Broken Truth

by Beth Ashworth

  After finding out through Facebook that Xavier was a lying little bastard, Charlie decided she was going to have a little fun with her friend. Pissed off that he left her for not only Monday, but Tuesday and Wednesday as well, she decided a little bout of the silent treatment would suffice.

  On Monday night when she finished work, Charlie switched on her phone to find multiple texts from Amelia who was checking in with her following their conversation earlier that day at lunch. Along with those texts were a few from Lucy and a couple from Xavier. Responding to both of the girls, she chose to then ignore the texts from Xavier.

  When she didn’t respond after a few hours, the phone calls and voicemails started. Sitting alone in bed on Monday night with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s, Charlie wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes as she listened to Xavier’s voicemails.

  “Oi, you bitch! Why aren’t you texting me back? You’d better have a good excuse for blanking me because I won’t always put up with your shit. Call me back or text me.”

  “Right... Well you’ve either lost your phone or you’re purposely blanking me. I haven’t spoken to you in a few days. Why are you being such an ignorant bitch?”

  “Okayyyyy... I’m sorry. I’ve just realised you’ve probably seen my Facebook page, so you know I’m lying, right? I would say it’s not what it looks like, but it clearly is. Call me!!”

  After blanking his voicemails on Monday night, Charlie made sure to lay low over the days that followed. She purposefully deleted every text message and rejected each call he made on Tuesday and Wednesday. She wanted to make sure that bastard knew she was upset with him.

  “Look...” Xavier gripped Charlie’s arm and pulled her away from the window. Normally she would have taken the mannequin arm she held and smacked him around the head with it for the way he just grabbed her. Yet this time, she stood before him her face completely emotionless.

  Clearly the silence was bothering him as she could see his usual cool and carefree persona was completely in tatters today. He just looked flustered and completely not with it.

  “Charlie, please talk to me,” he begged.

  The pleading tone of his voice was enough to break through the hardened shell she had built to store the feelings of forgiveness. She knew that without it locked away she would be too easy on him. She wanted the little shit to suffer for a change and beg for her forgiveness. It was now mission complete in her books.

  “Please...”

  “Oh fine,” Charlie sighed, throwing the mannequin arm to the floor and pulling him into a hug. “I was so pissed at you it was unbelievable. Next time your bit of man candy wants to go into the Gay Village then make sure you are able to get up for work the next day because I will not cover for you again.”

  “You’re talking to me again,” he looked relieved. “I owe you big time, I know that. Next time you need a favour then let me know. I’m all ears for you.”

  “Hmmmmmm,” she said rubbing her hands together. “This could be interesting.”

  Dashing into the master bedroom, Charlie threw her handbag and mobile phone onto the bed. Kicking of her high heels, she pulled at the zipper on her dress as she ran straight for the en-suite. Finally getting the zipper all the way down, she quickly slid the dress over her body before also removing her underwear and thigh high stockings.

  Twisting and securing her hair into a knot on the top of her head, she entered the large steam shower on a mission. With Callum due home in less than an hour, she knew that she should be praying for a miracle. Grabbing her exfoliating glove and shower gel, she let out a frustrated groan.

  For a Friday night she was quite late getting home. Normally finishing every week at five thirty on the dot, she always made sure to book her last appointment with plenty of time in the event that things overran. What she hadn’t anticipated however, was that her boss would delay both her and Xavier by over an hour, especially on a Friday night.

  Closing up the shop at five thirty, Charlie and Xavier were both itching to get out of the door when Imogen pounced and asked for their assistance in picking a gown for a party she was attending.

  An hour and fifteen different gowns later, and Imogen finally felt satisfied. High fiving each other for their joint events, both Charlie and Xavier had quickly grabbed their bags and hurried straight out of the door.

  Standing under the steam of the shower with her eyes closed, Charlie let herself relax for just a moment. She knew that she didn’t have time to hang around under the hot spray, but it just felt too good to leave.

