Denial

Chapter Three

Chloe sat in silence in her new living room, biting her lips, she kept replaying the last half an hour in her head. Elly had turned up drunk at her front door, tried to pressure her to sleep with her and now the brunette was in her bedroom expecting her to join her.

Chloe's thoughts were interrupted by the front door opening and Aaron and David arriving home.

Realising that her shirt was still undone after Elly had fondled her, Chloe immediately rushed to do it back up, blushing as she looked up at the two boys and knew that she'd been caught out.

"You right there, Chlo?" Aaron asked his younger sister, not sure he wanted to know why her shirt was undone as she sat alone in the living room before he then noticed marks along her neck and that her lip stick was smudged with a different shade.

Chloe cocked her head to her side, before realising she couldn't lie to her brother and brother-in-law, "Well…the thing is…Elly's in my room."

Aaron and David's eyes both widened as they glanced at each other before walking over to Chloe's side.

"It's not what you think," Chloe immediately told them, "Elly came over here half an hour ago. She was…is…drunk off her face…and she hit on me…like seriously tried to get me to…join her in my bed…with her. But I didn't…I couldn't. I mean I really really wanted to…but I still have a little respect for myself left not to."

Aaron was surprised, "Elly made moves on you and you turned her down?"

"Yes, Aaron, I've made that mistake once, I'm not a complete idiot to let her use me again!" Chloe insisted, "But can we just ignore the fact that Elly is having some serious denial over her attractions right this moment because…she is completely trashed and pregnant!"

David grimaced, "Yeah, that's not great for the baby. She's pretty early in her pregnancy and lots of women don't know they are pregnant until after this stage so getting drunk and trashed whilst not great for the baby, it can happen. We just need to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again."

Chloe nodded, "Agreed. I could really use not having Elly making moves on me and using my feelings for her against me because she's lonely…and also I don't want anything bad to happen to her baby."

Aaron sighed, "So Elly's in your room…is she like not leaving? Or sleeping her drunkenness off?"

"I'll sleep on the couch tonight," Chloe decided before addressing Aaron, "Okay; I don't actually know what Elly's doing in there. I haven't checked on her. I know it's wrong but I'm afraid to be tempted by her."

Aaron looked at David, who stepped up, "I'll check on her. I'm sure she's fine."

Aaron placed his hand on Chloe's shoulder reassuringly. Chloe looked up at him in appreciation, "I really hope David finds her asleep and not…well naked and waiting for me in my new bed. 'Cause after she went in there she yelled out some very suggestive things to me that…you don't need to know about."

Aaron shook his head, "Little bit late."

"Sorry," Chloe apologised.

Aaron pursed his lips, "So did Elly know I was out picking up David from work when she put the moves on you and yelled suggestive things?"

Chloe grimaced, "I think Elly was too drunk to even consider you or David were home when she started telling me she wanted me to-never mind."

David returned to the living room, "Elly's completely passed out, lying on top of your bed."

Chloe nodded sadly. Aaron felt sad for his sister, "Do you want me to go over to Elly's place and see if Bea and Susan can help us take Elly back to her place? Karl was at the hospital when I picked up David."

Chloe sighed, "No, its fine. Like I said, I'll take the couch tonight. I know Elly needs a lot of help with what she's dealing with and I know that should not be me but I think she'll be really embarrassed when she wakes up in the morning. The last thing she probably needs is having Bea and Susan help drag her home whilst she's unconscious. Whether I like it or not, Elly is technically part of our family and I think we need to let her sleep it off tonight. Then try to find a way to help her in the morning."

Aaron and David both nodded, with Aaron speaking up, "Elly's in a world of denial over her feelings for you isn't she?"

Chloe didn't react because the truth was she had no idea how Elly felt about her.

David looked at the siblings, "Maybe I can have a talk to her in the morning after you've both left for work. I feel like maybe I can relate to what she might be going through."

"You're the best, boo boo," Aaron took David's hand, before looking at his little sister, "Chlo, I know you probably won't agree with me…but I want to speak to Mark tomorrow and tell him what happened tonight."

"Are you kidding me?" Chloe squealed, "Mark already hates me and he'll probably just think I took advantage of Elly when I haven't."

Aaron looked at Chloe reassuringly, "Mark may have given Elly annulment papers but she is still his wife until they get filed. He needs to know what happened from one of us before he finds out from someone else. More importantly he needs to sort his crap out and decide how he feels about Elly been pregnant with his child. Mark needs to be there for her in whatever way he chooses otherwise Elly's just going to keep turning to the bottle and she could risk the baby's life."

