by Kylie Walker
Chloe laughed and said, “Roxi found him, you’ll have to ask her.”
“So, what about your two days?”
“They were good. He’s also a gentleman. I’m enjoying getting to know him.”
“I’m so glad. I was starting to really worry about you, sitting in this condo every day and every weekend. You’re too amazing to always be alone.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Chloe said with an appreciative smile, “But, you’re right I guess, it’s about time. Is our large shadow outside still?”
“Brock went home to get some rest, but there’s another one out there. He seems nice, but he’s no Brock.”
“No one is,” Chloe said with a faux sigh.
“I know!” Lexi squealed.
Chloe went to her room with a smile on her face. She sat down on her bed and took out her journal. When she opened to the last page she saw what she had written and just like that, the darkness returned. Jesse was getting out...and soon. She could “date” Derek and laugh and giggle with Lexi and act like everything was okay, but the truth was that in just a little over a week, she would have to be on constant alert. She wouldn’t have time to take helicopter rides and eat lobster...she better enjoy it now.
June 25
The last few days have been the best of the past three years. I finally relaxed. I ate too much and I made love a lot. I acted like a normal twenty-four year old woman, with nothing to lose. I didn’t think about Jesse and I didn’t think about the club. I didn’t have to bump and grind for slimy old men and I didn’t have to fear for my life. But what I know about all of this is that none of that is my reality. My reality is the bump and grind and the fear. I’m not fooling myself...only taking a short break. I told Derek that I would go to this charity event with him. It will be the first time I’m back in New York since the trial. Is it risky? Maybe. Do I trust Derek? Yes, at this point I do. More than anything, it’s one last hurrah. When those jailhouse doors slide open and my very own nightmare comes slithering out...a part of me knows for sure that he is going to find me...and if he never does, I’ll worry about it forever. I almost find myself thinking the confrontation might be better than the alternative. At least one way or the other, it will be over.
She put the journal away and sat there for a few minutes trying to recapture that giddy feeling she’d had just a short time ago. She was able to obtain a calm that in the past may have eluded her, so at least that was something. She would go see if Lexi wanted to go shopping with her to buy a dress for the charity event. Maybe that would bring the mood back.
*******
The week passed both quickly and slowly. Chloe stayed busy, cleaning out closets and drawers and doing things she didn’t normally have time to do when she worked every day. She jogged a lot and spent a lot of time walking on the beach too. She was trying to mentally prepare herself so that when Jesse was out she didn’t have to let it consume every hour of her day.
It was slow because Derek was busy with work. He’d spent most of the week in New York and she wasn’t going to get to see him until Saturday. She told herself that was a good thing. The two days they spent together had been almost too comfortable and as much as she enjoyed his company, she wasn’t really ready for things to get any more serious than they were. She’d come around to trusting him, and for her that was a giant leap.
She had her dress and shoes for the party and she was both nervous and excited about it. The nervous went without saying. The excitement was because it had been a really long time since she’d done anything remotely like getting dressed up like a princess and going to a charity event. She had just finished steaming the dress and hanging it up when there was a knock on the door. She looked through the peephole and saw that it was Roxi. Surprised, she unlocked the door and let her in.
“Hey Roxi!”
“Hi, how are things going?” she asked as Chloe let her inside.
“Good,” she said, genuinely. “This is really the best I’ve felt in a long time. Thank you for making me take the time off.” Chloe led her into the kitchen and offered her a seat. When Roxi sat down, she looked out the glass doors at Brock, sitting in his spot.
“How is Brock doing?”
“He’s great, I like him. Lexi wants to know where you found him.”
“Roxi laughed and said, “Guys like him seem to find me.” She didn’t expand on that and Chloe was slightly afraid to ask. She got them both a bottle of water and sat down.
“So what’s up?” she said. She knew that Roxi wouldn’t show up out of the blue for just any reason.”
Roxi sighed, “The chief of police is suddenly making threats to close me down. His little sissy boy got his ass whipped by a girl and now he’s pissed.”
“Oh shit, Roxi! I’m so sorry!”
“Don’t be sorry. He should have taught the little bastard some manners when he had the chance. I do have worse news though.”
“What’s that?”
“He’s not just threatening to close me down. He threatening to charge you with assault.”
“Oh my God! Assault? He touched me first!”
“You and I know that, but his friends say otherwise. They were the only witnesses.”
“That mother-fucker!”
“Exactly,” Roxi said. “It gets worse.”
“Worse? How the hell could it get worse?”
“He says he’ll drop the whole thing, if you apologize...and dance exclusively for him when he’s in the club.”
Chloe’s mouth was hanging open, but she couldn’t seem to close it. Finally she swallowed hard and said, “Scum bags! I can’t let them close down your club though, Roxi...not because of something that I did.”
“Yes, they are scumbags,” she said.
Chloe got up out of her seat and began pacing the floor. Her head was spinning. How did she get herself into these damned messes? She would have to apologize to the little punk. What else could she do? She couldn’t be the cause of Roxi losing her business and all of those people losing their jobs. Suddenly, she realized something. Roxi didn’t look upset at all. She was calm and she didn’t have that look in her eye that she got when she wanted to slit someone’s throat. Chloe sat back down and said, “Why are you so calm?”
