Chapter Twenty-Eight
Christian
Nothing felt more right than having Charlie wrapped tightly in my arms. This past week was torturous, and although I should've waited for her to call me, I couldn't. Being away from her was like missing a part of myself and I didn't feel whole again until I saw her.
Ignoring our spectators, her head nuzzled deeper into my chest and I was reluctant to loosen my hold. There were a hundred questions I wanted to ask her, like what happened to her hair, but even more things I wanted to say, like why Cecilia answered my phone but I couldn't seem to form a proper sentence.
And admittedly, I felt too content to ruin the moment with words.
When I felt wetness dampening my shirt, I realized that Charlie was crying silently. Gliding my hand up her back and around her neck, I gently lifted her chin up.
"Are you okay?" I said, using my thumb to wipe away a tear.
Charlie looked up at me with her warm brown eyes, and a small grin crept onto her face. "I am now," she replied softly.
Smiling down at her, I whispered back, "Good, because I don't think I'm ever going to let you go."
Charlie let out a sniffling chuckle before burrowing back into my arms. I rested my head atop of hers and with a grief ridden voice, I whispered, "I'm so sorry..."
"Don't be."
"And about Cecillia-"
"I know."
"You do?" I pulled away a couple inches so I could see her face.
Nodding, she coiled her arms around my neck. "As soon as I saw you, I just knew it. I don't know why she answered your phone, but I know in my heart nothing happened between you two."
Smiling, I said, "I guess your heart and brain are equally intelligent."
"I won't argue that," she answered with a goofy grin.
"God, I've missed you." I gently squeezed her.
She looked up at me with her blush tinted cheeks and large, vibrant eyes, and I found myself glancing down at her soft lips. Slowly, I lowered my head and she followed suit by tilting hers upwards.
"So, Charlie," a girl's voice interrupted us, reminding me that we weren't alone. "Are you going to introduce us?"
We both pulled away and looked over at the three girls, who at some point, approached us and were now standing just a few feet away. The girl with black hair seemed uninterested and instead was admiring my truck while the other two were staring at me with a mixture of curiosity and awe.
"Oh ... uh, okay," Charlie murmured, taken aback. "Christian, this is Summer, Lizz and Brittney."
"Christian?" Summer stepped toward us and grinned. "I've always loved that name – it's just so masculine."
"Oh! You're Christian Steele, aren't you?" Lizz tried to covertly move in front of Summer and I almost rolled my eyes at their antics. "I've heard stories about you Steele boys but I didn't realize how true they were."
Brittney, turning away from my truck, looked at the two girls and snorted before murmuring under her breath, "Pathetic."
Although I agreed with her, I still found myself asking, "What stories?"
"Don't worry – all good things," Lizz said with a wink.
Feeling a bit uncomfortable with the situation, I put my arm around Charlie to discretely tell these girls I was not interested.
Unfortunately, they didn't seem to care because Summer giggled flirtatiously before saying, "Christian Steele - that really is a strong, masculine name." Smiling, her chubby cheeks squished her eyes into small slits. "A strong name for a strong man."
"Summer, stop it," Lizz hissed under her breath but we could all hear her. "I call dibs."
Summer started to open her mouth to say something, but I cleared my throat to get their attention. "As flattering as this is, I should probably tell you that I'm already taken."
"Oh." Summer frowned. "Who's the lucky girl?"
I raised my eyebrow and glanced down at my arm wrapped around Charlie's waist. As obvious as it was, apparently they needed me to spell it out for them. Charlie's eyes met mine and even she seemed to have a curious, almost hopeful look on her face.
I grinned at Charlie like the love sick puppy I was and said, "She's not the lucky one – I am."
"Wait, you're talking about Charlie?" Summer asked in disbelief.
Lizz started laughing, but after a couple seconds she stopped and said, "Oh, you're serious?"
"Wow," Brittney drawled. "That wasn't rude at all."
Lizz furrowed her brows, and then, very slowly, her eyes began to widen. "Oh shit, no. I didn't mean for that to sound so bad – I just meant that you two are kinda an odd couple."
I raised my eyebrow at the girls before looking down at Charlie. "Do you want to get out of here?"
"Yes, please."
