Chapter 11
"Uh oh. Showtime, Chloe. It's Philip at ten o' clock."
"Wha-" she was silenced when Brady crushed his lips to hers. Initially, Chloe felt stiff all over, the unexpected shock of having Brady's lips pressed so roughly against hers, his hands possessively framing her face. But then it hit her: Brady's soft, succulent, luscious lips were pressed roughly against hers and his large, sexy hands. expert hands. were framing her face. "Mmm..." she moaned when she felt Brady's tongue touch hers. Her knees were giving out. Her damn knees were giving out in the best kiss of her life. Luckily, Brady felt her slipping downwards and held her up, though reluctantly breaking the kiss, leaving a very dazed and confused Chloe to stare at him in wonder.
"Philip," he heavily breathed out trying to catch his breath from the kiss. "Good to see you man."
"Brady." He looked from a grinning Brady to a seemingly drunk Chloe, both with bright red swollen lips. "What the hell is going on here?"
"Chloe and I were just ring shopping," Brady said simply. "And look, we found a winner," he gently lifted Chloe's hand up, letting Philip get a good eyeful of the ring.
"Ring shoahh? Don't tell me that.No way. That's just.You two!?"
"I'm sorry, Philip. You're going to have to try and make sense now. What are you trying to say?" Brady chuckled at the pure disgust contorting Philip's pretty boy face.
"Chloe, you and Brady are getting married? This is insane. This is some sick, twisted joke." 'Chloe loved [i]him[/i] dammit,' Philip thought to himself. Brady had put her up to this. "Chloe?"
"Uh." Chloe was speechless. For one, she was still high off that kiss Brady had smacked on her. Secondly, Philip was standing here and she could think of nothing but Brady. This was supposed to be [b]her[/b] moment. She was supposed to be enjoying rubbing this in Philip's face but she couldn't help but feel so completely angry with Brady. He had kissed her, turned her world around with one kiss for this act, for this charade. Did nothing affect this man? It seemed every damned thing he did affected her and that pissed her off.
"Chloe?" Philip eyed her, looking for any kind of reaction.
"No, Philip," Brady spoke up for her, figuring he'd handle Kiriakis himself, as Chloe seemed to have lost her nerve. "Chloe and I aren't [i]getting[/i] married." Brady almost laughed at the look of relief that briefly crossed Philip's face. "We [i]are[/i] married."
"You b%stard!" Philip shouted.
"Philip, no!" Chloe screamed as he connected his fist to Brady's jaw with a right hook.
"Okay Philip, time to die." Brady spoke calmly as he wiped a drop of blood from the side of his mouth.
"No, Brady don't, please," Chloe begged him. Relief washed over her as Brady nodded in understanding. She turned away from him to face off with Philip. Philip was her battle. "How could you embarrass me like this in public, Philip?"
"What did you expect me to do? He's married to you, Chloe!"
"That's right Philip. Brady and I are husband and wife. We were married night before last. So hitting Brady won't solve anything. There's nothing you can do to change this."
"How long's this been going on, Chloe? Have you been f&cking him the entire time we were together and thought you might use Cynthia and me as an excuse to call off our wedding?"
"It figures that you would say that," she almost laughed out loud she was so upset. "I don't owe you any explanation."
Knowing she was right, Philip sighed sadly, pleading with her and questioning her with his eyes. "Chloe, what have you done? How could you do this to us? We're meant to be together. You know that as well as I do." He pleaded, grasping her hands in his. "But instead you're trying to make me jealous by marrying my nephew. For what, Chloe? For what? I [i]already[/i] want you. You're the one who keeps pushing me away."
"And right into Cynthia's arms, right Philip?"
"I thought we were getting passed that." Philip swallowed audibly, taken aback by the fire in Chloe's eyes. He wanted to grab her arm, pull her away from here so he could talk this out with her. alone.away from Brady. But he knew Brady would have none of that and it seemed, from the absolute anger in Chloe's eyes, that she would have none of that either. "At least answer me this Chloe: Do you love him?" She was silent, so he pressed on. "Do you love him? Do you love Brady?"
