He waved at the poles, “no, you’re right, it’s every man’s god damn business because I was right. You’re a friggin whore!”
I opened my mouth in disbelief and he turned his back to me. I want to state that I know self-defense and I’m good, but if a guy sucker punches you in the eye like Brandon just turned on his heel and did, you’re still going to fall down.
He decked me so hard I went flying back into the mirrored wall and hit my head so solid I felt like passing out but didn’t. When my body processed what happened I started to shake a little and Brandon turned and speed-walked out.
First a wrist now this…
Guess I shouldn’t try my luck at the lottery anytime soon.
Chapter Sixteen
MOSES
I came into her studio and passed the empty classrooms feeling strangely excited to see her then take her home. I had Goliath waiting in the car because we were headed to my house, not hers.
I’m not evaluating the texts we had a moment ago. She’s my best friend and we love each other but there is a strange feel to things lately.
I was a few feet from her door when I spotted a familiar face walking out. Took my mind a minute but when he bumped my shoulder scurrying out I remembered with clarity. Brandon.
My body considered turning around and following him out so I could fold him up to fit in a match box but my head told me to keep walking.
I came through her door and looked back as I spoke, “was that Brandon? Tell me you aren’t getting back together with-.”
When I saw Chloe laid out on the floor and the red spot on the mirror I felt an actual snap coming. It was shaking up my whole body like a volcano and the lava of retaliation was coagulating in my core.
I bulleted her way as she was trying to push herself up but she was out of it and her heels kept slipping.
“What happened?” My own voice made me feel eerie because it was a whole other kind of deep. “Are you alright? Talk to me,” when I put my hand behind her head I felt the hot wetness of her blood where she’d hit the glass.
“I’m just dizzy.”
I looked her over but when I saw the shiner developing on her eye the snap happened and the volcano didn’t just erupt, it blew sky high. Katie being grinded by Chad made me sick and the lie made me upset enough to hit a door a few times but this? This was Chloe. This was my girl and my family.
“Moses.” Her voice was like that of a Lion tamer’s but mine was already loose as I shot to my feet. “Moses!” She tried to grab me but I was gone.
CHLOE
“Moses! Don’t!” I slugged myself onto my hands and knees then worked my way to my feet but by time newborn Bambi here was up, Moses was out of sight. Fuck my spinning head!
I moved quick to catch up, but I had to touch the wall every so often because the pounding in my head was bad.
I made it to the outside doors just as Moses caught up with Brandon. Brandon had just sat in his car with the door still open when Moses grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked him out.
“Moses!” Yelling made me go owe, owe, owe over the ache in my head but Moses is so angry I don’t even recognize him.
I thought Brandon was a nice size man but next to Moses, he looked like a teen. Moses delivered a blow to Brandon’s eye that made me wince. I now know what that feels like.
This was followed by Brandon regaining a wee bit of sense, well…it was stupid but we’ll call it sense. He started to fight back.
I hate girly roles but I’m in a classic one right now. The one where the girl has to stand and watch while she shouts, ‘oh no,’ ‘stop,’ or ‘please.’ However, Moses always taught me never to get too close to guys in a deadlock like this. They’re in a mode and you’ll get hurt.
Problem is Moses now had Brandon on his back and he’s holding him by the neck of his undershirt so he can connect fist with face over and over.
“Moses! Stop! Stop!” I’m not sure if he heard me or decided on his own to quit but he let go and stood over Brandon. “He’s not worth it,” I said coming to his side.
Moses was beat looking but unhurt when he said, “no...he’s not, but you are.” He looked at me for a second then bent to confront a pretty battered Brandon, “you touch her again…” he didn’t say anything. I was expecting words but the look he gave Brandon for a whole three seconds felt like three terrifying minutes did the trick. Even I was spooked.
He stood and turned me around. He led us back in so he could grab my stuff then took me to his car. He didn’t even let me turn the lights out in the studio.
