We got back to my house and Mina emerged on her own from the car. Max was trying to get her to let him help but she just kept telling him to fuck off and stumbled into the house. I couldn’t hold back my laugh, even after Max shot me a nasty glare. I opened the back door of my car and saw Roni . Max rushed up quickly to the door, cutting me off.
"I got her," he said and grabbed her before I could protest, not that I was going to. Besides, if I was going to be honest with him and myself, I knew that getting Chloe into my arms, if only to feel that spark for a small minute, was what I was hoping for. I went around my car and retrieved Chloe, cradling her in my arms. Her head rolled to rest on my shoulder and I could smell her; it was invigorating. I inhaled deep, shook it off and walked her to Mina’s room.
Roni and Max weren’t in Mina’s room when I lay Chloe down by Mina. I couldn’t help but slide my fingers over her cheek and jaw before leaving them to sleep. The spark seemed to ignite brighter as I moved against her skin.
I walked to the spare room, where Max was staying, and saw him lying on the bed with Roni in his arms. He had his face buried in her hair and his arm around her tightly, holding her as close to him as possible. I didn’t say a word, walking away from the room with a strange feeling gnawing at the pit of my stomach and my fingers were still tingling. I knew then this feeling I was having towards Max and Roni was jealousy.
Chapter Nine
Chloe Gates
Leo
Sleep did not come easy last night and I was up earlier than I would have liked. I got up, showered and headed to the kitchen for coffee. My Dad was sitting next to my mother drinking coffee and talking between the two of them. They were really the ideal couple to mirror your relationship after. I don’t know if I could, or would, ever find that with someone. My relationships always seemed to flat-line after a month or two.
"Good morning," my mother smiled brightly. "Did you sleep well?"
I pulled the mug down from the cabinet and poured coffee into it before answering. "I guess." I shrugged.
"Do you want some breakfast?" She stood and headed to the refrigerator.
"No, don’t worry about it. I can cook for myself. Sit down and relax." I leaned over and kissed her cheek.
"Nonsense, the girls will be hungry this morning after their late night…"
"If they aren’t too hung over" Robert chuckled as he looked at the paper. I laughed.
"Well, at least Chloe will eat. She’s out running and always comes back ready to eat, especially when I make my strawberry pancakes." Mom rebutted and reached for all the ingredients.
Chloe was out running? Damn, I should’ve gotten up earlier. She wouldn't be underage forever, even if my dick felt differently. What is the harm in being friends with her? Even if half the time I wanted to strip her of clothes and mark her as mine.
"Hello…Leo?" Dad waved his hands in my face.
"Huh?"
"We lost you there for a second, didn’t we?" He laughed. I smiled sheepishly and took another sip of coffee. "I was wondering if you could take a look at my laptop for me. I’ve tried everything but can’t figure out why it keeps locking up when I try to access the hospital database."
"Sure." I followed him to his office. There was a sea of folders, case files and papers all over his desk and chairs. "Jesus, Dad, I’m surprised that Mom hasn’t killed you for this mess." I sat down at the desk, placed my coffee on his desk and started checking over his computer.
After about twenty minutes, I sighed and sat back frustrated. "No luck?" Dad asked. I shook my head.
"Maybe you should call your IT person at the hospital. I think it’s probably something to do with the hospital database." I pushed back from the desk.
"I put a call in this morning but no return call yet," he huffed. "I was hoping to work on a couple of things this morning and get them out of the way, but that’s alright. What time are you guys heading back today? Will you be around for dinner?"
Just as I was about to answer, Mom appeared in the doorway, "Get it all taken care of?" She smiled as if she already knew that we hadn’t. We both shook our head.
"Then it’s probably good that I have summoned reinforcements." She smiled as she walked into the room and wrapped her arms around my father.
"Reinforcements?" I raised my eyebrow.
"Yep." She winked at me then at my dad.
