Great update.
Great update.
Hi! Really enjoying this story, but I think I missed something. Was there a Chapter Five?
Thank-you and yes there was *blushes* I apparently forgot to post a bit. I am going to edit the chapter six post to include C5 at the beginning sorry.
I've been away for awhile and I'm just getting caught up, thank you for posting Chapter 5! I noticed that that this is the second story with a purple stuffed hippo. And I love love love Whose Line! I know you just posted, but when can we expect Chapter 7?![]()
Great update. I wish Clark wasn't part of it though. I really don't care for him. LOL!
"Everyone seems normal until you get to know them. "
i agree great update.can't wait to see what happens next.
Cbrunberg: Thank-you.
Hfce: Me neither, but who else is going to drive her around and make her furniture? How is the job hunt going?
Skyblue78: Is it? Which other one had a puprle hippo in it? Me too, best show ever! Do you like Would I Lie To You? Here it is!
Trinna: Thank-you.
Chapter Seven
“Chloe”, Lana called as she entered her apartment, her voice muffled from behind the stack of boxes that she was carrying. “Chloe, are you home?” She asked again, juggling the heavy boxes only to find them removed from her grip with apparent ease.
“Oh, I see you are, thanks, hey I was going to”, she broke off as her helper stepped away and she realised that it wasn’t Chloe. “Chloe?” She looked around for signs of her room mate and an explanation but just saw her apartment, the way that she had left it, except for the male legs behind a set of boxes.
“She’s in the bathroom”, a voice she knew all too well explained, “she wanted to brush her teeth, too much sugar”.
“Lex”, Lana said nervously, “I didn’t know that you were here”, she took one of the boxes off the top and went to place it on the counter, anxious not to have to look him in the face, he followed her and did likewise.
“Chloe invited me up”, he stated, a little more coolly than she was used to.
“Right, you two have more work to do?”
“No”, his face remained neutral but there was just the hint of an edge of a bite to his voice as he spoke, “it was a social call”.
“Oh, how nice”, she turned away from him and moved around to the other side of the kitchen island, trying to put some space between them.
He didn’t follow her, he just stayed where he was watching as she moved around clearly wishing to avoid his gaze, at another time he might have obliged her, either that or pressed his suite, but strangely he wasn’t in the mood to do either. Something else was on his mind. “Chloe was telling me how much she likes living here and how grateful she is to you”.
“It was nothing, I don’t mind being a little cramped when one of my friends is in need”, she focused her attention on him, blushing a little from the compliment.
“Right, that is very kind of you”, he smiled and she returned the expression. “Especially considering how low she said the rent was”.
Lana’s smile faltered just a little. “It sounds like you really got into some details. I didn’t know that you two were friends, I thought that you were always closer with Clark and”, she looked up at him almost shyly, “me”.
He inclined his head, “We’re not friends, we just work together and I was giving her a lift home and as for you and Clark well, you know how things stand on that front”.
“Lex, I never ...” She reached out her hand across the counter-top but he held his up, to indicate that she could stop.
“This has nothing to do with us, I am merely concerned”.
“About Chloe?” She sounded mildly put out.
“About both of you”, his face softened.
“Lex”, she whispered.
“I know that we have not always got along, that we have had our problems”, she made to deny it but he raised his finger to her lips, “but that is not why I’m here”, he stroked the pad of his thumb down her cheek. “I just want you to know that you were will always be special to me, you and Clark and, well, everyone here in Smallville who ever gave me a chance even if it was for a very short time”.
She didn’t know what to say.
“And I want you to know that I would never try to hurt you”.
“I know”, she said softly.
“So, if there is anything wrong you can come to me”, he said in a voice which was almost a whisper.
She smiled at him, an expression which had brought hundreds of men to their knees. An expression that dropped so abruptly, when next he spoke, that it was almost comical.
“Clearly there has been some problems between you and one of my managers, because I wasn’t aware that you were paying me any rent”, his tone was still soft, almost tender.
She swallowed. “Well, it isn’t much. I didn’t think that you needed to be bothered with it”, she murmured, nervously.
“It is enough, I don’t like to be out of the loop. So tell me Lana”, he leant in, “who is it exactly that you have being paying all of this time?”
“Um ...” She searched her brain, “Does it matter?”
