Charlotte (Marked Heart #2)

by M. Sembera

  Curling up on her left side, Charlotte reached out to place her cellphone on her nightstand when it vibrated again. With a slight huff, she glanced at the screen.

  A: You will receive a message at 4:30 tomorrow.

  Feeling the corner of her mouth curl up into a smile, she texted back.

  C: No deal.

  A: No?

  C: I need proof of life.

  A: What?

  C: How do I know what deranged things you have done to my babies?

  A: Now I'm deranged?

  A slight laugh escaped Charlotte as she shook her head at her phone.

  C: You are holding my heels hostage for the ransom of a pair of socks... feel free to draw your own conclusion to the situation.

  After a moment, there was a picture on her phone of her heels sitting neatly together on Auggie's coffee table and another text message.

  A: Satisfied?

  C: Yes.

  A: Tomorrow you will receive the exchange location.

  Charlotte continued to smile at her cellphone when the picture she took of Auggie flashed across the screen. Surprised by the way her heart skipped a beat, he was calling her.

  ~

  Auggie tossed his cellphone onto his chair.

  As he started on his way to grab a beer from the refrigerator, he heard, "Hell-oo!" coming from his phone.

  Quickly turning back to his chair, he realized he accidentally called her. After staring at it and trying to decide what to do, Auggie picked up his phone to disconnect the call.

  Just before he hung up, he heard Charlotte say, "This is moving into creepy territory."

  Quickly putting the phone to his ear, he griped, "I called you by accident."

  "Oh, alright then."

  Confused by how much he missed the sound of her voice, Auggie shared, "But I mean, you don't have to hang up."

  There was a long pause before he heard her give a soft, "Okay."

  Settling down in his chair, he asked, "You been keeping busy?" wondering why the last few days without her had felt like an eternity.

  "Not really. There's not much to do especially with everybody back. I mostly just hang out with Lola."

  "Your little sister?"

  "Yea, the little one," with a light sigh she continued, "She was three when I came here and five when I left. She's not really little anymore though. I wish she still was."

  "That must be a woman thing."

  "What do you mean?"

  "You know, wanting kids to stay babies and all. If you ask me, it's better for them to grow up so you can do stuff with 'em."

  "I guess, it might be. I just feel that way about Lola because I feel like I've missed her growing up."

  "You say that now but I bet you'll be just like that," Auggie laughed into the phone.

  There was frustration in her tone as she assured, "No, I won't because I can't."

  "Can't what? Have kids?" be blurted.

  The regret of sharing was clear in her voice as Charlotte explained, "I guess I could if I adopted them like Amila."

  Sounding a bit more accusatory than he intended, Auggie questioned, "Why not?"

  With a loud huff into the phone, she replied, "I don't know, nature maybe... I was in the hospital for about a month when I was fifteen and they ran all kinds of tests on me and that was the result of one of them."

  Trying to make her feel better for what he thought most women would be devastated by, he quickly said, "That's pretty great when you think about it."

  "Is that right..."

  "If you're not roped up in anything steady, it'd be awesome not to worry about that. Condoms suck."

  "Umm...Having unprotected sex with strangers isn't okay."

  Wondering why the hell he didn't just leave well enough alone, he tried to back peddle, saying, "I wasn't saying that. I was..." before she interrupted him, "So you use a condom every time you have sex?"

  Stopping a second to think, he answered, "Other than a few times in high school, yes."

  "Unhuh..."

  Determined to turn the conversation in his favor, he shared, "I'm clean. I had a full physical almost seven months ago when Will went into the hospital in case he needed blood or something. Everything came back clean as a whistle."

  "Unhuh..."

  "I haven't been with anyone since."

  "Wait, is this your way of propositioning me?"

  Irritated with himself for feeling like he needed to prove anything to her and wishing he hadn't shared how long it had been, Auggie snapped, "Hell no and what Mrs. High And Mighty, you gonna lie and say you and that douche of yours always do."