  “Well this should be fun,” Callum chuckled from behind.

  She snapped her eyes open instantly and stumbled a little at the sound of his deep voice sensually reverberating off of the tiled walls of the shower enclosure. Raking her eyes over his naked body, Charlie felt instant relief wash over her as the missing piece to heart connected once again. Even if it was only until Sunday night, she knew that she would cherish each second she had with him this weekend.

  “Careful,” Callum said as he closed the space between them and placed his hands on her shoulders to steady her balance. He flicked his eyes up and down the length of her naked body, lingering unashamedly at the soft swells of her breasts. “I missed you,” he murmured huskily.

  Even standing underneath the hot water of the shower, Charlie couldn’t help the way her nipples began to harden. She was unable to control the reactions of her body around Callum, so she had just learnt to embrace it.

  “Your fucking tits are amazing,” Callum groaned as he stroked his hands down from her shoulders to cup her breasts. He squeezed them firmly in his hands before brushing the tips of his thumbs over her rosy, hardened peaks. Closing her eyes, Charlie bit down on her lower lip. “You like that?” he breathed as he continued to tease and knead her breasts.

  Removing one hand from her chest, Callum firmly gripped the nape of Charlie’s neck and lowered his lips down to hers in one smooth movement. She closed her eyes and moaned softly as he sucked and nipped at her bottom lip.

  The hot spray from the shower continuously pounded onto her skin, leaving her body feeling extremely sensitive. She gasped as a slight tremor ran the length of her body, which Callum used to slip his tongue inside of her mouth.

  Meeting his tongue stroke for stroke, Charlie found her hands tracing across the well defined muscles of Callum’s stomach. Her fingertips dipped into each ridged groove before her hand found the small trail of hair that headed south. Brushing her fingers gently over the line of light and fluffy hair from his navel, she slowly crept further down until she reached his warm and pulsing shaft.

  Gripping him firmly with one hand, she began to slowly trace his length. Pausing at the head of his penis, Charlie made sure to give some closer attention. Swirling her fingertips over his mushroom shaped tip, Callum emitted a low guttural moan into her throat.

  “Fuck,” he cursed, pulling his head back to look into her warm and need filled eyes.

  “I want you,” she murmured.

  “Not yet,” he replied, bucking his hips against her hand. Marginally increasing her pressure and speed, she felt the sudden tense of his cock in her hand. “Slow down, Baby,” he warned, backing away from her.

  “But...” Charlie began to pout.

  Callum kissed her lips softly before trailing a blazing path of heat across her skin with his lips. Charlie whimpered as he nipped and sucked the warm water from her neck. Moving down further until he reached the rounded swell of her left breast, he circled his tongue lightly around her hardened nipple before pulling the taut peak into his mouth and sucking hard.

  “Oh God,” she breathed as her trembling body gave itself over to the onslaught of Callum’s skilful mouth.

  Using one hand to hold her breast, Callum leisurely trailed his other hand across the flat expanse of her stomach towards her spread thighs. “Are you ready for me yet?” he asked as his fingers passed over her shaven mound to gently part her folds.

  As Callum alternated to lickin
g and sucking her other breast, he slowly worked one finger inside of her wet, throbbing pussy. “Oh fuck,” he hissed through clenched teeth. “I can’t wait to get inside this tight little body later on.”

  Charlie laid her head on Callum’s shoulder and groaned as he inserted a second finger into her warmth. Withdrawing slightly, he examined his glistening fingers with a smirk before driving back into her deeply with exquisite force.

  She started to pant as the rapidly growing sensations flocked her body, urging her up to the point of release.

  “Shit, Callum,” she gasped, forcing her head harder into his shoulder. She was trying desperately to fight against her impending climax, hoping to keep the feeling of such pleasure building for just a few more seconds.

  Unable to continue exerting control, Charlie surrendered to the unrelenting pumping and pressure from Callum’s talented fingers. “Callum,” she cried, clawing into his broad shoulders as her inner walls started to contract furiously around his hand.

