Promise?Originally Posted by zelda
Promise?
Intense and intriguing and well ... I can't wait for more! Now that the past is out there... I say let the games begin. (hopefully, the touchy feely kind)
SaraC
This is twisted and sad and wrong... in the very best possible way. You're the first person I've ever seen acknowledge that there are rules to enmity as well as love. I haven't done anything this extreme, but there is one guy I still can't speak to in public. I guess everyone has had, at some point, that one person that makes them crazy in a less shiny happy sense than 'love - it makes you do the wacky'. But it's still a strong connection, maybe unbreakable. I really enjoy the depth and immediacy of your writing and the confessional aspect of telling Sheri, but doesn't that violate one of the rules? Or is it only 'Thou Shalt Tell No One... While It's Going On'? Looking forward to more!
this whole story is just mindblowing.
it's believable, the way you've set up their past, but it's mindblowing just the same.
definitely going to be on the lookout for updates.
A/N:Okay it's finals week and I'm sitting for state licensing exams so this might be it for a couple of days. Thanks for all the feedbackMorning came way to early for Chloe. She never slept very well when she drank a lot. Something about the alcohol in her system kept her from deep sleep. She just woke up feeling dehydrated and tired but unable to stay in bed any longer. She opened a bottle of water from the fridge and drank half the contents so fast that the chill made her teeth hurt. She ran her tongue over them and headed for the bathroom to brush the sticky, wooly feeling from them.
A slug of mouthwash later, she put on a pot of coffee and eyed Sheri’s sleeping form on her couch. While she waited for the coffee to brew she grabbed the paper from her doormat before one of her neighbors could steal it; then she took a quick shower, feeling a little fresher, but no more awake than when she’d opened her sticky eyes.
Sheri was stirring on the couch. Chloe deposited another bottle of water in front of her and a pair of yoga pants and long-sleeved jersey; workout clothes would be the only things to fit her friend. The tall, black woman was much leaner thanks to good genes and a strict exercise regime. Sheri mumbled something incoherent and headed into the bathroom with the water and clothing. Ten minutes later, she emerged with a towel on her head.
"I can’t believe how insensitive I was to you last night," Chloe said, putting a plate on her breakfast bar. "The whole plan was for me to be there for you, and I turned it into something all about me."
"Choe, the last thing I wanted was to dwell on that horrible train wreck of a marriage," Sheri said, accepting a Mickey Mouse-shaped pancake and a pile of fluffy eggs. "I think you managed the impossible. You made me completely forget about that philandering asshole, so don’t apologize." She reached for a coffee mug from the mug tree that sat on the counter. She pulled a second one for Chloe and started pouring coffee. She presented Chloe with the white mug that read: ‘I am master of my Domain’ and kept the one for herself that was black with red, gothic script. It read: ‘Virgins, the other white meat’. Chloe had been famous for her mug collection at the Daily Planet. She was infamous at McEvoy and McEvoy.
Chloe hopped on a stool opposite her friend and they ate in silence. Chloe cleared the dishes and Sheri cleaned up the living room.
"So what are you going to do now?" Chloe asked, as Sheri settled herself on the couch. "Have you thought about dating again?"
"I’ve thought about dating, but I won’t consider it for a little while. I can use the divorce as an excuse for a while. The truth is, I’ve been over Manny since the second I found out about the infidelity. The betrayal hurts, and the lies, but I just feel like I want to be selfish with my time." She cocked her lovely head to one side. "Know what I mean? I just don’t want to have to take another person into consideration every time I make plans. I just want a little break from that for now." She sighed and leaned back, sipping the last of her coffee. "That male escort service is still in operation, right?"
"I can make a few calls," Chloe said with a grin. "I’m sure they’ve got someone your style."
"Get me an Italian, I hear they’ve got big cocks." Chloe immediately experienced the intense pain and discomfort of passing coffee through the sinus passages. She wiped her face and watering eyes as she tried not to inhale any more of the hot beverage. She couldn’t however, stop laughing at the deadpan look on Sheri’s face.
"God, if you can keep a straight face like that all the time, no wonder you’re CEO."
"Gotta have a good poker face when you’re in this business."
"Well, if you change your mind about actually dating someone, I do have a friend at work who’s a pretty special guy." She grinned. "He’s got a great personality."
"Right, so how fat and bald is he?" They both laughed and Chloe assured her friend that the man in question, Sandino Rios, was quite attractive and charming. "I’ll think about it."
