Almost Easy (Sinister Ascent Book 1)

by Brittany Clark

  I had been so lost in thought that I hadn’t realized I was already pulling into her parking lot. I parked and then we both just sat there, neither of us wanting to get out. This was not something I was used to. Usually when the date was over I would go home and forget about the girl, or if she was hot enough I would work my way into her house and then into her bed. I couldn’t do that now though. This was Chloe and I didn’t want to let her go yet, but I wouldn’t ruin everything I was working for by asking to stay the night. I sighed but pushed my car door open and ran around to open hers.

  She got out with a smile for me as she grabbed my hand and walked towards her front door. I had butterflies in my stomach as we stopped in front of her door. This would be the time that I would kiss her, at least that was what I would normally do on a first date. Although we have kissed each other a lot over the years, this one would mean more than any of the others, and we both knew that. I turned in front of her and brought one hand up to rub over her cheek letting out a smile when she leaned into my hand. Fuck it, I couldn’t wait any longer. I leaned in slowly, her face making its way up towards mine. I felt her breath hit my lips seconds before my mouth claimed hers.

  Our moans mixed together when our lips touched and then my mouth started moving, working over hers until she was kissing me back the way that I craved from her. She wrapped her arms around my neck and tugged me closer making the simple kiss more intense. I groaned into her mouth before I nipped her bottom lip with my teeth. Chloe whimpered making me almost lose my control. I just couldn’t allow that to happen. So with all the damn strength I had, I pecked her lips a few more times and then pulled back a little resting my forehead against hers. She was trembling in my arms, I was so damn used to her body responding to me, any time I touched her she would light up like fire in my arms. Something that I used to take for granted, but now I fucking loved it. However this was different. This was a slow burn that I had ignited deep within her, one that I knew she had never felt before in my arms, and her trembling nearly outdid me.

  “Chloe, I need to go,” I whispered letting my lips skim over hers as I spoke.

  “I know, but I don’t want you to,”

  “I don’t want to either. But I’m working towards something bigger for us. I know that if I come in now we will both be beyond satisfied, but I want more than one night. I want a life time,”

  “A life time?” She asked looking deep into my eyes.

  I just smiled at her but didn’t make a move to elaborate any further. I knew how I wanted my life to go from here on out, and she was involved in every second of it. But I wasn’t going to tell her that yet. I wanted everything to be a surprise for her. So I just pecked her lips again then took her keys from out of her hand and unlocked her door for her. Chloe unwrapped her arms from around my neck and stepped back. I stood there until she walked inside and I heard the lock click into place. Then I turned and walked back to my car.

  There was a new found spring in my step and a huge smile on my face. I wasn’t one to normally toot my own horn, but I did so now. This was the best first date that I had ever had, and from the way that Chloe was acting, not wanting the night to end, I knew that it was the same for her. I’m not going to lie I had been worried that I wouldn’t have been able to give her everything that she needed and deserved, but after tonight I had no doubt that I could be the man for her. The entire drive home the only thing on my mind was Chloe. The perfect almost heart shape of her face, her soft sweet pink lips that I want to spend hours kissing, and her gorgeous eyes that light up whenever she’s happy, or twinkle when she’s being devilish, which is all the time when she’s around me.

  Fuck I was batshit crazy about the woman. I wanted nothing more than to turn my car around, head straight back to Chloe and climb into bed with her. Hell I didn’t even want to have sex, I wanted nothing more than to just lay in bed with her and hold her as she sleeps peacefully in my arms. A few weeks ago these thoughts would have had me calling myself a little bitch as I took shots in order to get my balls back, but now I didn’t care about shit like that. It didn’t make me less manly to admit that I was in love with an amazing woman who meant the world to me. I did the whole sleep with a different woman every night, sometimes two or three in one day, and I was over it now. There was nothing better than the idea of going to bed next to Chloe every night and waking up to her beautiful face every morning. Fuck I want that so damn bad I could taste it. I wanted to fast forward to the day where she would be wearing my ring, and I could go home to her every damn day after working hard at the studio, or being gone for months on tour. Hell I would give anything for that to be now, but I knew that I had to take things slow and be delicate with Chloe. I messed up for years, and I couldn’t expect her to jump straight into my arms the second I realized I wanted her. If I was being honest I would admit that the fact that she didn’t come running into my arms made me respect the shit out of her.

  I pulled into my drive way and parked before pulling out my phone. Being pussy whipped didn’t even begin to explain what I was right now, and I didn’t even care. I played the asshole rockstar for years, I was too old to be acting like that now, not when the price was being alone for the rest of my life. Which is what would happen if I treated Chloe like shit one more time, I would lose her, and there would never be anyone else for me. So without a single regret or an ounce of shame I pulled up Chloe’s number on my phone to send her a text.

  “I had a great time tonight. How about dinner on Sunday?” As I hit send I knew that she would be smiling when she read my message. As I waited for her response I shut my car off and went inside my house. Within seconds my phone beeped in my hand telling me that she had responded to me.

