Her bare feet are cold on the hardwood, fast, small little steps. Steps of a child. Her feet are wet all of a sudden, but it's dark, she can't see why. She turns the corner and she sees it, her mother, cold, eyes open, on the floor.
"Mom?" The little girl runs to her, dropping to her knees immediately, "MOM?" Her yells growing more frantic. "Mom!" Tears begin to well in her green eyes, she puts a hand on her mother's face. Stone cold. Tears begin to stream.
15 YEARS LATER
"A business partner?" Rio's grandmother, remarks, "In the family business?" She resumes stirring her soup, "You've got to be out of your mind."
Rio shakes his head, licking his lips, "You'll like her." He takes a glance over at the young woman who hasn't looked up from her phone, "Chloe? Back me up?"
Chloe all of a sudden looks up, a slight sneer on her face, "Didn't you sleep with her?"
Rio chuckles, "You jealous?"
Chloe clicks her phone shut, setting it on the table, pulling herself forward in her chair, "No, just think it's irresponsible to be mixing business with... pleasure." She says with an eyeroll.
Nick looks up from his cereal bowl at the interaction, "If you're jealous, Chloe, we don't have to meet her." He says, filling another spoonful to bring to his lips.
Chloe locks eyes with Rio, "I am not jealous." She looks over at Nick and Rio's Grandmother, "And I would be happy to meet her."
Chloe didn't know what she expected. She knows Rio. She should have expected breasts that would literally be consuming this woman's entire face. You really couldn't look anywhere else. And red lipstick? The absolute nerve. Chloe moves the food around on her plate, not looking up while Beth, what a bitchy name, charms Rio's abuela. Beth all of a sudden looks at Chloe.
"Hi, I'm Beth." She says, way too cheerfully.
"Chloe." Chloe responds, with a slight head nod.
"Hey! Open the door!" Rio demands, his fist hitting her door repeatedly.
Chloe slides the deadbolt into place, her hands on the door, tears streaming down her face, "Just leave me alone! I don't care what you do!"
Rio grunts angrily, "Chloe, I'm not stupid open this door so I can talk to you."
"Why don't you go talk to your girlfriend?" Chloe yells back, "Seems like she had a lot to say with her tongue down your throat!"
"It's not your business, Chloe! Goddamn!"
Chloe falls silent, he was right, it wasn't her business. She had no right to be mad, and she surely had no right to be crying. She wipes her tears furiously, taking a deep breath, she opens the door. "You're right. I'm sorry." She says it barely above a whisper. Their eyes holding each others gaze.
"Chloe, I-" He steps forward, as if he's going to reach out and comfort her, but she swiftly closes the door again.
"Hey, where'd you go?" Nick asks, putting a hand on Chloe's shoulder. Shaking her out of the memory.
Chloe shakes her head, "I'm just tired, that's all." She looks around, realizing Beth and Rio had disappeared. "Where did they go?"
"Showing Beth where the bathroom is. Been a while though." Nick says a slight chuckle. "Makes a mind wander, doesn't it?"
"Chloe, dear, why don't you go see what they're doing?" The grandmother asks, "I would like to speak with Beth a bit more."
Chloe scoffs, "So I can walk in on their sex party? No thanks." Shoveling more food into her mouth, as she feels her heart rate quicken. Why does she still care?
"Hey." Rio walks up to Chloe, hands in his pockets.
Chloe looks over from her porch swing, after her most recent outburst she was hoping Rio and his new girlfriend would take off for the night. They didn't need to talk. She had nothing to say to him.
"What's going on?" Rio asks, standing in front of her, putting a hand on the post to the swing.
"Nothing. I just.. was caught off guard." Chloe says, blushing. She had walked in on Rio and his new girlfriend on the couch, definitely doing a little more than watching a movie.
"Are we ever gonna talk about this?"
Chloe meets his gaze, "What do you mean?"
"Us. Are we ever gonna talk about it." He doesn't even ask it as a question, he just states it.
Chloe jumps off the swing quickly, taking in a deep breath, "There is nothing to talk about. Your grandmother took me in when I needed help. After my mother was murdered. This." She gestures between the two of them, "Is nothing. Ok? It's nothing." Chloe all of a sudden takes a step closer to him, "It can't be anything, ok?"
