Chapter Twelve

 

 

Jake

“It’s normal for a child to feel upset about this sort of thing. Divorce isn’t a concept in a child’s mind, and when it happens, it’s not a concept they like.”

I stared across the neatly organized desk of James Peterson. He was the psychologist assigned to help out the police department. I didn’t entirely mind him. He didn’t do the psychobabble I hated from the previous psychologist I had dealt with over the years. He had offered more advice on Darren than trying to understand me.

“I don’t know what to tell him,” I said.

Guilt tasted bitter in the back of my mouth. I still couldn’t erase that devastated look on his face when he had walked in on Chloe and me.

“Just be as honest with him as possible,” James said empathetically. “If this woman means a lot to you—”

“I don’t know her,” I responded sharply. “She’s just my neighbor is all.”

James smiled knowingly. He interlaced his fingers and leaned back in his chair to regard me with curious eyes.

“She sounds like a lot more than a neighbor if you were caught kissing her.”

“She’s attractive. What man wouldn’t want to kiss her?”

A surprising burn filled my chest at the thought of some other man trying to kiss Chloe.

“You know what I mean, Mason.” James chuckled heartily when he caught sight of my expression. “You don’t have to be stubborn about it with me. You can have an attraction to another woman after a divorce. No one will judge you.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not about that. I don’t give a shit what Sidney thinks about it. She’s moved on with her new boyfriend of the month anyway.”

“What’s the hold up with you then?” James asked.

“No hold up,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “I just don’t think someone like Chloe would do good with someone like me.”

“How so?”

“For starters, I’m older than her by at least ten years. I have a kid who’s already confused enough with what happened. She’s just starting out in life, unlike me. You pick.”

“And none of it honestly has to do with this past of hers you told me about?”

I looked down at the carpeted ground. It was so late, almost 11:00 p.m. I had called James into the percent to talk about Darren after leaving the house with his tear-rimmed eyes watching me from his bedroom window. Chloe assured me when I called in around 9:00 p.m. that he was calm and in bed. “He’s just confused,” she’d said. “I told him you would talk to him about everything. I didn’t think I’d be the best person to talk about it.”

Did her past bother me? I had no idea who the guy was. Chloe never mentioned his name, and I resisted asking because I’d look for information. I had access to everything on my computer. All I needed was a first and last name to look up the report.

“No,” I said shortly. “Thanks for the advice, James. I have to get back to work.”

I rose from the chair. James stood up as well and loosened the tie around his neck a bit. He clapped me on the shoulder as I held the door to the small, quiet room open for him.

“Next time,” he said, shaking his head, “call me in the morning if it isn’t an emergency. It’s too much trying to figure you out this late at night.”

“Right,” I said. “No phone calls unless it’s an emergency. I swear.”

I kept to my word for the rest of the night. It wasn’t until 4:20 a.m. that I remembered I had asked Chloe to stay awake for one good reason. I swallowed thickly when lust raged right through me just from thinking of the few kisses we had exchanged. Chloe’s lips were soft, so soft that I had to tell myself not to press too hard.

Don’t do it, Jake. Don’t do it. You can’t afford to get caught up in another female’s charm.

I glanced down at the partial bulge in my pants. I sighed in aggravation while I clocked out for the morning. Something needed to be done, and even if it was wrong, Chloe had a point. Maybe just that one time would be enough to get it out of our system. She was great with Darren despite what had happened earlier. I didn’t want to compromise that, but my entire body would go blue in the process of having her around.

I needed it. I needed her.

The drive home along the interstate was long and dark. All the lights, except the one in the living room, were off. My heart rate increased when a dainty hand pushed the curtains back. Chloe peered out the window as I cut the engine off.

“I started coffee,” Chloe said when I closed the front door behind me as quietly as possible. “I wasn’t sure when you were going to be back.”

“Great,” I said. “I need some.”

I stepped into the kitchen while Chloe turned the living room light off before joining me. She shut the kitchen door to keep the light from coming out it wouldn’t wake Darren. I poured us both a cup of coffee.

“He wasn’t upset all night, right?” I asked, leaning up against the kitchen counter.

Chloe shook her head. “No,” she said, lifting up her cup to take a slow drink. “He’s just confused, Jake. He told me he has no idea what happened besides that you packed up one day and the both of you came out here.”

Guilt gnawed on my heart. The child truly got the worst of it during a divorce. I’d never thought through all the anger to explain to Darren that sometimes things truly didn’t work out between parents. It was still a fresh wound to think about those first few weeks of fighting Sidney on our finances and custody of Darren.

“I know. I didn’t want to explain it to him,” I said. “I was pissed during the whole thing. I just never thought it’d be easy to explain to a five-year old what had happened.”

“What did happen?”

I took a long drink of hot coffee. “She had an affair.” Images of Sidney’s legs wrapped around some man’s waist flashed through my head. I could still hear that over exaggerated moaning. “She was upset with me over not putting her as the beneficiary on a life insurance policy. So, she found some clueless bastard to have sex with in my bed.”

