by Simone Elise
I shallowed. I had been cold to him all day, making sure not to step over that invisible line we drew; that same line that Chase was pretending didn't exist.
"Maybe I should go get some coffee? Does anyone else want anything?" I asked openly and with that snap of the fingers, all eyes were on me, and all the McKenzie brothers got their answer on why Chase hadn't answered his phone.
It was completely and utterly my fault. I had caused Chase to ignore his family. I had made him miss one very important phone call, or several calls, for all I knew. I didn't know how many times they had attempted to get hold of him.
"We are all fine, Chloe," Chase answered and gave me a forced smile. "Try not to get lost."
"Please. With you McKenzies, I'm starting to get used to be in hospitals." I looked away and made a beeline for the exit. I had just walked out when I heard the questions being fired at Chase.
At least their mother had taught them manners. Manners that Bones didn't have.
I walked down the passageway, having no idea where I was going. Chase's words were ringing in my ears.
"I SAID GET IT OUT!"
"As I explained, Mr. McKenzie, it's important we keep the IV in."
"And I said, screw that, take it out!"
My eyes widened. I knew that voice. I knew it well. I had listened to it for hours on the highway and had let him convince me of slutting it up to impress Chase.
"Oliver?" I poked my head in the room. It was a single room with one bed. The curtain half pulled across, blocking the patient from view.
"Chloe?"
The nurse stepped into view. "Are you a relative?" She gave me a hardened look. I would assume it was because dealing with Oliver can be difficult. I wasn't taking it personally. I opened my mouth to say no when Oliver spoke up.
"She's my darn fiancée, let her in!"
I rolled my eyes. That was so Oliver.
"Fine. You may come in." The nurse ushered me in while pulling back the curtain.
I saw Oliver's leg bandaged, out of the blankets, and lifted with a pillow.
"Oh my God Oliver, are you okay?" I didn't think of how it would look. Instead, I launched myself at him. He was my only friend and seeing him lying there, hurt, just broke something inside me.
He could have got himself killed.
His arms wrapped around me, pulling me in tighter.
"Maybe I should get shot more often?" he joked, but I was not impressed.
He moved over and I slid onto the bed, lying next to him. "That's not funny."
The nurse gave us one more look before leaving.
"She doesn't like me," Oliver whispered in my ear.
"Because you were being difficult."
"I don't like needles."
"Come on, you have thousands of tattoos."
"Yeah, on my chest. I never looked at the tattoo gun."
"So that's why you don't have tattoos on your arms." I arched my eyebrows at him. He was warm, and I curled into his side. His arm fell over my shoulder. "So, you going to tell me what happened?"
I felt like I couldn't bring up the subject, but, at the same time, it was killing me not knowing. I was coming up with a lot of conclusions, and not one of them was good.
He sighed. "Same shit, different day."
"Because you get shot every day. It's such a common thing."
"Come on Chloe, you don't want to know the details."
"Um yeah, I do. Anyway, shouldn't the police be here interviewing you?"
His chest rumbled as he laughed. "Come on, Chloe, don’t be that stupid."
"What?" I turned to look up at him. "Someone gets shot, the police should be there. That's their job."
"I'm a Horseman, Chloe." He said it like it was so obvious I should know what it means.
"So?"
"So when one gets shot, it isn't exactly headline news."
"You mean because you are part of the underworld?"
He laughed again. "Something like that."
"Well, the police still care. You should report it, and why haven't you told me why you got shot?"
Oliver frowned, giving me a stubborn look. I don't know why he wouldn't tell me. Just when he opened his mouth, the door to the room opened.
"See you're alive." Archie was first in, standing tall and giving his brother a half smirk. The rest of them flowed in and it was when Chase's eyes locked with mine that I found myself peeling away from Oliver.
Just as I attempted to get off the bed, Oliver's arm tightened around me. The look on his face said it all. He was doing this to annoy Chase. What was with them? Wanting to make the other jealous? I gave Oliver a look to tell him I knew exactly what he was doing.
"He looks fine to me." Marc swiped the TV remote off the bedside table.
Chase's eyes weren't leaving mine. He had to know there was nothing between Oliver and I apart from a friendship.
"Can't believe we are missing the Grand Final for this." Dan walked around the bed and pulled up a chair, staring up at the television on the wall.
"Yeah, the boys are having a full-on party for it, and we get stuck watching it on the small screen," Declan grumbled.
I remained quiet.
I hadn't noticed it at first, but now I was picking up on the vibes. Oliver’s arm had gone stiff, and even his body felt tense. I then realized that all eyes were on him. Well, apart from Chase's. His eyes were firmly on me.
"Chloe, did you ever go get that coffee?" Chase's words were calm and nice, but I picked up the hidden meaning. This was his way of nicely asking me to leave. They wanted to talk to Oliver, and they sure as hell didn't want me listening.
"Um, no, but I might now." I slid off the bed. "I'll be back." I gave Oliver a half smile, then avoided Chase's eyes as I slipped out of the room.
Chase's Point of View
"Spill it, Oliver." Declan was less than impressed right now, partly because he was missing his beloved Bulldogs play the grand final and that he had spent most of his day in a waiting room. Like most of them, he was pissed.
