Charlotte (Marked Heart #2)

by M. Sembera

  "What are you doing?" she asked.

  Trying to make it seem like his leaning against the open door was natural, Auggie kept his hand on the knob saying, "What's up Henny-Penny?"

  Making a face at him, she fussed, "I hate when you call me that," before sharing, "Mom sent me over to bring you leftovers and to tell you it's your turn at Aunt Neica's."

  "Can't you go?"

  "Gross, no!"

  "Fine, who's out there?"

  "Nobody. Brennen left this morning and won't be back until Tuesday."

  Staring at her as he waited for her to leave, Auggie asked, "Is that it?"

  With a secretive expression, Penny replied, "Well...Guess what I heard?"

  "Bye Pen."

  Rolling her eyes at him, she stated, "I'm going to tell you anyway because Sophia doesn't want you ruining her shower."

  With a slight laugh, he said, "You mean the one at the bar."

  Stepping closer, she continued, "Anyways, Ren is making her invite Charlotte."

  "So," he snapped, hoping she would drop it."

  "Oh, you don't care?"

  "What makes you think I give a damn about that girl?"

  With a suspicious expression Penny replied, "Well, I think it's strange. All this time you hated her and now you get all butt hurt anytime someone mentions her."

  "What? You're crazy," he blurted, trying to remember what he'd said each time her name was mentioned.

  "Am I?" Penny questioned before walking towards the door saying, "Mom said you defended her being at the hospital with Will. We all know you let her into the bar and you cussed Sheryl up and down and told her she better stay away from Charlotte. And now you're just fine having her attend family gatherings with us."

  It took Auggie a minute to think of something to say.

  "Maybe if you got a job and did something with your life you would have better things to do than go around imagining things off of gossip you've heard."

  Pursing her lips into a smile, Penny assured, "I don't think it's my imagination, Auggie. I wasn't asking if you cared about her; I was asking if you cared that she would be at Sophia's shower."

  Ignoring her statement completely, Auggie said, "Tell mom I'll be by tomorrow afternoon."

  Penny started to leave then stopped right outside his front door.

  "What?" he griped, still holding the doorknob as he pulled it closer to him, ready to close it on his sister.

  "Remember my friend Nina?"

  "Sure..."

  "She was at a club last night and said she could have sworn she saw you there."

  "Yea, I don't think so."

  "That's what I said too," Penny agreed with a hint of hidden agenda before she shared, "But she was pretty sure it was you that got in a fight over some blonde girl."

  Closing the door a little more on his sister, Auggie stated, "Nope."

  Raising an eyebrow at him, she glanced at his hand gripping the doorknob before asking, "So how did your knuckles get all red and swollen then?"

  The only thing Auggie could think to do was to slam the door in her face and lock it.

  ~

  Hearing Penny shout 'Rude' through Auggie's front door, Charlotte watched as he pressed his back against the door. With a serious scowl he shook his head staring at the floor.

  Feeling bad about putting him in a position where he had to lie to his family, Charlotte said, "I would never have asked you to take me to Club 76 if I thought someone would see us there. That was a little too close this time. Maybe we should figure out another way to work on the books together. It's only a matter of time before someone sees me here."

  Appearing to ignore what she had just said, Auggie asked, "You wanna go somewhere with me?"

  "Where?"

  Appearing as though he was holding back a smile, Auggie replied, "My Uncle's place."

  "What's there? Is that what your sister was saying 'gross' about?"

  "Trust me, when we get there you'll feel right at home," he assured before informing, "I'll grab you a shirt."

  "I didn't say I would go with you."

  "You owe me, remember."

  Knowing that she did, Charlotte shared, "Okay, but I don't do the manual labor thing."

  "You can just stand there and look pretty while I do all the work."

  Narrowing her eyes at him, Charlotte couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic, making fun of her or if he had really just called her pretty. When he cleared his throat and quickly walked to his room, Charlotte couldn't help but smile. He thought she was pretty.

