I took a much needed hiatus, only periodically reemerging when inspiration sparingly struck. Now here I am, and, just a warning, this fic has not been edited by my extremely wonderful beta because im already overworking her and I hope that spell check will do! review, please, because i like this story but it's difficult to update when you think no one's reading!
PS: the plot, it thickens.
Her knuckles turned paper white as her hands closed over the side of her polished wooden desk. "You so much as say a syllable and I'll be gone in five seconds flat." She said through gritted teeth. He was, irritatingly, not surprised by her proclamation.
His thin mouth broke into a smile, baring all of his pearly whites. "I have no intention of allowing that to happen again." She narrowed her eyes, realizing how shrewish she appeared.
"It's not your choice, Mr. Luthor. You should have figured out by now that it's never been your choice." She snapped, twirling the dull pencil in between her fingers, disregarding it as a potential weapon.
"Clark lied to the both of us, I'm surprised that you've never considered exacting some sort of revenge. I thought you were smarter than that." Lex said mildly, all of his conviction in his deadpanned tone.
She quirked a single eyebrow. "Is this the part where I get all huffy and defensive and go up and try to prove you wrong, in essence proving your point? Try something else, I'm not your show dog. I don't jump through hoops for anybody, let alone you." She snapped scathingly.
A glint of malevolent admiration flickered to his eyes. The expression was so brief that Chloe was not entirely convinced that she had not simply imagined it. "Do you want this interview or not?" She concealed her outrage effectively, only a roll of the eyes a tell-tale sign.
"I'll call Lois in, or even Maureen. You don't need me for this." She replied, leaning over her desk for the small white speaker box. In one florid motion he was beside her, hand resting on her elbow.
"I'll always need you." His eyes betrayed nothing, as expressionless as ever. She spared him a withering glare before pushing his hand away.
"You should have thought about that before." She said stiffly, equally as aloof. "Lois, you're needed in my office." She stepped out of the door without even glancing over her shoulder. It took more restrain than she would have wished to admit.
Symone, unlike Lex, was easy to read. With a simple flick of her wrist a pile of newsprint landed on her lap, creasing her well-ironed skirt. With a questioning glance she lifted up the paper and read aloud the booming title.
PRESIDENT LUTHOR SPEAKS HIS MIND.
Tom Caine, The Metropolis Sun
Chloe glowered hatefully at the front page briefly, Lex Luthor shown beside the article wearing his most charismatic smile. "Bastard," She muttered, disregarding the title page and leafing her way to the horoscopes.
Symone stared at her, completely slack jawed, astonished by her indifference. "You, no, we've been scooped! And you allowed it to happen!" Now that she had her pronouns in order, Chloe felt most obliged to seem halfheartedly apologetic.
"Hitler, no, excuse me, President Luthor, refused to speak business and I was incline-forced to redirect him to Lois. I couldn't squeeze an article out of him, he was just there to catch up." Needless to say she did not oblige and Symone stormed off, a storm of curses rolling off her tongue as she did so.
"Touchy." Chloe said mildly, refusing to allow this to anger her. She knew Lex Luthor far too well to underestimate his own knowledge of herself. He was hoping that this bit of treachery would force her into speaking terms with him. He was clearly not quite as clever as he seemed to think.
The frenzied media, hungry for more of their baby-faced, human rights-limiting leader, had shockingly not discovered any of their 'affair.' She thanked God that it wasn't well-documented, no expensive earrings to be found on his credit card bill, intricate lingerie, or anything else of the sort.
He was only an aspiring, filthy-rich politician and she was an average college graduate, fresh and full of inspiration. They were both consenting adults with no idea what they were about to enter, no idea the pain that would potentially surface.
Chloe pushed her pencil through the loose bun atop her head, twirling a tendril of hair before reading aloud her horoscope, despite the fact that she never believed any of that nonsense. It was all painfully vague business, and hers happened to be "a business venture will have an unexpected turn," but didn't they always?
Her hand twitched, the urge to delve into Lex's article growing with her anticipation. Curiosity killed the cat...so what? Let the damned cat die. She flipped to page three, glancing at his picture for but an instant before breaking into a grim smile. She was not going to lose, no, not this time. It was a fight three years in the making and she was not about to abandon it.
Let the games begin. And oh, how they would.