by BJ Hyman
Finally, Charlie had enough. She slapped a hand down on the table hard enough that it shook the drinks and the sound of her flesh popping against the surface could be heard even over the music and chatter in the bar. Six pairs of startled eyes settled on her face. “Who is it? I’m not going to be mad…Okay, maybe a little bit, but it won’t last long. I just need to know: Who is it?”
Charlie’s expectant gaze was met with silence.
“Really? No one is brave enough to fess up?” More silence. “Fine, I’ll just have to start asking questions. Sabrina, you used to like to play some tricks in college. Are you messing with me?” Charlie leaned forward like a prosecutor intimidating a witness.
Sabrina shot a look at Eli to see if Charlie was truly accusing her first. When he avoided her gaze, but gave a slight nod, she knew this was really happening. “Charlie, I’m not up to anything. You know that I took great pride in my work when I got a good one over on you back then. Don’t you think I’d be crowing about it now, if it were me? Seriously.” Charlie chewed on her lip, unsure. “What kind of tricks are being played, anyway? Are they anything like what I used to do? You know mine have a flair and usually a very public finish. Remember when I rigged that banner to drop in front of the campus outdoor movie? Or the time I paid that freshman to run naked through the quad with your name written on his chest and back? This doesn’t have any of my usual panache.”
Craig couldn’t help but laugh. “Why ever are you still single? Some smart guy should have snapped you up for your inventiveness alone.”
Despite herself, Charlie laughed. “Okay. It doesn’t have your fingerprints on it. You always did have a way of making everything a spectacle.” She turned her attention to another part of the table. “Kellie, you and Mitchell could be doing this together.”
Kellie’s mouth fell open before she snapped an incredulous look at Mitchell. He put his hands up as if to say to keep him out of it. By the time her eyes settled back on Charlie, they had darkened with a touch of irritation. “You cannot be serious.”
“You were the first one with a suggestion of who did it. That could have been a way to throw me off the scent. You know I love sunflowers, you have a key, you were the one to share my sleep issues…”
“And all of that means nothing. Don’t piss me off. What the hell?”
“Mitchell is being awfully quiet.” He looked at Kellie with panic at being singled out.
Kellie rasped in irritation, “He’s just trying to stay out of it. He’s a smart guy. He knows not to get between sisters.” With a smile, Mitchell leaned back into his chair before picking up his drink.
Charlie turns to Craig. “What about you and Megan? You pretend to not be dating but we all know there is something going on there. You could be the ones working together.”
Craig shrugged. “You’re just grasping at straws. You’d rather it be someone at this table…and who wouldn’t? It’s much easier thinking someone you know is breaking into your home and shifting through your stuff rather than some stranger. I think you should call the police. That would answer it once and for all. They could take fingerprints or something. We’d all be cleared.”
Falling back into her chair, Charlie deflated. “I don’t think it’s serious enough for the police to even talk to me about it yet. I don’t want it to get to the point where it is, but I can’t see how they would even respond to it yet.”
“It’s still breaking and entering,” Eli said as he slid an arm around the back of her chair. He took one maroon infused brown strand of her hair and twisted it around his finger. “There was also the bruising on your wrist and ankle. That could be assault, I’d think.”
“Maybe. I just don’t feel right doing that yet. I can’t prove anyone has broken in. Nothing has been taken. In fact, they left the flowers. Who does that? I’d feel silly trying to explain that. It’s not even threatening.”
Kellie leaned forward across the table, almost getting her chest in a plate of nachos. “Stay with us tonight. No one is getting in over at our place. I’ll have Mitchell sleep in front of the door like a guard dog.”
He poked her. “Hey. I’m not sleeping in front of any door. I like my bed.”
Eli leaned over and kissed Charlie’s forehead. “Come home with me. I’ll protect you. Nothing threatening over at my place except maybe not getting enough sleep.” He followed that up with a suggestive wink.
Craig raised his glass. “So, it’s settled. You go have wacky crazy earth shattering sex with Eli tonight that you’ll tell me all about at work tomorrow and no one will be home for your mysterious visitor to bother tonight.”
Megan elbowed him in the ribs with a girlish giggle. “You’re impossible.”
He leaned into her like some lecherous perv. “You up for a similar experience? Charlie and I would have so much to dish about tomorrow, if you are. We both do kiss and tell, by the way. Fair warning.”
Sabrina tossed some money on the table and grabbed her purse. “I think I’ve had enough of being the seventh wheel tonight. I’m headed home.”
She slipped from her chair only to be followed by Megan. “Hey, wait up. Me too. I’ve got an early morning.”
“And, despite you all questioning mine and Megan’s friendship, I go home alone, yet again.” Craig took a long swig of a purple concoction that was left on the table. He sputtered quickly. “What the hell?? Who ordered that? I couldn’t even tell what it was!” Leaving money on the table, he got down too. “I’ll walk you ladies out. Can’t be too careful these days. ‘Night, kids.”
