Chapter Thirty

Lee slowly put down his book and glanced at Chloe, who was sitting on the sofa beside him, her earphones in, watching a video on her phone. He'd been dying to give her the clothes he'd brought for her for the past few days but had been waiting for an opportunity when they were alone in the house. The last thing he wanted was for Chloe to feel self-conscious in front of everyone. Chloe glanced up at him as he quickly stood up and walked to his car, returning a few moments later with a large box.

"What have you got in there?!" Chloe exclaimed, switching off the video and quickly removing her earphones.

"A present for you." he smiled, carefully placing the box on the ground and returning to the sofa.

"You need to stop buying me things just because you feel guilty." she said quietly, feeling slightly guilty.

"I didn't get it for you because I felt guilty, I got it because I want to help you get your life back on track." he sighed. He smiled at her as she slowly climbed onto the floor, sitting cross legged beside the box. Chloe slowly opened the box, her eyes filling with tears as she saw the collection of new clothes. It had been so long since she'd owned something that wasn't tatty, she couldn't help but feel slightly emotional.

"I don't deserve all of this." she said sadly, a stray tear rolling down her face as she saw a selection of shoes at the bottom of the box. She knew that all of the items wouldn't have been cheap.

"You deserve the world." he told her sadly, his heart sinking slightly when he noticed the stray tear that was slowly rolling down her cheek.

"You can throw out all of your old clothes now, it's a new start." he quickly added when she glanced up at him. Chloe shuffled across the floor so that she was sitting in front of him, glancing up at him nervously for a moment before she quickly hugged him.

"Thank you." she sniffed. Lee stiffened for a moment, before he eventually relaxed, smiling slightly to himself as she hugged him tightly.

"It's fine." he told her.

"And don't feel bad, they weren't that expensive." he added when she sat back. Lee watched as she rummaged in her backpack, quickly pulling out her belongings. She smiled slightly to herself as she placed her photo album on her lap, carefully stroking it with her fingers.

"That's a big photo album." Lee said laughing slightly.

"Dad liked taking pictures." she smiled.

"Show me then." he said, quickly sitting on the floor beside her.

"Why?" she frowned.

"Because I want to know everything about you, you never talk about yourself." he said quietly.

"Only because I don't want to bore people." she told him.

"Well, I want to know." he said softly. Her skin tingled as he gently placed his hand over hers and opened the photo album.

"Oh no, not the baby photos!" Chloe groaned, quickly hiding her head in her hand. Lee couldn't help but laugh at her as she squirmed slightly.

"They look besotted with you." he smiled as she turned the page.

"They went through a lot to get me." she said quietly.

"Tell me." he prompted.

"They had problems and had a few years of IVF before I happened. That's why I don't have any siblings, because they didn't want to go through all of that again." she explained.

"So technically I'm a test tube baby." she added, smiling slightly.

"I bet they were so happy when you came along." he smiled. Chloe nodded.

"They definitely cherished me, I was so lucky, the three of us were so close. It was us against the world." she explained, a lump rising in her throat when she was reminded yet again just how much she missed them.

"Wow, is that your Mum?!" Lee exclaimed when Chloe turned the page and he saw a professional picture of a beautiful woman.

"She's stunning." he added.

"Yes, she was a model." Chloe told him.

"That figures." he said quietly, glancing at Chloe as he suddenly realised where she got her stunning good looks from.

"That's how she met my Dad, he was her photographer." she continued.

"And she taught me how to do her makeup, because she wanted me to feel involved." she said.

"Is that why you went into makeup?" he asked.

"Not exactly." she said quietly.

"What?" he frowned, turning to face her as he sensed a change in her body language.

"I've never told anyone this before." she muttered.

"I won't tell anyone." he reassured her. She glanced up at him and sighed quietly when she remembered what Kirstie had said about giving him a chance to earn her trust.

"I wanted to study Zoology which I applied for and I applied to do makeup as a backup in case I didn't get in. I got accepted onto both, but I lied and told my parents that I got rejected from Zoology." she said hesitantly.

"Why?" he frowned.

"Because Mum always wanted me to do makeup because I was good at it, and she'd just been told that she had cancer, so I wanted to try and do something to make her happy." she explained.

"Aww Chloe." he said sadly.

"And plus, the course was a lot cheaper, and Mum and Dad wouldn't let me take out a student loan and I knew how tight money was." she added.

"So, you sacrificed your happiness for your family?" he whispered.

"Yes of course." she muttered.

"You can't tell anyone though." she said quickly.

"I won't. You don't realise what a good person you are do you?" he said softly. Chloe shrugged and continued leafing from the pages.

"Oh no." she burst out laughing when she saw a picture of herself in a formal dress with a young man.

"What is it?" Lee asked. He couldn't help but join in with her laughter as she erupted into a fit of giggles, her cheeks colouring.

"That's Darius." Chloe said, trying to stifle her laughter.

"He's the one that I was talking to Dad about in the video we watched the other day." she explained.

"The first person I dated." she giggled.

"Why are you laughing?" Lee laughed.

"Oh, it was just awful." she laughed.

"So basically, he invited me to prom and I'd never been on a date before, so I was really nervous and he was my first kiss and it was so bad." she said quickly, starting to laugh again.

"And because I was so embarrassed, I avoided him for the rest of the night and got so drunk that I ended up dancing on a table." she added.

"Did you actually?!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yes, I did. I'm pretty sure I did a kind of strip tease at one point too." she giggled.

"You stripped?" he laughed.

"Only a little, but Dad was furious." she said, smiling to herself.

"I didn't realise you had a secret wild side." he smiled.

"Only when I'm drunk." she said.

