by Bellus, HJ
Eli slides from the booth, holding both hands out. “Go. Fucking run.”
Chloe follows Eli’s movements, even throwing her arms up in the air.
“Learned from the best, fuckface.”
Eli can’t believe his eyes as he watches Chloe bolt from the restaurant.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Eli slumps down into the booth and covers his eyes.
“Eli.”
He doesn’t acknowledge Cole. Eli doesn’t need advice and the fucking speech from his brothers. They rode him for years about being too obsessed with Chloe, and then even after he left Chloe they still reminded him how much better off he was. They wanted him single and free to fit the rest of their lifestyle. He needed to have a clear head to be an effective business partner. He’s heard the speech a hundred times and is not in the fucking mood for the lecture now.
“Listen, Eli,” Cole says again.
“What?” he roars, pulling his head from his palms. “What the fuck do you want? Lecture me more. It’s better this way than falling completely back in love with Chloe. Well, guess what, I never stopped loving her a day in my life. I sacrificed every single fucking day for the last five years for you assholes.”
Eli rises to his feet and slams his fist onto the table.
“I’m fucking done with you three. I’m fucking done. I’ve tried to live up to the Sterling name my whole life, and you all know better than anyone how fucking hard it is to fit the mold when you’re adopted. I tried and tried for you. I’m done. I love Chloe, and I’m fucking done.”
“Just calm down, Eli. I wasn’t going to say what you think,” Cole insists.
Eli lowers his angry face and squares up with all three of his brothers. “Our mom gave everything she had by taking all four of us in as her own. She always told us to embrace our differences and to never give up on each other. You fuckers have never let me be that.”
Eli’s fist slams into the table again, sending several glasses and plates to the ground. They shatter instantly.
Chloe comes to an abrupt stop when she hears Eli’s voice. He is shouting, and she can’t force herself to take another step. His words crushed her heart. She felt like pinching herself due to disbelief while the words slipped from his mouth.
She keeps walking, knowing it’s the best thing to do. She now knows she wasn’t wanted around by the other brothers and will keep her presence to a minimum, only showing up for business. She knew walking away from Eli would kill her. She just had no idea how truly hard it would be until now. With each step Chloe forces her legs to work. As she steps out the front door, she hears his voice again, but this time it’s calling her name. She’s tired of looking back and waiting for him.
Five years later and she’s still not over the asshole. Chloe was never interested in other men. Hell, they were the furthest things from her mind, because she knew one man would always own her heart. The vision of him being sucked off by that other woman threatens to make her vomit on the sidewalk as she jogs to a cab.
The fucker knew who she was and still had the nerve to hook up with a random stranger. Chloe’s not dumb and knows the Sterlings have a reputation to live up to, but she’s always had more faith in Eli until now. At least until the moment the waitress shattered that faith for her. Maybe it was a cheap lesson. Quick and easy like ripping a Band-Aid off without warning.
When she slams the door to the cab, Chloe lets out a puff of air and gives the driver directions. Once safe inside and without the threat of Eli, she even relaxes a bit against the leather seat. Chloe chants the phrase business, business, business over and over again in her head. This all has to be business, then the men can be off to Denver to set up their next club.
She’ll work her ass off to get them there. Her phone vibrates; her trembling fingers pluck it from her purse expecting to see Eli’s number. She’s wrong. It’s an unknown number, but she answers it anyway.
“Hello.” Her voice is shaky from all the emotions coursing through her body.
“Chloe,” a deep voice slowly spills out.
“Yes, who’s this?”
“You fucking move forward with your current project and you’ll regret it.”
“Who is this?” she asks once again.
“You’re a smart girl, Chloe, back off. Harwell’s will destroy you. There’s not room for Sterlings in this town.”
“Ethan?” Chloe finally recognizes the voice. “Did you just refer to yourself in third person?”
