So this is it.
She really had split up with Logan. Holding the box of all these sentimental things made it feel so…tangible. Before, it had merely been an idea, but now it was the hollow, aching, truth.
Jade placed the box on the floor and scooted it under her bed with her toes. Then she sank onto her comforter, feeling the chasm inside her chest widen.
Graham had been a little nervous about being alone with Chloe that evening, but he put on a brave face to help Jade out. When he arrived at the address she’d given and entered the apartment, he realized he shouldn’t have worried. Chloe’s personality made him feel instantly at ease. It wasn’t until she began poking and prodding him—first taking his measurements then tugging at his preliminary wardrobe—that he started to get nervous again.
“It’s a good thing I brought everything with me on this trip.” Chloe spoke through tight lips as she tried to keep the pins from falling out of her mouth. She squatted below Graham, pinning the legs of his trousers so they fit with just the right proportion of slim lines. “Tight, but not too tight” seemed to be her motto as she adjusted the play of the material.
Graham let his gaze wander Chloe’s brother’s apartment, trying not to think about the warmth of her hands and their placement as they brushed against his inner thigh. The bachelor pad was roomier than Graham’s apartment with his mom. He could see himself living in a place like this—minus the snowboards, which looked somewhat intimidating to his non-athletic build. “So you live in Denver, right?”
“Yep. But I’m here in Colorado Springs every few weeks—sometimes more. Gotta visit my big brother. And Jade too, of course.”
Graham eyed the long board in the other corner of the room. “So, your brother’s a surfer, too huh?”
“Among many things.”
“You guys are a pretty athletic bunch, huh?”
“Me? No way. I only work out to keep my figure. It’s Cam who can’t get enough. But I think his surfboard’s been a little neglected lately. We haven’t been to the beach in nearly a year.”
“You go on trips together?”
She nodded.
Graham thought of his own regular family trips growing up, and how abruptly that tradition had ended. “We used to go to the beach every Christmas. Me and my…family.” His complicated family. “I love the ocean.”
“Me too,” she said. “I could just listen to the sound of the waves forever. When we stayed on the beach, I always loved sleeping with my windows open so I could fall asleep to the sound.”
“Wow, I did the same thing,” Graham said, smiling. “You and your brother are close, huh?”
“I guess. You got any brothers or sisters?”
Graham didn’t want to get into the nitty-gritty of that, so he answered the question the simplest way he could think of. “It was just my mom and me, growing up.”
“Sounds lonely,” she said.
“Maybe. I didn’t really know different.” Graham was used to being around Violet during vacations, but it wasn’t the same as growing up with a real sister.
“Okay, I’m done here,” Chloe announced. “Can you slip these off so I can get them stitched up?”
“Sure.” He plodded to the bathroom in his socks and quickly changed back into his jeans.
Chloe sat at her portable sewing machine and went to work on the pants while he relaxed in a nearby chair. Graham’s mind drifted to the first time they’d met, when Chloe had come crashing through the door of the bookstore, spilling the contents of her bags everywhere. He felt himself smiling, remembering how flustered she had been. Then he remembered one of her offhand comments from that day.
“So what gave me away as an English major?”
“Hmm?” Chloe’s mouth was pursed tight as she focused on her work.
“When we met, you guessed I was an English major. How’d you know?”
“Well, your shirt, for one thing.” She glanced up at him. “Is that the same one you’re wearing now?”
Graham frowned. “No, I don’t think so.”
She shrugged. “Might as well be.”
“What’s wrong with it?” he asked.
“The fact that you even have to ask only proves my point.”
“What point?”
“That you’re obviously an English major.”
“So English majors don’t have style—is that it?”
She shrugged a casual shoulder. “There’s a stereotype for a reason.”
“Yeah? Fill me in—what’s the stereotype?”
“You know. The perpetually single, too-philosophical-for-his-own-good professor. Corduroy jackets with pockets are a staple. Add in shoes with tassels and a rustic leather satchel if you want to hit the nail right on the head.”
Graham tried not to think of the leather messenger bag he’d gotten last winter as a birthday gift from his mom. He glanced down at his button-up shirt and dark-wash jeans. “How is what I’m wearing anything like that?”
“It’s just a vibe,” Chloe said. “You’re like, English-Professor Lite.”
“It’s just a plaid shirt.”
“But it’s the type of plaid.”
“I don’t even know what that means,” he muttered.
“It’s okay,” Chloe said. “There’s still hope for you. Hang around me long enough, and I’ll get you straightened out.”
Graham couldn’t help but chuckle.
“So,” Chloe said a little bit later, “Jade didn’t have a headache tonight, did she?”
“What?” Graham blinked.
“Come on. I’m not stupid. She’s my friend, and I know how she gets. She had one of those bad emotion episodes, right?”
Graham wasn’t sure how much Chloe knew, but apparently she wasn’t totally in the dark. “Yeah. Along with other stuff. She had a really tough day in general.”
“What other stuff?”