  "After a year I would hardly call us strangers."

  "You didn't answer which means you're lying."

  "I'm not lying!"

  "So you do?"

  "No, okay. But I would if we had a reason to."

  Stunned, he questioned, "He doesn't even f... a ... have sex with you? What the hell does he do?"

  "That, Augustus, is none of your business," Charlotte stated right before hanging up on him.

  Damn that went bad fast.

  Leaning his head back, Auggie growled to himself wondering what she saw in that boyfriend of hers. He wouldn't kiss her, didn't have sex with her and had no problem with her revealing her underwear to the world. In Auggie's mind, he was about as worthless as a man could get.

  ~

  Gah, Auggie was nothing short of ridiculous, Charlotte thought to herself. She was just messing with him. She sort of appreciated his attempt, after the whole baby conversation, to make her feel better about something that truly never bothered her in the first place. She was giving him a hard time like he always did to her. Then he took it to the next level and got all personal.

  The more Charlotte thought about it, she decided it was no wonder he was so cranky all the time. That was probably a long time for him to go without. She wasn't about to apologize for hanging up on him, he had deserved it. However, she did have great compassion for him on that particular issue, so she did the next best thing. She sent him a text.

  C: 'Night, Augustus.

  After a few minutes, he texted back.

  A: Goodnight, Charlotte.

  Satisfied, she closed her eyes, tried to pretend that her shoulder wasn't itching like crazy and waited to fall asleep.

  16

  Invitations

  Charlotte received a text at 4:30 on the dot from Auggie, stating the exchange would take place at his house and to expect another message with the date at 10:30. He was, of course, in ransom-er mode so he just wrote the address, still, she couldn't help being excited. She liked Auggie's house. There was something about it that felt homey and no matter what his mood was, she was always comfortable being there.

  It was getting late and the ridiculous family movie Amila made her feel guilty for not wanting to watch with everyone in the living room, was finally over. It was one of those, everything is messed up but it all works out in the end feel good movies. She hated every minute of it. She even had to control herself while watching so she didn't blurt out things like 'Whatever' and 'Yea right'. It really was further proof that she didn't belong there with the rest of her family. Everyone else seemed to love it. Even Silvia, who cried a little at the end, enjoyed the movie.

  Heading up the stairs after everyone but Amila had shuffled off to their rooms, the doorbell rang. Half way up, Charlotte waited to see who it was. Amila appeared surprised at first then moved to allow Penny inside.

  Trying to make up for her rudeness the other day, Charlotte walked to the bottom of the stairs, greeting, "Hi Penny."

  "Hi," Penny cheered at her with a wide smile before turning back to Amila informing, "I have y'alls invitation to Sophia's shower."

  "Oh, thank you honey," Amila said, closing the door behind her.

  Handing Amila the invitation, Penny offered, "Sorry it's kinda late. Sophia was gonna bring it herself but she was tired and I said I'd run it by here on my way home."

  "This isn
't on your way home," Amila shared with a soft smile before assuring, "You are such a sweetheart for coming out here just to deliver it for Sophia."

  Not being able to stand it, Charlotte questioned, "She was tired or because I was here?"

  Penny appeared as though she had no idea what to say.

  Amila quickly said, "I'm sure she was just tired. Your name is on the invitation."

  Charlotte replied, "Only because Ren's making her invite me."

  Penny instantly raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips into a smile. The second Charlotte saw the look on Penny's face, she knew she'd messed up.

  What was wrong with her? She had just out-ed herself to Penny. No way she would be able to deny being at Auggie's now. Charlotte was always careful and thought about what came out of her mouth before she said anything. Lately, speaking without thinking had become a problem for Charlotte.

  While Charlotte was still reeling with regret, Amila offered, "Would you like to stay for a little bit?"

  "I'd better get going. I have one more to deliver, thank you though," Penny said before asking, "Charlotte, you wanna ride with me?"

  Caught off guard, Charlotte replied, "Where?"

