Sadly I do not own CHLOE KING, this story is purely my own twist on an already amazing series.
I hoped that Alek was tuning my heart rate out of his hearing, because I knew I wouldn't hear the end of it if he could hear how fast it was going, as he lead me through the crowd of cheerleaders and jocks. I tried to ignore some of the girl's snarky comments, but it is super hard with Mai hearing.
"What the hell is he doing with her?" some red headed girl said to another.
"She's probably sleeping with him." Of course they would assume that I was some massive hoe bag because I was caught holding hands with Alek Petrov. That's just high school for you I guess.
"So where are we going exactly?" I asked Alek when we were passing through an unfamiliar part of town. The roads seemed unusually quiet. No passing vehicles, chattering pedestrians or even barking dogs.
"Patience" he said taking his right hand off of the stearing wheel to hold mine. He began to rub his thumb across my hand.
"..And then she was never seen again" I mumbled to myself as I stared out the window. It was starting to get dark as Alek parked in front of some old batting cages. I opened my side door but before I got out Alek reached his hand into the car to help me out.
"You know your making it awfully hard to seem like a decent guy" He said to me as he closed the car door behind me.
"I guess that depends on what you define as decent," I suggested as I allowed him to take my hand and walk us into a small wooden building with 'Batter's Up" displayed on the roof. A bell sounded as we walked through the old green door. A smallish balding man wearing a sweat stained Hawaiian shirt was standing behind the counter.
"Alek?" He raised an eyebrow "I haven't seen you here in a while" Alek shrugged.
"I've been busy," he finally mentioned approaching the desk.
"I can see that" the man said motioning to me. I smiled weakly.
"Hi, I'm Chloe" I said with an outstretched hand.
"Biz" he added with a slight nod. His hand was clammy and a little bit chubby, but I wasn't getting any bad empathic vibes so I'm sure he was fine. Biz handed Alek and I two helmets and one bat.
"You can have your pick of cages today Alek, business isn't what it used to be" Biz was motioning out the window to the rows of batting cages. Alek nodded and led me outside.
….
"Are you sure you can see out of that helmet?" Alek chuckled from behind the cages wired fence.
"Of course" I said whilst trying to sit the helmet on my head where it wouldn't invade my vision. I am so going to get hit in the face with a flaming baseball.
"Its all about good timing" Alek added from the sidelines.
"That's easy for you to say Mr. no strikes," he was laughing again.
"Ok…here it comes" Alek put a quarter into the ball machine.
"Thwap!" The ball zoomed past me and hit the wired fence behind me. Come on Chloe! You can beat him. On the next ball I tried stepping into it. The ball made contact with the bat, as it did I jumped with glee. I was laughing.
"Did you see that!" Alek was nodding with an astonished expression.
"I guess you don't need my help then." He added.
"It seems that way, doesn't it" I winked at him, before taking my footing for the next ball.
…..
"You must have played baseball before?" Alek and I were eating our hotdogs in an arcade near the batting cages. "Or at least swung a bat?"
"Nope" I said in between bites. "Never." He sat back in our booth.
"Well you sure kicked my ass," he mentioned throwing his head back slightly.
"I didn't realise it was a competition?" I tried to add sincerely. He moved closer to me so our thighs were touching.
"Don't lie to me King, you knew very well." He smiled "And you are now marvelling in the fact that you beat me." His voice dropped a level as his finger quickly touched my nose.
"Your right…it does feel pretty good" I was smiling widely as I lowered my voice. He was staring at me with his beautiful brown eyes as he leaned in and kissed me softly on the lips. The beeping sounds of the arcade games drew me out of our moment.
"So am I going to get to beat you in some racing and shooting games?" I asked looking in the direction of the arcade games. "Or has your ego had enough bruising for one day?"
"I'd like to see you try" He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the booth. "I must say I'm quite good at the motorcycle racing game over there." He was pointing to two fake motorcycles in front of a large screen.
"Your on" I said running over and placing a coin in the machine to start. I jumped on the motorcycle and waited for Alek to sit on the one next to me.
