Page 30 of Sugarlips
I pinched the bridge of my nose, a small thrumming headache blossoming behind my eyes. “Okay,” I said, inhaling deeply before letting the breath out slowly. I snatched my keys out of the bowl by the door. “First thing’s first… I’m giving you a ride home.”
“Mack said it was safe—”
“Great. And we’ll get a professional to verify that tomorrow. But tonight, at 9:30 p.m., I’m not going to be responsible if the brakes on that fail and you go over the guard rails on Juneway Cliff.”And forgive me for not trusting Tanja’s flavor-of-the-week boy toy, I thought, but didn’t add.
I didn’t give Chloe a chance to respond, shuffling her out my front door toward my car. But if her sigh was any indication, she thought I was overreacting.
Hell, maybe I was. But I’d rather be safe and have Chloe alive than risk it and find that truck in a ditch tomorrow.
“I don’t even drive over Juneway Cliff to get home,” she muttered as I opened the passenger door for her.
I shut her carefully inside the car, muttering to myself as I walked around to the driver’s side, “Not the damn point.”
The drive to Chloe’s house only took about five minutes—and while I didn’t want to admit it, I knew the way by heart. Not that I was stalking her or anything. I just remembered when she and Dan bought the house. Her mom had ordered a cake from us to celebrate. That was back when my mom was still baking, but I was helping out, assisting and delivering for her. I brought the cake to them one morning and on the way, I saw Dan walking a woman—who was decidedlynotChloe—down his driveway. I remember thinking it was a little strange, but only a sociopath would cheat in the new home he had just bought with his fiancé that week, right?
Well, I was right… Dan was basically a sociopath.
I cleared my throat, pulling into her driveway and putting the car in park behind Elaina’s sensible sedan. The lights were on in the house, casting a warm, yellow glow across Chloe’s face. “I’m going to call Riley tomorrow to come check out the truck for us,” I said.
Chloe nodded and handed me the rusty keys. Her long, blush-pink fingernails scraped my palm, and for a fraction of a second, I imagined those nails digging into my shoulders. I felt my face go hot and looked away from her. Why do men do that? I remembered reading once that men think of sex every eight seconds… but when I was near Chloe? It felt more like every two or three seconds.
“Text me what time and I’ll be there, too,” she said. Her fingers closed around mine and she squeezed my hand, then added, “I’m really excited we’re doing this.”
I laughed. “I can tell. You very exuberantly bought a truck without consulting me.”
She winced. “I know. I’m sorry. I’ll eat the cost if it’s really unfixable.”
I shrugged. “You drove it to my house, so at the very least, it’s running. It can’t be that bad.” I was still suspicious, but frankly, couldn’t do much about that until we had it checked out.
Her eyes went wide, the blue irises looking nearly green in the yellowish light. “Exactly! We’re like one mind!”
I barked a laugh but nodded. “Sure,” I said. Her hand was still wrapped around mine and I could feel her rapid pulse thrumming against the inside of her wrist. Was her heart racing, too? Or was that just my imagination?
“Well, I should go.” Her fingers peeled away from mine, and a shiver rocked down my spine in the wake of her touch.
She got out of the car, quietly shutting the door, and walked the path to her front door.
Rolling down my window, I called out to her, mindful of the neighbors and time in this quiet neighborhood. “Chloe,” I said. She turned to me, half of her face a blue shadow from the moon and the other half glowing yellow. Dark and light. Happy and sad. It was Chloe as she’d been the last few months—even before she knew about Dan’s infidelity. There was a sadness, a darkness to her that hadn’t been there before she and Dan got engaged. I found myself wanting to see her entirely lit—entirely in the sunlight and bright and happy. Then again, there was a beauty in the sadness, too. A beauty in the blue.
She tilted her head to the side, and I realized that I’d just been staring at her standing there. “Liam?”
“I just wanted to say… I’m really excited we’re doing this, too.”
Her smile split her face, and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth. Nodding silently, she turned and walked into her home, shutting the door.
It was the truth. Iwasexcited we were doing this. Maybe more than I wanted to admit. That’s the thing with dreams: when they stay a fantasy, there’s no fear of failing. But now? It was time to sink or swim. Prior to Chloe, I felt like I had cement blocks strapped to my feet. But she had finally cut them free.
She had cutmefree.
10
Chloe
“Well, it could be worse…” Riley said, wheeling herself out from under the truck.
“See?Told you it would be fine!” I pumped a fist triumphantly in the air and did a little victory dance around Liam, who was standing stoically beside me with his arms crossed.
“But it could certainly be better,” she added, grabbing a black-smudged rag and wiping her hands.