Sure, the guys were mad with me because I didn't answer, but they were now more interested in why they had been left waiting all day.
We weren't at war with anyone. We were a moving charter which meant we might have enemies, but they didn't know where we were unless, somehow, someone had tracked us down?
Oliver stared blankly at his feet.
"Oliver." I knew I had to be the one to apply pressure. He wasn't going to listen to anyone else.
His eyes shot up "I don't want to talk about."
"Pity we are going to, even if you don't want to. Who shot you?"
"Some nobody."
"Then why?"
"Cause."
"OLIVER!" Marc had his fists clenched. "If you don't start spitting out reasons as to why I've spent the day imagining your death, then I'll finish what that nobody started."
Oliver rolled his eyes. "I got into a fight."
"Now we are getting somewhere," I muttered.
"Why?" Declan asked what we were all thinking.
"It was stupid," he grumbled "And I don't want to talk about it."
"So you got into a fight. How does that end up with a bullet in your leg?" Archie leaned on the end of the bed. "What was the fight over?"
Oliver let out a long sigh and groaned. "It was over Chloe, okay?"
"Chloe? Why?" It was me speaking up this time. Why was he getting into fights over Chloe? More importantly, why was he getting shot over her?
I shut the room door, just in case she was within hearing distance.
Oliver's eyes locked with mine, and I saw the boiling rage in them. It was a common McKenzie trait. We all showed our emotions in our eyes. "He was talking about Chloe like she was something he would just use and spit out. She deserves better. If the old man could just keep his opinions to himself, then the fight wouldn't have started, but no, Bones had to go into detail about what he wan
ted to do to her so yeah, I threw a couple of punches and when he couldn't get me off him, he fired his gun."
"Bones?. Bones shot you?" Marc said it like he was questioning if he had heard it correctly.
"Yeah, then he brought me to the hospital." Oliver leaned his head back against the pillow. "So there, now you know. You can all stop looking at me like I'm insane."
"You didn't need to start a fight over it." I crossed my arms. "Bones wouldn't have gone anywhere near her."
"How do you know that? You know how on edge Chloe is around other males. She doesn't trust any of them. If Bones had played the father card and lured her in, she would have been done for. Anyway, who else is going to stand up for her?"
ME! Who had been looking after her since day one? Me. Who would keep looking after her. Me.
"She would have been fine." I held his eyes. "I wouldn't have let anything happen."
Oliver scoffed.
"What, you think I would let that dirty old man put his hands on her?"
"No. All I'm saying is any of you," he looked around the room pointedly, "Would have done the same thing so stop grilling me about it."
I would have done the same thing. I couldn't say the same for the rest of them.
Declan nodded his head. "Fine. Let's watch the game."
That was the McKenzie way of saying this conversation was over.
***
The game was over and the boys were getting ready to head back to the clubhouse.
"Anyone noticed Chloe didn't come back?" Oliver looked around the room, and then looked directly at me. "Bit strange if you ask me."
"Maybe she didn't find coffee." Marc shrugged his shoulders.
"Or she went to make it herself," Oliver grumbled.
"Don't worry, I'll look for her on the way out." I settled the conversation. To be honest, I had been waiting for her to come back the whole time. Just watching that door, waiting for it to open.
Waiting to see her face. I didn't want her to know what happened with Oliver. Knowing Chloe, she would feel terrible about it.
She was sensitive like that.
She hadn't realized that she had made a huge impact on us McKenzies – big enough for Oliver to take a bullet.
"I'll catch you guys back at the clubhouse." I opened the door and looked up and down the hallway. It was dead now and not busy like it was when we came in. I walked up the hallway to the waiting room and, sure enough, there she was.
I could only see the back of her head as she stared out the windows.
"Chloe?"
Her head snapped around, her eyes wide. I had clearly disturbed whatever she was thinking. Those deep blue eyes were stunning and, as she looked at me for answers, I couldn't help but look at her with amazement. Did she know how pretty she was?
"Sorry, didn't mean to disturb you." I apologized and walked in, taking the seat next to her. I noticed the magazines to her side and two empty coffee cups. "You didn't come back."
"I sort of took the closed door as a sign." She gave me a small smile. "How's Oliver?"
I shouldn't have shut the door. "He is fine. Takes more than a bullet to kill a McKenzie."
"Did he tell you why he was shot? He closed up on me about it." She looked worried, which was exactly what I was trying to avoid. I didn't want her to be upset by this.
What was an answer I could give that would settle this?
"It's club business." I finally gave her. It was true. I would have to have a word with Bones about it, but I knew Oliver was in the wrong, so I couldn't do much.
Her face went from stunned to a blank of expression. Finally, she turned away and stared out the window. I had clearly disappointed her, but this was something she was better off not knowing. I was doing it for her.
"Oh," she said, and then kept her eyes forward. What was she thinking? She might have thought that I wouldn't keep things from her but when it came down to it, I was keeping it from her for her own safety. She would feel like shit if she knew the truth and then would blame herself.
"We are heading back to the clubhouse, you ready to go?"
