Part 2
The ornate Chinese knocker dug into her scalp. She turned her head to ease the pressure, but he grasped her chin with his fingers and turned her head back to face him. With his other hand, he grasped at her skirts, pushing it up to her waist as he parted her thighs with his knee.
Chloe bit her lip as she forced herself not to respond to his hip digging between her legs. His stormy eyes blazed down at hers before his mouth met hers, pressing the inside of her lips against her teeth. She moaned at the back of her throat.
She freed her mouth and tried to push against his chest. At that same moment, she felt him push inside her, and Chloe released a strangled cry. "You have to stop this," she gasped. He thrust inside her, hitting places that he used to reach with gentle movements inside her. Now, he was in a fury. He was quick and his hips slammed into her more powerfully than before. "Don't."
His teeth grazed her cheek before he buried his nose in her head, breathing in the scent of strawberries in her hair. "Is that you talking," he hissed, "or is it your fiancé, Chloe?"
"Stop." She shut her eyes tightly when he moved rapidly inside her, driving her to the edge. "I told you. We. Have. To. Stop." Behind her eyelids she could see stars bursting in the darkness, and no matter how much she tried to keep it in, the keening wail escaped from her breast. She sagged against him, kept upright by his body still moving in her and the door behind her. Chloe clutched his shoulders, massaging his nape slowly while his throat worked. Sweat dripped from his forehead and rolled down to her chest, rolling to her nipple. Chloe swallowed heavily and sucked in her breath when she felt him stiffen. He threw back his head and groaned, the hot flood of his seed inside her pushing her off the edge again.
"I love you so much," he whispered against her skin. His tongue flicked the moisture from her breast. "Tell me you won't allow your father or Clark to control your destiny." His stormy gray eyes pleaded with her. "Promise me."
"I can't." When she weakly pushed on his chest again, he released her. Chloe slid down the door to the servants' entrance. "We're not going to be together. We should never have been together."
"Why?" he demanded. "Because you live in this house and I am nothing?"
"You are not nothing!" she protested immediately, looking up at him from her position on the grass. "I would not have fallen in love with you if you had been nothing."
He knelt in front of her and picked up her hand, bringing it to his lips. He closed his eyes and asked, "Then why can't we be together?"
Chloe shook her head. "I've been promised to Clark long before I met you. I was supposed to fall in love with him a few years into the marriage. How was I to know that love would come with him, not for him, but in the guise of his own manager?"
"If I were willing to put my life and my career at stake, will you leave with me?"
Her lips parted in surprise, and she held his face with both of her hands. "Clark's father hired you because you never leave a plantation until it prospers," she reminded him. "Your reputation precedes you. You cannot ruin your career."
"For you, I will raze their farmland and salt its earth so that no corn or rice or wheat will grow-not even weed."
Chloe shivered at the promise in his words. He would do it. He would ruin her fiancé if she asked him to. She stared deep into his eyes and shook her head, smiling. "You don't need to do that," she assured him.
"Will you come with me then?" he asked. "I will speak with Clark and inform him of my plan. If you wish to break your engagement with him before we leave, do so. But tomorrow I will come and I expect you to be prepared."
"I will not have everything that I had here," she said. "I would not have all that I would have had as Clark's wife-" He could not promise him that he would give her the luxury she had been used to, the riches she deserved. For one short moment, he thought about taking back his invitation. But Chloe tugged at his hand and pulled him to her, placing a tender kiss on his lips, "But you, Alexander, will give me the world."
~~
His tires screeched into a halt right at the bottom of the steps leading up to the old house. Lex turned the motor off and looked up at the dark windows of the old house. He stopped on the first step when he noticed that all of the glass windows have been covered with cloth or newspapers taped together except for one. It was the third floor window where he had seen the woman just yesterday. There was nothing there.
He shook off the cold air that started to envelop him. Lex rang the doorbell that was obviously a modern addition to the house. He had been searching for his wife for hours, looking for her at her father's, at the Kents', at the Talon. Finding her nowhere, he had tried calling her cellphone but it was out of reach. Finally, the caretaker of the house called him and informed him that his wife was there viewing the house despite the fact that she had been told over and over that the house was no longer for sale.
Very few things scared Lex Luthor, and last night did. When they arrived back at the house, his wife was catatonic. It took him a full two hours to bring her back. She had drawn a blank to the day, with no knowledge of where they had been and what they did. He had been glad then. At least Chloe would not be possessed with the need to find out more about the house if she did not remember it. Hearing that she had made her way back there sent fear clawing at his heart.
The door to the mansion swung open. Lex stepped in and turned to thank the caretaker, but found no one standing by the door. He shrugged and supposed that the man had left him to his own devices. Lex walked around and searched the various rooms for his wife. "Chloe," he called gently, not wanting to sound afraid or mad. "Honey, we need to go."