Charlie leaned into Eli’s side as Kellie frowned at her. “Charlie, it’s going to be okay. We’ll find out what’s going on and get it stopped. Okay? No worries.”
Charlie nodded even though she had her doubts. Nothing had been accomplished tonight and staying with Eli would only delay the inevitable. But she said nothing. Picking up a potato skin, she munched while looking at the shadowy faces of strangers surrounding them in the bar.
◆◆◆
Eli opened the door to his studio apartment and let Charlie enter first. The space always startled her a bit when she returned. It was one large open warehouse space with steel girders crossing this way and that over the entirety of the high ceiling. Enormous floor to ceiling windows covered two of the four walls and gave a spectacular view of the city. The waterway was near and the bridge over it was a centerpiece in the view. Eli had erected a few false walls to break up the space, but it only gave him places to push his bed up against and to center a sofa on. There were large rugs overlapping most of the floor but where the floor wasn’t covered was softly polished grayish hardwood.
He had managed to make it feel very welcoming with lots of fabrics and beautiful furniture. Since they had been dating, Charlie had finished a few accent pieces that spiced up areas that had seemed lost before.
She walked over to the extra-long, extra-deep sofa covered in a soft charcoal gray fabric that was covered with colorful accent pillows and kicked off her shoes before snuggling into the corner with her legs curled underneath her. Eli followed her lead and was soon laying with his head in her lap. She slipped her fingers into his thick hair as he looked up at her. “You feel any better?”
“Marginally. And only because I know I won’t wake up tomorrow with a mustache and angry eyebrows drawn on my face.”
“Who says you won’t?” She pulled his hair hard enough to make him repent. “Sorry! Uncle!” She smoothed the ruffled strands with a small smile. He sat up next to her and took her hand in between his. Her fingers looked tiny inside the strong cage of his fingers, like a bird. “I won’t let anything else happen to you, if I have any power over it. If you’ll let me take care of you.” He rubbed his lips together as if he were smoothing lip balm recently applied as he stroked her fingers. Finally, he looked up at her. “I would like it very much if you would move in with me.”
“Eli.” Her voice caught, and she shook her head as if to shake something back into place. “I… I don
’t know…what to say.” She turned and looked out the window. Her voice returned small and quiet. “I can’t. I…just can’t.”
His head dropped slightly as he continued to stroke her fingers. “Is it him? Dean? I have a feeling I’m chasing after the ghost of that relationship with you.”
She looked down at his hands surrounding hers. “I don’t want to talk about Dean.”
He squeezed her fingers gently. “Can I ask one thing?”
“Depends on what it is.”
“Do I even have a chance here? Can I hope that this becomes for you what it already is for me?”
“That’s two things.” She smiled and chuckled softly. He looked at her and didn’t share her smile. Charlie put her other hand on his. “I hope so. I really do.”
He nodded at the floor. “Well, I guess that’ll have to do, for now.”
She put her feet back on the floor and raised a finger to him. “Wait a second. I’ve got something to give you.” She walked back to her purse and pulled out a small bag that she got from the local hardware store. When she sat down next to him, she placed it on his lap. “Maybe this is a start.”
He looked into her eyes before pulling a key from the bag. “Is this what I think it is?”
“A key to my place. I guess it’s about time you had one.”
He looked back down at the key with a deep breath.
She reached over and turned his face toward hers. They looked into each other’s faces with the most honesty that they had ever shared in their entire near-year together. She pulled his face to hers and gently brushed her lips against his. Charlie held him there almost motionlessly as her heart began to beat heavily in her chest. When she slid her hands to his shoulders, Eli leaned back, and his eyes searched her face. Her lips parted slightly, and her breath became shallow. He made a low sound in his chest as he leaned into her and kissed her fully. His tongue pushed her lips apart, deepening the kiss. He pulled her under the length of his body and shifted to get closer to her.
She marveled at the strength of his warm body against hers. It was like he was one long, hard muscle, pulling her away from the safe harbor she kept to herself. Without saying a word, he had won the battle of the evening. Her heart swelled with emotion for him, even as she just denied his request. Her hands fluttered up and began to pull at his shirt. She had been so bruised that she was afraid to allow anyone else in but she couldn’t deny the feelings Eli roused in her. She couldn’t get close enough to him. At least physically. She wondered if she’d ever be able to feel the same way emotionally.
He helped her by raising up a couple of inches away from her body as she feverishly unbuttoned his shirt. The air that came between them was cold without his heated chest against hers. He felt her frustration and kneeled between her thighs to pull his own shirt off. Her fingers found their way to his belly and she slid her palms across it before beginning to unbutton his trousers. He had begun his own struggle with freeing her of her shirt. He cursed under his breath before standing up next to the sofa. She felt chilled without him near but that didn’t last long. He bent down and shoved his hands beneath her before hoisting her up into his arms and carrying her to the bed across the room.
