Almost Easy (Sinister Ascent Book 1)

by Brittany Clark

  His story was a sad one. I would give him that, and I could see that he was in a serious amount of pain just by telling it. I could see that he relived those last moments over and over these past few years. However, this was not as bad as I thought. He hadn’t cheated on her, or hit her. Yes what he had done wasn’t nice, but it wasn’t horrible either.

  “Blaze, you’re right. You fucked up. But I don’t know why you think what you did was so horrible. This is fixable,”

  “Maybe. But I didn’t tell you all of it,”

  “Okay, what’s the rest?”

  “Two years later she called me. I knew that she would only call me out of desperation, but I couldn’t hear her voice. It would have killed me. So I let the girl that was in my room answer the phone. Then I stood there and listened as she told Brittany, the love of my life, that I didn’t have time for her because I was busy eating her out. I found out two days later from Cage that she was calling me because her mom was dying, and she had asked to see me. I tried calling her back, but she didn’t answer. Cage let me know that her mom had died that night she had called me. He also let me know that he had to convince her to call me. She had told him that I wouldn’t do anything for her. That she was just a naïve high school girl that I had forgotten about. But he convinced her, and she gave in and called me. But I was a coward, and confirmed everything she fucking thought,”

  By this time my mouth was hanging open. Okay so this made his story a little worse. But hell how was he supposed to know why she was calling? No, that wasn’t the problem. The worst of this was what he allowed the other woman to tell her over the phone. That probably killed Brittany, and at the time that she was losing her mother. Hell the fact that Cage had to convince her to call Blaze, someone that used to be the first person she would run to, said everything. Cage and Brittany had been friends since they were ten. She had stuck up for him, and they had instantly became inseparable. That made my job a little easier. If I could get Cage on my side, the two of us could work together and fix this mess that kept two people who were deeply in love away from each other. I was about to speak up when Blaze’s front door was thrown open and all of the guys walked in. Axel was the first to walk in. He saw us and stopped short, causing all of the others to bump into his back.

  “What did you two do last night?” Axel asked as a huge smile overtook his face.

  “None of your business,” I answered flipping him off. Then before the others could over hear me, I leaned down to whisper in Blaze’s ear, “Your secret is safe with me, and I think I can help you,”

  Blaze pulled away and made eye contact with me. I could see that some of the worry that had been in his eyes for so long had started to disappear. I leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips, it was a thank you kiss on both of our parts.

  “So anyways we came over to see if you wanted to go out and grab some food,” Cage asked, making himself at home on the couch after grabbing himself a beer. Before we could respond, he had already turned on the television and was lost in the game that was on.

  “Or, I can just cook here and you guys can watch the game,” I said in the form of a question, earning grunts from all of them.

  “Your girlfriend is the shit man,” Axel said slapping Blaze on the back before he went and joined Cage on the couch.

  “Yeah, I know. I’m lucky to have her.” Blaze responded, then pressed a kiss to my lips before he excused himself to get dressed. I hopped up and followed behind him so that I could throw some clothes on as well. There was no way in hell that I would be walking around naked when all the guys were here. Once I was dressed I headed towards the kitchen to see what there was to make.

  ZANE

  The look of pure grief that shot across my face when Chloe was called Blaze’s girlfriend, went unnoticed by everyone. Something that I was very grateful for. I was tired of looking like the weak ass guy who lost his girl. Hell, I was dealing with my own shit, and I didn’t need everyone else trying to butt in. Hell it was my own damn fault that I had kept her on the back burner for so damn long. I would fix my own damn problems. Especially since I knew why I had done it. Deep down inside I was aware that I was being an asshole.

  But there was a part of me that liked knowing that I had her on the hook as much as I had. It turned me the fuck on knowing that she had wanted me so damn badly, to the point of desperation. She was so desperate that she was willing to settle for bread crumbs from me, then treated those crumbs like they were fucking gold because I so rarely gave anything to her. Now I regretted every minute of it and despised myself. There was a part of me that was sure that the right thing to do would be to let Blaze and Chloe be happy together. That’s when the selfish asshole part of me reared its ugly head and made it known that I wasn’t giving her up. I couldn’t breathe without her.

  I had so much that I needed to tell her. In order to do that, I needed to get her alone. That couldn’t happen here, when there were so many damn people in this house. But maybe I could get her to agree to meet me alone. Without another thought, I made my way back to the kitchen. I saw her standing near the counter, she was trying to reach a box that was just a little too far up for her. I didn’t think twice about it. I rubbed up behind her, boxing her in between myself and the counter. Chloe shivered at my touch then turned in my arms to look up at me. My arms moved quick, trapping her where she was.

  “Can I help you Zane?” She breathed. Yeah my girl was turned the fuck on. She did love to be touched by me. That much was obvious.

  “I just had to touch you,” I answered knowing that I hadn’t thought this through.

