Chapter Fifty-Two -Revelations
Brady stood a few paces away from Chloe's position on the pier, an inscrutable expression upon his face. His eyes leveled on Chloe's, holding her captive for a few moments by the sheer potency of his gaze. Chloe met his gaze squarely, her eyes widening somewhat, seemingly astonished to witness his presence here, on the pier.
Brady was the first to break the spell that held the two of them within its forceful grasp. He was shocked to find Chloe here, on the pier. This was one of their sacred spots, one of the few spots in Salem that had drawn both of them to it from the very beginning. The gazebo was another sacred place, but Brady believed with certainty that the gazebo symbolized their hearts. The pier was their place for reflection and introspection, a special place for calming and healing their souls.
"Fancy meeting you here," Brady drawled out suddenly, breaking the amazing connection between them with his words. He slowly began approaching Chloe, still finding it hard to believe that she was here, in front of him.
Chloe stopped herself when she was about to take a step backwards, successfully hiding her bewilderment and uncertainty. She was uncertain about Brady's presence here, uncertain about her unwanted reaction to him when she had first seen him at the place she had recently decided had been meant solely for her, and uncertain about Brady himself. "It's a public place, Black," she sneered back, hiding her uncertainty behind sarcasm.
The edges of Brady's mouth pulled up into a smirk when he realized what Chloe was doing. Hiding and denying any feelings behind a wall of sarcasm, a trick that she had perfected years ago. "Well, this really doesn't look like the type of place Chloe DiMera would inhabit," he responded, opening his arms wide to encompass the rugged and unsophisticated surroundings of the pier. "And especially without your usual entourage. You know, your doting father or supportive sister."
Chloe frowned at Brady, taking her eyes off of him quickly. She breathed a silent sigh of relief when the inexplicable pull between them dissipated again. "I'm a grown woman, Brady Black, and I'm completely capable of taking care of myself," she replied, carefully putting more emotional distance between them and hopefully severing that damn connection that seemed to haunt her. "Besides, I don't know where you can make such a snap judgment against me. It's not like you know me or anything."
The smirk on Brady's face grew into a sneer. "I hate to admit it, but I'd have to agree with you there," Brady answered carelessly while he neared her position at the end of the pier.
Chloe stepped back from Brady, not wanting to be too near him. She pulled her cool composure around her and noted, with feigned surprise, "Well, that certainly is a switch. Usually you, your family, and your friends are trying to convince me how well they really know me. As if I'd believe any of your lies." Chloe rolled her eyes and then smoothed a stray lock of her hair out of her face while she waited for Brady to accept the challenge she had just dropped at his feet.
Brady followed the movement with his eyes, finding it oddly erotic. He shook away the vivid image that came to his mind, a fantasy including him, Chloe, and the very pier they were standing on, and explained his reasoning to her. "Well, that's where you're wrong, Chloe. There's a reason why I believe I don't know you. You see, I knew Chloe Lane inside and out. Chloe DiMera, well, she's someone I don't think I'd want to know at all."
"What?" Chloe nearly screeched, shocked at Brady's calm statement that completely contradicted everything the Bradys and the Blacks had tried to convince her of since she had returned to Salem. "Are you insane or what? Ever since I've arrived in this godforsaken town, everyone has told me that you and I were a item, completely devoted to each other, that we were seriously in love and planning on getting married. And now you're doing a total reversal? What's the deal here, Black?" She frowned in his direction, narrowing her eyes in thought while she tried to search for Brady's angle. She wasn't surprised when she couldn't find one. Brady's turnaround simply didn't make any sense to her.
"That's all true, Chloe DiMera," Brady answered, keeping his gaze on hers. "I love Chloe Lane, completely, totally, passionately. I know her heart, her soul, her hopes, and her dreams. I know everything that makes her who she is. And I know everything that she wants to be. You, well, you I don't know at all."
Chloe drew back from him like she had been slapped. She was extremely insulted by Brady's words and the meaning behind them. "You find me lacking?" she asked incredulously, her eyes narrowing in her fury.