  Pressing her full body weight against him, Charlie continued to convulse and cry out as each trembling jolt of pleasure shot her further and further into magical paradise.

  “Come on, Baby,” Callum said, withdrawing his fingers from her body. He lifted Charlie’s head from his shoulder to reveal her satisfied smile. “Time to get you showered, so I can fuck you in our bed,” he chuckled, placing a kiss lovingly against her forehead.

  Ten

  Walking up to the entrance of the large sports and leisure centre, Charlie clasped her hands together and prayed that she would get through the next few hours unscathed. It was always difficult to call how things were going to go with her family. They were all loose cannons and had no problems in telling Charlie exactly what she was doing wrong in her life. Everyone that is, apart from her father.

  “Hey,” Callum said, placing a reassuring hand on her arm. “I can see the cogs turning rapidly in your head already and we aren’t even through the door yet.” He looked at her reassuringly, “Stop it, ok? I will be right by your side. I promise you I am not going anywhere.”

  Charlie nodded feeling relieved that at least she had Callum with her this afternoon. He knew how rocky her relationship was with her family and so he understood her need for support today.

  She was extremely happy to have him by her side right now as things could have been very different. She had found out when she woke this morning that he had scheduled another telephone conference with Jared to discuss further developments that had happened overnight with the project.

  As was the case last weekend, the conference had lasted a lot longer than the hour estimate Callum had intimated. Fortunately for Charlie, he did manage to escape from the meeting about an hour before they were due to leave, so that he could shower and change.

  “Right, let’s go in then,” he said, gesturing towards the door with his head.

  Carrying Ben’s birthday present in one hand, Charlie was grateful that he held out his other for her to take. She gripped it tightly, entwining their fingers together so that he couldn’t let go easily. Her heartbeat increased with each nauseating step she made towards the entrance. She needed to go inside, but she was just too damn nervous.

  “Don’t forget,” Callum said softly. “You are doing this because it’s Ben’s birthday.”

  At the mention of her little nephew’s name, a small smile tugged at her lips. She hadn’t seen Ben since she last visited her mother, over a month ago. Even then, things had been problematic when her sister and husband had unexpectedly turned up to pick up their son.

  The bitchy looks and comments had started within a few minutes of them walking through the front door. At the time, Charlie had been oblivious to their presence, playing with Ben and his racing cars, helping him to build a ramp that extended from the sofa halfway across the living room floor.

  “Charlie,” Callum called as he wiggled the hand he had a hold of.

  Shaking her head she looked at him confused. “Huh?”

  “I asked you if you knew where to go inside?”

  “Oh right,” she laughed awkwardly. “It’s just over here,” she said heading towards the soft play area.

  Shrieks and squeals greeted them both as Charlie pushed open the door to the large indoor play room. There were children of all ages running amok around the colourful and soft play equipment, screaming for each other at the top of their little lungs.

  “Excuse me, please!”

  Charlie smiled and moved to the side as a little blonde and curly haired boy ran between them towards the giant inflatable bouncy castle that sat in the centre of the room.

  “Sorry about that,” a young woman smiled tiredly from behind as she tried to carry a small baby in a car seat along with a birthday present. “My son is a little impatient.”

  “No problem,” she replied.

  As she turned around to introduce herself, Charlie’s eyes snapped instantly to the struggling woman’s arms. “Oh gosh, let me help you,” she said, taking the car seat from her.

  “Thank you,” the woman said relieved. “He’s getting heavier and heavier, so I shouldn’t have tried to carry this present at the same time as him.”

  Charlie peeked inside the car seat at the sleeping baby boy. Secured safely in the seat, his small angelic face looked calm and peaceful as he dreamt away. His hair was blonde and curly like his older brother that had run past earlier. “He’s beautiful,” she gushed, placing the car seat on top of a long banquet table where a group of parents were huddled and seeking refuge on the far side. “How old is he?”

