I couldn't stop thinking about my actions as I drove her across town to my apartment. She walked up the stairs to my place with the terrified look of a caged animal. I was defying every rule. I was supposed to do a job: get her to a safe place and arrest the guy who wanted her dead.None of that was enough.
She stood at the top of my stairs with her wide, green eyes, completely disarming me. Innocence and vulnerability. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I couldn't drop her off somewhere. I knew getting in the car with her I was heading her back to my place.
I needed answers.
I needed closure.
I needed just one more day of her.
Then, I’d let her go.
We walked into my apartment and her eyes were taking in everything. I didn’t even remember how we got there. I collapsed into a chair and watched her.
I wanted to ask her a thousand questions. I knew I needed to treat her like a stranger, but I couldn’t. "Why did you lie to me all these years?"
Her eyes closed with what looked like overwhelming anguish, and she took a long, shaky breath.
I continued. "You told me that you werehappy. Married with 2.5 kids and a cat. A damncat. I should have known you were lying; you always hated cats." I got up and walked straight over to her.
She turned her head around to meet my eyes, yet there was no reaction in them. No emotion and no answer.I was going to lose my job. I was going to lose control.I felt the fury build up in my stomach and climb into my chest, threatening to explode. "You're nothing but a liar."
"You're right; I'm a liar. And none of it matters. Get over it. We're nothing to each other now," she said in an even tone.
What the shit?
I stepped back and tried to focus, clear my thoughts. My eyes swept up and down her frame, assessing. Tight rigid back, stiff neck, hands balled at her side. Son-of-a-bitch! I needed to read her body language. She was lying to me. She was an emotional wreck inside. This was killing her, and she was pretending there was no effect.
I stepped closer, feeling my lips curl into a snarl. I wanted the confrontation. I wanted the fight. I wanted to see the real Charlie after all these years. My heart pounded hard in my chest.
I saw the moment she realized I knew she was lying. She was watching me, eyes wide, breathing hard, slowly backing away from me and hitting her back against the edge of my counter. It was my words that sent her reeling, no matter how much she tried to lie to me. "You were my world, Charlie. Losing you killed me."Push her. Make her break. My chest was ready to explode. "But all along you were nothing more than where you came from. You took right after your parents, didn't you? Just like your mother, who'd fuck anything for a good time. And just like your father, abandoning anything that was ever good in your life."
"Guess you're right," she said stoically. Yet, I could see the whites of her eyes reddening from holding back tears, desperately trying to look anywhere but on me.
I stepped closer—so close I could feel the heaviness of her breathing and the heat of the anger she was holding in. Her eyes, frantic now, lifted and met mine. Quickly, I lifted my hand and watched her flinch curiously as I reached to open the cabinet above her head. With a hard yank, I pulled open the handle and grabbed the first bottle of liquor my hand touched. As I twisted off the cap and took a few long pulls from the bottle, I watched as her entire body trembled next to me.
Wiping my lips with the back of my hand, I offered her the bottle and smiled, "Want to have a good time now?"
"I should leave," she whispered, tears welling in her eyes.
"Yeah? Why? Am I making you uncomfortable?" I said, leaning down and sliding my nose along the base of her jaw into her hair.
Her body shuddered violently. "Youtold me you’d never leave me."
There she was. Get mad Charlie. Fight with me. Tell me why you lied.
"Whatever, right? We mean nothing to each other now," I sneered.
"You told me you’d come back for me," she whispered. "I was long gone by the time you emailed me.
"You got that first email didn’t you? You read it, and you chose whatever else over me," I said quietly.
"I chose nothing over you," she hissed.
"What the Hell are you doing with someone like Bren? You have nothing in common; you’re like oil and stupid," I snapped.
"I worked for his mother at the tattoo parlor. She left me everything in her will. Before she died six months ago, she made me promise to take care of Bren and the shop."
"When did you work for her? You left me Charlie. When I came back for you, you were already gone. You left me," I said harshly.
