Thanks for your reviews Kelly & EC Brenway! Much appreciated!
Kelly - Love Elly's confession of love for Chloe too!
EC - I love it when the author's warning gets forgotten when reading and surprise! Just a cute lil bit part for Bo! Glad you loved Elly's conflict! About time her wolfiness surfaced once more...
The Chemistry In Darkness
Chapter Forty-One
Friday 13th December 2024
Bea stood in the bathroom at the Rebecchi's. During the midst of her engagement party with Yashvi, Elly had walked in on the couple getting it on and instead of walking away from the couple, Elly had seemingly been upset so Bea had asked her fiancé to leave them alone for a moment and Elly had finally confessed to Bea that she was in love with Chloe.
"You're…in love with Chloe?" Bea repeated.
Elly still stood facing the bathroom door, her hands against the door at shoulder height, unable to turn around because her eyes were flickering between gold and red and she was afraid of Bea finding out her other secret, "Yes."
"Elly…" Bea started, her tone telling Elly she was upset with her.
"I know, okay, I don't want to be because of how complicated this could get but I am…so in love with Chloe," Elly confessed.
"Complicated is an understatement, Elly. Chloe's married to Pierce, you can't do this," Bea stated.
"You think I don't know Chloe's married? And what do you mean I 'can't do this'? What exactly do you think I've done?" Elly worried.
"I didn't mean it like that, sis. I just don't want to see you getting hurt if you get in between Chloe's marriage. If Chloe leaves Pierce or their marriage ends, you know I'd support you being with Chloe, but I don't condone any form of cheating. If you do that, I'll be disappointed in you, Elly, and I don't want to feel that way about my sister," Bea admitted.
"I'm not going to get in between Chloe's marriage. This is just how I feel, Bea," Elly reiterated.
"Elly, look at me," Bea pleaded.
Elly panicked for a moment, seeing flickers of her eyes still changing colour in the back of the bathroom door, praying Bea hadn't noticed them yet realizing her sister would have reacted by now if she had. Elly closed her eyes for a moment, taking several deep breathes. Opening them once more, she waited a few seconds to make sure her eyes had reverted back to normal before turning around to look at her sister face to face.
"You okay?" Bea asked worriedly.
Elly took another deep breath, "I'm just very agitated right now. Trying to breath my way through this agitation."
"How long?" Bea asked vaguely.
Elly got what her sister meant, "Since I got back here...I bumped into Chloe before I saw everyone at home and I just...I love her, Bea. I knew in that moment I bumped into her outside the house that I loved her and I need to be with her."
"What makes this any different to the last time you and Chloe had your...dalliances?" Bea asked straightforwardly.
Elly ran her hand through her hair, "Bea, if you only knew...what this...Chloe means to me. Chloe is it for me. I'm completely in love with her, my world spins every time I'm around her. This is different to the last time I slept with Chloe and dated her, Chloe's the only person I'll ever love and want to be with. It hurts my heart not being able to be with her."
"It hurts your heart that much?" Bea repeated.
"It really does," Elly admitted, before blushing, "I've been eye-fucking Chloe all night long at this party."
Bea raised her eyebrow, "If this party hadn't been held in mine and Yashvi's honour...I probably would've noticed. It's cause of the dress Chloe's wearing, isn't it?"
Elly nodded, "My eyes keep wanting Chloe out of that dress and into my arms so the two of us can actually-"
"Okay, yeah, that's more than I need to know, Elly. The eye-fucking and wanting Chloe undressed, I got it…even though you saw more than you needed a few minutes ago and I shouldn't be so embarrassed to only hear about what you want to do with Chloe," Bea blushed right back at her sister, before placing her hand on her hip, "You really want to be with Chloe?"
"Yes, Bea, I love her," Elly declared.
"And what about Pierce?" Bea wondered.
Elly shrugged, "What about him? Pierce isn't good enough for Chloe, anyone can see that...except for Chloe."
"True, but Chloe's still married to Pierce. You can't get between that. If Chloe leaves him of her own accord and you two work things out from there, that'll be fine but you really can't intervene in Chloe's marriage just because after all these years you finally sorted out what your feelings are for her," Bea advised thoughtfully.
"Even if Pierce is controlling every aspect of Chloe's life and she needs to be free of him to be her own person again?" Elly mused.
