Amo got in closer to her, putting very little space between them, turning the dance serious. Chloe’s heart pumped so hard she thought it was going to come out of her chest. Somehow, though, she managed to sway her hips to the beat.
Staring up at him, she saw something different come alive in him. It looked like Amo was going to come in closer … But then the music stopped.
“I knew you could do it. Wasn’t that so much fun, Chloe!” Elle interrupted whatever was happening between them, and it wasn’t hard to miss the unhappy reaction from Amo.
Heart still pumping, she looked over to Elle, hopefully managing some sort of a smile. “Yeah, that was fun.”
Leaving the lounge, Chloe said her good-byes to Elle, Nero, Lake, and Vincent as they wished her a final happy birthday.
“I’ll walk you to your car,” Amo told her when she went to say good-bye to him.
“Okay.” Her voice sounded breathy from all the dancing.
Walking to her car together, she could feel the tension build again between them until she reached her car.
“Thank you for dancing with me.” He looked down at her, grinning. “You’re not so bad.”
Chloe couldn’t help laughing. “Oh, thanks. You weren’t as terrible as I thought you would be, either.”
He laughed back. “Well, I had fun, and when you leave me to go to Stanford—”
“I am not leaving you. Don’t say it like that!”
Amo stepped in closer to her. “So you’re not leaving, then?”
“Well …” She thought about her words carefully. “Yes, but it’s not like I want to.”
“Then don’t.”
“You know I have to, Amo …” He makes it sound so easy. “What I meant was that I don’t want to leave Elle …” Her voice trailed off to find the courage for her next words. “Or you.”
His tall frame leaned down to meet her short one. “Are you going to miss me?”
With his face so close to hers, she felt her heart begin to pound again. It took her a minute to find the words, and when she did, they came out breathy again. “Of course.”
All she could hear was the pounding of her heart getting louder and louder in her ears.
Unable to pull her eyes away, she realized what she had seen in them on the dancefloor: hunger.
Amo’s face came slowly closer to hers, and the pounding only grew louder, faster as she held her breath. His lips were so close to hers, yet right before they came crashing down, Chloe found her breath and turned her face away.
Seeing her face now covered by her hair and breathing heavily, he took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Chloe.”
As she desperately tried to get her breath and nerves under control from almost being kissed, she kept her eyes on the ground. Then she opened her car door to escape the closeness between them.
He watched her get in and grabbed the door before she could close it. “I shouldn’t have tried that without asking. Please forgive me.”
Taking a deep breath, she hoped to find the words.
“I-it’s okay.” She just needed to get away for space. After being surrounded by so many people all night, it felt like it was hitting her all at once. “I-I promise.”
Amo stared at her for a moment then swiftly nodded his head. “Happy Birthday, Chloe,” he told her right before shutting the door.
Watching him walk away, she dug her nails deep into her palms. She thought she had been doing so good tonight, almost like she wasn’t plagued by human contact.
I thought for once I might be normal …
Drawing first blood only made her dig deeper.
I thought for once I wasn’t a freak.
* * *
Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!
Amo could hear the clock ticking. Time was almost up. He had been so careful to go slowly with her, working day in and day out to get her used to him. Now that his time was almost up, he had been getting ballsy, trying anything to get close to her. However, he was afraid he might have gone too far.
He couldn’t help it. The second he had seen her in that black dress that clung to her curvy figure, he had wanted his hands all over her body and his lips all over her beautiful face. Every day he spent with her, he just fell deeper and deeper, finding something different to admire about her.
To him, she was perfect, inside and out.
All he wanted was for Chloe to stay and continue their friendship. If he could get her to do that, then he could be patient and take as long as she needed for them to become more.
I would wait forever for her if that’s what it took.
Thirty-Six
That Way, He Knows I’m Really Gone … And I’m Not Coming Back
“Have you finished packing?”
Chloe zipped the large suitcase closed, struggling to slide it from the bed. “Almost. I have so many clothes, they won’t fit.” She stared at the two suitcases that were already filled, the zippers threatening to break. “Do you have a suitcase I can—”