Part Six
Lex's Aston Martin screeched out of the garage at break neck speed. In mere seconds he was out on the open road and was glad that there was no one else about so he could go well above the speed limit, if a speed camera caught him then he would pay the fine and have done with it, nothing was going to keep him from getting his hands on Chloe as quickly as humanly possible.
His anger was so absolute that he didn't even feel a flicker of the thrill he normally got from going so fast and flirting with danger. He sped over the bridge where he had first met Clark without so much as a pang of regret, all that mattered was Chloe. At least the maid had managed to convince her to take a Luthor car so he knew that she was heading to school rather than home or the Talon.
Not only had she just left him without a word of goodbye or explanation, she had done so without eating breakfast and had even been planning on using public transportation. Lex shuddered. Not that she would have had much luck, there was none near the mansion, that meant that she would have rather have walked for an hour, if not more, along a road where anyone could have come along and attacked her rather than taking his car or speaking to him.
Lex's hands were clenching the steering wheel so tightly that he would be surprised if he didn't leave any indentations. Was she just plain stupid or was his company and car really so bad that she would rather risk her life? No, whatever else she might be: impulsive, stubborn, irritating Chloe wasn't stupid; she wouldn't have risked her safety unless she thought that she had no other choice, like at the club.
Did that mean that she thought that her life was in danger if she stayed in the mansion? Was she afraid of him? Lex paled at the thought. No, Chloe had also proved the night before, that she wasn't afraid of him. So why had she been willing to risk herself again? Okay, so now that he thought about it, most likely she would have called Clark to come and pick her up once she was outside rather than risking walking all of that way.
That only left one option left to explain her actions; she really hated him that much that she could not bear to stay in his home for a second longer than was necessary. Things did not look good for Lex's steering wheel.
After all that he had done to her, he supposed that he could not really blame her. Maybe all of his dreams the night before of her growing to trust him were just fantasies.
"Congratulations Dad, you finally got what you wanted, my final chance at redemption is gone", he said softly.
Chloe clearly wanted nothing to do with him, he should turn around and head back to the mansion. There he could bury himself under paperwork and maybe one day he would forget about her. No, that was not an option; he had to stop what was happening at the club and protect her. After that was done, if she wanted nothing to do with him then he would obey her wishes but not until then.
Lex reluctantly slowed down as he reached the town centre, he wouldn't risk killing someone just because he was in a rush. Chloe wouldn't like that. It was beyond frustrating when he was now so close to the school but had to stop because people couldn't walk across the street quickly enough. He attacked his horn in an outburst that his father would have said was unbecoming of a Luthor but at that moment he didn't care, he just had to get to Chloe.
Lex could not shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen to her. He did not fear that anyone at the club would hurt her, first of all because they had no way of knowing who she was, nor that she would cause them any problems yet. Second of all, because she still had her security detail, as well as a second one which he had just employed to check on the first one. The evil that Lex feared as less definite than that, it was just a general sense of foreboding, linked probably to the fact that she had looked so fragile in his arms last night.
When he finally did get to the school he parked as close possible before leaping out of the car, barely remembering to push the button to lock it. He could buy another car if need be.
There had been very few cars in the car park and Lex didn't see anyone as he barrelled into the school and began to stalk his way towards the office of the torch. He sneered at the overly cheerful decorations and the multi-coloured lockers, as if this place had not been designed to be a prison. He hoped that Chloe was okay, and if she was then she had better have a bloody good reason for what she had done and making him come all the way down here to get her; they could have had a far more cosy chat in his office.
High schools always set his teeth on edge, he couldn't imagine anyone every being happy in one. As he moved through the corridors he could feel his anger returning as various memories of Chloe in this place flittered through his mind, she had been strong and healthy then. The more differing images of her he got the more confused he became.
Although his original anger had returned, it wasn't just because she had shown him so little respect when he had gone out of his way to be solicitous. Nor was it because she was now effectively denying him information, having left before their conversation. It wasn't even the fact that there seemed to be a vague possibility that at times she might actually be a tiny bit afraid of him – as disturbing as that fact was. He was really worried about her. Before his mother's illness she had looked tired and pale. She had been running herself into the ground for a year before she caught the illness which ultimately took her life. She had been so kind and giving, every charity that applied to them had her full attention and if that meant that she to sacrifice herself then she was more than willing to do so.