  “I thought men were supposed to wait three days before asking for another date. Something about not wanting to look desperate,” I snorted at her response, only Chloe’s mind would have followed the same path as mine did.

  “After the great time I had tonight, I don’t want to wait a second longer than I have to. There is no way in hell I’m letting someone come along and snatch you up,”

  “Well in that case I would love to go out with you again,”

  I smiled at her response. I hadn’t doubted that she would say yes to another date, but it gave me a thrill to see that she wanted to be with me as much as I did her. I shot out another text as I turned on the shower. I took a quick shower and then plopped down into bed as I tried to think of another place to take Chloe for a date. It was going to be hard as hell to top the romance that we had on our first date. With that logic maybe the second date should be about fun. It was time to mix it up a little bit.

  24

  ZANE

  The day after my date with Chloe, I walked into the studio where all the guys were and I was a little worried about it. I wasn’t quite sure how to act around Blaze at the moment, and I wasn’t sure that I should have even came into work today. It was going to be awkward as hell being around Blaze the day after I took his ex out to dinner. I was sure that there would be some anger on Blaze’s part. Honestly the relationship that he and Chloe shared seemed like a really good one, but I had gotten her first and there was no way in hell that I was going to lose her. So Blaze could be as mad as he wanted, I wasn’t going to let it make me feel bad. Fuck it, there was nothing that Blaze could say that would make me regret getting Chloe back. So I was going to walk into the recording room with my head held high. My freak out moment seemed to be for naught because the second I walked into the room Blaze sent me a smile.

  “Hey Zane, how was your date last night?” Blaze asked me earning a shocked expression to flash across my face.

  “You’re okay with it?” I asked as I took a seat, at the moment my mind was reeling from shock.

  “Yeah I’m okay with it, why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Because the two of you dated?”

  “Yeah we did, and you told me from the beginning that you would get her back. Now you did. Look dude the two of you are like f
ucking magnets, there is an invisible force that brings the two of you together. I knew that I could never compete with you if you ever maned the fuck up and tried getting her,”

  “Well yeah, but I mean I did go against the bro code. You actually dated her, so she should have been off limits for me,” I responded still not understanding how Blaze was being so calm about all of this.

  “But she was yours first. Why is this bothering you now Zane? I didn’t see you regretting your decision when you fucked Chloe while she and I were together,”

  My mouth dropped open as well as Axel and Cage’s who were sitting beside me. They had not been aware that I had slept with Chloe, now not only did I look like an asshole, but Chloe was painted as a cheater. That was something that I was not okay with. They could think badly about me all they wanted to, but there was no way that I was going to let Chloe’s name be dragged through the mud. Although in the long run what Blaze had said about the two of us was right, when Chloe and I got together we couldn’t help ourselves. There was a connection that we shared, one that I would always cherish.

  “You know I regretted that Blaze. I came straight to your house to tell you about it,”

  “I know you did, but it was still fucked up,” Blaze responded as a smirk came to his lips. What the hell, why was he smirking at me?

  “I know it was fucked up, and I know that I shouldn’t be dating her now when the two of you were going out first. But I have one thing to say about it,”

  “What’s that?” Blaze asked with a note of confusion in his voice. I didn’t care anymore though, there was something I had been wanting to say to him since the moment I learned that he was dating my girl.

  “I don’t give a fuck,” At my words everyone’s eyes went wide and it was my turn to smirk.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I don’t give a fuck. The two of you might have been together when I slept with her, but we couldn’t help it. As for now, yes you dated her technically first, but she had always been mine. I saw a chance and I fucking took it and I don’t regret it for one damn second. I fucking love Chloe with everything I have in me, and if that pisses you off then I just simply don’t give a fuck,”

  I kept my eyes on Blaze the entire time I spoke. There was no need for me to keep my eyes cast away from him in shame, everything I said was true, and I don’t care what the other’s think about it. Now there was an awkward silence as the words I spoke soaked into Blaze’s mind. Honestly I was waiting for Blaze to get up and punch me. It is what I would have done if our roles were reversed. So I would willingly let him punch me, because hell I deserved it, but I still wouldn’t bring myself to regret stealing my girl back. Chloe was mine, and she had been since we were kids. So there was no way that I was going to act like I had made a mistake just to make Blaze feel better about how everything went down.

  So there I was sitting there waiting to be punched. Needless to say I was beyond shocked when Blaze broke out laughing. Within seconds Axel and Cage joined in on the laughter leaving me sitting there more confused than ever. After their laughter continued for a few more seconds, I began to feel like the butt of their joke. My confusion turned to pure astonishment when Chloe walked into the room a few seconds later. I instantly hopped up to give her a kiss, then walked to stand behind her keeping my arms wrapped around her waist.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked her when we were both comfortable.

  “Blaze texted me and told me to come down here real quick,”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Look dude,” Blaze started as his laughter finally started to die down, “Chloe and I never dated,”

  “What the hell are you talking about? I went on double dates with the two of you,” My words came out on a shout causing Chloe to jump in my arms.