"Yeah. That about sums it up," Brady responded neutrally, trying to gauge Chloe's reactions to his words. He put his hands in the front pockets of his blue jeans, while he waited for patiently for Chloe's reaction.
"Oh my god, this is ridiculous!" Chloe murmured in affront under her breath, breaking their gaze. "What gives you the right to judge me?"
"Maybe because I knew Chloe Lane almost as well as she knew herself?" Brady answered, with a small sneer on his lips. "And, let me assure you, Chloe DiMera, you are no Chloe Lane."
"You bastard!" Chloe shot back, flames of ire shooting from her sapphire eyes. "You…"
Brady strode to Chloe swiftly. He interrupted her angry diatribe. He sneered down at the woman standing defiantly in front of him while he continued with his defense of Chloe Lane, "Chloe Lane had heart, passion, compassion, dreams, desires, love, understanding. Chloe DiMera has none of that." His eyes raked her up and down, clearly inspecting her. And finding her lacking. "You have nothing on Chloe Lane."
"Damn you! You make me sound like some frigid, incomplete person!" Chloe nearly stamped her foot in frustration, shocked at the view this annoying man had of her. "I possess all of those things you just listed. You're simply frustrated because I won't believe the lies your family and friends keep shoving down my throat, that I won't betray my family. You despise the fact that my loyalties lie completely with someone else."
"True," Brady answered noncommittally, before he admitted thoughtfully, "Of course, Chloe Lane would never have been taken in by Stefano DiMera. In fact, she went to great lengths to bring him down. She'd never accept or want him in her life. She recognized him for the evil monster he is, from the first moment he revealed the truth of his identity to her."
"That's it!" Chloe snapped at him, feeling fury snap viciously within her. The sapphire of Chloe's eyes darkened to nearly black, revealing the anger that Brady's words had stirred. "I have had enough of this, Brady Black! And you. First you insult me, comparing me to some figment of your imagination, and then you have the audacity to malign my father!" She turned on her heels, clearly intending to leave Brady's presence.
Brady reached out to prevent Chloe from leaving the pier. His hand caught hers for a single moment in time. His eyes widened at the incredible feel of Chloe, at the electricity that seemed to jump from where their hands overlapped.
Chloe felt it, too. She halted her progress and glanced over her shoulder at him, amazed when her eyes were drawn unwittingly back to Brady's. Her breath caught within her throat when she correctly read the fires of desire burning for her within the depths of his brilliant blue eyes.
Brady was actually the first to let go of the much-anticipated contact. The urge to kiss her was overwhelming, but he realized ruefully that now was not the time for a passionate overture. He dropped her hand and placed both of his deep within the pockets of his jeans again, hoping that he could resist the need to touch her again. Then, Brady swiftly concluded that words would not be effective. Instead, he lifted one of his eyebrows and looked gloatingly at Chloe, daring her to deny their connection again.
It worked amazingly well. Chloe recovered from her stunned reaction to his mere touch quickly and narrowed her eyes dangerously at Brady. The remains of the earlier frost dissipated from her expression, leaving a livid fury in its place. "Stay the hell away from me," she hissed at him furiously, jumping back slightly from his presence.
"Graceful," Brady noted, continuing to look gloatingly at her, allowing her to witness the pleasure he felt at their brief connection. "Well, at least there is one thing that Chloe DiMera has in common with Chloe Lane." He purposefully ended there and turned his attention away from Chloe. He looked out over the water, wondering how long it would be before the suspense caused by his statement would overtake her.
Chloe told herself she wouldn't ask him even as the words flew unheeded past her lips. "And what is that, all-knowing one?"
Brady grinned appreciatively at Chloe's sarcastic remark. "The pull, Chloe, that all-consuming passionate pull between us. I know you felt it just then, that you've felt it before, too. Don't try to deny it," he warned her, glancing at her out of the side of his eyes.
