Chapter Fifteen

Chloe followed Lee towards the fire and sat down, the other three boys watching her closely.

"How was Shayne?" Chloe asked them.

"Fine, he was just waffling." Nathan smiled, hoping that she would drop the subject. He wanted her to enjoy the day, not to spend it being upset.

"Did he mention the video?" Chloe asked casually as she picked up a stick and stirred the sand with it.

"What video?" Adrian frowned.

"Never mind." she said quickly.

"Wait, did he film you Chloe?" Lee asked quickly.

"I'm not really sure, I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it." Chloe admitted quietly.

"Kirstie, just said that it's online." she added.

Lee quickly pulled out his phone and did a quick search.

"Let's not focus on him, I don't want you to be upset today." Nathan said quickly when he saw what Lee was doing.

"Open some presents." Steven said, gesturing to the pile. Chloe smiled at them and did as they asked. She felt like the luckiest girl in the world as she opened all their thoughtful gifts. They'd kindly given her a blue faux fur blanket to keep her warm while she waited for her heating to be fixed, a year's membership to the zoo and a teddy that was wearing a t-shirt with a picture of her and the boys on it.

"He's so cute!" she exclaimed, placing the teddy on her lap.

"Thanks everyone." she said, hugging Adrian, Steven and Nathan. She glanced awkwardly at Lee who was still looking at his phone, deciding to herself that she felt too uncomfortable to hug him. Nathan opened the pizza boxes and placed them by the fire for everyone to help themselves too.

"I think I've found it." Lee piped up.

"Lee drop it." Nathan said quickly.

"Is it bad?" Chloe asked.

"I don't know, I haven't watched it yet." Lee said.

"Can I see it?" Chloe asked quietly.

Lee nodded and moved so that he was behind her, holding the phone in front of them. The two of them watched the video silently as Chloe finally got to see what had happened between Shayne and Lee when she was hiding in the bathroom. Whoever filmed the video must have been fairly close as Chloe could hear Lee warn Shayne several times before he finally lashed out at him. Chloe sighed quietly to herself as the video finally ended. Lee glanced down at her as he switched off the phone, frowning to himself as she relaxed against him, her back now gently resting against his chest. He put his hands down on the sand behind himself, making himself stable enough to take Chloe's weight and well as his own. Before he realised what, he was doing he gently placed his chin on her shoulder.

"You were right all along, I'm really sorry." Chloe said quietly, playing with the teddy that was still sitting on her lap.

"Right about what?" Lee asked her gently.

"He really was going to rape me wasn't he." she whispered, suddenly realising how close she had come to having her life changed forever. If it hadn't been for Lee, she didn't even want to think about what might have happened.

"I don't know for sure, all I know is that he was trying to follow you." Lee said quietly.

"And I wasn't going to let that happen." he quickly added. Chloe suddenly felt overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude towards Lee. She turned towards him and gently wrapped her arms around his neck. Lee hesitated for a moment before he wrapped his arms around her waist, gently pulling her onto his lap so that he could hold her tighter. He buried his head in her hair, inhaling her scent. He'd wanted to hold her like this for so long that he couldn't help but cherish the moment.

"Thank you for protecting me." she whispered, feeling slightly scared about what might have happened if Lee hadn't stopped Shayne from following her. Lee didn't answer but she knew in her heart that he'd heard her. Chloe couldn't help but frown to herself as she sat in Lee's arms, his grip on her firm and strong but gentle at the same time, as though he didn't want to let her go. She hadn't expected to feel like this, so calm and relaxed, like she was where she'd always wanted to be. Eventually the two of them reluctantly let go of each other. Nathan cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Right, we are going to play a game." Nathan announced.

"Uh oh." Chloe said quietly, suddenly feeling nervous.

"We've known you for the past two years, but we hardly know anything about you because you never talk about yourself." Nathan explained.

"That's because I'm boring." Chloe admitted.

"Nope, we're not having that, prepared to be grilled." Steven grinned.

"And there's a forfeit if you refuse to answer any question we ask." Adrian told her.

"Dare I ask." Chloe said.

"You have to drink a cup of seawater." Nathan chuckled. Chloe jumped slightly as Lee moved from behind her and walked over to the cool box, quickly picking out two beers, before sitting down next to the fire.

"You might need one of these." Lee said, smiling slightly as he handed her a beer.

"Yes, I think I will." Chloe smiled, taking a large swig.

"Fire away then, you can have one question each." she added, gazing around at the group.

"Okay, I'll start...why is no one allowed to know where you live?" Steven asked.

"Because I'm a very private person. Next." she said quickly.

"Why do you never talk about your family?" Lee asked.

"Because I don't have any, I am an only child, with no extended family that I'm in touch with." she answered.

"But you're only in your twenties though, what about your parents?" Lee frowned.

"Mum died about five years ago from cancer, Dad committed suicide a year later. He couldn't cope without Mum, but he waited until I was in a good place with Andy so that I had someone to take care of me." she told them sadly.

The four of them remained silent, not entirely sure what to say. They couldn't help but feel sorry for her, she'd been through so much, yet she never let on that anything was wrong.

"What happened with Andy?" Nathan asked, trying to fill the uncomfortable silence.

"He used to come to work with you every day, then all of a sudden we didn't see him anymore." he added.

"That's because he left." she said, quickly drinking more beer.

"So, he split up with you?" Nathan asked.

"Yes, he left me for someone else." she said quietly.

"I'd made dinner and when he got home, he told me that he'd been seeing someone else for the past few months and loved her more than me. So, he left." Chloe explained quietly.

