The Lesser of Two Evils - NC-17, Chapter 56 (May 27, 2016)

[June]

She was getting to recognize the ways he used the timbre of his voice to be different things; approachable, reasonable, disinterested, unaffected, carnal. She heard them all but they didn’t make her feel the way he meant them to. There was a deep numbness that was getting her through the day and she had to keep it.

Love the gradual buildup of their relationship. How both of them are observing each other, figuring out their quirks. It's enjoyable to read, especially when you're writing it because you write so well.

Lex crossed his legs and cleared his throat. He didn’t know how to bring it up but he needed to talk about her previous visit.

“There’ll be other things as I gather more information,” he said, “But there’s something a bit more immediate. If we’re going to be having sex on a regular basis there’s something that has to change.”

I am really interested and seeing what he has to discuss. Way to end a chapter... update soon please, very soon. I'm addicted to this fic and this AU is so believable and just true to the characters even under the dire circumstances.

Waiting for more.. As patiently as possible.

[star del mar]

I'll try to wait as patiently as well but you got me with that last line!! What has to change?! Great update as always.

Steph*

[buddyfozzy]

Nonky!! Come back!

Wow, wonderful chapter!!

[Whenyoufall]

I'm so glad you updated, I love this story. Can't wait for the next chapter.

[kitten]

The Lesser of Two Evils
NC-17/ Angst

Disclaimer: Smallville, the characters therein, and all affiliated copyrighted materials are owned by the WB. This is a work of fanfiction not intended for profit or infringement, only for the pleasure of fans of the series.

Spoilers: All up to Season 4, except things will be twisted to the tune of Lex having never moved to Cowtown, U.S.A.

A/N: What would Chloe Sullivan have had to do to get from under Lionel Luthor’s thumb if Lex had never moved to Smallville? What would she have had to sacrifice to earn the son’s help against the father?

AU for Season 3 and 4, and strongly rated for a good reason:
THERE WILL BE BORDERLINE NON-CONSENSUAL SEX.


Chapter Eighteen


Chloe’s cheeks took on a rosy blush that looked extra vibrant on her milk-white face. She didn’t move, froze actually, and braced herself.

What does he want? I can’t do that again. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.

She panicked in her head while her body kept the pretense of being in the room and maintaining her composure. There was no conscious effort not to act upset, but she did it out of habit. There were moments sitting across from the lazy, vainglorious form of Lionel Luthor when she was absolutely certain the sheen of tears was dooming her. There was no guarantee it hadn’t already, but at least she had learned to shut off her emotions. Chloe drew on the numbness and huddled around it like it was a campfire.

Taken aback, Lex saw her flee. Chloe wasn’t in the room anymore and where she was it was brittle and desperate. He’d been in similar places.

“Chloe, I’m not going to make demands on you,” he said. “I’m not going to ask anything of you or disagree with our previous setup. But if I’m not allowed to speak later I have to say something now.”

Her mouth did a subtle jump around an expression that might have been a grimace or a wry grin and he knew she was grounded again. Rapid blinks and a nervous lick of her lips woke her up all the way. Finally, when she turned her head to look at him, her eyes were full of her identity once more.

“What,” she asked hoarsely.

He was used to doing without saying or not caring how he said things. Women Lex considered as suitable companions were willing and able to put up with him in any mood he found himself and they rarely called him on his bad behaviour. He had an ivy league education that was wasted in conversation with most of his society acquaintances and a vocabulary that was neglected during bragging contests about boats, private planes and priceless art. As he was trying to form a tactful reply he realized Chloe was presenting him with the most intellectual challenge he’d had in years, and she didn’t even want to speak to him.

“At the end,” he began, “you have to be more careful. You have to stop and relax for a minute because when you’re still tight around me it’s too soon to pull away. You’ll get hurt.”

She didn’t know how it was possible to be so horrified and embarrassed at the same time as feeling flooded with relief. If Lex had asked her to give him another blow job or for something worst she would have been sick. The rant that had been forming in her head was still dissipating when she answered.

“It’s just that I . . . “ Panicked, but she didn’t say it. It was too much to reveal to this man who was barely a stranger but knew more about her than anyone else. “I won’t do that again.”

Lex nodded and refrained from telling her the other reason she had to let him pull out slowly. They were depending solely on a thin layer of latex to prevent a pregnancy that her body was primed to carry. By all evidence he was as virile as any healthy man should be. It would do little good to prevent a tragedy of one sort by creating another one of nearly equal harm.

Of course, he wouldn’t be like his father. Chloe would be allowed to have an abortion and her recovery would be taken care of by the best doctors. She would be allowed to move on with her life and he would destroy any record of this unpleasant chapter of hers.

He wasn’t a good, kind, or caring man, but Lex Luthor tried very hard to be a fair man. He lived his life largely in defiance of the world, and imposing the justice it resisted was only another aspect of that. The fact that he sometimes broke his own rules was mainly in order to work against the greater crimes his father was attempting.