Roxi smiled and said, “Because I’m no empty headed stripper and this big, bad cop is not smart enough to see that.”
“Meaning what, exactly?”
“Well, let’s ponder this for a second, shall we? The chief’s dear son is a junior at Pepperdine. He is majoring in law. The chief has one year to go until retirement. If he got into any trouble at this point in his career, he could lose his pension. He’s been married to the same woman for thirty years. She sits on the state board of education and the money he has, it all came from her. There is no fucking way this joker is going to file charges.”
Chloe felt a little sick to her stomach from the initial shot of stress. “I’m sorry, but why...I mean what...I don’t understand.”
“Why I made you believe I was going to go along with his demands?”
“Yeah, what the hell, Roxi?”
Roxi laughed, “There’s that spunk. I don’t think you should take me on though; I’m a wildcat in a fight. I had to know how you felt about it because the reality is that as much as I believe he won’t go through with this, I don’t know it for a fact. If I turn down his “offer,” you’re the one that either gets stuck dancing for the pig or gets prosecuted. It had to be your decision. Do you want me to tell him we agree to his terms?”
“No fucking way,” Chloe said. “I would like to be there when you tell him what we are going to do to him though.”
“Consider yourself invited,” Roxi said. “I’m actually looking forward to it, just a little bit.”
“Me too,” Chloe said, “But a lot.”
*******
Saturday afternoon, Chloe soaked in a bubble bath before spending over an hour on her hair and then her make-up. She couldn’t wait to see Derek. She knew
it was dangerous to feel so strongly about him, but the fact was that she did. When Derek knocked on her door to pick her up for the party, Chloe was ready. Her dress was an ankle length green silk A-line with a lace overlay across the shoulders and back. The neckline was a conservative V line and the back was high...for obvious reasons. She wore a pair of gold strappy sandals with a four inch heel. Her hair was done up in a French twist and her make-up looked like she had just walked out of a salon. She felt like a princess and when she opened the door and saw Derek’s face, he confirmed that she looked like one too.
“Wow! You look stunning! I mean...stunning doesn’t even cover it. Wow!”
Chloe felt herself doing something that she hadn’t done in a very long time. She blushed. “Thank you,” she said. “You look pretty stunning yourself.” He was wearing a black suit with a green swatch in the pocket that was the exact shade as her dress. “How did you do this?” she asked him, touching the silk piece.
He smiled and said, “Lexi can be bought, in case you ever wondered.”
“That bitch!” Chloe said, laughing. “What did it cost you? And how did you get ahold of her anyways?”
“I was in town so I took a chance and drove by the club. She was easily bought off with two tickets I happened to have to the Pawtucket Indian’s game. She said something about “Brock?” loving baseball.”
Chloe laughed and said, “She’s in love.”
“Well, are you ready?”
“I am,” she said, taking his arm. She still felt like a princess only now she felt like Cinderella on the arm of Prince Charming.
Chapter 14
The car once again took them to the airport and they took the helicopter to New York. The property where the party was being held had a heliport on it, for convenience about five miles from the house. A car met them there and took them up to the house.
The house was no house, it was a mansion. It was built on a lake, or the lake was built around it, it was hard to tell. The lawn was expansive probably five acres and tall, beautiful shade trees surrounded it. There was a mile long cobblestone driveway that led up to a circular drive in front of the house. In the center of the drive was a garden of tropical flowers, plants and fountains. It looked like a tiny little tropical paradise.
The large double front doors stood open and Chloe and Derek walked in arm in arm. The foyer was as big as Chloe’s entire condo with a white marble floor and a crystal chandelier. The host and hostess, a man named Peter Ross and his wife Leticia were greeting their guests at the door. Chloe couldn’t help but notice how pretty the woman was. She was ageless. According to what Derek told her about them, the couple had been married for twenty years, so she had to be at least forty, but there was no way you would guess that if you didn’t know. She had long chestnut hair that she wore down in smooth waves and perfect, flawless mocha colored skin without a single line or wrinkle. Her eyes were hazel and so large and intense that when she looked right at you, it was hard to look away.
“Chloe, I’m so pleased to meet you and so happy you could come,” she said when Derek introduced them. “I look forward to talking with you later and getting to know more about you.”
“Me too,” Chloe lied. She was going to avoid that conversation like the plague. She could see it now, “Oh yes, I’m an exotic dancer in a private gentleman’s club on the run from my homicidal boyfriend.” No thank you.
They were led by an attendant to the right side of the foyer where there was a door that opened up to another lovely garden. This one was huge and the party seemed to be built around it. There were pretty little tables with white lace table cloths set up and each table had a tiny little crystal chandelier strung up above it. There were tables along the sides where the items for the silent auction sat and off in the distance was a temporary dance floor set up around a bandstand where a live band was playing soft jazz music. A huge black canopy with silver stars all over it covered it all, making it look like a perfect, starry night. It was all so elegant that it was almost dizzying.
