by L. L Hunter
Half way through packing, I received a call. I dug my phone out of my jeans pocket and picked up without looking at the caller ID.
“Yeah?”
“Charlotte, honey. Where are you?”
“In my apartment. Why?”
“Something’s happened with your father, he…”
“Mum, is he okay?” I switched ears so I could hold the phone better and stood up straight.
“Physically, yeah. He was questioned by the police this morning.”
“Why? He’s a criminal lawyer. Isn’t that part of the job description?”
“Yeah, but somehow the authorities know about new evidence your father has been trying to conceal.”
“New evidence?”
“Yeah. Anyway, I don’t want you to be alarmed. I just thought you should know. You know, in case the police come to question you.”
“But I don’t know anything.”
“Exactly. And this is why I am not telling you. To keep you safe, keep you innocent.”
I didn’t know what to say. Why had my father gotten himself into this time? I knew representing criminals was a dirty and dangerous business, and my father often played with fire… I had a feeling this was about what I had overheard at my party. Something Frankie knew about.
“Charlotte? Are you there?”
“Yes. Sorry, Mum. I have to go. I’m going out of town for a few days.”
“What? Where? And with whom?”
“I don’t know. Frankie’s taking me away, romantic getaway. You know how it is.”
“Frankie? Are you still seeing him? What about Nathan?”
Oh, why did she have to bring up Nathan!
“Mum, it’s complicated.”
“Charlotte, be careful. You’re playing with his heart. I think he really likes you.”
“Well, if he really likes me then he should call me. I have to go.” I cut her protests off short and went back to packing my bag. Frankie would be here soon, and I knew I was playing with Nathan’s heart. But what could I do? Frankie was here and Nathan was not.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Nathan
On my way back to the campus, my phone rang. I hit answer and adjusted my Bluetooth earpiece.
“Hello?”
“Nathan, you have to get back to campus right away. You have to get to Charlotte.”
“What? Susan, slow down. Is Charli okay?” My heart began pounding. Shit. What if that prick had already hurt her?
“She’s leaving town with him.”
“With who? Levi?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Right now. Today.”
“Shit.” I didn’t normally swear in front of women, but right now, I couldn’t help it. I was in a conundrum. Legally, Susan couldn’t testify against her husband, but I was confused. Was she working against Stephen, or with him? I had to question her. But that would be for later. Right now, my main concern was for Charli’s safety.
“I’m on my way.”
* * * *
I pulled up in front of the campus ten minutes later. Not bothering to park my car properly, I ripped the earpiece out of my ear and ran towards the doors to Charli’s building. When I reached the door to her apartment raising my hand to knock, the door opened and Charli stepped out, walking into me.
“What the… Nathan? What are you doing here?”
“Are you okay?” I looked her over for physical signs Levi had hurt her but couldn’t see any. There were no emotional scars either. Not yet anyway.
“I’m fine.” She crossed her arms across her breasts and leaned against the doorframe. She was pissed at me. I was a fool for not calling her. I pushed my hand back through my unkempt hair in frustration.
“Look, I can explain. I’m sorry I haven’t called you.”
“What’s the deal? I thought you cared. You acted all loving on Sunday then you totally blow me off. Don’t you know common courtesy?”
What was I going to tell her? “I had to work.” Lame excuse, Nathan.
“Yeah, sure.” She pushed off the doorframe and walked back into her room, leaving the door ajar. I caught it with my boot before it closed and followed her. Upon seeing her overnight bag, I hesitated.
“Going somewhere?” So it was true. She was going away with him.
“Uh… yeah. Just for a few days.”
“Oh, who with?” She stopped playing with the zipper on her bag and spun around to confront me.
“What’s it to you? You didn’t seem to care about me the past few days. Why do you care now?”
“Because… because, Charli, I’ve come to my senses.” It was now or never. I had to stop her from making the worst mistake of her life, and possibly the last. I stepped towards her and pushed a stray piece of hair out of her face. She held her breath. “I’ve been an idiot. A complete and utter fool for not calling you this week, and I regret it. However, I don’t regret you and I don’t regret what happened between us. The truth is, I do care about you, Charli. I… I love you.”
Charli
I couldn’t believe the nerve of him. Coming back, unexpectedly, after not calling me, after no contact at all, leaving me to think he didn’t care. And now this. This confession… what was he doing to me? I couldn’t breathe. Had he really just said what I thought he just said?
“Nathan…”
He took my face in his hands and kissed me. I really was playing with fire, and I was the one getting burned. Right now, in this moment, I came to the realisation I was not invincible. I was a mere mortal with a conscience and a heart—a fragile heart that had been fractured into a million different pieces in a very short time.
Unfortunately, I had to do the same thing to him. He had to become just as broken as I was. It was only fair. I pushed Nathan away and stepped out of his embrace.
“Charli? I’m sorry, please. I’m sorry.”
“No, Nathan. It’s too late.” I hadn’t realised I was crying until I felt a tear run into my mouth making my lips salty. I wiped them away.
