Charlotte (Marked Heart #2)

by M. Sembera

  It felt good to be appreciated but it also made him feel bad in a way. If he had looked to them more, instead of thinking he knew everything, maybe he could have made things work with Charlotte.

  36

  Goodbye

  Getting the bar set up for Friday night, Auggie laughed with Penny as they joked, wondering how the night before could ever be topped. Braden had said he wasn't feeling playing lead, so he and Ailin were switching places and were busy changing the lineup. In the back of his mind, Auggie knew Charlotte was leaving today, but having his brothers and sister at the bar with him helped alleviate the burden it was putting on his heart.

  It didn't take Auggie long to notice Penny looking over at Brooks as he sat behind his drum kit. When Brooks smiled at her, Penny blushed and let out a little giggle.

  "Seriously?" Auggie griped at her.

  Rolling her eyes at her brother, Penny said, "What? He's cute."

  Giving her a stern look, he snapped, "Pen."

  Resting her elbow on top of the bar, she sunk her cheek down onto her hand, pouting, "Fine."

  Shaking his head with a slight laugh, he asked, "What are you doing here anyway? Besides trying to break up the band."

  Penny stuck her tongue out at him before saying, "I figured stopping here was better than going home."

  Auggie started to ask where she'd been, and then realized he already knew.

  "How is she?"

  Penny shrugged, replying, "All packed up and ready to go."

  Scowling, he questioned, "So she's okay?"

  "Her flight leaves at seven and she's ready to go."

  Suspicious, he asked, "Why aren't you answering me?"

  Shrugging at him, Penny looked off to the side.

  Auggie felt offended, "She doesn't want me to know how she is?"

  Penny frowned at him, saying, "If you want to know ask her yourself. Even Braden called her and told her goodbye."

  Shaking his head, he admitted, "I can't."

  Pushing off from the bar, Penny fussed, "You at least owe her a goodbye text if you're going to be too much of a coward to say it."

  Watching Penny storm off towards the stage, he knew she was right.

  Pulling his cellphone out of his back pocket, Auggie pressed the center button and stopped. Staring at his lock screen that he couldn't bare to change from the picture of Charlotte kissing his cheek, he couldn't do it. He could accept being called a coward if that's what it was. He was letting her go, but there was no way in hell he was telling her goodbye. Suddenly he didn't really know what to do with himself. Somewhere between hyperventilating and on his way into full on panic mode, Auggie swiftly made his way from behind the bar heading straight for the back office.

  Passing the stage, he was about to head through the swinging doors.

  "You alright?" Braden called out.

  Ignoring his brother, he continued through the doors into the hallway until he heard Ailin spout, "He's not man enough to stop himself from letting her go."

  Stopping dead in his tracks, he turned and pushed back through, glaring at his brother.

  "Come again? I don't think I heard you."

  Hopping down from the stage, Ailin assured, "Oh I think you heard me just fine."

  Auggie looked to Penny and Braden to make sure he hadn't just lost his mind. Braden held his hands up and took a huge step back while Penny stared at Ailin as if he'd just sprouted a big toe out of his forehead. Yep, his mind was intact but clearly Ailin's wasn't.

  "Have you lost your little punk ass mind?" Auggie fussed before shouting, "You're going to say I'm not man enough? Hell, last night Penny was more of a man than you are."

  Ailin stepped closer to Auggie, shouting, "I'm fixing to be a father. None of y'all know what that's like. You think I didn't want to jump in? I have more to think about than just myself. I have a pregnant wife at home. Putting her before myself makes me a man," stopping to take a breath, he continued, "So yea, I'm saying you're not being a man."

  Auggie shoved him back, growling, "You think you're more of a man than me? Come on."

  Without hesitation, Ailin swung as hard as he could, hitting Auggie right in the mouth and knocking him on his ass.

  Stunned that Ailin not only hit him but put him on his ass, Auggie rubbed the corner of his mouth and saw blood on his thumb. Before he could say anything, Ailin was standing over him, red faced and shouting.