"Want to raise the stakes?" He asked sitting on the motorcycle.
"What did you have in mind?"
"Well what would you like if you win?" he asked with a slight smirk.
"mmm…night off from training" I added confidently. "And what would you like Mr. Petrov…a trophy of some sort?" I finished teasingly. He chuckled.
"Nope" he paused "Ill tell you when I win"
"Hey! That's not fair, I have to know the stakes before I enter the bet."
"That was never apart of the rules." He said with a shrug.
"Three…Two" The game was about to start "One!.." It was incredibly difficult to manoeuvre the motorcycle; I think I crashed maybe three times. When the game was over I hoped off the motorcycle and leant into it.
"So I guess your wanting to claim on that prize then" I said to Alek smugly as he placed his arms around my waist drawing me closer to him. He nodded, before kissing me on the cheek. It was soft, and incredibly unexpected, but more importantly it was nice. When his face returned to look at mine directly I couldn't help but smile.
"Oh my gosh! Is that a cotton candy machine" I took his hand and dragged him over.
"You can be such a little kid sometimes" he said whilst purchasing one.
"I'm not sharing" I said with a wicked smile "I just hope you know that" He took the cotton candy from the vendor
"This ones mine…so" I couldn't help but laugh as he raised it above his head out of my reach.
"Who is being the kid now?" I wrapped my arms around his neck and brought his lips to mine.
"You shouldn't do that" He said with his eyes still closed.
"mm…and why not" I added in a hushed tone.
"Because it makes me…" he paused.
"Makes you what?" I was getting restless. He gave me one of his infuriating smirks. He sighed.
"It makes me want to give you my cotton candy." His eyes sprung open as I playfully hit him on the arm. We were sharing the cotton candy, walking back to Alek's car when I heard a voice call my name from behind me.
"Chloe?" It was Brian.
"Brian?" I paused "How are you?" My heart was racing but I'm not sure that it is in excitement anymore, rather just nerves.
"I've been good. And you?" He was looking at Alek now, who strangely was remaining quiet throughout this conversation.
"Yeah I've been really good" I smiled softly at him. I could feel his heartbreaking as he looked between Alek and I. Bloody empathic skill!
"Ill see you later then Chloe" he waved slightly before turning and walking away from us.
"Yeah I guess so," I sort of mumbled to myself. What was he doing here, of all places?
"Well that wasn't awkward at all!" Alek mentioned with complete sarcasm dripping from every word as he rocked back and forth on his heels. I narrowed my eyes at him. It seemed though; that what's done is done. There is no way that Brian would ever forgive me now, after I'm sure he now presumes I was lying to him and just didn't want to be his girlfriend. However I'm not sure if I actually care anymore. I mean of course I care about Brian, but I want him to be happy. And he isn't going to be happy with me.
"Your going to get wrinkles if you think so hard" Alek rubbed his finger across my forehead.
"Sorry" I looked where Brian was previously standing 'I guess that put a dampen in the mood"
"Never, the mood is always full of life when I'm with you" he moved closer to me.
"Alek Petrov soft? I never would have guessed" His face dropped. "I know, I know…I guess I just have a knack for destroying the romance."
"Romance?" He playfully raised an eyebrow. "Is that what all the little girls dream about when they go to sleep?"
"Yes" I nodded "That and big foot." I stated bluntly with a sarcastic expression. My lips twirled into a smile.
"I guess that's my que then." Out of the shadows walked the scared man who had cost me one of my lives. Alek defensively moved in front of me pushing me to stand behind him. A low growl escaped from his lips as our claws retracted simultaneously.
"You do have unusually large feet," Alek said to the man. "And such a tiny head…how does your body not topple over?" I felt their presence before I saw them. Slow movements caught my attention from the corner of my eyes. We are surrounded.
Hey Readers not to give much away but lose ends in this chapter will be tied up in the next few chapters. Like why did Alek take Chloe to the old batting cages and arcade for their first date? Why was Brian there? And how did the order know they were there?
… Also a thank you to all of the great reviews. Happy reading!