She couldn’t stand the fucking man, and now that she realizes whose voice threatens her over the phone, her anger boils over. This is the same man who vandalized her car in a parking garage and tried to attack her. Chloe has no doubt Ethan would’ve raped her and left her for dead that night if she hadn’t pulled out her pepper spray. It was the one thing that saved her life. Chloe’s mom had sent her a care package a few months before the incident, which included new pepper spray, and brass knuckles that doubled as a Taser.
She never did tell her mother how handy they came in. There was no need to worry her. Actually, Chloe had told nobody of the incident but the police. She did file a report on the car damage and intended to have the asshole fix it. Yet, it still sits in the shop months later. Having the word ‘bitch’ scratched into your black car in capital letters is something you can’t really hide. A dent, a key scratch down the body, or a shattered side window are things you could continue to drive with. But not her luck.
“Ethan, have you forgotten about your no contact order? Stay away, asshole. We’re moving forward, and I’ve already contacted the authorities about your little stunt and inevitable demise. Stay away.”
“If you think I’m going to stay away, then you have another thing coming, sweetie. Harwells are above the law. This is our city, and our club will remain on top.”
Chloe begins to speak as her body goes sailing into the passenger seat in front of her. She doesn’t have time to put her hand out to stop the movement. She turns her head at the right moment as her cheek meets the cool leather. Her phone goes sailing to the floor.
“Are you fucking crazy?” the driver yells.
Chloe can hear tapping on the hood between the driver’s shouts. When she looks, there’s a man at the front of the car who clearly stepped out to stop it. In three strides he’s on Chloe’s side of the car and opening the door.
“Eli?”
Covered in sweat and breathing heavily, Eli Sterling stands before her. He doesn’t ask as he nudges her to the side and scoots in next to her.
“Sorry about that, man. My girl here left without me.”
Chloe stares at him, wondering if he’s lost his fucking mind. Eli’s hand covers the top of her leg, half of it on the material of the skirt and the rest touching her bare flesh. The cab lurches forward, driving down 30th Avenue. Chloe catches a glimpse of Dax smiling from a black SUV, and she knows she has officially entered the twilight zone.
Eli slowly leans over, grabbing her cellphone. The screen has gone black, and he doesn’t move his hand from her leg. Chloe refuses to make eye contact with the man, focusing on the road ahead of her. Only three more blocks to her apartment. Now two blocks. Familiar buildings and stores flash by her peripheral vision, and she still refuses to look at the man holding her leg. His breathing has finally slowed down a bit. The cab comes to an abrupt stop. Chloe reaches for her debit card to pay the fee, but Eli beats her to it. He tosses the man some cash, and while he does, Chloe tries to take her phone from his hands. His knuckles go white as she tugs on it. With each tug, he grips it tighter.
“Motherfucker,” she hisses as she slides across the seat and gets out of the taxi. Her phone is the one thing she can’t live without. It could have been her purse, wallet, or anything else for that matter, she wouldn’t have cared and kept stepping. Debit cards and all those other things can be replaced, but she can’t afford to live one moment without her phone.
She slams the door to the cab and comes face to face with Eli. He’s holding he
r phone up in the air above his head.
“I’ll nail you in the nuts,” Chloe says. “Give me my phone and leave me alone.”
“No, no, and no.”
“Eli, we’re over. Fuck, we’ve been over for five years. We fucked, and I can move on.” Chloe knows each word that just flew out of her mouth was a lie. A straight up, bold face lie. But if that’s what it takes to get over Eli Sterling, she’ll lie for the rest of her life.
“I love you. I’ve always loved you, and I’m not leaving you.” Eli lowers his hand with the phone in it, but doesn’t offer it to Chloe. “I’m not like you, and I’ve slept around the last five years trying to burn you from my memory, and it didn’t work.”
“Nice speech. Did your brothers help you write that?” Chloe crosses her arms across her chest in the hope of shielding her heart from any further damage.
“It’s always been you,” Eli whispers. “I’m not leaving this time. Hate me for as long as you need.”
