Chapter Twelve
Christian
Of all the things I expected Charlie to say, that was probably at the very bottom of the list. Hell – who am I kidding? It didn't even make it on the list. I always knew Charlie was a smart and caring girl, but I never thought she would have the courage to actually stand up for herself. This girl was a lot stronger than people gave her credit for.
I should have been pissed at her for saying that in front of all these people – if it were anyone else, I probably would've been mad, but instead I admired her for it. And what she said also made me realize what a dick I was being. I mean sure I had my reasons, but being an asshole wasn't going to change the fact that they were here and they were stuck with us for the night.
"You did what?!" My sister was the first to break the silence.
Kale, on the other hand, broke off into a loud, hearty laugh and then asked with disbelief, "You ditched Amber last night for that?"
Charlie's cheeks turned bright red, and she looked completely mortified. Seeing that look on her face caused a wave of anger to wash over me. "What's that supposed to mean, Kale?" I turned to face him, and I didn't even realize my fists were clenched until I felt my nails piercing my skin. "Charlie is better than every single one of your little whores put together. You don't even know what a real woman is because you're too used to fucking easy, sleazy bitches."
Adrian and Nate burst into laughter, but I could almost see smoke coming out of Kale's ears. The large muscles in his arms twitched and his jaw tightened. Adrian's and Nate's laughter started to fade away when they realized how angry their brother was. Kale took a step forward and his large, muscular frame towered over me.
Anyone else in my place would probably piss themselves, but I wasn't afraid of him. We've had our little grapple matches throughout the years, and admittedly, he always whooped my ass, but it wasn't till this moment that I actually had something – or someone – to fight for.
"You know what, Chris? You're probably right. That little nerd of yours might be better than all my bitches, but you sleep with more sleazy girls then me, so what the fuck does that say about you?" He let out a half-laugh, and added, "Better yet, what does that say about her?"
I glared at Kale, and I could feel my arm muscles stiffening with the need to punch him in the face. Kale might have been my cousin, but I never wanted to knock someone out as much as I did at that moment. I didn't care what he said about me, I was pissed because he kept bringing her into it.
There was something about Charlie that made me lose all self-discipline, and I've always prided myself on my ability to stay poised and controlled in every situation. Over the years, I've had many innocent girls fling themselves at me shamelessly, but I've always been able to gently let them down because I knew if I gave them what they wanted, I would eventually break their hearts. The cold, hard truth was Charlie scared me because she wasn't the one throwing herself at me, but it was me who kept going to her. This was why I didn't want her here on the boat with us – she did crazy things to me and I didn't know how to handle it.
My fist clenched together again, and just when I was about to deck Kale in the face, Karla was standing in front of me. She shoved me backwards, and shouted, "What the hell, Christian!"
She pushed me again. "How dare you-" another push, "go after-" another push than brought me up against the deck railing, "my best friend!"
I couldn't do anything but stare down at Karla because she looked furious. I knew she would be mad when she found out, but I didn't realize she would be this mad.
I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could get a word out, she slapped me across the face. "Stay the hell away from her, Christian, or I swear to god, I will kill you! I have never bothered you about being a man-whore, but this is going too far. She is my best friend and if you ruin that, I will never talk to you again – ever!"
"You're right Karla," Adrian chimed in. He walked over to us and took Karla's arm and guided her away from me.
Karla gave me one last death glare before walking back over to Charlie. She linked arms with her and lead her to the other side of the yacht. Charlie and I locked gazes for barely a second, but within that time I could see the conflicted emotions in her eyes.
Adrian walked back over to me, and his face was solemn when he said, "Whatever little ideas you've been getting in your head about that girl over there – I suggest you lose them." He leaned his back against the railing and let out a heavy breath before adding, "Girls like that, aren't good for guys like us. Take my advice here, Chris – if you keep pursuing her, you'll destroy her. If you care about her at all, you'll let her go."
I grimaced but slowly nodded my head. I knew he was right, I might hate it but if there was anyone in the world I didn't want to hurt – it was Charlie. She deserved better than me. Kale, Karla and Adrian were my family and even they thought that cute, little nerd was too good for me.
"Alright! Enough of this seriousness, I feel like we've fallen into a bad re-enactment of one of those shitty soap operas my mom watches," Nate said with far too much enthusiasm. He was holding a Champaign bottle in his hand, and started to shake it wildly. "Let's get this party started!" He popped the cork and Champaign exploded out of the bottle. He aimed the spraying liquid toward the six college girls who came with us – they jumped up and started screaming with glee.
Nate took a swig out of the bottle, tossed it to Kale and ran toward the girls. He grabbed some red-head and jumped into the pool with her in his arms. The other guys who came with us followed Nate's example by grabbing the girls and jumping into the pool.
Everyone was laughing and splashing each other, but I just wasn't up for partying anymore. I plucked the Champaign bottle out of Kale's hands and climbed the latter to the top sundeck of the Yacht.