The rooms that they had been shown to were empty. Lex looked up the wide staircase. They had not been allowed to see the upper levels yesterday. If Chloe remembered viewing the house and not having been taken upstairs, that would be her first destination. Not even bothering to inform the caretaker, he climbed up the stairs, ignoring the crawling fingers on his arms.
Every step echoed into the large empty house. He pushed open the first door on the second floor, hearing it creak on the hinges. There was a long corridor that revealed several more doors. Lex looked at the next level of steps, knowing deep down that he would not find Chloe on the second floor. Allowing his instincts to lead him, Lex climbed the stairs.
He reached the dusky corridor. He almost chuckled at the sight of cobwebs hanging from the ceiling and portraits on the wall. It was the very stereotype of old, abandoned houses. The experience was almost satirical until the fourth door opened silently by itself. Lex wanted to turn and leave the house, return to the outside world where logic ruled and things were sane, where doors stayed closed until a human hand turns the knob. Seeing the journal that Chloe had been carrying for a few days now on the floor drove him forward.
Lex stopped at the doorway, looking inside the empty room. "Chloe, are you in here?" He saw the glass window, uncovered, and realized that this was the room that he had looked at the day before. He walked inside and looked around. The room was bare and his wife was not there.
The fragrant smell of strawberries filled the air. Lex stepped back until his back hit the door that he did not remember even closing. He turned around and saw the dilapidated door slowly turn new and solid. From the bottom, white paint climbed the wood until the door was as good as new. His head whipped back to see the bedroom. Lex swallowed when he saw the light yellow lace curtains hanging on the windows. In the middle of the room, a canopy bed was freshly made with flower-patterned sheets. There was a vanity dresser with an oval mirror right across the bed.
Lex's eyes widened when he saw another door open and Chloe step out. He reached out and closed his hand over her wrist, pulling her to the door leading to the corridor. She snatched her arm away and rubbed the skin with her hand. "Chloe, we have to go!"
"I waited for you!" she spat out.
Lex's brows furrowed at the angry fire in her eyes. They had not fought for months. There had been no cause for a disagreement. "Chloe, I didn't know you went here. Now let's go. It's either I'm seeing things or-"
His words were muffled when she slammed her mouth on his. Her hands frantically pulled his shirt out of his pants. She clawed at his belt until his pants fell on the floor. Suddenly, he was filled with rage that he did not understand. Lex grabbed her arm and threw her on the bed. His fingers dug into her hair and he pulled her head back. She gasped harshly when she felt him tear her panties away. "You are so used to that," she murmured.
Lex grunted an answer. He grabbed her thighs and pushed them apart, keeping them apart with a bruising grip. "You lied to me!" he found himself accusing her. "You played me for a fool!"
"I never did anything for you to do what you did to me!" she cried. She beat at his back, needing him off of her. When he sank inside her heat, the fists turned into sharp fingernails digging into his back. "I will hate you for eternity, Alexander," she moaned, her hips pushing against him, driving him deeper inside her.
"I hate you as much as I loved you," he returned, angling his thrust to drive her off the cliff. And then he too was spiraling down a bottomless pit, the darkness crowding in his vision until he only wanted to stop breathing to end the pain.
When Lex woke up, his head was pounding and his entire body ached. He blinked and saw the moon through the glass window. He realized that he was lying on top of his wife. Lex shifted to take his weight off of her. When he fell on his back, he registered that they had been sleeping all along on the bare and dusty floor. The unpleasant surprise was to find that both he and Chloe were naked.
His eyes fell to her spread legs. He saw the purpling bruise in the shape of his hands on her inner thighs. Lex cringed in horror at the sight of his wife's cut lip, where blood even now oozed. He reached out and brushed his fingers at the bite marks on her breasts.
"Chloe," he whispered. She did not stir. He took her into his arms and shook her gently away. "Chloe," he repeated. This time, her eyes fluttered open and Lex sighed in relief. "Sweetheart, please look at me."
Her gaze wandered around the empty room until it found his. She touched his cheek and frowned. "You have a scratch, Lex. What happened?"
He smiled down at her. "That's nothing. How are you feeling?"
"Like I've been run over by a truck." She groaned. "And I am exhausted, like I'm two hundred years old! Lex, I want to sleep."
He swallowed again and nodded his head. "Chloe, I'm going to take you home now."
"Are we naked?" she whispered when their lack of clothing finally registered in her brain. She felt the soreness between her thighs, and her palm automatically reached for the gentle swell of her belly. "Is the baby okay?" she asked fearfully.
Lex laid his forehead on hers. "We'll go to the doctor in the morning. But right now, Chloe, please let me take you home."
She wanted to cry, because whatever had happened, she knew it had consequences to her marriage. Chloe nodded. "Take me home, Lex."