  12

  Peacocks

  Sitting in the passenger seat of Auggie's truck wearing one of his old plaid shirts that he said was too small for him, Charlotte couldn't quite put her finger on the way she was feeling. It was a mixture of excitement, nervousness and anticipation. Combined, it was an unfamiliar feeling that had her on edge.

  ~

  Watching Charlotte stare out of the passenger window of his truck, from the corner of his eye, Auggie fought the urge to reach over and place his hand on her knee. There was a good chance she'd be mad when she found out what they were doing but no matter what her reaction was, it would be worth it, seeing her wearing his shirt. It was the closest he was going to get to actually touching her. Knowing he shouldn't want to, there was a huge part of him that thought if fair is fair, he should be allowed to drag his fingers across her skin like she had done to him.

  ~

  After driving down a country road, they pulled up to an old wooden barn. Auggie handed her a pair of his socks before getting out of his truck. Charlotte slid his socks onto her feet before pulling them all the way up to her knees. Opening her door, she watched him return from the barn with a pair of black rubber boots. Instantly apprehensive about putting them on as she noticed him smack the soles to clean them out, Charlotte thought 'No way I'm putting my feet in those'.

  Walking around the open truck door, Auggie handed her the rubber boots, saying, "Here ya go."

  Charlotte turned her nose up at them, complaining, "I brought you nice things to wear and all I get from you is a pair of old nasty water boots?"

  "I checked for spiders," he said, smiling at her disgusted expression.

  Hesitantly, Charlotte stuck one leg out of the truck waiting for him to place one on her.

  ~

  Looking down at her leg stretched out to him, Auggie paused. She really expected him to put them on her?

  Setting the rubber boots down, he laughed, "Hop on in sweetheart, we don't have all day," as he took a few steps back.

  With a slight huff, Charlotte slid out of his truck and right into the rubber boots.

  Stomping towards him, she snapped, "I don't feel right at home."

  Even though Charlotte was clearly irritated with him, Auggie couldn't help smiling at her. The rubber boots she was wearing ended a few inches below white socks, his socks, that went all the way up to her knees. Then nothing but thigh for what seemed like miles until those tiny black shorts and his old plaid shirt that hung open, covering her tank top. Glaring at him as she tapped the toe of her boot, she was the best thing he'd ever seen. Looking her over as she placed her hands on her hips, Auggie's first impulse was to scoop her up off of her feet and toss her in the bed of his truck.

  Snapping him right back to reality, Charlotte fussed, "Oh you can think this is funny all you want, but I'm starting to think your wardrobe isn't the only reason you don't have a woman."

  Out of instinct to argue, Auggie griped, "So you don't like being dressed up in clothes that you normally don't wear? That is funny. Now how would you feel if I suddenly started rubbing up against you?"

  Charlotte's expression instantly changed as she patronized, "Do you want me to rub up against you?"

  Thinking to himself, 'like you wouldn't believe', he griped, "You wish I did."

  "Please, if I wanted you to, trust me, you would be."

  "Like last night?"

  Auggie could tell he had struck a nerve with
her as she fluttered her eyelashes, saying, "Silly boys always read more into things than are actually there."

  Angered by her slight to his manhood, he growled, "Like little girls that think they are more than what they are. Stunning feathers my ass, you have no idea what real beauty is."

  Auggie turned away from her and headed around the side of the barn.

  Mentally questioning why he kept subjecting himself to Charlotte, he grew more and more agitated by the moment. Picking up two large rectangle baskets from the side of the barn, he could hear her dragging her feet as she walked behind him. Seriously, she strutted around in those incredibly high heels of hers and she couldn't maneuver a pair of rubber boots.

  When Auggie reached the large pen with coops inside, he knew Charlotte had stopped too. Ready to see the expression on her face, he expected irritation maybe even a hint of anger toward him but definitely not the look of wonder he saw spreading across her face as he turned around.

  ~

  Stopping the moment she caught sight of what was in the coops, Charlotte still didn't know what exactly they were going to do there but it didn't matter anymore.

