39. Charlotte
Looking at my phone I realised I had two missed calls from Theo’s day care.
“Jane, do you mind if I call them back?” She nodded and I ran outside to make the call. My hand immediately went over my mouth as they explained what was happening. I ran back inside.
“Adam’s trying to take him,” I said, the panic clear in my voice. Jane ushered me out the door without another word. I was only down the block from the day care and I ran as fast as my legs would take me. I wasn’t going to let him get to my boy, I wasn’t going to let him hurt him. Every punch, slap and kick I had taken had been to prevent him from hurting Theo, and he wasn’t going to start now. He wasn’t going to get near him as long as I still lived. I was out of breath when I arrived and saw Adam sitting in a police car outside of the day care. I took a breath of relief when I realised he didn’t have him, he hadn’t gotten away with it. Daines caught my eye as I approached.
“Theo’s okay, he’s inside with Eli.” He smiled softly. Theo was okay, Elijah was with him. Elijah would never let anything happen to him. As I approached, I caught sight of them playing through the glass and my chest swelled. I burst through the door and ran straight to Theo, overwhelmed with relief that he was okay.
“Theo, are you okay?” I needed to know for certain and he nodded.
“I’m okay. Elijah stopped Daddy from taking me.” Tears filled my eyes again as I looked at Elijah. He had promised me he wouldn’t let anything happen and he meant it. I planted kisses all over Theo’s face, causing him to laugh and try to squirm out of my grip. Elijah was smiling, too, as he watched.
“Why don’t I take you two back to my place for a bit?” he asked. I turned to him and nodded. He went outside to talk to Daines whilst we collected Theo’s stuff together.
“Daines is going to ride with the others to get Adam booked in and charged,” he said as he came back in to get us. “So, you two get to ride in my cruiser.” Theo’s eyes lit up at the thought of this.
“Can I turn the siren on?” he asked excitedly.
“When we get back, yeah, of course. Not in town, though.” Elijah smiled widely. “Ready to go?” We followed him out into the street as Theo and I both climbed into the backseat. I wasn’t ready to be apart from him yet. When we arrived at Elijah’s place, he let Theo climb in the front to turn the sirens on. The traumatic events of earlier seemed to be far from Theo’s mind now.
“Can I watch TV?” Theo asked as we got inside. I looked to Elijah for his approval, considering we were in his house, and he gave a small nod.
“Of course.” I wanted a moment alone with Elijah, anyway. We hadn’t properly spoken since we kissed at the gala and now there was the added situation of today to be discussed. After Theo was settled, I found myself in the familiar place that was Elijah’s arms as we embraced.
“Thank you for everything you did today,” I said, burying my face in his chest.
“We don’t have to sort anything out now, but it would be worth using this to get a restraining order for both of you against him. Now that he’s in custody, it should be fairly straight forward.” I agreed with him, it was something I should have done a long time ago. I couldn’t have another event like today happen again. I needed to protect Theo. We pulled away from each other and I found my eyes lingering on Theo.
“I can’t help but feel like all of this is my fault.”
“Don’t you dare, Charlie; this isn’t your fault. None of it is.”
“I don’t know what we would have done without you, Elijah.” I turned my gaze to him. “I know the whole fake dating thing wasn’t exactly something you wanted to do.”
“It wasn’t.” My heart sank. Of course, it wasn’t something he wanted to do. He just felt bad for the woman with nothing, who can barely keep her child safe. I’m just his duty.
“I’d have preferred it if it had all been real.” His eyes now avoided mine.
“Was any of it real for you?” I lifted his chin with my finger.
“Every single minute of it.” We both froze for a moment as the weight of what had been said lingered. I lifted myself up on my toes and met his lips with mine. This time there was no confusion, no unspoken words.
We both knew that we wanted this. He briefly pulled away, eyeing Theo to make sure he was distracted, before pushing me up against the wall. His lips crashed hard against mine as my back pressed into the wall. His hands moved to my hips gripping me with urgency, like he was afraid he would lose me. I wanted more, I needed more. We broke apart and he ran his hand through his beard before smiling.
“Does this mean I can take you for a proper date tomorrow?” he teased. “Maybe the three of us could go out for a picnic or something.” His hands lingered on my hips and I suddenly found myself missing the taste of him.
“I’d really like that.” I ran my hand through his hair.
“I really hate to say this, but I need to get back to work.” He sighed. “Will you guys be okay here until I get back? There is some cash if you want to order takeout and Lucas should be home soon.”
“We’ll be okay. What time will you be back?”
“Around eight,” he said, still making no attempt to move. He leaned his forehead against mine. “I really don’t want to go.” I laughed at his words as he placed a kiss on my forehead. “If they hadn’t already seen me today, I’d definitely be calling in sick.”
“Adam is being locked up as we speak, we’re safe. You don’t need to worry about us anymore.”
“I am always going to worry about the two of you. I just want to make you happy.”
“Well, you’re doing a pretty good job of it so far.” He scoffed and kissed me again.
I could get used to this feeling, the feeling of being his. It was another twenty minutes before we finally broke apart and he was back out the door. Theo and I watched him leaving out the window, waving at him as he drove away.
I couldn’t help but feel a sense of emptiness now that he was gone, but also excitement about our official date tomorrow. I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders now that Adam had been arrested. There was no longer someone lurking in every corner. I was free to move on with my life and I wanted to move on together with Elijah.