Chapter Fourteen

Chloe smiled as the boys eventually came and found her at the table booth she'd selected. Steven and Adrian sat opposite her, whilst Lee and Nathan sat on either side of her.

"How were the fans?" Chloe asked, taking a sip of her drink.

"Intense and loud." Steven chuckled.

"Well, it was your own fault." Chloe smiled.

"True, we need some pizza!" Adrian exclaimed.

"Fancy helping me, Nath, Steven?" Adrian asked. Before he had finished asking the question the boys had already started to stand up. Chloe frowned at their backs as they walked away, leaving her and Lee alone again. From their body language she couldn't help but feel like this was a set up.

Chloe remained still and silent, almost hoping that Lee wouldn't notice her, a tactic she'd used quite a lot over the past few months. She glanced at Lee who was scrolling through his phone. The last thing she wanted to do was make conversation with him, but she also couldn't bear the uncomfortable silence. Lee's head quickly snapped up as he glanced over at Nathan who seemed to be mouthing something to him across the restaurant. Lee rummaged in his leather jacket pocket and threw his car keys at Nathan who swiftly caught them and gave Lee a thumbs up.

"He left his wallet in my car." Lee explained when Chloe looked at him questioningly. She smiled at him and returned to people watching around the restaurant. Her gaze wandered past where Lee was sitting, and she scanned the lower floor of the park. Her heart began to pound as she saw Shayne walking up the stairs towards the restaurant.

"Oh no" she muttered to herself, before quickly ducking under the table. As soon as she was safely under the table she crawled into the corner beside Lee's feet, hoping that she would be at a safe angle for Shayne to not notice her.

"What are you doing down there?" Lee asked, bending down to check on her.

"Nothing." Chloe said quickly.

"Well, you're doing something." Lee insisted.

"Please don't ask me." Chloe pleaded. She was afraid to tell Lee that she had spotted Shayne, she was afraid of what he might do. Lee nodded at her and grinned a cheeky smile. He hesitated a moment before climbing under the table beside her.

"What are you doing?" Chloe laughed.

"Seeing what it's like down here, it's surprisingly cosy." he teased her.

"It's quite hidden too." Chloe said, trying if possible, to move even further into the corner.

"It's a bit dirty though." he said, picking up an old chip and flicking it across the floor.

"Yuck." Chloe laughed.

"Are we going to sit down here the rest of the day, I'm not sure we will all fit." he said, smiling at how cute she looked.

"No, just a few more minutes." she told him, feeling slightly nervous about what she should do. If she came out from under the table too soon, she would be confronted by the man who had tried to take advantage of her.

"Seriously, we leave you two alone for a few minutes." Adrian's voice called out. Lee rolled his eyes at Chloe before quickly climbing out from under the table. Chloe slowly lifted her head out from under the table, peering around nervously.

"What were the two of you doing down there?" Steven asked, winking at Lee.

"I'm not really sure to be honest." Lee admitted, smiling slightly.

"Um hmm." Steven said, raising his eyebrow sceptically.

"Well, we weren't shagging if that's what you mean." Lee said quickly.

"He may not have many standards, but they are higher than me." Chloe said quietly as she finally stood up, her eyes scanning the restaurant. Lee frowned and turned to face her, not entirely sure what she meant by that. She seemed to be suggesting that she thought she was beneath him. Lee felt a pang of guilt as he realised it was his fault that she felt that way. He didn't see her as beneath him at all, if anything she was way out of his league. In that moment Lee knew that he would never forgive himself for making her feel the way she did. She'd always had insecurities and he had clearly added to them with his cruelty, even though he'd only been trying to protect her.

Lee could feel his legs going weak, so he quickly sat down. Nathan was right all along, he'd been cruel to this woman to keep her away from him. Someone like him wouldn't be good for her, so in order to protect her he'd made her hate him. Even though it was hard for her, to deal with the way he treated her, it was better than breaking her heart. As he sat silently, consumed by his thoughts, he made a vow to never hurt her again, he just had to get through today and then she would be taken from him, she would be happier that way. He could feel Chloe watching him closely as he slowly reached up and wiped away a stray tear that was rolling down his cheek.

"I have something in my eye." he said quickly, rubbing his eye to make the statement believable. Before he returned to staring into space, clearly deep in thought.

Steven and Adrian placed the pizza boxes on the table and went back to find Nathan who was sorting out the drinks. Chloe froze in her chair as she saw Shayne walking up to the bar, heading straight for Adrian and Steven. Nathan had noticed him too, because at that moment he looked across the room and locked eyes with Chloe. Nathan quickly walked over to the table.