Rio nods slowly, looking away from her, "Yeah, you're right." He turns on his heel, "It's nothing." He walks into the house, the screen door slamming behind him.
Nick grabs a chip off her plate, popping it into his mouth, "Chloe, just go."
Chloe groans, pushing herself away from the table. "I hope you guys are paying for the therapy for this one." She begins walking to the house, turning to walk up the stairs she notices Beth rushing down them looking disheveled. Chloe can't help the eye roll that escapes. She walks up the staircase, seeing RIo, standing in the room, looking very proud of himself.
"Couldn't keep your hands off of her long enough for your grandmother to actually meet her?" Chloe inquires, startling him. He turns around quick, and for a second, she sees a flash of embarrassment on his face.
"Chloe." He groans, looking down, then looking back at her, "Not your business."
"It's never my business." Chloe quips, she sighs, folding her arms in the doorway, "This isn't right, I don't know what you're doing with her but it's not safe. Not for you. Not for any of us."
"You ever think about that one night, Chloe?"
She feels like cold water was splashed on her. He brings it up at the worst times and she can't help but feel her body flood with heat.
Chloe, sitting on the kitchen counter, dangling her feet, eating ice cream. 3 am. After another fight with her then boyfriend, well, now ex boyfriend. This is the most peace she's felt in a while. She all of a sudden hears footsteps. She looks up and sees Rio.
"Why are you up?" Rio asks, opening the fridge and grabbing a jug of milk.
"Broke up with Brad. Again. So, ice cream." She gestures to her ice cream. "I don't know why I bother, I just dump him and then he promises he'll change and then.. back together.. no change." She laughs, shaking her head. "I don't know, some men just can't handle having only one woman. Gotta have em all." She jokes, her voice lightly cracking. "Like a fucking Pokemon game." A single tear drops.
Rio, all of a sudden, in front of her, wiping her tear. "Aye, we do not cry over men like that, ok? You are more than enough. For any man. Alright?"
Chloe looks up at him, suddenly realizing how close they are. "You mean that?" She asks, "Because it doesn't feel that way. It just.. it feels like I only date losers." She laughs.
"Chloe, Chloe, Chloe." Rio laughs, taking a step back, "You're always gonna be enough for someone, alright?"
Chloe locks eyes with him, and for a second, she just.. she can't help herself. She jumps off the counter, grabbing him by the back of his neck. They lock lips, it's so fast and intense, he's everywhere. His cologne is filling her senses, she feels his arm snake around her waist. Picking her up, putting her back on the counter. He breaks away for a second and she pulls him back in, harder, their lips meeting again. A sudden noise causes them to break apart. Breathing heavily.
"J-just the cat. The.. the damn cat." Chloe says, swallowing hard. She quickly drops off the counter, before Rio can say anything, she says, "We can't do that again. Ever." Pushing past him and rushing to her room.
"This might come as a shock, but I don't." Chloe says, lying straight through her teeth.
Rio shakes his head, walking up to her, "I do. All the time."
"Might be a bad time to bring it up considering you just fucked your business partner in your grandmother's house." Chloe snaps, stepping away from him.
"I just do what I gotta do sometimes, you know."
"I don't know. I don't know how that is ok. And I don't know what is going on with her, but I think you need to stop." Chloe says, turning on her heel, "I'm going back downstairs, unless you have another business partner I need to peel you off of."
Rio all of a sudden grabs her by the arm, "Chloe. You know if.. if things were different."
Chloe looks down at the hand on her arm, "If what was different?" She asks, her voice barely above a whisper.
Rio looks at her sadly, "You know."
Chloe's breathing gets really slow, their eyes not breaking for a second, "I know." She says, her voice still quiet. "I.." She stops herself from saying what she wants to say. She knows how this works. She knows this can't work.
I miss you.
The words hang in the air, like electricity, like at any given moment they can cross through this storm and-
"Chloe?" Nick asks, breaking the moment entirely.
Chloe pulls her arm away, "I'm coming." She says, "Just asking Rio to wash his hands before coming back down for dinner."
Thank you so much for reading! I'm sorry Rio's Grandmother is awkwardly named Grandmother or whatever but they haven't revealed her name in the series :( but if someone else caught it or something that my googling couldn't find please lmk!