After Sheri left, Chloe turned on her computer and logged onto her office network. She was able to work from home sometimes. Since a lot of detective work didn’t require more than a high-speed connection. Of the few cases she was working on, one was a fairly simple skip trace that wouldn’t require too many of her abused brain cells.
Around noon, Chloe got hungry and ordered Chinese food. It was her traditional hangover fare and was usually followed by a nice nap. Once the alcohol was absorbed by grease, she could usually get some decent sleep. The delivery boy buzzed downstairs and she unlocked the door, fishing some cash out of her wallet. She went to the door when he knocked and glanced through the peephole. Yup, delivery guy.
"Hey, thanks," she said, reaching for the fragrant paper sack. She held out some cash to him but he waved it away.
"It’s on him," the young man said, jerking his thumb to a spot beside the door. Lex leaned into view. He’d been standing with his back against the wall beside her door, just out of her line of sight. He kept his shoulder and head rested on the wall and just pivoted his body around. The pose was deliberately sloppy and lazy. He eyed her fluffy bathrobe and slippers.
"You’re so fucking sexy I can’t stand it," he said, with a lascivious once-over with his eyes. "Beat it, kid, I’m making time with a lady." He handed the boy a hundred-dollar bill and the boy practically ran down the hallway. Chloe glared at him, still clutching the paper sack and her unused cash. Perking up, Lex stood up straight, leaving his affected laziness and smiled. "I just wanted to see how the other half handles a hangover."
"So go about a block down the street and buy the winos a cup of coffee." Chloe started to shut the door but he stuck his foot out to stop it.
"Ah ah," he said, shaking his head. "Unless you want to do this out here." Chloe sighed and turned away, walking back to the bar and setting down the sack containing her sustenance.
"Nice place you’ve got here, bigger than the last one." He looked over the hardwood floors, simple, yet feminine furnishings and lack of any miniature porcelain dolls. "At least you’re not a girl who collects Hummel figurines."
"Got a problem with them?"
"I dated a girl once who had several generations of them. I think I got knick knack poisoning from her."
Chloe wanted to laugh at him, he really was funny with his dry witty humor, but she reminded herself that she hated him.
Chloe pulled a plate down from the cupboard and tore open the bag, sitting down on one of the barstools. She pulled out her won ton soup and pu pu platter for two. She loved appetizers and always ordered enough for leftovers.
"What are you doing here?" Chloe asked, picking up her chopsticks. "Why the early morning ambush?"
"You know why I’m here."
"I know you plan to do your best to make an old habit feel new this time." She picked up a piece of pork from her friend rice. "It never does."
"Then why did you start this back up again?"
"I was in a self-destructive mood," she replied, blandly. Perhaps if she acted like the game didn’t interest her anymore, he’d go away.
She didn’t hear Lex move at first, she could see his reflection in her stainless steel fridge. A blurred, dark shape; one that stood still. Then he moved forward. She felt his breath first, it ruffled the now-dry strands of hair behind her ear. She forgot, sometimes, how tall he was. Not a giant among men, but at six feet, he was a good half-foot taller than she was.
"It’s been a long time since I’ve touched you." His voice was rougher than usual and Chloe wondered if she’d made a mistake in trying to intimidate him with indifference.
"It," she corrected. "A long time since you’ve touched ‘it’."
"It’s part of you," he said. She felt the warmth from his body through his clothes now. "I’m part of you." He placed his hands on either side of her. "Why do you make me do this? You could make it easy on yourself, you know." She felt the tip of his nose nuzzle her behind the ear. "Why did you come find me yesterday?" His lips brushed her skin and her nipples tightened involuntarily. "Why make me come to you like this?"
"You have a choice, Luthor, you always did." Her comment spoke to more than his arrival today. "I’m not making you do anything."
"I want to see it." Chloe sighed and pulled the front of her robe up so that the back could fall down but she could keep her breasts covered. "Why do we do this to each other?" His voice was whisper-soft and it tickled down her spine. It wasn’t the first time he’d used his mouth to touch her, but somehow, today was different. "Why do you allow a man who hates you to touch you so intimately?" He ran his moist lips down each letter, depositing a kiss on each one. Chloe counted until he reached the bottom.
"You’re done now." She jerked her robe back up and continued to eat.
"I’m just beginning."
"Why do you do it?" She asked, not turning around. "Why do you want to touch a woman you hate?"
Hands fell on her shoulders and fingers gently smoothed the robe. Then the hands moved around her ribcage and tightened, holding her still while he pressed up against her.
"We might hate each other, my dear," he said, pushing his hips against her bottom. "But I’d still like to fuck you."