“Yes, I think it does”, his voice was like silk and he continued to cup her face, a warm gentle gesture, “I like to know everything about my business and you have been being taken advantage of all of this time. Who told you that you had to pay rent? I know that I certainly didn’t”.
“Um, no”, she agreed, “you didn’t, but you see that isn’t fair. When I started living here I looked at the rent from other places and paid you that”.
He almost left out of a tiny huff of derision, there was no way that she had looked at comparable properties, if she had, she would have been ‘paying him’ far more. “Who did you give the cheque too?”
“The cheque?” She racked her brains.
“Yes, the cheque. I don’t imagine that you paid such a large sum of money in cash, that would not be wise at all”, he stroked her cheek.
Lana just stared at him, like a deer caught in the headlights.
“It doesn’t matter”, he said kindly, “maybe he was using a fake name. Just describe him to me, never mind actually”, he apparently thought better of it, “I can trace the transactions from your bank accounts”.
“No, I didn’t pay by cheque, I paid in cash every month and ...” she paused.
He regarded her expectantly.
“I didn’t pay it to anyone directly. I just put the money in an envelop and pushed it through the mail shoot in LuthorCorp”, she explained.
He didn’t look angry, but he didn’t bother to hide his incredulity either.
“Oops”.
Both of their heads turned.
Chloe covered her eyes and retreated into the bathroom, “Don’t mind me, I’ll just be going back in here and ...”
“It’s fine Chloe”, Lex called out laughing, “I promise you that we are not going to starting having sex on the kitchen counter”.
“I should hope not indeed, most unsanitary”, she joked, coming into the room and examining them both.
“I should probably get going”, Lex said, a little regretfully.
“Don’t let me chase you off”, she really hoped that she hadn’t just ruined his night.
“You didn’t, I just have some stuff to do.Thanks for the dinner, I’ll have to return the favour sometime. See you tomorrow”, he said, realising only then that he didn’t really know how to take his leave of her. Chloe had moved, it looked like to hug him - he knew that she did that with everyone - but had then pulled back and waved.
“Bye”.
“Bye”, he returned the wave, and then turned to Lana, “Good evening Lana”.
The girls watched him leave and as the door closed Chloe turned to Lana, about to apologise for interrupting the two of them when Lana pinned her with a concerned look. “Chloe, I think that we need to talk”.
Chloe was still thinking about that ‘talk’ when she arrived at work the following morning. Lana had been kind and sweet as always but had made it very clear that she and Lex had “had a moment” a while ago and that she thought that he was still in love with her.
It didn’t bother Chloe that her boss was in love with Lana - as the brunette seemed to think that it would -, he was attractive but she wasn’t attracted to him but she didn’t like to think that he might be trying to exploit her to get closer to Lana. She didn’t like the idea that he was using her. She wanted to be strong, to throw his job back in his face and yet the following day she found herself going to work.
Ultimately she was weak. Security won out over everything else. So she got into the Luthor car which had come to pick her up and went to work in the castle throwing herself head first into boxes of papers.
“Really there is no reason for me to feel uncomfortable”, she said to herself, “just because Lana is my friend, gave me a place to live and I am betraying her by being here ... I should just go and tell Lex that I can’t remain in this job. Oh!” Her eye caught a particularly juicy document and everything else went out of her head.
At five o’clock she was still hungrily pursuing her lead when there was a soft knock at the door she jumped, sending the papers she was rifling through up into the air.
She turned accusing eyes on her interrupter.
“Sorry”, Lex chuckled ruefully as he strode in and crouched down next to her and began to pick up the papers which clearly were not supposed to be scattered across the floor and handed them back to her, “I really didn’t mean to give you a fright”.
“That’s all right, thanks”, she said, he was her boss after all.
“I take it that you were very involved”, he said as he watched her quickly sorting through the papers he had returned to her.
“Yeah, what gave it away?” She wondered.
“Well, one you jumped out of your skin at the slightest noise, two the lunch Baxter left you is still over there uneaten, three you don’t appear to have noticed that it is five”.
Her head snapped up at that, to stare at the clock. Wow, he was right.
She heard him laugh, “And, that would be six”, her stomach let out an embarrassingly loud rumble.
“Yeah, well, I was in the middle of something”.
