Hmm, this gets better and better!
Hmm, this gets better and better!
Thank-you for reading and reviewing.
skyblue78: Ah distraction via seduction, that would have been a good idea. Why didn't Lex and I think of that?
malugargula: Oh, I am sure that Chloe won't forget.
TrinityR: Glad to hear it, I was a little worried about that bit and not making Chloe seem too weak.
justicea: I feel the same way about so many nice reviews.
xmag: I'm happy to hear that you liked it.
Last edited by HotCrossedBunny; 1st January 2013 at 23:05.
*Part Three*
The icy wind that whipped around her was so piercing that Chloe was almost grateful for the protection and warmth that Lex’s arm afforded her, draped around her shoulders as it was. Almost being the operative word as her natural instinct was still to try to bolt, the only thing that kept her from making the attempt was the warning squeeze Lex gave her, letting her know that there was no real way of escape. If she tried to run, she wouldn’t get more than a few meters before being unceremoniously dragged back and she was determined to keep what little remained of her dignity intact.
“Get in”, Lex ordered as he held open the door for her; with ill grace Chloe acquiesced. She automatically began to scoot over to make room for Lex only to find that he had slammed the door shut and locked it.
She tried the door and finding that there was no way of unlocking it from the inside, settled back into her seat and looked around the interior, she had not been in a limo since her aunt’s funeral and even then she didn’t think that it had been as nice as this one. She could just hear Lex’s footsteps as he moved around to the other side of the car and she leapt into action. Chloe slipped her phone out of her purse and down her bra, if she knew Lex the first thing that he wanted would be the recording. She was fairly certain that he knew what she had been up to during that meeting.
Her heart raced as she saw the door on the other side of the car opening and Lex slipping into the backseat. His back was to her as he gave some more orders to the driver, and Chloe tried to compose herself, she had no idea how she was going to get out of this. Would he tell her Dad? Where was he taking her? She glanced at her watch again, she only had 20 minutes to get back before Lois.
Scenarios played about in Chloe’s head. She could play dumb, deny that her name was Chloe, try to convince him that she was her own cousin … with a fake ID that quite clearly said that her name was Lana Kent. No, that wouldn’t work. Maybe she could convince him that it had all been a ploy to meet him as he has suggested to his ‘friends’, that would probably embarrass him so much that he would back down. Oh no, now she was going crazy. There was no way that she could embarrass Lex. He would probably think her a stupid, insignificant little high school girl who had wanted to party in the VIP section, he didn’t know that she was on a mission after all.
She sighed, just as she had been getting closer to Lex she would be put back again. She had hoped that after she had helped him put his father in jail and proved herself to be brave that maybe he could start respect her. She knew that he would never look at her the way that he looked at Lana, and they would probably never be friends but she had at least hoped that he would look on her as something more than Clark’s annoying high school friend. Well, there was no hope for that now. He was going to think of her as a slut, and a stupid one to boot. Deciding that whatever happened, she was going to face it head on she looked directly at Lex as he turned to her.
“Hand it over Chloe”, Lex told her calmly.
“Hand what over?” She asked looking extremely innocent.
“Save that look for Clark, it’s not going to work on me”, Lex informed her reaching over and plucking her purse from her grasp.
Reluctantly, Chloe allowed him to have it. It did not seem as though she really had any choice, besides, at least her recording was safe.
Lex didn’t say a word to her as went through her purse, before turning back to her. “We will discuss this later”, he informed her, holding up her fake idea and slipping it into his pocket.
“Hey, that’s mine. That’s stealing”, Chloe exclaimed. She had paid a bloody fortune for that ID.
“Fine, call the police”, he challenged, “then give me your phone”.
Chloe rolled her eyes at the police comment, she guessed that that was her ID gone for good then, unless she could get into the mansion undetected …
“The phone Chloe”.
“My phone?” This time she opted for a purely blank expression.
“That expression won’t work on me either”, Lex informed her placidly as they sped along in the limo. He stretched out, appearing to have all of the time in the world. He would get what he wanted, however long it took, besides it was better not to look at her too often. Not because of her beauty, he could deal with that. What made him almost lose his control were the faint marks on her arms that the brute had left. He wanted to hold her and comfort her, but if he showed her how much he cared then he would be lost. Steeling himself, he turned his head towards her again and fixed her with a piercing look that had cowed grown men before.
“It should be in my purse, if it isn’t there then I have no idea where it could be”, Chloe could only just meet his eyes. She knew that Lex had a temper and was a little worried what he might do next, she had not expected him to burst out laughing.
“God you have been dealing with high school boys for far too long if you think that anyone will fall for that”, he said. Chloe looked annoyed, but not like she was in even close to giving in. He would have to change tactic.
Lex appeared to be thinking deeply for a minute before saying, “In fact, maybe you don’t want me to fall for that. Maybe you want me to come up with ideas where it might be”.
Chloe gapped at him. He couldn’t really think that she wanted that could he? Sensing his advantage, he pressed it. Lex slid over to her and placed his hand on her leg. In terms of business it was the right move to make, you didn’t show compassion, and she needed to learn her lesson.
In response, she backed up shaking her head.
Lex breathed a sigh of relief; she had retreated, she had learnt her lesson so there was no need for him to take this any further. The slightly panicked look on her face did not sit well with him and he looked the other way, hoping that the blackness of the windows would give him a moment to think. He should back off, if he had scared her then that was enough, that would keep her safe in future and she would give him the phone. She was smirking. He could see her damned reflection in the window and she was bloody smirking. Even now she thought that she could out manoeuvre him. Emotions raged within him; he was so thankful that she was not truly frightened of him and that he got to see the rebellious spirit which he so admired, but he knew that he could not let her win this time.