I was still sitting up on the top deck a couple hours later. I liked it up there because it was a smaller, private space, but I was still able to look down at everyone hanging out on the main deck. They all looked like they were having a good time. Hell, even Charlie and Karla finally joined them and were enjoying themselves.
Charlie was talking to the red-headed chick Nate was hitting on earlier, and they were actually laughing. The red-head was drinking a glass of wine, but Charlie didn't so much as take a sip of any alcohol all evening. Karla, much to my dismay, was chatting it up with one of Kale's little cronies. I think his name was Tim, or Jim – maybe Bill. Normally, I'd kill him, but Kale didn't seem too worried, so I figured there wasn't anything to be concerned with. I was a little overprotective, but Kale was another story all together.
"There you are, Christian."
I turned around to find Sarah climbing onto the deck with me. She was wearing a mini skirt and a black bikini top. The flare of the skirt illuminated her hour-glass shaped body, and her blonde hair was wet and dripping water down her lightly tanned skin.
"I've been looking all over for you," she said seductively and stepped closer to me. She reached behind her back and pulled the strings of her bikini top causing it to fall to the ground. "Would you like some company?"
Sarah was a sexy little minx, but even while I sat there staring at her plump, round breasts, my thoughts kept drifting back to Charlie.
"No, Sarah – I just want to be alone."
She raised her eyebrow and puckered her lips. "You're serious, aren't you?" She reached down for her bikini top and quickly tied it back on.
I turned away from her and said, "I'm just not in the mood."
"Since when is Christian Steele not in the mood for a good fucking?" The annoyance was evident in her voice. "You know what? Fine, but I am so done with you. You've been ignoring me for over a week now, and a girl has needs. If you aren't going to be my booty-call anymore, then I'm going to find a new one."
I could tell she was expecting me to apology and tell her I still wanted her, but I didn't say anything. A couple seconds passed and I heard her groan irritably and then head back down the latter.
I looked toward the main deck and I didn't even realize I was looking for Charlie until I couldn't find her. The red-head was sitting with Nate again and Karla was still talking to Tim-Jim-Bill. Kale and Adrian were in the pool with three other girls, there was a guy passed out in a chair, and another guy talking to a brunette in the Jacuzzi. That meant the only people missing were Charlie, Sarah and another guy.
I quickly stood up and then I saw Sarah walk onto the main deck and grab a glass of wine. That meant only Charlie and the other guy were missing. I felt my body tense up and I was overcome with the need to go find them.
I knew they weren't at the bow of the yacht because that was where the main deck was. After I got to the bottom of the latter, I turned left and headed toward the stern of the boat. I froze when I saw them sitting there with their feet resting on the swimstep. Charlie laughed at something the guy said and I felt a pang of bitterness shoot through me. The feeling was so strange to me that it took a couple seconds for me to realize it was jealousy.
I've never been jealous of anyone in my entire life, but right now I was jealous of that dude, and it made me hate him.
I stiffened when I saw the guy reach his hand toward Charlie, and he ran his fingers through her hair. I saw red – or maybe it was green. Either way, I crossed the space between us within seconds, grabbed the guy by the collar of his shirt and tossed him into the lake.
Charlie jumped up to her feet, and her large brown eyes widened. "Are you crazy?! Why'd you do that?"
"Because, he – well, he-" Why did I just do that? "He ... touched you," I finished lamely.
She stared at me like I completely lost my mind, and truthfully, I think I might have. The guy was pulling himself up onto swimstep, but he didn't look angry at me, he looked scared.
"He didn't touch me," she said while adding extra emphasis on the word touch. "He took a fluff out of my hair!"
I clicked my tongue on the roof of my mouth. Well, didn't I feel like an idiot.
The guy scurried off before I had the chance to apology, not that I actually wanted to say sorry to him, but I probably should of. I looked back down at Charlie and was taken aback by the way she was glaring at me. Maybe I did go a little too far, but it wasn't like I meant to.
"And even if he did touch me, why would it matter to you?" She pushed her large, black framed glasses up her nose and then added, "Why do you care if anyone talks to me, or what your cousin says about me – why do you care at all?"
"Because, I ... I ..." I didn't know what to say, or more precisely, I didn't know how to say it, so instead I grabbed her and kissed her.
Her lips were soft, and tasted like cherries. I could feel warmth spread through my body, I realized at that moment that I would give up everything to keep her in my arms forever. I didn't want Sarah, or Amber or any other girl – I wanted her.
But then she pulled away and slapped me across the face.
When she turned around to leave, I said, "I did it because I don't want anyone to hurt you."
"If you're so worried about my wellbeing, then maybe you should listen to your family, because if anyone's going to hurt me, Christian – it's going to be you." And then she left.
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Note: wow! 100 votes in just over a day, you guys are incrediblyamazing. Thank you all so much for the votes and comments!
Once again it appears Charlie is showing Christian who is boss! Lol! What do you guys think is going to happen with these two? What do you want to happen??