Chloe (Made Men Book 3) (6 page)

L
etting
Chloe spend the night at Elle’s the next day was her parents’ way of making it up to her after what had happened. Plus, the girls really did have to finish their project if they didn’t want a big fat F.

Her mother driving her to Elle’s house consisted of straight complaints since it wasn’t in “the suburbs” and was too far out for her “taste.” Chloe had just kept her mouth shut and was thankful when they reached their destination.

Walking up to the house, Chloe felt embarrassed to see Elle again after what had happened. She just hoped they could pretend yesterday hadn’t happened.
That’s what I’m going to do, at least.

Before getting to the door, she could see Elle peeking her head out the front window of the house, and then she was gone.

“Hi!” Elle opened the door wide for her.

Cracking a small smile was the best she could do with her nerves. She was still not used to showing her face, and she wasn’t sure how Elle’s parents would react to her scars.

As soon as she came through the door, she was pretty much in the living room, and the first thing she noticed was a cute, little boy playing on the floor with his cars. Her eyes then went to the wheelchair that held a man who was watching his son play beside him. Chloe had known what to expect, but seeing it was different.

Finally, when he looked up, she expected his face to turn to shock, if even for a moment, but it didn’t.

“This is my dad and my little brother Josh, and this is Chloe Masters,” Elle made the introductions quickly, pointing to the person the name correlated to.

Josh didn’t look up from his toys.

Chloe only nodded her head, not wanting to stutter out a hello first to her dad. Another shocking thing happened when he just nodded his head and went back to watching his son play.

She saw it right before his eyes left hers—an understanding. The understanding was one of loss, and she could feel he wasn’t any used to his new body than she was.

From what Chloe knew—
thanks to big mouth—
was that he had suffered a forklift accident and lost the use of his legs, which had happened during the beginning of the school year. He had gained a huge promotion at the factory before the accident and had pulled Elle from public to private school. So, Elle being new at school this year had made the perfect target for Cassandra. Hence, why they were all here at this moment.

“Hello!” A sweet and very pretty woman wearing an apron came from the kitchen.

Elle smiled. “And this is my mom, of course.”

“I would give you a hug, but Elle already warned me you’re not a hugger like me.”

Chloe looked over at Elle, even more nervous now.

“Yeah, I told them you were a germaphobe. You know, touching creeps you out because of germs.” Elle gave her a look, wanting her to play along.

Genius
.

She began nodding her head. “Y-Yep. Sorry about t-that.”

“That’s okay, sweetie; no need to be sorry. I’m just glad one of Elle’s friends was finally able to come over. I keep telling her she can have a big sleepover with all her little girlfriends at school.”

Excuse me?

“Oh, Mom, you know I will one day.”

Say what?

“Are you on the soccer team with Elle?”

No thought came to her. Blinking and trying to figure out if this conversation was real was the only thing she could do.

Her mother laughed. “Sorry. I forgot—germaphobe.”

“Yeah, Mom, she doesn’t like getting dirty. Okay, well, we’ve got a bunch of work to do.” Elle headed toward a hall. “Come on, Chloe.”

Realizing this was very real, she quickly went after Elle, not saying another word. Frankly, she had no clue how on earth to respond.

Once they were in her bedroom, Elle went straight to her backpack on her bed, pulling out their project materials.

“Um, Elle …?”

“Yeah?”

“You really are a good liar.”

The strawberry-blonde flashed a smile. “It’s a gift.”

Chloe blinked a few more times, looking at this side of her she hadn’t known existed. “I can’t tell if I’m scared of you or if … You just became my new BFF.”

Elle laughed. “BFF, for sure. Of course, you want to be best friends with the most popular girl in school. Uh … duh!”

“Just as long as you tell all of your friends that I’m your best friend.” She began laughing with her.

Their relationship had just changed for the better. Within a matter of minutes, she felt extremely comfortable around Elle. It just felt right.

“Deal!”

They laughed so hard they started to cry.

“How come you haven’t invited your best friend to any of your soccer games?”

Elle wiped away a tear. “I hear the stands are really germy.”

“Where on earth did you get germaphobe from?”

“Web MD.”

The two laughed until their faces and stomachs began to hurt, and then finally, they were able to stop their laughing fit.

Elle wiped away the final tear. “It also says we might have cancer.”

C
hloe lay
stiffly in the bed, staring at the white ceiling. She hadn’t thought this far into a sleepover.

Her sleep had been non-existent, but when she did, the nightmares came for her. She had gone many nights without sleep since what had happened to her, and she was going to do that tonight.

Staring at the blank ceiling for hours, she watched her nightmare play before her, unmoving like she had done every night, praying sleep would never come to throw her to the devil once again.

* * *

T
he screams were
what first brought Elle out of her deep sleep. The violent shaking of the bed was what had completely awakened her.