“That’s horrible,” Chloe exclaimed, horrified. “I don’t understand how people rationalize that sort of thing to themselves.”

“I can’t either, but it happened.”

I shoved those images away from my mind to focus on Chloe standing in front of me, dressed only in a large sleeping shirt, barefoot, and her long hair pulled up in a messy bun. The faint smell of vanilla filled the air along with the fresh coffee.

“What about you?” I asked a bit cautiously. I didn’t care about people’s pasts, but I’d never once heard Chloe mention a name to me.

Chloe immediately lowered her gaze. “What about me?”

“I know something happened to you,” I said. “I told you about my ex-wife. What happened to you?”

“I wasn’t aware we were sharing stories this morning,” she replied tightly. “Maybe there’s a better time to—”

“There’s never a better time to tell besides now.”

“Why do you want to know?” she asked, looking up at me. Shadows danced across her slender face. “You’ve already figured out what happened. You’re an investigator. You’ve put the pieces together.” She looked away before I could reply. “I can see it in your eyes when you look at me, because you’ve seen these cases too often.”

“More than I’d like to admit,” I said, and a wave of anger crashed over me. “You went to the police about him, right?”

“That’s how I ended up here. They told me that the most dangerous time after escaping an abusive relationship is within the weeks and months after a breakup.” Chloe scuffed a bare foot across the tiled floor, not willing to look up at me, but I could hear that tremor in her voice. “I was in the hospital with a concussion and two broken ribs. The hospital staff brought in the police, and it just spiraled from there. They took me to a shelter in the city for a few days before I was cleared to travel on a plane. I left everything behind me at their recommendation— my friends, social life, all of it. They didn’t want him to—”

“Track you,” I responded coldly. “What’s his name?”

“Luke Hoult,” she said. “He hasn’t figured out where I am yet, so obviously, the shelter and police were right about a few things.”

I made a mental note of the name for later. Setting my cup down on the counter, I took a step toward Chloe, who only looked up at me. A variety of emotions were dancing there—pain, confusion, anger, and the faintest trace of nervousness. I reached forward to brush my fingers against the softness of her jawline. I never understood how another human being could do physical damage just for the sake of control. Chloe’s eyes fluttered shut under my touch, and her mouth parted in a wordless invitation that I gladly took.

We kissed slow and hotly in the kitchen with my hands cupping Chloe’s face to tilt her head back slightly for better access. She was soft and warm underneath me. A shiver went up my spine just thinking about how she would feel everywhere else. A few seconds later, she pulled back with a trembling sigh.

“I guess this means you agree with my earlier statement then?”

“Yes,” I whispered, tangling my fingers through the loose hair at the back of her neck. “I’ve thought about it long and hard. One time can’t hurt us.”

“It won’t.”

She reached up to kiss me again, this time with a little more fervor that instantly left my cock growing thick and hard in my pants. I pulled back before things could progress any further to look down at Chloe, who stared up at me with a flushed face.

“I just want to make sure you’re okay with this,” I said. “I’m not looking for a commitment and all that.”

“I know,” she said seriously. “I’m twenty-three. I get how something like this works. Less talking. More kissing.” Her smile was contagious.

“So you’re okay with this then? I don’t want to confuse Darren even more.”

“We can be discreet about it, but yes, I want this. I want you.” Her arms wound around my neck as she pressed her soft breasts against my chest, molding herself to me perfectly. “Now shut up and kiss me.”

I groaned and ran my hands down her back as she tightened her hold on me. She wasn’t wearing a bra, I realized when I felt the strain of her nipples against the fabric of our shirts. As tempting as it was to bend her over right there and teach her a thing or two about submission, and then some, I didn’t want another repeat of Darren coming in on us.

“Bedroom,” I said. “It has a lock on it at least.”

“That might be a good thing.” She licked her lips and moved back, running her hand down my chest and brushing the backs of her fingers down my rock-hard cock. “I want this.”

“Good. You’re about to get it.” I leaned in for another quick kiss, licking at her perfect lips before forcing myself back. My body was rigid with need for the sexy girl who had been teasing me far too much lately.

Chloe smiled cheekily before reaching around to click the kitchen light off. I gathered her in my arms for another kiss, her tongue battling mine as we stumbled as quietly as possible through the kitchen. We broke apart before I opened the door to peer out into the dark hallway cautiously for any sign of Darren. I reached out for Chloe’s hand to lead her through the dark hallway to the stairs.

Her fingers squeezed mine softly, trusting me to help her up the stairs and through the darkness of the early morning. All I could do was pray that Darren didn’t wake to the sound of us coming up the stairs. I wouldn’t be able to go through another day without this. There was a small part of me that cautioned this could only end in disaster, but lust quickly trampled over those thoughts.

I had to have Chloe, even if it wasn’t a good idea. There was no way I was letting her go without feeling her soft skin pressed to mine, experiencing the hunger of her touch. She was mine for the night. We’d figure out the rest in the morning.