“No, its not,” he whispered. A text came through on my phone. I glanced at it quickly then slid my phone back into my pocket. “I have to go.”
“Please, Charli. Stay.” Oh, crap, now I had made him cry, too. I wanted to wipe away his tears just as badly as I was sure he wanted to wipe away mine, but I couldn’t. The damage was done.
“Nathan. I’m sorry. I have to go.”
“No, you can’t go. Not with him.”
That stalled me. I stopped in the process of picking up my bag, my back still turned, so I turned to look at him.
“What?”
“You can’t go with him. He’s dangerous.”
“How do you know? What are you talking about?”
He stepped closer and pulled me to him once more. This time, his hold was possessive as if he knew his time with me was precious and rare.
“Charli,” he breathed into my hair. He smelled of aftershave, sweat, and something else that I couldn’t place. “There’s so much I have to tell you. I want to tell you more than anything. But now you’re going to have to trust me when I say please don’t go with him.”
“Nathan. As I said, it’s too late. He’s here.” I pulled out of his arms and grabbed my bag. I didn’t turn back to look at his face as I walked out the door. I knew I’d stay if I did.
“Charli!” I listened to him calling after me as I left him behind.
* * * *
Tears streamed down my face as I hurried from the dorm and to Frankie’s waiting car.
“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” He pulled me into his arms when he saw me and kissed my head.
“Yeah. I will be soon. Can we just go?”
“Sure.” He kissed me before taking my bag off my shoulder and placing in into the boot before heading round to the driver’s side. I spared one last glance at my window before hopping into Frankie’s car hoping to see Nathan’s figure there. But the window was as dark and as empty as my heart.
Chap
ter Twenty-Four
Charli
As Frankie’s car sped out of the city, I turned to look at him. His five-o’clock shadow and dark aviator sunglasses made him look especially handsome. My stomach somersaulted inside of me. My heart would have joined in, but it was far too broken, and I was uncertain that Frankie could find all the pieces before it was too late. This was my punishment. He caught me looking and smirked.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes. Is this a new car?”
“Yeah. I just picked it up this morning. Like it?”
“Yeah. It’s nice. And expensive looking.” I didn’t know how Frankie made his money but I felt it was time to ask. After all, we would be getting closer the next few days. “You must have a good job.”
“Yeah. I’m pretty good at what I do.”
“What was it you did, again? I can’t remember.”
“That’s because I never told you. I inherited my father’s business.”
“Oh, and what business is that? Don’t worry if you don’t want to tell me. Sorry for prying.”
“That’s okay. Why do you want to know anyway?”
“I’m just trying to get to know you. Isn’t that the purpose of this trip?”
“You’re right. My father was in investment.”
“What kind of investment?”
He chuckled. “Gee, you really do want to get to know me, don’t you?”
“Is that a problem?”
“No. But how about this, if you tell me why you were crying earlier, I’ll tell you my job.”
I turned to look out the window and exhaled deeply. I pulled my ponytail forward over my shoulder and fiddled with the end of it. It was something I did when I was nervous, frustrated, or scared. “It was nothing really.”
“Come on, you were balling and shaking. It must have been something pretty bad.”
“Okay, fine. It was Nathan.”
“Nathan?” Frankie’s gaze switched between the road and me, and his jaw clenched. He didn’t like this conversation, I could tell. “What was he doing there?”
“He… he told me he loves me.”
“What? And how do you feel?”
“If I loved him back, I wouldn’t be here. Would I?” It was a lie. Deep down I knew it was a lie, and I was betraying my conscience by running away from the situation, which had broken my heart. But this was how I solved all my problems. In school, my parents had been told I was tortured. The psychologist had told them I covered my problems by running away from them, torturing myself instead of facing them. I was also told I would end up in a psych ward if I didn’t stop my reckless behaviour. But like my problems, I ran away from those who were trying to help me. My chosen torture methods were drugs and self-harm. And now I had added sex and running away with strangers I had met on a chat room to my list. Yes, this was Plan Rebellion at its best.
Frankie smiled and took my hand, placing it in his lap. As we drove north towards our destination, I alternated from interlocking my fingers with his and running my fingers dangerously close to his groin. He growled in pleasure when I touched him there, never once taking his eyes from the road.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Nathan
I tried my hardest. But it was no use. I failed my job. I failed her, but worst of all, I had failed myself.
“Charli!” I had tried calling out to her, but it was too late, just as she had said. I hadn’t wanted to believe her, but it was true. She was gone. As soon as she stepped through the door, I hadn’t hesitated. I ran after her, but I don’t think she heard me. The sound of her crying overwhelmed both of our ears. I chased her out the front doors of her dorm and halted when I saw whose arms she ran into. She had gone from breaking my heart to crying wrapped in another man’s arms. Why had she been crying? Did she really care about me? By what I was witnessing in front of me, I wasn’t sure. She was kissing him and hugging him. Each action made my heart break even more. I clenched my fists. I was so jealous. I wanted to knock his lights out more than anything right then, but I had to restrain myself. Frankie kissed her once more, took her bag from her, and got in the driver’s side of his brand new black jeep. I took a note of the license plate in my phone for future reference.
