The Doctor’s Claim Page 7

  “Chloe. Chloe. Damn it, Chloe, wake up.”

  I frowned and blinked away the sleep, wondering how my seatmate knew my name. “Leave me alone. Just a little more sleep, please, then we can switch seats.”

  “Chloe!”

  The abrupt change in volume had me shooting upright. I shoved the hoodie away in alarm and suddenly everything swam into focus.

  Alex stood in the aisle, his jaw set grimly.

  “No. You’re not here,” I muttered. “I’m on a bus, headed home.”

  “Honey, your bus left a good while back,” he replied, with a note in his voice that I couldn’t decipher.

  “What are you talking about? We were going to transfer—”

  “And they all did. You slept through it. And now you’re awake and you and I are going to talk.”

  “What?” I said in horror, scrambling to my feet and almost smacking my head on the overhead baggage rack. “No. I need to be on that bus!”

  “No. You need to be with me.” Alex blocked my exit from the seat, his big body preventing me from any chance of a sneak getaway. “You hurt me, Chloe.”

  “I hurt you?” I said in amazement. “Please. I saw the texts, Alex. I know you played me.”

  “I thought we knew each other,” he said quietly. “In spite of only, you know, knowing each other a few days. I really thought we got one another.”

  “So did I,” I blurted out, tears rising to my eyes and starting to slip down my cheeks in spite of my earlier resolution.

  “Honey, I didn’t write that message. Or rather, I did, but not the way you think.” Pulling out his phone, Alex pushed it into my hands and then stood there, waiting.

  “I don’t want to read it again,” I whispered.

  “Please, Chloe. Give me a chance. Just one chance?”

  The pleading in his tone broke me and with extreme reluctance, my eyes so blurred I could barely make out the screen, I glanced at the words I’d memorized.

  Esme’s hot, right? I’m not slumming?

  She’s gorgeous. And you’re an ass.

  Really? I’m not too good for her?

  Man, she is way too good for you, I texted back wearily. When did you mutate, Dave?

  So you don’t see Chloe as slumming?

  Unlike your feelings toward Esme, I’m too good for her.

  Told you …

  That’s not what I meant! I’m not too good for her. Chloe is amazing. And if Esme is as smart as I remember her being, she’ll run screaming from you.

  Esme’s mean. I like em that way.

  I read and re-read the words, tears still dripping down my cheeks, before the penny finally dropped. “Oh.” Dismayed now in a totally different way, I looked up at Alex where he still stood, his expression totally blank. “Oh … Alex …”

  “You should’ve trusted me,” he said gruffly. “It kills me that you didn’t. It makes me want to throw in the towel just like you tried to, because I believed that you, of all people, believed in me.”

  “I do believe in you!” I blurted. “Oh my God. Alex, please—”

  “My entire family thinks I’m a failure and essentially a washed up nothing. The people who are supposed to know me best think I’m gutter trash. I believed that you knew me better, Chloe.”

  The sad look in his eyes killed me, but he kept talking.

  “But you know what? Of course you didn’t know. Because the truth is what you kept trying to tell me at Malarky’s. We don’t know each other. Not deeply, anyway, however much we connect.”

  I covered my mouth with my hand, outright sobbing now. “Alex. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” he said so quietly that I almost didn’t hear him.

  I raised my head from my chest and stared at him through reddened eyes. “Huh?”

  “I said it’s okay, Chloe. Because you may not know me very well yet, but I plan on spending the rest of my life helping you get to know me.”

  As he spoke, he got down on one knee in the tiny aisle and held out his palm. On it sat a box. A box with a ring. A brilliant, sparkling, movie star ring that made my mouth go dry, even as I cried harder still.

  “I love you, Chloe.” He looked up at me, his eyes so warm and tender that if I hadn’t already been a red, sniffly mess, he would’ve reduced me to one. “This isn’t a Marry Me. I know it’s way too early for that. This is a Get to Know Me. You can say yes to me later on down the line. But just know that Yes is the ultimate goal. I love you, and I love your baby. And that is never going to change. Please, Chloe. Will you get to know me?”

  It was way too early, yes, but that didn’t make one bit of difference as I also knelt awkwardly, wrapped my arms around Alex, and kissed him over and over again, my tears promptly soaking him.

  “I love you too,” I told him over and over again, framing his face with my hands. “I love you so much it’s ridiculous. And I’m sorry I didn’t trust you. Forgive me?”

  “I forgave you for stealing my seat that first day,” he teased, kissing my nose and eyes and cheeks before finally, tenderly, drawing me into the sweetest kiss. “I’ll forgive you for anything, Chloe. Just get to know me. And let me get to know you, in every single way.”

  “Yes.” I held him close to me and whispered the words into his lips, laughing and crying at the same time as he slid the gorgeous Get to Know Me ring on my finger. “Yes. Yes. Yes.”

  The End

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  Dirk

  I am a master. An elitist. I am at the top of my field, and I know what I am doing.

  Women want me. They worship me. They come to me to fulfill all their needs—all of them.

  I can have any one of them I want. But I only want her.

  A goddess with a perfect body. So pure, so vulnerable. She takes notice of me, but I obsess over her.

  I know how this game is played, and I know she can have her pick of the lot as well. Anyone would be lucky to have her, and everyone knows it.

  No matter what, no one else can have her. Everyone wants her, but only I can have her.

  I will have her.

  I need her.

  Charli

  I am young, strong and smart. I can make it in this world.

  I know I am beautiful, and my beauty is the kind that the world finds captivating. I turn heads everywhere I go. I might not act like I notice, but I do.

  Yet, life is a game. Love is a game. Beauty is a game.

  I am beautiful, right?

  Everyone is telling me to change. I’m not good enough as I am.

  I need to be better.

  I want to be on top of the world, but I feel knocked to my knees.

  I will rise again.

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