Heat

by Elizabeth Caroline

  I looked down at the card wondering if I should keep it or throw it away. Of course I would never go to meet up with him, Charles would never allow that, but instead of throwing it away I put it into my Jacket pocket. Just in case, I told myself.

  CHAPTER 9

  Everyone was already sitting at the dining table when I arrived home. Veronica had put together a huge lasagne with vegetables.

  “You took your time getting home. I was beginning to think Solomon had kidnapped you.” Charles said raising his eyebrow slightly.

  “I don't think he could even if he wanted to.” I said stifling a laugh as the image came to my mind.

  After quickly washing my hands I sat down at the table to serve myself some food. Lasagne was becoming my favourite meal but today I didn't have much of an appetite so I cut a small piece and put it on my plate. “I went into town to get my school things and then I just kind of went for a walk.” I said, watching Charles to run a quick diagnostic of his mood.

  “So how did you like the school?” Veronica asked.

  “It was okay, the students seemed quite friendly.”

  “I'm sure you'll make friends quickly, you've already met Emily.”

  “Yeh she's nice. Seems a bit young, but nice I guess.” I said. I still wasn't too sure if I really wanted to make friends, especially the squeaking schoolgirl type that Emily appeared to be.

  “You're not used to hanging around with kids your age, are you?”

  “Not really, but I'm sure it will be an experience.” I said flatly, not completely committed to the conversation. Anxiety was already bubbling in my stomach in anticipation of the conversation I was planning to have with Charles about Marcus, I looked over at him again, he was slowly chewing on his food and seemed to be concentrating on something other than the conversation Veronica and I were having.

  “Looks like you and Solomon got on, he's quite a mature boy.” Rachael said smiling mischievously.

  “Actually, I find him a little strange.” I said, contorting my face a slightly.

  “How?” Rachael asked. “Well. Firstly, he smiles way too much. I'm always feeling as though I've missed some kind of punchline. Secondly, he just stares at me as though … I don't know. I can't explain it, he's just strange.”

  Veronica and Rachael both giggled.

  “Boys always act strange around pretty girls, Darling.” Veronica said. “He's a good boy, I'm sure he doesn't mean anything by it.”

  Quite by surprise I let out a small laugh myself, I had gathered that his behaviour was probably due to some strange dynamics of a boy meeting a new girl, but the thought of him finding me pretty had never crossed my mind. "I'm sure it was more to do with curiosity!" I said firmly.

  Rachael and Veronica both laughed.

  I glanced back at Charles who seemed slightly more engaged in our conversation than before, no doubt due to the mention of Solomon.

  “Umm, I met someone while I was shopping earlier.” I said slowly, deciding now was as good a time as ever to mention it. “Marcus.” The word came out as innocently as possible but I found myself catch my breath as Charles' eyes darted towards me with a stern reprimand in them.

  “What did he want?” he asked, his voice came out cold and grainy and not like Charles' voice at all.

  “He just wanted to know how I found you.”

  “What did you say?”

  I went over the meeting quickly in my mind but somehow most of the conversation seemed a blur, the most I could remember was how awkward he made me feel. “I said it was a long story or something like that.”

  “Did he say anything else?” Charles said prodding his lasagne with his fork as he spoke.

  “Something about him and my Mom.”

  “Ha, he wishes.” Rachael snapped, “Denise couldn't stand him.”

  Charles looked at Rachael through the corner of his eye, then he rested his forehead on his hand. “When is he going to stop?” He said shaking his head, then he looked up at me from behind his hand, “I don't know why he approached you today, but he's trouble. If you see him again, don't approach him and avoid talking with him. About anything.” The last two words left his mouth as a clear command.

  I searched my plate, hoping to find a way to bring up the questions I wanted to ask. I hadn't mentioned anything about his invitation yet, but now probably wasn't the best time to mention it considering what was just said. Unfortunately, I still hadn't decided that I wasn't going to take him up on his offer.

  “Maybe he's changed, Dad. He didn't seem so bad.” I said trying to calm him down a bit.

  “He has changed, he gets worse every year. He thinks of no one but himself and will use anyone to get what he wants.”

  The corners of my lips turned upwards involuntarily as I remembered the way it felt when he looked into my eyes. Charles was probably right, at least he didn't feel like someone you could be safe around, but in all honesty I couldn't help finding his mysterious aura appealing. Suddenly Charles caught my gaze and narrowed his eyes at me, “What's wrong? What else did he say?”

  “Nothing.” I lied. Charles stared at me for a while before putting his fork down next to his plate.

  “I need to go out for a minute.” He said getting up from his chair.

  “Charles, you're not going to visit Marcus are you?” Rachael said grabbing hold of his wrist.

  “I'll be back soon,” he said pulling away from her and then he walked out of the door.

  “Charles.” Rachael shouted jumping up from her chair and running out the door after him.

  I looked over at Veronica who had her hands clasped together and her head bowed over them as if she was saying a quiet prayer.

  “What's he going to do?” I asked.

