Love, Chloe - Alessandra Torre Page 0,44
the screen, showing it to the guard.
We were waved through, and wove around and through empty tables, spying Joey before he saw us, his hand on a redhead’s ass, his mouth at her ear and I coughed loudly as we approached. He turned, raising a beer. “Chloe!” he cheered, stepping forward and hugging me. When he turned to Carter, his hand froze, his face tightening, first in recognition, then in anger. “Carter.” He dropped his hand. “You fucking prick.”
My introduction to the redhead stopped, my head turning, and I stared at Joey, then at Carter, in shock.
My eyes darted from Joey to Carter, whose mouth was a tight, straight line. A tight line that broke into a wide grin, and he held out his arms, walking into Joey’s chest and clapping him on the back. Joey shoved him off with a scoff.
“Get off me, man. You move back to New York and drop off the grid. Can’t return a phone call for shit.”
“I had stuff to deal with. You had Hollywood.”
“Wait,” I interrupted their reunion. “How do you guys know each other?”
Carter slid a hand around my waist, his fingers sliding under the bottom hem of my sweater, each digit a sly reach further into my heart, and he pulled me against him. “Fraternity brothers, believe it or not.”
“Phi Iota for life,” Joey mocked, reaching out and slapping palms with Carter.
I watched the exchange, more confused than before. First off, I didn’t even know Carter had gone to college. Second, what were the chances that, in this huge city, they knew each other? “Why didn’t you tell me you knew Joey?” I turned to Carter with an accusatory stare.
The corner of his mouth crooked up and he leaned forward, putting his lips against my ear. “You mean … in our many conversations?” he murmured.
“Talking about me?” Joey drawled and I rolled my eyes.
“It’s not all about you,” I snapped, taking a beer from the counter and taking a sip.
“So … you two know each other.” Joey’s gaze dropped to Carter’s arm around me, then back to my face. His eyes held mischief and he practically beamed at me, the way I looked at Chanel when she performed a new trick. I shifted uncomfortably.
“Yep.” Carter drawled, his fingers running along my skin. “You okay with that, Plazen?”
A waitress appeared with a tray full of beers and Joey snagged two, holding them out to us. “Hey, I’m all about that. Though Chloe, you should know you can do better than this loser.”
Carter didn’t seem insulted, taking the beer with a laugh and I took mine and latched onto Joey’s girl, effectively ending the awkward group conversation about Carter and me. The girl turned out to be really nice, and we perched at a table next to the guys, our conversations each taking their own directions, lines occasionally floating from table to table as the night passed. It was nice, seeing Joey with Carter. It was the first time I’d seen Joey relax with someone, and the most I’d seen of Carter outside of the bedroom. I sat back in my chair and drank in the opportunity to watch him, the way his dimple appeared when he laughed, the run of his hand through his hair, the way his mouth held the edge of the beer, the way his eyes would darken, just a hint, when he glanced at me. By the time we stood and said our goodbyes, I wanted him so badly it hurt.
When we left the restaurant, the streets were in fog, the city quiet.
“This is my favorite time in New York.” I tilted back my head and looked at the sky, the moon illuminated the clouds, just a sliver of it all seen through the frame of skyscrapers.
“August?” He reached out, taking ahold of my hand, his fingers linking loosely through mine.
“No.” I smiled. “This time of night. Anywhere else in the country, everyone would be asleep. And a lot of New Yorkers are.” I gestured to the closed storefronts we passed, the dark apartment windows. “There’s this hush over everything, but there’s still the energy…” I tried to think of how to describe it, my words failing me.
“I know.” He smiled. “It’s like a secret world, hidden in the city. The night owls.”
I glanced at him. “Yeah. I like that. A secret city of night owls.”
He pulled gently on my hand and I stopped next to him, his head turning up to the sky next to me. “Hear