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.
I’m posting in very short chapters so readers can choose when enough is enough for them. I know I’m leaving heinous cliffhangers, but I’m posting literally as soon as I get each chapter finished. Faster writing just isn’t going to happen with such an emotionally grueling piece, especially since I’m dealing with the psyches of two Luthors and a Chloe. However, there will be the concluding chapter of Chloe’s second night with Lex up later tonight.
Also, I’m fairly certain I’m not worthy of my own adjective, but thank you for the kind reviews and for sticking with an unconventional story.
Chapter 12
Green eyes blinked out from blond silk and Lex stayed very still. He could see that for the first time she was listening to him, and impatience would ruin his progress.
“I don’t know what you mean,” she said shyly.
Lex nodded gently.
“I know, but I’ll show you. I just need you to answer three questions first.”
Chloe didn’t know how he had done it, but she was calmer and intrigued. She knew the old sayings about the price of curiousity and the fear was still present. Being in her underwear was uncomfortable and she wanted to wake up and find herself in a simpler life where she knew what would happen the next day.
When will I be able to turn my back on knowing, she thought.
But she had to admit to her fascination. Lex Luthor was a different man than she had expected.
Her pout was rather cute and Lex sat back on his heels to watch her face like a movie. It was very expressive and open despite the tension in her limbs.
“What questions?”
“Do you feel physically okay to have sex?”
She was sick to her stomach and feverish, but the pain hadn’t lasted long and the soreness had been gone when she woke up that morning. Chloe nodded.
“Is there any other man who you would prefer to help with this aspect of the arrangement?”
Clark, her broken heart screamed.
“No.”
Her answer wasn’t quite convincing with the hard nibble she had given her lip after she said it, but Lex had to trust Chloe to be honest or nothing they said would get them anywhere.
“Do you believe you can have power over me like I had over you?”
Chloe balked at being able to force someone, but she looked carefully at the man sitting on the floor at her feet. She believed he could share his, and it seemed like that power could command the seas.
So she nodded again.
Lex climbed to his feet, deliberately avoiding even the slightest brush against Chloe.
“I’ll wait for you in the bedroom at the end of the hall,” he said. “Take your time.”
She watched as a rich, gorgeous billionaire turned gracefully, stuck his hands into his pants pockets and walked out of the room to wait for her attention. Her mouth went dry and it wasn’t entirely from fear.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lex refused to look at the door of the former guest room as he went to his own bedroom. He thought superstitiously that perhaps if he didn’t think about the other night it might be easier for Chloe to avoid thinking about it. He wondered how long it would take before she would be able to follow him, and although he had no intention of undressing he did take off his belt and shoes.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he tried to interpret the look in her eyes. It was astonishment and something else. He needed to know more about her before he could begin to guess, but his version of getting to know someone went more like a research project than a social situation. It often didn’t give enough information about a person’s character.
Her school records showed her to be a towering intellect compared to most of the small town kids who were her classmates. The online version of the newspaper was impressively designed and her articles were on par with any he’d read in The Daily Planet. She had made good use of her devil’s bargain, and the clippings from the city newspaper were excellent for a cub reporter. If he could preserve the future that awaited her, Chloe Sullivan would be a very successful woman in any career.
She was already beautiful, but he was willing to bet she would outgrow the lingering gauche hints of her youth. Her childhood had been spent in Metropolis, which meant she had a foothold in the two sides of Kansas and an insight to the simple and the complex. Like Lex, her mother was absent, but Gabe Sullivan had a better track record as a father than Lionel. Every dentist and doctor’s appointment had been scheduled after the recommended period of time had elapsed and every appointment had been attended by both father and daughter.
Every comment Lex encountered in the documents was positive. She was well-liked, energetic and tolerant of others. Summer jobs in Smallville had shown her to be a responsible worker who was good with people. Her only major failing was her lack of patience as it had been noted by a tenth grade guidance counselor.
He wondered if she would ever become confident enough around him to be impatient, and hoped it would happen.
Lex looked at the clock.
Twenty minutes, he thought. Hard won patience tainted by human sacrifice.
He sat back against the headboard and wondered if there had ever been a time when he had held a fraction of the innocence she still possessed.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Chloe had never been one of those people who went to a horror movie and covered her face at the scary parts. She often skipped to the end of a novel if she thought she had figured out the ending. Pandora’s box was her favourite myth and Woodward and Bernstein were her second and third favourite journalists after Nelly Blye, the first woman investigative reporter.
Simply put, she couldn’t leave well enough alone.
Lex had given her an irresistible challenge by presenting something as possible and offering to prove it. His words had evoked a number of mental pictures and a flurry of questions she wanted answered.
Why did he have to stop me? I could have gone the entire night without thinking at all if he’d just cooperated.
Her plan had been to walk into the apartment, get naked and fucked, then leave. She wasn’t interested in Lex or his rumoured sexual talents, nor was she interested in being tutored in those skills. The Luthor charisma wasn’t something that worked on her anymore. At the moment she had no inclination to explore her sexual nature for years at least.
But if she continued on with the only experience of sex a violent act she was afraid no man would ever be able to get her off. Even if it wasn’t Clark, Chloe held out hope of a future and someone to share it with. She didn’t know about children but it was a possibility she wanted to have at her disposal. Her feelings toward all those hopes were fading away and maybe dying, and it made her sadder than watching her secret love fawn over another girl.
She sighed out loud in the empty room and tried to focus on a rational decision, and when it finally arrived she sighed again.
The heavy door pushed inward with the first hesitant brush of her fingers, and Chloe was committed as soon as blue eyes latched on to her. She stepped inside and closed the door, shrugging her shoulders petulantly.
“What are the rules?”
Lex took in the combative posture she was giving him and preferred it to the wounded slouch he had last seen her tucked into. He swung his legs off the bed and knelt on the floor as she gasped.
“That’s for you to decide,” he said, lacing his fingers behind his neck.
Handcuffs wouldn’t make her any more at ease.
“I don’t know,” Chloe said, and he could hear frustration and confusion in the shrill tone. “You told me that you’d show me.”
“I will if you ask me.”
She frowned over the cryptic response and looked down. She felt naked, tired, frightened and underpinning it all was the damnable curiousity. It took the place of the bravery she didn’t have and made her walk up to the bed to stand a few feet from Lex.
“Show me.”
He didn’t make her say it louder and she was grateful. It wasn’t something she could say more than once. Lex nodded slowly and she found herself looking down at him and watching his lips move as he spoke.
“I’m your slave. You tell me what to do and I’ll do it. No hands and nothing you don’t want,” Lex said.
He shifted on his knees and leaned forward to put his face closer to her, and her twisting fingers were only inches away from his face.
“Can I use my hands, though?”
There was no way she could avoid it because Chloe knew her body wouldn’t believe her mind’s placating reasoning. Self preservation didn’t overrule the immediacy of adrenaline and she wanted to be able to push him away.
He nodded. “You do whatever you want, but I’d appreciate it if you would let me use my mouth to make you cum. I want to make amends.”
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