He advanced on her, he dragged her away from the door so that the only way that she could avoid him was to lean back. In a second he was on top of her, the weight from his body rendering her legs almost useless and both of her wrists were pinned above her head in one of his hands.
Lex was sitting up, looking down at her. He wanted the reality of her situation to fully sink in. She was completely at his mercy, and he was going to get what he wanted from her.
“If you have any desire to procreate then I suggest that you get off me”, Chloe threatened him, manoeuvring herself slightly so that her knee was very close to his crotch, it was a trick that Lois had taught her although truth be told, she had always scoffed at the idea that she could ever land herself in such a ludicrous situation.
“Don’t make threats that you have no intention of carrying out”, Lex warned her as he learnt down close to her. She could feel his hot breath on his face and neck. But more to the point she could feel the hand which wasn’t restraining her grazing her thigh. The bastard, he was so confident that she wouldn’t hurt him.
She tried to move her leg more, she wouldn’t knee him unless she absolutely had too but another few inches and he would no doubt see sense, that was when she realised that she was held far faster than she had first though. Lex was straddling her too far up her legs for her to actually make good on her threat. She tested his hold on her wrists, it did not hurt, but she found it to be far more effective than she had first thought.
The realisation that she was indeed completely trapped must have shown on her face, judging by the look of triumph on Lex’s, as his hand continued its course until it came across the bulge in her skirt and pulled out the container.
Lex could have cried with relief; he had what he wanted – he assumed that the box contained the phone - and Chloe appeared to have learned her lesson.
“I have no intention of hurting you Chloe, that does not however mean that others don’t. But that’s something that we will discuss later, the first thing is to make sure that that recording is deleted”, he let her go and retreated to his side of the car. It would be far easier to think clearly if he could not smell her scent but unfortunately he found that it lingered. It was a soft, fresh, soapy smell which he found rather appealing but which didn’t help much when he was trying to make a point.
Opening the container he scowled, “I know that this is not what I think it is”.
“Well, I suppose that that depends on what you think it is”. Chloe said as she righted herself and pulled her skirt further down. She intended to brush off what had just happened and being cheeky was the best way she knew of to do that, but the look on Lex’s face told her that she had gone too far this time.
With an exaggerated sigh she explained, “It is a powder developed by the army that makes anyone who snorts it easier to handle and then pass out within five minutes, my uncle gave Lois and I a supply before we started high school so that if anyone ever forced us into using drugs we could give them some of that and run away”.
It must have been Chloe’s imagination but she thought that she saw Lex relax a little as she said this. “What did you think it was?” She asked.
“I was dearly hoping that it was talc, but you never know. You wouldn’t be the first to get in over their head whilst working on a story”, Lex handed it back to her.
“So you knew that I was working on a story?”
He looked over at her incredulously. “No, I thought that you had suddenly started travelling three hours to Metropolis just to consort with criminals and low lives - who would gang bang you given half a chance - for fun.
Chloe was oddly touched that he knew her well enough to know that she wasn’t just some stupid flighty girl.
“Now stop messing about, give me the phone. I am not having you getting involved in something else that could get you killed because you have the only copy of the recording – although I cannot say that I know exactly what you found so fascinating about our conversation”, Lex held out his hand expectantly.
“Lex, I …”
“The phone Chloe. There is only one possible place that it can be and I will take it from you if you don’t hand it over in the next five seconds”, he informed her.
“You wouldn’t”.
Lex just raised an eyebrow at her. They both knew that he would.
“One”.
Chloe shifted uncomfortably, she didn’t want to give up her information to him. She had only meant to give him a copy of it, not the original.
“Two.”
He would probably just delete it, and that was her coup de grâce.
“Three”.
She could still make her article work and there was enough there for the police, but it would be nice to have it. She had the feeling that it contained more than met the eye – or ear as the case might be.
“Four”.
Maybe she and Lex could some to some sort of arrangement. Maybe …
She looked at him, he wasn’t going to back down. He wasn’t going to compromise. And he was about to say five.
“Fi-”.
Chloe handed over the phone.
“Please don’t delete it Lex, you have no idea how important this is”, she begged.
“You’re right, I don’t. But I wasn’t going to just delete it, I am going to send it to me and my lawyers, then delete it off your phone so that you will not be a target. Then you are going to explain to me what the hell is going on, why you are out here by yourself, why you didn’t call me for help and how you got a fake ID and you had better have good excuses”, he handed her phone back to her with a dark look.
The screen showed that she had got several missed messages from Lois.
“My cousin is worried, I had better call her I was meant to be back 10 minutes ago”, Chloe hedged.
“Fine, call her and tell her that you met me and that I am taking you back to Smallville. You had better do it now, we are coming up to LuthorCorp we can talk on the helicopter and when we get back to the mansion”, Lex took his keys, phone and wallet out of his jacket pocket and put them into the one in his trousers.
Chloe had opened her mouth to take issue with this high handed treatment when he did something so sweet that she couldn’t object, he took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders, “I will be chilly outside. I will give you some privacy to call your cousin”.
She couldn’t help it, in spite of everything she melted a little. This was one of the first times that Lex, or any other boy her age, had ever treated her like they would a girl rather than one of the guys.
Lex opened the door, paused and turned back to her, “Chloe I am so angry with you right now that I could strangle you, but I promise that whatever it is we will deal with it”, then he pressed a gentle kiss to her temple and left.