  "I'm sick of this. I'm not a real man? Why? Because I have someone that loves me? Sophia loves me exactly the same way I love her. And I'll gladly kiss her ass every day for the rest of my life because showing someone you love how important they are to you isn't being a girl. I'm man enough to admit, I'm not a man at all without her."

  Auggie nodded in respect to Ailin. Not only for knocking him on his ass but because he knew what he was saying was the truth.

  Ailin held his hand out to Auggie, saying, "You had that too. Why would you let her go?"

  Taking his brother's hand, Auggie pulled himself up, answering, "She was Will's first."

  Giving him a ridiculous look, Ailin fussed, "Are you kidding me? All this because for about two weeks five years ago she was talking to Will? They never even slept together."

  Auggie's heart stopped as he blurted, "What?"

  Trying to make sense of what Ailin was saying, Auggie looked at Penny.

  "Emerson and Ren got there before they did anything," she shared.

  Braden chimed in, questioning, "You didn't know that?"

  Auggie glanced around the room, trying to think as Ailin imparted, "You know, if you had talked to any of us or even her about it, you might have known that."

  In two heartbeats, Auggie was out of the door and in his truck, headed to the Roberts' house.

  Auggie rang the doorbell five times and knocked four, wondering what was taking them so long to answer. An immediate pang of 'What if they already left' struck him.

  Breathing a sigh of relief when Emerson opened the door, Auggie blurted, "Charlotte. I need to see Charlotte."

  Emerson gave him a concerned look, asking, "Are you aware that you are bleeding?"

  Auggie rubbed the side of his mouth with his hand before saying, "I really need to talk to her."

  "Now is not a good time."

  Growing frustrated, Auggie snapped, "Damn it Emerson, I need to see her."

  Emerson glared down at him, assuring, "You are not welcome here."

  Taking a step back, Auggie pulled his beanie off of his head.

  With hat in hand he begged, "Please, Mr. Roberts."

  Amila's voice startled them both, saying, "For goodness sakes, Emerson, let him in."

  Rolling her eyes, she pulled the door away from Emerson to open it wide.

  "Thank you," Auggie appreciated, stepping into the house.

  "Oh honey, do you know you're bleeding?" Amila blurted.

  Pulling his collar up to wipe the corner of his mouth, he gave Amila a questioning look.

  Pointing to the other room, Amila informed, "Through the kitchen and out the back door."

  Nodding at her, he dashed through the house. Pulling his beanie back on, he took a deep breath and opened the back door.

  ~

  Hearing the back door open, Charlotte mentally counted back from ten.

  "Don't rush me, we'll leave in a little bit," she snapped.

  "I'm not in any hurry for you to go," Auggie replied, causing Charlotte to whip around in surprise.

  As her heart started beating faster, she wondered why he appeared confused while staring at her. Narrowing her eyes at the sight of him, she noticed he had a dark purple black eye, his cheek was bruised and his lip was bleeding.

  "What happened to you?"

  "There was a fight at the bar last night. It's a long story but..."

  Giving him a stupid look, Charlotte cut him off, saying, "No, you're bleeding."

  "Damn, still?" he griped before pulling the front of his shirt up to wipe his mouth saying, "Ailin's got a mean right h
ook."

  Shaking her head at him, she asked, "Why are you here?"

  "I owe you an apology."

  "Ya think?" she snapped.

  Flinching a little as he smiled at her, Auggie shared, "I was wrong."

  "That's it? You came all the way over here to tell me something I already know?"

  Shaking his head as he took a step closer, Auggie replied, "No, I came here to tell you that I'm sorry for the way I acted. I'm sorry that I assumed something about you without asking you myself." Reaching down, he took her hand, saying, "I'm sorry I hurt you."

  Looking at the C&A on his beanie, Charlotte replied, "I'm sorry that you did too."

  "I won't say goodbye," he said, before looking down at the bracelet he gave her on her wrist.