  Being this close to her, having her body trembling against me, tested my self-control. I needed to pull back, now. I brought my arms up and hugged her tight before I released her and stepped back. Our eyes caught and held briefly before I turned away to walk towards the fridge. I grabbed a beer, twisting the bottle between my hands trying to gain courage, without getting that by using liquid to do it.

  “Look, I haven’t told you everything. Can we get together later and talk?” I asked and then held my breath. Her answer would make or break me.

  I could see on her face that she wanted to tell me no. Then her curiosity had gotten the better of her and she nodded. That was my girl. I sent a smile her way, then quickly turned away and walked out of the kitchen. In that moment I knew that I hadn’t lost her completely. Getting her to agree with me and let us get together and talk, put me in the right direction of winning her back. I quickly made my way back to where the others were, and joined them. My eyes scanned the screen and I noticed that my team was losing, but at this moment I didn’t give a damn. Honestly there was nothing that could get me down right now.

  I had a date with the girl I loved. Could there be anything better than that? Well in theory, it would be better if she agreed to give me just one more chance. Until that moment happened I wasn’t going to get my hopes up. Honestly, why would she bother giving me another chance? Why would she believe that this time would be any different than all of the others? But that was my ace in the hole. What was going to make this time different than all of the others was that I was going to tell her the truth. That was something I had never done, and I was going to tell her all of it.

  It would be me this time that was laid bare and vulnerable. Instead of her pouring her heart out and me stepping on it, it would be my turn. For the first time since we started this messed up relationship, I would know what it had felt like for her to say the words that tore her open, and then wait for my response. I was not looking forward to that. The fear, that I was already feeling would be heightened by my vulnerability. Even if I didn’t want to do this, I would. Because Chloe was worth everything. I would be doing this for her, there was nothing I wouldn’t do to get her back.

  “Why the hell are you sitting over there looking all smug?” Blaze questioned with a weird look on his face.

  “Nothing, I’m just back in the game,” I responded keeping my eyes on the game in front of
me.

  “What the hell are you talking about? Your team is still losing,” Cage butted in.

  “Eh, it’s only half time. I still have time,”

  “Why do I feel like you’re talking about something else?” Axel asked,

  “Because he is,” Blaze answered for me with an annoying ass smirk on his face.

  “What the hell is going on?” Cage demanded, but I would not be answering that question. It was no one’s damn business what the hell I was doing. Luckily I didn’t have to answer because I was saved by Chloe walking into the room with a tray full of food.

  “Blaze, can you help me?” Her sweet voice asked

  “Sure babe,”

  I sat there and watched as he hopped up and helped her place the food that she had made for us on the coffee table. Damn the woman went all out. Not only had she made the perfect snack food for a baseball game, but she made each of us our favorite as well. My smile grew wider when she handed me a plate that was already made with my favorites. Chloe always treated me just a little bit better than everyone else in the room. This time was no different. Yes, I knew that I had fucked up, but there were little things that she did that proved to me that she still loved and wanted me. Hell letting me fuck her against a surf board in the middle of the ocean proved that to me. But that was just sex, when she did little things like this for me, it showed that she was still trying to take care of me. That was very different then just giving someone their body.

  “Thanks babe, now come here,” Blaze said, grabbing his food and then pulling my girl down into his lap. There was a tiny pin prick of pain in my chest, but nothing like what I had been feeling. Everything was just a little bit better now that I knew that Chloe was going to hear me out.

  “Want to hit the bar with us tonight Zane?” Cage asked me

  “Nah, not tonight. There’s something more important I have to deal with,”

  “Yeah? Does it include walking away from hot ass, half naked chicks like you did last night?” Axel said with that damn smirk on his face.

  “You walked away from a half-naked chick last night?” Blaze questioned. But my eyes were focused on Chloe. Her eyes were wide in disbelief. Score one more point for me.

  “I’m hoping that I never have to get with another woman like that again. Women like that are not what I want anymore, and yes what I’m doing tonight is exactly why I left that woman last night,”

  “Dude, check this out,” Axel spoke, “He leaves this chick in the bathroom without doing anything with her. After he walks out, she comes barging back to our table screaming up a storm. Cage finally had to shove something in her mouth to get her to shut the hell up,”

  “Yeah, so thanks for bailing on her last night. I got a threesome because of it,” Cage replied.

  “I don’t give a fuck. Stick your dick into whatever the hell you want to. There’s only one person I want, and that person wasn’t it,”

  “Okay, this is all getting a little too romance movie for me. So let’s move on,” Chloe said. God I loved that woman. Soon the others were back to watching the game, and that meant that I was left the hell alone. That was exactly what I needed because I needed to get my thoughts in order. I only had one chance to talk to Chloe, and I couldn’t fuck it up,

  18

  CHLOE

  I shifted in my seat for what felt like the millionth time as I waited for Zane to walk into the room and talk to me. He had asked me earlier if we could get together to talk about everything. At the time my answer had been a simple yes because I didn’t see the harm in letting him talk. However, now that I was in his house, alone except for him, this did not seem like that great of an idea. At first I had wanted to hear what Zane wanted to say to me, I was tired of running around in circles, we couldn’t keep doing this to each other. Blaze had damn near forced me to come here as well.