For several moments she sat there in shock. There was nothing special about the kiss, it was the kind that a friend, a brother, a cousin, an uncle would give you … so why did it make her feel warm and tingly right to her very core?
Chloe picked up her life line, “Lo, you will never guess what just happened to me!”
yeah! keep the updates coming!?!
And it gets better and better
Great chapter
Malu
Here's the next part, sorry that I couldn't get it done yestarday. Thank-you to both of my reviewers. *waves at the lurkers*
*Part Four*
Chloe had barely joined Lex in the helicopter when he realised that he wasn’t going to get any information out of her that night. She was shaking slightly as she perched on her seat next to him, with his jacket held tightly around her. She was clearly cold and tired.
“Did everything go alright with your cousin?” He asked, ferretting around under the seat.
“Y-yes”, Chloe said with a nod and a tight smile. Lois had been worried when she couldn’t find Chloe in the apartment but once Chloe had explained that she had just gone out and not heard her cell phone Lois had only been mad that she hadn’t waited for her – “we could have had a fun girls’ night out” – the fact that her cousin was underage seemed not to bother her in the slightest. Nor had she asked how Chloe had got into the club to start with, although Chloe was expecting to receive a text asking about that some time tomorrow when Lois had put two and two together – late at night was not Lois’ best time … nor was early morning. Chloe expected that she would be bombarded with questions around lunchtime.
As for her cousin heading home early, Lois would miss her but was glad that she wouldn’t have to go back on the bus – it was cheaper than taking her car – for three hours the next day and just asked if her rich helicopter owning friend was cute. That was when Chloe had announced that she had to go, but had promised to give Lois all of the details later. If she didn’t she knew that her cousin would hunt her down and beat it out of her, it was a shame that Lois had no journalistic aspirations as she would have been a natural.
Chloe was glad that she had got that phone call out of the way, she hated making her family worry, especially Lois – she had done enough of that last summer. Chloe had then made her way to the helicopter as quickly as possible as it was freezing on the LuthorCorp roof. Now that she was safely inside she was sure that she would warm up soon, especially once the engine started up but for the moment she was freezing and was going to have to give up the scant warmth provided to her by Lex’s jacket.
She felt uncomfortable enough around him at that moment without keeping his jacket. It had been very sweet of him to offer it to her, she shouldn’t take advantage of it, besides he probably needed it, although he didn’t appear to be shaking … just looking for something under the seat.
Steeling herself, as Lex turned back to her, she slipped off his jacket and held it out to him staring at him as he looked oddly at her.
Lex raised an eyebrow at her and tried to keep his eyes on her face rather than on the evidence of the chill in the air, clearly visible through her top. Why was she giving him back his jacket when she obviously needed it?
He placed the flask that he had found down for a moment before taking the jacket off her and rewrapping it around her shoulders saying, “You keep it, you’re cold”.
“Thank-you, but you must be cold too”, she said as if it were obvious. This earned her another hard stare from Lex as he tried to work out if she was seriously suggesting that she would sit there getting a chill just because he might be cold. Normally people had no problems taking things from him without worrying about things like how he felt about it. He realised that she was in earnest as she began to shrug off the jacket again.
“No, I’m not cold”, he told her, placing his hand on her shoulder to still her movements. He noticed how small her shoulder felt under his hand. Seeing that she still looked like she might refuse he said, “Really, I insist, I will be fine”.
“Um … okay. If you are really sure”, Chloe submitted looking at him. How could he possibly not be cold? It was true that he was better covered than her but he was not made of stone. She dearly wished that she had thought to bring a coat, that way she would not be sitting there looking like an idiot who couldn’t even think of the most simple things – although Lex did not appear to have brought a coat either but then again she had never seen him wear a hat however cold it got and being bald he must lose loads of heat from his head.
As she thought this, Lex was unscrewing his flask and pouring a hot beverage which looked and smelled deliciously like hot chocolate. She could feel her stomach gnawing; she had been too busy to eat that day and too tired the night before. She had always been an erratic eater, too concerned with what she was doing to think about food until the need to eat became overwhelming and then she would bolt far too much of whatever was closest to hand – often junk food -, but she knew that she had got much worse about it the last few months. With everything that had been going on with her and her father proper nourishment was the last thing on her mind.
“I’m always sure, Chloe”, Lex said sounding annoyingly arrogant but destroyed the effect by smiling as he saw how intently her gaze was fixed on the hot chocolate, it was a good job that he had thought to order it for her. He knew that however brave she was, she had been through a lot that night and would need some sugar … plus he knew how she felt about chocolate.
“Here”, he handed her the mug, not giving her the option to refuse.
“Thank-you, it smells divine”, Chloe beamed as she clasped her fingers around the mug and blew gently on the steaming liquid before sipping it. Luckily her years of coffee drinking meant that she could consume liquids that would have scalded the mouths of lesser mortals. As the thick, rich liquid slid down her throat Chloe closed her eyes in contentment, a look of pure ecstasy on her face and a soft half sigh half moan escaped her lips.
She had to find out what this stuff was exactly, it wasn’t like any hot chocolate she had ever tried before. It tasted like – and had the consistency of – pure melted chocolate of the most delicious variety she had ever experienced with a hit of something else, she suspected alcohol. In the past she had frequently wondered why Lex put up with his father and didn’t just pack it all in - being a millionaire would be just as satisfying as being a billionaire she imagined – although when she had asked him he had said that it was because he wanted his father’s love she suspected that it might have something to do with being able to afford such yummy drinks. She was sure that this one was very expensive. Maybe if she sold her car she could buy a couple of cups of the stuff.