She dragged her eyes off the windows and looked at me with an expression I hadn't seen before. "Sure." She got up, picked up the coffee cups and walked them to the bin. "Should I say goodbye to Oliver?"
"He'll be fine."
“Okay then." She frowned, her eyebrows arching. "Let's go."
I got up, and she was quick to walk in front of me. She was mad. She didn't even have to say it. I could tell from her body language; the way she had her arms crossed and was rocking on her feet as we waited for the elevator. Also, the way she wouldn't make eye contact and made sure she was a good couple of feet away from me, even in the elevator.
I sighed. How was I going to fix this? I couldn't tell her the truth. I was so close to having her, but yet so far.
***
It was late and as much as I hated to admit it, I had been avoiding going to bed. Chloe went to bed as soon as we got back. I attempted to try and make her eat something, but she was being stubborn and said no.
So while I was finishing my whiskey, I knew I couldn't put it off any longer.
Hopefully she would be asleep. At least then we could put off the argument until I was sober.
I bumbled my way up the stairs. Why were there so many stairs? I was dragging my feet up the hallway, my eyes zoned in on my door. She would be asleep by now. She would have to be as it was after midnight.
The boys were still celebrating the Bulldogs’ win.
I cracked open the door and, to my surprise, it was empty.
Where the hell was she?
Her stuff was still beside the bed. Her laptop was plugged in. I didn't see her leave, and I would have seen her leave. She would have had to go through the main bar.
Okay, if she wasn't here and she was pissed off with me, where would she go?
It took me a couple of seconds, and I wanted to slap myself in the face for not thinking of it earlier.
Oliver's room.
Closing my bedroom door, I walked farther up the hall. For her sake, I hoped she hadn't locked it because that would mean I would be breaking down a door to see her tonight. Kicking in a door didn't bother me.
Why wasn't I just letting her blow off steam? Why wasn't I just going to bed and letting the liquor leave my system?
Because we had had a good day. We were moving in the right direction, and I wasn't going to let my stupid little brother ruin that on me.
I twisted the doorknob and found it to be unlocked.
Opening the door, there she was sitting in the middle of the bed, reading. Her hair was up in a bun. She had a serious expression on her face and was looking like she wasn't happy to see me.
"What do you want, Chase?"
"Ditching me to sleep in one of my brothers’ bed. Seems a bit childish, Chloe."
"You and I both know Oliver isn't here so I don't see the harm." She gave me a smug expression. "So goodnight, Chase."
"Screw that for ending the conversation."
"Fine, what do you want?" She slammed her book closed. Where did she even get a book from?
"You're angry at me."
"No. No, I'm not."
"Then why the sudden room change and cold shoulder?"
Her eyes narrowed and if you could feel the temperature in the room, you would say it dropped a good ten degrees as she stared at me.
"Maybe it's club business." She spat the words out. "Or maybe it's my business which would mean it isn't any of yours."
"Yeah come on, get it all out, Chloe."
She glared at me. "What? It is okay for you to keep things from me, but when I don't want to tell you something, you act like I'm having a tantrum?"
"I told you, Chloe, it’s club business. I can't tell you."
Holding her chin high. "Oliver was going to tell me."
I laughed, "No. No, he wasn't."
"Ho
w do you know? Oliver doesn't keep things from me, unlike you."
"Chloe, since I met you, all I've been is honest."
She held my eyes for a few moments longer. Finally, she looked away from me. "I don't have anything more to say to you."
"Good, then you can come to bed."
"I am in bed."
"Chloe."
"Chase." She mimicked back.
This woman was going to be the death of me or the death of someone because I was going to have to take my frustration out somewhere.
"Fine, stay here."
"I will."
"Seeing you like to share Oliver's bed so much, I’m surprised you even left the hospital. Why didn't you just stay there with him?"
"You have a point." She wouldn't look at me, but she sure as hell was raising my temper.
"Do you love him?"
"We already had this conversation." She looked up, and the hurt on her expression had me taking a step back. "I told you no, just like how I told you I didn't trust men. Want to know why I don't trust men? Because they are all liars. Look at you, you are lying to me and you don't even deny it."
"Not telling you something isn't lying."
"Yeah, you're right, that’s called hiding. Night, Chase, close the door behind you." She slid down the bed and pulled the blankets over her, turning her back on me.
Fine, I'd give her tonight but tomorrow, I wasn't letting her push me away. I flicked off the lights and closed the door, making sure to lock it. Last thing I wanted was one of my drunk brothers wandering into Oliver's room to crash for the night.
Chapter 25
Chloe's Point of View
Men. They can't be trusted. They would hurt you, they would lie and then they would smash your heart when you least expected it.
Chase was no different. If anything, he was worse. He was a biker and a criminal. I should have known better. My heart should have known better; it didn’t then, but it does now.
I didn't know how his world worked. I didn't understand the `club business` line. I didn't get it and still couldn't get it.
I stepped out of the shower of the en-suite. I should have grabbed my stuff last night and moved out of his room altogether, but no, I didn't think that far ahead. I was sure Oliver wouldn't care about sharing a room. At least with him I knew where I stood. Well, I thought I did.