See Into Me

Chapter 7 – Iris

There was no sound aside from her breathing and the steady drone of the air conditioner. Chloe could not help but shiver at the cold. The temperature had obviously been left unattended for some time, and so had dropped to an almost uninhabitable low. There was no other light than that which came from the building signs outside. Chloe groped on the wall for the switch and flooded the room suddenly with blinding white before adjusting the brightness.

"Lex," she called out tentatively.

Chloe walked over to the kitchen to look for him. Finding no one, she returned to the living room and sat on the couch. She idly picked uo the remote for the temperature and raised the temperature.

A moment later there was a shatter from inside Lex's library. She ran there to find Lex leaning against the wall.

iAnd I'd give up forever to touch you
Cause I know that you feel me somehow /i

His eyes were bleary when he looked over to where she was as if expecting that he would find her when he turned. His gaze chilled her to the bone. He looked at her as if he could see right through her lies. Instead of running out the same way she did before, Chloe realized that Lex, for the first time in their lives, really desperately needed her to stay. She walked over towards him and took his arm. He leaned on her, and she could smell the alcohol in his breath.

"Lex, what are you doing?"

He looked down into her eyes as they glittered with her tears. "I despise everything about you," he answered, and she could almost feel the hatred tangible in his voice. "I wish you were dead," he gritted out.

She closed her eyes, and a lone tear seeped out.

"Both of you," he continued. At his words, Chloe looked up at him in surprise. "I thought I could do this," he murmured. "I really did."

"Come on, Lex. You've got to sleep this off." She tried to pull on his arm, but he would not budge. "Let me help you."

"But this isn't going to. I've got to stop fooling myself. If I kept you safe, I told myself I'd be making it up to Chloe," he said as if he did not hear her.

"I don't want to hear this, Lex," she choked out. And it was true. There was no need for her to know how her admission had knocked her from a pedestal to a muck of hatred in such a short time.

"But I can't stand you," he told her. "I can't stand breathing in the same air you breathe. And I can't stand knowing that you're around because of some misguided loyalty to a woman who obviously held no such devotion."

She forced herself not to hear his words. Lex finally stumbled along with her on their way to his bedroom. Chloe opened the large door and helped him onto the bed. As Lex plopped down onto his back, Chloe gathered a silk blanket and spread it over him.

"Sleep first," she whispered.

"When I wake up," he returned, "I want you gone."

iYou're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now/i

She had not ventured out so late at night for so long. It had something to do with a deep seated fear she had, that in the darkness one of the objects around her would just explode and send her back into the claws of death she had once escaped.

Tonight she had been sent back outside by the one man that confounded her, that threw her off balance just when she had started to think that she had finally found her stability. She wanted to be away from him but she still wanted to see him, to touch him and know that he would find a way back to his feet somehow. Lex Luthor made her want to know he would be able to move on yet her heart rebelled at the idea of his hands on another woman.

iAnd all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
Cause sooner or later it's over
I just don't want to miss you tonight

"One day, I'll marry you," he had said once, as he stared at the ceiling, lying abed with her.

She turned her head towards him, eyes puzzled. No one ever spoke of commitment, least of all marriage. And he voiced it as if it was a realization this time. "Will you?" she said teasingly, with a small smile on her face.

Lex turned his head to face her, then stole a swift kiss. "I'm pretty sure I will," he replied.

"Isn't that weird," Chloe murmured, the mirth gone from her eyes.

"Very," he admitted.

"Then again you get married at the drop of a hat," she commented offhandedly.

Lex picked up her hand and kissed her fingers. "I was in love with them all," he told her. "I was never obsessed with anyone like I am with you."

The words sent a shiver down her back. Chloe edged closer to him in bed, and sighed when he wrapped her in his embrace. She laid her hand on his chest and kissed the bare skin above his heart. "I love you," she told him, and it was a night of realizations and clichés.

Lex would never be one to use such common words. "I can't live knowing that you're not mine," he answered softly.

And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand

Chloe smiled at the thought as she closed her eyes, spent with physical exhaustion and the emotional demand of the night. She must have been asleep for mere minutes when she was jarred from her sleep by Lex's voice. Chloe opened her eyes to find him looming above her, positioned between her legs, pressing short fervent kisses on her chin. She felt him pressed up against her, hard.

"Lex?" she whispered. Her eyes widened when he thrust inside. Caught unprepared, Chloe swallowed deeply as she waited for her body to adjust to the intrusion. Thankfully she was still wet from their earlier intercourse, and she held onto his back as he pumped into her erratically. She arched her back as he painfully bit into her neck, giving him more room for exploration.

"Tell me," he demanded. "Chloe, say it."

And she wanted to say it, she thought desperately as Lex's movements grew faster and faster, as her thighs started to burn at the ceaseless motion.

"I—love—you," she managed, with each jarring thrust.

His eyes squeezed shut. "No." Deeper, he thrusted. Sweat rolled down his forehead, down the side of his face, then dripped onto the hollow between her breasts.

"Lex," she pleaded, so close, her body hurting for release.

"Tell me," he demanded, stopping halfway into her channel.

Chloe arched up, then turned her head away.