When her eyes fluttered back open she noticed that Lex was staring at her, an amused expression on his face, one eyebrow raised.
Chloe blushed, she tended to get a little over enthusiastic about food in general but especially chocolate. She shrugged a shoulder, “I like chocolate”.
“So I see”, Lex took her now empty mug from her and refilled it noticing as he did so that the tops of her nails were a faint purple colour. He frowned, he knew that she had been cold but she should not have been that cold, nor should that have happened. He wondered if she had poor circulation, maybe she wasn’t getting enough protein, first thing tomorrow he would have to get her medical records and check.
Misinterpreting his frown as one directed at her greed, she shook her head at the second cup only to have it pressed into her palm.
“Drink, you look like you could use it”, Lex kept his eyes fixed on her face, waiting for another semi orgasmic reaction to the beverage all the while telling himself that the only reason why he had ordered her chocolate and was plying her with it was because he wouldn’t get any information out of her until she was comfortable.
She should have been grateful, she was grateful but she could not help snapping at him, “Do you have to stare at me like that?”
Lex smirked, “What can I say, I find your response to chocolate fascinating”.
Chloe scowled at him. She knew that she was not considered particularly attractive and that part of that was due to her choices – something that Lois had made painfully clear when threatening several of her tops with scissors recently – but there was no need for her to rub it in. She knew that she could stand to lose a couple of pounds. She wondered what Lana weighed exactly, something like this would never happen to her, but then again she probably wouldn’t have drunk the entire mug so quickly, or with such relish, either.
“Sorry, I suppose that I should be more ladylike and simper ‘Oh Lex, I simply couldn’t. It will go straight to my thighs’”, she did her best valley girl accent.
Lex chuckled, and shook his head. “It seems that your knowledge of what men like and what is truly ladylike is as limited as your knowledge of what looks will work on anyone who isn’t a teenaged farm boy”. He was rather pleased with himself for not having made any comment about joining the chocolate at her thighs, that would have been inappropriate, which was a shame as it would certainly have passed the flight very pleasantly and probably warmed her up too.
Before Chloe got the chance to respond to this statement, the captain announced, “We are ready for take-off Mr Luthor”.
“Okay, one minute”, Lex replied. “Cheers”, he raised his drink to Chloe and drained it – they had to get rid of the liquid before took off. It was very good, he noticed that they had taken his instructions to only get the best to heart although he was not too pleased that they had put a couple of shots in there but he supposed that they couldn’t have known that the ‘young lady’ accompanying him was really young and actually a lady in the classical sense of the word. It didn’t both him, a couple of shots would have no effect on him but he could already see Chloe’s eyelids getting heavier as she savoured the last of her chocolate.
Lex put the cups away and gave the order to the pilot, enjoying the slightly odd expression on Chloe’s face as they took off. He had long ago got used to the odd feeling in the tummy that came with flying but it was sweet to see that Chloe did not try to hide her reaction. The other girls who had been on his chopper had all tried to seem experienced even when they weren’t.
He sat back in his seat and was pleased to see that Chloe did so as well, clearly more relaxed now although as she fell asleep less than two minutes later that could just have been exhaustion. Her head lolled to the side in a way that Lex thought must have been rather uncomfortable so he slipped a little closer and gently put his arm around her shoulders, supporting her neck. She instinctively sought out his warmth, nuzzling into him, and resting her head on his chest.
A lock of hair fell across her face and Lex brushed it away. It was so rare that he just got to look at her, he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity. Of course he had the security footage, but it wasn’t the same. And the few times that he had been in her company they had both been trying to ignore each other so he had not had the chance to really get close to her and expect her.
Chloe was gorgeous, he had always known that. When she was awake Chloe was so full of life, wit, intelligence and, well, snarkiness. But as she slept, she looked like an angel although he was sad to say that he could not say that she looked entirely at peace.
He had suspected as much earlier, but now that he looked closer there was no denying that she had lost weight and not in the healthy way. He supressed a growl, he knew that she had been working too hard, he knew that it had not been because she had going to the gym as she had given up her membership in September … or rather it had ended with her death and she had never renewed it. Come to think of it, other than running around for The Torch and after Clark, Lex was not sure if she actually got to exercise properly. That was another thing, she spent too much time on Clark’s problems, the evidence of which was under her eyes. Even through the make-up he could make out the dark circles. She had always been busy, but he could not remember her ever looking really tired before last summer.
Resisting the urge to wipe the make-up off her face, Lex tried to stop himself thinking of that last torturous summer he had enough to deal with in its aftermath without reliving it.
He could do nothing about it until he got her home, but then he would get a better security detail for her – after finding out what the hell had gone wrong that night -, and get the information from her the next morning … along with her medical records. He was most put out, her doctor was supposed to be keeping him updated of any problems with her but he had not received any indication that she had even been to the clinic even though she clearly wasn’t well. It would be just like Chloe to suffer through it without telling anyone, well he would put a stop to that.
Could he put a stop to that? A little voice asked him. He had to admit that he was not widely liked in Smallville and even Clark seemed to trust him a little less. Well he could hardly blame him, although it wasn’t as if wonder boy had ever been completely honest with Lex either. Still, if he had to he would go through Clark to make sure that Chloe was being looked after as she should be. Not that Chloe was going to like that, he thought, still it had to be done.
