A Place of Hope and No Pain

Matt's POV

I stepped out of the shower and groaned. Great, the fucking phone was ringing. I grabbed my towel, wrapping it around my waist and running into the bedroom.

"Hello." I answered breathlessly.

"Babe." Lucy said. "What on earth are you doing?"

"Well showering actually." I told her, wondering what she wanted. "Are the boy's there?" At least she was useful for that.

"No." She told me. "They're with Mom today, staying the night."

I bit my lip. Of course they could stay at her mother's house, but god forbid if I wanted them stay here, oh no, we couldn't possibly do that.

"Why?" I asked curious about why she would take the boy's to her Mom's.

"Well." She said softly. "I thought tonight I could come over, spend some time with you, maybe stay the night, just you and I."

"Oh." I mumbled, not particularly excited about that idea at all.

"Oh." She snapped. "Oh, that's it?"

"Well sorry I already have plans." I explained and I did. "I mean if you'd told me sooner....." But that was a lie, I probably still would have made plans.

"Well what are you doing?" She snapped. "Cancel it."

"I can't." I told her. "I have a meeting with Chloe."

"Cancel it." She demanded and I had never wanted to hang up on someone so much in my life.

"Look Lucy." I snapped. "You wanted me to get help and going to AA meetings is part of that, I just can't cancel."

She sighed. "You're right I guess."

She guessed?

"Yeah." I muttered already over this conversation.

"Well look, how about you keep Friday night free for me okay." She went on. "I'll see you then." And then she hung up.

She didn't wait for me to reply, she just hung up. What if I had plan's Friday night? What if I was hanging out with Chloe again?

Actually Chloe and I had been hanging out a lot and I enjoyed. We would go to a meeting and then after we'd get something to eat, usually taking it back to her house, eating and hanging out with Lucy the dog. It was fun, it was relaxing and I enjoyed every minute of it. I kind of liked Lucy the dog more than Lucy the wife.

Chloe, I liked her, we got on well, I was comfortable with her, but, well she was just so closed. I really knew nothing about her, she never talked about herself. I knew her husband had left her, I knew her family disowned her, but that was it. Hell I'd lived with the girl for twelve weeks and I didn't even know she had a dog until I showed up at her place and that dog was her child, she loved it so much. She was a closed book and she wasn't opening up to anyone.

Things must have been bad for her to be the way she was and it made me curious, very curious. What had happened, what had really happened?

I glanced at the clock and realised I had a little time to kill, so I pulled out my laptop, searching for what I wanted, before getting ready and hopping in my car.

What I was about to do was probably a bad idea and if Chloe found out, well I'd hate to think what might happen, but I wanted to know about her and I wanted to know why her family would abandon someone like Chloe, she was just so fucking special.

I pulled up out the front of Chloe's Mother's house, the internet was a wondrous thing, you could find out anything, and I took a deep breath. What the fuck was I going to say?

"Why?" I muttered to myself as I opened the car door. "Why the fuck they did what they did to her."

As I walked up the path I noted there were a few car's in the drive and once again I took a deep breath before pushing the doorbell.

I could hear it ring further back in the house, then I heard footsteps before the door opened.

"Can I help you?" A lady, who looked to be in her fifties and looked remarkably like Chloe asked.

"Oh um." I mumbled. "Are you Mrs West?"

She smiled, her forehead creasing. "Well yes I am."

"Oh well." I said. "I'm Matt, I'm a friend of Chloe's."

She frowned. "Chloe?" She asked, sounding concerned. "Did something happen to Chloe?"

"What?" I asked. "No."

"Jasmine." She suddenly called out. "Come here." And I heard more footsteps before a younger version of Chloe came to the door.

"What's wrong Mom?" She asked, looking between her Mother and myself.

"This young man is a friend of Chloe's." She explained, putting her hand on her chest.

"What, has something happened?" Jasmine asked, sounding as concerned as her mother.

I frowned, something didn't seem right here, they were acting so concerned.

I opened my mouth to reply when Jasmine cut me off. "Drew, come here." She yelled. "Quickly."

And yet again I heard footsteps in the house before a man appeared in the doorway.

Drew. So this was Drew and as I stood there I watched him put a hand on Jasmine's shoulder, everything suddenly making sense.

"Yeah look." I said quickly. "Chloe's fine."

"She is?" Her Mother asked. "Are you sure?"

"Um yeah I'm completely sure." I said frowning at the three of them. "Yeah I just had my story mixed up." And I did, now I knew exactly what happened with Chloe, it was perfectly clear.

"What?" Drew asked, looking me up and down. "What story are you talking about?"

I looked at him and I had the urge to punch him in the face as he stood there, with his hand on Chloe's sister's shoulder, looking at me.

"Yeah look." I said, feeling my anger rise. "I was under the impression that you disowned Chloe because of her problem, but well I can see that's not the case."

"Disowned." Jasmine cried. "Jesus Christ, is that what she's telling everyone?"

"Well I can see that Chloe was the one who disowned you." I snapped. "What the fuck kind of family are you?"

Chloe's Mother burst into tear's, looking at me. "Is she okay?"

"Is she okay?" I snapped. "I think that you gave up the right to know when you condoned your daughter sleeping with your other daughter's husband don't you?"

It was all clear to me now. Chloe's family hadn't disowned her, she'd disowned them. They'd betrayed her, in the worst possible way.

"It's not like that." Jasmine said quickly, too quickly and I knew it was like that, it was exactly like that.

"Yeah it is like that." I snapped. "Chloe was trying to better herself and while she was doing that you all fucked her over."

The sight of them infuriated me and I turned and walked down the path.

"You know what." I yelled back at them. "It's your loss, Chloe is a wonderful person, honestly, the nicest person I've ever met."

I got even angrier, watching Chloe's Mom and Sister cry. How fucking dare they?

"Oh and Drew." I called out. "I'd have to say when you left Chloe for that." And I spat the word that. "You downgraded mate, really." And I was right, Chloe was beautiful, her sister was average.

I didn't pay any attention to their response, I wasn't interested, nothing they could say would make any difference to me at this point. What kind of family does that? And when Chloe was so vulnerable. God how she must have felt to come out of rehab and found her whole world had fallen apart.

I was shaking, I was so angry and when I pulled up out the front of Chloe's I was still shaking.

I walked up to her door and knocked and looked at her as she opened it smiling.

"Matt." She said, her smile faltering. "What's wrong?"

I wouldn't tell her what I'd done, she'd need never know I knew, I was scared if she found out she'd hate me and I didn't want that, I really didn't.

"Bad day." I muttered, looking at her. "I need a hug."

I didn't wait for a reply, I just reached out, pulling her to me and hugging her tightly.

What man in his right mind would want to give this up?