In the car, he was silent in an icy way. Goliath licked at my shoulder from the back seat and got my tender eye but it was welcome affection.
When we got to Moses’ cabin he opened my door but I had to lean on him to get from the car to the house in my platforms. These aren’t jogging shoes.
He tossed my stuff down on his table and I sat on his sofa. He did a bunch of stuff in his kitchen. I’m not sure yet, he hasn’t spoken to me.
When he charged into the living room he set his hands on his hips and stared down at me. “I want the truth.” He started and I swallowed. “He ever do this before?” Before I could answer he interrupted. “The truth! Did he ever hit you before tonight?”
I licked my dry lips. “No.”
He watched me like he didn’t believe me then tilted my chin up. He mumbled things then went to his freezer and came back with a cold pack. He sat against the arm on the sofa and put one long leg up behind me and patted the cushion.
I went to lay across the couch, up against his chest but slumped down to the middle of his chest so he could put the cold pack over my eye. He checked the back of my head but the bleeding was stopping. I unhooked my heels and let them fall then called for Goliath. He knew he couldn’t fit so he laid in a content heap beside us on the floor.
I shivered a bit and Moses shifted to see me. “Cold?”
“Yeah.”
He pulled a multi-colored blanket from the back of his sofa and covered me and his legs. I’m still in my workout clothes but now I’m comfy.
“Is it going to look bad?” I asked.
He came back from a far off place in his head and checked under the ice pack. “Yeah.”
I wish I hadn’t asked.
“How’s the back of your head?” he asked.
“Throbbing a bit but you said it’s not bleeding anymore.”
I fell asleep not long after and woke up around 2am with my head in his lap. He’s still awake and he’s stroking my hair back. It feels amazing. He felt me move and paused while I adjusted my head. I rolled from my side to my back and looked up at him.
His attention was on my black eye. It must be bad because then he said, and I’ll never forget. “Any man lays a hand on you again, and I’m going to jail. You understand?”
It gave me goosebumps. It gave me chills. I could see in the tame and usually kind eyes of my Moses that he was dead serious and that this was a dark side of him that foreshadowed the calm and collective one.
I nodded and took his hand and he held it tight. This isn’t a romantic moment. It’s a bonding one. Friendship between a guy and a girl is a whole other kind of love. It’s not romance and it’s not family but it looks like both. Unless one of them is in love. Then it looks like lonely. This right now is just love. Pure un-zoned, un-labeled love.
I love him. I love Moses.
As September rolled around I felt us get closer something about his touch is different since that night, he lingers and he’s attentive. So I’ve made the decision to tell him the truth. He hasn’t heard a peep from Jenzy so we both assume she’s gone back to her husband Chris.
Moses is closer to being himself regardless and Brianna is bugging me to try.
“Go biking with me.” That’s what I woke up to in my apartment. Moses in my face like a kid on Christmas morning.
I stretched under his gaze and Goliath got on my low bed to lick at my face then lay up against me.
I
frowned up at Moses because my eyes won’t open yet. “You are so annoyingly a morning person.”
He laughed and bent to press his nose to mine. This is the touching thing I noticed. I pulled the covers over my mouth but kept our noses connected.
He did the eye argument so close to my face my eyes crossed. “I wanna go biking. New trail. Must go.” He said in a zombie voice.
I laughed, “back up or I’ll bring the sheet down and breath in your face.”
“Your morning breath isn’t so bad. You brush before bed and all.”
I laughed and pushed at his chest but he didn’t budge. “I kinda need a minute to like, feel alive.”
He kept his place nose to nose with me then withdrew. I made my way to the bathroom while he made coffee in sweat pants and a tank that displayed his amazing arms.
I saw in the mirror when I closed the door that my black eye was really clearing up. After showering and getting a towel wrapped around me I felt awkward going out for my clothes. I’ve always done this but now I feel self-conscious.