  Blaze keeps insisting that Zane wants me, and was now trying everything in his power to get us together. That obviously included throwing me to the wolves. So here I was, alone with Zane. This was the absolute last thing that I wanted to do. There was a part of me that wanted to know everything that Zane had to say, to finally know the truth. However, there was another part, a bigger part that just wanted the sick and twisted novel of Zane and Chloe’s fucked up love story to just be over for once and for all. Just like that the scenes of everything that we had been through began to play like a movie in my mind.

  The years of regret, shame, and agony of the past few years all came pouring in at once. I realized as I watched my dignity and heart be destroyed over and over again, that if I had been watching this on the big screen that I would have been calling the main actress a dumb ass. When the images were over I felt ashamed of myself. It was plainly obvious to me now just how much of a fool of myself that I had made. The biggest, and clearest image that I remembered was that last time that I had begged him not to get married. I had laid my heart out in my palm for him and he had stomped on it as hard as he could. After all of that, did I really want to be with him? For that matter, did I really give a damn about what he had to say? Yes I would probably always want answers from him, or hell at least the truth for once, but why the hell did I even care? Nothing he could say would change the past. So why the hell was I here? The only thing that would be accomplished by my being here, would be for me to be hurt yet again.

  The moment that revelation entered my mind, Zane finally entered the room. I knew that my face was showing everything I was feeling, and for once I wasn’t trying to hide it. I wanted Zane to see the sadness, pain, and all-consuming anger that I was feeling at the moment. By the way he flinched when he looked at me, I knew that he was feeling guilty. I didn’t want his guilt. Hell, I didn’t want anything from him anymore. What I wanted more than anything now, was for the two of us to give each other up so that we both could live happier lives. It would hurt, but when had it never hurt when it came to Zane?

  “Chloe,” Zane whispered, pulling me out of my dark thoughts. I looked up and met the tortured eyes of the man that had caused all of my pain.

  “I don’t think that I can do this. This wasn’t a good idea,” I said as I began to make my way towards the front door.

  “Wait, Chloe, please. I just want to talk to you,”

  “I know Zane. I wanted to let you, now I don’t think I can,”

  “I need you to hear me out,”

  “Why? What the hell is this going to prove?”

  “I want to explain where I was coming from. I want you to understand,”

  “I don’t need to hear it. There isn’t a part of me that wants to sit here and listen to you explain that I was nothing but sex to you. I get it okay? I understand everything now, and I know that you’re just jealous that I’m with Blaze and you can’t take it,”

  “Damn it Chloe, stop! That isn’t what this is about. I fucking love you, and I didn’t realize it before,”

  “Don’t fucking say that to me! Fuck Zane, why are you doing this to me?” I wanted to cry, I thought that this would be painful, but I wasn’t prepared for the dread that his words would cause. I could hear Zane breathing hard as he tried to control his temper, but I wasn’t any better. My heart was pounding and my breathing was ragged. I dragged my hands through my hair in an attempt to regain some type of control.

  “I can’t lose you now that I realize everything. Hell Chloe, seeing you with him is tearing me apart,”

  “Now you know how I’ve felt all these years as you dangled your parade of tramps in front of me. Hell you had me stand at your side as you married another woman,” Zane flinched but I couldn’t hold back my anger so I dug deeper. “Where is your wife by the way?”

  “I don’t have a fucking wife. She’s not here anymore.”

  “That doesn’t make this all go away Zane,”

  “I know that. Just let me explain everything that I finally realized,”

  I knew that this was suicide. This man had the power to take my already shattered heart and turn it to dust
. The possibility that I would never be the same after this was a big one. I didn’t want to lose myself in the process of this, but I couldn’t bring myself to walk away. It might be suicide but I couldn’t help it. My stupid heart wanted him. I let out a helpless sigh that earned another wince from Zane, as I made my way to the couch. Within seconds Zane sat by my side. The man was definitely not wasting any time.

  “I’m not promising anything Zane. I don’t want you to think that whatever you say will fix everything. But I want to hear you out,” Zane nodded and took a deep breath before he began, it was as if he was gathering his courage the same way that I was. Now I was extremely nervous.

  “You’re the only one with the power to hurt me,” he whispered.

  “What?”

  “You have everything of mine Chloe. My heart, my mind, my body, fuck just fucking everything. I never wanted someone to have that type of power over me, so I put everything I felt about you to the back of my mind and buried it. That was my stupid solution to keep from getting destroyed by you. But I made a huge fucking mistake. In my attempt to keep you from hurting me, I hurt the both of us, and drove you away. I did the one thing I tried not to do. I let you go, and I don’t want to lose you,”

  I felt the words flying around me like small caresses before they reached my ears and penetrated my mind. Those words hurt me now more than ever, but they also made my heart beat faster and my breath come out in short gasps. But I was afraid that this was all too late. Everything he was telling me was months too late. Hell it was years too late.