“Chloe, please! Just one dance!” Elle yelled at her over the blasting music.

Chloe violently shook her head as she sat uncomfortably at the high top table with the loud-ass music in her ears. She wondered how in the world she had let Elle talk her into coming to Poison on her birthday.

“You promised me you would go out for your birthday!”

Oh, yeah, I did. She guilt me into it.

Vincent’s girlfriend, Lake—yes, the world is still on its axis—screamed over the music. “Come on, Chloe, you ditched us practically all summer!”

That wasn’t completely true; she just didn’t hang out with them all at once anymore, especially at Nero and Vincent’s new apartments downtown. The last time she had hung out with them there, a gunman had almost killed them.

“Go dance. I’ll be fine!” Chloe yelled at them. This place wasn’t for a girl like her.

She watched her friends roll their eyes before they grabbed their boyfriends up and took them to the dancefloor.

Watching Elle with Nero, she finally found a sort of peace within a part of her. She had hated herself so much for so long over how she had treated Elle. Chloe would never forgive herself for it, but the one thing she had done right was that she had always rooted for Nero. After all these years of Elle being a hero, it was time she found someone to be her armor.

Elle never needed a hero. Elle would never quit being one, either. But what she did need was help. Every great hero needed some type of shield to protect them. Nero was her perfect match, and that was one thing Chloe had seen from day one.

She’s going to be happier without me.

Whereas Elle was the hero saving her day in and day out, Chloe was the weak, little victim who only brought pain to her. Chloe was still broken beyond repair, and as long as she stayed here, Elle would continue to try to fix her.

For once in her life, she needed to be the hero for Elle so she could live a life free of Chloe. And for once, she needed to be the hero for herself and leave her family and this city behind with all its bad memories so she could find peace.

Amo came up behind her, setting a bottle of water down in front of her. “You’ll regret it, you know.”

“Regret what?” She smiled at him, pretending to be happy.

Amo scooted in as close to her as he could without touching her so she could hear him. “When you’re sitting in California, missing Elle, you’ll regret that you didn’t go dance with her once.”

Looking back at her best friend, she saw that Elle looked so free.

“She looks happy right now. I’ll always remember watching her dance, and that’s good enough for me.”

The next song was louder than the last, making Amo lean down to whisper in her ear. “Will you dance with me, then?”

His breath was warm as it touched her skin, his body just a few inches away. It was the closest he had ever been to her, making the hairs stand up on the back of her neck.

“When you’re sitting in California, and I’m missing you, I’ll regret that I didn’t get to dance with you once.”

Chloe looked over into his dark eyes that carried a hidden sparkle and felt a tug at her heart. Amo had managed to crawl his way into a place in her heart in such a short amount of time of being friends. He never failed to make her laugh; he always tried to make her as comfortable as possible; and the best part about him was he never forced her to tell him anything. He accepted her for who she was and didn’t want her to meet her demons, always making sure she was as happy as she could be with him.

Amo moved just an inch closer. “Please … for me?”

She didn’t know how to say no to him in that moment, didn’t know how she could possibly turn down something that looked so meaningful to him. I’ll regret it, too.

Before she could change her mind, she nodded. The look that crossed his face would be what she always remembered every time she thought of him.

Standing up, Amo led the way. Thankfully, it was almost closing time, so everyone was mostly gone, and the dancefloor had plenty of space for her.

“Yay!” Elle yelled when she nervously joined them on the dancefloor.

Saying she was nervous was an understatement as she awkwardly tried to dance with them. When she looked ready to walk off, Amo’s pleading eyes were the only things that kept her in place.

Come on, this is one of the last times you get to have fun with them. She pepped talked herself into trying again and made herself try to let go for one night. Finally, when they all started dancing silly like you would see at a wedding, she relaxed enough to get into it.

It was honestly the most fun she had ever had, enjoying every second of them collectively singing horribly and dancing ridiculously.

“This is the last song of the night!” the DJ came over the microphone after a song ended.

“Boo!” They all called out, not wanting it to end.

As they danced to the last song, Nero pulled Elle in closer while Vincent pulled Lake in closer for a final dance. Chloe was tired and about to walk off to go retrieve her water, but Amo stopped her.