He knew that he should stay away from Chloe Sullivan; she brought out the worst in him. He had been bred not to show emotions or mercy and had thought that he had mastered this ability. Yet twice now she had made him not only doubt whether beating his father was worth the price, but also reveal that he cared about her. The time when he had been willing not to use her against Lionel he had dismissed as he had just been through an ordeal, but there was no excuse for what had happened earlier that evening when he had got out of the limo. He had shown quite clearly that he cared, he had been ready to leave with the words on the tip of his tongue but being angrily bitten back as usual when then he had thought of her all alone and doubting him … he had had no choice. He had shown weakness.
It was a mistake, it had to be; it was everything that his father had always taught him not to do, but he hated his father now. What would his mother have wanted him to do? Probably to tell the truth and shame the devil, that was what she had always said. Well he had certainly done that.
What was the other thing that his mother had forever been telling him?
“To receive trust you must give and earn it”.
Lex swallowed, that would be very difficult. He was not even sure that he could do something like that with Clark, and possibly that was why his only friend had never trusted him in turn. But what about Chloe? He had just taken it for granted that he could not have her in his life, she would be in too much danger and he could not hurt her. Besides, after the way that he had treated her recently he doubted that she would even want to be his friend.
However hard it had been to say those words, it would be worth it if one day she could learn to trust him again. He knew that she would never feel about him the way that he did about her but that was okay, he would settle for just having her in his life – once he could do so safely.
He breathed deeply, it would be difficult but he would find a way if it meant that he could have Chloe. Had he not put business on the back burner tonight to ensure her comfort? If that wasn’t something special from Lex Luthor then … well, nothing. It was an amazing feat for him and that was that. He would do anything if it meant having Chloe.
Lex couldn’t understand how Clark could have had a crush on Lana for all of these years when Chloe was around. It was true that her hairstyles hadn’t always done her justice and that her wardrobe at some points had been downright terrible. She certainly didn’t have Lana’s coyness either, but from the first moments that he had seen her he had been attracted to her. The intelligence and curiosity which lit up her eyes could not be ignored. Or rather it could, but only by Clark. Lex briefly wondered if maybe Clark might need glasses.
Chloe always looked fantastic. Even when they had been in the tunnels as her new home exploded over their heads she had kept herself together, holding her father’s hand and putting on a brave face. There was only one time that Lex could remember seeing her look broken and that was in the safe house he had created for her.
Her father had been taken to a separate location just to ensure that there could be no errors and she had been alone accept for the guards. Everyone she loved – except her father – believed that she was dead and she was afraid for her life. She had busied herself around the house and done a lot of research and school work – Lex was fairly certain that she had already done enough school work to graduate before she actually returned to school.
All day she would work at her laptop, not being able to go outside even for a few minutes, declining to eat anything or tear herself away from her laptop; acting as if she believed the world would fall apart if she stopped working. Well, that was exactly what had happened when she had stopped, to her world at least. Every night she would go to bed later than Lex thought prudent and try to sleep hoping that exhaustion would overtake her only to toss and turn for an hour before bursting into tears. She would sob for about an hour for the first month but less the second, and only a tear or two in the third. The one thing that would never change was that she would the slip into the kitchen and bring back around 2,000 calories of junk food and binge.
Lex knew that he shouldn’t have been watching her. Of course it was necessary to have a camera in every room including her bedroom for her protection and it was even more necessary that he should be the only one to have the feed for the same reason, but he could have forward winded as he knew nothing had happened to her but he couldn’t help it. She was his responsibility and she was hurt. He longed to go there, to hold her and stroke her hair and tell her that it would all be alright, but someone might follow him and then she would be in danger, he couldn’t’ do that to her. At his lowest moment as he watched her almost choke on a biscuit she gnawed on as she was so desperate after not having eaten in 24 hours he considered killing his father. Then he could go to Chloe, the only thing that had stopped him was the thought of the look on her face if she ever found out what he had done.
Instead he had ensured that the guards put a large tray of nicer foods in her room for her every night along with the best movies he could find – that seemed to help a little. It was interesting to be able to watch a TV and see her reaction to everything that was happening on the screen, sometimes he felt like he was right there with her. Lex had watched more TV that summer than he had in the rest of his life, every night when he got back from business he would check the feed and sit down and watch the TV with Chloe. He found out that she liked Buffy with made sense as she was a fighter too and judging by her expression she had genuinely believed that Faith could be saved.
They hit some turbulence and Lex was pulled out of his reverie but was happy to see that Chloe was still asleep and snuggled up next to him. He had never been a good flier, it was something that he had learned to do but which would never feel entirely natural to him. He could remember all too clearly the scene between his father and him on the day of the meteor attack. He wondered what would have happened if Chloe had been in that situation, he would bet several million that even as a child Chloe had been assertive and would probably have loved flying, but if she had not would have told Lionel so in no uncertain terms and demanded that he land the helicopter immediately.
“We are about to land, Mr Luthor”, it was the pilot’s voice which disturbed his thoughts this time. That had to be the shortest half an hour that he had ever passed and he was rather sad to be home as it meant that he was now going to have to wake Chloe up and loose her closeness. Unless … she really did look tired, it would be a shame to wake her just to put her to bed – he was determined that he would not pump her for information until she was properly rested. Really the only gentlemanly thing to do would be to help her out.