Chloe’s phone lights up and vibrates in his hand, and she sees the unknown caller flash across the screen again. Her stomach twists in disgust because Eli can never find out what happened with Ethan. He’d probably kill him, and then there’d be bigger issues with the club construction moving forward.
“Who is it?” he asks.
Chloe shrugs. “I don’t know. It says unknown caller.”
“I can read you like a fucking open book, baby girl.”
Chloe’s eyes widen as she watches Eli’s finger slides the call icon across the screen.
“Hello?”
There’s a long silence before Eli hands the phone over to Chloe. She’s not quite sure if the caller is still on the line or has hung up. She notices the lit screen, indicating the call is still active. She nervously ends the call, trying not to let Eli see her.
“It was a man looking for you.”
Chloe ignores him and turns toward her apartment stairs.
“You said you’ve been alone for five years. I think you’re a liar.”
She keeps walking. He’s throwing stones at her, and she knows it, and does her best to ignore him. Her fingers fumble with the keypad code, and suddenly her brain forgets the damn code she’s put in for years.
“Did you fuck him, Chloe?”
Seven, three, six, one…the code is wrong once again. Four, six, six, seven…again a red error messages flashes across the screen and a warning that she only has three more attempts.
“Did you beg him to fuck you like you did me?”
He finally broke her barrier. Chloe turns around to face him, swinging her bag at his head while her other hand lands punches everywhere.
Through the attack, Eli manages to spew more venom. “I guess I hit the nail on the head.”
Chloe steps back. “Look at me, Eli.”
She gives him a moment, and he finally makes eye contact.
“It was probably Ethan. He attacked me a few months back over a similar business deal. These Harwells think they own everything. I was working on a restaurant project and they didn’t approve.” Chloe stops for a moment and places her hand on the back of her neck. “Long story short. I caught him fucking up my car and he attacked me.”
Chloe’s vision becomes clearer as she turns back to the keypad and the numbers finally come back to her. As she tries to turn the brass doorknob, Eli is pressed up against her back. His arms wrap around her middle, pulling her back into him. He aggressively buries his face in the crook of her neck.
“No one will hurt you again, Chloe, including me. I promise that,” he whispers against her skin.
She melts into him, letting her arms fall down, and her hands cover the outside of his.
“I don’t want to fight this, Eli, but I don’t want to be hurt over and over.”
“Chloe, I just promised you. I’m here forever.”
“Until your brothers tell you not to be.”
“They don’t control me any longer. You own me.”
“No more mean words, Eli. I haven’t lied to you about anything.”
“I can do that.”
“And no more girls. Period.”
“Done.”
She spins around in his arms. She’s always known she never stood a chance if Eli ever came back in her life, and she’s done fooling herself. Eli glides down her body and gets on one knee.
“Chloe Jo, will you be my girlfriend?”
She can only giggle at his absurd behavior.
“Stop and get up here.”
“Answer me, baby girl. Will you go steady with me?”
She frames his face with her hands. “I’ve always been yours, Eli.”
“Good, let’s go fuck. My boner is about to bust my zipper, and I might die from blue balls.”
That’s the Eli she knows, and she has no hesitation about fucking him now. Chloe is all in. Good or bad, she just took the biggest leap of her life. There are so many questions she could ask, but she pushes them to the side as she drags Eli to his feet. Halfway up the stairs he takes her by the hips and hoists her up on his shoulder. She dangles the keys in front of him. Before Chloe knows what is happening, she’s pinned up against the entry of her apartment.
Her arms remain locked tight around his neck as his body pushes her against the wall. She can feel his hand ripping and tearing away clothes and then the final sound of his zipper.
One brutal thrust, and he’s fully planted in her, and she screams. Chloe fights to move her hips with him, but can’t from being pinned up to the wall.
“Let me,” Eli growls.