“So I see”, he rose to his feet and extended his hand to help her do the same, but Chloe seemed not to notice it as she got up by herself and placed the small pile of papers back in the top of one of the boxes. “Are you all right?” He wondered.
“Yes, of course”, she said, perfectly pleasantly as she turned back to look at him. “Why do you ask?”
“No reason”, he stared at her hard, “you just seem a little off today”.
“Oh, sorry”, she shook her head, “probably a little out of it”.
Her stomach growled angrily again.
“That might explain it”, he teased, “Got any plans for tonight?”
“I don’t think so”, she thought about it, “I was going to do a bit more work but that’s pretty much it. Clark and I are going to get together tomorrow afternoon to hang out”.
“Right, although you know you don’t need to work overtime”, he informed her, “anyway come on”.
“Where are we going?” She wondered, allowing herself to guided along by him. He was her boss after all.
“The kitchen, before your stomach attracts attention from the local media”, he joked.
“You know, a gentleman would ignore it”, she pointed out.
“Noted”, he opened the door for her.
Chloe found herself in the middle of a large, extremely well appointed, chef’s kitchen. It was a combination of something you would see in a restaurant all marble and steel, and odd reminders that they were still inside a castle. She wasn’t that surprised by the design and layout, it was pretty much what she had imagined - or would have imagined had she ever given Lex Luthor’s kitchen arrangements any thought - but there was one thing that seemed clearly wrong in a billionaire’s castle.
“It’s empty”, she pointed out.
“Yes, yes it is”, he smiled over at her, “I don’t actual require that an entire staff remains tied to the stove just in case I get hungry, I can call them if need be but I thought that I could probably scrounge up some sort of snack”.
“Well you see now I’m just disappointed”, she teased, “I wanted to see the Oompa-Loompas”.
He shook his head with a smile before turning and looking in the fridge which was about the size of her new bed.
Chloe couldn’t help but notice that, for all his faults, he did possess a very nice ass. This realisation brought back the absurdity of her situation and once again she was amazed by the fact that he ever managed to make her forget it. Lana’s words started to creak back inside her head.
“You like sandwiches, right?” He was certain that he had seen her devour one at some point.
“Sure, you know that you don’t actually have to feed me though”, she reminded him. They weren’t friends they were just ... employer and employee.
“Nonsense”, Lex declared coming back out armed with loads of food.
Not sure what else to do, she took the items which looked like they could topple out of his arms and placed them on the counter and then followed him as he beckoned her into what turned out to be the pantry. “Seriously?”
“What?”
“This place is bigger than my childhood home”, she gaped.
“I suppose that it is rather big”, he looked around, “great for treats though”.
“You eat treats?” She doubted it from the looks of him. He probably followed one of those diets with ratios and all of that junk. He and Lana would be perfect for each other in that regard.
“Yes, I eat treats ... Sometimes. Okay, generally I don’t but you do so here we are”, he started hunting.
“Honestly Lex, I guarantee you that employers are not required to feed their workers”.
“I’ll do it anyway”, he continued to look around. “Ah ha”. Chocolates and sweeties. Chloe surreptitiously moved her hand in front of her mouth to check for drool, nope she was all right. Or she was until she noticed Lex’s eyes flick back to the front and the tension in his shoulders which indicated that he was trying not to laugh. She continued to look straight ahead, as if nothing was bothering her. Honestly, how was a girl supposed to be around all of that chocolate and not have a reaction?
“Anything in particular you want?” Lex asked.
She studied the packets carefully only to discover that he didn’t have any milk chocolate. “No, I don’t really like dark chocolate”, even organic perfect stuff. She liked junk. “Too healthy”.
“I’ll get ones I think that you will like then”, he grabbed a few packets and led her back out to the kitchen where he promptly started making huge sandwiches.
“Can I help?” She inquired politely, reaching for one of the knives.
“No”, he removed the utensil from her grip, and reminded her, “you are a guest”.
“A minute ago I was an employee”.
“You have multiple personalities”, he informed her as he worked deftly and then, “Here we go”. He placed an enormous Clark sized sandwich in front of her along with a drink, moving the chocolates away, “those are for afterwards”.
“Meanie”, she pouted.
“Do you want to eat here”, he indicated to the breakfast bar, “or ...?”
“Here is fine”, she smiled and thanked him for the sandwich before examining it carefully wondering how one attempted to consume it with finesse. It was about four times as large as the opening of her mouth.
