Blood red love by Dripping Creativity

20 

“Yes, Huxton,” Charlie answered her phone as she walked to the kitchen counter and put down her food. 

“Please tell me James has become delirious, and he didn’t witness what he told me he saw,” her brother said. 

“I’m guessing James told you I kissed my boss,” she said in a calm voice. 

“Your boss, a maffia gangster, someone highly inappropriate,” Huxton rambled. 

“Calm down, honey,” Tyson said in the background. 

“Calm down? My sister is being violated,” Huxton told his husband. 

“Huxton!” Charlie exclaimed. “Now you listen to me, brother. I will give you room to play the protective older brother, because I love you. But there is a line, and you are walking it. You’re a lawyer. You understand the tactics of omitting facts that will damage your version of events,” she told him. “Did James tell you why he was here? That he refused to let me go into my apartment and he forced a kiss on me. It was Vidar who pulled him off me.” 

“And then forced you to kiss him instead?” her brother asked. 

“No. He asked. He gave me a choice. Then he made sure James went away and made sure I got into my apartment safe. I even invited him in and he turned me down. Not exactly the s**ual predator James painted him,” she told him. She was angry, and it came through clearly. There was a long pause. 

“I’m sorry. I should have asked you what happened. Are you okay?” her brother finally asked. 

“You should have. I’m fine, a little hangry, but fine,” she said. 

“Good. Do I need to make sure James leaves you alone?” 

“Maybe just talk to him. He seems determined for us to become a couple. He needs to know it won’t happen. Maybe we can become friends again, but anything else is gone.” 

“I will tell him, make sure he understands.” There was a pause. “Dad wanted me to tell you he misses you.” Charlie sighed. 

“Okay, thank you.” 

“He wanted me to ask you to call him,” her brother said. His voice had gone soft, and he hesitated. Charlie didn’t blame him for giving in to their father’s request. He was his father and even though she knew Huxton would always be there for her, he loved his father and he wanted to think he had changed. Charlie didn’t have any such delusions. She had learned 

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the hard way that her father didn’t change. 

“I won’t, but at least you have asked me,” she told him. 

“Right. Are you sure you’re okay? I can come and get you,” he offered. 

“It’s sweet of you, but I’m fine,” she insisted and found it was the truth. Besides feeling annoyed over her food probably had gone cold, she felt relaxed and safe. 

“Okay. Ty wants to talk to you,” Huxton said. “I love you, little sister.” 

“I love you too,” she told him and a moment later she heard Tyson taking the phone. 

“So, Charlie. Kissing your boss? Tell me everything, how was it?” Tyson asked, sounding excited. It put the smile back on Charlie’s face as she remembered the kiss. She started taking out a plate. 

“I think you are on to something when you said forbidden relationships are hot. That was one heck of a good kiss,” she told him. 

“Oh, you deserve some good smooching. Toe curling good?” 

“World fading good,” Charlie said with a sigh. 

“Oh darling, that is another league. Then we aren’t talking about a lusty forbidden fling anymore,” he said. He sounded serious. 

“We’re not?” she asked. 

“No, Charlie. Kisses like that only come with feelings,” he told her. 

“Feelings?” 

“Be honest, little sister. Do you just see it as a fling?” he asked. Charlie paused and thought about it. Probably not, the irritation when he ignored her, the obsession with knowing what he was doing when they were close to each other, the way her body reacted when he got close to her. 

“Maybe not,” she admitted. 

“Be careful, Charlie. We can’t always control our heart, but we can control what we do. I don’t need to tell you what people can do when you give them your heart. Make sure the person you surrender it to will be worthy of it. Because you have an amazing heart, and it will demand a very special man to harbour and protect it.” 

“Tyson,” Charlie said, a tear running down her cheek. “You are far too good for my brother,” she told him. She heard him chuckle. 

“He is the love of my life. I’m stuck with him.” 

“Damned sure you are.” Huxton called in the background. 

“How did it go with Rose?” Charlie asked, to change the subject. 

“Oh, fine, fine. She insisted on giving the twins her homemade baby food. I mean, it’s nice and all, but it tastes horrible and when they don’t eat, she complains and tells us we are raising ungrateful children,” he huffed. 

“Don’t listen to her, you know Liam and Aiden are well behaved for one year olds and I don’t blame them. I wouldn’t eat that food either,” Charlie comforted him. 

“I know. I shouldn’t let it get to me.” 

“It’s okay. She’s good at it. Just ignore it and focus on your family,” she said. They talked a little more, but then said good night and hung up. Charlie was starving and scooped up most of the food on the plate and put it in the microwave for a couple of minutes before gulping down on crispy duck. Her stomach and mood thanked her afterward. She crawled into bed with a book. But she didn’t see the words on the page, she was occupied by thoughts of Vidar. He sent her a message to check up on her. It was a new side of him, another thing she liked about him. Even though they had kissed and how sweet he had been, Charlie didn’t know where it left them. Was it just a one–time thing? Would he ask her out? Did people like him even date? She really didn’t know anything about him. The questions kept coming as she turned off the light. But the last thing on her mind before drifting off to sleep was the memory of the kiss. 

Monday and Tuesday came and went. Charlie was back to working at “The red lady‘. It was like she had never been away. The only difference was the new regular customer that had begun to show up. He was a quiet man who came in, took the corner table in Charlie’s section and sat there, watching her and drinking coke. The other waitresses teased her and told her she had got an admirer, Robert had asked if she felt uneasy and had offered to throw the man out. Perhaps she should have felt uneasy with his constant attention. But somehow she didn’t. She had turned Robert’s offer down and instead she had made sure the man had a full glass of coke at all times. He never spoke to her except for ordering or saying thank you when she brought him his drink or food. 

Wednesday evening seemed to follow the same easy going pattern. Charlie had walked to the kitchen to get the food for one of her tables when she heard her name being called. She recognised the voice and met Lilly’s eyes as she heard her father calling out her name again. 

“Stay here. I’ll go and see what he wants,” Lilly told her. 

“No, he will just make a bigger scene,” Charlie said, shaking her head. 

“I will go,” Leo offered. Both women looked at him with a smile. 

“That’s sweet, Leo. But I got this,” Charlie insisted. As her father called out her name yet again, Charlie walked out of the kitchen. In the bar Jenni stood facing her father, telling him to calm down or get thrown out. 

“I am not leaving until I talk to my daughter,” he insisted. 

“I’m here,” Charlie told him and her father’s focus shifted from Jenni to her. 

“Charlie,” he said, a smile appeared on his face. 

“I’m at work. You need to leave,” she told him. 

“No. You refuse my calls and all other means I try to communicate with you. It’s time for you to listen to what I have to say,” he insisted. 

“Fine, sit down and I will get you something to cat. I get off work in three hours. We can talk then,” Charlie said. 

“And give you a chance to slip away? Not going to happen, young lady.” 

“Dad, please,” she said in a low voice, glancing around the bar. 

“We are talking about this. Now!” he shouted and took a step towards her. Charlie backed away out of instinct and, to her utter surprise, the new guy had stepped between her and her father. 

“Please do as miss Maynard asked and step away,” the man said. 

“Who are you to tell me what to do with my own daughter?” her father asked in an angry voice. He tried to puff up his chest and look intimidating. The effect was not what he hoped for. Her father may have been a tall man, but next to the good Samaritan, he looked tiny and weak. Charlie’s anxiety continued to spike. She wasn’t afraid of her father, not when she had a mountain of a man standing in front of her. But this was getting out of hand. This was her workplace, and they 

were causing a scene. Would she even have a job after this? 

“I would listen to Caine. He tends to get his way.”