Chloe (Made Men #3)

by Sarah Brianne

“Give it to me.” Snatching away the washcloth, her mother got on the floor to reach into the tub.

  Chloe started crying, afraid of the moment when her mother’s skin would touch hers.

  “I can do it!”

  “Clearly, you are incapable.” Elaine started scrubbing her back, pushing Chloe forward.

  “Please! I can do it!” She tried avoiding her touch to no avail. The harder she tried, the harder her mother scrubbed her skin raw. No amount of tears, fighting, or pleading saved her. Much like when she had been kidnapped, it only made her captor relish in her discomfort.

  It was far worse than she remembered, but that might just be because any touch was now unwelcome for Chloe.

  Looking at her mother as she scrubbed furiously, in her place now stood the man who would forever haunt not only her nightmares but reality.

  Four

  How Does the Sight of Her Look to You Now?

  Sleep no longer came for Chloe because sleep was a dangerous thing. Here, awake in her bedroom, alone, staring at the white wall, her kidnapping played before her eyes. It was as if she were watching a movie.

  Sure, it scared the shit out of her, but it was better than the alternative.

  Here, asleep in her bedroom, alone, with her eyes closed, her kidnapping didn’t play on the movie screen. It happened to her all over again.

  She could feel hands wrapping around her neck …

  The blade piercing my skin …

  That was what really scared the shit out of her.

  Chloe shook her tired head. No one hurt me.

  It had been a while since her last dose of medication, and her mind didn’t seem as fuzzy or numb. Maybe it wasn’t a terrible nightmare that kept haunting her, but maybe it was real.

  Hours passed as she sat in her misery, contemplating what was real or a dream. Finally, when she heard the footsteps come to the door, she knew she would be rescued from her thoughts, or any thoughts for that matter.

  The smell that greeted her nose as her father entered the room had her wrinkling it up. She watched him stumble to her bed, almost falling over several times in the short distance.

  “Dad, a-are you all right?”

  His words came out harsh and slurred. “Yes-s-s. Why the f-f-fuck wouldn’t I be?”

  Chloe’s heart rate started to rise from the sight of her father drunk, never having seen it before.

  She sat quietly and patiently, waiting for him to quit fumbling to get the prescription bottle open.

  “You-u-u open it-t.” He threw the bottle on the bed.

  Grabbing up the bottle, she tried her best not to shake as she opened it and spilled out one of the little, white pills. Closing the bottle, she then quickly placed it on her nightstand, too afraid to hand the bottle to him and risk him touching her.

  Maxwell snatched the bottle up forcefully, causing a huge rattling sound to fill the room before he stumbled out the way he had come in.

  She sat in shock, gazing at the now closed door, hoping to never see her father come through her door like that again.

  Something about him seemed … Violent, just like him …

  Chloe opened her hand, revealing the little, white pill that sat perfectly in the middle of her palm. Swiftly, she popped the pill into her mouth before swallowing, hoping it would work quickly.

  “I was in a car wreck; that’s all I know. I was in a car wreck. No one hurt me.”

  It wasn’t long before her father’s medicine visits to her room were few and far between. Each time he came in, he was ruder and more drunk than the last visit. Chloe had to learn to deal with the pain on her own as she was slowly weaned off the pills. She didn’t know what she dreaded more: a train full of emotions hitting her when the medicine had run its course or her father walking through the door again. It was a flip of a coin which one was worse. They both gave her nightmares.

  Something about her was broken, and those pills weren’t putting her back together. Instead, they just acted like a Band-Aid, a temporary fix not to feel the emotions that were killing her. The Band-Aid wasn’t healing her; it was causing her to rot from the inside out. Deep down, she knew this. She could feel it the moment her last dosage wore off, and that was when she made a decision.

  The turning of the doorknob had Chloe jumping up in bed.

  Maxwell entered the room in a jumbled mess, reeking of alcohol. Coming over, he practically threw the medicine bottle at her.

  Chloe kept her head down as she said, “I-I d-don’t want them a-anymore.”

  “Ex … cu-u-use me?”

  Swallowing down the bile that rose in her throat, she said it again. “I d-don’t want them anymore.”

  He stared at her a minute before he responded, “Then … if you don’t need them-m anymore, your ass-s-s can go back to s-s-school.”

  She gasped, finally raising her head to look at him. “P-Please don’t make me go back!”

  “Yes …”

  “No!” She couldn’t help crying.

  Maxwell pointed his finger right in her face, frightening her into thinking he was going to grab her. “Don’t you ever … speak to me that way again lit-t-tle girl.” He snatched up the medicine bottle forcefully off the bed. “Now you’re fucking going to s-s-school tomorrow. You were just in a damn wreck …, rem-m-member?”

  Chloe didn’t even hear the door close behind him. She sat there all night, holding herself tightly.

  Her father used to be her only source of love and trust. Now he scared the daylights out of her. After her “accident,” it was evident she wasn’t the only person who had changed.