"Elaine, what reinforcements…." Dad was cut off by Chloe’s appearance in the doorway. She came to a stop as soon as she saw that we were all looking at her. "Ah! Reinforcements! Elaine, you’re a genius!" He kissed her head then walked over to Chloe explaining the problem he was having.
"Chloe is the ‘reinforcement’?" I was confused. Elaine chuckled and shooed me out of the desk chair.
Chloe sat down and started going through the same things that I had already done. "I already did all that. It won’t work." I wasn’t stupid when it came to computers, I knew the basics. Chloe looked up at me and smirked.
"Okay, so tell me what you already did then?" She cocked one eyebrow at me.
So I did. "I told him to just wait for his IT department to call." I smiled at her.
"Okay." That was all she said and then she went back to work on the computer. I glanced to my mother who was eyeing me and holding in laughter. I was missing something. "Give me two minutes, I’ll be right back." Chloe spoke as she got up and headed for the door. She turned back, halfway through the door. "I need to get something from my house and then I should have you back up and running in no time." She looked at me and smirked then headed out.
"Someone tell me what I am missing?" I looked straight at my mother who was smiling.
"Oh honey, have you forgotten everything from when you were living here?" She chuckled.
My father spoke next. "Chloe is like a computer genius. She already does amazing things for the school and local companies."
Just as he finished, Chloe walked back in with another laptop and a small box in her hands. She sat down, plugged her laptop and the small box into Robert’s and then looked up at us. "Give me about fifteen minutes to run some diagnostics then, if I’m right, you will be back online." She smiled and then put her head back down while her fingers graced the keys.
"I’m going to go start the pancakes." Mom announced as she left the room.
I couldn’t take my eyes off of her fingers as they moved across the keys. They were so swift and determined, the look on her face was pure determination.
"What’s going on?" Mina grumbled as she walked in and plopped down in one of the chairs.
"Chloe is rescuing my computer." Robert smiled and took another sip of coffee.
"Uh-huh" Mina yawned. "Leave it to Gates over there to be geeked out already." She laughed lightly, but stopped quickly when she saw Chloe scowling at her.
"Maybe I’ll just forget to work on your stuff today, little miss smarty pants." I watched her smile at Mina. God, I wanted to lick her lips.
Mina shot her a look of pretend horror. "Oh, please, Chloe…don’t. Please don’t make me live any longer without my touch screens and new programming." Mina had the back of her hand on her forehead and pretended to faint in the chair. I was laughing.
Chloe was trying not to laugh. "Robert, cover your ears," Chloe ordered. "Look Tramp, I’m not doing anything for you ever again." She winked at Mina and went back to the laptops in front of her.
"Okay, Mina, leave her alone so she can fix my computer." Dad shooed Mina out.
"Fine, I’ll just go talk to my one and only best friend…RONI!" Mina giggled.
"She can have you! I’m not friends with sluts!" Chloe shouted back and then turned quickly to Robert. "Sorry." she blushed. God could she get any fucking cuter?!
"It’s fine, Chloe. I’m well aware of how you girls talk to each other." He chuckled and went to stand next to Chloe, watching her.
About ten minutes had passed. "Okay. You are ready to go." She stood and unplugged everything while gathering up her computer and the sma
ll box."
"You are truly a lifesaver, Chloe. Thank you." Dad smiled as he sat down to his computer.
"No problem, though you might want to tell your IT people that they need to ramp up the remote security. It was too easy to hack into it, but don’t tell them I hacked it." She winked and walked out of the room.
"Did you seriously just hack into the hospital, Fisher?" She flipped her head around quickly, clearly not expecting me to be following her.
"Um, yeah." She blushed and started walking again. I continued to follow her into Mina’s room. I could hear the shower running which was probably Mina.
Chloe walked out on the balcony and started to climb over to the tree house. "You leaving?" I asked leaning on the balcony railing.
She turned quickly again. "Uh, I just have to take my stuff back." She stood there looking at me curiously. I’m sure she was wondering the same thing that I was. What the fuck am I doing?
"Do you mind?" I asked as I followed her.
