Page 18 of Untouchable

Chloe walked over to the window in the living room and pulled the curtain aside. A taxi was sitting in front of the house. Dominic climbed out, his steps uneven and off balance. He was drunk. That much was clear, and the reason why he hadn’t driven himself back home.

As the taxi left and Dominic made his way up the front steps to the house, Chloe couldn’t find the strength to greet him. She’d seen Dominic drink on more than one occasion, but never had she seen him so wasted he could barely walk straight.

Watching from the shadows of the living room as he stumbled inside and walked toward the kitchen, she held her breath. The sound of cupboards slamming and glasses clanking together drew her closer. From the entryway to the kitchen, his back to her, she watched as he poured himself a drink.

“Did you eat dinner?” His words were slurred. She wasn’t surprised he knew she was standing there despite her not saying anything.

“Yeah.” Her voice was nothing more than a whisper, but she knew he heard her by the way he nodded in response. He kept his back toward her, so she took a tentative step forward. What could she say? How would she say it even if she knew what to say?

“It’s getting late, Chloe.”

He was dismissing her.

She wanted to argue, wanted to ask him to come with her, to touch her, kiss her … love her. All those things were on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t find the strength to say them. Instead she whispered, “Dominic, please.”

He turned so quickly that she stumbled back a step. Glossy, red-rimmed eyes met hers. He was drunk and smelled like a brewery, too.

“Why won’t you talk to me?”About us, about what happened, hell, about anything.

“Don’t you get it, Chloe?” He held the crystal cut glass in his hand so tightly his knuckles were white. “What we did was wrong on so many levels,” he all but screamed, and Chloe winced, never having seen this side of him before, this raw, painful and unhinged side.

Chloe felt the tears start to come to the surface, start to sting. She wanted to be strong, needed to be because showing weakness wouldn’t help this situation. “You know as well as I do that what happened last night wasn’t wrong. I know I wasn’t the only one who felt the connection.” The laugh that came out of him had her skin prickling. It wasn’t one of happiness; no, it was sarcasm.

“We fucked, Chloe. It should have never happened, but it did. Don’t be delusional to think it was anything other than that.” Hesaid it so matter-of-factly that Chloe felt the pain radiate from her.

“It was so much more than that, Dominic. Be a man and admit you’re just too scared to say so.” She raised her voice as loud as he did and didn’t care if the whole damn town heard them. His face became a deep shade of red, and she knew the anger that she’d seen from him was nothing compared to what was about to happen.

The glass flew out of his hand and shattered against the wall. She watched the amber liquid slide down the immaculate wallpaper before it made a pool on the ground. The light hit the shards of glass and cast sparkling designs across the hardwood floor. It would have been beautiful if the result of its destruction hadn’t been so ugly.

“What I did was fucked up. Fucked up, Chloe. Can’t you see that? You’re a smart girl. Use that brain of yours. What person in their right mind would fuck their niece? Blood related or not, that’s what I consider you, my fucking niece.” He was breathing heavily, his hands in fists at his sides. “There will never be anything between us, Chloe. Last night was a mistake. One big fucking mistake.”

He didn’t say anything else, just stormed past her and out the front door, slamming it closed behind him. And then she heard his car start a second before he peeled out of the driveway and was gone.

Chloe didn’t go after him. She could have crumbled to the ground and wept until there were no more tears inside of her, but she didn’t. Looking at the broken glass again, she grabbed the broom and dustpan and cleaned up.

What else could she do?

13

The next morning Chloe packed her bag and called a taxi. A bus was scheduled to leave in an hour, and she planned to be on it. She hadn’t seen Dominic again after the blow up in the kitchen, but that was okay. She didn’t think she could face him anyway.

He’d made his point, made his feelings crystal clear.

All she could do now was go on with her life, despite the shattered heart that lay inside her chest.

The sound of the taxi’s tires crunching in the driveway sounded, and Chloe set the goodbye letter to Dominic on the table. It was short and right to the point. She didn’t mention anything that they’d done, didn’t even mention the fight. A simple, “Thank you for letting me stay here, but I think my time here is done,” was all that needed to be said.

She made sure to let him know when her bus would be leaving, not so much because she thought he needed to know, but more so because she hoped—in the back of her mind—he’d come to her. Of course, she knew he wouldn’t.

Chloe wasn’t stupid, no matter what she’d done recently that might have indicated the contrary.

14

EIGHT YEARS LATER

The road beside Chloe’s car sped by like a blur of gray and yellow. Finally, after eight grueling years of school, she was finished. She was a physician. It seemed surreal, almost like she was locked in a dream, a very good one at that.

Now, she had another four years of internship to look forward to, to perfect her craft and learn even more, and she couldn’t wait.

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