Chloe (Made Men 3)

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.