He fucks her hard and fast without slowing his pace. Moans escape her with every thrust. Her fingers grab hold of his hair, pulling it hard while he fucks her. She can feel his cock harden, closing in on the impending orgasm. It excites her to know he can so easily come while fucking her. Her insides tighten with delicious delight. His cum explodes inside of her as he grunts out his pleasure into her neck.
“Put me down,” Chloe whispers.
Eli listens and slowly places her down. “I’m sorry, baby. Let me take care of you.”
He tries sliding his hand down toward her core. Chloe notices his hard, throbbing cock dripping with his fluid, and an idea takes over.
“Lay down.”
“On the tile?” he asks.
Chloe’s places her hands on his shoulders and guides him down. Once Eli’s body is laid out flat on her white tile entryway, she straddles him, still clothed in her skirt.
“This used to be my favorite.”
“Riding me?” Eli props his arms behind his head, relaxing and watching her movements.
“No, fucking back on your cum.”
Eli gulps at her brash words and grows even harder as Chloe slides down on him. She controls the tempo, setting a rhythm that provides her with a steady sensation of pleasure. She knows she has to quicken it up to be fulfilled but doesn’t want this to ever end. It’s a mixture of everything, the way he’s looking at her, the feel of him in her, and the fact he just committed to her. All of it is creating the perfect feeling, cocooning Chloe in pure bliss.
“Fuck, Chloe, you better go because I’m about to…” Eli grits out through a clenched jaw.
His obvious pleasure threatens to send her over the edge. She’s always been able to get off by just watching him experience things. She quickens her hips so she doesn’t miss a beat or go with him. Eli’s hands dig into her flesh, guiding her hips on him. He grips tighter and slams her harder. Chloe begins to scream as Eli spills into her once again.
“Food’s here. I’ll get it, Chloe.”
Eli hopped from the tub ten minutes ago to make some business calls while Chloe decided to soak a bit longer in the hot water. They phoned in Chinese food. Neither of them wanted to leave the apartment or even get dressed. They have a lot of catching up to do and plan on checking off their to-do list very rapidly.
“Okay, I’ll get out.”
Chloe pulls herself from the hot tub, quickly wrapping up in a towel and
drying her skin. The towel runs over the bruised area on her hips. They have to be the most beautiful wounds she’s ever seen, and she can’t wait to see how they develop. She shakes the thought from her head, mentally scolding herself for being sick and twisted.
“Ready, baby girl?” Eli pokes his head around the corner.
“Does it look like it?”
“Yep.” He snags her with his free hand and drags her to the bed.
“Eli.” There’s a thrilling tone to her voice.
“Bed now. I’m hungry.”
She follows his commands and climbs in the bed and pulls her covers up over her naked body, tucking them in snugly under her armpits. Eli prepares a makeshift table in the bedding using the small cardboard box the food came in. He turns it upside down and begins pulling out all sorts of food, and then hands Chloe a pair of chopsticks along with a fork.
“You really didn’t forget anything, did you?” she asks, looking up at him.
“No, Chloe, I didn’t. I’ve been in hell the last five years, and I don’t know how I’m ever going to convince you I’m not going anywhere again without you.”
Chloe’s thoughts are heavy with questions about their future, but again she chooses to avoid them.
She covers his hand with hers. “I believe you, and I’ll let the past go. Just give me time.”
“But you’re mine?”
“I’m yours, Eli.”
Chloe unwraps the chopsticks, and she goes about using them in every wrong way possible. It’s the way she eats Chinese food, and it used to drive Eli nuts, but the sly grin covering his face now tells her he’s enjoying it. Chloe stabs a piece of orange chicken and plops it in her mouth, then tries wrapping up some noodles, but can’t get the job done, so she stabs another piece of chicken. Her chopsticks dig in the rice, trying to scoop up.
“And in three, two, one,” Eli says.
“Fuck this.” Chloe sends the chopsticks flying across the room and picks up her fork.
Eli laughs at the show Chloe just put on. “Just like old times.”
“One day I’ll make those things my bitch.”