  Feeling as though her heart was tearing into tiny pieces, Charlotte let go of his hand, saying, "I didn't want anything between us. But that's impossible. This time it was William next time it could be anything. There's too much history here for it to be any other way."

  "Lotte, I swear to you..."

  Auggie stopped midsentence as they heard the back door open.

  Trace had a smug expression on his face as he coolly made his way towards them.

  "Bartender, right?" he questioned, holding his hand out.

  Auggie glared at his hand before focusing on Charlotte, "I guess you've got your clean slate right there."

  "If it looks like it, that must be what it is," she spit out at him, wondering how in the hell he could keep hurting her like this.

  Nodding at her, Auggie stated, "Goodbye Charlotte," before turning and walking back into the house.

  Charlotte's mind snapped 'Unbelievable' as she stared at the ground.

  Realizing how it looked and what the original plan concerning Trace was, Charlotte was still baffled that Auggie did the exact same thing he had just apologized for. As she stood there trying to think, she could hear Trace tapping his foot.

  "Can I help you?" she snapped at him.

  With an unpleasant expression, "We are already fifteen minutes late."

  "The plane's not going to leave without us," she griped, wishing he would shut up and go inside so she could think.

  "It's time to go," he stated.

  Looking at Trace and thinking about Auggie, Charlotte remembered Amila saying 'He was all the things I really wanted and never bothered to look for in a man'.

  "I'm not ready."

  Trace gave a loud sigh before stating, "You are behaving like such a child. All of this over a mick bartender? Someone who could be so easily forgotten? I might understand if he was in a position of any importance."

  Charlotte gave him a light smile as she replied, "His name is Augustus Caffrey and you're not even good enough for him to shake your hand."

  "That is it," he snarled at her before informing, "Don't you think for one second you can end this without there being serious repercussions. You will not make me look bad in front of everyone. Do you actually think I would go this far without looking into your past? I know all about your crack-head mother, I have seen the pictures of what she did to you. In fact, I can name every person you ever had sex with. I was willing to overlook your history, how grotesque you are under those fancy clothes of yours. All of it. But since I'm not as good as your bartender, rest assured, I will make it my personal mission in life to share what I know about you, everywhere I go to everyone I meet."

  Seeing Trace for who he really was made Charlotte's skin crawl.

  She had never met anyone, including her mother, so vile in all her life. Aside from that, his threat had no effect on her at all.

  Accepting the fact that this was on her, she never cared what was below his handsome surface any more than he cared what was under her thick lipstick and designer clothes. She was going to own it. So be it if the whole world knew. The people who really mattered already did and they loved her anyway.

  Trace flashed his all too perfect toothy grin at her. Charlotte gave a slight huff, motioning for him to go ahead and go.

  "You're going to regret this," he stated with a smug expression on his face.

  As he turned to leave, Emerson stepped out and assured, "No she won't", before backhand bitch slapping Trace to the ground.

  With eyes wide and her mouth hanging open, Charlotte watched as Emerson crouched down eye level with Trace on the ground.

  Flipping his tie over his shoulder, Emerson rested his arms on his knees, swearing, "How dare you disrespect my daughter. Who the hell do you think you are? You think you're someone because your father owns a company? Boy you have no idea how far my reach goes. You will not utter one word against Charlotte because rest assured if you do, they will never find you." Standing up tall, Emerson demanded, "Get the hell off of my property, out of my town and you will not use my plane to do so."

  Trace was shaking and white as a sheet as he scrambled to his feet and sprinted away.

  Amazed at what had just taken place in front of her, Charlotte stared at Emerson.

  With a soft smile and warm caring eyes, he asked, "Are you alright?"

  Shaking her head, she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him. As Emerson hugged her back, he was softer than she would have thought and warm.

  Keeping her in his protective arms, Emerson shared, "There are some people who are able to love blind. However, most people need to be reassured they're not making a horrible mistake. Not everyone is able to believe someone's side of things without all the information."

  Charlotte held onto him tighter, nodding into his chest before looking up at him.

  With a smirk on her face, she questioned, "They will never find you?"