Brady smiled with glee, absolutely loving this situation. Here he was in the middle of some ridiculously hokey triangle. This was better than an episode of Days of Our Lives.
"You lost me the second you ever laid a hand on Cynthia."
"So you don't love Brady." Philip nodded in understanding. "I knew it."
"Philip, get out of here," Chloe sighed and interlocked her arm in Brady's, suddenly needing his strength to help get her through this.
Brady kissed the top of her head and narrowed his eyes dangerously at Philip. "You heard her: Get lost."
He glared at Brady. "Something is going on here. There's something off about this marriage and I'm going to find out what it is and expose it to everyone because," not wanting to upset Chloe he stopped himself and turned to look into her eyes. "Because I want to protect you, Chloe."
"Protect me? How is trying to break up my marriage protecting me, Philip?"
"You don't know this b&stard like I do!" He lowered his voice. "You don't know him, Chloe. Cynthia and I are over now. I've told you that. What you saw the other night was a mistake. I was breaking it off with her, Chloe. I swear I was. So whatever you're doing." he trailed off. "I won't let you ruin your life because you're angry with us right now. I'll make you see how much we need each other, Chloe. I'll make you realize how perfect we are and always have been for each other. I'll make everything up to you. I promise." He walked away looking defeated, causing a trace of guilt to swim through Chloe's veins.
"Chloe, you should have let me at him," Brady said matter-of-factly.
"Oh, shut up and let's go get ice for your face." She felt the tears beginning to fall but willed them back into place.
As Brady looked after her as she kept a few steps ahead of him, he sighed. How pathetic. Chloe felt guilty. When was she going to realize, Philip didn't deserve her? 'What and you do, Brady,' he asked himself. 'Hmmm.maybe.'
**********************
"Is that everything," Brady asked as he set the last box down in Chloe's place and plopped down on a chair. "We officially roomies?"
"I think so," Chloe rose from the couch and strode towards the kitchen. "Now will you let me get you some ice for your face?" She didn't wait for his answer and was back out within seconds with a carton of frozen, veggie hotdogs in her hand.
"Chloe, I told you an hour ago that I don't need any ice for this." He pointed to his lip. "Philip's a p&ssy fighter."
"It's starting to bruise, Brady," she kneeled in front of him on the floor as he sat staring at her from his place in the chair. "Come on, let me at least stop the swelling."
Brady nearly choked as those words fell passed her full lips. He was pretty sure her kneeling in front of him like that would only cause another part of his body to swell entirely. "Chloe, I'm fine."
"Look Brady. I let you take care of my finger this morning so let me at least pay you back, okay?"
He simply sighed in concession and let her grasp his chin with one hand and put the frozen carton on his lip with the other. He gasped as the icy object made contact with his pained lip. "F&ck, that hurts," he whispered in obvious pain.
"P&ssy fighter, huh?" Chloe smiled. Brady only rolled his eyes. She giggled.
"Ran out of steak?" Brady joked, gesturing to the veggie hot dogs pressed to his lip.
"Ha. Ha. Veggie hot dogs are delicious."
"Riiight." Brady chuckled softly.
"They are." Chloe pulled the hotdog carton from his lips. "Let me see," she reached out and slowly ran her thumb along his lips. G-d, what lips. He had kissed her today and it was marvelous. She wanted more of that, more of him. She was in lust, she finally admitted to herself. I mean the sex dream this morning, the kiss today. But who could blame her? The guy was simply a sun-kissed gift from the gods. She had to be careful though. She was vulnerable. She knew that much. She couldn't get lost in this. She wanted Philip back. She loved Philip, right? And Brady wanted nothing to do with her. He was out for reasons of his own.