"Uh…" She stammered.
"I’m curious about your computer skills." I was about two inches from her and she took a step back from me.
"Uh…sure." She turned, but looked back at me again with the same curious expression on her face.
We entered her room and it looked like a normal room until my eyes fell on a corner desk that Chloe walked behind. "What the hell is all of that?" There were about four flat screen monitors, two key boards, a ton of computer pieces and equipment, printers, wires, laptops and more.
"This is all my computer stuff." She blushed. "Why are you so curious about it anyways?" She placed her stuff down on the desk and walked back around towards me.
"I dunno. I guess I just got curious after watching you this morning. Mom said you were like a computer genius but I didn’t realize you were a hacker." I winked at her.
"I only did that to help your Dad. I’m not a hacker." She narrowed her eyes at me and then headed back toward the balcony. "At least as far as you know." She looked back at me smirking, then climbed to the tree house to head back to Mina’s room. I followed.
Walking back into Mina’s room I received curious looks from both Mina and Roni. I see Max finally let her go. "What?"
"Where were you two?" Mina said in a ‘sitting-in-a-tree’ tone.
"I was checking out the hacker’s computer set up. It’s impressive." I shrugged.
Roni snorted. "Yeah, try living in the same room with Gates and all her beeps and fans blowing." Roni laughed and Chloe climbed on the bed with Roni, tossing a pillow at her.
"Gates?" I asked curiously.
"You know, Bill Gates?" Mina rolled her eyes.
"Ah." I said, the light bulb flashing on..
"Well, Mom should have the pancakes ready by now, so let’s go." Mina announced. Roni grumbled and pulled herself up, clearly still hung over. Chloe smiled and started towards the door, following Mina.
Chloe
To say that I was surprised when Leo was following me would be a complete understatement. Then, when he wanted to ‘check out’ my computer stuff, it seemed to get even more awkward. I couldn’t read his face to see if he was mocking me or was truly curious, so I just went with it.
Leave it to Mina to make the situation more uncomfortable with her innuendo when we returned to her room. However, after she announced pancakes, I was more than happy to leave the room. I loved Elaine’s pancakes.
We all had grabbed a plate and sat down. Mina was sitting between Roni and I at the breakfast bar. Max was sitting next to Roni and I heard the chair next to me when Leo sat down. Elaine placed the pancakes out.
"Oh, God, Elaine, your strawberry pancakes are by far the most wonderful thing to happen to me today." I smiled at her and she smiled back.
"I know how much you love them." She turned around to finish cooking the rest.
"They are pretty damn good," Leo whispered to me. I turned and nodded in agreement. He dropped his voice even lower, moving closer to me, he whispered, "but, I can definitely think of something else that was the most wonderful thing to happen to me this morning, or rather someone." I almost choked. Was he flirting with me? Leo? My best friend’s brother, Leo? I don’t even know what to say right now. I will just pretend it didn’t happen. Yeah, that will work. Holy Shit!
Out of the corner of my eye I could see him smiling at me but I refused to look at him. If I did, I knew I would definitely choke on my pancakes. Instead, I turned my attention to Mina and Roni’s conversation, pretending that I didn’t hear him.
My plan was working, that is, until I felt his leg bump into mine as he was standing up. It felt like his leg lingered against mine a little longer than it normally would have. Maybe it was just my imagination. Regardless, the skin contact made me turn to him. The damn electricity that raged from his skin was ridiculous. I’m surprised he doesn’t have constant issues with static. I looked at him and he gave me a crooked grin. Jesus Christ, I want to lick his teeth! What? Wait….no…bad Chloe. Mina’s brother. You grew up around him. You’re like his little sister. Yeah, but then why did it seem like he was flirting if he thought I was his little sister? Ugh! Fucking men!
Luckily Mina broke up my mental rant. "So, Leo, when are you and Max done stealing all of the furniture from the basement and heading back?" She smirked at him.
"We’re going to leave after lunch so we can try to get back before it gets too late." He answered her, ignoring her comments about the furniture.