"Get her out of here." Nathan hissed to Lee, quickly putting the car keys down on the table.

"What, why?" Lee frowned, finally snapping out of his thoughts.

"Because the creep is here." Nathan said, pointing to the bar where Shayne was talking to Adrian and Steven.

"Sneak her out whilst he is distracted." Nathan added.

"He wouldn't dare try anything with the four of us here anyway." Lee pointed out, glancing at Chloe who was sitting in place, looking like she wanted the ground to swallow her up. Lee could feel himself becoming angry.

"Maybe I should have a word with him." Lee said angrily, quickly standing up.

"No, you need to take her away from here, save her the humiliation." Nathan pointed out.

"He'll pay for that anyway." Lee muttered, starting to walk away.

"Lee please don't." Chloe pleaded from behind him. As soon as he heard her voice, he stopped, his feet frozen to the spot. He desperately wanted to make Shayne pay for what he'd tried to do to Chloe, but he remembered his secret vow not to hurt her anymore. He nodded slowly. Lee quickly walked back to the table, grabbing his car keys with one hand and reaching out to take Chloe's hand with the other.

"We'll meet you at the beach." Nathan said quietly. Chloe quickly stood up and followed Lee, who was still holding onto her hand tightly.

"Excuse me." Lee called out to some passers-by as he ran down the escalator, gently pulling Chloe with him. They dodged through the crowd of people, a couple of them recognising Lee, and trying to get his attention, but he ignored them and continued walking. Eventually they reached Lee's car, he quickly unlocked it, waiting outside the car until he knew that Chloe was safely inside the passenger seat. Both of them remained silent as Lee quickly pulled away and began the long journey to the coast.

"Are you okay?" Lee eventually asked Chloe, sounding concerned.

"Yes." she said quietly.

"Chloe?" he tried again.

"I'm fine, nothing happened did it." she insisted.

"Yeah, it did, I kicked everyone's arse at golf." Lee smiled, trying to lighten the atmosphere. Chloe smiled slightly and remained silent. It was clear that she was upset, but didn't want to open up to him, and he couldn't really blame her.

"Why don't you call Nathan?" Lee suggested.

"What for?" she frowned.

"So that you can talk to someone you trust." he explained.

"This whole being kind and caring thing, is it real?" she piped up when she couldn't stand not knowing anymore. Lee glanced at her, not entirely sure what to say.

"The boys told me I had to behave." he eventually said. Chloe felt her heart sink.

"Well, you don't have to pretend to not hate me." she said sadly.

Lee sighed and gripped the steering wheel tightly, desperately trying to resist the urge to stop the car and pull her into his arms. Chloe sighed sadly and turned her back to him, gazing silently out of the window. She angrily wiped away the tears that were slowly rolling down her cheeks. She couldn't help but feel angry with herself for allowing herself to hope that her and Lee could be friends again. Despite how infuriating he was, she missed the way things used to be, when he was one of her best friends. She sniffed quietly, hoping that Lee wouldn't hear her.

"Are you crying?" Lee asked her, glancing to look at her, but quickly having to turn his attention back to the road.

"No." she lied, angrily wiping away the tears.

"Chlo." Lee whispered sympathetically. Chloe felt her heart flutter a little when he said that word. He hadn't called her 'Chlo' for months.

"I'm fine, can we just get there please." she said quickly. Lee nodded to himself and put his foot down. The rest of the journey passed in silence, as soon as they reached the beach Chloe quickly climbed out of the car, sighing in disappointment when she looked out over the quiet bay and saw that the others hadn't arrived yet.

"They probably got held up talking to the slime ball." Lee said from behind her. Chloe nodded and quickly removed her shoes, smiling happily as her feet made contact with the soft sand.

"I haven't been to the beach in so long." she admitted.

"Why, you clearly love it?" Lee frowned. As soon as they'd reached the beach, Lee had seen a surprising change in Chloe. She seemed happy and relaxed and the twinkle was back in her eye that Lee hadn't seen in a long time.

"It's a long way from the city and I don't have a car." she told him.

"See those rocks over there?" she asked, pointing out a cluster of large rocks at the edge of the coastline that started at the sand and headed into the sea.

"Yeah, what about them?" he answered.

"I used to come here with my parents and I used to climb them, I got quite good at rock hopping." she told him.

"It looks a bit dangerous." he said, looking at the jagged edges.

"Not if you do it properly." she said, turning to face him, a cheeky smile on her lips. Before Lee could say anything, she turned and ran towards the rocks.

