I reach out for Ethan, wanting to touch his arm, but he flinches at my touch. “He may have treated me horribly, but Ethan, Jordan kicking me out is what led me here. Isn’t that worth it?”
Noah, Mason, and Enzo are quiet, watching us. Finally, Ethan speaks. “Of course, I’m glad you are here, Chloe. But I don’t understand why you don’t want to make a man like him pay. You’re acting insane.”
“Me? Insane? No. I just want to move on.”
“Move on by letting people walk all over you?” Ethan scoffs, and I feel my chest tighten. I don’t want to fight. Especially not with Ethan. Mostly because I don’t get the impression that he gets over things easily. He seems like someone who would make up his mind about something and stick to it forever. It’s what I like about him but also what scares me.
Like what if he decided he didn’t like me? This entire arrangement would end. Not to mention the potential connection we share, might dissolve.
And I want a connection with Ethan the same way I want to connect with each of these men.
“Hey,” Noah says. “Calm down, Ethan.”
“All I am trying to do is make sure Chloe is safe and taken care of.”
“We can take care of her,” Mason says. “She doesn’t need Jordan’s money.”
Ethan shakes his head like we’re idiots. “Eventually, Chloe is gonna want to go home, and she doesn’t have a house or a job. She’s going to need money to start her life.”
No one mentions the idea that this could last longer than a week. Of course they don’t. They are four handsome, single men, living the high life with their Black Bull sponsorship. They have the dream set-up right now and of course, I am nothing more than a week-long fling to them. That is what they are to me too.
Right?
“Let’s not look too far into the future,” Noah says. “Let’s just enjoy this time for what it is.”
“Of course, you’d say that, Noah. You never take anything seriously,” Ethan says. “Sorry for being the practical one. But someone has to be responsible around here.”
The guys are fuming now, everyone’s buttons are pushed and I hate to think I am the catalyst for pushing them over the edge.
But the truth is, I probably am.
Then Ethan pushes away from the table and goes back inside.
The rest of us are quiet, digesting Ethan’s abrupt departure.
I feel tears prick the corners of my eyes.
“Ethan has a hard time with injustice,” Mason says softly.
“Yeah?” I humph. “Well, I have a hard time with jerks. And right now, Ethan is being one.”
With that, I leave for bed myself, feeling confused, and feeling upset.
And mostly feeling alone. Again.Chapter TwelveNoahI fucking hate the way Ethan ruined the mood last night. Fucking bullshit, the way he left like that, storming off and going to his bedroom. We aren’t a bunch of kids, we’re grown ass men. If you have a problem, sit down and talk it the fuck out.
We’re all the same age, all of us are twenty-five-year-old guys, and we’ve been best friends all our lives. That’s awesome but sometimes, it’s too close to home.
And I know, we all have different baggage. Shit that weighs us down. But it’s not fair for Ethan to put any of his past on Chloe. She doesn’t deserve that in the least.
Mason grew up with parents who always struggled to make ends meet. So now that he has lots of money, he always makes sure we have everything we need in terms of clean clothes and a stocked fridge, home-cooked meals. The stuff he never could count on as a kid. I appreciate it, and while no one is asking him to do those things, it’s cool of him to always have our backs like that.
And Enzo had a pretty charmed life, up until his mom died a few years back. Losing her was a blow to all of us. Hell, every day in grade school I’d go to his house for some of the cannoli his mom always had on the kitchen counter.
But Ethan’s life wasn’t like that at all. He was passed between his grandma and aunts and older sister and basically any family member who would take him in. Hell, he slept in my room for a solid year in high school, and Enzo’s for a year after that. He saw shit go down no kid should witness. Adults drinking and doing hard-core drugs. He saw his older brother OD when he was a kid. It’s dark shit, I know. And it didn’t fuck him up, but what it did do is make him hyper-vigilant. Hyper-aware. And his trigger is thinking anyone might not be taken care of in the same way he wasn’t.
So, I get it. I get him. I love the emo motherfucker, but still, it’s not cool to make Chloe cry. To ruin the night, and bring up that asshole Jordan just when our girl is starting to let down her guard.