Part of me told myself it was normal; I was hurting, lonely, desperate to wipe the memories of my last relationship from my memory, and that’s why I gravitated towards Charlie. But the other part of me—the part that sent a rush of arousal between my legs when his body pressed against mine or made me wonder what it would be like to feel those giant hands on my skin or remembered how his kiss dominated me—that part had very different ideas about what was happening and what it wanted to happen with him.
I stepped into the house, noticing how thick the air felt, and I wasn’t sure if it was the storm closing in or if something had happened. As soon as I saw Charlie, I knew it was the latter.
“Fuck, where have you been?” A bare chested, disheveled looking Charlie stepped toward me. “I’ve been worried sick. You just vanished, for fuck’s sake,” he yelled as he got closer. I froze, my body shaking, tears instantly filling my eyes. Charlie noticed my fear before I realized what I was feeling. Holding his hands up in surrender, his face softened.
“Shit, Princess, I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just so worried. Where have you been?”
“Run,” I mumbled.
“You should have left a note or taken your phone. God, Jarrid is out there looking for you. Give me a second.” Lifting the landline, he spoke to whoever answered, telling them I was fine. By the time he hung up, I was sobbing uncontrollably, my calm mood having left me completely.
“Hey, hey, hey,” he murmured. “You’re okay. Sorry for shouting. If I scared you.” He cupped my unbruised cheek, wiping my tears away with his thumb. “You weren’t here. Your phone was but there was no sign of you. I thought… we thought he’d found you, Fern. I was so scared. I thought he was somewhere trying to hurt you.” Pulling me into him, he wrapped his arms around me tightly.
“I’m supposed to be looking after you and I thought I’d failed youagain.I mean, if I’d come with you to the kitchen the other night, he never would have done what he did and then you just vanished and I thought…” I felt Charlie’s soft lips against my temple as his touch soothed my emotions. “But I shouldn’t have yelled or stormed at you like I did. I would never hurt you, Princess. Not ever.”
“I know,” I hiccuped. “You’re one of the good ones.”
He chuckled against my skin. “Not sure I’ve ever been called good, but I’ll take it just this once.”
“I just needed to move,” I explained. “To get out of my own head for a bit. I feel like he’s haunting me.”
“He’s not getting near you again. We’ll see to that. Even when you’re back in London, Neo isn’t going to let that happen.”
I sighed. “He’s under my skin. It’s not just the bruises and what he said. It’s more than that.” Shaking my head, I tried to step back, but Charlie wasn’t letting me move. Tilting my head up to look at him, his brown eyes darkened as he stared down at me.
“Don’t let him win. Don’t let him take anything else from you.”
We stood in the silence of the cottage, the only noise was from the wind blowing in from the sea. Charlie dipped his head slightly and my lips parted. I waited. Waited for his kiss. Waited for him to use his mouth to ease my pain. Waited for him to silence the thoughts in my head, but instead, he pressed another kiss to my temple.
“I’m glad you’re safe. Go change before you freeze. I’ll make you a coffee.”
And with that, he was gone.
Chapter 14
Charlie
I wasn’t in the bath for long, mainly because it was like washing in a thimble when you’re a giant. Ridiculous. But when I got out, Fern was nowhere to be found. Pulling on some joggers, not even bothering with underwear, I searched outside and at the top of the lighthouse, but still nothing. For about fifteen minutes, I tried not to panic, but then I noticed her phone on the bed and all I could do was panic.
I called Jarrid, who told me no one had come close to the house, but it didn’t stop my worry. After an hour, I was frantic. When it got to ninety minutes, I demanded someone go search for her, wondering if she’d had an accident.
When she walked back into the house, I lost it. I knew I shouldn’t have shouted. My fear turned into anger, but whenher face fell and her lip wobbled, I knew I’d gone too far. I held her selfishly, wanting to feel she was okay while curbing my own emotions, but in that moment, kissing her was all I could think about. I managed to walk away, knowing that making out with me wasn’t what she needed, and distracted myself by making lunch while she took a bath.
And now she was in front of me, dressed in only the towel wrapped around her as she walked out of the bathroom and I walked out of the bedroom.
“Sorry,” I whispered, not wanting to make her feel scared or unsafe again. “I just needed my phone charger.”
She looked down at the floor, not saying anything, as I moved around her back to the safety of the kitchen. I heard her shut the door, and I located the socket, plugging my phone in to charge. The cottage was old and drafty and the ever increasing wind made the windows rattle. As I turned, the bedroom door opened slowly, giving me a view of the back of Fern.
Fuck.He hair was wrapped up on top of her head in a messy bun, showing off the elegant curve of her neck. I followed it down over her shoulders to her hips, her pert ass, and her long, toned thighs. But that’s when I gasped. Across her lower back was a large yellow and green bruise that seemed to stretch to her hip, and then darker bruises shaded the back of her thighs.
The idea of that fucker’s hands on her made my blood boil and the thought that he was the only person to have ever touched her made my heart hurt for her, but she deserved better than me. She deserved a good guy, and that definitely wasn’t me. I was anything but. But despite knowing I was no good for her, it didn’t stop my reaction to seeing her body.
I watched her rub lotion over her legs and arms before pulling on some yoga pants and a hoodie; her lack of underwear making my already hard cock weep. Feeling like a creep, I turned myattention back to lunch, pulling salad and chicken from the fridge to make sandwiches.
“Did you mention coffee earlier?” she asked. I turned to answer, but seeing her stole my voice. Her hair was down now, the silver glowing like a halo around her face, and she had her glasses on, making her look sexy as hell.
“Yeap, go take a seat and I will bring it in.”