I slipped out there and grabbed underwear and a biking outfit.
But then he turned around. “Hey, come get coffee and try this bacon, it’s turkey.”
We walk around half naked all the time. This really isn’t a big deal, but here we go again. I’m reading between the lines and feeling awkward.
I went over and poured myself a cup in my tiny kitchen and he had to squeeze by for the tongs to flip the bacon. This meant pressing into my back and ass and the scent of him made me instantly horny.
He brought me a piece of bacon and held it to my mouth so I guess I have to eat it. The taste of his fingers was better than the bacon.
“Like sex right?” He asked.
I choked on the last bite but pretended to be fine, “what?”
“Bacon. It’s awesome, and I’m sorry but you can’t tell it’s turkey. Either way, bacon is like sex, it’s the best.” He went over and flipped the ones still frying.
“Typical man, to equate sex to a meat.” I laughed. “Guys can make anything about sex.”
“Nah,” he turned over the bacon again and shrugged. “It’s just been a while.”
I perked up hearing this and sipped my coffee. “Since Jenzy?”
He picked up his own mug, “she and I never got that far.”
I felt my jaw swing behind the cup but then pulled it back, “all those months and no…?”
“She wasn’t really ready. I respect that. I guess I see why if she’s back with him.” He looked wounded by the direction of this conversation and he was over frying the bacon.
I pushed him out of the way with my hip, “move over, I like dicks hard, not my bacon.” I took them off the heat and he laughed.
“How many guys have you been with?”
This question made my eyes bulge. He can’t see my face because he’s behind me now but really? Did we need to tread here?
“I don’t know. I don’t keep score.” I said to get him off it.
He turned a chair backward and straddled it to face me. “I’ve had…twelve women. Not counting girls I made out with heavily.”
I nodded while I slapped new slices on the pan. I feel as grilled as this meat, “good for you.”
“Come on Chloe I told you, now tell me.”
I rolled my eyes, “I don’t remember.”
“Bull shit.”
I sighed. “It’s not something I want to share.”
“Why?”
I thought on how to word it. “I stripped when I was younger and I liked the dancing but maybe not the stripping. Strip teases like what I did for you is different. There’s still some mystery but stripping completely is kind of like what the name implies. You strip inside too. There’s no mystery. I guess my number of partners is what I consider my mystery.”
He was quiet behind me and that made me nervous. He’s either assuming I’m a big whore that’s been with a stadium full of men or I’m a closet prude that’s had like next to nothing. Either way, I feel exposed a little and here I am, in a towel.
I didn’t even hear him move but in a second he was behind me and hugging me to him, “I’m sorry I got nosey.”
His arms are just under my breasts and the towel is rubbing my nipples so my mind is gone. I don’t really hear him. “Okay.” I manage.
He kissed the side of my head and I closed my eyes. So it’s officially time to tell him. “So,” I started to say and my body trembled with effort. This felt very wrong. “Speaking of sex…and ex’s.” He let go and fed Goliath a slice of bacon. “Do you ever…?” Ugh, I’m slaughtering this moment. “Like… with… you know how-.”
He came to lean on the counter and watch my face while he listened. That was my ruin. He’s too gorgeous and he’s looking at me, and I’m naked. “What’s up?” he asked.
I swallowed hard. “Well, I’m a girl,” this is hurting, it’s that bad. “And…you’re a guy.”
He laughed, “good guess.”
I laughed in a strained way and tucked my hair behind my ear. “Do you ever feel-.”
“The heat, Chloe…”
I stopped and felt relieved. “Yeah. Yeah, the heat. You feel it too?”
“No, step back.”
I frowned, “well can we at least talk about it? Don’t just brush me off.”
“Chloe!”
I looked at him with daggers to see that he was focused on my towel and in fairly good time he snatched it off my body and tossed it down to stomp out the budding flames I hadn’t seen making their way up. It came too close to the burner.