"Tell me you're mine."

When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am /i

It was the moment that she turned the corner that Chloe realized she was being followed. Stupid of her not to notice sooner. Living with Lex, she had been trained to recognize the signs.

She stopped in front of a bridal boutique, and to anyone watching she was a lone woman dreamily admiring the silk taffeta flowing gown in the window display. Instead, Chloe focused on the reflection on the window. There was a car several yards behind her, with its headlights off.

The driver, a small Caucasian man, met her eyes in the reflection. Chloe's heart stopped. From the passenger side, another man stepped out of the car. She vaguely recognized him from one of the Lipaztan government aides. She tried to appear calm as she walked towards the opposite direction.

iAnd you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies/i

As Chloe strode faster, so did the man. His hand was inside his coat pocket, and her heart hammered in her chest. Something protruded underneath the cloth, and experience told her that it was a gun. At the back of her mind, she asked herself why not just to let him kill her. Everyone knew she was dead anyway. There would be no added grief if she did die.

Still, the fighter inside her woke from her deep slumber. She was not going to go gently into the night, and allow genocidal maniacs to snuff out the last chance for the world to know the human corruption that happened there.

Gunshot tore through the night. Despite her bravado, Chloe screamed and jerked away from the building wall, where the bullet embedded.

That was when she burst into a run. She glanced behind her and saw that the man had started running after her as well, with the gun drawn out and pointed directly at her. Running straight down the street would not help and would get her killed faster. She did not even look both sides of the street before crossing in a run.

iWhen everything seems like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know your alive /i

Out of nowhere a shiny black car sped towards the gunman. The man trained the gun towards the windshield and shot. The bumper threw the gunman against the wall.

"Lex!" she screamed.

Chloe ran towards the car and pulled the door open to find Lex gritting his teeth against the burning pain of the gunshot that went through his shoulder. Then she did not care anymore if Lex would wonder why Lois Lane was suddenly frantic about his health.

She grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and tore it open, then stared at the freely bleeding wound. The sight caused tears to flood through her eyes. "Oh God, Lex." She bent towards him and took his uninjured arm, then placed it over her shoulders. He still smelled like scotch and sweat, and Chloe adored it.

"No hospital," he breathed. "The sooner I die the sooner I can strangle her."

"You're insane," she said in relief. The bullet had gone straight through and he was going to live.

She escorted him out of the car, then helped him to the backseat. Before she slammed the door, Lex opened his eyes and glared at her. "I knew you were going to piss someone off again," he drawled drunkenly. "What did you do now?"

iAnd I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand /i

Back in the apartment, Chloe helped Lex onto his bed, then proceeded to the bathroom to gather supplies to clean the wound.

The tears would not stop as she treated the through and through. Chloe sniffed through the tears and patched him up.

"Stop that," he told her, irritated. "You can stay."

Chloe shook her head. Leave it to him to still stubbornly be hung up on his own concerns when she was making sure his wound did not fester. "We need to go to the hospital, Lex. This might get infected," she argued.

When she looked back up his face, he was already asleep. She went over to a chair overlooking the bed and slept.


iWhen everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am /i

In the middle of the night, Chloe woke and immediately looked towards Lex. She was surprised to find him awake and staring at her. She stood and walked closer to him and recognized glassy fevered eyes.

"Chloe, come back to bed," he said clearly.

She shook her head, then sat on the edge. She took the small cloth that she had prepared and soaked it in the cold water, then squeezed out the excess. She laid the cloth on his forehead.

When the cloth turned warm, she lifted it from his forehead then soaked it again, repeating the whole procedure several times, then gently touching the cool cloth to his throat, earning her a pleased murmur from Lex.

Chloe swallowed deeply as her moist hands slowly unbuttoned Lex's shirt. She parted the cloth to reveal the chest that she had been so familiar with. He was not going to remember any of it. She ran the cool cloth down his torso. He smiled at her, and she felt the warmth settle in her belly.

Lex sat up on the bed, and lifted his hands to the bottom of her shirt. He lifted the blouse off her, then looked down at the black lace bra that cupped her breasts. "I missed you, Chloe."

She closed her eyes, and the tears fell like raindrops. "I missed you too," she finally admitted.

She unclasped her bra and allowed it to fall behind her on the bed, then helped him take his shirt off over the bandage. Chloe traced the outline of the bandage with her fingers. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head, then bent his head low to capture her lips in a kiss. Her hands curved around his head and she guided his mouth to her breast. His mouth was hot with fever, and Chloe's tears slid down her cheeks. It was a sensation she thought she would only ever relive in her dreams.

His hot hands lifted her skirt and rooted underneath for her panties. Slowly, Lex helped her take them off. Her hands on the other hand unzipped his fly and pulled down his pants.

His fevered tongue wrapping around her nipple was almost enough to send her into an orgasm. Chloe straddled Lex's thighs as he latched on to her breasts. She held onto him and guided him inside her body as she sank down on him. Chloe leaned into his ear and whispered, "If you remember anything about tonight, remember this. I loved you."

Lex thrust up into her and she moved over him.

iAnd I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand /i

tbc