Free Flirt by Tracy Brown

down.
    As he drove to pick her up, Trey was deep in thought. He had noticed that since Jason’s funeral, he and Chloe had become a lot closer. She had really leaned on him as she mourned her friend, and Trey had been her rock, comforting her when she was down, making her laugh when she felt like crying, and doing everything he could to take her mind off the situation.
    Trey had professed his love for Chloe and couldn’t help noticing that she hadn’t done so in return. He wasn’t used to that. Normally, women were the ones who craved the L-word and longed for commitment. But Chloe was different. She was independentand didn’t seem to be in a rush to declare her love for Trey. He wondered what it was that made her hesitate to say it, since he’d done everything he could to win her affection. As he pulled up at the ferry terminal’s passenger pickup ramp, he saw her walking toward him and frowned slightly. He wondered what the fuck she had been thinking when she got dressed that morning.
    Chloe walked over to his car in a pair of tiny white shorts, a multicolored top, and stiletto sandals. She wore a pair of Gucci shades on her face, and she turned the heads of men and women alike as she strutted over to his car.
    “Hey, sexy!” she greeted him when she climbed inside. Trey noticed a man nearby watching Chloe’s ass as she got into the car, and he had to resist the urge to say something to the guy. Instead, he turned his attention to Chloe as she kissed him softly on his cheek and smiled at him.
    “Why do you dress like that?” he asked.
    Her smile immediately turned to a frown. “Dress like what, Trey?” It wasn’t the first time he’d voiced his disapproval of her outfit choices, and frankly, Chloe was getting tired of it.
    He put the car in drive and headed toward Richmond Terrace as he answered her. “So revealing,” he said. “You don’t leave much to the imagination when you wear shit like that. You got every guy out here checking you out. And I know it must’ve been worse in Manhattan. I know them dudes out there was trying to holla at you all day.” He shook his head, bothered by the mere thought of men ogling her that way. “Where are youcoming from, anyway?” he asked. “I thought you said you were gonna stay home all day and help Willow find something to wear for her date with that guy she likes.”
    Chloe looked at Trey like he was crazy. Was he interrogating her? Had he questioned her morals simply because of the way she dressed? And since when did she have to give him a planned itinerary whenever she decided to leave the house? “Pull over,” she said.
    Trey looked at her, then back at the road ahead of him. “Why?”
    She reached in her bag for her cell phone and looked at him as if he had completely lost his mind. “Because I asked you to, that’s why.”
    He reluctantly did as she requested and pulled over across the street from the 120th Precinct. “What’s the problem?” he asked.
    “You tell me!” Chloe took off her seat belt and turned sideways in her seat to face him. “What’s with all the questions and the criticism?”
    “What—?”
    “You criticize how I dress, but it didn’t bother you that I dressed like this when you met me. Now all of a sudden I’m supposed to change my style because we’re together?”
    He shook his head. “Nah, I’m not saying—”
    “Well, what
are
you saying, Trey? I gotta tell you where I’m going all the time now? For your information, I took Willow to the city to look for an outfit to wear tonight. Then she got a call from the guy she’s going out with, and they decided to meetearlier. So I helped her get dressed, took her to MAC to get her makeup done, and then left her at the movies on Forty-second Street with the guy. After that, I came back to Staten Island and called you.” She sighed, frustrated that he was actually sitting there and letting her explain her whereabouts. “I’m not the type of chick who does this. I