At just the wrong moment, Dean’s face flashed before her. She gasped and turned her head. Eli took it as a signal to kiss her neck. Her heart squeezed tightly in her chest.
Trying to bury the past, she turned back to Eli and placed her hands on both sides of his face. She pulled his mouth to hers fiercely. She would only be one man’s tonight. She shut it all out in favor of the now.
◆◆◆
Eli had always been understanding when it came to the process to wake Charlie from sleep. Early in their relationship, he felt at a loss. The alarm was so loud that it hurt his ears and he found it startling that it took so much to get her fully awake. As his relationship with her grew, he took an active role in trying to be a help for her.
After their night, he woke up before her and made a breakfast of bacon, eggs, and biscuits. He put a pot of coffee on before climbing back into bed next to her. He started tenderly touching her face and hands as if doing some therapeutic massage. Her alarm on her phone began as he began patting and rubbing her thighs and legs while kneeling next to her. “Charlie, it’s time to wake up. Charlie, come on, sweetie.” He took first one leg and then the other and lifted them slightly before dropping them on the bed. He took her arms and shook them. Sliding his forearms under her shoulders, he held her head in his hands as he lifted her up and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her face. “Charlie. Come on, hon. It’s time to get up.” The alarm steadily grew louder as Charlie’s eyes fluttered slowly open. “There you are.”
She looked confused for a moment before a slow smile spread across her sleepy face. “Hey, you.” He kissed her gently on the lips before laying her back onto the pillows and reaching over to turn her alarm off. She reached up and caressed his chest as he leaned over her. “I could get used to waking up like this.”
“Move in with me and you can.” He positioned himself on his elbows over her. Before she could start to protest again, he kissed her breathless. She barely remembered her own name by the time he lifted his head from hers and looked into her smoldering eyes. “I’ve made breakfast.”
“Will it taste good cold?” She slid a leg around his thighs trapping him against her.
“I’d eat anything cold for you.” His stubble roughened jaw grazed her collarbone as he began tasting the skin at her neck.
Breakfast was late.
◆◆◆
Charlie was already running behind for work when she dialed Craig’s cell number. She unlocked her apartment door to put on a change of clothes and some makeup. She’d already had her shower at Eli’s which had made her even more late since she had not been alone in the stall. Something in the fear had awoken another primal need. Part of her was elated and part was ashamed. Conflicted emotions are a harsh jury.
She juggled her purse and keys as she held the phone with her face waiting for Craig to answer. “Hey, boss lady. Let me guess: You’re going to be late.”
She grinned while closing the door behind her. “Yeah. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“I’ve got Vintage taken care of until you get here.”
She dropped her purse by the door before walking down the short hall to her bedroom. “I’m so lucky to have you.”
“Pay me more.”
“Get me more business and we’ll talk.” She turned the corner into her bedroom and screamed, dropping the phone.
Even as she could hear Craig’s voice shouting from the cell on the floor, she couldn’t bring herself to pick it up. Her bedroom was completely empty with the windows wide open. In her shock, she almost missed the piece of paper dead center on the carpet that was usually hidden by her bed. She stumbled forward to see what it was. On it were only two words.
MISSED YOU.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Safe and Secure
Kellie stormed into Vintage Rebel Designs as if she were rescuing someone from a burning building. She found Charlie in the back making a wreath with various mosses while Craig stood watching her. “What the hell? Why are you here instead of in your apartment with police taking fingerprints and shit?”
Charlie looked up at her and actually laughed at how wild her pink hair looked. It was as if she had teased it in areas to make it stick out. “What’s that look called?” She went right back to work like nothing had happened.
Kellie patted her hair down absentmindedly. “I was so upset, I didn’t comb my hair. I barely got out of my pajamas. How are you so calm?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because I know for sure that it’s just someone pranking me.”
Kellie leaned toward her as if she couldn’t hear. Putting her hands on her hips, she said, “What is that supposed to mean? Who?”
“You all knew that I was staying at Eli’s. I think it’s all of you.”
“But it’s NOT!” Kellie
glanced at Craig as if looking for support.
Craig shook his head hard. “That’s what I told her! She doesn’t believe me.” He threw his hands up before forcefully crossing his arms across his chest.
Charlie cut some floral wire as she added more moss. “It’s too orchestrated. I don’t know who all is in on it, but I know it’s some of you.”
“Did you call Eli? Does he know?” Kellie’s tone grew louder with every statement.
“I’m sure he does. He got me out of my apartment, didn’t he?” She casually pulled her hot glue gun across the table and gave a quick shot to the wreath before dabbing some Spanish moss artfully dangling off the edge.
“I will pay for the same day service for you to get a security system while you’re at work today. I’m that serious that it’s not any of us. I insist that you get this done today!” She grabbed Charlie by the shoulders and shook her. Charlie stopped and gave her sister a long look. Her mirth shifted slightly by what she saw in Kellie’s eyes. “I’m terrified for you. Don’t you get that? If I knew it was a joke, would I be this frightened?”