Once they were on the ground and the pilot had opened the door, Lex moved the arm which had been draped around Chloe’s shoulders more security around her back keeping her head against his chest. Then he looped his free arm under his knees and stood up. The warm weight of her in his arms should have tired him rather than renewing his energy. He felt like a knight of old with the fair maiden in his arms, rescuing her from the belly of the beast … or the helicopter as it was. Not that Chloe couldn’t have dealt with a dragon if awake and necessary, he smirk at the image of her giving the dragon a withering look, making him sit and telling him that he had been very naughty – as he had once seen her do to one of his guard dogs when it had snapped at her.
Chloe murmured something in her sleep and wrapped her arm around his neck and shifted a little as he carried her across the lawn as quickly as possible, hoping that the cold would not wake her. He would hate to be deprived of his precious burden now, he had already refused every offer from the guards to take her off him.
When he reached the best guest bedroom he was glad to see that everything was in order and placed her on the bed and slipped her boots off before covering her in several heavy blankets. He should leave then, he knew it. She looked comfortable, if her hugging part of the blanket was anything to go by, but he couldn’t resist bending over her once more to press a tender kiss to her brow.
It was a mistake, as he breathed in her clean soapy smell and heard her “ni nigh”, clearly having no idea what was going on, he knew that he couldn’t be without her. Whatever it took, she would be protected and if that meant his father’s death then so be it.
With that he left her room to let her sleep, everything else would have to wait until morning.
Wow, I really liked that chapterIt just keeps getting better! I'm looking forward to what will happen latter.
Last edited by TrinityR; 3rd January 2013 at 16:16.
I'm glad he realized how important it is to keep Chloe in his life
Great chapter
Malu
Awww i love sweet concerned lex.
Once again thank-you for the reviews and I hope that you like the next installment.
*Part Five*
“Mmm”, Chloe murmured as she stirred. She felt so wonderfully relaxed, she had slept very well but she was not quite ready to open her eyes yet. Considering how soundly she had clearly been asleep it was a bit of a shock to realise that she was starting to bestir herself at all. She wondered what could have caused it.
As if in answer she felt a warm hand slide across her stomach and a soft pair of her lips placing kisses on her neck.
Another moan. She could get used to waking up like this. Her brain was trying to tell her something but she thought that she could ignore it for a while yet. She had the feeling that once her mind turned on properly her day was going to be very stressful, she would just lie here a little longer.
Noticing that she was obviously waking up the hand and lips became more adventurous the latter trailing kisses up her neck and across her cheek before caressing her own. Okay, so this was clearly a dream but she thought that she would enjoy it anyway, “Clark”, she whispered, her eyes still closed.
Her lower lip was captured and held gently, almost in warning before being released. She felt Clark retreating, muttered his name once more reaching out her hands to bring him back to her, but instead of curls she felt nothing but smooth skin.
“No”, there was a low growl as both of her hands were moved above her head. Chloe’s eyes flashed open to find herself being pinned down by none other than Lex Luthor.
“Lex”, she gasped, her eyes wide with shock.
“Oh so that is how you want to play it, is it?” He smirked down at her, as he somehow produced the one of his silk ties and bound her wrists to the head board.
To her surprise, Chloe noticed that her body would not fight against him, in fact as he drew back and ran his hands along her arms she had to bite her lip to keep from moaning.
Lex noticed this and his smirk grew. He leant back down as if to kiss her but stopped mere inches away, she craned her neck up but he was still just out of her reach. He placed a kiss tantalizing close to her mouth before moving to whisper in her ear: “You and I both know that you forgot about Kent months ago”.
She gasped and he nibbled on her earlobe, “But as I think that you know by now, I am happy to play any little games you like”, he caressed her below the blanket, “so, if you want to be the good shocked girl in evil Luthor’s bedroom, still pining for her high school love then I am more than happy to oblige”. As if to make his point, he squeezed her breast gently.
Chloe’s head felt back as she arched. Lex’s teeth ran along her throat and then, in the same voice like dark chocolate, “After all, it is the least I can do after that naughty school girl fantasy”.
Then he sat back up and she groaned at the loss of contact. She looked up at him, taking in all that she could see of him. He really was a very fine specimen of a man, she noted. His stomach was hard and flat, his chest and shoulders were broad, and his arms looked strong. He looked powerful but warm and like his skin would be very soft to touch, she tried to confirm this – for the sake of journalism, of course - but found herself hampered by his tie. Then her eyes travelled up to his face. His expression was dark and he when he spoke his voice held a sneer.
“Really Miss Sullivan I would have thought that you would have realised by now that you are never going to be with Clark Kent”.
She looked up at him with large wounded eyes, how could he be so nice one minute and mean the next?
“You are mine”, he growled and Chloe felt a strange tugging sensation in her stomach.
“And as you seem to be having problems remembering that and in whose bed you are lying, I suppose that I will just have to remind you”. His grin was wicked and he turned his attention once more to her throat.
He thought that she was playing a game with him. That was how he could change so quickly. Unfortunately Chloe was not quite sure how she had managed to enter this game, a frequent occurrence with the Luthors, and this time she was bound with no way to win.
Lex did not seem to want to hurt her, on the contrary he seemed to believe that she wanted to be there and was intent on pleasing her and as much as Chloe hated to admit it, he was doing a good job.
As his lips found her breast, she found herself not caring about winning or getting free, by the time that his head had travelled passed her stomach she couldn’t have cared less if the entire world had ended provided that he didn’t stop.
So much for being in control.
~*~
Chloe bolted up right, breathing hard, a thin sheen of perspiration clinging to her body. Her eyes were unaccustomed to so much light, having been so deeply asleep, and for a minute she blinked only seeing dots swirling in front of her eyes.