At first it hadn't been a problem, it was just a meal here and there, a few hours less sleep but it had soon spiralled out of control. Lex was sure that if his father had put his foot down and made her rest and eat that his mother would never have got sick in the first place. He was not going to lose Chloe. Even if she could never love him, even if she could never learn to trust him she would be alive and healthy. He would also do his damnedest to ensure that she was happy, even if that was with someone else and even if Lana had to disappear to make that happen.
As he finally reached the office of The Torch – the corridors had seemed particularly long that day - he noticed that the door was open and he could quite clearly hear Chloe's voice, she was on the phone and facing the other way, looking out of the window. She had clearly not realised that anyone else was in the school at that moment.
"Thank-you so much Miss Smith, no really, this is the best news that you could have given me. They said that I was shoe in the other day but I wasn't sure, I just got the email and your phone call just confirms it: I can go to College".
He could only hear Chloe's side of the conversation but he felt distinctly uneasy. She had been applying for financial aid? What about her LuthorCorp scholarship? Why did she feel that she needed financial aid as well? He hadn't even known that she had applied, this really was getting ridiculous. His staff were completely incompetent.
"Yes", she started speaking again. "I can confirm that my current address is apartment G, building IQ5, Gainsbury Street".
Lex felt sick. Of course he had known that she was living in IQ5, Gainsbury Street – a fact that had never sat well with him – but not that she was in anything other than the penthouse apartment. He had never been happy with the fact that Chloe and her father had had to move out of their house and into an apartment, although he knew that it was a temporary necessity, but it was in a safe area and he had been around the apartment himself - the penthouse that was – and had ordered that it be completely made over with full security system and good furniture.
On his way out he had passed another apartment available for rent, apartment G, and being nosy, had had a look around before leaving revolted. He could not image anyone who would be willing to live in that. Why had his security told him that she was going to be moving into the penthouse? Wait, had they? No, they had just told him the apartment, he had assumed that that would mean the penthouse. Damn it.
Still, his security team should have worked out which one she was in and informed him of the fact that she had been left to live in misery. No wonder she looked so tired, all of this time she had been cooped up in that tiny hovel, it hadn't even looked clean. There had only been one bedroom if he remembered correctly. Heads would roll when he found out who was responsible … other than his father and him, that was.
He had never truly realised how much devastation his war with his father had caused before, he thought that he had taken care of everything with regards to Chloe … what had gone wrong?
Lex was about to cough and make his presence known as Chloe hung up but the phone rang again immediately. He could see her checking the number and he swore that he heard her sigh before putting the phone to her ear and asking, "Have you got that damned leak fixed yet?"
His fists clenched. There was a leak to boot? And one that had clearly been going on for a while if Chloe's tone was anything to go by. That could cause mould. Chloe could be breathing in mould every night as she slept. As soon as he had spoken to Chloe, he would go straight to her father. Chloe Sullivan would not wake once more in that apartment, and he owner would wake up somewhere very unpleasant indeed.
As he thought this, he must have made some noise as Chloe told the man on the other end of her phone that she would have to call him back and turned around saying, "Clark, you're early". Her gaze turned frosty as it fell on Lex, "What are you doing here?"
Hearing those words hurt Lex more than he would have admitted. For a moment he lost his momentum. He had been furious when he left the mansion, all of the way here, now that he finally had the chance to confront her he was just hurt and worried. He was pathetic!
He was fairly certain that he knew what was going on at the club – more or less –, he could afford to wait until that evening to get the rest of the information from Chloe as nothing could be done until after 9pm anyway. There was nothing stopping him from taking her to task about her health now.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked.
Chloe looked at him quizzically. She was still breathing a little too deeply, she was so annoyed/upset about that damned phone call and she was spoiling for a fight. Was Lex really going to come barging into her office and ask her for sensitive information about the club after he had deleted her recording? It was his fault that she had had to come in so early to research and get all of her information together so that she could write her article. Only once it was ready to go to print would she show it to him, she had decided. Chloe had worked out that even Lex couldn't do anything until the club opened that night so she wouldn't be putting anyone else in danger, it would make no difference to them if she made Lex sweat for a few hours and it might take her mind of Laura.