I was torn.
Torn between running after Charli and dragging her away from the con artist she was running away with, and staying and doing what I was told. I was trained to sit patiently and not screw up my cover… oh, screw that! As soon as the Jeep’s tires spat gravel out behind them, I was en route to my own car. I had to follow them.
Charli
“So, where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise. But you’ll like it. My family has a holiday house up north. Well, it’s not a holiday house anymore since my parents are deceased. Its mine now.”
“Oh. I’m sorry about your parents.”
He was silent for a few minutes, his eyes trained on the road ahead. When he spoke again, his voice came out cold. “It’s okay. My mother died when I was a kid, and my father… lets just say the person who killed him will get their justice.”
I stared at him. Now I was a little afraid. What had he meant by that? I was scared to push the topic even further as I could see it was hurting him, so I decided to leave it for now. Maybe I’d get a chance to ask later. I sank down into the heated leather seat and stared out the window.
Nathan
I followed the Jeep onto the freeway, heading north. Where were they heading? I knew by reading Levi’s profile that his parents had a property near Newcastle. Maybe they were heading there. I didn’t care how far I had to drive, all I knew was I had to keep Charli safe. I cursed myself for not physically stopping them from leaving. I realised now, this is what the AFP would want me to do. They’d want me to track Levi and Charli to see how far he was willing to go. After all, I was pretty certain Levi was baiting me for revenge. I knew this would not go down well.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Charli
About two and half hours later, we pulled off the freeway and headed towards Swansea. I had never been this far before, and I was curious to see where Frankie was taking me.
“Are we almost there?” I asked after stretching my arms and looking out the window. I had dozed off for most of the trip.
“Yes. We’re probably about fifteen minutes away.”
“Can you tell me where we’re going now?”
“Yes. We’re going to my family’s holiday house in Catherine Hill Bay.”
“I’ve heard of Catherine Hill Bay. Isn’t it like a seaside town?”
“Yeah. Hence the reason I asked you to bring your swimmers and a jumper.”
“I see.” I gave him a sneaky smirk and reached out to stroke his arm. He returned the smirk and slid his sunnies down his nose to give me a wink before sliding them back over his eyes. This boy really knew how to make me melt.
Sure enough, fifteen minutes later we pulled down a quiet road underneath a forest canopy, which opened out into a sleepy little seaside town. It was the cutest little town I had ever seen with idyllic cottages, each painted a different pastel colour, and some with wrap around porches and shutters. The row of cottages sat on the opposite side of the road as the sea. There was no beach, only a rocky cliff, and jutting out from the hill on the right of the bay was a pier. The pier looked old and rickety. It had been built out over the ocean and almost past the hill. Frankie must have been watching me because he answered the question I was about to ask him.
“It’s an old shipping port. Fishing and coal vessels used to stop here to drop off and pick up goods. It’s not used anymore.” I hadn’t realised Frankie had slowed the car down to let me look until we started moving faster. The town was so quiet it was almost deserted. There were a few cars in the parking lot near the lookout, but other than that, I didn’t see another soul. We passed the lookout and followed a winding road around a bend and up a hill. I looked back in the rear view mirror as we left the sleepy village behind as if f
or the last time.
Nathan
When I followed the Jeep at the turn off to Cave’s Beach, my phone rang. I clicked on and pushed the Bluetooth on.
“Yes?”
“Constable Wright, where are you going?”
Shit.
“I’m sorry, Sir. I have to do this.”
“We didn’t give you the clearance to follow them. It is not in your jurisdiction. Turn back now.”
“But he’s taking her to his family’s holiday house, alone. He knows I’m onto him.”
I heard my boss curse under his breath. “Well, how in God’s green earth did he find out? You obviously haven’t done your job correctly, have you, Nathan?”
I hesitated. “No, sir. But you don’t understand, he’s got her alone. He’s dangerous, and he knows who I am. He took her to spite me.”
My boss sighed then spoke again, this time calmly. “I told them you were too close to this case, but they didn’t listen.”
“Who’s ‘they’?”
“The District Attorney and his wife. They knew you were the one who captured and killed Jack Chandon, your suspect’s father.”
I couldn’t speak. What was going on? Is that why they specifically asked for me to pose as a college student to get closer to Levi and Charli?
“Nathan? Are you still there?”
I hadn’t realised I was drifting onto the other side of the road until a car horn alerted me. I snapped out of it and righted the car.
“Nathan?”
“Yes, yes. Sorry, Sir.”
“Did you hear what I just said?”
“No, sir. I was thinking.”
“Well, stop thinking and keep driving. The Jayne family depends on you to bring their daughter home.”
“Yes, Sir.” I promptly hung up and put my foot down. I didn’t have much time.
Charli
We rounded the final bend and when I saw the place we were going to stay, I felt giddy.