Sitting up in bed, Elle looked down at the sleeping girl beside her. In sleep was where you found peace, but the dark-haired girl looked like she had found the opposite: torture. Even in the night, she could see the glistening tears that fell from Chloe’s hollow eyes and pained face.

“Chloe … Chloe …” She hoped her voice would be enough to wake her, not wanting to touch her, afraid it would make the nightmare worse.

Chills ran up her spine from witnessing what seemed like possession.

“Chloe!” She reached out…

* * *

T
he cold
, metal table underneath her was a stark contrast to her burning face from what seemed like pointless crying.

“Please! Stop!” No amount of her kicking and fighting was a match for what felt like millions of hands holding her down.

The laughter from the evil man who held a knife rang through her ears, mocking.

“Stay still, little girl”—he drew the knife closer to her face—“or it’ll just hurt worse.”

Looking at his abnormally large, black eyes, she was sure she was looking into the eyes of the devil …

“
C
hloe
!”

Waking up to a hand coming for her, she jumped up from the bed. Her breathing was heavy and rushed, feeling as if she were slowly suffocating. She couldn’t catch her breath.

Elle quickly turned on the bedside lamp so she could see she was no longer in her nightmare. Then she ran toward Chloe’s side.

“It’s okay. It was just a dream. Breathe, Chloe.”

Taking deep breaths and looking around at her surroundings, Chloe realized she was no longer trapped in her nightmare.

Exhausted, she sank to the floor, holding her knees to her chest and silently crying into them, unable to show her face to Elle. She knew what Elle would think of her now.
Freak.

Her skin still crawled from the devil’s touch. That was how vivid her nightmares were. It was as if she were reliving it all again.

Elle sat on the floor beside her, making sure there was plenty of space between them. “What you dreamed about really happened to you, didn’t it?”

Chloe didn’t respond, continuing her silent cries.

Taking that as a yes, Elle asked a different question, “Will you tell me what happened?”

Again, no response.

Elle took a deep breath. “I come home every day and lie straight to my parents’ faces, telling them about all my friends and how I had such a great day at school. It’s a heck of a lot easier than telling them how scared I am at school to even use the girls’ bathroom.

“When the kids started getting violent, that’s when I told them I joined the soccer team. It helped explain why I was getting bruises every time I was pushed into a locker or whatever mean thing they had planned for me that day.

“My parents believe whatever lie I tell them because they haven’t figured out how to handle my father becoming paralyzed yet. My dad’s addicted to his painkillers, so it’s like he’s not even here, and my mom is working as much as she can to support us all, along with caring for Josh and now Dad. I help with whatever I can when I get home, but I mostly fade into the background. I can care for myself, and I pretend that everything is fine.”

Chloe looked up to see that some tears had fallen down Elle’s face.

“I have a feeling that whatever happened to you doesn’t compare to what happened to me behind the school that day. But I do understand what you’re going through more than anyone else probably.

“When I came over to your house yesterday, I thought your dad’s drinking might be like my dad with painkillers, but now I’m not so sure. I asked my dad to take it easy since you were coming over, and he did. His pills also don’t make him mean; they just make him non-existent.”

Chloe didn’t know what to say.

“Now that you know all my secrets, whatever you tell me about what happened to you or about what it’s like at home, I swear that I will
never, ever
tell
anyone
. I lie and pretend every day, too, and I don’t want my parents to suffer with the truth, and I definitely don’t want Cassandra or Sebastian to find out that my dad is addicted to pills. I wished every night to find someone to talk to so I know that it’s real, and now I can with you.”

So I know that it’s real
…
That was Chloe’s problem; she was stuck between realities, questioning if her nightmares or what they said in the papers was real.

It was as if Elle could read her thoughts.

“What everyone is saying happened to you isn’t real. The car wreck wasn’t real. No one knows what really happened to you, but now you can tell someone you can trust.”

Chloe knew, if she were going to ever tell anyone, it would be Elle. She believed her when she had said she would never tell, and they did relate to each other in many ways. She’d had no clue of the extent of Elle’s suffering, and she was glad she had told her everything.

Chloe wanted to tell her, but she was afraid to, because once she said it out loud, she couldn’t take it back. Once the words were spoken…
Then it is real.

“What really happened to you, Chloe?”

Taking a deep breath, she mustered up enough courage to unzip the thin jacket she had worn to bed. Slowly, she removed the jacket and revealed the various scars that marked her arms. This was the first time she had revealed the fact that she wasn’t just marked on her face.

Elle covered her mouth in shock, having no clue Chloe had been hiding further injuries.

Wiping away the tears on her face, Chloe rested the back of her head on the wall. Then she looked up at the white ceiling, her nightmare starting to play from the beginning.

“T-The day you got beaten up was the n-night … I got my scars.”