The ornate Chinese knocker dug into her scalp. She turned her head to ease the pressure, but he grasped her chin with his fingers and turned her head back to face him. With his other hand, he grasped at her skirts, pushing it up to her waist as he parted her thighs with his knee.
Chloe bit her lip as she forced herself not to respond to his hip digging between her legs. His stormy eyes blazed down at hers before his mouth met hers, pressing the inside of her lips against her teeth. She moaned at the back of her throat.
She freed her mouth and tried to push against his chest. At that same moment, she felt him push inside her, and Chloe released a strangled cry. "You have to stop this," she gasped. He thrust inside her, hitting places that he used to reach with gentle movements inside her. Now, he was in a fury. He was quick and his hips slammed into her more powerfully than before. "Don't."
His teeth grazed her cheek before he buried his nose in her head, breathing in the scent of strawberries in her hair. "Is that you talking," he hissed, "or is it your fiancé, Chloe?"
"Stop." She shut her eyes tightly when he moved rapidly inside her, driving her to the edge. "I told you. We. Have. To. Stop." Behind her eyelids she could see stars bursting in the darkness, and no matter how much she tried to keep it in, the keening wail escaped from her breast. She sagged against him, kept upright by his body still moving in her and the door behind her. Chloe clutched his shoulders, massaging his nape slowly while his throat worked. Sweat dripped from his forehead and rolled down to her chest, rolling to her nipple. Chloe swallowed heavily and sucked in her breath when she felt him stiffen. He threw back his head and groaned, the hot flood of his seed inside her pushing her off the edge again.
"I love you so much," he whispered against her skin. His tongue flicked the moisture from her breast. "Tell me you won't allow your father or Clark to control your destiny." His stormy gray eyes pleaded with her. "Promise me."
"I can't." When she weakly pushed on his chest again, he released her. Chloe slid down the door to the servants' entrance. "We're not going to be together. We should never have been together."
"Why?" he demanded. "Because you live in this house and I am nothing?"
"You are not nothing!" she protested immediately, looking up at him from her position on the grass. "I would not have fallen in love with you if you had been nothing."
He knelt in front of her and picked up her hand, bringing it to his lips. He closed his eyes and asked, "Then why can't we be together?"
Chloe shook her head. "I've been promised to Clark long before I met you. I was supposed to fall in love with him a few years into the marriage. How was I to know that love would come with him, not for him, but in the guise of his own manager?"
"If I were willing to put my life and my career at stake, will you leave with me?"
Her lips parted in surprise, and she held his face with both of her hands. "Clark's father hired you because you never leave a plantation until it prospers," she reminded him. "Your reputation precedes you. You cannot ruin your career."
"For you, I will raze their farmland and salt its earth so that no corn or rice or wheat will grow-not even weed."
Chloe shivered at the promise in his words. He would do it. He would ruin her fiancé if she asked him to. She stared deep into his eyes and shook her head, smiling. "You don't need to do that," she assured him.
"Will you come with me then?" he asked. "I will speak with Clark and inform him of my plan. If you wish to break your engagement with him before we leave, do so. But tomorrow I will come and I expect you to be prepared."
"I will not have everything that I had here," she said. "I would not have all that I would have had as Clark's wife-" He could not promise him that he would give her the luxury she had been used to, the riches she deserved. For one short moment, he thought about taking back his invitation. But Chloe tugged at his hand and pulled him to her, placing a tender kiss on his lips, "But you, Alexander, will give me the world."
~~
His tires screeched into a halt right at the bottom of the steps leading up to the old house. Lex turned the motor off and looked up at the dark windows of the old house. He stopped on the first step when he noticed that all of the glass windows have been covered with cloth or newspapers taped together except for one. It was the third floor window where he had seen the woman just yesterday. There was nothing there.
He shook off the cold air that started to envelop him. Lex rang the doorbell that was obviously a modern addition to the house. He had been searching for his wife for hours, looking for her at her father's, at the Kents', at the Talon. Finding her nowhere, he had tried calling her cellphone but it was out of reach. Finally, the caretaker of the house called him and informed him that his wife was there viewing the house despite the fact that she had been told over and over that the house was no longer for sale.
Very few things scared Lex Luthor, and last night did. When they arrived back at the house, his wife was catatonic. It took him a full two hours to bring her back. She had drawn a blank to the day, with no knowledge of where they had been and what they did. He had been glad then. At least Chloe would not be possessed with the need to find out more about the house if she did not remember it. Hearing that she had made her way back there sent fear clawing at his heart.
The door to the mansion swung open. Lex stepped in and turned to thank the caretaker, but found no one standing by the door. He shrugged and supposed that the man had left him to his own devices. Lex walked around and searched the various rooms for his wife. "Chloe," he called gently, not wanting to sound afraid or mad. "Honey, we need to go."
