Chapter 12 #2
Her best friend, Elena, was coming down the hall.
Elena was the first person to talk to Chloe, happening on the shelter in a moment of desperation.
She’d been locked in a dark, sound-proofed room for four days without food or water after biting a client.
She’d been released only because Sands interceded with the Russian.
Everyone thought the Russian would simply keep her there until she died. Elena had thought that, too.
Though Chloe never gave advice, never passed judgment, just listened, Elena always said she felt better afterwards. So Consuelo had dropped by, too. Once a month, at first. Like a compelling sweet, dangerous to consume. Then twice a month and now once a week.
Consuelo was thinking of running away and just living in the shelter, forever.
Except the Russian would find her.
Consuelo frowned. Elena was weaving, looking shocked.
“Consuelo,” Elena whispered, grabbing her arm, looking left and right. Since the Russians, they’d taken to talking in whispers. “Did you hear what happened?”
“No.” What could have happened? It would take a lot to shock Elena, who’d seen it all. Did someone die? It wouldn’t be the first time.
“Chloe. The Russians attacked Chloe. For talking to us.”
Consuelo’s heart stopped in her chest. Chloe. Chloe, hurt for trying to help them. For trying to help her.
Chloe, who helped her to live.
This time the rage was black, strong and bitter and overwhelming.
And there was no Chloe in her head to make it go away.
“You’re worried about Chloe,” Ellen said gently, watching her husband pace up and down the bedroom, love and concern in her eyes.
Her wonderful husband, with that super macho tough-guy exterior masking such a tender heart.
“I’m worried too. But you and Mike and Sam will figure out what’s going on and all of you will protect her.
And Mike…well, he’s crazy about her. That’s pretty clear.
I can’t imagine anyone getting past Mike. ”
“Yeah.” Harry ran a big hand through his dark blond hair, a gesture she’d seen him do a thousand times. It meant stress and frustration and she understood them both. His sister was in danger and it was driving him crazy.
No one knew better than her the immense pain Harry had carried all his life thinking he hadn’t been able to protect his baby sister.
And no one knew better than Ellen how ecstatic Harry had been on finding his baby sister again, and how much he loved her.
Ellen loved Chloe, too. It was so easy to love Chloe, it didn’t take any effort at all. She was gentle and smart and kind. The girls, Gracie and Merry, adored her. Chloe was a blessing in all their lives.
But Mike…Mike loved her in an entirely different way.
“I could never figure out why Mike backed away from Chloe all this time when he’s so crazy about her.
A blind man could see that he’s smitten and yet he just followed her around without out making his move, the dork.
And this is Mike, the man-slut. Mike, the man who’d nail anything that moved.
Though, mind you, it’s hard to think of him that way watching him follow Chloe around like an adopted mongrel for six months.
He’s even willing to watch princess videos forever with the girls as long as Chloe’s there.
What he feels is right out there for everyone to see.
That’s what’s so strange. He backed away from Chloe but stuck so close.
Nicole and I can’t figure it out. And Chloe, too.
Drove her insane. If nothing else, this mess has forced Mike to make a move.
He spent all these months practically stalking her and never touching her.
How weird is…Harry?” Ellen shot up in bed.
“Harry Bolt. What do you know about this? If you know something, spit it out right now, because it’s been driving us crazy. ”
There was something wrong here. Ellen knew every single one of Harry’s expressions, and this was one sheepish-guilty.
“Harry?”
With a sigh, her husband sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand. “You remember that day? That first day when Chloe showed up and we were all just blown away?”
“Oh, yes.” Ellen smiled and reached out a hand to push back a stray lock of his hair.
It would burn in her memory forever because it was as if she’d found a sister.
And Gracie had found a new aunt, an aunt bound to her by blood.
But most of all, it was the day in which her husband finally became whole again.
The immense yawning hole in his heart, there for almost all his life, had healed.
No, it was a day she could never forget.
Harry rubbed the back of his neck, something else he did under stress. “Well, I can’t tell you the impression she made when she first walked into our office. She moved so very carefully and slowly, not like now—"
“Well, Mike’s been making her work out for the past six months. She’s strong as a horse now. Mike saw to that.”
Harry cleared his throat. “Yeah. That’s true.
” He bit his lip, Harryspeak for intense unease.
Ellen sat up straighter against the headboard.
Harry was normally the most controlled of men.
He was having a real emotional moment. “Anyway, that day all I could see was this fragile woman. Uncertain and afraid. She looked like a strong wind could blow her away. And her story—Jesus. Ten years in the hospital. A father who was not her father trying to rape her. And don’t forget, I knew what had come before that.
Living in terror in the home of a violent methhead who near as dammit killed her.
Who I thought had killed her. Chloe seemed so terribly vulnerable, this young woman who hadn’t had any breaks in life.
When I saw Mike coming on to her so strong, I just—it just blew my mind.
You’ve sort of forgotten, because he’s led the life of a monk these past months, but man, he was such a player before.
He broke hearts left right and center. And then when he was taken in for questioning…
I mean I knew he’d never hurt that woman.
I knew he couldn’t. But he did fu—have sex with her.
Some crazy cokehead he’d just met. Because he’d have sex with anything that breathed and had the right equipment.
Like he was seventeen instead of a grown man.
The whole thing was so sordid. I just didn’t want any of that to touch Chloe.
I didn’t want her to have her heart broken. So—"
He stopped, his jaws working.
“So?” Ellen asked softly.
Harry worked at getting it out, the words coming reluctantly.
“So…when Chloe pulled that smart trick with her PI and exonerated him when he was looking at possible jail time, I thought…she’s going to fall for him.
Maybe she already has. They all do. And she’ll get her heart broken.
And I just couldn’t stand the thought. So I made him promise that he wouldn’t touch Chloe. ”
Ellen blinked. “In those words? Those exact words? Don’t touch Chloe?”
“Yeah.” Harry hung his head. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess you’re pretty mad.”
Ellen laughed and Harry’s head snapped up. “What?”
“Oh, my dear darling husband.” Ellen held out her hand and smiled when his hand curled around hers. How her life had changed since Harry saved her life. Of course, he insisted that she had saved his. No matter. They’d both been alone in the darkness until they’d found each other.
Her hand felt so wonderful in his. Always had, always would. She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that if she died first, he would be by her side and she would pass from this life to the next with her hand in his.
Ellen tugged and Harry obediently sank onto the side of the bed. He buried his face in her hair and breathed out a deep sigh. “You’re not mad at me?”