"Sorry girls, but I'm going to steal Charlie for a little bit," I said without guilt, while guiding Charlie over to the passenger side of my truck. I opened the door and helped her in before going around to the driver's side.
As I was pulling out of the driveway, I couldn't help but notice a red haired girl watching us from a second story window of the house – something about the way she was staring unnerved me.
"Who's that?" I turned to Charlie, but when she looked up to see what I was talking about, the girl was gone.
"Who?"
"Uh ... nevermind."
Charlie frowned, but as we drove further away from the house, a slow smile crept onto her face. She looked up at me with her distinctive goofy grin and asked, "So where are we going?"
"That, my little nerd, is a surprise..."
ϴϴϴϴ
Rather than parking the truck at my house, I drove it straight to my private beach. One of my buddies, who worked for a Highway Construction company, helped me make a gravel road leading from my house to Crystal Lake.
It was one of the nicest days we'd had in over a week. The sky was cloudless, and the blazing sun made the lake shimmer like it was sprinkled with glitter.
As corny as it sounded, there was no other way to describe how peaceful it was.
Glancing sideways at Charlie, she looked completely mesmerised by the lake's beauty. I myself was more captivated by hers. Even though her hair was about the same length as mine now, she was still as beautiful as ever. Her large, curious brown eyes seemed to scan every inch of our surroundings, taking in everything and evaluating it with such precision.
Every fiber in my body wanted to pull her into my arms and ask her if she was okay. Maybe find out what she's been through all week and what happened that morning with her parents, but my damn conscious kept reminding me that she would tell me when she's ready.
Right now she needed to be surrounded by familiar things that could remind her she didn't lose everything that morning – she still had people who loved her.
Reaching for her hand, I gave it a light squeeze until she looked over at me.
"Karla really wanted to be here," I started, "But she has school today, so she said she would meet us here afterwards."
Charlie started to smile but it quickly faded before she looked out of the truck window at the lake. Fidgeting nervously, she pulled the cuff of her sleeve into her palm and then looked back at me with blush tinted cheeks. "We're staying outside all day?"
"Yeah, I thought..." trailing off, I then asked, "You don't want to?"
"Well, I do ... it's just that," Charlie glanced down at her long-sleeved shirt and jeans. "It's really hot outside, and I'm dressed-"
"Like you're about to brave the bone-chilling winters of Antarctica?"
"Ha-Ha" Charlie pushed her glasses up her nose. "Actually, winters in Antarctica average at around minus sixty-five degrees Celsius. Wearing this I'd likely get frost bite in less than five minutes, hypothermia and then die."
"True," I said with an amused smirk – of course Charlie would know the average winter temperature of Antarctica. "But wearing that in this heat will probably give you a heat stroke, which is why Karla's helped me pick this out for you." Reaching behind my truck seat, I grabbed an Old Navy shopping bag and passed it to Charlie.
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously before peeking in the bag and laughing. "Why would you ask for Karla's help? I think your mom would have been more suitable," she said, but looked more amused than offended. She pulled the bikini out of the shopping bag and held it up for inspection. "At least she would have picked out something with a little more fabric and a lot less string."
"Hey now, that bikini is more conservative than most girls wear. Plus, there's also a cover in there for when we're not swimming."
Charlie glanced in the bag and start laughing again while pulling out the beach cover-up. "This cover is made of lace – you can see right through it!" She shoved the bikini and cover-up back in the bag. "Plus..." her cheeks flushed red and she looked down at her lap shyly, "I can't swim."
My eyes widened – I was definitely not expecting that. We lived in a town that was surrounded by lakes in all directions. Everyone in Bridgewalk swam – or at least, I always assumed they did.
I didn't realize I was raising my eye brow at her until she said, "Don't give me that look - I'm serious. I haven't went swimming since I was a little kid."
When she looked at the lake longingly, I was reminded of the weekend at Silver Sand Island and her refusal to swim because of her bruises. A wave of guilt and remorse crashed into me as I realized that Charlie had spent the better part of her life constantly hiding her scars and bruises, refusing to partake in Bridgewalk's most popular leisure activities because of them.
"Well, I guess it's time to change that." I reached for the bathing suit and held it out to her.
