Serenade of Scars (Unedited)

Chapter 24

Jesse's POV

Chloe and I were enjoying our lasts hours at the beach, as we kicked the sand and had a few drinks. I had truly enjoyed my honeymoon, so peaceful and fun. I got a chance to reunite with my brothers after a very long time and all I could do was thank God for everything that was going on. I took care of my wife at any possible time that I could and it felt right, no complaints, shouting...just peace, the ocean, and us.

How can I forget about Cleo, she tried reaching out to me through the phone all to no avail. I didn't want to ignore her but it was better to stay away, at least, until she cools down and accepts the fact that I was now married. I mean, how would Chloe feel about it? We have not had the talk of my past relationship with Cleo and I knew that it was for the best. There's a reason why Chloe didn't bring it up and I didn't want to be the first one to remove the veil, you know. Chloe trusted me and I didn't want to break that trust, just like how I wouldn't want her to break mine. Cleo was bad news.

I left Chloe at the beach as I went back to my room to get my camera. Upon returning, Nick pulled my arm as though he was saving me from a bullet. "Did you know?" He asked,

"About what?"

"Did you know that your wife was a stripper?"

My jaw dropped open in disbelief. I shook my head as I laughed it off. "Those are some serious claims," I told Nick.

"I heard it from Cleo," he revealed.

Cleo? Something in me snapped. I bit my bottom lip to try to retain myself. "Calm down bro. You know how you get when you lose your cool. You wouldn't want Chloe to see you in that state," Nick said, as he tried to calm me down.

"Where's Cleo?" I asked, coolly.

"At the beach," he answered.

Chloe had never seen me angry before and I was trying to hard not to let that side win. I kept repeating The Shepherd's Prayer in my head.

"I will talk to you later," I told him as I proceeded to walk towards the beach.

On my way, I saw Chloe running towards me. She had tears running down her face. She was going to run past me but I blocked her way. "What happened?" I asked her, as I grabbed her arm.

"Why did you marry me?" she cried, as she pushed me out of the way.

As she ran past me, I saw Cleo with her friends laughing. I walked towards them to seek some answers. When Cleo saw me, she stopped smiling and looked up at me. "What did you do to my wife?" I calmly asked them.

"We did nothing wrong," answered of one her friends.

"We just confronted her with the truth," Cleo answered.

I crossed my arms at my chest. "What truth?" I asked.

"That her stripping a** doesn't deserve you. I mean you always tell me that I stripped for fun and what not, meanwhile your wife had a whole career of being one," Cleo plainly told me to my face.

"So what Cleo? Have you now proved your point? What do you even gain from treating people like trash as if you yourself do not have a past? We all make mistakes. No matter how deep you dig into her past, there is absolutely nothing that you could possibly dig up that would make me love her any less. You are not her and you would never take her place. Please, stop making a clown of yourself and just enjoy your weekend," I replied as I turned to walk away.

I knew that Chloe had to be in the room packing. She wanted to go away from everyone; she wanted to run away from the consequences, she was not a stranger to that department. I entered the room and saw her packing her bag. "Please stop, we still have one more night here," I told her, as I tried to take control of the situation.