Lex grabbed his with two hands and tucked in. Well, that answered that question.
She dug in herself, Lex Luthor made a great sandwich. Much better than subway. It wasn’t until the first bite that she realised just how hungry she had been and the herculean portion which she had thought was impossible was soon merely crumbs on the plate. When she looked up and found Lex looking at her, a smile playing around his lips.
“I was hungry”, she defended herself.
“So I see”, he smirked. “Want another sandwich?”
“Oh God no!” She blushed, “I mean. No, thank-you Lex, it was delicious but I am not stuffed”.
“So, you are ready for something sweet now?” He was getting used to her routine.
She shot him a scathing look.
“I’ll take that as a yes”, he grinned and began to break the chocolates up. “Come on, be a big girl and try it. I promise that you will like it”.
“That’s okay Lex, honestly the packaging looks lovely but I don’t really like dark chocolate”, she demurred.
“Come on”, he coaxed.
“Lex”, she shook her head, “No”.
“Come on, be a big brave girl. Come on, open up”, he took a piece and brought it to her lips.
“Lex, I ...”
And in the morsel popped.
She was outraged. She was disgusted. She was going to give him a piece of her mind. The taste settled on her tongue. She moaned.
“See, I told you that it was good”, he smirked as he sat back, eating a piece himself. It really was good, although failed to have the same orgasmic effect on him as it did on her. Something about the endorphins he believed. If everything else fell through - not that Lex would allow that to happen - she could make millions advertising chocolate. He watched with a scientists attention to detail as her eyes fluttered closed and her head rolled back slightly, although moan escaping her followed by a breathless sigh.
“You are sure that you like it?” He asked, not without humour.
“Yeah, it’s so good”, she groaned, then opened her eyes and grinned voraciously, “so what other types do you have?”
“Loads”, he studied the collection and then made his selection. It was a deep, burnt orange package with ornate gold writing, “90% Venezuelan with orange is one of the most delicious, but”, he teased her, “it might be a little intense for you”.
“No, not too intense”, she stretched her hand out to him greedily.
“Well, we will just have to see about that”, he broke off a piece and was about to feed her again only to reconsiderer and place it in her outstretch hands and watch her gobble it down before taking some himself.
Taking advantage of peaceful, sensual look on her face he asked, “So, are you going to tell me the truth now?”
“Hmm?” She looked over at him in sated confusion.
“Earlier, you said that nothing was wrong when that obviously wasn’t the case. You want to tell me about it?”
“Oh”, she was the worst person in the world. The thread of a good mystery and close proximity to Lex and she forgot about all of the things which had been on her mind until then.
“Oh”, he repeated the word and she knew that she had been caught out, she couldn't deny it.
“I just ...” she sought for the words, “had a couple of things on my mind”.
He nodded thoughtfully. “Anything that I can help with?”
She looked down at her hands for a second, then back up at him. “Why did you hire me Lex?”
He frowned at her, the chocolate turning to ashes in his mouth. “I explained that to you before”.
“Yes”, she conceded, “but ... it just feels strange”.
He nodded mechanically, as if he understood even though she didn’t see how he possibly could. His teeth clamped together and she could see his jaw working and she thought that he was trying to fight back the urge to swear at her. She studied him intently, watching for the tiniest flicker of emotion before he ground out, “Because I wanted to. Isn’t that a good enough reason?”
“No, not really. I mean, you say that you have this project which is worth so much money, yet you put it on hold because there wasn’t anyone that you could trust, then you find and give it to me even though you don’t even know me that well. Then you are really nice to me and I’m just wondering why”, she babbled. “I mean, we aren’t friends”.
“You like make things hard on yourself, don’t you?” He sounded more than a little irritated.
“I don’t like getting things that I haven’t earned and I don’t like taking advantage of people. So why Lex?”
He sighed and ran his hand over the top of his head. “I don’t know”.
She placed both hands on the side as if she were about to push back from it and leave.
“No”, he snapped placing his hands over hers to keep her in place, before he realised that he had no right or reason to do that. “Nothing is going to get resolved by your storming out”.
She had to concede this point and remained seated.
Once he realised that she wasn’t about to flee, Lex rested his elbows on the and let out a sigh. Finally he admitted, “I could come up with a reason. A lot of reasons, actually. I could flatter you and make you believe that you were the only person in the world who could do this job”.
