"Deal." I called out to him as I chased after Bren and his gang.
I caught up to them outside the entrance. Bren nodded to me and asked, "Where's your boy?"
"He met a piece of ass earlier and he's getting her number before he leaves. He'll be out in a minute."
"No worries. We're going to take a cab to my place. I don't drink and drive. Always gotta obey the laws," he winked and started talking to one of his friends. I think his name was Jett.
Sagewas standing against the wall with the strange haired girl, so I slid up next to her and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. I don't usually smoke while I work, but right then my nerves needed something. I pulled one out and offered one to her. "Wanna smoke?"
"I don't smoke," she whispered.
"When did you stop smoking?"
"When I realized the cigarette does all of the smoking and you’re just the sucker." She pulled herself off the wall and looked up at the sky. "I really think you have me confused with someone else. I'm sorry for whatever heartbreak you had. But, I'm not the girl you think I am." She walked a few steps away, keeping me at a distance.
Suddenly, Carter was next to me with his arm around my shoulder, whispering in my ear, "She worth it?"
I just stared at her and nodded like an idiot, but answered, "Probably not since she's proved to be nothing but a messed up liar. But, I just need answers."
Bren hailed three taxis and walked up next to Sage. "You're coming, right?"
"I think Violet and I are going to head back. I'm really tired."
"Bull-fucking-shit! You ain't tired. You're either going to text your secret little prince charming or you're going to go home alone and read. What the fuck are you reading now?The Great Gatsby? I'll just buy you the stupid movie."
“The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly,” I remarked.
Bren just looked at me and stared—dumbfounded. I shrugged. “One of my best friends growing up got me hooked on reading and I never gave it up.”
“Oookay,” Bren turned around, shaking his head.
"Come on, bro." I laughed at him. "You gotta love a girl who reads…one of those girls that wakes you up at two a.m. clutching her books to her chest in tears."
"Bro, how many pills did you pop?"
I laughed and leveled my gaze back on Charlie's. "Nah, not the pills talking. I just love a chick who reads. They see things that other people don’t." I gave her a smirk and a wink. "They can find magic in words and bring life into the mundane everyday things with their imagination. I'd just let her wake me up and give her a hug, pull her close. I’d let her tell me about the scene in the book that made her cry." I shrugged my shoulders and continued, "Then, to comfort her, I’d kiss the fucking hell out of her lips, make her want to read a book that I was the main character in. Be a man worth immortalizing with words."
Bren laughed out loud. "Yeah, you could be best friends with the nerd." He pointed to Charlie. "She used to be a lot more fun, though."
Two of the taxis were filled and left, leaving Violet, Sage, Bren, Carter, and me on the sidewalk. "Let's go, you fucking booknerds," Bren called out, climbing into the last taxi.
Carter slid in the front seat of the taxi, and the girls quietly followed Bren. I sat squashed between the hard stickiness of the taxi door and the soft heat of Charlie. The ride was silent and quick. We drove across town and then stumbled out onto the sidewalk in front of the building where I usually do business with him.
My eyes never left her as Bren pulled me over to the side and whispered, "That's her. I need her taken care of, bro. Not tonight. Not in front of me. We'll talk business tomorrow." He bumped shoulders with me and smiled maliciously, "Relax and chill with me and my boys. Get your dick a little wet tonight. I always have prime pussy with me—ass too if that's what you need."
I nodded, clenching my teeth.
Bren and his friends led the way through the lobby and into the elevator. Charlie held the door open for Violet. They looked at each other, silently passing secrets between them with their eyes. Carter walked in after Violet and I followed. As I passed, I turned to face her. I slid through the doorway purposely too close to her, gliding my whole body against hers, and she let out a small gasp. I could tell how it affected her by the way her face turned bright red, and she looked like she was having trouble breathing, limbs shaking.
"Hmmm," I hummed in her ear. "Sorry,Charlie."
She shifted closer into me, fists clenched. "I told you, I have no idea who you are," she said through heavy breaths.
I felt the heat from her body against mine. It rolled off her like waves, and I wanted to dive into her ocean. Leaning my face closer to hers, I looked dead in her eyes. I could have stared into them for hours, days, weeks. No, I wanted to stare at them for forever. I wanted to stare at those green pools until the ivory smooth skin around them turned thin and wrinkled with lines from her laughter and not a second less. There was no way to ever describe the depth of green of Charlie's eyes. I'd spent years trying to forget that color, and now they were making me want to slam her against the wall and tell me what the fuck was going on. First, I had to prove she was Charlie.
I slid my hand to cup her neck, "Okay. But I got one word for you, ya know, to prove you're Charlotte Stone."
Wide eyes stared into mine.