The fact that his latest quest for fairness was in defense of an attractive young woman who was sleeping with him was something he wasn’t willing to think about. It nibbled at a part of his psyche he wasn’t comfortable with, just like the thoughts of another lost sibling.

Lex shook himself out of his musings and fixed a mild expression on his face. He had pushed Chloe into enough conversation for one night and he was secretly admiring of the way she had handled herself.

“That’s all,” he said, not moving.

She pursed her lips and stood up, swiveling to face him without making eye contact.

“Do you mind music?”

He typically didn’t notice, neither did he suggest it since it implied a sense of romance that he didn’t want to foster. But Chloe was a special case.

“That’s fine. What would you like,” he asked, sliding out to stand as well.

The media room was filled with CDs still wrapped and waiting in vain for him to have time to listen to them. He normally didn’t allow anyone in there, but she wouldn’t use it to enforce the grasping intimacy of a relationship.

“I’ve got something,” she said quietly.

Lex studied her and couldn’t work out what she was projecting. There was something there but it was masked by the resolve she was wearing.

He strode to the bar to give her a safe zone to walk through. “There’s a CD player in the bedroom.”

Chloe turned crisply and left the room and he stayed for a few minutes, wondering how long she needed. There was a delicacy to dealing with her that didn’t allow him to lapse into his seduction routines. He waited until the music was audible, a medium speed electronic instrumental song he actually liked. And he knocked softly before opening the door.

She had undressed and sat on the bed, looking smaller than she had in clothing. There was a scent of freshness that indicated she had washed her hands or her face, but Lex was more concerned with the vague hint of a more earthy aroma.

The body remembered, she had thought as she got ready. It remembered pain but it also remembered ecstasy. When she looked at Lex there was fear and anger, but there was also a dark thread of excitement. Her body knew he had hurt her and it thought he should be making it up to her.

She was mortified by it, but it would make things easier. She wasn’t a deeply religious person nor did she think there was nobilty in giving up things that were desirable.

But when Chloe had snuck a finger down her body to feel the beginning dampness between her legs she had wanted desperately to desire anyone but Lex Luthor. It had struck her so jarringly that she had washed her hands and face with cold water.

He didn’t say anything as she stood up and waited. The music hummed and skittered over her skin and made it somehow more silent. Toed off shoes were left by the door, and his shirt was unbuttoned and tossed over a chair. She tracked his first bare footstep toward her, closed her eyes and didn’t open them again.

Lex let her stay where she was because her fingers were wrapped around the bed frame. He left his pants on and dropped to his knees gracefully. And breathed in.

He exhaled forcefully as his mouth crept toward her, but she wasn’t making the flinching motions he had expected. Her hips were steady and her legs were spread slightly, so he immediately found her clit and kissed it. The subtle touch gave her an opportunity to object, but she didn’t. The nudge of his chin got her to open a bit more, then his tongue was bringing her to climax as carefully as he could.

Chloe was letting it happen, trying not to think about anything, sometimes following the music and sometimes the motions of his tongue. It was easier with no acknowledgment of who he was, or even who she was. She imagined it was very similar to really being a woman who was in his bed for the night simply to get the pleasure of his body without any messy relationship problems.

When she felt her knees start to vibrate with regularity she reached out for the headboard with her other hand. And when a large male hand brushed against her calf for a split second she didn’t panic or object. She ignored it as she ignored the way the entire world seemed to hurt her and she came.

Lex listened to the whimpers on Chloe’s lips and brought her through the last of the big spasms of her body. He had forgotten for a moment that he wasn’t allowed to use his hands, and almost ran his hand up to grasp her hips to steady them. But she hadn’t reacted badly and he wrote it off as a product of his own excitement.

Leaving her to catch her breath, he stood up and took off his pants and boxers. She was still clutching at the bed and he slipped the condom on without waiting for her to tell him. Half-mast green slits started at his shoulders and ran down his body, not stopping at his cock. They looked at all of him, down his legs and back up again to his face. He felt stripped by it, but there wasn’t any accusation behind it.

Chloe Sullivan had accepted her fate, even if it was him.

He walked to the bed and lay on his back across it. She liked her grip on the headboard and he suspected it was helping her, so he worked with it. His hands were folded under his neck and only then did she kneel over him.

She slid her left hand along the rounded railing and settled her knees on either side of Lex’s body. He was acting like last time, still, quiet, passive. Or as passive as he could look with an erection that still staggered her a little. Knowing it fit and believing it were two different things.

Her feeling of calmness was staying with her, though, and she only needed a moment to line up and take him inside. It was a strange thing to be separate and then joined, but she rode it out with the music and the lingering pleasure.

Chloe had always been a smart girl and a good negotiator of her circumstances. She had once wasted it on finding ways to hold out hope for Clark to come around, now she used it to find the good points of her heinous predicament. The major one happened to be the escalating sensation as Lex started to rise underneath her, the friction of cock to pussy in a purely physical unity that brought it all around to the point where she was closing her eyes and biting her lips in a surplus of whatever it was that made sex worthwhile.

