Thanks as always EC Brenway for your review! Love seeing them pop up!
Glad you loved the lil teaser ending of the previous chapter! Shall we see Pierce's temper flare up here? Find out now!
The Chemistry In Darkness
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Monday 9th December 2024
After picking up his gift for Chloe, Pierce walked into his house with a bright smile on his face but his smile immediately faded when he quickly noticed that the house was empty, "Chloe?"
Pierce had expected Chloe to have been in the kitchen about to prep their wedding anniversary dinner as she did for him for the past two anniversaries they had celebrated together since their wedding. The kitchen was empty without a single item of food on the counters, waiting for Chloe to work on.
Whilst Pierce was somewhat relieved, he wasn't interrupting Chloe in the middle of preparing her surprise dinner to change their plans for their anniversary without her knowing and upsetting her, he was concerned why Chloe didn't seem to be at home.
Pierce wandered down the hallways, calling Chloe's name a few more times, before reaching her art studio and knocking on the door, "Chloe, are you there? I'm home early."
Receiving no answer, Pierce placed his hand firmly on the door handle, trying to break it open but having no luck, then grunting as he punched the lock combination mechanism, "Why did I let you have this room all to yourself to use for your art studio in privacy? I knew I should've made the guy who installed this, give me a way to access it without Chloe knowing."
Leaving the art studio, unable to access it, Pierce wandered to the bedroom he shared with Chloe. Finding it empty too, Pierce headed outside to their backyard to make sure Chloe wasn't taking advantage of the warm weather by the pool, but didn't find her there either.
Walking back out to the main area of the house, Pierce muttered to himself, "Where are you, Chloe?" before pulling out his phone.
Back at Harold's Café, Chloe was still sitting with Elly in one of the booths, with Aster sitting on her lap. Aster and Elly had finished off the hot chocolate together but were struggling to get through the rich and creamy slice of cake Elly had ordered. The pair had been there with Chloe for almost an hour, talking non-stop about anything and everything.
Aster spent the entire hour happy as could be to see the pair getting on so well, she loved sitting there in between them, speaking up with enthusiasm at any chance she got. She adored the way Chloe encouraged her and how she was the same with Elly. Aster only wanted good things for the pair and wanted to be part of it with the pair of them.
Elly looked at the slice of chocolate cake, with the fork in her hand, "You really should try this chocolate cake, Chlo. It's delicious and so filling, hence why Aster and I still haven't finished this one slice."
Chloe eyed the partially eaten slice of cake and the expression on Elly's face, pleading to take a bite, "Nah, I can't, if it's too filling for the pair of you over the last hour then it definitely too much for me."
"Oh. C'mon, it's one bite, you know Dipi makes the best chocolate cake around. Don't make me take the rest of this cake home and eat it during the middle of the night," Elly pleaded softly.
"Be naughty like us and join in on the chocolate cake, Chlo," Aster giggled.
"You two aren't letting me out of here without taking a bite of this cake, are you?" Chloe pouted, yet unable to avoid smiling gently.
"Not a chance," Elly replied as Aster popped up with, "We'll always get our way with you, Chloe!"
We will if Chloe and I give in to being each other's mates…
Why does the idea of letting Elly and Aster always get their way with me…sound so appealing?
"Okay," Chloe finally relented, "One bite."
Elly didn't hesitate to cut out a bites' worth of the cake with the fork in her hand. Then without bothering to hand the fork over to Chloe to eat herself, she placed the end of the fork with the cake on it an inch in front of Chloe's mouth, "I promise you, Dipi's cake is incredible, you won't regret this."
Chloe licked her lips, silently wondering if she'd done so in anticipation of the cake or because she was sitting so close to Elly that the thought was crossing her mind that she could kiss the brunette if she wanted.
If I wanted…? I think it's if Elly wanted cause she's the one who doesn't have feelings for you…okay also it is if I wanted cause you're not the one who's single…
Chloe leant forwards, taking the bite of cake from the fork Elly held out for her, surprised by the look of desire that seemed to be on Elly's face. Then wondered if the look on her own face was giving off the same vibes to Elly. But Chloe was soon distracted by the taste of the cake as she bit into it, moaning, "Mmm."
Is there anything better than the sound of Chloe moaning…? Moaning in bed at the pleasure I've given her…that would be better but this for now I'll take what I can get to hear that sound…
"Incredible, isn't it?" Elly purred as she watched Chloe reach out to finish the bite of cake on the fork, smiling gleefully when a small part of the fudge stuck to the corner of Chloe's lip.
If you were mine, I'd just lean over and kiss you 'til the fudge is no longer there…but I can't.
I must be imagining the way Elly's looking at me…she doesn't have feelings for me…cause I don't know what I'll do if…
"Incredible is probably underselling it," Chloe found herself flirting back to Elly.
Wait, am I flirting? Why?
Elly snickered at how adorable Chloe looked and that she'd yet to realize she had the fudge on her lip, "You missed a piece of the fudge, it's stuck on your…"
Chloe immediately reached her own hand up to try to wipe away the fudge with her finger but reached for the wrong side of her lips, then when feeling nothing, "Are you just making fun of me and there's nothing there, Elly?"
"You eat like me," Aster giggled up at Chloe.
Elly licked her lips then without hesitation reached out her own hand, slipping her thumb to Chloe's lip, wiping away the fudge from Chloe's lip. Elly watched as Chloe smiled at her sweetly before realizing she was still holding her thumb out with the fudge on the tip of it.
If you were my girl, Chlo, you'd lick the fudge away then kiss me and—
"Chloe!" came a voice at the door of the café.
