Chapter 4
While Reeze was gone, Charlie and Molly carried on drawing and painting.
They had a great time all afternoon. Molly talked mostly about ordinary things – school, friends and all the things girls her age tended to think about – but there were undertones in the way she spoke and described the world that made Charlie realise she was unusually bright and mature for an eight-year-old.
Molly explained that her mother only became annoying when there were men around.
It didn't matter whether it was Reeze or her mother's boss, Lennart.
Whenever Lennart turned up, her mother always wanted Molly out of the way.
They apparently had a lot of meetings, which somehow always happened when her mother was actually off work and Lennart's wife was working at the little clothes shop in town.
And Lennart had made her mother's belly grow.
"Mum wants me to believe it isn't," Molly said calmly, "but I think I'm going to have a little brother or sister."
She shrugged as though she were commenting on the weather.
"I don't think Lennart's wife is going to like it."
Then, with exactly the same matter-of-fact expression, she continued.
"But Mum says Lennart's wife is a fucking bitch who can't use her cunt for anything except pissing."
Charlie almost choked on her Coke.
The words were so crude and sounded so completely wrong coming from an eight-year-old that for a moment she could only stare at her.
It made her wonder what kind of person Lotta really was.
Letting a child hear things like that was appalling, although, to be fair, she'd already heard both Lotta and Reeze swear freely around the girl.
As though Molly could tell exactly what Charlie was thinking, she quickly added, "She says it on the phone when she thinks I'm asleep. When she's talking to her friends."
Molly didn't have much to say about her father beyond the fact that he was the best dad in the world and that she loved riding on his bike. From there she moved straight on to Billy, her godfather and apparently Reeze's best friend.
"I haven't seen him for a month because the cops have him in a cage," she explained without the slightest hint of anger, as though it were simply a fact of life.
"Billy's in Dad's club and he's got the coolest tattoo on his arm.
Dad calls him VP, and they grew up together.
Grandma has a bulldog called John. They go to dog shows. "
Molly kept talking, jumping effortlessly from one subject to another, and Charlie realised she genuinely enjoyed the girl's company. When bedtime finally came, she tucked Molly into one side of the double bed and stayed with her until she settled.
Charlie wasn't expecting Reeze to come back that night.
It might be late, he'd said.
She didn't know exactly what a club meeting involved, but she could make an educated guess. Plenty of beer, probably something stronger, and whatever else bikers did when they disappeared behind closed doors. Motorcycle clubs weren't exactly known for their restraint when it came to drinking.
Once Molly was asleep, Charlie settled on the sofa with a book. The wound in her leg pulled uncomfortably, and now that the anaesthetic had worn off, it hurt like hell. She had only just managed to find a position that didn't make it throb quite so badly when there was a soft knock at the door.
Her body reacted before her mind caught up.
She froze, her stomach turning to ice.
Dennis.
With slightly trembling legs, she made her way to the door and looked through the peephole.
It wasn't Dennis.
It was Reeze.
The relief hit her so hard she had to draw a deep breath before opening the door.
"Shh," she whispered. "Molly's asleep."
He slipped inside and smiled.
"Once she's out, you could set off a fucking bomb beside the bed and she wouldn't wake up. How've you two been?"
"Good. She's a great kid."
He looked almost embarrassed by the compliment.
"Yeah... must've done something right."
"Do you want a beer?" Charlie asked, far more anxious than she wanted to admit that he might decide not to stay.
"No, thanks. Coffee would be good, though."
"Of course."
"On one condition."
She raised an eyebrow.
"I make it while you get your arse back on that sofa and rest your leg."
Charlie shrugged, smiling.
"As you wish. But only because you're sexy when you're bossy."
The words were out before she had time to stop them.
Her eyes widened.
"So... I mean..."
Reeze stared at her for a second.
Then a broad grin spread across his face.
"The sofa," he ordered, pointing towards it.
Charlie wandered over and sat down, silently cursing her complete inability to keep her mouth shut. By the time Reeze brought the coffee over and sat opposite her, she could still feel the heat in her cheeks.
"Sexy, huh?"
"Yes," she muttered, biting her lip and refusing to meet his gaze.
He watched her for a long moment, that same smile still playing around his mouth. Charlie risked a glance at him, trying to work out what he was thinking. She guessed he was somewhere around thirty, tall, fit and built in a way that made it difficult not to notice him.
A man like that didn't look at someone like her.
You'd have to wear a paper bag over your head before anyone would fuck you, Dennis had told her.
You're so fucking ugly I can't even get it up.
The words crept back in, cold and familiar, and anxiety tightened around her chest. Suddenly she wanted to escape the entire situation, to hide somewhere she wouldn't have to see Reeze's reaction when he finally realised the same thing Dennis had spent years telling her.
Instead, Reeze reached across and took her hand.
"Something wrong? I can leave if you want me to."
"No," she said far too quickly. "I don't want you to."
The thought of him leaving had suddenly become unbearable, and her hands trembled around the coffee mug.
"Good," he said calmly. "Because I'm not going anywhere unless you ask me to."
He took the mug from her hands and put it aside before pulling her closer.
"I'm not much for dragging things out."
Then he kissed her.
Charlie surprised herself by not pulling away.
Instead, she let him kiss her, let herself sink into the warmth and closeness of him.
Before long she was beneath him on the sofa, his body close to hers as the kiss deepened.
When her hands slipped beneath his shirt, searching over warm skin, he caught them and stopped her.
"Not like this," he murmured against her neck.
The anxiety returned instantly.
Charlie froze.
Of course.
"I want you," he said quickly, taking her hand and pressing it against the hard evidence of exactly how much. "But not like this. Not on your sofa while Molly's asleep in your bed. I want you properly. And if I've waited months, I can wait one more fucking night."
He was hard. There was no mistaking it, and the certainty of that sparked a fragile little flame of hope inside her.
"So... you don't think I'm ugly?" she whispered against his collarbone.
Reeze sat up so abruptly that she almost flinched.
"Ugly? Why the fuck would I think you're ugly?"
Charlie struggled to her feet and fixed her gaze on a spot in the carpet, shaking her head as she fought back the tears.
Reeze stood as well.
He took her face between his hands and made her look at him.
"You are the sexiest woman I've ever seen, and right now you're the only fucking woman I want."
Then he pulled her against him and kissed her again, hard and hungry enough to leave no room for doubt. Somewhere in the back of his mind, his desire to kill her ex climbed another fucking notch.
When he finally released her, he pulled her down onto the sofa with him and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close against his chest. His fingers moved slowly through her hair until Charlie gradually relaxed against him.
She traced her hand lightly over his chest as they sat there, the silence between them no longer uncomfortable.
Eventually, she felt his body grow heavier against hers.
Reeze had fallen asleep.
A smile spread across Charlie's lips.
Carefully, she eased herself out of his arms, covered him with a blanket and went back to bed.