  "To deliver the last invitation," Penny answered with a secretive expression.

  Since Charlotte didn't know Penny all that well she said, "Okay," just in case Penny decided to share what she knew in front of Amila.

  Amila walked over to Charlotte and gave her a hug, whispering, "I'm glad you're making friends."

  Forcing a smile, Charlotte met Penny at the door before they left together.

  As Penny pulled away from the house, Charlotte sat in the passenger seat, debating on possible reasons Penny invited her along. She wanted to like Penny but the knowledge that her best friend was Sophia, the biggest gossip in town, was making it a little hard to.

  "Where are we going?"

  "The Dog House," Penny replied, glancing at her to see her reaction.

  Wondering what she was up to, Charlotte griped, "Then you might as well turnaround because you know I can't go there."

  "Says who?" Penny asked as if it was the first she'd heard of it.

  "Your brother!"

  "So, it's not even his bar. It belongs to Jackson."

  Charlotte was making an effort to not be angry with Penny as she griped, "I don't know what you're trying to start here, but I'm not interested in causing trouble."

  "Neither am I," Penny replied.

  "Then what is the point of going?"

  Appearing frustrated at first, Penny gave a short exhale, smiled and said, "I'm tired of being asked when I'm gonna settle down, why I haven't, getting advice on how I can make that happen and honestly, if I hear about one more baby anything, I am going to lose it."

  Charlotte started to smile, then questioned, "I thought your family hated me."

  Giving Charlotte an absurd look Penny blurted, "Who said that?" before informing, "I don't think my family knows how to hate. We're more water under the bridge people."

  "Augustus isn't."

  "Augustus," Penny laughed, "Isn't the spokesman for our family."

  Trying to steer the conversation away from him, Charlotte asked, "So do you really have an invitation to deliver?"

  "Yea, I have Auggie's. I thought about bringing it by his house, but the last time I was there, he was acting all rude because he was hiding a girl behind the door."

  Seeing as her idea to sway their talk in a different direction didn't work, Charlotte questioned, "How did you know I was there?"

  Pursing her lips into a smile, Penny replied, "Other than the fact that Auggie was acting weird, I smelled your perfume."

  "I don't wear perfume."

  "I swear if you say that's just your natural smell, I'm gonna throw up on you!"

  Laughing out loud, Charlotte said, "Gross!" As Penny laughed with her, Charlotte shared, "Its lotion."

  "Lotion?"

  Nodding with an excited smile, Charlotte replied, "Erin gave it to me for by birthday one year in a gift set. Its pure seduction from Victoria's Secret. She said the fragrance matched my appearance. I don't know about that, but it smelled so delicious the first time I wore it, I spent the whole afternoon smelling my own arm."

  Penny laughed, saying, "It does smell good and yea, she was right."

  Thinking about how much fun she was already having with Penny, Charlotte said, "Thanks for asking me to ride along."

  With a shoulder shrug, Penny smiled pulling into a parking spot in front of the bar.

  ~

  Auggie was surprised The Dog House was so busy considering the fair was in town. It wasn't as packed as a normal Friday night, his brothers' band was even playing at the fair instead of at the bar. Watching the clock, he intended to send a text at exactly 10:30.

  "Lou, I'm gonna step into the office for a minute."

  After Old Lou gave him a nod in response, Auggie headed to the back.

  Stepping into the office, Auggie closed the door behind himself and leaned his back against it. Pulling his phone out of his back pocket, he typed 'Sunday' and watched the clock as he waited to hit send. While he waited, Auggie couldn't help thinking of seeing Charlotte walk through his front door. She made him crazy in every way possible. He couldn't stop thinking about her or the feeling he got every time he thought about her.

  At 10:30 Auggie hit send and stepped out of the back office. Pushing through the double doors that led into the main area of the bar, he stopped, unable to believe what he was seeing. At first he thought he might be hallucinating. Then he thought maybe Charlotte had been on his mind so much, he was fantasizing seeing her at the bar, since it was remarkably similar to a dream he had the other night. If it weren't for Penny standing next to her, he'd never have believed she was really there.