But more than that, Chloe wanted to be able to prove her theory to him, beyond any measure of doubt. She wasn't sure that he would believe it just based on her word. Sometimes she thought that he respected her but others she felt like he was just playing her. Anyway, just because she was going to save the day for thousands of girls and their families, that didn't mean that she couldn't dig up enough ammo to blackmail Lex into giving her Dad his job back while she was at it. Multitasking was one of Chloe Sullivan's many talents.
"Look Lex, if you have come here to pump me for information about that little club of yours then you're wasting your time. Any information that I have will be straight to the po…"
"No, not that", he interrupted her, "about your apartment. About the financial aid?"
"How long were you standing there?" Her voice grew suspicious.
"Since the end of the first phone call, but that is not the point". Lex tried to get them back to what he considered to be the matter at hand.
"That is not the point?" Chloe balked at him. "How dare you come into my office, listen in on my private phone conversations and then tell me what the point is or isn't".
He should have been disturbed by this, rather than heartened. This was his Chloe, fierce and combative. He felt himself rising to meet her without even thinking about it. "First of all I am not technically inside", he indicating the fact that he was standing in the door way, leaning against the frame, "second I believe that this is not technically your office, and I did not listen into your conversation. I came here to see you, when I arrived the door was open and anyone passing could have heard what you were saying. If you are going to be secretive, you really should pay more attention to little things like that".
Chloe scowled, unable to refute any of those points but really wanting to none the less. Even worse was the fact that she knew that she had screwed up last night, she had been caught and he was rubbing her face in that fact.
"Well if you have said what you came here to say, perhaps you wouldn't mind leaving. I have a lot of work to do", she said frostily.
"No, I have not said what I came here to say", he walked into the office and sat down in one of the chairs, "and as I imagine that what I have to say will take some time, so you might want to take a seat too".
Chloe just scowled at him, was he really offering one of her own seats? Sod who officially owned The Torch, everyone knew that it was hers now!
"Suit yourself", Lex shrugged.
Chloe continued to scowl at him.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Lex asked again, this time in a slightly more conciliatory tone. As fun as it was to see her return his fire, it wouldn't do to raise her hackles too much right now, not if he actually wanted an answer.
"What is it exactly that you think that you were entitled to know about?" Chloe wondered, he clearly wasn't going anywhere until they spoke.
Lex thought for a moment. He was entitled to know every damned thing that concerned her, but he did not think that phrasing it like that would get her to tell him anything.
"Why didn't you tell me that you were looking into financial aid for a start? Your Luthor scholarship should have been more than enough to cover all of your college bills, no matter where you chose to apply. If it wasn't, then you should have come to me and I would have increased it".
"What Luthor scholarship?" Chloe wondered.
He just stared at her. She couldn't be serious. How could she not know that she had a scholarship?
"The scholarship that you won back in September, for excellence in journalism. You were sent a letter about it, they sent it to both your old and new house just to make sure that you definitely received it".
Chloe was looking at him warily. Was he trying to play her? "I never received any letter", she said slowly.
No, he wasn't trying to play her, she realised as she stared at him. The look of fury on his face could not be faked even by Lex, he almost looked as if he were going to explode; he was shaking slightly.
"You mean that all this time you have been worrying about how you were going to afford college?" His voice was filled with suppressed rage and Chloe nodded.
"I am going to kill them".
"Who?"
"Whoever's bloody fault it is that you didn't get the letters". How had they not been sent to her? He had sent them to both addresses; her old house and the penthouse … Damn it! Still, they should have been redirected, what kind of person wouldn't even bother to send a letter which wasn't for them back to the post office.
No wonder she had looked so tired if she had been up every night worrying herself sick about that.
Chloe looked at him, her scowl melting away. She had won the award, all of that worrying had been for nothing. Maybe today wasn't such a bad day after all, she would be able to go to college without worrying and what was more, Lex had not just forgotten all about her.
"Well, you won't have to worry about that anymore, it will be taken care of", Lex announced.
"That is very kind Lex, but it already has been taken care of. I got the college financial aid, remember?"
"Yes, but you will take the LuthorCorp money. It will be far more", Lex said off-handedly, still preoccupied with how this confusion had come about.
