Where Chloe couldn't run fast enough from him, he had wanted the opposite.
The whole time she had sat beside him on the floor, it hadn't been a test only for her, but for him as well. Lucca had told her he was going to help her overcome her fear of touch, but what he hadn't told her was that he was also going to fight the darkness of claiming her too soon. He wanted to make sure he could handle her closeness. To be close to his grasp, yet not claim her was one of the hardest things he had ever done. The twisted part of his brain had kept whispering, Touch her, kiss her, take her … But he hadn't. He had fought his dark urges … for her.
He planned to get closer to her every night. He imagined it was only going to get harder, painful even, to fight the darkness when his fingers finally moved over her scars.
Raising his head at the sound of footsteps, he saw Drago had come into the room. He put his head back down to run his hands through his hair.
"I don't see her handling this … you. She's too fucked up," Drago said, crossing his arms as he leaned against the far wall.
There was only one option. "She will learn."
Another question from Drago circled the air around him, "Is this girl really worth all this?"
Lucca closed his eyes for just a moment …
Chloe rejected the hand that came toward her. "S-Sorry. I'm germophobic."
"No, I'm sorry," Lake told her, holding up her hands. "If you ever need someone to talk to, I'll listen. I know what it's like to be alone."
Lucca watched the exchange from a distance. He had followed Chloe outside, but Lake, one of his soldier's daughter, had followed her out as well. She must have sensed Chloe's distress, just as he had, as he had watched her during the graduation party.
Before the girl turned, she left Chloe with some final words.
"You shouldn't hide your face. It's beautiful."
He didn't know what to expect from Lake when she had approached Chloe, especially after he had heard the horrors Chloe and Elle had gone through in high school, but he honestly hadn't expected that.
Staring at Chloe now under the lighted gazebo, surrounded by the flowers in bloom, it took his breath away. He had been waiting for this day for months now.
Keeping his distance from her and only watching her from afar was making him crazy. Not once had he been able to talk to her since that last time, but now the time had arrived.
Caging her in like last time, he blocked the entrance with his frame. "Hey, darlin'."
She looked up at him, startled.
Pulling out a cigarette, he placed it between his lips, making the stick bounce as he said, "I hear you're still saying you're a germaphobe. Have you ever thought of telling the truth just once?" He lit the end with his Zippo.
Averting her gaze to the pressure she made in her hands, her soft, unsure voice settled something inside of him. "I-It's not a lie."
Prove it then.
Taking a few steps forward, he stood over her, holding out his hand. "Come on, darlin'; just try it once."
If he still prayed, he would have in this moment. Watching her stare at the hand in front of her, he needed her desperately to just reach out and touch it.
Being too focused on her face, Lucca almost missed it-the slightest movement of her hand moving toward his before she stopped.
"I c-can't."
What she had just done was a sign. She feels it, too. Even if she was ignoring it, there was no denying there was an electrifying pull between them.
His voice took a commanding tone, not wanting any more lies, as he asked, "Why can't you?"
Her eyes met his, looking up through her dark lashes as she whispered her secret, "Because I'm afraid to."
She feared touch. That was something he knew from the beginning, but getting her to admit it to him was something he needed if they were ever going to get her to overcome it one day. He needed her to begin to trust him with her secrets.
He took a seat on the chair in front of her. "That wasn't so bad, darlin'." Taking a hit off his cigarette, he wanted more. "It's summer now, and you're still wearing long sleeves."
She gave no answer, but watching her check their length and pull down the sleeves of her black dress was all he needed to know he had been right again. Not once had he seen her in short sleeves, no matter the weather, which told him she was hiding something beneath the material.
Catching her eyes moving over him showed him some part of her was still intrigued by him.
Wanting to intrigue her even more, he pulled out his Zippo, flipping it open. It didn't take long to charm her with the glow weaving through his fingers.
"Are you going to college?"
"Yes, of course."
He began to weave faster. The importance of this question was something she wasn't going to be able to understand yet. "Where?"
"Stanford … in California." She talked so easy when she was entranced by him, no stuttering.
He shut the lighter off with a flick, having got what he needed. "That's awfully far, darlin'. I guess you do get to keep running." Standing, he looked down at her again, taking in everything he could about her until the next time. It made the wait less painful.
Holding her breath, she didn't move.
The marks on her face had him thinking about what Lake had just told her.
"She is right, you know. Those scars are beautiful."
He had dreamed of touching them every day, and he was envisioning doing it right now. Touch her scar … the darkness whispered.
Walking away from her before he did something he would regret was him walking away from his dreams. For a moment, he had almost felt what it would be like to touch her. For a moment, he had almost felt what it would be like to be with her. It was the most blissful thing he had ever felt in his existence …
Opening his eyes, there was no inkling of a doubt in his mind that, "She will always be."
Twelve
The Freak and the Boogieman
It was now a week since her and Lucca's arrangement had been made, and she had already grown used to the schedule of living there. Her days were spent keeping herself busy with schoolwork, which was surprisingly nice as she spent them alone. Well, as alone as she could be with Drago watching her.
Her fear of being there ceased, and she couldn't even admit it to herself, yet a part of her was learning to be happy. Since her scars, she had feared for her life, not only at school, but her home, too. To be in fear almost every moment of your life for years was something she'd had to grow used to, to keep her sanity. She had almost forgotten what it was like not to feel that way.
Chloe had hoped to achieve that at Stanford, but she still feared being all alone there, surrounded by new people who would stare at her like she was a freak. That didn't happen at Lucca's. She was never stared at nor treated like a freak because … here, with Lucca, I'm just like him. We're both monsters.
The freak and the boogieman.
She didn't mind dinners with him anymore, either. They were quite peaceful in each other's company, and Lucca was a surprisingly good cook. If she didn't have to sit next to him every night, he wouldn't even bother her.
There was only one thing she truly missed, and that was Elle. Yes, she missed Amo, Nero, and even Vincent, too; but she had never been this long without talking to her best friend, and it was starting to get to her.
If Elle were here, it might not be …
Pushing away the thought, she went back to the now finished assignment she had struggled with for hours. She went to submit it when a chat box appeared on her screen.
They are all wrong except for #8. Try again.
What the … ?
Chloe blinked at the screen, seeing if she was just exhausted from working on it all morning. However, the chat box was still there, proving her wrong.
Lucca's friend. The third person who knew she was here.
Ignoring the warning, she went to submit it again when another message came through.
You'll fail the assignment.
Biting her lip, she hovered over the submit button, contemplating. Her answers seemed right to her, but she had struggled a lot through them. She wasn't used to math being taught over the computer, let alone calculus.
She held off submitting just yet, and typed into the chat box, Can you tell me how #1 is wrong?
The problem immediately began to work out in front of her, making her mouth drop open at how fast it was completed. Needless to say, she was wrong.
Typing into the box once more, she quickly responded, Thanks. I'll try again later, before she slammed her laptop closed.
Dang it. Calculus was killing her, and it was becoming too hard for her to understand from over the computer.
Accepting defeat for now, she headed downstairs for some lunch. Once there, she noticed a motion in the backyard that made her curious to look out the back door for a better view.
Chloe peeked out to see Lucca down in the dirt. He seemed to be … gardening?
"I see you finally decided to come down," Drago said in a gruff voice from behind her.
She quickly turned around, nervous that she had been caught staring at Lucca. "I-I came down to g-get something to eat."