16. Elias

My phone rings,and I’m a little disgruntled by the distraction. I’ve tried to get caught up on work all morning, but I haven’t been able to concentrate. I know it’s not Chloe because she’s teaching a class right now, but I look at the caller ID anyway and see it’s Davis.

It rings again, and I debate on answering it. I’ve been expecting this call. Probably because I’ve ignored all his other ones, and he’s not the type to give up. “Hello,” I answer gruffly.

“My man! Finally decided to answer the phone, huh?”

“What’s up, Davis? I have a lot going on.”

He laughs into the phone, not the least bit offended by my attitude. “Uh, yeah, hell no. That ain’t going to work. My wife has been on me since the night you walked Chloe home. I’m supposed to find out what your intentions are and all that shit.”

I wait for the feeling of overwhelm to come over me, but it never comes. I understand Abby is worried about her friend, and I’m glad she’s got friends like that. But this is definitely not something I’m going to talk about to Davis. “My intentions?” I stall.

He laughs again. “Yeah, you know. Abby said Chloe told her you guys are just friends, but I’m not buying it. You said she was the one.”

I tune out everything after he says ‘Chloe said you guys are just friends.’ I’m not sure why that bothers me so much, but it does. I’ve already been trying my best to abide by her rules and keep things ‘fun’ and ‘no expectations,’ but this is like a knife to the gut.

“Elias! Hey man, you still there?”

I shake my head and blurt out, “How did you let it go, Davis? The past I mean, how did you let it go and find a way to move on?”

“Uuuuhhh…” Davis says. I know I’ve stumped him. I’m not a guy that says much, and I’ve caught him off guard with this question.

“Forget it. Look, I gotta go. I need to get some stuff done—”

He cuts me off. “I haven’t forgot about it. I still think about it every day. I think about Randall every day, and I think about each of us in that moment, every fuckin’ day.”

“But Abby—” I start, and I don’t even have to explain because he continues.

“I tried to protect her from it. I didn’t want her to see that side of all the things. I wanted her to know the good man inside me… not the tormented one.”

“But how… I mean…”

I don’t know how to explain what I’m asking, but he gets it all the same.

“She didn’t let me hide, Elias. I thought I’d never recover, and I had all that shit held inside. She loved me. Bum leg, scars, all the inner shit I deal with… she just loved me through it.”

I run my hand through my hair as I think about Chloe saying she wants to just have fun and no expectations. “Well, you’re a lucky man, Davis.”

“Shit man, you could have this too. You know you could. You just have to let her in.”

“Yeah,” I agree even though I know it’s not as easy as that. Chloe and I have a past, and I fuckin’ destroyed her. I’ll never have her trust again. “Yeah, look, thanks for listening to me. I gotta go.”

I hang up before he can say anything else. I grab my laptop and stuff it into my bag. I’ve got nothing done sitting here all morning, so I’m going to change locations. The need to see Chloe is overwhelming, and before I realize it, I find myself outside of Work It Out. I’m sitting on the bench, facing the big windows, and my laptop is open on my legs.

It’s not ideal, and my back won’t allow me to work like this all day, but at least being close to her gives me some comfort.

When the door opens and people come out, I know the class is over. It’s not long after that when Chloe comes out and meets me at my bench. I set my laptop down and slide over for her to sit down beside me.

She’s breathless, the little hairs around her neck are wet, and her face is flushed. “What are you doing out here, Elias?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to be close, ya know?”

She shakes her head. “I haven’t seen Ronnie in a bit. He finally got the hint; you really don’t have to worry about him.”

I could just let her think that’s why I’m sitting out here, but I come clean instead. “That’s not why I’m here. I wanted to see you.”

Her whole face lights up. “You did?”

She seems surprised, and that blows my mind a little. How can she not have an inkling how I feel about her? “Yeah. I’m not sure how to explain it, but I needed to see you.”

She’s about to respond when two older women walk up. They just walked out of the gym, and they’re telling Chloe what a good class it was.