  “No, we never dated. I was tired of how much you were hurting Chloe, and she wanted to gain back some of the pride she had lost on you. I knew that if you ever saw her moving on, especially with someone that was your best friend, that it would get you to open your eyes. So we were pretending to date,” By the time Blaze was done with his explanation my mouth was hitting the floor.

  I could tell that everyone in the room was holding their breath as they waited for me to blow up on them. Especially the woman who was standing in my arms. She was most likely freaking out waiting for my response. I wanted to comfort her, but I had to work things out in my mind first. I looked down at her face and could see that she was chewing her lower lip, a nervous habit that I found adorable, I didn’t want her to freak out about this, but in the long run they had been tricking me. I knew that she would be worried that she was going to lose me over this, and by the way that I was standing here staying silent probably made that seem very true. I shook off the shock I was in and finally opened my mouth.

  “So you were faking it all?” I finally asked

  “Yeah we were,” Blaze confirmed.

  “Does that mean that the two of you weren’t having sex?” Hell if that were the case than I wouldn’t be so upset over all of this, but when I felt Chloe tense in my arms I knew the answer.

  “Look we were pretending to date, but there was a lot of sexual tension between the two of us. So I can’t lie and tell you that we didn’t act on those feelings, but we weren’t having sex the entire time that you thought we were. We actually only slept together like two times,”

  I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. This was a lot to take in, on the one hand I was happy that Chloe and Blaze hadn’t really been dating, but on the other hand I wished that they hadn’t slept together. In the end I guess there was only one question that I really had to ask the two of them.

  “So the two of you don’t have feelings for each other?”

  “Not the way that we made you believe for the past few months,” Blaze answered, “But I love Chloe, and I wanted her to be able to either get you, or move on from you. Believe me when I say this, before you stepped the hell up she was really close to getting over you,” I clenched my teeth when I was reminded just how close I came to losing her.

  “So the two of you were just making a fool of me?”

  “No it wasn’t like that,” Chloe spoke for the first time as she turned in my arms to look up at me, “Blaze wanted to help me, after everything I went through with you, I needed something or someone to help me. Blaze thought that this was the best way,”

  My arms dropped away from Chloe and I walked away to retake my seat. After I sat down I dropped my head on the back of my chair with my eyes clenched tight. I could feel the others staring at me as they waited to see how I would take in the bomb that they had just dropped on me. Honestly I didn’t know how to feel about it all. I knew that Chloe hadn’t done any of this out of spite towards me, or even to hurt me. She had done it because I had hurt her so badly that she had needed to take some type of control back over her life. In the end I couldn’t be mad at her, not while using that logic.

  That brought me to Blaze. I couldn’t be mad at him either. If anything my friend had stepped up in the hopes of getting Chloe and I together. That meant that Blaze had both Chloe and my best interest at heart. Plus the end result was one that I was really enjoying. Also I knew that if it wasn’t Blaze, some other man would have come along and snapped Chloe up and I would have lost my shot with her for good. At least when she was faking with Blaze, she was sort of off the market and couldn’t be taken away from me for good. I raised my head up and looked at the scared face of my girlfriend. A title she wouldn’t have if Blaze hadn’t done what he had.

  “Thank you Blaze,” I spoke not taking my eyes off of Chloe.

  “What?” Blaze asked as all the others exhaled in relief.

  “Thank you for what you did,”

  Chloe stared at me with wide eyes and an open mouth. I slowly stood up out of my seat and walked over to her bringing her back into my arms. She instantly cuddled in to me clutching my shirt in her fist and holding on. The others still sat there stunned, but I was lost
in the moment. I knew that they had thought that I should have been pissed about what I was just told, but I was taking it all really well.

  “What do you mean?” Blaze finally asked needing me to clarify,

  “You got with her under false pretenses knowing that the two of you wouldn’t have gotten together for real. If it was someone else that she had agreed to go out with I would have lost her. And you did it to help Chloe get over all the fucking hurt I put her through, and you did it to get me to open my damn eyes and see that I really wanted her, and to get us together. So thank you,”

  Blaze shot me a huge smile before he stood up and clapped me on the back “No problem dude. I’m just glad that it all worked out,”

  I looked down at the woman in my arms and smiled, “So am I,”

  Soon the others got back to work leaving Chloe and I alone. We were lost in our own little world, not letting go of the tight embrace that we were in. I could feel Chloe clenching my shirt tightly in her fists and I didn’t understand why she was holding onto me so desperately. I let my hand brush down her hair until I cupped her chin, then I pushed her face up to look at me.

  “What’s wrong Chloe?” I whispered as my lips skimmed over her forehead.

  “I don’t want you to hate me Zane,”

  I looked at her like she had lost her damn mind. Without another word I grabbed her hand and tugged her into Blaze’s recording area. Once there I closed the door behind me. It didn’t give us much privacy since one wall was made of glass, but at least it was soundproof unless a button was hit. So we could at least talk in private.