"Oh, I was hoping that you would be here for dinner." Elaine pouted at him.
"I’m sorry, but I prefer not to drive all night." He shrugged.
I stood up and took my plate to the sink and then headed up to Mina’s room. Once I was there, I grabbed my clothes up from the night before and carried them over to my house. While I was at home I checked some email and then got a shower and got dressed. As I was about to climb back out to the tree house, I noticed Leo sitting on Mina’s balcony with her, Roni and Max. He was looking at me intently, which was making me nervous. I walked over and sat by Roni.
"So, who is going to take me to get my car from the beach?" I looked directly at Mina.
She smiled. "Sure, Chloe, let me just…."
"I can take you if you want?" Mina and I both snapped our head over to Leo.
"Um…" I looked to Mina to save me, figuring that she would just take me still. No such luck.
"Sure. Chloe, you don’t mind do you?" She smiled at me and then winked so only I could see her.
I was stuck. "Sure…ok."
"Give me a minute to grab my shoes out of my room." Leo stood and walked away quickly.
I pulled Mina into her room. "What the hell?" I scowled at her.
"What?" she asked a little too innocently.
"I saw that look on your face, what are you up to?" I crossed my arms over my chest.
"Well…two things." She smiled.
"And they are? Spit it out before he gets back." I whispered harshly.
"So, I can call Ollie back. He called me last night and I haven’t been able to talk to him. If Leo is gone, it will be easier." She smiled.
"You said two things, Mina!" I was getting irritated.
"Oh, yeah…haven’t you seen the way my brother is looking at you, Chloe? He is totally crushing on you…I just want to give him his chance." She laughed at the look on my face and walked away from me quickly.
"Mina …."
"You ready?" Leo popped back into the room.
"Sure." I headed toward the door, turning back to give Mina the evil eye before I went through. I heard her giggle.
What the hell was I getting myself into?
Chapter Ten
The Car
Chloe
When we reached the car Leo opened the door for me.
"Thank you." I said quietly, climbing in and sitting down.
This was going to be an uncomfortable trip. Thankfully, the beach is not that far away. At least it will be a quick uncomfortable trip. I’m going to kill Mina.
"Ready?" Leo had slid behind the wheel of his father’s car.
"Yep," I answered quickly and looked straight ahead. I was simply going to keep looking out the window during the trip. Knowing he drove as fast as Mina made me feel a little more at ease.
Pulling out of the driveway, we were silent as I figured it would be. I felt Leo move but refused to look. When I heard music I realized he’d turned the radio on. My phone beeped and I pulled it out of my pocket. Mina.
Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. :) Feel free to take your time.
I was going to kill her.
Just wait till I see you…paybacks are a bitch. Or, perhaps, I’ll just slip up and tell him about Oliver!
It was only a minute later when I got her reply.
You would never do that to me. You love me too much. :)
"Ugh," I audibly sighed.
"Everything okay?" I snapped my head to see Leo watching me with a crooked grin.
Damn it! There goes the ‘do not look at him’ plan!
"Yeah, it’s fine." I smiled, put my phone away and turned my head back to the window.
"So, Chloe, what got you into computers?"
Were we really talking about computers again?
"Uh...I’m not sure. I’ve just always been good with them and I liked it. They just kind of became my thing." I shrugged still looking straight ahead. Then I realized that he was driving slower than he typically did.
Great!
"Hmm." He paused for what seemed like forever until he spoke again. "What’s your favorite color?"
I couldn’t help but turn my head to look at him.
Was he serious?
I know that my face was covered in confusion.
"I can ask you that can’t I? Is it bothering you? Not too personal for you, is it?" He was smirking.
"No, I just…green." I sighed out.
"Favorite food?"
"I...uh...I guess Chinese."
"You guess?"
"Yeah, I don’t particularly have a favorite food. But, I guess I tend to get Chinese a lot. At least that’s what Mina tells me." I shrugged. I was doing that a lot.
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