  Making his way back behind the bar, Auggie's eyes trailed the length of her legs from her sandals all the way to the bottom of her tiny blue skirt. His mouth went dry and his throat felt like it was closing up on him when Charlotte glanced at him. He wanted to be alone with her.

  "This is for you," Penny announced, holding a pink envelope out towards him.

  Penny's distraction irritated him in the worst way.

  Snatching it out of her hand, Auggie griped, "Thanks," before sliding it in his pocket.

  "You're welcome," Penny sarcastically replied before turning to Charlotte saying, "I'm gonna run to the bathroom. Do you wanna grab us a table? I'll be right back."

  Auggie watched Charlotte nod at Penny as she headed towards the restrooms.

  "Two beers," Charlotte ordered, not making eye contact with him.

  "You mean a beer and a club soda. Penny doesn't drink."

  Almost glaring at him, Charlotte replied, "The beers are for me. I assumed Penny could order her own drink."

  Scowling at her, he snapped, "You're starting with two?"

  Charlotte narrowed her eyes, correcting, "You know, you're right. Give me two shots and two beers."

  "You tryin' to get drunk?"

  "Why else would I be here?"

  Without fully understanding what had come over him, he was angry she wasn't there to see him.

  Keeping his voice low, Auggie growled, "Damn it Charlotte, you don't need to be here."

  "Don't tell me what I need."

  "Fine, I won't but I don't have to serve you either."

  "Are you serious?" Charlotte snapped as Penny slid onto the barstool next to her.

  "Oh, we're staying at the bar?" Penny asked with a smile.

  Auggie fussed, "No, y'all are leaving."

  "Why?" Penny blurted before Charlotte snapped, "What is your problem?"

  "I don't want you here," he growled, causing nearly everyone at the bar to take notice of their argument.

  Turning to walk away, Charlotte stated, "Then I'll leave."

  Penny appeared genuinely sorry as she hopped off of her barstool, saying, "Let's go," before she turned to Auggie assuring, "You're such a jerk."

  Augg
ie quickly snapped, "Stay out of it Pen. This doesn't have anything to do with you."

  Charlotte whipped around and fussed, "How about you stay out of things that have nothing to do with you."

  "Excuse me?" Auggie questioned in disbelief.

  "You heard me," Charlotte said before adding, "Nothing I do has anything to do with you."

  Giving her a dead stare, he shrugged his shoulders and motioned towards the doors.

  Auggie watched Charlotte turn, hook her arm around his sister's and walk out. Nudged from behind he turned to find Lou with a disappointed expression on his face.

  "You were a little hard on Penny and her friend, don't ya think?"

  Auggie griped, "She just... She makes me so damn crazy."

  "Penny?"

  With a heavy sigh, Auggie placed his hand over his mouth, slid it down his beard and shook his head.

  ~

  The second Charlotte and Penny stepped out of the bar, Charlotte let go of Penny's arm and stepped away from her. What made her think going to The Dog House would end any other way? He didn't even acknowledge her presence at the bar until she ordered drinks.

  Appearing concerned Penny swore, "I'm so sorry. I promise, I didn't..."

  Forcing a smile, Charlotte assured, "I know."

  With an astonished expression, Penny asked, "You're not mad at me?"

  "As long as the next time you ask me to ride with you, we go anywhere but here."

  Heading to the car, Penny laughed a little, saying, "I sure hope you hold out on him for a while after he acted like that."

  "What?"

  Penny waited until they were both seated in the car before replying, "I must really look stupid." As Charlotte shook her head, Penny continued, "Look whatever y'all have goin' on is none of my business."

  Leaning her head back, Charlotte started, "There is nothing..." stopping suddenly when there was a knock at Penny's window.

  As Charlotte turned her head towards the window, Penny arched an eyebrow at her asking, "Nothing huh?"