“It’s the last one, and I want my own dance to remember when you’re at Stanford.” He came in closer to her.

I really wish he would quit saying that. She couldn’t say no to him whenever he did that.

The adrenaline from dancing was still pumping through her, so she stayed to finish the final dance. Trying her best to dance one on one with him was hard, though, considering they weren’t touching each other.

Amo got in closer to her, putting very little space between them, turning the dance serious. Chloe’s heart pumped so hard she thought it was going to come out of her chest. Somehow, though, she managed to sway her hips to the beat.

Staring up at him, she saw something different come alive in him. It looked like Amo was going to come in closer … But then the music stopped.

“I knew you could do it. Wasn’t that so much fun, Chloe!” Elle interrupted whatever was happening between them, and it wasn’t hard to miss the unhappy reaction from Amo.

Heart still pumping, she looked over to Elle, hopefully managing some sort of a smile. “Yeah, that was fun.”

Leaving the lounge, Chloe said her good-byes to Elle, Nero, Lake, and Vincent as they wished her a final happy birthday.

“I’ll walk you to your car,” Amo told her when she went to say good-bye to him.

“Okay.” Her voice sounded breathy from all the dancing.

Walking to her car together, she could feel the tension build again between them until she reached her car.

“Thank you for dancing with me.” He looked down at her, grinning. “You’re not so bad.”

Chloe couldn’t help laughing. “Oh, thanks. You weren’t as terrible as I thought you would be, either.”

He laughed back. “Well, I had fun, and when you leave me to go to Stanford—”

“I am not leaving you. Don’t say it like that!”

Amo stepped in closer to her. “So you’re not leaving, then?”

“Well …” She thought about her words carefully. “Yes, but it’s not like I want to.”

“Then don’t.”

“You know I have to, Amo …” He makes it sound so easy. “What I meant was that I don’t want to leave Elle …” Her voice trailed off to find the courage for her next words. “Or you.”

His tall frame leaned down to meet her short one. “Are you going to miss me?”

With his face so close to hers, she felt her heart begin to pound again. It took her a minute to find the words, and when she did, they came out breathy again. “Of course.”

All she could hear was the pounding of her heart getting louder and louder in her ears.

Unable to pull her eyes away, she realized what she had seen in them on the dancefloor: hunger.

Amo’s face came slowly closer to hers, and the pounding only grew louder, faster as she held her breath. His lips were so close to hers, yet right before they came crashing down, Chloe found her breath and turned her face away.

Seeing her face now covered by her hair and breathing heavily, he took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Chloe.”

As she desperately tried to get her breath and nerves under control from almost being kissed, she kept her eyes on the ground. Then she opened her car door to escape the closeness between them.

He watched her get in and grabbed the door before she could close it. “I shouldn’t have tried that without asking. Please forgive me.”

Taking a deep breath, she hoped to find the words.

“I-it’s okay.” She just needed to get away for space. After being surrounded by so many people all night, it felt like it was hitting her all at once. “I-I promise.”

Amo stared at her for a moment then swiftly nodded his head. “Happy Birthday, Chloe,” he told her right before shutting the door.

Watching him walk away, she dug her nails deep into her palms. She thought she had been doing so good tonight, almost like she wasn’t plagued by human contact.

I thought for once I might be normal …

Drawing first blood only made her dig deeper.

I thought for once I wasn’t a freak.

* * *

Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!

Amo could hear the clock ticking. Time was almost up. He had been so careful to go slowly with her, working day in and day out to get her used to him. Now that his time was almost up, he had been getting ballsy, trying anything to get close to her. However, he was afraid he might have gone too far.

He couldn’t help it. The second he had seen her in that black dress that clung to her curvy figure, he had wanted his hands all over her body and his lips all over her beautiful face. Every day he spent with her, he just fell deeper and deeper, finding something different to admire about her.

To him, she was perfect, inside and out.

All he wanted was for Chloe to stay and continue their friendship. If he could get her to do that, then he could be patient and take as long as she needed for them to become more.

I would wait forever for her if that’s what it took.