Love Me Long (Love Me Book 4)

Chapter 12

Chloe did a quick inventory of the kitchen and decided a quick trip to the market was needed. She gathered her things to leave, then Juric walked into the kitchen, stopping at the sight of her with her keys.

"Where are you going?" he asked. He was fully clothed, but it didn't help since Chloe could remember what was under those clothes. Seeing him naked was not going to make anything easier.

"I have to run to the market and get a few things for dinner," she explained as she moved towards the door.

"I'll go with you," he said as he started to follow her.

"No, you won't." Chloe shook her head and stuck out a hand to stop him. "I'll only be twenty minutes or so. I know what I need."

"It's not safe out there alone. You need someone with you," Juric insisted.

"I'm a big girl, and I should be fine unless the area is unsafe due to the fighting." Chloe felt her frustration start to rise once again. It was just like it was happening at the hospital. They all thought she was incapable of being an adult. "Is it unsafe in the market?"

"No more than everywhere else," Juric replied.

"Then again, I should be fine. In case you've forgotten, I'm not nineteen anymore. You and my father sent me out in the big wide world without anything to fall back on or anyone to care for me, and I managed. I think I can manage one little trip to the market." She turned to leave, but Juric's hand reached out and stopped her.

"You're angry," he took a deep breath, "If it's about what happened upstairs, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here."

"It's not about that. It's not the first time we've seen each other naked." Chloe wrenched her arm out of his grasp.

"Then it's about Lada." He was watching her closely.

"Lada?" Chloe was confused. Who was Lada?

"Lada Lenkov, the woman I am reported to be marrying." Juric filled in the blank

Chole searched her memory bank but couldn't remember that name to save her life. "Is that her name?" She shook her head.

Juric frowned. "I thought you had heard all about it?"

"About you being engaged, sure, but never her name. Lada Lenkov." Chloe tried the name as she let her eyes look over Juric's tense stance. It was good to have a name to go with the face. Having a name made it more real, but it also made her unbelievably jealous.

"So, your not mad about Lada?" It was as if he saw her as a puzzle that needed to be solved.

"No, I accepted the fact that you were engaged before I left home to come here." Chloe couldn't keep the sadness out of her voice. She turned to leave, but he stopped her again.

"Then, why are you mad?" She could see his frustration start to rise.

"I'm mad because ever since I arrived here, I feel like I am a teenager again. You won't let me move without someone breathing down my neck, and my father won't let me do anything but fetch and carry at the hospital. If this is what my life would have been like if I had stayed, then I'm glad I didn't!" Chloe turned and wrenched open the door. "Stay here. The last thing I need is for you to be seen at the market with a girl who isn't Lada."

She had overreacted. She knew she had, but learning his fiance's name made it more real than it had ever been.

Since her arrival, it was the first time that she had wished she had never come. She wanted to be home in Savannah, in her safe little apartment surrounded by her friends. She had never been known as the crier in the bunch, but she sure could use a few shoulders to cry on right now.