In Too Deep

ChapterNine

Chloe didn’t sleep well. No matter what she did, even following Ronan’s very explicit, very hot instructions. Her brain spent the night in overdrive. She napped throughout the morning, but by noon, she was up and moving. She straightened her living room and bedroom, including fresh sheets for her bed. Her full-size bed that could never compete with the behemoth of a bed Ronan had in his room. She looked at her apartment and wondered what he’d see. Then she pushed the thought away. She doubted he would be taking too much time to investigate. He didn’t care about what she filled her shelves with—he was coming over for sex, plain and simple.

But not so simple. He’d promised to do whatever she asked. The problem was that she didn’t have an automatic list of items to check off. She wasn’t sure she cared a whole lot about how it went down as long as it did. She checked her phone. No call from Mom.

Then Chloe remembered how she’d left things yesterday. Not calling to harass her was her mother’s way of giving her the cold shoulder. Chloe sighed and dialed.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Mom. How are you?”

“Fine.”

“Look. I’m sorry about how I stormed out yesterday. I was just frustrated. For so many years, you’ve been saying snippy things about Ronan, like he’s this horrible guy, but he’s not. I f—screwed up that night.” She took a breath to keep her thoughts clear. Drop an f-bomb and Mom would stop listening. “I was sixteen. I thought I loved Brendan, but we were never going to last forever.”

“But the drinking and the car, Chloe.”

“I took Garrett’s car, not Ronan. I went to the party and chose to drink. It was a stupid mistake. One that Ronan paid for because he was trying to take care of me.”

Her mother snorted.

“He could’ve just walked away. Left me at the party. That could’ve ended badly. Anything could’ve happened to me. He protected me.” The night was still a blur for her. She remembered wandering through the party, drinking from any cup that had been pressed into her hands. Plenty of guys were paying attention to her, and it felt good. Who needed Brendan anyway? Then the way Ronan came along and manhandled her. Dragged her from the party grunting and mumbling at her.

“What about all the other trouble he’s been in?”

“He’s had a hard life. Everyone makes mistakes.”

“He’s been to jail.” Her mother’s voice dropped to a near whisper as if she was spilling some state secret.

“Do you know that? Or are you believing neighborhood gossip?”

“I heard Ann talking about how he’d been arrested. We all witnessed it when he was a teen. I’m sure he got worse as he aged. Troublemakers usually do.”

“First, being arrested is not the same as hard-core prison. And now he’s a superintendent at a job in a career he’s been in for years, and he owns a house. Looking at that, he’s doing better than I am.” She said it to shed some light for her mother, but the words sank into her chest. The neighborhood troublemaker was more adult than she was. How the hell had that happened?

“Why do you keep defending him? What do you care what I think of him?”

“Because it’s just wrong. He’s a good guy who even came over to build his mom a new porch. I feel bad that your impression of him was developed from my poor choices.”

Her mother tsked. “My opinion of him started long before then. He’s always had somewhat of a reputation. I didn’t want that to affect you.”

“Reputation doesn’t rub off. It’s not contagious like a cold.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Chloe. It absolutely is. More so for a woman than a man.”

“But it shouldn’t. If I had a best friend who was an alcoholic, you wouldn’t expect me to abandon her, would you?”

“Of course not. But alcoholism is a disease. Getting into fights is a choice. Committing crimes is a choice. Sleeping around is a choice.”

At least he was being honest with who he was. He did things out in the open. Other men looked good on the outside but held nastiness the world didn’t see.

“I see your point, but as far as I know, Ronan has settled down and isn’t doing those things anymore.” Except for the sleeping around part, thank goodness.

“Or he’s just gotten better at hiding them.”

Chloe laughed. She wasn’t sure if her mother was trying to be funny, but it was. Then Mom joined in her laughter. “I’ll give you a call later in the week. Maybe we can have lunch.”

“That would be nice.”

“See? Having a job at a bar has its perks. If I worked at an office, I couldn’t make plans for lunch with my mom.”

“You’re still not going to convince me that that job is the best you can do. But seeing as I promised not to make any comments, I’ll be shutting up now.”

“Thanks, Mom. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

They disconnected and Chloe got ready for work. She didn’t like it when her mom was mad at her. In general, it bothered her when anyone she cared about was upset with her.

When she got to the Rose, it was slow as was typical before the after-work crowd showed. She double-checked the schedule to make sure Johnny was working. Johnny was the head bartender, so he usually closed if she wasn’t. While she wouldn’t call him in so she could leave early to get laid, if he was already here, she wouldn’t feel guilty about taking off if they were slow enough. Johnny was coming in at six. Excited, she considered texting Ronan, but she didn’t want to jinx anything. It would be her luck to tell Ronan she would get off early and then they’d be slammed with a random party of fifty people.

She verified the bar was fully stocked and checked in with the kitchen staff. Then she made her rounds to chat with the regulars. “Hey, Donny and Neville. How’s life treating you?”

“Always good when there’s a Guinness in front of me,” Neville joked. He said the same thing every time she asked.

“Stop flirting with the girl. She’s too young for you.”

“Age is just a number. Isn’t that right, Neville?”