Since TOXIC is officially at the editor’s, I wanted to
celebrate and thank all of you for your beyond awesome support. So here’s an entire chapter that I would love to share with you. I thought since the boys
get so much attention during the Tuesday Teasers I’d focus on someone a little more,
well, toxic—Chloe.
Enjoy~!
*(Skyla accepts a ride from Chloe rather than Gage.)
Chapter 26
Shut Up and Drive
Chloe glides her hand over the wheel with an erotic display
of affection.
The night lights up in an electrical blaze as a storm begins
to rage overhead. I haven’t seen this kind of climactic action in weeks. I’m
not sure if this is a natural phenomenon or perhaps Chloe and Gage have
harnessed the power to dictate the weather much like Marshall and Demetri.
After all, who knows what cash and prizes they were awarded once they shipped
Logan and me off to the fluid factory? This snazzy new sedan Chloe seems to
have scored recently might have been just the incentive she was looking for to
lure me over to the stone of sacrifice. I’d like to think I was worth more than
a mid-sized luxury vehicle that doesn’t even have the modern day boast of
hybrid slapped on its rear fender. I’d like to think I was worth more than the
sum total of scrap metal on earth to Gage but then I would have never pegged
him for a set up to begin with. I would have bet my life on the fact I could
trust Gage Oliver, and in a way I did.
“Come on Skyla—entertain me.” Chloe stares out the
windshield in a daze as the rain surges its aggressive assault over Paragon.
“Why don’t you dish about how you can’t believe Gage put a spear through your
gut.”
I glance out the passenger window as we pass the familiar
streets en route to the Landon asylum for lunatics and killers alike—me
included since I’m riding in a car with Chloe who I might very much like to
kill again.
Driving in a car with Chloe.
Honestly? I’ve abandoned any morsel of good sense I might
have had. But in my defense, I was forced to choose between the lesser of two
evils. Besides, I need to get home a.s.a.p. to begin my dream date with Logan.
“By the way,” I start, “I’m totally unaffected. You and Gage
can live happily ever after for all I care.” The lie jags from my mouth thick
and unnatural like talking though a mouthful of peanut butter. “And,
technically speaking, it was you who speared me.” Literally.
“You’re always so black and white,” she snarks.
“I’m being sarcastic Chloe. Maybe you’re the one who can’t
see past the analogy in the room.”
“I can look past a lot of things thanks to this Noster
eyeball your Sector friend was kind enough to gift me. Why do you think he gave
me such a spectacular specimen?”
“Because he was trying to please me.” Marshall would do
anything in the world I asked as long as he were able. “Again, you can’t see
past the deeper meaning of things.”
“And, again, Skyla—you can’t see past yourself.” She pulls
in high on the driveway right behind Tad’s free ride from Althorpe, the
establishment at which he is a modern day indentured servant. “But then,” she
says, shaking her head, “for some bizarre reason, Dudley, too seems beyond
smitten with you.” She mock shoots herself in the temple. “Fill me in on the
powers of your persuasion. Do tell—I mean we’re practically sisters now that
we’re living together. And one day, I might even become your sister-in-law just to piss you off.”
“What about Gage?” I’m stunned to hear she’d choose a Landon
over an Oliver, especially the shady Oliver in question.
Chloe presses into her seat for a moment. Her face flashes
with surprise as though she had just caught herself off guard.
Strange.
Chloe Bishop is a fully devout follower in the church of all
things Gage. How she could possible forget the first commandment—to worship ad
nauseam and commit herself to full throttle obsessive behavior is beyond me.
“What’s the matter Chloe?” I revel in the taunt. “Gage still
locking you out physically? You running a little short on cash to buy his
affections? That is how you got Brielle to befriend me, right? A thousand cool
crisp bills?”
Her dark hair coils around her face, her sharp features
gleam with pride under the glimmer of the porch light.
“You know…” I tilt my head into the vibrating window as I
feel the rain drum through my temples like a cheap replica of Marshall’s
special brand of oscillating love. “I thought all I felt for you was hatred, but
to be honest, you’re not worth the energy.”
“The feeling’s mutual.” She’s quick to add.
“In fact, I feel nothing but pity. You spend all of your
energy destroying others so you can steal the good things from their lives and
claim them as your own. You played so well into Demetri’s plan of killing my
father—Ethan, bringing me to Paragon. Why have a well-placed boyfriend at all?
Why the big ruse of the diary? Why put him on your shit list in the back of
your diary and not Logan? Why have Gage by my side twenty-four seven whispering
his profession of love to me, outfitting me with tokens of his affection?
Touching me like he meant it. What were you so afraid of? Was it Logan and me
you were trying to keep apart all along? The Counts did that without your foolish
aid. I really don’t get you Chloe. I don’t get your stupid games or why the
hell you’ve invited yourself to live at my house and date my stepbrother. Why
are you so richly invested in taking me down? Obviously I missed something
because nothing about you makes any sense.”
“You killed me.”
“Only after a long list of grievances you imparted on me and
my family—killing my father toping off the list,” I fire back. “I’m onto you
Chloe. I know for a fact there is a bigger picture brewing. I will find out whatever
the hell has you so riled up against me. And even though I haven’t a clue what
you have planned next on your make-Skyla-miserable to-do list, I can tell you
with confidence that you will not prosper. You will never take me down. I will
not lie under your feet, not now, not ever. I will win. I’ll have love and
happiness and the very last word on any lame-ass decision the Faction Council
tries to make after the war. You, and the rest of the Counts, will be beneath
Celestra. I will stamp out your wickedness once and for all.”
“Are you done?” She flips her hair, bored with the
conversation.
“Not by a long shot. When I’m done, you will wish you never
knew me—that you ran in the opposite direction once you heard the whisper of my
name.” I pause and take her in. “All you’re good for is manufacturing drama,
and manipulating people. I guess that’s the sort of thing Gage is into. I wish
you a very unhappy life together.”
I open the door and Chloe snatches me back by the wrist.
“I will have a very happy life, Skyla. For the record, I
never once paid Gage for his time or affections.” Her chest heaves into her
words. “I paid him for yours.”
I kick the door
wide open and run like hell inside the house.
