Chapter 16 Chloe
CHLOE
Ihitch a ride home with Oliver, who initially insists on doing the rowing himself.
Of course, he tires out about halfway across the lake, and I have to take over, pushing us through the calm waters.
I don’t have a sense of what time it is, although the sun feels higher overhead than I expected. Thank god it’s the weekend.
Penelope’s probably freaking out, though.
“I’m glad you came by,” I tell Oliver. He’s staring down at his backpack and jerks his gaze up at the sound of my voice. “Otherwise, I would have had to swim home like Theo did last night.”
Oliver laughs, his eyes crinkling up. “Theo’s strong,” he signs. “He doesn’t mind swimming.”
Yes. Theo is strong. Dangerous, too. I know he said he doesn’t want to hurt Oliver, and honestly, after seeing the two of them interact on the porch—I believe him.
He was calm and patient and complimented Oliver on the drawings he brought over.
I know what Theo is, but in those moments, the two of them sitting side by side on the swing, I couldn’t see it in him. I would have thought he was just a man.
Not like when he was fucking me. The thought hits me hard, and the oars flop crookedly in the water. Oliver frowns at me.
“Sorry,” I say. “Caught an eddy there.”
“Don’t flip us over!” Oliver pats his backpack. “Mom and Dad would kill me if I came home wet. The last time I went swimming, I dripped water on the kitchen, and I got grounded for two weeks.”
There’s that pang in my chest again. “Two weeks?” I say lightly. “That’s a long time.”
Too long, really. Just for getting lake water in the house? But I keep my mouth shut.
Oliver shrugs, though, and then hunches over his backpack so that his hair falls into his eyes. I frown, concern tightening in my belly.
“Hey,” I say, and when Oliver looks up at me, his expression nearly breaks my heart.
No kid should look that fucking sad. I swallow down that concern, though, and force my voice to be as bright and cheery as I can.
“If you ever want to go swimming, you can come dry off at my place before you head home, okay?”
Immediately, Oliver beams and nods his head furiously.
A few minutes later, the boat bumps up against Oliver’s pier, and he jumps out, leaving me to tie it off. “I have to go,” he signs. “I have to help Dad clean out the garage. Owen was supposed to do it—” He cuts himself off, curling his hands into little fists. “He never has to do chores.”
Discomfort settles in my chest again. “Well, if you want to come over afterward, we can split a Coke.”
Oliver grins. “Mom never lets me have Cokes. Or candy. Or chips. Or anything good.”
“Well, it’ll be our secret.”
Oliver waves goodbye, slides on his backpack, and takes off down the pier. For a moment, I just sit in the boat, watching as he runs up to the back door and flings it open and disappears inside. There’s a half-second where I hear a raised woman’s voice, just before it slams shut.
I think of the way Theo is with him—the patience, the gentleness. No matter what kind of monster Theo might be, I can kind of understand why Oliver would rather spend time with him.
Eventually, I pull out of the boat, taking the oars with me. I lay them in the grass of Oliver’s yard, figuring that’s the safest place for them, even though his mother seems like the type who would complain. Well, let her.
The first thing I do when I get back home is check my phone. It’s nearly noon—almost four hours have passed since I went to the peninsula. There are also a few texts from Penelope, growing increasingly more worried.
Penelope
You around?
Call me please. Callie has an idea for talking to this guy.
Dude, don’t do this to me. ANSWER YOUR DAMN PHONE.
Guilt twists around in my stomach. We went through this about a month ago with Abi—she flipped out and went dark during one of our movie nights, and Penelope and I texted furiously back and forth before she finally responded and said she was fine.
But I remember that sick feeling of worry in my stomach.
When I call Penelope, she answers on the first ring.
“Are you okay?” she says instead of hello.
“Definitely okay.” I take a deep breath. Should I tell her? I have to tell her. She’s my best friend. “I went over to the peninsula, where Theo Shorn lives.”
“What the fuck!” Penelope shrieks, which I expected. “And you didn’t take your phone? Jesus Christ, Chloe, what the hell were you thinking?”
“He didn’t do anything.” Well, that’s not entirely true, is it? “I mean, he didn’t do anything… bad.”
Silence fills the line.
“So what exactly did he… do?” Penelope says in a low voice.
Heat floods into my cheeks, and I walk over to my window and pull back the curtains to look out at the lake. At the woods, hiding Theo’s cabin.
“He kissed you again, didn’t he?” Penelope’s voice is flat. “Chloe, I know you think you understand what’s going on here, but he’s dangerous. I don’t care what he says to you, what he does, he’s—”
“I fucked him.”