  Now, if her home life wasn’t fucked up enough, she had to go back to the outside world. Not only had she not left the house, but she hadn’t even left her bedroom. Now she was going to be thrown right back into high school like nothing had even happened.

  When morning came, Chloe headed to her bathroom. One look at herself in the mirror and she knew exactly how the kids at school were going to treat her.

  Does the sight of her just sicken you?

  She remembered how she had used to look just a short time ago. She used to think of herself as pretty.

  How does the sight of her look to you now?

  Now all she could see was the ugliness that had touched her.

  Five

  The One Word That Would Follow Her Forever: “Freak.”

  Elaine had dropped her off at school, not an ounce of sympathy in her eyes as she shooed Chloe out of the car so that she would not be late for work. There wasn’t a point in pleading not to walk in those front doors with her. She preferred the jungle of Legacy Prep High over being in the car with her, anyway.

  As Chloe walked to the front doors of the school, it was a lot for a fourteen-year-old to handle, especially considering what she had gone through since the last time she had walked through those doors. The last time she had passed that doorframe, she not only had looked like a different person, but she had been a different person. The person she was now was unrecognizable.

  Maybe it won’t be so bad.

  Swallowing hard and finally mustering up the courage to open the door, she passed through the entrance. She hoped her new markings would just gain some sort of sympathy, enough to just be left alone. That was all she asked for.

  Pulling the sleeves down on her black sweater to cover the tops of her hands, she started walking down the hall. Her heart stopped instantaneously as a wave of silence slowly traveled down the hall. What was once a noisy, shuffling of feet and smashing lockers accompanied by loud gossip and chatter had now become so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

  She had known she would be stared at. Let them get it out of their system. Then it will all be over.

  She had to remind herself to put one step in front of the other and focus on reaching the classroom door as the whispering started in another wave down the hall. Regardless, Chloe couldn’t make out anything that was said … until she heard it—the one word that would follow her forever: “freak.”
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  Chloe hung her head to the ground, letting her long, black, silky hair sweep across her face to cover her scars and shame.

  The chuckling from the loudly voiced word began to travel down the hall. She knew who had said it. The certain blonde had just signed Chloe’s death sentence. It was a joke for her to think it would all be over soon, the remains of the once very naive little girl.

  It felt like an eternity before she reached her classroom where she carefully took a seat in the back. She held her head down as the students filed in, whispering the moment they saw her. Chloe even continued to hold her head down as class started. It wasn’t until she heard the classroom door squeak open and complete silence fill the room that she looked up.

  Instantly, her heart stopped as she watched a short-haired, strawberry-blonde girl come through the room, taking her seat at the front.

  “Did you have a good vacation, Ms. Buchanan?” The teacher raised her brow as she looked down at the tardy girl.

  There was some snide giggling among the room before the girl replied, “Sure.”

  Chloe had to look away from the girl, glancing down at her lap to see that she had been wringing her hands. She had forgotten what had happened the last day she had come to school. She had forgotten what had happened to that poor girl.

  What they did to her …

  Applying more pressure to her hands as she wrung them, she began to hate herself for forgetting. Even after all she had been through, she should have at least thought about her once.

  Thought about what I did to her …

  Staring at her white desk, the memory began to play in front of her …

  Chloe stared in shock as the group all took turns beating the helpless girl on the ground. She didn’t have a clue of what to do as the ring leaders, who happened to be twins, Sebastian and Cassandra, were already doubting her intentions. They were constantly clocking her, seeing how she was reacting and if she was going to run. She had told herself to run for help the moment they had started dragging the girl down the hallway to the outside of the school, but one of them had caught on and grabbed her arm, making her follow along.

  If she ran now, there was no doubt they would catch her and give her the same fate as the girl on the ground. Right now, the only chance she had to help her was to watch and wait until they left, and she could get her some help. Otherwise, no one would have a clue she was behind the school, lying there, left helpless.

  Looking down at the now bloody girl, bile started travelling up her throat. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could watch without giving herself away.

  Relief flooded her when they all had taken their turns and went to head back. She wanted to get her help as fast as possible.

  “Wait.”

  However, Sebastian’s voice stopped them all in their tracks.

  “You didn’t get your turn, Chloe.”

  Swallowing hard, she thought as fast as she could. “That’s okay; we’re missing lunch, and I’m hun—”

  Sebastian shoved her closer to the body on the ground. “Kick her, then, and we can go.”

  Looking down at her, Chloe’s heart started to break.

  “She looks like she’s had enough.”

  “You better fucking kick her.”

  Sebastian and the rest of them all stepped closer to her, making the threat clear.

  Taking a few steps closer, she wanted to break down and cry for the girl, cry and scream until someone came to rescue her. There was no way she could kick her.

  “Kick me. It doesn’t hurt anymore,” The bloody girl mouthed quietly for only her to witness.

  Feeling the others closing in on her, Chloe closed her eyes and reared her foot back, kicking her in the ribs with enough force to keep them happy, though not hard enough to inflict much more pain on the girl.

  “Let’s get out of here. The bitch got the message. Good job, Chloe.”