Brady watched in amazement as she focused her attention on his lips, studying them, touching them. He couldn't help himself as he pressed his lips together and lightly kissed the pad of her thumb. He watched as she brought her large eyes up to meet his heat-filled gaze. Without a word, he brought his hand to her face, smoothed down her hair and tucked it behind her ear. They sat there staring at each other for quite sometime, Brady had no idea how long. G-d, she was so beautiful staring up at him like that, looking like a wide-eyed cherub that had fallen from heaven. He felt his heart melting. The next thing he knew, he was bringing his face down to hers and swallowing her in a passionate kiss. They sat there quietly exploring each other's mouths with their tongues, running their hands through the other's hair. Brady had wanted this, needed this since last night when she had driven him home. He knew that he didn't really have to kiss her outside that jewelry store today to make Philip jealous. All he'd really had to do to piss Philip off was hold her hand, but dammit he had wanted to kiss her so badly. He had put that ring on her finger and felt so damn giddy, so damn confident. And now he was kissing her again, to hell with rhyme or reason. He wanted this and if anyone was going to stop it, he was damn sure it wouldn't be him.
Chloe ran her hand through Brady's hair, pulling it in all directions, mussing it up. She couldn't think and didn't want to. Thinking meant she had to put an end to this fantasy. He was just so sexy. "Mmm." she bit down on his lower lip, forgetting about his injury.
"Oh, sh&t!" Brady pulled back and his hand flew to his lips.
"Oh, Jesus, I'm sorry Brady."
"It's okay Chloe. It's fine," he rubbed his lip softly.
"I was just so excited. I didn't even think," she reached out to caress his lips.
He caught her wrist, certain her touching his lips again was not a good idea. Things could get carried away again and he certainly didn't want to be emotionally attached to someone who was pining away for someone else. "It's okay. Honest it is," he tried to reassure her as redness flooded her cheeks. "Look, we've had a hectic day. What do you say instead of going to Belle and Shawn's for dinner that we invite them over for pizza instead?"
Chloe frowned. "Okay." Quietly, she pulled her wrist from his grasp and walked towards the kitchen to put the hotdogs away. She was so embarrassed. Oh G-d, she was so embarrassed. She had practically bitten off his lip just now. What was she thinking? She had never gotten that way with Philip. What was happening to her? She slid down into one of the chairs at her kitchen table and let her forehead fall to the table.
Brady sat alone in the living room, waiting for her to come out of the kitchen. He wanted her to. He wanted to see her so badly, tell her not to be so embarrassed about what had just transpired between them but hell, he didn't know what had just happened either. And so he was pretty relieved she hadn't come out of the kitchen just yet. He didn't know what he would say to her if she did. So he picked up the phone and dialed his sister's number.
"Hello?" Belle picked up after the third ring.
"Hey, it's Brady."
"Hey, are you guys coming tonight or what?"
"Ahhh." he looked towards the kitchen door. "No."
"Ahhh.No!? But Brady, I need to talk to you and Chloe about this situation you've gotten yourselves into."
"You and Shawn can come by if you like instead. We were thinking we just wanted to stay in and get some pizza."
"Pizza? Brady, I slaved over a kitchen stove all evening cooking some of my famous garlic and bean casserole."
"Well, it's a good thing we're not coming over after all."
"Brady, that is so not funny. Look, tell you what, if Shawn has the same reaction to my casserole as you did when he gets home from work, then we're coming over to your place, okay?"
"Fine by me, Belle," he smiled.
"I'm pretty sure we won't be over though. Shawn loves my casseroles."
"I'm sure he does," Brady chuckled. "Bye, Belle."
"Bye, Brady."
Certain Chloe was beating herself up about the kiss, Brady decided to ease her guilty conscience. Although, he truly believed she shouldn't feel even remotely guilty for any of this. Philip had cheated on her, betrayed her with another woman. They had only kissed. "Only kissed," Brady sighed. "If only," he muttered to himself. Slowly but surely, these "kisses" were becoming more than just "kisses" to him. But he was pretty certain Chloe didn't feel the same way. He was definitely going to have to put a stop to this. He was beginning to care about her and he hated that... mostly because he knew Chloe would never grow to care for him. "Chloe?" he peeked his head into the kitchen. "Is it safe to enter?"
"Yes," she didn't remove her head from the table.