Bea paused for a moment, "Okay, that you can get in between to help Chloe stand up for herself to leave him but…that doesn't mean you can convince Chloe to leave Pierce because she should be with you. You need to let Chloe make the choice to leave Pierce because it's the right thing for her."
"I will, I want Chloe to be strong enough to leave Pierce of her own accord. That'll mean she's on her way back to being the Chloe that I first met, the one who fell deeply in love with me. I don't want to break up a marriage by making a move on Chloe before it's over with Pierce," Elly promised.
"Sounds like you will try to do things with Chloe the right way this time," Bea acknowledged, "I'm sorry if I've seemed…not thrilled by this…I do want you and Chloe to be together if that's what you both want and it happens after Chloe's single… I guess…me getting married, not that I ever believe Yashvi would do this to me but I'd prefer her to leave me than cheat on me."
"I get it, Bea," Elly smiled at her sister's honesty.
"Where does Aster fit into all this?" Bea asked.
Elly blushed deeply, "Aster would be thrilled to have Chloe be her step-mum…she's on board the Chloe and Elly ship. She can see how happy Chloe makes me, she wants the same for Chloe."
"You told your not-quite 4-year-old daughter you're in love with Chloe?" Bea raised her eyebrow.
Elly smiled shyly, "Aster kinda figured it out, she's pretty quick like that. She knows how deep my feelings for Chloe are and she's supportive if we get together. I know how important it would be to take things slowly with Chloe in regards to her being a massive part of Aster's life and that would take time to build…if anything…were to happen between Chloe and I."
"Nice little back pedal, sis. You almost had me thinking you and Chloe are a sure thing and that building things between the two of you with Aster would be easier said than done," Bea pointed out.
'Sure thing' is what Chloe and I are, Bea…I just can't explain to you how I know that…
"If Chloe can find a way to extract herself from Pierce…I know in my heart that Chloe and I will be together and we'd be the happiest family in the world with Aster…just the three of us… I can't explain it, Bea, I just…know," Elly hinted gently.
"Well, I hope your heart knows what it's in for. That it's prepared for how long the wait could be if Chloe does choose to leave Pierce and that moving past her marriage to being a family with you and Aster will take time once your feelings for Chloe are known to her… But I hope it's also prepared for…Chloe not to leave Pierce and you need to move on with your life," Bea put forth honestly.
"My heart knows what's to come, no matter how long the wait is," Elly smiled confidently.
"Then I'll be there for you…no matter how things work out…or don't work out with Chloe," Bea reassured, "You want to head back out to this party now? See if you can pry Chloe away from Pierce for one moment at the very least?"
"Sounds like a plan to me," Elly decided.
Meanwhile, whilst Bea and Elly had been talking in the bathroom, Pierce was tied up himself. Not with Chloe like he'd intended on spending the entire evening with Chloe on his arm. Instead, he was firmly entranced by the bartender. He'd gone back to get a top up of his and Chloe's wines nearly ten minutes ago but hadn't left the bar yet.
Pierce had immediately brought up his winery and his knowledge of wines, spinning the bartender, Bo, tales of his experience and was impressed by her own knowledge, "You are quite enchanting, Bo."
"I know I am," Bo smiled as she placed her hand on Pierce's once more, before lying, "I could say the same thing about you, Pierce."
Pierce felt a wave of warmth from Bo's hand, "Are you trying to enchant me on purpose, Bo?"
Bo leant forwards to Pierce, "That's what a succubus does, Pierce. We enchant someone to fall for us cause the energy that person provides us keeps us living and then you don't even remember a thing."
"A succu-what?" Pierce frowned.
Bo sniggered at the businessman, annoyed that she was keeping him busy for no reason other than to allow his wife time away from him at the request of her friend, Lexa. But despite Pierce's somewhat flirty banter, Bo was glad that it didn't seem like the businessman was going to hassle her into trying to sleep with him. Realizing even her powers of seduction didn't seem strong enough to pull him away from being faithful to his wife, she shrugged at knowing Lexa sending her to distract Pierce, wouldn't lead to the kind of distraction Lexa had in mind.