"You're right," Chloe agreed, hoping that Mark wouldn't think that she had hooked up with his wife again, "Anyway I should let you boys head to bed, I'll go find a blanket for the couch…any chance I can borrow some PJ's from you Aaron? I'd rather like to not sleep in my work clothes."

Aaron nodded, "I got your back, Chlo."

The next morning Chloe found herself crying in the shower. She'd had a terrible night sleeping on the couch as her mind continued to torture her with memories of her night with Elly a few weeks ago melded into ideas of how her previous night could have turned out if she hadn't have turned down Elly's advances. Chloe was honest with herself, if Elly hadn't have been drunk or pregnant, Chloe would've fallen straight into bed with her and let her hurt her all over again.

Chloe ran her hand through her hair as Elly's voice felt like it was ringing in her ears with continual seductions. "I want to feel your body all over mine. I want your lips…fingers…tongue…all of it. Pleasure like I've never experienced in my life before, I need to feel that again, Chloe. Why won't you love me? Get naked with me, Brennan."

How the hell did I manage to resist all that? Chloe thought to herself as she imagined how incredible it would have felt to have Elly's body against hers. Oh boy!

Twenty minutes later, Chloe had put on her makeup, done her hair and was now sitting on one of the stools in the kitchen, her bathroom towel wrapped around her body as she drunk her first mug of coffee for the day.

Aaron and David soon joined her and started bumbling about the kitchen, grabbing coffees for each of them and not much else. Several of their newly bought appliances were due to be delivered that day whilst David was at home before his night shift so they didn't have much in the way of food in the house without a fridge.

Aaron finally looked at Chloe, "So Chlo…you gonna rock the whole bathroom towel look to work today?"

Chloe winked at her brother, "Well it just so happens I was debating that myself. What would be worse, the bathroom towel and risk of nakedness look or the wear yesterday's work clothes to work today and look like I hooked up and didn't go home look?"

Aaron nodded, "Right, your clothes are in your room and there's a possible still unconscious Elly in your bed and you don't want to go in there especially in a towel just in case she wakes up and thinks the two of you hooked up and freaks out all over again?"

"It's like you know me," Chloe grinned at her brother.

David poured an extra cup of coffee, "Would you be okay if I take this coffee to Elly and grab you some work clothes while I'm there, Chloe? I apologise now if you don't like what I choose."

"Always looking out for me, David," Chloe grinned, "Any of my dresses will be fine. Oh and David, little bit awkward but bra and underwear too if that's not too forward?"

"Got it," David nodded awkwardly, "I can…manage that."

David entered Chloe's room as quietly as he could, placing the cup of coffee on the bedside table he quickly moved to Chloe's wardrobe and drawers to grab his sister-in-law some clothes for work. Just as he grabbed what Chloe needed and headed for the door, he heard Elly rustle from her sleep and saw as she blinked her eyes open.

David whispered, "Elly, its David. How are you feeling?"

Elly tried to sit up but the pain in her head caused her to immediately grab her forehead and groan, "Everything hurts. Where am I? I don't know this place."

David felt sorry for Elly, "Elly you're at the new house Aaron and I bought. This is…uh…um…Chloe's room."

Despite her hangover hurting her entire body that was enough to get Elly to sit up, "Chloe's room? Did I…did we? We did it again didn't we? Or was that just my dream—I don't dream of Chloe! Forget I said that."

David felt quite awkward at Elly's panic seeing just how in denial she was, "Chloe slept on the couch. I'm just getting some clothes for Chlo so she can head to work. Aaron's leaving for work too soon. There's a coffee for you on the bedside table there. When you're up for it…I'll be in the kitchen…it might help you to talk to someone and if you don't think I'd be intruding I think maybe I can help you."

Elly nodded guiltily, burying her head into the pillows as David left the room before eventually leaning up and grabbing the cup of coffee.

A few minutes later, David returned with some clothes for Chloe and within fifteen minutes Chloe had left the house for Lassiters. As agreed, Aaron had decided to speak to Mark before he went to the gym and headed over to Mark's place hoping to catch him after his shift at the police station.

David hung out around the house, waiting for Elly to appear. Eventually finding himself cleaning every surface an hour later after the appliances had been delivered, David finally heard the bedroom door open and Elly appeared looking very worse for wear.

Elly's memories of the previous night had come back to her whilst she had stayed in Chloe's room, drinking her coffee. She was so embarrassed at the thought that Chloe had told Aaron and David what she'd done. Elly couldn't look David in the eyes but she knew she couldn't keep hiding away from what was going on with her, "You said you could help me?"

David motioned for Elly to sit down next to him at the kitchen table.