He chuckled. "Chlo-eee.Look, honey, it's okay. My lip is fine. I'll live. Honestly, your bark is worse than your bite."
She looked up at him and smiled. "You're such a goof."
"You okay?" he sat across from her.
"I'm fine."
"Philip is an idiot," the words seemed to be flying out of his mouth again, surprising both him and Chloe. 'Shut up Brady. Shut up Brady. Shut up Brady,' he thought to himself. "He's a fool and so are you to have ever thought that he deserves you."
"Excuse me? Look," she sighed trying to compose herself. She was so damn confused by this man. Only he could insult her and think he was somehow complimenting her. "I appreciate your concern but you told me once to stay out of your life, stay out of your business. Well stay out of mine. I don't need you, Brady. I can handle Philip on my own, without your help or advice." She wanted to scratch his eyes out, she was so angry. Why did he even pretend to care? And why did she care if he did or not?
"Well, you couldn't seem to handle him today, Chloe."
"I hate you," she said simply, looking him straight in the eye, truly believing she did.
"You certainly weren't hating me ten seconds ago in that living room when you practically sucked my face off."
"Go to hell, Brady," she strode out of the kitchen. For some reason, she wasn't in the mood to fight with Brady any longer.
"Chloe, I'm sorry." Ahh, why did he always say the wrong thing around her? "Where are you going?" He followed her out.
"I suddenly have a headache so I'm going to bed." She slammed the door to her bedroom, locking it behind her.
"What am I suppose to tell Belle and Shawn?"
"I don't care what you tell them, I am going to sleep!"
Looking at her door, he put his hands on his hips. "Well, what about me!? Where am I supposed to sleep!?" He paused as he heard her unlock and open her door.
"Here!" She threw a pillow in his face and slammed the door once again.
"Thanks!" He yelled. "Thanks for nothing!" It was only six in the evening and she was going to bed. What a diva. Just because he didn't butter her up, tell her what she wanted to hear, she suddenly had a headache. "Marriage really sucks," he muttered as he crashed on the couch, figuring he'd at least try and get some sleep.
"Uh oh. Showtime, Chloe. It's Philip at ten o' clock."
"Wha-" she was silenced when Brady crushed his lips to hers. Initially, Chloe felt stiff all over, the unexpected shock of having Brady's lips pressed so roughly against hers, his hands possessively framing her face. But then it hit her: Brady's soft, succulent, luscious lips were pressed roughly against hers and his large, sexy hands. expert hands. were framing her face. "Mmm..." she moaned when she felt Brady's tongue touch hers. Her knees were giving out. Her damn knees were giving out in the best kiss of her life. Luckily, Brady felt her slipping downwards and held her up, though reluctantly breaking the kiss, leaving a very dazed and confused Chloe to stare at him in wonder.
"Philip," he heavily breathed out trying to catch his breath from the kiss. "Good to see you man."
"Brady." He looked from a grinning Brady to a seemingly drunk Chloe, both with bright red swollen lips. "What the hell is going on here?"
"Chloe and I were just ring shopping," Brady said simply. "And look, we found a winner," he gently lifted Chloe's hand up, letting Philip get a good eyeful of the ring.
"Ring shoahh? Don't tell me that.No way. That's just.You two!?"
"I'm sorry, Philip. You're going to have to try and make sense now. What are you trying to say?" Brady chuckled at the pure disgust contorting Philip's pretty boy face.
"Chloe, you and Brady are getting married? This is insane. This is some sick, twisted joke." 'Chloe loved [i]him[/i] dammit,' Philip thought to himself. Brady had put her up to this. "Chloe?"
"Uh." Chloe was speechless. For one, she was still high off that kiss Brady had smacked on her. Secondly, Philip was standing here and she could think of nothing but Brady. This was supposed to be [b]her[/b] moment. She was supposed to be enjoying rubbing this in Philip's face but she couldn't help but feel so completely angry with Brady. He had kissed her, turned her world around with one kiss for this act, for this charade. Did nothing affect this man? It seemed every damned thing he did affected her and that pissed her off.