Chloe gave a curt shake of her head while she ignored Brady's warning. "I honestly have no clue about what you are insinuating," she insisted, deciding that she would burn in hell before she would admit to having experienced any type of passionate pull for Brady Black. She went on the offense, using that tactic to hide her reaction to his simple touch. "I'm used to that by now, though, Black. You know, your lies. After all, every word that comes out of your mouth is a lie." Chloe threw the words at him and then turned around, intending on leaving the insufferable man on the pier alone.
Brady's eyes blazed at Chloe's taunt. Before he realized what he was doing, he had gently gripped Chloe's upper arms and had whirled her around to face him, his intention to make Chloe feel and admit the all-consuming passion between them. "A lie, is it, Chloe? That's what you think this is?" He goaded her, placing one hand behind her neck and forcing her face up towards his. His eyes bore mercilessly into hers, commanding her to admit to their passionate pull.
Chloe was once again caught in his mesmerizing eyes. She briefly considered struggling to break free but that decision was overruled immediately. Instead, she forgot every sane reason why she should not be in Brady Black's arms, and got caught up in the moment. Her own eyes darkened with passion in response to Brady as the connection she continually tried to deny to herself overtook her completely, revealing her own burgeoning desire that she couldn't control while she was in such close contact with him, her nemesis.
Brady saw the unbelievable surrender in her eyes. One corner of his mouth tipped up while he continued to hold her captive with his eyes. "Is this a lie?" he managed to mutter over the shock of the look that was once again on Chloe's face, a look he had never thought to see after he had been introduced to Chloe DiMera.
Chloe couldn't find her voice to answer the question. Everything around her faded into the background because she was focused only on Brady and the passion she knew with absolute certainty that would erupt the second he kissed her lips. Her eyes finally traveled from his eyes to his lips, the simple action telling him plainly her answer to his question instead of words.
Brady knew where she was looking, knew exactly what she was silently asking him for. His hands tightened reflexively on her upper arms before he did the unthinkable. Heaving an inward sigh, Brady released her unexpectedly and stepped back from her.
Chloe's mouth dropped open in disappointment when she realized that Brady was not going to kiss her. "What…you're not…why…?" She could barely manage a few unintelligible words after the effects of a near kiss from Brady Black.
Brady wanted to kiss her, but not like this. Not when Chloe would deny it afterwards. She wasn't ready for it yet. "If you want a kiss, honey, you'll have to start it," Brady replied tauntingly, leaning back against one of the boxes on the pier. He crossed his arms over his chest, affecting a nonchalant demeanor, even though he watched Chloe's response to his latest taunt with the eyes of a hawk.
The last traces of desire fled from Chloe's face while her fury resumed control. "Kiss you?" she fumed at him, absolutely livid. "Why would I want to kiss you?" She regretted the question the second it was out, knowing that she had just given him more ammunition to use against her. She closed her eyes after the fateful words were thrown down between them like a gauntlet.
A slow, satisfied smile crossed Brady's face, reflecting his amusement at Chloe's stupidity. His eyebrow lifted even higher while he questioned her, infusing his tone with feigned disbelief, "Chloe, you gave a really good impression of a woman desiring my kiss, a few seconds ago, in fact, when I held you in my arms and you invited me with your eyes."
Chloe blushed a deep red at the veracity of his view of the near kiss, without being able to think of a graceful way to get out of this situation she had created for herself. Without a word, she turned on her heels and stomped loudly away from Brady.
"Chloe?" Brady called out, vaguely surprised when Chloe halted near the staircase. However, she didn't turn around to face him. "Earlier, we were talking about how you don't measure up to Chloe Lane. I wanted to let you know I was wrong. About one part of my analysis. You're equal to Chloe Lane in one respect. You still have Chloe Lane's desire."
Chloe ignored him successfully this time and strode swiftly away, even though her face was now a darker shade of red than it had been before. Brady's chuckles continued to follow her, mocking her with every step she took away from him.