"He sounds like a wanker." Lee said quietly.

"We could be your wing men and find you a nice guy to take care of you." Adrian suggested.

"No thanks, I've been rather put off the whole thing." she admitted.

"Don't say that." Steven said.

"It's true, and even if it wasn't, I'm not exactly a catch." she whispered.

"Says who?" Nathan frowned.

"If I was, Andy wouldn't have left would he. Besides I'm boring and plain." she said quietly, feeling her eyes start to fill with tears.

"Anyway, next question." she added quickly, just about managing to hold back the tears.

"How many people have you slept with?" Steven blurted, chuckling slightly to himself.

"Steven, you can't ask that?!" Adrian exclaimed.

"I'm trying to get her to drink the seawater." Steven laughed, winking at Chloe. Chloe could feel the boy's eyes burning into her as they waited to see what she was going to do. She didn't want to answer the question as not only was it her private information, but she knew that like most people they wouldn't understand, but at the same time she didn't want to give Steven the satisfaction of drinking the sea water. She smiled at them.

"Give me a cup then." she said. Steven smugly handed her a cup and the four of them watched as she walked down to the sea and filled the cup, quickly returning with it. She stood in front of them and raised the cup to her lips.

"Something else you should know about me, I'm quite stubborn." she smiled, raising her eyebrow at Steven as she poured the water on his 'precious' fire, causing it to sizzle.

"No, not my fire!" Steven cried.

"Serves you right." Nathan laughed.

"Right, you'll pay for that!" Steven grinned. Before he had a chance to stand up, Chloe had already sprinted down the beach. Steven laughed and quickly chased after her.

"I need to take a leak." Adrian said, before walking away. Nathan watched Lee closely who was sitting silently picking at the label on the beer bottle.

"You alright mate?" Nathan asked him.

He nodded silently.

"Lee come on man, tell me what's going on before the others come back." Nathan tried again.

"I think I need to go home." Lee said.

"Why?" Nathan frowned. Lee sighed and glanced over at Chloe when he heard her scream. Steven had picked her up and playfully slung her over his shoulder.

"I hope he doesn't dunk her in the sea, my car keys are in that jacket." Lee said quietly.

"Don't change the subject, what's wrong?" Nathan insisted.

"It's just really hard hearing everything she's been through. She's so amazing and she doesn't even know it." Lee said quietly.

Nathan opened his mouth to say something, but Lee cut him off:

"She just seems so sweet and vulnerable, but she's all alone. And I've probably made her life even worse." he said, angrily wiping away the tears that were rolling down his cheeks.

"You need to talk to her." Nathan said quietly, feeling a small sense of hope that Lee was finally, after all this time, starting to realise how he felt about Chloe.

"About what?" Lee frowned.

"How you feel." Nathan tried, rolling his eyes.

"I just feel sorry for her that's all, she's not had a good time of it." Lee said quietly.

"I've known you a long time Lee, I think it's more than that." Nathan insisted.

Lee raised his eyebrow at Nathan and waited for him to continue.

"Like the way you look at her, and how different you are when she's around. Even how you've been today..." Nathan started.

"That's because you all told me that I have to behave." Lee interrupted.

"Yeah, but the thing is you don't normally do what we ask you too. But on this occasion, you did, because you want her to have a nice day. And you know how much you are going to miss her, so you are cherishing this time." Nathan explained.

"What's your point?" Lee frowned, refusing to admit to Nathan that he was right.

"My point is...that you are in love with her." Nathan sighed, not quite able to believe that he was having to spell this out to Lee. Lee fell silent and started to pick at the beer label again, Nathan words swirling around his head. There was no way that Nathan was right in what he was saying, he couldn't be in love with her could he? His eyes wandered over to Chloe again, he watched longingly as she laughed and messed around with Steven, the smile on her face so wide that Lee found himself smiling slightly. He thought back to a few moments ago when Chloe had opened up about her family and how it felt like someone had punched him in the chest when she told them what Andy had done to her. How he'd faced down Shayne in order to protect her and wanted nothing more than to take care of her. How he wanted to constantly hold her in his arms so that he knew she was safe. Maybe Nathan was right after all...maybe he did secretly have strong feelings for her, that up until this point he hadn't even realised himself that they were there. Lee was snapped out of his thoughts when Nathan finally spoke:

"And you've never been in love before, so you don't know what it is or how to handle it." Nathan tried again, desperately trying to get Lee to open up.

"You're talking rubbish, I just feel bad for her." Lee snapped. Before Nathan could say anything else Lee quickly stood up and walked over to Steven and Chloe.

"Can I have my keys please?" he said sharply as soon as he reached them.

"Are you leaving?" Chloe asked as she rummaged in the jacket pocket and handed him his keys.

"Yeah, I have to be somewhere." Lee said.

"Booty call more like it." Steven chuckled.

"Good luck with your new job." Lee said, choosing to ignore Steven. Chloe nodded and tried to unzip the jacket, cursing under her breath when she couldn't get the zip to move.

"You can keep it if you want." Lee said, wanting to leave as quickly as possible before he changed his mind.

"I don't want it." Chloe snapped. She couldn't help but feel hurt that Lee was leaving early. Even though she knew better, she'd started to think that perhaps he didn't hate her after all, but clearly, he still did and the whole day had been an act. Eventually she managed to unzip his jacket and flung it at him roughly.

"Take care Chloe." Lee said sadly.

"See you." she said bluntly, quickly walking past him and back to the fire.