"Um, I don't know which one I will take", Chloe said unsurely, "I have only just found out about both of them and whilst I am very grateful for your offer, I have earned the financial aid and …"
"There is no question, you will be taking the Luthor money, you earned it as well". She had to take the money, it was not just because she was rejecting him by rejecting his money, she would suffer with financial aid. It would only just be enough for her to get by on, whereas the LC scholarship was more than generous. It would allow her to have everything had wanted for her without worrying.
"Lex, you have no right to tell me what I can and cannot do", Chloe protested.
He was really angry now. He had made a mess, he could admit it. He had hurt her and her father and put them through months of unnecessary stress, now he was trying to put it right and she was trying to stop him. Well he would not be deterred by anyone; for once he knew what was right and he would do it!
"Well then you are really not going to like the rest of this. You are not living in that squalid excuse for an apartment anymore, you and your father are moving today".
She was so shocked that she couldn't speak for several seconds, a rare occurrence for Chloe. When she finally could, "Fuck you", was her eloquent response.
In a trice he was on his feet. He grasped the tops of her arms and dragged her to him so her face was level with his.
"Understand this Chloe, the day that you agreed to go up against my father I gave you my word that I would protect you. That makes you and everything to do with you my responsibility. I know that I have failed so far, I am not sure how when I thought that I had made provisions for you, but I will find out and now I am going to make it right. You are going to go to college without having to worry about money, you are not going to spend another night in that apartment and you are going to eat an entire fucking meal and if you don't like it then too fucking bad. I am Lex Luthor and I will get what I want! And if that means that I have to buy the damned apartment building and every college in the USA, then so be it".
When he finished his rant he panicked. He was his father. He had threatened her, he had acted like Lionel. She would always hate him, she would be afraid of him, she would …
"Is that really supposed to scare me?" Chloe asked, an eyebrow raised. For a moment it had, until her anger had taken over. "All of this me Luthor hear me roar crap. You forget who you are dealing with. I went up against your father and won, so if you want to intimidate me then you had better bring a much bigger gun because quite frankly that was pathetic".
She took a deep breath: "Besides, I already have my front page exposé on your dodgy club all lined up".
Lex was gobsmacked. She must have felt at least a twinge of fear, but her response and attack had been impressive.
"Chloe, I'm sorry", he said, rubbing her arms. He looked deep into her eyes and added, "the last thing that I want to do is hurt you".
"I know", she said, sounding almost sad.
"Do you really have your article all ready? Because seeing as you lost your recording from yesterday, I would tend to doubt it", he tried to continue their verbal judo rather than taking her in his arms and kissing her breathless.
Chloe couldn't help but smile. "You saw through that, huh?" She shrugged. "I have most of it but I am missing a few vital pieces of information".
"I want to help you get them, if what I think is happening is happening then it must be stopped. I know that we are going to have many arguments about several things, but I hope that that won't stop us working together for the greater good", he continued to rub her arms.
"When you put that way, how can I refuse? Although I don't think that we are going to have that many arguments on the subject of my apartment, you just have to stop being such an overbearing ass … you're right we are probably going to argue". She gave him a cheeky smile.
Lex tried to give her the patented Luthor glare but the effect was ruined by his twitching lips.
"4 o'clock?"
"4 o'clock".
"Hey Chloe, I got here as soon as I could, I didn't think that you would be back until later. Did you have a nice time? Did you get your financial aid? Now what is this article you wanted my help researching? Oh, hello Lex", Clark had prattled as he entered, before seeing Lex and eyeing him suspiciously.
Lex looked hurt, Clark had known that she was applying for financial aid and he was the one who she went to for help on articles.
"Clark", Lex nodded his head at his sort-of friend.
Chloe noticed with disapproval the frostiness between the two former friends, she would have to do something about that later. But right now she had more important things to deal with. She no longer wanted to let Clark in on the article, she wanted it to be just her and Lex; it wasn't as if Clark could really do anything to help anyway. However, she still really wanted to get Lex back in some way for being so bossy. She grinned as an idea formed.
"Oh Lex, thank-you for agreeing so much to finally completing that exclusive interview with me".
Both men turned to stare at her in shock. She could have hugged herself with glee, Lex couldn't back down now, he would have to allow her to interview him at some point otherwise it would look as if he had broken his word, something that she had just found out he took very seriously.