Chapter 4
Four
Charlie
“I’m sorry,” I stammered, my eyebrows raised in surprise. “What did you just say?”
“I said that you’ll stay here with me.” He rocked back on his heels as if this wasn’t earth-shattering news.
“I don’t even know your name,” I blurted out as my mind scrambled to make sense of everything. A million things raced through it, but not knowing his name was the only thing it focused on right then.
“It’s Axel.”
“Okay, but still... I don’t know you. You don’t even know my name. You can’t just tell a random stranger that they’re going to stay with you.”
“Sure I can. I just did.” He shrugged, a boyish grin crossing his face. “And I do in fact know your name.”
“What? How?”
“I saw it earlier when you pulled your wallet out to pay for dinner. Charlie Montgomery.”
“Okay.... But... I... No...” I pushed out a frustrated breath and tried to get my words out. “I didn’t mean to stay so late that you couldn’t get out of here and go home before the roads were too bad. I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t,” he replied as he walked behind the bar and grabbed his phone from the counter before coming back to where I was standing.
“Okay, then I don’t get it. You want to sleep in here? Like on the floor?”
“No. I don’t sleep on the floor. I’m not a caveman.”
I cocked my head and waited for him to continue. The dimple on his cheek as he grinned was charming, but I didn’t have time to fall for that. I needed to stay focused and figure out how to keep myself and my baby alive.
“I live above the bar. There’s a full apartment, but unfortunately, it’s a studio, so there’s only one bed.”
“You live here?” I asked, not ready to process the rest of his sentence about there only being one bed. The bar didn’t look that big when I first pulled up, so I found it hard to believe there was a whole apartment above us.
“I do.”
“Wow. That’s a pretty nice arrangement. Are you close with the owner or something?”
He stood in front of me, his smile stretching across his face. Man, that smile was going to be hard to resist with how easily it disarmed me. I didn’t even know the guy, yet his smile made me feel like I had known him for years.
“Yeah, something like that.” He nodded his head for me to follow as he went around the bar and opened a door that led to a set of stairs. He waited for me to go up first, following slowly behind me.
Anxiety coursed through me as I took each step slowly, hating how steep they were. The last thing I needed was to miss a step and fall. That could be catastrophic for the baby, and she’d had enough trauma already.
“Alright, here we go,” he said as we got to a short landing. I stepped to the side as best I could as he pushed open a door and turned on the lights. I walked in, taking in the small but spacious room as he came in behind me and closed the door.
A king-sized bed was pushed against the walls in the corner. If I were to share the bed with him, that would mean that one of us would have to climb over the other to get out of bed, unless we crawled to the foot of the bed and got out that way.
“I would offer to sleep on the couch and let you have the bed, but as you can see, there isn’t one.
” He shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels.
“It might not be much, but it’s a lot warmer and safer than sleeping in your car.
If you have your keys, I can run down and grab whatever you need so you don’t have to go out in the cold. ”
“It’s fine. I don’t mind,” I said, waving him off. “But thank you.”
I continued to look around the room, soaking up every tiny detail. There was a small kitchen area that wasn’t big enough for anything besides a fridge and a microwave that barely fit on the counter it was sitting on. A few pictures were hung on the walls, but other than that, they were bare.
“I don’t want to overstep, but I’m going to.
” He stood in front of me and held my gaze until my eyes finally met his.
“I would feel better going and getting your stuff if you’ll allow me to.
You’re pregnant, and the last thing I want is for you to slip on the ice and get hurt.
I want you to be comfortable here, which means having your own stuff.
I don’t mind going to get it for you if it makes you staying with me that much easier for you. ”
I swallowed hard, trying to ignore the warmth spreading through me at the thought that he cared about my well-being.
It had been a long while since anyone had cared as much as he appeared to.
But I knew better than to allow myself to give in to these feelings.
For all I knew, he was all part of the plan and was trying to lure me into a false sense of security, so I would let my guard down enough so he could finish the job the other guy had started.
“Thank you. I appreciate it.” My jaw hurt from how tightly I was gritting my teeth as I dug into my pocket and grabbed the car keys.
He smiled as he took them and started back down the stairs.
“Make yourself at home,” he said over his shoulder before he was out of sight and rushing down the stairs.
I pulled a deep breath in and slowly exhaled as I walked over and opened the door to the bathroom.
It was decent-sized for the room’s overall size, and it had a full-sized walk-in shower, which would be nice.
I hated having to climb in and out of tubs, especially when I could barely see my feet to begin with.
I closed the door and sat on the edge of the bed, noticing how he didn’t even have a TV up there.
I could only imagine how boring and lonely it must be.
But the thing that bothered me even more than the small space with hardly anything in it was how instantly comfortable I felt there.
That alone was more dangerous than anyone Jason could be working with because I couldn’t afford to let my guard down and risk losing everything.