To which Bo was glad not to have to seduce Pierce completely. She knew her girlfriend, Lauren, was waiting at home for her. Dating a succubus came with the knowledge that their relationship was always an open relationship because Bo needed sexual energy from humans to live. But Bo was glad Pierce would not be the human she would be using that night, knowing he'd probably bore her to death before she got what she needed from him.
Bo chuckled, "Oh, Pierce, Pierce, Pierce. I could explain it to you but then…you'd end up just forgetting anyway. But you won't forget before you go tell that lovely wife of yours that you're not feeling too well and will go home to bed like the stud you are. Oh, and let Chloe know that she should enjoy the rest of the evening with her friends. Then you can forget it all when your back home."
Pierce stared at the brunette beauty with disbelief, "You really must be trying to enchant me if you think that'll happen."
Bo smiled wickedly, stroking Pierce's hand again and letting her powers of persuasion work their magic on him, "Why don't you tell me more about this winery of yours? I love a man with a love of wine and whom understands that a bartender cares about the wine that she serves her patrons."
"Don't tell my wife but if there was one thing I'd change about Chloe, it'd be her knowledge of wines. She loves a good quality wine but she doesn't know or want to know about how much work goes into a beautiful bottle of wine," Pierce admitted.
Bo hummed gently, "Then I'd love you to tell me all about your favourite bottle of wine from your winery. I'm sure Chloe has friends to keep her company."
Pierce nodded, unwittingly falling for Bo's influence.
Elly and Bea re-entered the living room together. Elly immediately frowned when she spotted Pierce at the bar laughing and smiling at the bartender.
I didn't know Pierce knew how to laugh…
Elly's eyes soon landed on Chloe standing awkwardly by herself in the corner, watching her brothers and David laughing and having a good time. Bea saw Chloe too, quickly nudging Elly in the side, "Chloe will probably say no but why don't you invite her to join us and Yashvi at the Back Lane Bar for the after party that I've just decided we need now that my big sis has the night off from being a responsible Mum with Aster staying at #32 for the night?"
Elly barely hesitated as she nodded at Bea then slid over gracefully to sidle up to Chloe, "Hey, you, barely seen you all night long."
Except for all the eye-fucking I was doing with you across the room from me from the moment you arrived in that sexy dress I picked out for you.
Chloe smiled wildly at Elly, thrilled she finally had a moment alone with her, "Hey, Elly. We put on a great party for the girls didn't we. Sorry, we haven't had much time to celebrate our successful party. Guess I've been busy spending time with my family. It's nice seeing more of Aaron and Mark."
When will Aster and I be part of your family, Chlo?
"All good, we're here now," Elly focused on the positive, "Hey, Paige took Aster home to spend the night at theirs to have a sleepover with Rose so I am child-free tonight."
"I had heard that from Mark, lucky you, Elly! What are you gonna get up to without that lil munchkin around?" Chloe grinned.
"Bea wants to head to the Back Lane Bar with Yashvi and I for after party drinks. Care to join us, Ms. Brennan?" Elly asked, knowing full well she was ignoring Chloe's prefix of Mrs.
Chloe hesitated for a moment, "I should probably head home with-"
"Chloe," Pierce interrupted the pair, not even giving Elly a chance to roll her eyes at him as he said, "I'm not feeling too well, think I'm coming down with something," Pierce told her as he rubbed his stomach, "I'm going home to bed. You should stay here and enjoy the rest of the party seeing as though you spent so much time planning it, you deserve to see it through 'til the party wraps up."
"Are you sure?" Chloe wondered, surprised by Pierce's decision, thinking it was not like him at all.
Pierce ignored Elly as he leaned forwards, brushing his lips to Chloe's, "I'll see you at home later this evening. I'll try to wait up for you but I'm probably going straight to sleep."
Chloe barely managed to wave her husband goodbye as he left the party then turned to Elly.
Elly winked at Chloe flirtatiously, "Would you look at that? Looks like we're both without our responsibilities for the rest of the night? Few drinks at the Back Lane Bar to celebrate?"
Chloe smiled, "First round is on me."
Bea supporting my love for Chloe as long as I wait for Chloe to leave Pierce…drinks with Chloe at the Back Lane Bar with the engaged couple…can this night get any better?
Next time - Freedom! Chelly have a night of no responsibilities together, along with Bea & Yashvi. Will it be a night to remember...or one to forget?