She wasn’t quite good at being on top, Lex thought, but she had every sign of becoming so once she had some more experience. There were moments where she lost the rhythm and had to stop for a few seconds before she got it back, and other times when she accidentally worked against him as he tried to get them to the end. Once or twice he had to stop moving on a sound she made that was edged with pain. There were many signs that Chloe was a rank amateur but she was also enthusiastic and open about what worked for her.

He had spent years learning how to get his with any woman, even the boring, stupid and drugged ones who only knew how to lie down with their legs open. Chloe was much better than that, and he was close to an orgasm when she finally leaned over his chest and clamped down around him, her free hand gouging into his side as her strong little howl rang out. He pumped his entire lower body with his release and arched his back into it, lifting her off the bed.

They were both gasping when she opened her eyes and looked down to find her fingernails digging into Lex’s ribs. Chloe had to wince as she saw the half-moon shapes she had accidentally cut into him.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, and his eyes opened. She wondered how he could look both exhausted and sharper than ever when she just felt sweaty and sticky. She also wondered how he could be so nonchalant about sex when it was so disconcerting to her.

Lex shook his head at the apology and tried not to be touched by the sweetness of it. She was a lovely girl, one of the few he had met. Money tended to drain the decency out of people. She was looking at him and he glanced away, down their groins. Her knees shifted a bit as she straightened up, then blushed. Sweetness again, and an innocence that would probably last her entire life.

Taking a deep, uncertain breath, Chloe reaffirmed her grip on the headboard and levered herself off his body, expecting the same soreness. It wasn’t entirely absent but it was very mild. There wasn’t any kind of strain because her inner muscles were giving way and letting his penis out.

She looked at his face and found his eyes on hers, watching as she pulled away. They seemed to be a different colour whenever she found the courage to meet them and at that moment they looked almost warm. Finally free of his body, she rolled off to one side of the bed and sat huddled up with her arms and legs wrapped into her chest.

Chloe knew she must be losing her sanity if Lex Luthor was starting to seem warm. He was the last person she could imagine liking in any way. He wasn’t the enemy but he was the son of the enemy and enough like Lionel that she should feel soiled in his presence. Her bottom lip trembled as she put her head down on her arms and shook.

He sat up gradually, flexing his arms discreetly. They were cramped badly and his hands were numb.

The little blond was hunched up and silent, but Lex took it to mean she was feeling awkward. He was just congratulating himself on getting her safely through another night that shouldn’t have to happen when she lost her composure.

He couldn’t tell if she was crying but she was clearly upset. He stood up to give her space, threw out the condom and pulled on his pants. He waited for a sign that she was hurt or one that she was calming down. He shivered in reaction when goosebumps prickled along her arms and wondered if she would allow him to put a blanket on her.

Endless minutes later she slid to the edge of the bed, avoided him in every way possible and walked quickly into the bathroom. The door closed and he heard the lock turn before she started the shower.

At a loss for what to do next, Lex turned off the CD player and walked out of the room.

[teejei]

wow. 2 in one day.

my muse certainly got its Lex-fix for the day.

[tiger04]

2, 2 wonderful updates in so close together. thank you thank you thank you!! hope the mood to write more hits you agian soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love all your stories nonky

AT

[Zannie]

Her body knew he had hurt her and it thought he should be making it up to her.

As well he should. And I do believe he's making a start.

I really like how Chloe is breaking through Lex's distance and defenses. At this point in the story, he has been touched by her sweetness, innocence, strength, courage, and beauty. I like his reluctance--actually resistance--about admitting it to himself; it seems to keep him in character with the alternate life experiences you've given him here. But he also seems almost baffled about what to do with this new kind of intimacy and responsibility, and I find his confusion--particularly at the end of this update when she's crying--rather endearing.

Chloe knew she must be losing her sanity if Lex Luthor was starting to seem warm. He was the last person she could imagine liking in any way. He wasn’t the enemy but he was the son of the enemy and enough like Lionel that she should feel soiled in his presence. Her bottom lip trembled as she put her head down on her arms and shook.

This is a flawless psychological reaction--perfectly in keeping with the likely emotional response of a woman in this situation, particularly a woman like Chloe. Just the fact that her reactions to him are making her cry at this point proves that Lex is starting to break through her barriers too. The detail of her not reacting negatively to his brushing his hand against her is another proof of it.

Oh, and I love that she apologized for gouging him with her nails, and I especially love that he was moved by her apology.

Great update. Thanks for making it so soon.

[Norah]

Wow! I just spent way too long reading this whole thing. It's really powerful and well written. I like how you've handled the hard subject matter, not making things better too quickly or easily. So often people try to deal with hard stuff and then make it all better too soon, just so they can get to the happy ending, without really dealing with the issues or making the characters change gradually the way real people do, so I'm glad to see how well you're handling this. I can't wait to read more.

[lexchloe]

Another excellent update. Loved the subtle hints of how they're both starting to affect eachother. I really love how realistically you're portraying the progression in their relationship. Can't wait for more.