  "They're beautiful," she breathed, looking over at him.

  With a confused expression on his face, Auggie replied, "Yea," before clearing his throat as he informed, "Let's get started."

  Charlotte watched Auggie open the pen and allow her to step in before latching it behind them.

  In awe she shared, "I've never seen a real peacock in person before."

  Auggie seemed all business as he instructed, "We can let the first two pens out then once we collect the feathers, we'll let the last one out."

  "Is that what we're doing here?"

  "Once a year, they molt. We'll clean the feathers out of the coops and then round them back up."

  As Auggie opened the first two coops, Charlotte watched the peacocks cautiously strut out to the surrounding pen, questioning, "Why did your sister say this was gross? This is amazing. And y'all take turns?"

  Pulling a pair of work gloves out of his pocket, Auggie put them on, saying, "Penny doesn't like work in general." Waving her closer, as he handed her a basket he continued, "My Aunt Neica died about three and a half years ago. Brennen won't get rid of 'em because she loved them so much, but I think it's too hard for him to tend to them. So his sons handle the feed and the rest of us take turns with everything else."

  "Is he too old?"

  Shaking each feather gently as he placed them in the basket Charlotte was holding, Auggie scowled at her, saying, "No, he misses her."

  "Oh," she replied, growing uncomfortable with how heartwarming she found the situation.

  Deciding it was best to keep quiet, Charlotte followed Auggie with the basket until he had collected all the feathers from the first two coops.

  ~

  After rounding the birds back into their coops, Auggie took the basket of feathers from Charlotte, placed it outside the pen and handed her the empty one.

  "You might want to stand back a little, he isn't a friendly one," he warned.

  Pulling the pin on the last coop, Auggie patted the door in order to urge the last peacock out.

  When a solid white peacock strutted out of the coop, Charlotte gasped, "He's gorgeous."

  "Mean as hell too," he cautioned before saying, "And I have the scars to prove it."

  Charlotte took a few steps back just as he had instructed before dropping the basket she was holding and slowly backing away from the white peacock as he moved closer to her.

  "What do I do?"

  Carefully watching the old peacock as he continued to strut his way to Charlotte, Auggie replied, "Stand still."

  Her eyes questioned how good of an idea that was as Auggie slowly walked behind the peacock.

  Charlotte stood completely still as the old white peacock made a circle around her. Moving closer, Auggie prepared himself to grab ahold of him and tell Charlotte to go, when the strangest thing happened. Tilting his head from side to side the peacock seemed to be inspecting her before standing at her side and resting his head and neck against her.

  Holding her hand out, Charlotte gently touched the peacock's head and started to pet him, saying, "I think he likes me."

  Auggie stood there in shock thinking, 'You bastard' as he watched the old peacock rub up against her.

  Stepping back to the coop, Auggie grabbed the empty basket, griping, "Birds of a feather I guess."

  As he collected the white feathers, Charlotte teased, "Don't be jealous."

  Tossing the feathers into the basket, he figured she meant not to be jealous that the bird liked her more, but that wasn't the case. Not even close. He envied the old white peacock.

  Scooping a hand full of feed out of the feeder, Auggie made his way over to lure the peacock back into his coop. As soon as he was a foot from Charlotte, the peacock stepped in front of her. Scratching at the ground with his feet, the peacock ruffled his feathers seeming guarding her from Auggie.

  Clearly amused by the situation, Charlotte offered, "Since he likes me better, why don't you step out and I'll walk him back."

  "Fine with me," he replied, pretending the entire situation wasn't infuriating him.

  Walking out of the pen, Auggie watched Charlotte walk the old white peacock back to his coop.

  ~

  Inside the barn, Charlotte stood next to Auggie watching him snip the stems off of half the colored feathers and set them to the side.

  "What do y'all do with them?"

  Pulling a few plastic pouches out from under a shelf, Auggie answered, "There's a flower shop in town that will get them in a few weeks." As she nodded, he offered, "Do you want some?"