“Are you ready to make the rounds, or would you rather we just find a seat?” Derek asked her.
Chloe looked around at all the people. She had never been too what you would call a “social butterfly.” Because of whom Jesse’s father was she had done a fair bit of socializing when they were together. That was, when she wasn’t sporting a black eye or a split lip that she couldn’t show out in public. “Whatever you would rather do,” she said.
“We’ll say hello to a few of them until dinner is served,” he said. He led her over to one of the tables where an older couple and a younger one sat. The man looked up as they approached and said, “Well Derek, hello!” He stood up and gave Chloe an odd look before saying, “And who is this?”
“This is Chloe Green. Chloe this is Hank Renner, my father’s law partner. That is his lovely wife Sydney and their daughter Casey and husband Frank.”
Chloe said hello to them all and they each took her hand. She couldn’t help but begin to feel slightly anxious about how they were looking at her though. This whole time she saw herself so differently than she had before, but they could see that she resembled Sarah and if they could see that...Derek led her away and said, “Hey, are you okay?”
“I’m okay,” she said. “But, did you notice how they looked at me? They all knew Sarah, didn’t they?”
He stopped. Cupping her chin in his hand, he tipped her face up to look at him. He knew what she was getting at, “I’m sure they see it, but I don’t care. You’re not Sarah and your resemblance to her, although it originally brought me to you, has nothing to do with why I’m with you.”
On some level, that made Chloe feel better. It was something that she’d thought about, of course. But, the fact was that Derek had no idea why she was really upset by it. She took a deep breath to steady herself and decided that as long as they all just knew Sarah she was still okay. Sarah was not Kelly...
“Mike Dawson, I’d like you to meet Chloe Green. Mike is a U.S. Senator. He’s bought both of his houses from me,” Derek told her as he introduced her to the man.
“I’m very pleased to meet you, Chloe,” he said. “What is it that you do, dear?”
Before Chloe could speak, Derek said, “She’s in school. Chloe’s getting her teaching degree.”
“Well, that’s admirable. I promised my wife that I wouldn’t talk politics tonight but I do hope you vote republican. We are all for education. Oops, here she comes, shh!”
Chloe smiled and when Derek introduced her to the senator’s wife the woman said, “He wasn’t talking about politics was he?”
“No ma’am,” Chloe said with a smile. “We were talking about me going to school to become a teacher.”
“An admirable profession,” she repeated the story about being in school.
As they walked away Derek said, “I hope you don’t mind that I stepped in on you like that?”
“No,” she said, “I appreciate it, thank you. I wasn’t about to tell any of these people what I really do. She kept picturing that conversation in her head. It didn’t go very well.”
“It’s only temporary,” he told her with a squeeze to her arm.
She smiled, “I know, and I’m glad that you understand.”
“It looks like dinner is being served. Maybe we should find our seats.” Derek found a server who led them to their table. They were seated with an attorney from New Hampshire and his wife. They also looked at Chloe funny at first, but after a few awkward moments, they began to ask her about herself and she asked about them. Once the wife began talking about her children and grandchildren, Chloe was off the hook.
Dinner was poached salmon with a lemon mint sauce and cucumber salad and rice. The conversation between Derek and the attorney was lively and Chloe kept his wife engaged as well. The woman also asked her what she did and Chloe embellished on her story and told her that she would graduate soon and she already had a job lined up.
When dinner was over the dessert
carts came around and Chloe indulged in a New York cheesecake that was almost better than sex. After dinner the host got up and talked about their cause and the reason behind their choice to support it. He told them about his son, a boy named Isaac that had passed away from a rare blood disorder at the age of seven. Since then, he and his wife had spent countless time and money to put together these fundraisers for both the hospital that had cared for Isaac and the research needed to someday cure the disease. Chloe was touched by the story and the picture of the dark haired boy that looked so much like his mother that they flashed up on the screen. When Peter Ross finished his speech, he invited them all to dance and drink and enjoy themselves, but to not forget to stop by the silent auction tables.
Derek turned to Chloe as the lights dimmed and the music started back up and said, “Would you like to dance?”
She turned to make sure the other couple wasn’t listening and she said, “I haven’t danced like that in a very long time.”
“It’s like riding a bike,” he said, “Besides, I’ve seen you move. You’ll probably just float across that floor.” Chloe felt her face go hot at the mention of him seeing her on the pole. She knew it was ridiculous, but she couldn’t help it. Even Derek knowing that she worked at that sleazy place embarrassed her.
“Okay, but if I step on your feet, you can’t blame me.”
“I’d be honored for you to trample my expensive shoes,” he said with a grin.
He led her to the dance floor and she tried not to notice the strange looks that everyone seemed to be giving them. It might be her imagination, but she didn’t think so. She took the impression that they were all wondering where Derek found this woman that was the spitting image of his late wife. She wondered what they would think if they knew...No, she knew what they would think, and none of it would be good. Everyone she had met so far had been in some kind of admirable profession. She was even skimming the limits slightly with her teacher story.
