Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
CHARLOTTE
My plans to grab lunch were shot to hell after my encounter with Dalton. I’d been rattled beyond reason as I watched him walk away after throwing out those words that felt a whole hell of a lot like a threat . . . or maybe the most delicious of promises.
I’d ignored Judd’s knowing look as I bolted out of the gun store and drove in the opposite direction of the diner to Divine Flora, the flower shop where Hayden worked.
The bell over the door let out a pleasant, melodic tinkling chime I was too anxious to enjoy as I pushed through the door and scanned the shop in search of my best friend.
“Charlie?”
I looked over and spotted Hayden’s eccentric and slightly crazy—in the most awesome way—great-aunt Sylvia working on a huge floral arrangement. “Hey, Sylvia.”
“Child, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. Everything okay?”
I gave her the best semblance of a smile I could muster, which probably didn’t do any good, and replied, “Yeah, everything’s fine.”
She arched a speculative brow. “You sure about that? You’re as white as a sheet.
” She reached between the folds of her brightly colored, flowy caftan and pulled out a flask.
“I keep this on me now that Hayden’s taken over the office and thrown out all my gin.
You need a little nip? I’d offer you some of my special brownies, but I had my bridge group over last night and we ate them all. ”
I swallowed down a snort of laughter. “No, but thanks. Is Hayden here?”
“Yeah, sweetheart. She’s in the office. Just head on back.” I turned and started toward the back of the shop when Sylvia called out, “You know where I am if you change your mind about that drink. Gin’ll keep you young. I’m a shining example of that.”
Hayden was sitting at the desk in the small, cramped office. Her head came up as soon as I rapped my knuckles on the open door, and her face brightened, her lips pulling into a big smile. “Hey.”
“Hey back. Just throwing this out there,” I started as I entered the office and took a seat in the one and only chair across from the desk, “but I really hope I’m as cool as Sylvia when I get to be her age.”
“What did she offer you this time? Booze or pot brownies?”
“Both,” I said on a giggle while she rolled her eyes good-naturedly.
“For the love of God, it’s barely noon.”
“Which just makes her all the more awesome.”
With a shake of her head and a sigh at her great-aunt’s antics, Hayden dropped the pen she’d been holding and sat back in her chair.
“Agreed. But enough about my delinquent aunt. What brings you by? Not that you need a reason to visit,” she said, arching a brow inquisitively, “but I’m guessing something’s up. ”
“What makes you say that? Can’t a girl just visit her friend once in a while?”
The expression on her face said it all. She knew I was full of shit. “Absolutely. But those deep wrinkles between your eyebrows right there say otherwise.”
Damn it. I reached up and massaged at the space she’d just pointed at. It was an annoying tell of mine, and if I wasn’t more careful, my face was going to be covered in frown lines well before I hit forty.
I let out a sigh, sinking deeper into my chair, thanks to the weight I felt resting heavy on my shoulders. “I did something really dumb,” I admitted.
Abandoning her relaxed position, Hayden sat forward and rested her elbows on the desk, her expression morphing to one of concern. “What did you do? Are we talking get-a-lawyer-on-standby bad or buy-a-shovel-and-drive-out-into-the-woods-late-at-night bad?”
“Neither of those, thank God.” I pointed a finger at her face and insisted, “But before I tell you, you have to promise you won’t say a word to Micah. He’ll lose his mind.”
“Okay,” she answered too easily, and I instantly became suspicious.
“Although, I do reserve the right to throw you under the bus if what you did is worse than the fact that I went way over budget on catering for the wedding. I’m not above playing dirty if it means I get my crab cakes and prime rib. ”
I felt my brows rise high on my forehead. “Do you really need both?”
All humor drifted from her features and her eyes narrowed, her voice coming out hard and unyielding as she stated definitively, “Yes.”
I lifted my hands in surrender, knowing better than to question things when she got that look on her face.
My normally sweet and big-hearted best friend had a tendency to turn into a demon spawn when it came to wedding planning.
We’d never say it to her face, but all the girls in her bridal party were silently counting down the days until the wedding so we didn’t have to fear Hayden Hulking out over such things as cake layer filling and organza chair bows.
“Yep. I see that now. Definitely need both.”
Her features returned to normal, and I let out a soundless sigh at having dodged a bullet. “Right. So spill it. What’s going on?”
I started to detail everything that had happened the past few days, from Marin showing up at the club covered in bruises, to the showdown with her ex, to Dalton storming into the gun store this morning and ripping into me.
By the time I finished, I was slightly out of breath, and Hayden’s eyes were so wide I was afraid they were at risk of falling right out of her skull.
Finally, after an extended silence, she spoke. “Okay, you’re right. Micah can never know. Mainly because he’d kill you if he found out you ever did something so incredibly stupid!” she finished on a yell. “Oh my God, Charlie! What the hell were you thinking?”
“My friend was getting the hell beat out of her by an asshole,” I defended fiercely. “I wasn’t actually thinking about anything beyond that.”
“Well, that’s pretty damn obvious,” Hayden deadpanned, crossing her arms over her chest.
I gave her a sharp look and continued on like she hadn’t just insulted me. “At least until Dalton shoved some pretty hard facts down my throat this morning.”