  "Is that okay?"

  "I wouldn't have offered if it wasn't," he assured.

  Thinking, 'Do you always have to be a jerk?' Charlotte asked, "Can I have a white one too?"

  Appearing to be too busy to answer, he opened a drawer and pulled out a gallon size ziplock bag.

  Snipping one white feather off of its stem and placing it flat in the bag with several colored ones, Auggie sealed it, saying, "Here ya go."

  Taking them, she replied, "Thank you."

  Without a response, Auggie finished bagging the feathers.

  Back at the truck, Charlotte started to open the passenger door when Auggie grabbed the handle and swung it open for her.

  Turning to face him in the space between the truck and open door, his gesture compelled her to say, "Whatever your reason for taking me out there today, it means a lot that I got to do this with you."

  Taking a step closer to her, Auggie questioned, "Does it?"

  Noticing there was nowhere to go as she felt the door jam of his truck against her back, Charlotte answered, "I've never got to do anything like this before and..." Stopping as he leaned closer, saying, "Damn your eyes are blue."

  Anticipation started to build inside her as she reached forward and placed her hand on his chest.

  Sliding her hand down the buttons of his shirt, Charlotte gave it a little tug of encouragement. Shuffling his feet towards her, Auggie was as close as possible without touching her. With anyone else, she would have tapped the edge of her jawline directing them where to go but with him, she was curious to see where he went on his own.

  ~

  Resting his hands on the doorframe above Charlotte's head, Auggie looked down at her. As she looked up at him with an expression that he knew was meant to be innocent, her eyes revealed she was anything but. Feeling his self-control slip, he noticed her pull her lips into her mouth and offer her cheek to him.

  Remembering he couldn't let himself get caught up with her, Auggie stepped back, imparting, "You need to keep your hands to yourself."

  Charlotte's eyes narrowed at him before she let go of his shirt.

  "Didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," she replied in a condescendingly snotty tone.

  Charlotte's tone pushed his focus back where it needed to be as he said, "Get in and hand me the b
oots so I can put 'em back before we go."

  Hopping into his truck, she slid her legs together letting each boot fall to the ground before swinging her legs forward.

  Auggie grabbed the rubber boots off of the ground and headed back to the barn. Walking faster than necessary, the second he made it inside the barn, Auggie threw the boots down. Grabbing his beanie off of his head, he ran his fingers through his hair and let out a frustrated groan. She was killing him. He was a grown man with willpower and she was reducing him to a hard up teenager that couldn't get his mind right.

  ~

  Sulking in the front seat of Auggie's truck, Charlotte thought for sure he would at least try to kiss her. She could see it on his face. All she was doing was letting him know how much she appreciated spending the day with him and he started it. She was going to let him kiss her but only once just to know what it felt like. What was his problem? It was almost like he was purposely... 'That's it' she thought. He was just messing with her.

  As soon as Auggie climbed in the truck, Charlotte stated, "I don't appreciate being messed with."

  "Yea? Neither do I," he griped, slamming the driver side door and starting the engine.

  "Of course you don't. No one likes to be made fun of."

  Before he put his truck in reverse, Auggie turned and snapped, "I've never made fun of you."

  Feeling more offended than before, Charlotte fussed, "No? So you knew I would like coming here to see the peacocks after you accused me of being one last night?"

  Without responding, he slammed his truck into reverse and peeled out of Brennen's property.

  ~

  Driving back to town, Auggie wondered how she could think he was making fun of her. Teasing her a bit, maybe, but he'd never made fun of her. Charlotte, on the other hand, was constantly making fun of him. From his clothes, to saying he couldn't get a woman and even calling him a boy, all she did was pick, pick, pick and now because he wasn't all over her at the drop of a hat, he was the bad guy. She was out of her mind.

  By the time Auggie pulled into his neighborhood, he decided he had enough of her.

  Out of the silence he informed, "I'll handle the books on my own next week."

  As he glanced at her, Charlotte appeared as though he had slapped her.