“Her mom’s not doing well, and apparently she and her boyfriend just broke up, so….”
Chloe’s hand stopped, and her head flicked up. “What? She and Logan broke up?”
“Is that his name? I’ve never met him.”
Chloe’s voice went soft. “No way….” She frowned at the fabric in front of her as she got it realigned with the needle and continued stitching. “We’re gonna have to do something about that….”
Graham shrugged. “I don’t know what we can do. It’s not really our business.”
“Those two were meant to be together—it’s just obvious. I can’t believe they broke up. She must be really upset.”
They were quiet for a while, with the soft hum of the machine filling the space in the small apartment. Chloe’s brother and his roommate were both working tonight, apparently, so the place would be quiet until they got home.
“You have a girlfriend?”
The blunt question caught Graham off guard. He blinked then realized he was staring open-mouthed at the beautiful girl in front of him. Fortunately, her attention was all on her work. He clamped his mouth shut and adjusted in his chair. “Not at the moment. I mean, I was dating someone. We broke up recently.”
Chloe’s gaze lifted for a moment, and she looked as if she were considering him. Heat crept up Graham’s neck, but he forced himself not to look away this time. Her aqua eyes narrowed as if gauging something. Her head tipped back down to her work. “Well, that settles it.”
“Settles what?” Graham asked, trying hard not to squirm.
“When I’m done with these, we’re going to set you up a profile.”
“A profile? What are you talking about?”
The door to the apartment opened, and a guy that must be her brother entered, throwing his keys on the kitchen table with a loud clink.
Chloe ignored him, plowing forward with her attention still fixed on Graham. Her hands moved at the machine as she talked. “Let me guess—you’ve never used a dating app. Am I right?”
“Uhh….”
“That’s what I thought. I can always tell
. You don’t seem the type. But you’ll thank me later. Trust me.”
Graham was about to ask why he didn’t seem the type when a low chuckle came from the small dining area near the entry. “That’s what she always says. Chloe’s famous last words.”
Chloe rolled her eyes and jabbed her head toward a guy with bleached, spiky hair. “Just ignore him.”
The guy strode into the living room with something akin to a swagger and crossed his thick arms. He rested against the arm of the sofa and bobbed his head toward Graham. “I’m Cam.”
“Graham. Chloe’s told me about you.”
“I’m sure she has.” Cam darted a look at his sister, then returned his focus to Graham. He leaned in, cupping his hand around his mouth as he feigned a whisper. “Be careful. This one’s dangerous.”
“Ha ha. Very funny, Cam,” Chloe said.
“And true.” Cam shrugged a shoulder. “First it was Josh she was trying to hook up, then Alex…of course that worked itself out. Then I got the full force of your matchmaking expertise.”
She shot Cam a scowl. “What was wrong with Nicki?”
“What was wrong with Nicki? She was a Nicki, for one thing.”
“What in the world does that even mean?” Chloe asked.
Cam shook his head. “I’m not going to spell it out for you. If you don’t know what Nickis are like…well, you’re better off. Let’s just say I like my women to play a little harder to get.”
“She’s not a slut, if that’s what you’re saying,” Chloe said.
“You can’t say that until you’re the dude she’s coming on to.”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “You’re such a pig sometimes.”
“I’m just saying. I call ’em like I see ’em.”
“Whatever.”
Cam shot Graham a final, playful warning glance and passed through. “I’m hitting the showers. Good to meet you, Graham.”
As Chloe worked, Graham thought back to Jade. “So, Jade told you about her emotion glitch. Does she tell all her friends?”
Chloe ran a piece of thread between her lips before guiding it through a needle with her fingers. She seemed to consider. “I’m not sure, but I don’t think so. She didn’t tell me at first. But we’ve been through a lot of weird…and traumatic things together, and stuff like that kinda just comes out.”
“What weird stuff?”
Glancing up from her work, Chloe eyed him for a moment as if weighing how much she should say. “There was an abduction,” she said.
Graham sat forward. “The one Jade mentioned? She said she was abducted—twice.”
Chloe nodded. “I wasn’t sure how much she’d told you.”
“So you were involved, too?”
“I was taken the first time. The second one involved my brother Josh—you haven’t met him yet—and Alex—a friend of mine from Denver.”
Graham frowned. “But Jade said—”
“The second time Jade was taken was the third incident.”
“Seriously? Was someone stalking her or what?”
“Yes, definite stalking.”
Resting back against the sofa cushions, Graham blew out a breath. “That’s intense. No wonder her emotions are out of whack.”
“The worst part of it was that these men, the abductors, they had these creepy powers that let them sneak up on people—one of them could outright control people with just a look and a command.”
Graham blinked, wondering if he’d heard her right.
“So that’s what I mean by weird. I know quite a few people who have glitches like Jade’s, and not all of them are psychotic bad guys.”
“Sounds like these glitches are pretty common around here.”
“More than most people suspect,” Chloe said. She stopped and narrowed her eyes at him. “Why are you smiling?”
