Children of the Fallen: Bloodlines (BOOK #3)

Chapter 5: Lie

Chloe Whitlock

I had texted Sterling the address of Victoria's apartment to meet me outside there after we all discussed a few things further. Grayson, Victoria, Morgan, and I exit the apartment, heading down the flights of stairs and out the back. Sterling, Reid, and Bash, from across the street walk towards us. I don't know why Bash and Reid's faces light up seeing Morgan, but more importantly Sterlings lights up as soon as we make eye contact. I almost hate how my heart flips at the sight of it.

"Morgan!" Bash cheers nearing us. "You coming?"

She shakes her head. "Not in the mood." She says inexpressively as she heads down the block.

"Wanna have sex later?" Reid calls out. "One last time before I leave?" I notice Graysons sharpened stare on him.

"Not in the mood." She says again, walking further and further away.

Reid turns to me with a quirked eyebrow. "What's wrong with her?"

"She's uh... she's having a day." I say. A day is definitely a way to put it, I hate that I have an urge to go after her and ask how she is and what she needs. She's not her.

"Do you guys wanna come out?" Bash excitedly asks Grayson and Victoria as he bounces a little on his feet.

"I have some work to get done, but it was great seeing you all again." Victoria says with a small but despondent smile.

"I have to pack, plane leaves in a bit." Grayson answers as Victoria walks away.

Bash nods and gives a little wave as Grayson heads the opposite way of Victoria and Morgan. I take a breath, "Where are we going?" I ask, praying it doesn't involve people because I can hear the heartbeats of the many people in the apartment buildings around is and I already feel my internal temperature becoming unbearable.

Sterling slides her arm around my own, "We are going to a different private bar. They're not feeding on anyone don't worry."

"Did that all before." Bash smiles contentedly at Reid who shared a similar smile.

Reid and Bash start walking in what I assume to be the direction of the bar. "Don't worry Chloe Whitlock, we're just getting even more trashed with you." Reid says as Sterling and I follow Reid and Bash, "Have you ever done coke?"

"Reid." Sterling scolds. Reid holds his hands up dramatically in defense as Bash cackles.

In the private bar Sterling and I separated to the lounge area after we went through a couple of drinks, watched Reid and Bash do several lines, and had a particularly heated discussion about who out of the Fallen would win in an all out brawl.

"So you're actually hanging out with Morgan now?" Sterling picks up her drink off of the end table.

I bring mine down from my lips. "God no, she just butted into a meeting."

"What meeting?"

"You know Kendrick and Lucien's nonsense. Victoria, Grayson, and I were discussing it." The lie comes quickly and easily.

Sterling nods looking off at Bash and Reid laughing with the two bartenders over at the bar. "So last night was fun." She says looking back to me.

"I wish we could've had another night like that." I add feeling my cheeks warm as flashes of her lips and tongue exploring my body and bringing me over the edge more times than I can remember cross my mind. I haven't experienced anything like that in years, it felt so good in so many different ways. One it was simply amazing and two the fact that I could lay with someone again. That idea had felt so foreign to me after Dane and I broke up but with Sterling... I had nearly forgotten what it felt like with another person.

"The boys will be either passed out or stumbling elsewhere soon." Her lips curl making the blood rush to my cheeks and a smile form involuntarily. Her face drops into a more serious expression. "I wanted to talk to you about... after this."

"Okay." I say, containing the anxiety that just shot up.

"I'm not asking to be in an official relationship or anything. I mean we're across the ocean from each other logistically it'd be hard but I'd like to continue talking to you. Seeing you when I can sneak away and hopefully you're not in the middle of a war."

My heart twists in my chest. "I'd like to continue seeing you too." I don't know if that was a lie or not, I can't tell. I would like to see her again that's not a lie but it's that word "continue" as in continuing indefinitely. Her ex died from Nephilim blood and not that we're official but I'm not planning on sticking around that much longer. Some guilt could around my heart that I'm giving her a kind of false hope. I don't know how long killing Lucien and Kendrick will take and I will help with the Celestials but afterwards...

Maybe I shouldn't have said anything, maybe I should've just smiled and nodded not binding myself to any words. A smile and a nod could mean anything. I just gave her validation that there could be something here and maybe there is but it won't be permanent.