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“Okay, now this is officially the worst birthday ever,” Chloe whispered to herself only to swallow nervously as she slowly reached over to the grab the baseball bat that she’d been forced to confiscate from her sister after she’d caught her eying it the other day when Cole stopped by to hang out after school.

Just a few more inches, Chloe told herself, her gaze never leaving her window as the man that was currently breaking into her room slowly pushed her window up and–

The bat was gone.

Of course, it was, Chloe thought, biting back a sigh as she moved to climb out of her bed, debating the best way to drag Katie out of the house without her finding out that there was an intruder in her room, mostly because she wouldn’t put it past her sister to take it upon herself to take care of the intruder on her own. She was probably going to have to gag her, Chloe realized, surprisingly okay with that as she glanced from the burglar that she really wished hadn’t picked tonight of all nights to break in, especially since Uncle Nick wasn’t here at the moment, to her bedroom door and–

“Damn it,” came the familiar mumble that had Chloe frowning as she turned her attention back to the burglar just as he carefully placed a large trash bag on her bedroom floor so that he could shift his attention to something outside her window.

Admittedly confused, and somewhat concerned that Cole Bradford was breaking into her room in the middle of the night, she reached over and turned on her bedroom light and…

That was definitely Cole breaking into her room, Chloe thought, watching as he pulled several more black trash bags through her window.

She opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing here when her bedroom door was thrown open and Katie stepped inside, carrying the baseball bat that she was going to have to hide in the attic. With a smile that actually terrified Chloe a little there, Katie announced with satisfaction, “I knew you’d be back!”

Before Katie could follow through with whatever disturbing act of violence that was going through her head, Chloe reached over and plucked the baseball bat out of her sister’s hands. Ignoring Katie’s startled gasp of outrage, she focused on Cole. “What are you doing here?”

“You’re supposed to be asleep,” he said with a heartfelt sigh and a muttered, “This just isn’t going to work for me,” as he took in her room.

“And you’re supposed to be sane,” Chloe countered with a firm nod as she watched him glance around her room one more time before he walked over to her and–

“Hey!”

–palmed her face in his large hand and pushed her out of her room. Before she could respond, he was shutting the door in her face. When the door opened a second later, Chloe sighed with relief when she saw her little sister, who was most likely only opening the door to steal the baseball bat out of her hand, only to frown when Cole closed the door again with an absently mumbled, “We have work to do. Go away.”

“Just open the door,” Chloe said, reaching for the doorknob only to find it locked, which was kind of terrifying since she didn’t have a lock on her bedroom door. Somewhat concerned that Cole was willing to lock himself in a room with her little sister, who had started to refer to him as her archnemesis again, she tried the door.

Nothing.

After a few minutes, she gave up with a sigh and sat down, really hoping that she wasn’t going to have to explain this to the police later. At least she didn’t hear screams of pain or her sister’s demands that Cole beg for mercy. That was something at least, Chloe thought as she sat there, bored out of her mind.

Just when she was about to give up and go see what was on TV, her bedroom door finally opened just enough for Cole to step out. When he gestured for her to turn around, she opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing, but apparently, she was taking too long for him.

“Close your eyes,” Cole said as he stepped behind her and tied what appeared to be his school tie over her eyes.

“Is my sister alive?” she asked, making him chuckle like she was joking.

She wasn’t, but she decided to take that chuckle as good a sign.

“Ready?” Cole asked as he turned her around.

“More like terrified,” Chloe admitted when she heard her bedroom door open.

“Understandable,” Cole murmured as he took her hands in his and led her inside where the familiar scent of burned wax met her and–

“Happy birthday, Chloe,” Cole said as he removed the tie and Chloe found herself wondering if she’d ever seen this much pink in one room before.

There were pink balloons everywhere, pink streamers, a pink birthday sign, and even a large cake with pink frosting with her name on it. On her nightstand was an insane amount of ice cream, pink plates, a bowl filled with pink M&M’s, bottles of pink juice, and a large pink box with several obscenely large pink bows on top, placed in the center of her bed, and on the television was Harry Potter.

“Oh, my god…” Chloe said, trying to take it all in.

“Do you like it?” Cole asked, drawing her attention to find him holding a bouquet of pink roses.

“I love it,” Chloe said on a reverent whisper only to realize that she’d fallen a little in love with Cole Bradford at that moment.

Chapter 42

“Are you still pissed at me?” Sebastian asked his brother as he grabbed a book off his nightstand and dropped down on his bed with a sigh.