“Was I?” Graham felt his face heating up. “Sorry. That’s the writer-brain in me frolicking away after a shiny idea. I was just thinking, this is the stuff of good sci-fi books.”
She gave a wry smile. “That’s easy to say when it’s about someone else. Better not drink the water. You might just pop out some weird glitch yourself.”
Graham thought of his recent dreams about Violet. The gruesome death of that man continued to haunt him. Why was he seeing Violet killing people? And why could he not dream about something else for a change? But there was no way he wanted to tell Chloe about all that.
“Wait—is that what causes it?” he asked. “The water?”
Chloe laughed. “Don’t worry. You should be safe. The trend I’ve seen is that you’re either born with them or they show up after an accident like a head injury or something.”
Graham’s mind spotlighted Violet’s recent injury. But he hadn’t been in an accident. He was probably just imagining things. There went his writer-brain again, stringing along impossible scenarios. Maybe this meant he needed to work on his books more.
Chloe buzzed away at the sewing machine, and silence fell between them again. They’d waded into somewhat intimate waters, considering how short of a time they’d known each other. Oddly enough, Graham was comfortable sitting here watching her, chatting about people with strange glitches. And she seemed like such a confident, in-control type of woman. She reminded him a lot of Violet, and the thought made him wince.
“So are you dating anyone?” Graham asked, bringing it back to the topic she’d started an hour ago.
“Not at the moment.” Chloe’s chin lifted a hair as she spoke, but her eyes didn’t leave the sewing machine.
“You just get out of a relationship, too?”
“Not recently, no.”
“Okay.” He tried to think of something else to say. “You just like to play matchmaker, huh?”
“I want to see the people I love happy.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, her eyes went wide and flicked to him, as if she realized what she’d just said. What did that say about him, after all?
He gave her a break and let it slide, feeling his face heat up.
“So people need to be in a relationship to be happy?”
“Not necessarily, no. But most people are happier when they find one special person they mesh with.”
Graham nodded. “Okay. That’s fair. But what about you? Don’t you deserve to be happy?”
“I’m happy,” she said after a pause. But her eyes had returned to her work, hiding as she ducked low behind the machine to examine the thread in one place more carefully.
This time, Graham didn’t fill the void. He let the emptiness slurp away at them until the room felt so brittle it might crack. Chloe finally looked up and saw him watching her.
“What? I am.” The hint of a blush crossed the tops of her cheeks. “I’m busy with school and my projects—like this one. Getting ready for the fashion show is taking up my entire summer. And that’s the way I like it. I’m going to be a career woman.”
“Why can’t you have both?”
She shrugged, her focus returning to her work. “I don’t know. I just don’t want to worry about a boyfriend right now.” Her tone was light enough, but there was tension behind it, like a string wound too tight that, if plucked the wrong way, might break at any moment.
Graham was tempted. He wanted to know more, but he didn’t want to step out of his place with this girl he’d just met. He decided to let it go.
Around ten o’clock Chloe finished for the night. She put her work away and plopped down on the sofa next to Graham—incredibly close. Her side rested against his, making him feel a little cramped like he needed to rescue his arm from being squashed. But the only place he could think to put it would be against the sofa back behind her—and that seemed like a statement he wasn’t quite prepared to make. So he stayed squished and arched a brow at her.
She held out her palm. “Gimme the phone.”
He thought about protesting but decided it might be fun to let her boss him around for a little bit. He tugged the phone out of his pocket—having to l
ean further into her space to do so—and handed it to her. She scooped it out of his hand and immediately went to town, downloading some dating app and setting up a profile for him.
“Got any good selfies on here? Oh, never mind. Smile.” She leaned backward to get a good angle and snapped a picture of him.
He blinked. “A little warning would be nice.”
“Ick. Deleting,” Chloe said, tapping the screen. “Okay, ready now?”
He bumped his glasses up with a knuckle and gave her a smile, hoping it didn’t look incredibly posed.
“Got it. Okay. Just have to upload…one sec…here we go. Full name?”
“Graham Vega.”
“Location…check. Job…Retail. Okay. Interests?”
“Writing…um…Shelling….” Immediately Graham wished he hadn’t said it.
She arched a brow. “Yeah? Like hunting for seashells?”
His neck grew warm. “Um, yeah.”
She grinned. “Shelling…long walks on the beach…the ladies will love that. Then, so will the guys.”
Graham groaned. “Please don’t put shelling.”
Chloe winked. “It’ll be our secret. You can use it as your secret weapon later if you need it. Just let me know if you come up with some other good hobbies to include. Age?”
“Nineteen.”
“Height?”
“Five eight.”
She frowned. “Really? Five eight?”
Again heat flared up Graham’s neck. He nodded but looked away.
“We’ll call it five ten. If you find the right girl, she won’t care.”
“Uh….”
“Everyone lies on their profile anyway.”
Enchanter: The Flawed Series Book Four Page 13