“What the hell was that?” Chloe wondered. She had had dreams about Lex before but they had never been quite that vivid and she normally didn’t wake up before the really good bits.
As she finally got her sight back, she began to look around the room. Even before she had been able to see she had known that this was not her room. Her room was never this bright in the morning, the windows were only single glazed and they had to be careful with the central heating costs so they had used the thickest curtains they had on all of the windows. Furthermore, her bed was not so large nor half as comfortable. Well, that was not quite true, the one which she had had to leave in the large house they had had last year had been, but the one in the apartment certainly wasn’t. What was more, she couldn’t hear her Dad through the thin walls as he padded around the living room which he used as a bedroom. It was the creaking of the sofa bed under her father’s bulk that always woke her up – except when she was at Lois’ … then it was her cousin trying to spoon her in her sleep.
This room could only be in the Luthor mansion, even threw the white curtains she could make out the stained glass windows which coloured the light which filled the room. A room which was large and opulent, Chloe would not only have killed for the bed that she was lying in but also the large mahogany desk which sat across from it. Somehow she thought that anything written on that desk would be good. She had stayed here once before, in this very room, and had had the same feelings about the desk then too. There could be no doubt as to her location, the question was why she was there.
She racked her brains, something must have happened the night before. She never was good for anything before her morning coffee. She remembered that she was following a lead in Metropolis and had gone to a club, she had wanted to find out who the owner was …
“Damn it”. It all came to her, not in a flood but drop by drop. It had been Lex, he had held her close to him, he had taken her away from the club, he had been an arrogant ass and sweeter than she would ever have thought possible. She remembered being in the helicopter but could not remember the journey nor how she had got into the mansion, let alone into bed and removed her boots. She vaguely had a recollection of hovering off in the air and being cuddled by a massive teddy bear but she assumed that that had been a dream.
“Maybe it was all a dream”, Chloe muttered to herself as she ran a hand through her hair. But then how had she got there? She couldn’t remember anything after the hot chocolate, maybe it had been drugged. But why would Lex do something like that? He didn’t care about her and she didn’t have anything that could be of use to him … except for the recording.
Chloe looked around frantically for her bag and found it on the floor next to the bed. She rummaged for her phone and almost screamed when she saw that the evidence she had found had been deleted, it must have been deleted because all of the missed calls from Lois were logged there so it was not as if she could have imagined the entire episode.
“I’m going to kill him”, she growled. He had made her loose her lead. In Chloe’s anger over this she forgot her intention to tell him what was going on and bring the circle to justice. Clearly Lex was not to be trusted; she would have to do this by herself. She had to go and research.
She tried to leap from the bed but that just ended with her on the floor, apparently her feet were very cosy in bed and reluctant to leave it. She hauled herself up and winced as she caught a glimpse of herself in the ornate full length mirror right by the bed. Her hair was a mess, her make-up was smudged, her clothes were rumpled and she appeared to still be wearing Lex’s jacket.
Figuring that there was no harm in washing her face before she left, Chloe headed into the en suite where she found soap and a hair brush and set about making herself a little more presentable. It wouldn’t do for her Dad to see her like this and she would have to go home before school to get changed, but that would mean that she would have to explain what she was doing home so much earlier than she said that she would be and why she was dressed like she was. Her father was very lenient but she was fairly certain that she would be grounded until she was his age if he ever found out that she had been to a club and more to the point, she did not want to upset or worry him. He had enough on his plate.
When she got back to their tiny apartment with its walls which continued to look grubby however many times she scrubbed them and stained carpet, there would be a new pile of letters which her father would open one by one each time hoping that they offered him a job and becoming steadily more disheartened when all he received were rejection letters and bills. When he saw her he would smile and try to make the best of it, but he could not fool her. He felt like a failure because he could not provide her with all of the things that he wanted for her. They had never been rich, her mother had seen to that in the divorce settlement, but he had always been able to provide her with a roof over her head and a college fund … now both were practically gone.
Chloe sighed and berated herself for being a coward as she opted not to go home but straight to school. No one else would be there at this time and she could grab a shower in the gym, she had a spare change of clothes in her locker there due to her almost meteor-freak like ability to spill coffee down herself, especially when it was a new top.
Heading back into the bedroom, figuring that there was only so much she could do with her appearance at the moment, she made the bed again and placed Lex’s jacket neatly on it. And then proceeded to undo her neat job of tucking in the corners by sitting on it to put on her boots. Without the coat she realised that she really missed the smell, being wrapped up in it as she had been was probably the real reason for her dream, nothing to do with her feelings for Lex. Nothing to do with the way he looked at her or …
“No”, she hissed. She didn’t have time to dwell on that now; she had a story to uncover.
As Chloe grabbed her bag and left she wondered whether she should leave a note, or would that look too presumptuous? Would Lex care? She decided that he probably wouldn’t and had probably been annoyed, she could only assume that she had invited herself to stay.
In the hallway she could not but help look around her, her natural curiosity could be all consuming at times. She could remember her way back from last time when she had had a full tour of the house, but then there had always been a guard at her side for her protection then, this was the first time that she had had completely unfettered access. It was cool! It was something that any report dreamed of but she couldn’t indulge herself right then, she had a job to do.
Just then she heard footsteps coming towards her from behind and froze, although she knew that she had not broken in she still felt as if she didn’t belong there and that anyone who found her there would know as much. She hoped that it wasn’t Lex; she wasn’t sure how she would face him as she was then.
“Miss Sullivan?”
Phew! It wasn’t Lex.
Chloe turned around and fixed the confused looking maid with her most winning smile.