  Emerson let go of her as he laughed, "I believe I already shared that Roberts is not the most upstanding last name around."

  Raising her eyebrows at him, she remarked, "Powerful and infamous."

  "Well, it certainly put Mr. Delgado in his place."

  Charlotte laughed out loud before it occurred to her there was something she needed to say.

  With a sincere expression, Charlotte said, "Emerson, thank you for adopting me."

  Emerson's eyes filled with tears as he scooped Charlotte up in another warm and loving hug.

  37

  Declaration

  It was seriously the night from hell. After leaving the Roberts', as if that wasn't a nightmare in and of itself, he was finally man enough but it turned out Charlotte wasn't the woman he thought she was. Or maybe she was. He really wasn't sure about anything anymore. All he knew was that he still missed her. The fact that she was just ready to pick up where she left off before they were together didn't change that. Seeing her wearing that thick lacquer lipstick because her douchebag never saw how beautiful she really was, made it worse.

  Once he got back to The Dog House to open up, a pipe in the kitchen burst causing water to rush everywhere. When they got that under control, one of the draft spigots broke off in his hand and shot beer all over him. Then, the wire shelf in the storage room broke off of the wall and knocked him down, covering him in an avalanche of bar supplies.

  When Jackson showed up, he told Auggie to take the rest of the night off. The only plus side of the evening was that his lip finally stopped bleeding.

  Stepping out of the shower, he was glad to be home a few hours early. He was going to drink a beer, relax in his chair for a while and try to put this horrible day behind him. He dried off, pulled his boxer's on, looked in his bottom drawer for pajama bottoms and realized he forgot to wash clothes this week. With a slight laugh, Auggie shook his head at himself. What difference did it make, he was by himself anyway.

  Making his way into the kitchen, Auggie grabbed a beer, popped the cap off and headed to the living room to relax. He had the feeling of being struck by lightening again, but it was for a different reason this time.

  Once the shock of seeing Charlotte sitting in his chair wore off, he set his beer down and griped, "What the hell?"

  "Why did you apologize to me
?" she snapped at him.

  Thinking she had some nerve, he sarcastically replied, "Because I'm a grown up and I felt it was necessary."

  As she stood up out of his chair wearing tiny hot pink shorts, a thin white t-shirt and the peacock bracelet he gave her, Auggie wished he was wearing more than a pair of boxers.

  Giving the bottom of her shirt a little tug, she questioned, "Why would you go to all the trouble of saying you're sorry, if you were just going to turn around and do the same damn thing?"

  Irritated, he barked, "Look here woman, I'm not the one that just picked up where I left off before you."

  "Neither am I," she griped at him.

  Thinking to himself 'Unbelievable', Auggie shook his head, saying, "If it looks like it, that must be what it is. Right?"

  Charlotte glared at him before asking, "Is that a question?"

  Running his hand over his face in frustration, Auggie wondered what kind of crazy ass game this was that she was trying to play with his head.

  Deciding to play along, he replied, "Alright, I'm game. Was it what it looked like?"

  Holding her head high, she stated, "No."

  Standing there baffled, he asked, "What was he doing there?"

  Rolling her eyes at him, Charlotte replied, "He came to escort me back."

  "You're not going to marry him?"

  Shaking her head while giving him a stupid look, she informed, "Why would I marry him when I'm in love with you?"

  Auggie's whole world came crashing down on him in an instant.

  Every single thought, feeling and moment he had with Charlotte surged through him as he walked up to her. Placing his hands on the sides of her face, he kissed her like he never had before. The way he should have been kissing her all along. Without restraint. Like she was truly his because she was and he sure as hell belonged to her.

  Without hesitation, Charlotte wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed him back.

  Picking up where he left off before his ignorant mistake earlier, Auggie said, "Lotte, I swear to you, I will never let anything come between us again."

  "I love you," she whispered in response.

  Between his promise and her words, they were declaring themselves to each other and Auggie was determined to make it official. After breathing her in as he kissed her, he hoisted her high in the air and threw her over his shoulder.