Chloe turns to me with a smile. “Janet and Rachel… this is my friend, Elias. Elias, this is Janet and Rachel. They are regulars at Work It Out.”

I stand up and give each of them a shake of my hand. They preen under the attention, and the whole time I’m hanging on to the thought that Chloe just introduced me as her friend… again.

When the two ladies walk away, Chloe’s laughing. “Well, you’ve made their day.”

But I’m not looking at the two older women, I’m watching Chloe. “Friend, huh?”

She shifts in her seat. “We’re friends, right?”

I give her one nod as I stare into her eyes, wishing I could read what she’s thinking right now.

She shrugs. “I figure that’s the easiest. So when you leave again—well—you know…”

Her voice trails off, and I want to tell her that I’ll never leave again, but I can’t promise her that. I have commitments. Life and death commitments.

She stands up. “I better get back to it.”

“Chloe, wait.”

I stand up and reach for her, and automatically, our fingers thread together. She came out here with a smile on her face, and now that smile is gone.

“Do you understand how sorry I am? If I could go back and do things differently, I would.”

She tenses, searching my face. “What do you mean?”

“I wouldn’t have hurt you, that’s for sure.”

She puts her hand to my cheek, and I lean into her touch. “I know.”

I’m completely on edge by the way she looks at me. “Can I ask you something?”

She nods.

I focus on the words, and they hurt even asking her. “What do you see when you look at me?” I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. What I want to ask her is if she could imagine waking up to me every morning, but I don’t have the guts to say it.

With a soft smile, she answers, “I see you, Elias. A good, honorable man.”

“But…”

She cuts me off by smiling and shaking her head. She traces her fingers across the scar on my face. I don’t flinch, I don’t react, I just stay perfectly still appreciating the touch she gives me. “I know what you want me to say. It would be easier for you if I said I saw your scars because in your mind that’s all people see when they look at you. But that’s not what I see. I don’t even see the scars when I look at you.”

She traces her fingers under my eyes. “I see your big blue eyes.”

She then traces the rim of my lips. “When you smile, I see your heart, Elias. And you think it’s hidden, but it’s not.”

I put my hands at her waist. “You mean that, don’t you? My scars don’t bother you, do they?”

She leans in and presses her body to mine with her arms looped around my neck. “I hate that you were hurt. I hate the pain that you’ve gone through and continue to go through. But no, when I look at you, I only see you.”

I lean down and kiss her. It’s not like any kiss we’ve shared. It’s slow and patient, deep and lasting. I put my all into that kiss, wishing I could tell her everything I want to say to her. It’s a car horn that pulls me out of my trance and reminds me we’re on the street in downtown Whiskey Run. I brush a stray hair off her face. “Are you wanting to hide me, Chloe?”

Her lips are swollen. “Hide you?”

I nod, tracing my finger along her lips. “Yeah, this thing between us. You want to hide it?”

She almost looks dazed as she stares back at me. “No.”

“You know we’re more than friends, right?”

She bites on to her lips and nods.

I lean in and kiss her forehead and whisper. “So you’re okay if people know about us?”

She closes her eyes, savoring the kiss. “Yeah, I’m fine with it. Do you want to hide me?”

“No,” I tell her without any qualms. “I want the fuckin’ world to know you’re mine.”

She opens her eyes, and I can see all the questions she has without her even having to ask them. I gesture with my head to the front window of her gym. She looks and gasps when she sees all the women standing at the front window watching us. Some are laughing, some are clapping, but there’s no doubt that every one of them is enjoying the show.

I whisper against her ear, “The whole town will hear about you making out in the street by this evening.”

She turns and blinks up at me. “Well, we’d better give them a show then.”

My brows lift in surprise, but there’s no way I’m turning down what she’s offering. I put my thumb on her chin and seal my mouth over hers. She moans, and I deepen the kiss. Call me selfish, call me anything you want, but I’m not passing up this chance to make sure everyone knows Chloe is mine.