"And to be honest I had more confidence back then, even though I've always been self-conscious." she added.

"That's probably because you had your parents." he told her quietly, feeling slightly sad that her confidence was almost non-existent.

"I don't think being homeless helps, you feel so worthless and insignificant. Like nobody cares." she sighed.

"Society doesn't care in general do they." he sighed. Chloe shook her head sadly.

"When Megan got attacked nobody cared, not even the police." she told him.

"Yeah, I heard about that." he said quietly.

"It's always the same, society just labels her as some drug addict that got what she deserved." she said quietly.

"No one deserves that though." he said quietly.

"I know. I wouldn't wish it on anyone." Chloe agreed.

"Did you get a lot of hassle living rough?" he asked her, feeling slightly nervous about the answer.

"Only a little." she said quietly.

"What does that mean?" he asked quickly.

"You get a lot of drink and drugs going on in the park, but I just kept my head down." she told him.

"Although there was one time that some random guy thought that I was one of the prostitutes." she added.

"He didn't touch you, did he?" he asked.

"He just got a bit grabby." she said quietly.

"Worse than Shayne?" he replied, his mouth suddenly feeling really dry.

"I guess so." she muttered.

"Chlo, don't make me keep asking questions, just tell me." he whispered, his tone almost pleading.

"He was really drunk and didn't believe me that I wasn't a prostitute, so he kept grabbing me and stuff....and then he tried to put his hand in my underwear..." she started but trailed off for a moment, her cheeks colouring in embarrassment.

"I don't know if I want to hear the next part." Lee whispered.

"I did something really bad." she admitted.

"Wait, you didn't let him have you, did you?!" he exclaimed. Chloe screwed up her face in disgust and shook her head. Lee's heart was pounding against his chest as he waited for her to answer. He felt sick to his stomach at the thought of anyone touching her, particularly if it was against her will.

"No, I kind of panicked, it was only a few days after Megan was attacked and I kept thinking about what almost happened with Shayne....so I kind of kicked him in his sensitive place." she told him.

"You kicked him in the nuts?" he checked.

"It was more of a knee to be fair." she said quietly.

"Good." he said quickly, suddenly feeling a wave of relief wash over him.

"I still feel guilty about that." she added thoughtfully.

"You're so cute." Lee laughed, quickly wrapping his arms around her shoulders and rocking her playfully.

"Someone tries to sexually assault you and you're the one that feels guilty for hurting them." he said, smiling at how adorable she was. He'd never met anyone as selfless as Chloe, her kind heart was so big that she always thought of everyone else before herself.

"I did knee him quite hard, hopefully I didn't make him sterile." she said giggling slightly.

"Well, that's one thing settled.... you're never going back there." he told her sternly. Chloe slowly removed herself from his grasp and sighed quietly, suddenly remembering that she still had nowhere to live.

"I keep wondering if he was the one that stabbed me." she said thoughtfully.

"Wait, I thought you said it was a robbery?" he frowned.

"It was, but maybe he wanted revenge or something. I didn't see the face of the man that stabbed me so it could have been." she pointed out.

"Don't think about it too much, that's the police's job." he told her quickly, trying to make sure that she didn't drive herself crazy by over analysing what had happened to her.

"They won't catch him, or care, I'm a homeless person remember." she reminded him. Lee fell silent, watching her sadly, his heart breaking a little for her. She had such a kind and pure soul that she didn't deserve all the terrible things that had happened to her. Chloe silently turned over the page of the photo album, sighing quietly as she saw pictures of Andy with her family.

"I still can't believe he left you for someone else." Lee said quietly.

"Nor could I at the time, but looking back, neither of us were happy." she sighed.

"I was so broken from losing both of my parents in the same year and I think he stayed with me because he felt guilty." she explained.

"Don't say that." he muttered. It always broke his heart a little when she put herself down.

"It's true though, when Dad left me a letter, he left one for Andy too asking him to take care of his little munchkin, so I think he didn't feel like he could split up with me." she said quietly.

"You loved him, though didn't you?" he asked.

"I did, but I think I fell in love with him because I needed him after everything that happened and partly because I was afraid to be alone. When I look back on it, he never once told me that he loved me." she sighed.

"He started to resent me in the end and that's when the gambling started. I only found out when he left that he had taken out four different credit cards in my name and left me with twenty thousand pounds of debt." she admitted.

"He did what?!" Lee asked, sounding slightly angry.

"That's why I live on the streets, most of my wages go on interest, I don't even have enough money left over to pay off any of the loans." she sighed.

"I can't believe he did that to you." he whispered, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Plus, I didn't get any money from my parents because Dad remortgaged the house to pay for Mum to get private health care, because he was so desperate to save her." Chloe told him, her eyes filling with tears.

"And because he committed suicide the life insurance was void so the house went to the mortgage company." she continued.

"Oh my god." he whispered, not entirely sure how to respond to what she'd just told him.

"He loved her so much that he wanted to be with her." she whispered thoughtfully.

"He literally tried everything to save her, that's why we moved from Nottingham to London, because he wanted her to have access to the best private health care in the country." she added.

"That explains why you talk so much nicer than I do." he said, trying to lighten the mood as he could sense that Chloe was getting upset.

"And yet it was all in vain anyway." she whispered, appearing to not hear him. Lee glanced at her sadly as she began to cry silently. He sighed to himself, wishing not for the first time that he could take her pain away. Chloe jumped slightly as Lee gently placed his head on her shoulder. She turned her head to face him, smiling slightly when she saw that he was gazing up at her. She couldn't help but notice how handsome he looked, peering up at her with his deep blue eyes. She sighed quietly and turned her attention back to the photo album, carefully resting her head against his.