Not be with him…
Chloe looked up immediately to Pierce who was standing there, instinctively moving herself away from Elly, "Hey, Pierce. What are you doing here? Have you finished work early today?"
As Pierce strode over to the booth the pair were sitting at with Aster, Elly awkwardly reached out for a napkin on the table to wipe the fudge off her thumb. Elly tried not to roll her eyes at Pierce interrupting her moment with Chloe before scolding herself that even if he hadn't, it wasn't the kind of moment she should be sharing with his wife.
Pierce eyed the way Chloe had shifted away from Elly, the way she was holding Aster in her lap and how Elly's hand had been brushing Chloe's face, trying not to feel the jealousy he was confronted with at his wife's ex being so close to her, "I was wondering why my wife isn't at home, I was going to surprise her by coming home early before she cooked our special dinner cause I've got a surprise of my own for this evening."
Chloe shrugged, "Just came here to read and chill out, you know I do that some days when I don't have to look after the kids after picking them up from school. Ran into these two, lost track of time hanging out with them. Why didn't you just call me if you were wondering where I was? It's not like I knew you'd be surprising me this evening."
Pierce stood there with his mouth gently open, "Why wouldn't you expect me to surprise you on our wedding anniversary?"
"Isn't our anniversary next we…?" Chloe trailed off at her immediate mistake.
I forgot my wedding anniversary and spent the time with my ex-girlfriend and her daughter wondering half the time if Elly could ever still have feelings for me…
Chloe forgot her wedding anniversary…? Snerk! To be fair, you should've known it was, last night you spent the evening telling Aster of the story of how I became a werewolf four years ago and you knew the day after that you missed Chloe's wedding…but the point is, Chloe forgot!
Pierce's eyes narrowed as he tried to hide his embarrassment of Chloe asking if their wedding anniversary was the following week, "Chloe, it's the 9th December today."
"I know what date we got married, Pierce," Chloe replied defensively, yet quietly because she felt Pierce's embarrassment at her mistake, "I just…I thought the 9th was next week. I…lost track of the date…I'm sorry. I'll go home and make a start on our anniversary dinner, I'm sure we've got plenty of food in the fridge, I'll come up with something."
Such a little housewife…I hate what he's done to her.
Pierce glanced down at the plate that still had the unfinished cake slice on it, with Elly dangling the fork in her hands, "Ugh, don't tell me you were eating that crap, Chloe."
"Don't be ridiculous," Chloe lied, "Elly and Aster were, I was just helping Aster take bites of it. I'll leave them to finish it off and we can head home, plenty of time to turn this anniversary around. I'm so sorry I forgot. I'll make it up to you tonight."
Pierce took in the last few words Chloe had said, deciding he could remind Chloe of them once they were alone and the last thing he wanted to do was cause a fight between them in front of Elly to leave Chloe needing consoling from her former flame, "I like the sound of that. Let's go home, Chloe."
Elly wanted to find any excuse for Chloe not to go spend the night in the arms of Pierce but who was she to step in between them without revealing her growing feelings for Chloe and leaving Chloe in the awkward position of turning her down.
Chloe looked down at Aster, putting a smile on her face, "You okay to go cuddle up to your mum, my little Asteroid?"
Aster glanced between Pierce and her mum before relenting knowing she shouldn't make a big deal of Chloe needing to leave with her husband for their anniversary, "Can we do this again soon, Chloe?"
"Absolutely," Chloe promised before she squeezed Aster and helped her to shift off her lap over to Elly's.
Elly reached out to place her hand on Chloe's shoulder before the blonde could get up, "I'll see you tomorrow for our run."
"Count on it," Chloe then promised Elly.
As she juggled Aster in her arms, Elly smirked to herself as she leaned over, kissing Chloe lightly on the cheek. Overhearing Pierce draw a deep breath at her move, Elly said, "See you then, Chlo," before winking at Pierce, wondering if he would react to her move of planting a kiss on Chloe's cheek but the businessman restrained himself.
Chloe blushed as she stood up, feeling elated at the feeling of Elly's lips against her skin.
That's just a friend thing…?
"Bye, Pierce," Elly smirked out at her rival in a fake politeness, forcing him into farewelling her and Aster too as he didn't want to appear rude in front of Chloe, "Elly, Aster, see you both around sometime."
Chloe looked back at Elly and Aster before following Pierce out of Harold's Café.
Elly couldn't help but audibly sigh when Chloe was gone, prompting Aster to look up at her mum, "How did Pierce know where Chloe was?"
Elly shrugged, "Didn't Pierce say he called Chloe?"
"But Chloe's phone never rang and she never texted no one," Aster pointed out.
Elly shrugged all over again, "Then I guess Pierce must've guessed where Chloe would be. There's not too many places in Erinsborough that people go to."
Accepting that answer, Aster moved on, "You okay, Mama?"
Elly juggled Aster on her lap sweetly, "I'm just getting impatient, Aster, and I really shouldn't because I know this could take some time. Can't expect Chloe and Pierce to end overnight."
"But when they do end, we'll treat Chloe better than Pierce does, right?" Aster looked at the positives for her mum to focus on.
"We'll treat Chloe like the Queen that she is, you can absolutely count on that. And she'll love us so much more fiercely than she ever has Pierce," Elly promised.
I just hope that's enough to finally win over Chloe…I don't even know how to play this anymore. Do I continue to wait until her marriage comes to an inevitable conclusion? Or make a move on Chloe, make my intentions and feelings for Chloe clear to leave her with the choice of leaving Pierce for Aster and I?
Next time - Pierce reveals his anniversary plans to Chloe and makes a declaration about their future. How will Chloe take it?