.” I squeezed her hand tightly, my voice steady.
We sat there in silence, the weight of our promises hanging between us, before it was finally time to face the truth. We knew
who had been betraying our trust, who had been profiting from Inés, and it was time to end it.
“How are you going to handle it?” I asked, feeling so small in the face of everything. My fingers tightened around hers, a
small comfort against the weight of betrayal. I’d seen how close they were. The brunches with her team, the late-night calls
where she spoke like she was confiding in a best friend. I knew how much that trust must have meant to her. And I knew exactly
how much it hurt to lose it.
“I can’t keep letting her leak stories.” She chewed her lip, frustration etched into every tense line of her face. Then she
looked at me, her eyes burning with something raw, something I wasn’t sure she’d let herself feel until now. “She’s hurting
us, and I trusted her with everything.”
Even knowing what she had done, how she had twisted information, how she had used her words against us, I still couldn’t imagine
being in Inés’s position.
So instead of trying, I pulled her into a tight hug, pressing my cheek to the crown of her head. It felt impossible, everything that had happened, everything we’d gone through. But we’d only found each other in this mess, been pulled together at every turn.
Now, with her hand in mine, I knew we could survive anything.