She gave him a look which clearly stated that she wasn’t that gullible.
“Believe me, I could”. He had a gift, he could turn it on and off and worked on everyone. “But the answer is that I just don’t know. I did put that project on hold because I couldn’t think of a single person trust worthy and skilled enough to do the job. Actually, I couldn’t even find someone trusted enough to look for someone to do the job. Then I came across you”.
“And immediately thought, why don’t I give her a swanky job?” She asked with a derisive snort.
“Pretty much”.
There is was. Calm. Cold. Matter of fact. He had done it, just because he had done it.
“I don’t mean that from a place of pity. I met you, I have known you before, I thought that it was strange that you were without a job so I researched you. You know how I am with mysteries. You are the same way”.
She couldn't deny it.
“I was impressed. To be perfectly candid, had I not known you I still probably wouldn’t give you the job that I did, although I would have always found place for you in the company”. He didn’t know what he was saying, or why exactly. None of this really made sense. “You’re good at what you do”.
“If I hadn’t been, you wouldn’t have employed me?” She checked.
He knew what she wanted to hear. That if she had been useless he wouldn’t have found a use for her. It would have been easy, but for some reason, he just couldn't. “No, I would still have found a job for you”, he admitted, “it would have just been one where you wouldn’t have been able to cause any trouble”.
“Why?”
“Because, it would be stupid to put someone incompetent anywhere else”.
“I mean”, she stooped to explaining, “why would you go out of your way to help me?”
“For God’s sake Chloe”, he groaned, this woman was far more trouble than she was worth. “I don’t know. Maybe because I am not a completely heartless bastard who enjoys watching people suffer? Because I have the power to help and to take this enormous burden off the shoulders of someone I knew so I did. Is it really so impossible that I just wanted to do it?”
Chloe couldn’t say anything to that.
Lex misconstrued her silence and felt compelled to continue, “I know that we aren’t friends, I didn’t think about it that much I just did what seemed natural. And”, a note of accusation crept into his tone, “you invited me up for dinner, you acted as if you liked me, were you being deceitful?”
“No, of course not”, she looked horrified. “How can you say such a thing?”
“How can I say such a thing? Isn’t that what you just said?” He demanded.
“No, well I supposed, but it’s completely different!”
“That’s right”, he snapped, “I was born into privilege so you can say anything you want, do anything you want to me, treat me like shit, doubt my motives but God forbid anyone suggest that you might have an ulterior motive. You are hardly perfect”.
“I never said that I was perfect”, she argued but he continued, steam rolling over her like a train, “You spied on Clark just as much as a I did. You kept just as many secrets as I did. You couldn’t stand Lana for years yet all is forgiven when it comes to saint Chloe but no, I must be bad because I tried to run a business and investigated into a friend who I knew was lying to me”.
She knew that there was truth behind his words but she would be damned if she would be spoken to like that, “I earned his trust back”.
“You can’t earn trust back. Once you have broken it, it is gone. You got given it back simply because you are cute and blonde and are poor”, he sneered.
“I am not poor!” She jumped to her feet. She wasn’t naturally a blonde either, but that was beside the point.
“Sure you are”, he wasn’t going to be polite about her and her father’s financial situation after she had treated him and his motives with so little respect.
“Fine”, she crossed her arms, “you have all of the money I get along better with people. Are you saying that you don’t miss being friends with Clark?”
“No, I’m not saying that”, he said slowly.
“And are you saying that you don’t want them back in your life?” She demanded.
“No, I’m not saying that either”, he said through gritted teeth. Barely keeping his temper in check.
“And there is no possible way that by employing me you are getting closer to them?” She challenged.
“Fuck you”. He got to his feet and made to storm out.
“Lex”, she called out, and although seething he turned around, “The other night. Did you have something to pick up from Lana?”
He strode back over to her, grabbed the packet of chocolate, shoved it into her hand and answered, “Have a good night Chloe. The chauffeur will take you wherever you need to go”.
A/N: Don't hate me.So, who was in the right? Who was in the wrong?
I am on Lex's side. He can never win.
I am still looking for work.![]()
"Everyone seems normal until you get to know them. "
Where did my two new posts go? Is this one showing up?
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