  They all started to head back once again, but Chloe couldn’t move. She had been so disgusted with herself the moment she had done it, but she couldn’t figure out another way to get the girl some help in the end.

  Staring down at her, she saw the girl staring back with pleading eyes. Chloe could see her begging for her to leave with them, to not continue to arise suspicion. She didn’t understand why the girl cared if she got beaten up or not. She shouldn’t care, not after what the group she hung around had done to her, and this hadn’t even been the first offence.

  The strong-willed girl kept pleading, and with the group watching her every move, she turned to leave with them.

  She looked down at the ground as she walked away, wanting to cry. I’m so sorry, Elle …

  Chloe quickly wiped the tear that had fallen down on her fresh scar.

  I deserved what he did to me.

  Six

  The Words That Would Forever be Ingrained in Her Soul

  Elle was one of the first ones to sit down with her food in the cafeteria. She hadn’t waited behind in math class to finish her problem and get the shit beaten out of her when the hallways were deserted. It was also taco day for the main line, which meant the other line of chicken patties and hamburgers was nonexistent, and she had chosen that option.

  It was her first day back since the beating, and she was keeping to herself, but that wasn’t much different than what she had done before.

  Looking at her empty lunch table and to the other tables that were starting to fill up with students, she remembered how she used to feel embarrassed sitting alone. But now it beats bleeding behind the school.

  She just needed to finish the school year out. Her father wasn’t going to be able to pay for her tuition anymore. That was one small blessing out of it all.

  From the moment she had walked through the school doors for the very first time, Elle had felt like she didn’t fit into this prep school. She had been happy back in public school, and she wished her parents had never enrolled her there in the first place. The kids there only cared about the label stitched into their clothing, while all Elle worried about was if she was going to survive her first and final year here at Legacy Prep.

  Doubtful.

  The cafeteria slowly went suspiciously quiet as whispering began. Looking around the busy room, she saw everyone’s attention on the door behind her.

  Spinning around to see what had gained so much attention, Elle’s eyes rested on a once beautiful girl who had the most gorgeous pair of striking gray eyes. Now, in her place, stood a girl with enflamed red slashes across her face and tortured gray eyes.

  What happened to her?

  “Fucking freak!” was said, followed by laughter filling the space with continuous echoes of the word “freak.”

  Elle’s heart dropped as she watched the girl turn back around and leave the lunchroom. She didn’t know who had yelled it, but she was sure Chloe had seen.

  She stared down at her plate before squeezing the sides of her tray and quickly standing up, getting rid of its contents and heading out the door the marked girl had just left.

  Seeing the swinging of the girls’ bathroom door, she went inside what seemed an empty bathroom, but the feet under one of the stalls revealed otherwise.

  Elle put her hand on the occupied stall to feel that it wasn’t latched. “Chloe?”

  Opening the door, she was able to see this new version of her up-close for the first time.

  The once beautiful girl sat there, spilling silent, glowing red tears down her cheeks. She was right to think Chloe had once been beautiful, but now her beauty was truly breathtaking. You would think that the red slashes would have tainted her looks. However, it was the complete opposite. They let you see her true beauty: her strength.

  Elle could see the torture Chloe had endured. She didn’t think she could have survived it if she had suffered Chloe’s fate.

  Chloe looked up at Elle through blurry eyes, waiting for her to call her a freak just like the others. It wouldn’t make her hurt any more than she already did.

  I deserv
e it from her.

  “Are you okay?”

  What? She could see the true concern on her face and couldn’t understand.

  “W-why would you care after what I-I did to you?”

  “We both know you wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t tell you to.”

  Chloe stared at Elle, even more confused.

  “That doesn’t make what I did any better.”

  “I think getting Mr. Fredrick’s to find me does.”

  Elle stared at her, waiting to see if she would confirm that it was, in fact, her who had gotten her help. Though she didn’t say anything, her silence answered the question.

  “Do you think Sebastian, Cassandra, or the others would have gotten me help? How long do you think I would have been out there till someone found me?”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t do it sooner. I’m sorry for everything,” Chloe whispered.

  “I don’t blame you. Sebastian and Cassandra are the only ones I blame.”

  Chloe stared up at her in disbelief. She wanted Elle to hate her or, at the very least, put some blame on her. She blamed herself.

  Why doesn’t she—

  “They didn’t do that to you, did they?”

  Chloe quickly shook her head and started wringing her hands.

  “What happened then?”

  When Chloe didn’t answer, Elle took a seat on the floor in front of her.

  “W-What are you doing?”

  Elle crossed her arms. “I’m going to sit here and wait till you’re ready to tell me.”

  “But you’re sitting on the bathroom floor.”

  “And you’re sitting on a toilet.” Giggling, she continued, “I would say that’s both pretty gross.”

  A slight smile lifted Chloe’s lips for the first time in what felt like ages. “That’s true.”

  “Now, are you going to tell me, or are you going to make me sit here all day?”

  Chloe took a deep breath, not looking up from her hands. “I w-was in a car wreck.”