But rather than grabbing it, Charlie's hand rested on her stomach between her ribcage and bellybutton.
"There's no one here but us," I reassured her. And then taking her hand, placed the bikini in it. "You don't need to hide those scars from me – and honestly, you shouldn't hide them from anyone. You're so beautiful, and have nothing to be ashamed or afraid of. When I look at you, all I see is what a strong, smart, and brave woman you are. And as much as I hate to admit it, if you're wearing a bikini, no one is going to be looking anywhere but your ti-"
"Eyes," she cut me off with a goofy grin on her face. "You were about to say eyes, right?"
I smirked devilishly. "Of course – no one is going to be looking anywhere but your..." lowering my voice to a husky whisper, "eyes."
"Leave it to you to make the word 'eyes' sound incredibly sexual," she said with a knowing look. "Now get out of the truck so I can get changed."
Realizing that she gave in and I won, a smug grin pulled at the corner of my lips. I reached for the door handle about to get out, but the image of Charlie undressing in my truck made me falter. I turned to face her with a wicked look on my face, and casually asked, "Are you sure you don't want me to stay and help you tie up that bikini?"
"Christian Steele, you are deplorable!" She said with a shy laugh, playfully pushing me toward the door.
Chuckling as I got out of the truck, I said over my shoulder, "You can't blame a guy for trying." Then, with an unwavering smile, I grabbed a bunch of stuff from the box of my truck and brought it down to the beach.
After I was done setting up a couple beach chairs, a blanket, and a cooler with food and drinks, I turned around and stilled. Charlie was making her way down from the truck, and she was wearing the cover-up overtop her bikini. With downcast eyes, she kept trying to use her hands and arms to hide her exposed skin, but luckily for me, it was a failing effort – the white lace beach cover really didn't conceal much.
Charlie's cheeks were bright red when she finally looked up at me but she had a small, almost nervous smile gracing her heart shaped face.
Even though I knew staring was making her anxious, it was impossible to look away. Normally, she was hidden behind layers of clothing and she was still downright stunning, but nothing could compare to these rare moments when I actually saw her flawless, if not slightly pale skin. Unlike many girls who tried so hard to look like movie stars and models, Charlie had a natural beauty that was unique to her. Some men might've been blind to it, but I wasn't.
In my eyes, Charlie was perfect.
I was completely consumed with the urge to hold her, so when she finally made it down to the beach, I couldn't stop myself from pulling her into my arms. She fit so perfectly – like we were two puzzle pieces made solely for each other.
At first Charlie was stiff and awkward, then she let out a heavy breath and nestled into me. "I'm so sorry for not getting a hold of you," she barely whispered.
"It's okay – you just needed time."
"No, " she looked up at me and bit her bottom lip. "This is what I needed – what I need. Being with people who actually lo-" she cut herself off and looked away, embarrassed.
"People who actually love you?" I finished and cupped her cheek in my hand. "Like me and Karla."
Blushing, she quickly nodded.
I was quiet for a minute, watching her carefully until I couldn't hold back the question any longer. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"
There was a very long pause as we both stared into each other's eyes, but then slowly, Charlie nodded her head.
A/N: So, It's only been, like forever since I've uploaded! And I really am sorry. Not only have I been a busy bee, but I also had to renew my Microsoft Word. These past couple months, I ended up going on a Vacation to Phoenix, Arizona, which is really cool because I'm from Canada, so it was a big difference. I also just bought a new 2012 GMC Serria SLT!! She is B-E-A-U-tiful!! And of course I've been working a lot ... I swear when you finish School time flys by sooo quickly. To me, it honestly feels like I just uploaded a chapter the other week enough though it was actually a couple months ago!
I only have about four to five more chapters left with this book, so I'm going to try and put more time into it so I can finish and start writing Karla Steele's Story!
And for all you Charlie/Christian Lovers who just can't get enough, don't you worry, not only will they be in the spin offs here and there, but I'm also going to do little one shots about all my Bridgewalk Characters. Just like random little short stories to keep you updated with what everyone is doing. J
Thank you everyone who has been so incredibly patient with me.
Love, Peace and the golden fleece!
Krissy S.