  “I really don't know sweetheart, but I think you just irritated a wound that hasn't quite healed yet.” She said looking up at me.

  Rachael came back into the house and slammed the door behind her. “He's gone!” she said.

  “Where did he go?” I asked.

  “I don't know. I just hope he didn't go to see Marcus”

  “I'm really sorry, I didn't think he would get so upset.”

  “It's okay, you couldn't have known. There's a lot of history between those two.” Veronica said.

  “Why? What happened?” I asked.

  Veronica sighed softly “Well, they'd been best friends since kindergarten, but for some reason after they graduated Marcus turned against him.” She looked down sadly and dropped her head back onto her hands.

  “He claimed it was something to do with your mother,” Rachael began, “but there was never anything between the two of them. I think he invented some kind of love affair in his mind and then convinced himself that Charles had stolen her. After Charles and Denise got engaged he got worse. So when Denise disappeared Charles thought he had something to do with it for a while. Things were really heated between the two of them and they had a very serious fight.” she stopped for a few seconds and looked over to Veronica. Veronica, who was peering over her hands, nodded slightly and then Rachael continued, “Charles could have killed him if it wasn't for Mr Williams, but Marcus was hospitalised for a while, he had some very mysterious burns as well as other injuries. By the time he came out of hospital Charles had somewhat accepted Denise's disappearance and calmed down a lot, he did try to make things up with Marcus, but it didn't work and he's pursued a personal vendetta against him for years.”

  “Wow.” I gasped, I knew Charles went through a hard time after my mother disappeared but this was the first time I had heard any exact details. “Does he know how he got the burns?”

  “That's the strange part. We're quite sure he knows how it happened, yet he's never said anything about it.”

  “Do you think they'll fight again?”

  “I don't know, but Charles is a lot more controlled than he was back then.” Rachael said tapping her fingers on the table. “I'm going to go upstairs until he comes back.” She said and then she got up and lef
t the room.

  Shortly after Rachael left I made my way up to my own room and lay down on the bed. More controlled? I thought going over what Rachael had said in the kitchen. Charles was the most controlled person I had met, I couldn't imagine him being 'less controlled'. And what did she mean by more controlled anyway? As far as I understood Charles had never had problems controlling his abilities. So what did he have trouble controlling?

  I lay on my bed turning from side to side, not sure whether or not to be worried about Charles storming out of the house the way he did. Rachael had acted very calm after he left although I could see she was very worried, but I had never seen anything from Charles that suggested he was someone who got himself into trouble.

  Marcus however was the opposite, his dark eyes still burning in my memory. Eyes that made you feel as if you were peering straight into his soul, and a soul with an intense darkness about it. Eyes that were so similar to the eyes of the warrior in my dreams. And despite Charles warning, the feelings that he stirred in me made me wish that he was still a part of Charles life so I could have gotten to know him better.

  He's also the type of person who possibly had something to do with my mother’s disappearance, I reprimanded myself as I peered at my reflection in the dresser mirror. How can two best friends grow up to be so different? I thought. Charles has never inspired anything but good in me.

  I looked around the room hoping to see something that could distract my thoughts from Marcus and calm the eruption of nerves that was spreading through my stomach. I was all too accustomed to that dark feeling that filled me from time to time, but Marcus had opened a door I thought Charles had closed for good. Maybe I'll never lose that darkness. I sighed, "But I owe it to Charles to at least try!" I said jumping up from the bed and running to search my jacket pocket.

  Marcus Matthews. It read;

  The Lilac Lounge,

  27 Westbourne Avenue,

  Knightsbridge.

  Without thinking my idea through, I opened the window and jumped out.

  I was already acquainted with Knightsbridge so it didn’t take me long to find the Lilac lounge. It was a modern 3 storey building with thick, black glass on the upper levels. The entrance to the building appeared to be on the 1st floor and there was a long metal staircase which lead down to the pavement where two doormen stood. The doormen seemed to be preoccupied with the small but steady flow of high class party goers who were waiting to go in, but just as I was planning to sneak past the doormen somehow and make my way up the stairs, I noticed another doorman standing slightly inside the doorway.

  Deciding against sneaking up the stairs I checked over my appearance in a nearby shop window, but even if I didn’t look too young, I wasn’t dressed in the right attire to enter such a venue. So instead of waiting in the queue I walked past slowly, trying to look for a way I could sneak in without being seen. I could see down an alley that lead to the back of the building, but although there was a fire ladder running down the back of the building, all the windows were blacked out.

  “Claudia?” A voice called from the street as I turned to walk down the alley. I spun around to see Charles standing in front of me. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  I wasn't too sure of the answer myself, except that it involved getting Marcus out of my and Charles' lives.

  “We were worried about you." I decided was the best answer. "I had to see if you were okay.”

  “But how did you know I’d be here?” he asked gesturing towards the nightclub.

  Oh! "I didn't," I started pushing my hand deep into my pocket to ensure the card was secure. “I was just looking around and I saw a crowd so I came over.”