"Chloe?" Philip eyed her, looking for any kind of reaction.
"No, Philip," Brady spoke up for her, figuring he'd handle Kiriakis himself, as Chloe seemed to have lost her nerve. "Chloe and I aren't [i]getting[/i] married." Brady almost laughed at the look of relief that briefly crossed Philip's face. "We [i]are[/i] married."
"You b%stard!" Philip shouted.
"Philip, no!" Chloe screamed as he connected his fist to Brady's jaw with a right hook.
"Okay Philip, time to die." Brady spoke calmly as he wiped a drop of blood from the side of his mouth.
"No, Brady don't, please," Chloe begged him. Relief washed over her as Brady nodded in understanding. She turned away from him to face off with Philip. Philip was her battle. "How could you embarrass me like this in public, Philip?"
"What did you expect me to do? He's married to you, Chloe!"
"That's right Philip. Brady and I are husband and wife. We were married night before last. So hitting Brady won't solve anything. There's nothing you can do to change this."
"How long's this been going on, Chloe? Have you been f&cking him the entire time we were together and thought you might use Cynthia and me as an excuse to call off our wedding?"
"It figures that you would say that," she almost laughed out loud she was so upset. "I don't owe you any explanation."
Knowing she was right, Philip sighed sadly, pleading with her and questioning her with his eyes. "Chloe, what have you done? How could you do this to us? We're meant to be together. You know that as well as I do." He pleaded, grasping her hands in his. "But instead you're trying to make me jealous by marrying my nephew. For what, Chloe? For what? I [i]already[/i] want you. You're the one who keeps pushing me away."
"And right into Cynthia's arms, right Philip?"
"I thought we were getting passed that." Philip swallowed audibly, taken aback by the fire in Chloe's eyes. He wanted to grab her arm, pull her away from here so he could talk this out with her. alone.away from Brady. But he knew Brady would have none of that and it seemed, from the absolute anger in Chloe's eyes, that she would have none of that either. "At least answer me this Chloe: Do you love him?" She was silent, so he pressed on. "Do you love him? Do you love Brady?"
Brady smiled with glee, absolutely loving this situation. Here he was in the middle of some ridiculously hokey triangle. This was better than an episode of Days of Our Lives.
"You lost me the second you ever laid a hand on Cynthia."
"So you don't love Brady." Philip nodded in understanding. "I knew it."
"Philip, get out of here," Chloe sighed and interlocked her arm in Brady's, suddenly needing his strength to help get her through this.
Brady kissed the top of her head and narrowed his eyes dangerously at Philip. "You heard her: Get lost."
He glared at Brady. "Something is going on here. There's something off about this marriage and I'm going to find out what it is and expose it to everyone because," not wanting to upset Chloe he stopped himself and turned to look into her eyes. "Because I want to protect you, Chloe."
"Protect me? How is trying to break up my marriage protecting me, Philip?"
"You don't know this b&stard like I do!" He lowered his voice. "You don't know him, Chloe. Cynthia and I are over now. I've told you that. What you saw the other night was a mistake. I was breaking it off with her, Chloe. I swear I was. So whatever you're doing." he trailed off. "I won't let you ruin your life because you're angry with us right now. I'll make you see how much we need each other, Chloe. I'll make you realize how perfect we are and always have been for each other. I'll make everything up to you. I promise." He walked away looking defeated, causing a trace of guilt to swim through Chloe's veins.
"Chloe, you should have let me at him," Brady said matter-of-factly.
"Oh, shut up and let's go get ice for your face." She felt the tears beginning to fall but willed them back into place.
As Brady looked after her as she kept a few steps ahead of him, he sighed. How pathetic. Chloe felt guilty. When was she going to realize, Philip didn't deserve her? 'What and you do, Brady,' he asked himself. 'Hmmm.maybe.'
**********************
"Is that everything," Brady asked as he set the last box down in Chloe's place and plopped down on a chair. "We officially roomies?"
"I think so," Chloe rose from the couch and strode towards the kitchen. "Now will you let me get you some ice for your face?" She didn't wait for his answer and was back out within seconds with a carton of frozen, veggie hotdogs in her hand.
