Free Chloe (Made Men Book 3) by Sarah Brianne

“waitress.” Cassandra and Sebastian had had a field day when they’d found out and had even gone to her work just so she could serve them while they treated her like garbage.
    Many times, Chloe had begged Elle to leave and just forget about her, but she couldn’t ever get her to. Chloe was trapped, and sometimes, she would wonder if it were all worth it, but Elle would never let her give up. Consequently, every day, she would get up and face her demons alongside Elle.
    We’re so close. There was no giving up now. They had only one semester left of high school, and today was their first day back from Christmas break. Just one semester was between them and college. Chloe was going to a college as far away as possible, and she hoped Elle was going with her.
    She had nothing here for her, and she wanted to put her family, the people and place of Kansas City behind her.
    Chloe stared at her refection, looking at the deep scar that she still carried. Forever.
    If she and Elle could keep their heads down for just one final semester, then they might just make it out of the hellhole alive.

    * * *
    L ooking at Elle’s food all over the cafeteria floor had her frozen in place.
    “Go on, clean it up, waitress,” Cassandra told Elle after she had pushed Elle’s food off the table.
    The cafeteria had gone quiet, everyone wondering what Elle would do. Chloe wondered how Elle would respond, as well, but she didn’t respond. Instead, it was like she ignored Cassandra.
    Panic started setting in, and Chloe began to realize this was not going to end well.
    “Bitch, I know you hear me.”
    She tried to move out of the way when Cassandra grabbed her plate and held it above her head, but Cassandra’s two carbon copy best friends came to stand on both sides of her. Chloe sat back down instantly from the fear of them touching her to force her back down.
    Cassandra’s high voice rang in her ear, “Clean up the mess like a waitress is supposed to do, or the little freak will have her own mess to clean up.”
    Chloe began wringing her hands, making her nails dig deep into her palms, always wishing for the pain to help get rid of the terror.
    When Sebastian hit Elle in the face with a washrag, Elle glanced at Chloe before she started cleaning up the mess. It took a lot for her to get on the ground in front of the whole cafeteria to clean it up, but she had been backed into a corner and just wanted to get Chloe out without any harm coming to her.
    Elle cleaned it quickly, not wasting any time.
    “Come on, Chloe. Let’s go.”
    Seeing Elle’s outreached hand was what got her to stop wringing her hands.
    “Sorry, you missed a spot.” Cassandra started to tip the plate over Chloe’s head.
    Without even thinking, Elle hit the plate as fast as she could, the contents covering Cassandra.
    A loud screech came out at the top of her lungs as the students either busted out in laughter or stayed quiet in complete and utter shock.
    “You fucking bitch! You are done.”
    The blood in Chloe’s veins went cold, and her body began to brace itself for the storm to come.
    When she felt the tug on her shirt from Elle, it snapped her out of it enough to run straight for the door.
    Getting to the doorway, they found it blocked by their first period English teacher, Mr. Evans.
    That was it for them. There was nowhere to hide, and there was no way ou—
    “Elle, Chloe, go on back to class,” Mr. Evans said with eerie calmness.
    Not wasting a single moment, they scurried out, hearing Mr. Evans’s voice trail off as they left.
    “Ms. Ross, clean up the mess you just made. I can’t have other students thinking they can get away with this, now can I? Oh, and when you’re done, meet me in the Vice Principal’s off …”
    So many thoughts began to swirl through Chloe’s head as they headed toward their Spanish classroom. Never had Cassandra been challenged like that, let alone embarrassed by the whole school.
    There is no way we are surviving after