The words roll out of me before I can stop them, but it feels better, having them out there instead of choking me up from the inside.
Penelope gives me one second of peace before screaming, “You did what?”
“I fucked him.” It feels even better saying it the second time. “And he made me come. Twice.”
“I didn’t need to know that!” Penelope shouts. “Oh my god, Chloe, you don’t—I’m coming out there, okay? And I’m bringing Callie. You can’t stay there.”
“Why not?” I fling myself on my bed and stare up at the ceiling fan, spinning in slow, lazy circles. “Look, Penelope, I know he’s dangerous, okay? I’m not stupid. But he’s—” I fumble around for the right word and eventually settle on Oliver’s. “He’s nice.”
“Hunters are not nice,” Penelope hisses. “My sister, I love her, but she’s not nice.”
“She saved us from that creep back in Miami.” I sit up, my heart racing. “And, like, you stay with her all the time. You’re staying with her right now. And she’s never hurt you—”
“But she could,” Penelope snaps.
My chest tightens.
“I can’t talk about this shit over the phone,” Penelope says. “But if she doesn’t—doesn’t work out regularly, then she’ll go crazy. I wouldn’t be safe then.”
My skin prickles, suddenly cold with fear. Even the warmth of the sun doesn’t seem like enough. “What do you mean?”
“I mean she would lose control,” Penelope says. “And I’m her sister. She actually does care about me. But I would still be in danger. This fucking dude—you don’t know him. For all you know, him fucking you is part of his, uh, workout plan.”
The fear spikes, quickening my heartbeat. I think of Theo staring at me in the woods, all his attention fixed straight on me, like I was the most important thing in the world. Then I think of the way he fucked me. Like he was stabbing me.
Which is also exactly how I’ve always wanted to be fucked. Like I’m being killed.
“He broke into your house,” Penelope says. “You’d never seen him before, and he still—”
“He knew about me,” I say. “From this kid next door. Oliver. Oliver’s friends with him.”
“Jesus fuck, Chloe.”
“He definitely wouldn’t hurt Oliver.” Saying it out, I believe it, too. “I saw them together this morning. He treats Oliver better than Oliver’s parents treat him, I’m pretty sure. Big dad energy.”
“Big dad energy?” Penelope sputters. “Do you hear yourself right now?”
“Yeah. He’s protective.” I shrug. “Look, I’m not gonna deny that this might be—dangerous for me. But not for Oliver. I feel pretty sure about that.”
“Pretty sure?”
“Very sure.” I take a deep breath to steady myself. “I know it sounds crazy, okay? And I’m not saying I’m not scared of him—”
“No, because that’s his whole god damn appeal, isn’t it?”
I open my mouth, wanting to deny it. But I can’t. She’s right.
“Knew it.” Penelope sighs. “He’s a predator, Chloe. Like, literally. Like the way a wolf is a predator. He’s not—” Her voice tightens. “He’s not human,” she says softly. “And he sees you as prey. That’s the appeal of you to him.”
I know damn well Penelope’s trying to scare me, but everything she’s saying just quickens my blood a little bit more.
The stings of pain around my breasts, on my throat, on the places where Theo bit me, suddenly start to throb like my still-aching clit.
Prey. What’s prey but a focused target? All my life, I’ve gotten passed over by men.
In high school, I never got dates to dances.
My first year of college, before I met Abi and Penelope, I’d go out clubbing with my dorm mate and some of her friends, and I’d always get left sitting alone in the booth, sipping on a Coke because I didn’t even have a fake ID to get a real drink.
All for what? To maybe go home with some guy who couldn’t even give me what I needed?
But when Theo Shorn found me on his property, he looked at me like nothing else in the world mattered.
So yeah. Maybe I like being prey.
Not that I can say any of this to Penelope. I’m not sure I want to say it to anyone.
“Chloe?” Penelope’s voice drags me back to my sunny bedroom. “Are you listening to me?”
“Yeah, yeah. He’s a wolf, I’m little red riding hood.”
“This isn’t a joke.” Her voice is dead serious. “I really think Callie and I need to come visit. Keep you safe.”
“What does Callie think about that?”
Penelope doesn’t say anything.
“I’m fine. Really.” I sit up, take a deep breath. “Look, if it makes you feel better—I won’t go over there again, okay? I’ll stay on my side of the lake. If he comes back, you’ll be the first to know.”
Penelope breathes softly. “He really is a wolf,” she says quietly. “The man-eating kind. They all are.”
And our ancestors tamed wolves, didn’t they?
But I don’t say that out loud.