Around the time the last stomp was made I realized I was naked. Moses looked up after his fireman rescue and stared blatantly at my body. I want to say a stunned silence and staring session went down for about one whole minute. He was glued to my body and I was shocked so I kept standing there.
“Stop looking!” I said when I snapped out of it.
He moved his head to the side but kept his eyes on me, “I’m trying. I’m not. I mean I don’t want to. I’m sorry.” He tossed the kitchen towel at me while staring at the ceiling.
“I’m not a twelve inch tall Barbie Moses! I need more than that!” I said as I scurried into the bathroom, grabbing my clothes along the way. That was a disaster. So no telling him in the moment.
We drove to the park Moses wanted to try out and on the way we stayed on totally opposite sides of the car to the point where we were pressed against the glass of our windows. We wouldn’t look at one another and the memory kept playing in my head. Why did he look at my body like that? He’s walked in on me in the past and stuff but he usually shielded his eyes asap, pretended not to see anything or helped me cover with something.
Seeing his face in my mind when he ripped off my towel suddenly made me laugh. It started as a closed mouth giggle, then forced my lips apart.
He looked over at me and caught my case of laughter. I’m very certain he’s thinking about it too. After we laughed for a good five minutes, uncontrollably the weirdness was gone. He got our bikes off the rack and we headed out on the trail. It’s long and the park is lush, it’s perfect. As we biked I and the conversation flowed I thought about it again.
“Hey Moses,” I began. “Would you date a woman that did something like me?”
We took a wide turn and he frowned at me. “What? The dancing?”
“Well, I used to strip. Would you date someone like me that’s done things like that?”
He thought for a minute, “I’m not dating one of your buddies from the club days.”
“I’m not setting you up. Just answer.”
“I don’t know. I’d have to meet her.”
“Say she’s just like me.”
He let me take the lead on my bike then started, “I really can’t say, Chloe. I don’t have a problem with what you do. So I can say the dancing wouldn’t bother me. Neither would the stripping. Even if she still did it. As long as she wasn’t doing it because she felt like she had to.”
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I prodded deeper, “it wouldn’t bother you on some other level that she took her clothes off for other men before you?”
He sat back on his bike and slowed our pace, “I’ve slept with other women before her so what’s the difference?”
“And if she did it while you were together? Not the stripping but the dancing. Like me?”
“As long as she’s happy, I don’t care. Men are going to look if she’s hot. Going down the street, while she’s at work, when she goes swimming, men are going to notice her and think things. A pole might give them better images but what they think isn’t my problem. As long as she’s safe, and she likes doing what she does and she’s loyal.”
I fell a little harder. I might have even bruised on my way down the rabbit hole of love because he’s saying the things I’ve been praying a guy would say.
I came up alongside him, “I need to tell you something. I’m not sure how you’ll feel but…”
“You can tell me anything.” He said. Just then we came to a really narrow path and stopped. He handed me his water, “but first, this path is tricky are you up to it?”
I eyed it, “my legs are a little worn out, can we take the easy way?”
“Tell you what. I need the ride, so you go the quick route and I’ll meet you at the cars. You can tell me everything going on in your head.”
I’m a little happy with the put-off. I’m feeling like I need a pep talk. “Okay.”
“Hey,” he pinched my chin and turned my face to him. “I mean it. Don’t worry how I’ll act. You can tell me anything.”
I nodded then watched him take off. I went the easy straight way then called Brianna. She picked up on the third ring. “Hola!”
I laughed, “hey, I’m going to tell him.”
She squealed like a high school prom girl, “Yay! I’m so excited! Record it! No, leave the phone on.”
I laughed, “I think I’ll just make it private.” I bit my lip, “I’m scared.”
“Don’t be! Chloe, Moses loves you even if he doesn’t know how yet. This isn’t some big scary thing. You just tell the truth and move on regardless of the reaction.”
The Friend Zone (The Relationship Quo Series Book 2) Page 14