The rooms that they had been shown to were empty. Lex looked up the wide staircase. They had not been allowed to see the upper levels yesterday. If Chloe remembered viewing the house and not having been taken upstairs, that would be her first destination. Not even bothering to inform the caretaker, he climbed up the stairs, ignoring the crawling fingers on his arms.
Every step echoed into the large empty house. He pushed open the first door on the second floor, hearing it creak on the hinges. There was a long corridor that revealed several more doors. Lex looked at the next level of steps, knowing deep down that he would not find Chloe on the second floor. Allowing his instincts to lead him, Lex climbed the stairs.
He reached the dusky corridor. He almost chuckled at the sight of cobwebs hanging from the ceiling and portraits on the wall. It was the very stereotype of old, abandoned houses. The experience was almost satirical until the fourth door opened silently by itself. Lex wanted to turn and leave the house, return to the outside world where logic ruled and things were sane, where doors stayed closed until a human hand turns the knob. Seeing the journal that Chloe had been carrying for a few days now on the floor drove him forward.
Lex stopped at the doorway, looking inside the empty room. "Chloe, are you in here?" He saw the glass window, uncovered, and realized that this was the room that he had looked at the day before. He walked inside and looked around. The room was bare and his wife was not there.
The fragrant smell of strawberries filled the air. Lex stepped back until his back hit the door that he did not remember even closing. He turned around and saw the dilapidated door slowly turn new and solid. From the bottom, white paint climbed the wood until the door was as good as new. His head whipped back to see the bedroom. Lex swallowed when he saw the light yellow lace curtains hanging on the windows. In the middle of the room, a canopy bed was freshly made with flower-patterned sheets. There was a vanity dresser with an oval mirror right across the bed.
Lex's eyes widened when he saw another door open and Chloe step out. He reached out and closed his hand over her wrist, pulling her to the door leading to the corridor. She snatched her arm away and rubbed the skin with her hand. "Chloe, we have to go!"
"I waited for you!" she spat out.
Lex's brows furrowed at the angry fire in her eyes. They had not fought for months. There had been no cause for a disagreement. "Chloe, I didn't know you went here. Now let's go. It's either I'm seeing things or-"
His words were muffled when she slammed her mouth on his. Her hands frantically pulled his shirt out of his pants. She clawed at his belt until his pants fell on the floor. Suddenly, he was filled with rage that he did not understand. Lex grabbed her arm and threw her on the bed. His fingers dug into her hair and he pulled her head back. She gasped harshly when she felt him tear her panties away. "You are so used to that," she murmured.
Lex grunted an answer. He grabbed her thighs and pushed them apart, keeping them apart with a bruising grip. "You lied to me!" he found himself accusing her. "You played me for a fool!"
"I never did anything for you to do what you did to me!" she cried. She beat at his back, needing him off of her. When he sank inside her heat, the fists turned into sharp fingernails digging into his back. "I will hate you for eternity, Alexander," she moaned, her hips pushing against him, driving him deeper inside her.
"I hate you as much as I loved you," he returned, angling his thrust to drive her off the cliff. And then he too was spiraling down a bottomless pit, the darkness crowding in his vision until he only wanted to stop breathing to end the pain.
When Lex woke up, his head was pounding and his entire body ached. He blinked and saw the moon through the glass window. He realized that he was lying on top of his wife. Lex shifted to take his weight off of her. When he fell on his back, he registered that they had been sleeping all along on the bare and dusty floor. The unpleasant surprise was to find that both he and Chloe were naked.
His eyes fell to her spread legs. He saw the purpling bruise in the shape of his hands on her inner thighs. Lex cringed in horror at the sight of his wife's cut lip, where blood even now oozed. He reached out and brushed his fingers at the bite marks on her breasts.
"Chloe," he whispered. She did not stir. He took her into his arms and shook her gently away. "Chloe," he repeated. This time, her eyes fluttered open and Lex sighed in relief. "Sweetheart, please look at me."
Her gaze wandered around the empty room until it found his. She touched his cheek and frowned. "You have a scratch, Lex. What happened?"
He smiled down at her. "That's nothing. How are you feeling?"
"Like I've been run over by a truck." She groaned. "And I am exhausted, like I'm two hundred years old! Lex, I want to sleep."
He swallowed again and nodded his head. "Chloe, I'm going to take you home now."
"Are we naked?" she whispered when their lack of clothing finally registered in her brain. She felt the soreness between her thighs, and her palm automatically reached for the gentle swell of her belly. "Is the baby okay?" she asked fearfully.
Lex laid his forehead on hers. "We'll go to the doctor in the morning. But right now, Chloe, please let me take you home."
She wanted to cry, because whatever had happened, she knew it had consequences to her marriage. Chloe nodded. "Take me home, Lex."