38. Elijah
When I finally got home after I made sure Charlie got in safely, I crashed hard with thoughts of our kiss. I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the look on Adam’s face after I kissed her. I would also be lying if I said I only kissed her because he was watching. Truthfully, I had been gearing myself up to kiss her the whole night. It was seeing Adam that finally gave me the motivation to do it. Even after he was gone, I was desperate to keep her close. I wanted to kiss her again, but I felt like I didn’t have a good reason to. That she would push me away when she realised Adam was gone. But she hadn’t known he was there when we kissed, had she? I couldn’t help but notice that her gaze lowered after our kiss. I sat in my regret for a while, wishing I had done more, said more to her. Wishing I had told her how I felt, that this was all real for me. When I held onto her as the car arrived, it was because I was terrified to let her go. I was worried that once the night was over and tomorrow came, we would go back to being just friends. I didn’t want to just be friends with Charlie. I wanted nights like tonight, over and over again.
I woke the next morning to the sound of my phone ringing. Turning it over, I realised it was almost 10:00 a.m. I’m not sure the last time I slept that late. I looked at the caller ID and saw Daines was ringing.
“Morning,” I said groggily into the phone.
“Oh, no. Did I wake you up after your big night?” He chuckled, sounding far too preppy for the morning.
“What do you want, Daines?”
“Okay, okay. Straight to business, I guess. I just wanted to let you know I never saw Adam last night and I wanted to ask how your night went.”
“I saw him, he was outside the gala as we were leaving. I wondered if he was trying to catch her in a vulnerable position at the end of the night.”
“Most likely, he probably wasn’t expecting you to be there. What did you do when you saw him?” I kissed her. The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I didn’t speak. “Elijah, what did you do?” Daines asked again.
“I kissed her.” My words were met with a surprised laugh from the other end of the phone.
“You have some balls, Elijah Weatherston, I’ll give you that. Girl’s ex is staring straight at you so your response is to kiss her.” He laughed harder. I paused whilst he caught his breath.
“I think I would have kissed her either way.” I’m not sure why I admitted that to him.
“So where do you two go from here?”
“I’m not sure.” I knew where I wanted to go from here, but I still wasn’t sure exactly how she felt about me. The phone call ended shortly after and I was left staring at the ceiling. A little while later I pulled out my phone again and realised I’d missed a text from Charlie.
Charlie: Thank you for last night. It felt nice to let loose again and forget about everything.
I wasn’t expecting her to reach out and it felt like the wind was knocked out of me. I quickly fired back.
Elijah: Same time next year?
It was a slightly lame response and there was a lot more I needed to say to her, but over text was not the way to go about it. I’d find a reason to see her in the next couple of days.
The next day I was back at work. I avoided going into the café as I didn’t want that to be the first time I saw Charlie after the gala. I made a note to text her today to arrange a time to meet up. I was subjected to minor roasting from Daines when I arrived at work. He had written Elijah and Charlotte in a love heart using the dirt on the car. Real mature. Lucas had already spent yesterday giving me the third degree about it all, as well. I seemed to be talking with everyone but Charlie about it all.
A couple hours later, a call came over the radio.
“Aggressive male at Little Town’s Day Care.” My heart sank. That was the day care Violet and Theo went to. Daines blasted the sirens and we headed straight there. As we entered the foyer, we could hear a man shouting. The voice was eerily familiar to me. Looking up, I spotted Adam yelling at one of the staff members. He turned to watch us come in with a loud groan leaving his lips when he realised it was me.
“I’m pretty sure I told you to stay away from Charlie and Theo.” I felt Daines tensing next to me, readying himself for response.
“I’m just here to pick up my son.” Adam seemed to lower his voice in our presence, but it was still layered with tension.
“I told you, sir, you do not have permission to do that. You are not on the approved list,” the worker calmly tried to explain.
“He’s my son!” Adam’s voice was raised again.
Theo appeared from behind the desk. The lady gave me a sad look, making me realise he’d be there this whole time Adam was yelling. Theo spotted me across the room and ran behind my legs, gripping them tightly.
“Please don’t make me go with him.” His voice was hushed as I bent down to his face level. I could see he’d been crying and tears threatened to fall on his face again.
“Don’t worry, buddy. You aren’t going anywhere with him, I promise.” Theo gave a soft smile.
“How dare you speak to my son!” Adam was yelling again and I quickly stood back up on my feet, pushing Theo lightly behind me again. “Theo, we are going. Now.” His tone made my blood boil. If this was how he spoke to a child, his child, I dreaded to think how he spoke to Charlie.
“He’s not going anywhere with you,” I growled. “Charlie and Theo are part of my family now and I won’t let you anywhere near them.” Adam approached me and Daines pulled Theo further away. We were face-to-face now, both of us seething with anger.
“They’re my family,” he spat.
“You don’t deserve them.” My tone matched his now. It took all of my self-control not to launch myself at him. “Charlie deserves better than some asshole who gets his kicks out of scaring children and beating defenceless women.” Adam launched himself at me, but I was one step ahead. I grabbed his arms and shoved him to the floor, pulling the cuffs out of my belt and slapping them on him. I leaned close into his ear. “If you ever come near my family again, getting arrested will be the least of your worries.” I picked him off the ground with force. Officers Taylor and Lawrence, who had arrived for back up, stepped in as I passed Adam over. I expected Taylor to give me flack since we last saw each other at the gala, but there was nothing but anger towards Adam as he apprehended him. He may take a while to come to terms with the fact Charlie is mine, but we can at least agree upon her ex.
“Throw away the key on that one,” Daines said sternly as he followed them out to get him loaded in. I turned my attention to Theo who had run into my arms. I picked him up and held him tightly to my chest.
“Is he gone now?” he asked through tears.
“He is, the other officers are taking him away now.”
“Will you stay with me?” he pleaded. “I want Mommy,” he sobbed.
“I’m not going anywhere, buddy. I’m staying right here with you until your mommy gets here, okay?” The workers had already called Charlie. Although they struggled to reach her at first, I gathered she was now on her way. I took Theo into one of the spare playrooms to help him calm down. Despite all the mistakes I had made in my life. I could protect him and Charlie. I could keep them safe. We played cars until I heard Charlie burst through the door, running straight to him and taking her in his arms.
“Theo, are you okay?” She was breathless as she spoke with tears streaming down her face. He nodded.
“I’m okay. Elijah stopped Daddy from taking me.” She looked up at me with a teary smile.