  “Oh.” He said, nodding as if he was agreeing.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  Charles turned back to the club and glanced over the people standing outside and then took hold of my hand. “Nothing, we should go.” He said leading me down the street. The warmth radiating from his hand sent shivers through me, Charles having the ability to control heat was no surprise to me, but he was normally so in control of his ability that I could never notice it. I leaned forward trying to catch a glimpse of his face, but his face held his usual expression of calmness, except there was a depth of sadness in his eyes tonight that I'd only seen a few times before.

  “Did you go to see Marcus?” I asked. Charles shot me a side wards glance and kept walking.

  “Dad?” I pleaded, tugging at his arm trying to pull him to a stop.

  “It doesn’t matter.” Charles answered. “Just stay away from him, okay?”

  Realising that was about as much information as I was going to get on the subject, I let out a long sigh “Sure.” I answered.

  We continued walking at a brisk pace until Charles eventually slowed down and turned to me with a smile. “Since we’re already out, how about we do something?” it was the type of smile he did when he wanted to make something up to someone, although I wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to have done.

  “Like what?” I asked smiling back.

  “I don’t know. What would you like to do?”

  “Well,” I said after a few seconds, “You did say we could go to Paris one day.”

  Charles laughed “Right, so tonight’s the best time for that?” he said.

  “It’s as good as any, isn’t it?”

  “You do remember you’re starting school tomorrow?” He asked using his teacher voice.

  “Yes, but then this is the perfect time. You see once I start school, I’ll have homework and studies and we might never get to go.”

  “I’m sure you’ll find the work easy enough.”

  “Please.” I said fluttering my eyelids.

  “Ok.” Charles laughed, “I just need to call Rachael, she’s probably worried.”

  “Yep, you’ve got that right.” I said.

  Charles took out his mobile and rang Rachael to explain he was fine and that we were together and were going to be out for a few hours more. After he had finished calming her down, without giving her any details of exactly what he had been doing, he put his phone away and turned back to me.

  “You do know the way don’t you?” he asked.

  “Sure.”

  “Good, cos I don’t want you getting lost or anything. I’d hate to spend the evening in Paris alone.” He joked.

  “As if.” I laughed, “I should be more worried about leaving you behind.” And with that I jumped up and took to the sky.

  “That’s cheating.” Charles said following quickly behind me. We raced and chased each other through the skies until we reached Paris and then we spent most of our time there walking the same streets I had walked on my last visit. Charles held my hand as we walked and gave me more animated and elaborate stories of his childhood than he had before.

  It wasn't often that I got to see his jokey, playful side as he mostly kept a calm and collected persona, and as we walked hand in hand I found myself thinking again about how things would have been if my mother was still alive.

  “I really should apologise Claudia.” He said as we sat by the river Seine eating chestnuts, “I guess I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be young.”

  “Why do you say that?” I asked wondering what his sudden revelation was due to.

  “I don’t know. I probably should have come here with you ages ago.”

  “It doesn’t matter, we’re here now.”

  “I hate Marcus, you know? But we used to have fun when we were your age.” Charles said throwing a pebble into the river. “And he said something tonight that made me think.”

  “What did he say?” I asked, surprised that he had mentioned Marcus at all since a few hours ago he wouldn’t even admit he had gone to see him.

  Charles just shook his head and threw another stone towards the river. “I just don’t want you to get bored with life, bored teenagers do silly things. You know you can always talk to me if you ever want to, don’t you?”

 
I nodded slowly, still curious about what they had talked about but knowing better than to ask again.

  “This is nice,” he said gazing along the river, “we should do it more often.”

  “Really?” I chirped happily, “I'd love that.”

  Charles gazed at me for a few seconds then laughed quietly to himself. “Sometimes you really remind me of your mother.” he said thoughtfully.

  “Yeh?” I asked, not sure how I could be anything similar to someone I had never met.

  “Hmm,” he groaned softly, “when you're happy. You have the same smile.” He straightened himself up and looked back at the river brushing off his hands. “You don't smile often though.”

  “Don't I?” I asked. I suppose compared to Charles and Solomon and some of the other people I had seen in Westpoint I really didn't smile much at all, but prior to arriving at Westpoint I'd thought I’d had the perfect balance.

  “No,” he said still in mid thought, “You're normally quite sullen, even angry maybe. I don't think I ever saw Denise angry.”

  “Wow.” I said, “I must admit I feel a tinge of jealousy for a woman who never had cause to feel angry, even if it was my mother. She must have been amazing if she was happy all the time.”

  “She was.” he said abruptly, then he looked back to me and sighed. “I'm sure you will be too Claudia.”

  “Happy or amazing?”

  “Both.” he said as he moved closer and put his arm over my shoulder. “I'm sure you'll be driving me crazy soon with the giggling and daydreaming that most teenage girls do.” he laughed again to himself and then, after pulling me in even closer so I could rest my head on his shoulder, he sighed deeply and gazed back down the river.