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Chapter 1
Why
Brodi
A week later…
“You have to understand. I’m doing what’s best for you,” I sigh in frustration.
“You said that last time. I’m so stupid. Why do I keep letting you do this to me?” Chloe sobs.
Her words and tears rip right through my soul. I’ve never wanted to hurt her. She’s the only woman I’ve ever loved.
Well, she’s a woman now. The first time our worlds collided, I had no business being with her. She was so young and naive.
“Come on, Cee,” I say, releasing a breath. “That’s not fair.”
I’ve never been able to truly walk away from her. She should know this. This is why we’re here.
The shit I’ve done to be with her. Internally, I give a bitter laugh. She doesn’t even know my real name.
I’ve never told it to her for fear of how it could ruin me. I know I’m a bastard. I’ve only thought of myself when pursuing Chloe.
My needs have always been first. My need to know her name, my need to hear her voice, my need to see her—it’s always been about my needs, not hers. My needs are what blinded me in the first place.
I should’ve acknowledged from the beginning that it wouldn’t work. My father has his eyes on the governor’s seat. He’s been grooming me for it since I was a little boy.
Well before I could walk or talk, my father had plans for my life. None of those plans have ever included a girl eight years younger than me. His call earlier in the week only solidified that.
The media would have a field day if it ever got out I once dated a seventeen-year-old, while I’d been twenty-five. I knew Chloe was younger when I met her. I just didn’t know she was that young.
In my defense, she lied to me for the first six months. By the time I learned the truth, it was too late. I was already in love with her.
Thank God we hadn’t had sex. I had loved the thrill of the chase. At least, I thought it was a chase. Chloe was so gorgeous and intelligent. I thought her playing hard to get in the bedroom was a total turn-on.
“It’s the truth,” she tosses back at me.
“The truth… the truth. Do you remember how I found out?” I ask, letting my words hang in the air, my temper flaring just a little.
I found out about her age because I wanted to surprise her for her birthday. However, I was the one who was truly surprised. As I sat outside of the high school I’d learned to be the one she attended—not the college campus I’d gone to earlier in the day before the truth made its way to me—I watched her be a teenager.
I felt like an idiot. It was so clear to see it. Watching her with her friends, I had no doubts everything I’d learned an hour before was true. My little Cee was turning eighteen, not twenty-two.
“I never meant for that to happen,” she whispers after a few moments of silence.
But it had and I felt betrayed and lost. I was so angry with her and myself. More so myself, because even as I sat there and watched, I knew.
I knew she was the only one for me. She’d carved a spot in my heart and made herself a home. Still, I couldn’t let it continue.
I had a career to think about. My initial worries and concerns about us as a couple were nothing compared to the truth that faced me. I broke things off right away.
Now here we are again. Chloe is a brilliant young woman at twenty-five. She has so much going for her future. I won’t ask her to throw it all away and I’ve yet to tell my father that I don’t want to follow the path he has placed before me.
Seeing Chloe is a problem for so many reasons. She’s a distraction. There are things I must do, and I must do them now.
She’s a distraction because I’m always so concerned about my father finding out about her. Now I know he knows. He’ll ruin her life to keep her away from me.
I could never allow that to happen. Yet, I’m not in the position to prevent it and that just won’t do. When I leave, I’m declaring war. Since I now know I can’t take her with me, I can’t leave her as a pawn.