"Chloe!" Lee called. She ignored him and continued towards the rocks.

"Damn it." he muttered under his breath. He stood for a moment, trying to decide if he should follow her or not. Lee's head snapped towards the carpark as he saw Steven's car pull in. Nathan quickly walked towards Lee, frowning when he saw that he was alone.

"Have you lost her already?" Nathan asked.

"No, she's over there." Lee said, pointing to the rocks in the distance.

"What is she doing?" Nathan frowned.

"Rock hopping apparently." Lee said.

"Trying to kill herself more like it." Steven said as he joined them.

"Did you get the presents out?" Adrian asked Lee.

"No, but I was panicking that she would look in the back of my car and see them." Lee chuckled. Adrian laughed and wandered over to Lee's car to get out Chloe's presents.

"I thought for sure she'd rumbled us when she said about following the brown signs to the park." Lee smiled.

"Me too, I nearly said the gift shop doesn't have signs, but I stopped myself." Nathan laughed. The four of them quickly got to work setting up the food, drink and presents on the sand, ready for when Chloe returned. Nathan laughed at Steven when Steven did a victory dance when he managed to light the makeshift fire that he'd made.

"So, what did Shayne have to say for himself?" Lee asked.

"Just speaking shit basically." Nathan said quietly.

"What does that mean?" Lee persisted.

"Well obviously he says that she led him on, and you overreacted, that he wasn't going to do anything to her." Nathan told him reluctantly, not quite sure how he was going to react.

"Bullshit." Lee said quickly.

"Yeah, like I said, just shit." Nathan agreed.

"How was she when you left?" he added.

"She didn't say much, but I think she was quite upset. She's been better since we got here though, I think the beach is her happy place." Lee told him, smiling to himself as he looked over to Chloe and saw that she was still expertly jumping between the rocks.

"Maybe you should talk to her." Lee added, turning his attention back to Nathan.

"What for?" Nathan frowned.

"She doesn't open up to me does she, maybe she would to you." Lee said quietly. The four of them stopped talking and turned their attention to the horizon as they heard Chloe let out a little squeal of excitement and jump into the ocean. They watched her closely as she swam back to the shore.

"Chloe, I didn't realise you were secretly bonkers." Nathan called out to her. She giggled and slowly walked towards them, wringing out her hair as she walked.

"You made a fire!" she called back to them.

"Yep, I'm quite proud of my fire." Steven admitted. As soon as she reached them, she gazed around at the pile of presents on the sand, looking slightly embarrassed that they'd gone to so much trouble for her. Lee glanced down at her as she stood in front of him, his eyes widening when he saw that her white shirt was now completely see through. He gazed at her flesh, feeling a deep sense of longing for her. The way that her blue lace bra gently cupped her breasts, the creamy white colour of her soft skin that he longed to touch. His eyes wandered down to her perfectly flat stomach that had a small crystal piercing in her belly button. Eventually Lee was able to bring himself to stop looking at her. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to focus on something else before he was unable to hide how attracted he was to her. Eventually Lee opened his eyes again and quickly removed his jacket.

"Put your arms in." he said hoarsely, holding the jacket out to Chloe.

"But I'm not cold." she said, frowning.

"No but you have wet T-shirt syndrome." Lee muttered, so that the other boys wouldn't notice. The last thing he wanted to do was to embarrass her. Chloe glanced down at her shirt and her cheeks quickly coloured.

"Oh my god." she said, sounding slightly mortified.

"It's fine, just put the jacket on." Lee said.

She did as he said and put her arms in his jacket. She glanced down at the zip, ready to do it up, but stopped herself when she saw that he was already doing it.

"Damn it." he muttered, getting angry with the zip when it wouldn't do up. It didn't help that his hands were shaking.

"Do you want me to try?" she offered, concerned that one of the boys might glance over and get the wrong idea.

"It always sticks, I need a new jacket really." Lee said, trying to keep himself talking so that he wouldn't think about how close his fingertips were to touching her. Lee smiled in satisfaction as the zip finally began to move. Chloe watched him closely as he slowly moved the zip upwards. Chloe shivered involuntarily as Lee accidentally brushed his fingers against the top of her sternum.

"Sorry." he whispered, mentally cursing himself.

"It's okay." she replied quietly.

"I thought you said that you aren't cold." he said.

"I'm not." she mumbled. They both hesitated for a moment, neither of them knowing what to say to the other.

"Thanks for the jacket." she eventually said. He nodded at her.

"C'mon let's open your presents." he said.