Chloe (Made Men 3)

When he finally heard the sound of Sebastian pissing himself, he let up the tiniest bit.

“But Nero won’t let me, so if I find out you did have something to do with hitting Elle in the face at lunch, I will make damn sure Nero won’t make the same mistake again.” He pushed his arm harder into his neck, the smell of his piss greeting his nose. “But if I find out you ever laid a hand on Chloe, I will snap your fucking neck next time.”

Once he let go of Sebastian before he did just that, Sebastian ran off, this time surely not to get caught again.

Amo tried to calm himself down from seeing that milk carton drill Elle in the face at lunch today to the point she bled. He was sure it had pissed Nero off just as much, but what he hadn’t expect was the look in Chloe’s eyes. She had sat there, unmoving after it had happened, clearly going through inner turmoil and completely and utterly afraid. Not once had he ever seen someone truly afraid until he had looked into her eyes. Whatever she had gone through, he wanted to know. And after today, he didn’t believe she was in a car wreck. Not for a fucking second.

Thirty

The Beast Might Not Be So Bad After All

“All right, Amo. You can take Chloe to class.”

“What? No. We need to all walk together,” Elle told Nero, not wanting to take a chance they would try something again just after they had tried to take her out during lunch.

Chloe wanted to agree with her friend, but Amo’s voice spoke low, commanding, “Come on, Chloe.”

Seeing Elle push at Nero’s chest in disagreement, she realized how much she had truly held Elle back all these years. Like today, when her friend had gotten hit, she hadn’t even moved to see if she was okay. Instead, she had been stuck in her own hell inside her head. It was time to start pulling away from Elle just a little so Elle could be free.

Having to look away from Elle, Chloe looked at the floor as she walked away with Amo.

She could hear the little fight Elle tried to put up, but Nero wasn’t having it, keeping her in place. It was hard to walk away from her like that. But I have to start cutting the cord a little … for her.

Chloe fell in line behind Amo, causing him to quickly stop and turn around.

“Don’t make me show you again …” His voice was so low it was like he was daring her.

Her eyes almost popped out of their sockets. She quickly moved directly beside him before he even finished his sentence. There was no doubt he was still furious from lunch, and she couldn’t help wondering if someone might have suffered a terrible fate while they had been in their last half of Spanish. Last time, it had been obvious the boys had skipped the last half of their classes and gotten to Sebastian, giving him a black eye. Her instincts told her they had gone back for round two.

Walking beside him was exactly as terrible as you would think. Everyone—and I mean everyone—stared at them while giving them a wide berth. It was like the hallway had split, and everyone lined up against the lockers to watch them pass.

She was sure she had drawn blood in her palms with how hard she was pressing into them. Please let it end!

Getting closer to the classroom door, she couldn’t take the stares anymore, so she made a run for it, and she had barely touched the doorknob before his voice boomed.

“Chloe!”

Suddenly, she dropped her hand.

Amo approached the door, opening it himself.

Why couldn’t you just let me run away?

She felt even more embarrassed by the scene he had caused.

After walking into the classroom slowly, the door slammed behind her from Amo making even more of a spectacle. The room of students drilled their eyes into her even more than the ones had in the hall.

Finally making it to her seat, she scooted to the very edge of the table as Amo sat down beside her.

“Why did you just run for the door?” he demanded quietly.

She could feel the blood start to trickle down her nails at this point.

“Tell me why, Chloe,” he demanded again.

She had yet to look at him, let alone give him an answer.

Staring at her, he finally noticed her twitching hands. “Open your hands.” He could see the little bit of red peeking out under her fingers. “Chloe, open your damn hands before I open them myself.”

Gently, she opened her hands, too afraid he would follow through on his threat. She didn’t have to look at him to know what he was thinking. Freak.

“Fuck.” Jumping up, he didn’t waste time before going to the front of the class and grabbing the whole box of Kleenexes. Coming back, he ripped a bunch out. You could see he wanted to grab her hands and hold the tissues to the marks, but he didn’t. Instead, he carefully laid them on her hands, making sure he didn’t touch her. The act was almost … sweet. It made her wonder if he was even a beast or jerk at all.