“You are awake”, the maid continued now looking a little worried. “I am so sorry that I was not there to wait on you, I did not think that you would be up until at least 7, I was just bringing your clothes now”.
Chloe looked down at the black bag in her arms.
Seeing her perplexed look the maid continued, “Mr Luthor said that we were to get some clothes in your size as you hadn’t any luggage”.
“Um, that is very kind but I don’t need any clothes”. The considering her appearance at that moment she added, “Okay, clearly I do but will get them at school, I won’t accept clothes from Lex”.
The maid paled, she had offended the girl and the master of the house would be angry when he found out about the clothes. She should apologise, but if she did that then she would just draw attention to what she had done. “Is there anything that I can do for you Miss?”
“Please call me Chloe and no, not unless you have a bus timetable”, she smiled, not wanting the woman to feel hurt because she had not accepted the garments.
“A bus timetable? Did you not bring your car?”
“No, I didn’t”.
“Then I will call the chauffeur to take you wherever you want to go”.
“That won’t be necessary”, Chloe explained.
“Yes, it will. Mr Luthor wouldn’t like it …” That obviously wasn’t going to get her anywhere. She thought of what she had been told about Miss Sullivan, and tried, “If you went in the chauffer driven car it would take him 5 minutes to be ready, in which time I could make you some coffee”.
~*~
Lex woke up in his own room at his normal 5am to see the warm sunlight filling the room. In some ways he was sad to awake considering the dreams that he had been having but for once morning meant that he would be going to see Chloe which compensated for losing his dreams of her, although he wasn’t sure how he was going to survive until he next got to see her knowing how close she was to him. He thought that she would need her sleep, she had looked exceedingly tired the night before, waking her up directly was out of the question. He would wait until 8 o’clock, she couldn’t be planning on going to school as she wasn’t even meant to be back in Smallville by that time. Yes, 8 would be the right time to send in the maid with her breakfast but that was three hours away, maybe she would have got enough sleep by 7:30.
He got out of bed, showered and dressed in what he considered to be a casual manner – charcoal slacks and his baby blue jumper which always drew the ladies’ attention. He was in rather a good mood when he entered his study as normal at 20 past 5 and sent a text to one of his assistants to the effect that he would be working from home that day.
Luckily he didn’t actually have any LuthorCorp work to do that day, he had accomplished everything that he had needed to when he had been in Metropolis and he could delegate some of the day to day stuff to others, that was what they were there for after all. His only concern was getting to the bottom of Lionel’s twisted games, and thanks to Chloe he knew where to look. Once he had sorted out a few Chloe related problems first.
Calling Chloe’s security detail and threatening to make them disappear if anything like that happened again as well as demanding a full investigation did ruin his mood a little but nowhere near as much as the call to her doctor did. He had hesitated for a minute before calling him at this time of the morning, but only for a minute, after all he paid the man enough to keep him informed and to convince Chloe and her father that it was normal LuthorCorp policy that all former employees and their families got 2 years free health cover. It was good that he had called; the man had not done his job. Neither Chloe nor her father had been in to see him, not even for their six month check-up never mind that it was the first thing that they should have done when they got out of hiding.
“Why didn’t you call them and tell them that they needed to get checked out?” Lex bellowed down the phone.
“I did, but they said that it wasn’t necessary”.
“You should have made them understand that it was necessary”, Lex roared. “I will not put up with incompetence. Your job is to make sure that they are both healthy, how the hell can you do that if you don’t know what could possibly be wrong with them?”
“With all due respect, if they don’t want to come in then they don’t have to. I cannot drag them in here and force them to get a check-up”, the doctor protested, a tremor in his voice.
Lex was about to ask why not when he realised that they man was not a Luthor. He took a breath and, trying to remain calm, inquired, “Could you not have made them understand that LuthorCorp requires regular health checks in order to keep paying their bills or something?”
“Maybe they don’t want anything from LuthorCorp”, the man muttered under his breath but Lex heard it.
He ground his teeth and asked, “What do you know about Chloe’s health?” The rest of the conversation was not much more heartening, whilst Chloe had always been a healthy girl the doctor thought that it sounded like she wasn’t taking care of herself and had been concerned about her father’s heart for years, if he was eschewing doctors he would not meet a happy end.
Lex felt drained when he hung the phone back up, he had always known that Gabe was a bit tubby, overworked and underappreciated – by everyone except his daughter – but it had never really occurred to him that this might cause heart difficulties. Well, soon all of his worries would be taken care of, Lex had only a few matters to attend to this morning, this afternoon he would make sure that Gabe was alright.
Before going to sleep the night before Lex had told his people to dig up everything they could find on the club so he could now peruse them. It wasn’t good; there was far more to this than first met the eye. Lex listened to the audio track again and swore as he began to get the bigger picture, it was time to make the call.
By the time that that call was over it was 7 am. That was almost 7:30, maybe it was breakfast time for his guest.
Just as he was thinking this, there came a knock at his study door. His heart leapt a little thinking that maybe it was Chloe and Lex had to try to hide his disappointment as the door swung open to reveal the maid he had told to take care of Chloe.
He gave her a tight smile and said, “Please have breakfast for Miss Sullivan prepared immediately and taken to her room”.
“That is what I was coming to tell you Mr Luthor, I can’t. She just left over an hour ago. I thought that you might like to know.
“Damn it”, he swore, wondering why the woman had waited an hour to inform him of this. Well there was no way that Chloe was going to get away with just running away from him. He grabbed his keys and stormed out of the door.
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