"Chloe, I told you an hour ago that I don't need any ice for this." He pointed to his lip. "Philip's a p&ssy fighter."
"It's starting to bruise, Brady," she kneeled in front of him on the floor as he sat staring at her from his place in the chair. "Come on, let me at least stop the swelling."
Brady nearly choked as those words fell passed her full lips. He was pretty sure her kneeling in front of him like that would only cause another part of his body to swell entirely. "Chloe, I'm fine."
"Look Brady. I let you take care of my finger this morning so let me at least pay you back, okay?"
He simply sighed in concession and let her grasp his chin with one hand and put the frozen carton on his lip with the other. He gasped as the icy object made contact with his pained lip. "F&ck, that hurts," he whispered in obvious pain.
"P&ssy fighter, huh?" Chloe smiled. Brady only rolled his eyes. She giggled.
"Ran out of steak?" Brady joked, gesturing to the veggie hot dogs pressed to his lip.
"Ha. Ha. Veggie hot dogs are delicious."
"Riiight." Brady chuckled softly.
"They are." Chloe pulled the hotdog carton from his lips. "Let me see," she reached out and slowly ran her thumb along his lips. G-d, what lips. He had kissed her today and it was marvelous. She wanted more of that, more of him. She was in lust, she finally admitted to herself. I mean the sex dream this morning, the kiss today. But who could blame her? The guy was simply a sun-kissed gift from the gods. She had to be careful though. She was vulnerable. She knew that much. She couldn't get lost in this. She wanted Philip back. She loved Philip, right? And Brady wanted nothing to do with her. He was out for reasons of his own.
Brady watched in amazement as she focused her attention on his lips, studying them, touching them. He couldn't help himself as he pressed his lips together and lightly kissed the pad of her thumb. He watched as she brought her large eyes up to meet his heat-filled gaze. Without a word, he brought his hand to her face, smoothed down her hair and tucked it behind her ear. They sat there staring at each other for quite sometime, Brady had no idea how long. G-d, she was so beautiful staring up at him like that, looking like a wide-eyed cherub that had fallen from heaven. He felt his heart melting. The next thing he knew, he was bringing his face down to hers and swallowing her in a passionate kiss. They sat there quietly exploring each other's mouths with their tongues, running their hands through the other's hair. Brady had wanted this, needed this since last night when she had driven him home. He knew that he didn't really have to kiss her outside that jewelry store today to make Philip jealous. All he'd really had to do to piss Philip off was hold her hand, but dammit he had wanted to kiss her so badly. He had put that ring on her finger and felt so damn giddy, so damn confident. And now he was kissing her again, to hell with rhyme or reason. He wanted this and if anyone was going to stop it, he was damn sure it wouldn't be him.
Chloe ran her hand through Brady's hair, pulling it in all directions, mussing it up. She couldn't think and didn't want to. Thinking meant she had to put an end to this fantasy. He was just so sexy. "Mmm." she bit down on his lower lip, forgetting about his injury.
"Oh, sh&t!" Brady pulled back and his hand flew to his lips.
"Oh, Jesus, I'm sorry Brady."
"It's okay Chloe. It's fine," he rubbed his lip softly.
"I was just so excited. I didn't even think," she reached out to caress his lips.
He caught her wrist, certain her touching his lips again was not a good idea. Things could get carried away again and he certainly didn't want to be emotionally attached to someone who was pining away for someone else. "It's okay. Honest it is," he tried to reassure her as redness flooded her cheeks. "Look, we've had a hectic day. What do you say instead of going to Belle and Shawn's for dinner that we invite them over for pizza instead?"
Chloe frowned. "Okay." Quietly, she pulled her wrist from his grasp and walked towards the kitchen to put the hotdogs away. She was so embarrassed. Oh G-d, she was so embarrassed. She had practically bitten off his lip just now. What was she thinking? She had never gotten that way with Philip. What was happening to her? She slid down into one of the chairs at her kitchen table and let her forehead fall to the table.