“Well at least that sunk in.”
“Okay, I get it,” I clipped, throwing my arms out. “I screwed up. Lesson learned. There’s no need to continue beating me over the head with it. Can we please just move on already?”
“All right. So what exactly are we moving on to? The fact that you believe you’re cursed and, in some ridiculous way, undeserving of Dalton? Or the fact that you’re so head-over-heels crazy for the man, you can barely see straight?”
I felt myself deflate in the chair. “Well, when you put it like that, it sounds like maybe you think we need to address both.”
She arched that freaking brow again, her look screaming well, no shit, moron.
“Charlie, honey, I love you like crazy, you know that. But you have got to let go of this insane notion that something bad is going to happen to anyone you get involved with.” She held her arms out at her sides.
“You let me and Micah in, and nothing bad has happened to us.”
I shot her a glare. “Are you forgetting the fact you were abducted by a murderous psychopath and almost raped?” Because I hadn’t, and the memory still caused me to lose sleep every damn night.
“That wasn’t because of you,” she said fiercely, the scowl on her face making her soft, delicate features hard as stone. “If you’re determined to take the blame for that, then by your own rationale, I should also blame Micah for the fact Greg Cormack kidnapped me. Is that what you’re saying?”
My back went straight. “What? Of course not!”
“Why not? After all, he was the one working the case. He was the one trying to take Cormack down. So if you’re to blame, then he is too, right?”
My stomach started to twist up in frustration as I tried to piece my scrambled thoughts together. “No. That’s ridiculous.”
“No more ridiculous than you holding yourself accountable for something that had absolutely nothing to do with you,” she fired back.
“Yeah, but if I hadn’t gotten tangled up with those people in the first place—”
“You made a mistake,” she interrupted, her voice dripping with so much conviction I felt the air stall in my lungs.
“That’s part of being human, Charlie. None of us are perfect.
God knows I’ve made my own fair share in my life.
You aren’t defined by the mistake you’ve made, honey.
You’re defined by the steps you take to make things right.
You got twisted up with some bad men, I’ll give you that.
But you didn’t just walk away or pretend nothing happened. ”
She rested her forearms on the desk, leaning closer and lowering her voice.
“You risked your life every single day, doing everything in your power to help Micah and Leo take those bad men down. And you did it, babe. They’re gone.
As far as I’m concerned, that’s what defines you.
That’s all that defines you. You aren’t just a good person, Charlie.
You’re one of the best people I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing. ”
I wanted to believe her. I felt everything she’d just said beating against that wall in my head, the one that had started erecting itself when I was just a little girl, reminding me I was worthless, that I didn’t deserve anything good, that I destroyed everything I touched.
The power of her words made that wall crack and tremble, yet it still remained standing.
I had to swallow against the swell of emotion that tightened my throat. “Th-there are things . . .” I started, feeling a burn form behind my eyes, “from my past that you don’t—”
“You have secrets,” she interrupted. “Hate to break it to you, sweetie, but that’s not really a surprise to any of us who care about you.
You hold them in a death grip, but they’re still there.
When the day comes where you feel like sharing that burden with me, I’m here.
If that day never comes, I’m good with that too.
The decision is yours. But I can say with absolute certainty that how I feel about you won’t change, no matter what. ”
Damn it. That burn behind my eyes was getting worse with each passing second. “You’d better stop or I’m gonna start crying,” I grumbled.
She smiled, not giving a damn that she was about to send me into a full-blown blubber fest. “Get used to it, Char. Good people deserve good things.” She pointed her finger across the desk and stressed, “And you’re a good person.
You deserve a man like Dalton, and I hope like crazy you realize that before it’s too late. ”
Those last four words ricocheted around in my skull like a Ping-Pong ball, echoing painfully.
Before it’s too late.
Before it’s too late.
I’d been so busy trying to fight my attraction and that bone-deep draw I felt for him, that I’d never let myself stop to consider the fact that he might get tired of chasing me or waiting for me to get my head out of my ass.
It would be for the best, I tried telling myself, but I knew that was a lie. The truth was, I suddenly felt nauseous. The image of him with some other woman flitted through my head, and I had to swallow down the bile that climbed up my throat, leaving a painful burn in its wake.
“Uh huh. That’s what I thought.” When the cloudiness dissipated from my vision and I looked back to Hayden, she was watching me with a shrewd, all-knowing look on her face. “You really don’t like the thought of him meeting someone else, do you?”
I narrowed my eyes, throwing daggers her way. “You know, you’re kind of a jerk when you’re right. It’s annoying as hell.”
She gave me a Cheshire cat grin and lifted her shoulder in an insolent shrug. “You’re only mad because you can’t think of a single valid argument.”
“Whatever,” I grunted, rising to my feet. “You’ve made your point. I’m hungry. Feel like grabbing some lunch?”
She snatched her purse from the bottom drawer of her desk and slung it over her shoulder. “I could eat. But you’re buying because I just schooled your ass, and that’s your punishment.”
“Man, I really don’t like Right Hayden.”
“You’ll get used to it. Now, move your cute butt. I’m starving.”