  “He will be a year next month. I don’t know where the time has gone really, it has just flown by.” Charlie could hear the sadness in the young woman’s voice.

  “If only they could stay cute and little forever hey?” she said. “By the way, I’m Charlie – Ben’s auntie.”

  “Samantha,” she replied. “Mum to that little terror over there.” She pointed towards the boy that had run past them earlier who was now pushing a little girl over on the inflatable bouncy castle. “I’m sorry, but could you just watch him for a moment while I go and sort Ethan out?” she said hurrying across the room to where the little girl was now in tears.

  “Ok...” She bit her lip nervously and stared at the sleeping child. “What if he wakes up?” she asked Callum who was taking a seat opposite her at the table.

  He shrugged. “He probably won’t, he’s asleep.”

  A piercing cry from the car seat startled them both. Charlie backed away at the sight of the crying baby. With his little fists clenched and a bright red face, he looked practically distraught and she had no idea what to do.

  She looked across the room for Samantha, but could see that she was busy trying to get Ethan off the bouncy castle. “Shit, shit, shit,” she panicked, flapping her hands wildly in the air.

  “Oh for God’s sake, Charlie,” Callum muttered as he rotated the car seat towards him. Unfastening the safety harness, he lifted the baby out of the seat and into his arms. Rubbing his back soothingly, he rose from his seat and started pacing backwards and forwards with the baby resting over his right shoulder.

  Charlie stood open mouthed at how calm and responsive the baby was to Callum. Eventually the high pitched wailing changed into muffled sobs as the little boy cried softly onto Callum’s shoulder.

  “That young man will make a wonderful father, Charlotte,” her mother spoke irritatingly beside her. “Look at how natural it comes to him,” she continued. “Just think. That could be your child he’s holding in a year’s time.”

  “Mother...” she warned.

  “What? I’m only telling you what you already know,” her mother admonished. “But anyway,” she said looking away from Callum so that she could focus on Charlie. “You look well, but where have you been, Charlotte?”

  “Just busy, Mum,” she shrugged nonchalantly.

  “And the fashion thing is still going well?”

  “Yes.”

  “How are things
with you and that young man? Are they progressing well?”

  “Yes.”

  “Charlotte,” her mother snapped. “Are you just going to give me one word answers to everything?”

  “Yes,” Charlie answered. She was feeling very uncomfortable in this conversation, so much so that she could feel her body temperature rising through the roof.

  “I’m only trying to see how you are getting on. Why don’t you want to speak to me?” Her mother didn’t hide the hurt in her voice.

  Charlie winced at the sound. She didn’t like to upset her purposely, but there wasn’t any other choice. If she didn’t stop her now then this tirade would just continue until Charlie was at the point of tears.

  Tapping her foot repeatedly, she crossed her arms over her chest. “Because you will just start harassing me and trying to change my life like you’ve already done within the thirty seconds we have been talking,” she said, controlling her tone as much as possible.

  Charlie looked for Callum hoping he was going to come to her rescue. Her face dropped when she realised he was still taking care of the baby. The realisation dawned that she was on her own for this one.

  “I only want what is best for you,” her mother pleaded.

  “Please, stop,” Charlie begged, wishing she was anywhere else but here right now.

  “You never want to make me happy. All I want is for you to be married and taken care of like your sister.” She wiped a tear from her rapidly swelling eyes.

  Charlie sucked in a ragged breath and threw both hands into the air. “You can’t just have a simple conversation with me, can you? You have to bring up all of this fucking drama all the time,” she spat, turning on her heel and heading for the door for some fresh air.

  “Charlotte!” She heard her shriek from behind as she pushed open the fire escape.

  Sitting on the small grass verge next to the leisure facility, Charlie plucked at the blades of grass by her feet. She had known all along that she was walking into a shit storm, although she had hoped that having Callum with her would have been enough to deflect the comments. It seemed that nothing would ever be enough to deter her mother’s brutal attack.