Chloe could feel his erection through his pants and her robe. His mouth closed on her earlobe and she felt herself leaning back, involuntarily. Lex’s hands moved around to her front and pushed between her thighs, searching till he found bare skin.
"I don’t want you."
"Like Hell." Lex’s fingers found her and her arms wouldn’t move. He stroked her boldly, and unexpectedly, Chloe found herself responding quickly to him. He was moving against his hand and feeling his arms around her in a warm embrace. Her breath wasn’t coming fast enough and she felt like she was being smothered. She opened her mouth when she came, but wasn’t able to make a noise as she convulsed.
The fingers were gone; Chloe opened her eyes and pulled her face out of the sofa cushion. She stopped her hips from rubbing against the pillow she’d been laying on. A noise interrupted her and the tumbled, guiltily from the couch. It was the buzzer for downstairs. She pressed the button and her Chinese food was delivered…without incident.
Chloe ate a little but put most of her feast in the fridge, her appetite was gone and she was tired from her lack of sleep the previous night. The twenty-minute nap just hadn’t cut it. She changed into a sports bra and pajama bottoms and crawled into bed. She could work as late into the night as she needed to; the internet was always open but she needed rest before her brain took her on another unwanted detour into her darker subconscious.
Chloe stared at the ceiling and used some breathing exercises from her yoga class to try and relax. She needed to clear her mind and not think about Lex. Instead she thought back to the advice she’d had from group session with other young people suffering with grief. No two stories were the same, but they all shared a common bond, not just the grief, but guilt. Everyone felt responsible in some way for their situation. One young woman had begun cutting herself in order to feel physical pain instead of the emotional. She’d left a cigarette burning that had fallen into a trash can and turned into a blaze that killed her younger sister. When asked why she wanted the pain, she said, "I deserve it." Chloe knew how she felt.
Somehow, telling Sheri made Chloe feel better; perhaps breaking one of the rules was a step in the right direction. She didn’t want to think about her perverted dream about Lex. Fantasizing wasn’t a new thing for her, she’d only casually dated over the last two years and nothing serious had come from any of it. She rolled her eyes and laughed at her situation.
"God," she said out loud. "I’m so hard up that my body is taking drastic action without my brain getting in on it." She’d had erotic dreams before, but generally she didn’t pleasure herself in her sleep. "I need to get another vibrator…or a man." She’d thrown out her old vibrator when it had fallen from the top of her armoir and the motor had broken. It wasn’t exactly on her list of priorities so, deciding to forgo her nap, she hopped back on the internet and decided to look online for a likely replacement. She sighed at her lonely situation, a Friday afternoon spent looking for vibrators online.
It was raining again. Lex saw the droplets through the warm haze that cloaked him in dampness. She knelt in the grass, weeping. The grave was still covered in fresh earth, no sod had been lain yet. Chloe’s blonde hair was plastered to her face and neck, her mascara and eyeliner ran down her cheeks, making her eyes stand out, unnaturally green. She stood up and hugged herself, nearly bent double, her hands, dirty from burying her father.
"Please," he heard himself say. "Let me help."
"It’s too late for that. He’s already underground." Her voice was broken, cracked. She took off her jacket and wiped her hands with it, holding them out to let the rain wash away the filth. "It won’t wash away." She was angry and scrubbed at her arms, flinging the coat from her. She had the same, silk blouse on and now she smeared her dirty hands on it too. The dirt looked reddish brown, the color of dried blood.
The rain became cold and mixed with Chloe’s tears; Lex was drawn to her and held her arms.
"Let me help you, now."
"You can’t help me." She pushed away from him but he held fast. She began to push and fight him, but her feet couldn’t find purchase on the slippery ground. He clutched her to his chest and took her sobs into himself, feeling his own chest begin to heave. No, he didn’t want this pain. She clung to him, desperately and he clenched his fingers in the thin, wet silk. Such a small barrier between them. Something so thin that kept his hands from her skin, where she needed him. Where he needed to touch her.
Lex woke with a start. It was morning and he was still sitting in the armchair, looking out the window. He glanced at is watch, just after Six. He got up to take a shower and realized, to his dismay, that he was fully erect and rather uncomfortable. Deciding that the matter should be dealt with appropriately, he went into the bedroom.
Shelley, his girlfriend, slept soundly in his large bed. She’d gone to sleep before him and apparently hadn’t woken yet. He’d wake her with a little surprise.