Brady sat alone in the living room, waiting for her to come out of the kitchen. He wanted her to. He wanted to see her so badly, tell her not to be so embarrassed about what had just transpired between them but hell, he didn't know what had just happened either. And so he was pretty relieved she hadn't come out of the kitchen just yet. He didn't know what he would say to her if she did. So he picked up the phone and dialed his sister's number.
"Hello?" Belle picked up after the third ring.
"Hey, it's Brady."
"Hey, are you guys coming tonight or what?"
"Ahhh." he looked towards the kitchen door. "No."
"Ahhh.No!? But Brady, I need to talk to you and Chloe about this situation you've gotten yourselves into."
"You and Shawn can come by if you like instead. We were thinking we just wanted to stay in and get some pizza."
"Pizza? Brady, I slaved over a kitchen stove all evening cooking some of my famous garlic and bean casserole."
"Well, it's a good thing we're not coming over after all."
"Brady, that is so not funny. Look, tell you what, if Shawn has the same reaction to my casserole as you did when he gets home from work, then we're coming over to your place, okay?"
"Fine by me, Belle," he smiled.
"I'm pretty sure we won't be over though. Shawn loves my casseroles."
"I'm sure he does," Brady chuckled. "Bye, Belle."
"Bye, Brady."
Certain Chloe was beating herself up about the kiss, Brady decided to ease her guilty conscience. Although, he truly believed she shouldn't feel even remotely guilty for any of this. Philip had cheated on her, betrayed her with another woman. They had only kissed. "Only kissed," Brady sighed. "If only," he muttered to himself. Slowly but surely, these "kisses" were becoming more than just "kisses" to him. But he was pretty certain Chloe didn't feel the same way. He was definitely going to have to put a stop to this. He was beginning to care about her and he hated that... mostly because he knew Chloe would never grow to care for him. "Chloe?" he peeked his head into the kitchen. "Is it safe to enter?"
"Yes," she didn't remove her head from the table.
He chuckled. "Chlo-eee.Look, honey, it's okay. My lip is fine. I'll live. Honestly, your bark is worse than your bite."
She looked up at him and smiled. "You're such a goof."
"You okay?" he sat across from her.
"I'm fine."
"Philip is an idiot," the words seemed to be flying out of his mouth again, surprising both him and Chloe. 'Shut up Brady. Shut up Brady. Shut up Brady,' he thought to himself. "He's a fool and so are you to have ever thought that he deserves you."
"Excuse me? Look," she sighed trying to compose herself. She was so damn confused by this man. Only he could insult her and think he was somehow complimenting her. "I appreciate your concern but you told me once to stay out of your life, stay out of your business. Well stay out of mine. I don't need you, Brady. I can handle Philip on my own, without your help or advice." She wanted to scratch his eyes out, she was so angry. Why did he even pretend to care? And why did she care if he did or not?
"Well, you couldn't seem to handle him today, Chloe."
"I hate you," she said simply, looking him straight in the eye, truly believing she did.
"You certainly weren't hating me ten seconds ago in that living room when you practically sucked my face off."
"Go to hell, Brady," she strode out of the kitchen. For some reason, she wasn't in the mood to fight with Brady any longer.
"Chloe, I'm sorry." Ahh, why did he always say the wrong thing around her? "Where are you going?" He followed her out.
"I suddenly have a headache so I'm going to bed." She slammed the door to her bedroom, locking it behind her.
"What am I suppose to tell Belle and Shawn?"
"I don't care what you tell them, I am going to sleep!"
Looking at her door, he put his hands on his hips. "Well, what about me!? Where am I supposed to sleep!?" He paused as he heard her unlock and open her door.
"Here!" She threw a pillow in his face and slammed the door once again.
"Thanks!" He yelled. "Thanks for nothing!" It was only six in the evening and she was going to bed. What a diva. Just because he didn't butter her up, tell her what she wanted to hear, she suddenly had a headache. "Marriage really sucks," he muttered as he crashed on the couch, figuring he'd at least try and get some sleep.