Page 10 of Untouchable

He bent down on one knee and started staking them. Ever since she’d been home that’s all he’d been doing … random stuff around the cottage. She knew it was because he needed to keep busy.

“Pack your bags, Chloe. I think we need to go. We need to get back home and just get back into the swing of normal life.”

She looked over at her mother.

Normal life?

“Your mother is right. We need to go.” Her father was the next one to speak.

Chloe faced forward and took a second to think. “I’m not going anywhere,” she finally said. This was the only place that made her feel at home, safe. And despite what had happened just hours before, Chloe still felt that way.

A collective silence filled the room, and she felt everyone staring at her.

“I’m not ready to go.” But she wished they would.

Because if she were being honest, they made everything so much worse.

8

How could Chloe ever find it in herself to trust another guy? After two years of being with him, she’d had to find out the hard way who he truly was.

That’s what kept playing through her mind on repeat as she sat on the back patio, her legs pulled up to her chest, her focus on the lake.

Had she been too stupid to see the signs? She closed her eyes and rested her head back on the chair. What difference did it make now? What she needed to do was go for a run around the lake, clear her head and try to put things in perspective. She had too much anger and energy to just sit around and wallow.

Her parents had left hours ago, but to be honest they hadn’t up much of a fight about Chloe staying. It’s not like they could force her to go. She was eighteen, after all, and Dominic and Clara had said it was fine if she stayed.

She stood and headed to her room, changed into some running attire, headed into the kitchen for a water bottle, then set off to get rid of the feelings inside of her. She knew a nice long run was exactly what she needed. At least she hoped. She neededto let everything fall away so that her mind was open and free again.

And so she took off, running harder and faster than she ever had, and finally letting the tears fall that she’d held in the whole day.

The sun was settingby the time Chloe made it back to the cottage. Covered in sweat, she was exhausted, but also felt pretty good. She’d had a good cry, gotten rid of all that sadness and anger, and just let herself focus on the things that mattered.

When she stopped by the back door, she could hear Clara shouting and cursing from an open window. Maybe she should do another lap around the pond, but she found herself listening.

“It’s always about you, Dom. When are you going to start thinking about me?” Her aunt’s voice was high and filled with anger.

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Clara.” Dominic’s voice was low, calm, and steady. “You’re acting like a child, a self-centered child. This isn’t my fault, yet you’re trying to place the blame on me.”

“Self-centered? Seriously?” Chloe heard cupboards slam shut. “This is why our relationship is shit, Dom. This is why I’ve gone elsewhere for what I need.”

Gone elsewhere.Was that why they divorced? Had Clara cheated on Dominic?

Man, Chloe should really go for another lap.

“Our relationship is shit, and has been for years, because you went off and fucked someone else instead of just agreeing to the divorce.” There was a moment of silence, and Chloe could imagine what her aunt’s face looked like right now. “But nope,you wanted to keep up appearances, but look how well that has gone.”

Chloe covered her mouth with her hand as she heard her aunt and uncle's private conversation. She felt like a voyeur, but still she couldn’t move.

“Would you have even told me about the affair if I hadn’t caught you in the act?” Dominic’s voice was pitched low, but still calm. “You know you wouldn’t have.”

Clara scoffed. “Oh please. Our marriage has been over for years.”

“You’re absolutely right. Which is why I served you with divorce papers, but because you want to seem like your life is perfect, you refused to sign them.”

“I signed your damn papers.”

Dominic laughed humorlessly. “Yeah, after I got my lawyer involved.”

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