Lex crawled over the top of the bed spread, unfastening his pants. He drew the sheets down to Shelley’s slim waist. She had light, ash brown hair, and gray eyes. She’d be plain without artful streaks in her hair and careful makeup. She also had a toned, athletic, and surgically altered body that was perfect for Lex’s purposes. As he lowered the sheet, he caught sight of something on her lower back. Being careful not to wake her, he leaned over and looked close in the dim light. It was a bite. A human bite, little more than a hickey, but it wasn’t in a place where Lex had touched her recently.
Loosing the urge to touch her, he took a shower instead, not needing cold water since the sight in his bed had taken the desire from him. He dried off and pulled on a bathrobe. His bathroom mirror was heated so it never fogged up; he looked at his reflection in the mirror eolhC, He only saw the name backwards or upside down which was fine with him; he doubted that she saw his name at all.
Lex traced the letters with a fingertip and remembered a time when Chloe had been feeling particularly mischievous and had carried around an iced latte for twenty minutes before catching him alone in a hallway. With a huge smile she’d demanded her pound of flesh and applied an icy hand to it, practically making him yelp. Her thumb had brushed his nipple and he was certain that he’d be able to cut glass with it. She’d grinned and scampered away, only to leave town to find a bail jumper for three weeks before he could exact his revenge.
Lex smiled as he remembered ambushing Chloe in her own office at work. He’d actually hidden behind a plant so that she wouldn’t see him until he could shut the door behind them. The look on her face had been well worth the wait when she’d seen him holding a plastic bag labeled "Chemical ice pack". Amonium nitrate and water, once mixed, produced a chemical reaction that made them extremely cold. His hand was almost numb but her hiss of discomfort made it worth it when he spread his fingers under her shirt on her warm skin. He chuckled to himself now. Those had been good times. Sick and twisted ones, but good nonetheless.
Chloe’s phone rang and she picked it up, seeing the words ‘private caller’ on her caller ID. If it was a sales person, she’d just hang up.
"Hello?"
"What’s the going rate these days?" She recognized Lex’s voice.
"You’d better be talking about my hourly rate for McEvoy and McEvoy." He chuckled softly.
"Why? Is there something else you charge money for?"
"What do you want, Luthor?"
"Such manners."
"I could make you contact me through the office. I don’t usually take calls initiating business at home. It’s against policy."
"You don’t moonlight?"
"Too much of a possibility of conflict of interest. What if a wife hires me and her husband is already a client of one of the other detectives? See how that might end up badly in court."
"I see. But if I wanted to hire you, I would need to go through your bosses first?"
"What’s the deal? I can consult without approval, but if I’m taking a job, I have to file protocol before any official action is taken. It’s in my contract."
"I see."
"So who do you want me to follow?"
"My girlfriend. She’s fucking someone else and I want to find out who. However, once you’ve discovered this person’s identity, I want it kept quiet."
"Why?"
"I have a reputation to uphold. If word gets out that my girlfriend is sneaking around on me, it looks bad. Sexist or not, if a man’s libido is in question, his business skills are right behind it."
"Why call me? You must have others on your payroll."
"I can’t trust them."
"And you trust me?" she scoffed. "Why?"
"You’re better than anyone at sniffing out bullshit, and besides, you hate me. You have no reason to sugarcoat the truth. And I want it all."
"I agree, but call my bosses in the morning to work out a fee. Then we’ll meet-"
"Today, I want to meet today. Can you tell your bosses that you’re schmoozing a client. I’m sure they’ll allow it."
"When and where?"
"Doc Proper’s. One hour, and wear some kind of disguise. I can’t have you recognized."
"Okay."
"Just like that?"
"I spy on people for a living, I use disguises all the time. Where will you be, I’ll come find you."
"As far to the back as I can get."
"See you there." Chloe broke the connection and chewed her lip thoughtfully. "It’s not personal," she said out loud. "It’s business."
Next...Chloe's big disguise.
very original! i can't wait for you to update!
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Wow. I love this story and I love how with every chapter it gets better and better. I read a chapter and think there is no way it can get any better and you always surprise me because it doesGreat job! I love the fact that Chloes fantasy was more sexual and Lexes was more emotional. I like to get into characters heads to find out what it is that they want. Thank you for allowing me to do that.
wonders what would it be....
great chapter. From what both their subconscious' have shown us Chloe and lex don't seem to hate eachother as much as they think they do. Very interesting, can't wait for the next one.
I tried to drown my sorrows, but the little buggers learned how to swim.
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Good luck on your exams!! You are so nice to post one more chapter before you have to take your tests!! Can't wait for your next update!!
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