Chapter 8
When Reeze came up the stairs, Charlie was no longer standing by the window.
She was sitting on the floor between the kitchen and the living room with her back against the cabinets and her phone still clutched in one hand.
The sun was shining across the yard outside, but the curtains were half drawn now, making the flat feel strangely closed in compared with how open and bright it had seemed before.
She looked up the moment he came in, and something in her face told him that she had spent the entire time since their phone call trying to convince herself she was calm.
It hadn’t worked particularly well.
Before he could say anything, she got to her feet, walked over to the door and locked it behind him. The click of the lock seemed unusually loud in the hallway.
“He’s gone,” she said.
“I know.”
Reeze went to the window anyway and glanced out across the yard, not because he expected the man to still be standing there but because checking his surroundings was too deeply ingrained in him not to do it.
Outside, everything looked exactly as it always did.
Someone was unloading shopping from a car, a couple of children were cycling between the buildings and, farther away, two pensioners stood talking beside the laundry room.
Completely normal, and somehow that didn’t make him feel any better.
When he turned around, Charlie was still standing in the middle of the room with the phone clenched tightly in her hand.
“Come here.”
She blinked. “What?”
“Come here.”
This time she didn’t argue. She walked straight over to him and Reeze pulled her against him before she had even properly stopped, and only then did he realise just how tense she actually was, her shoulders almost up around her ears even though the man had already left.
“It’s all right, babe.”
Charlie closed her eyes for a moment and rested her forehead against his shoulder.
“I hate this.”
“I know.”
“He just stood there, like he owned the place.”
Reeze tightened his arms around her and ran one hand slowly over her back.
“He’s doing it because he wants you to react. People who pull this kind of shit want to get in here.” He touched a finger lightly to her temple. “They want you thinking about them even when they’re nowhere near you.”
Charlie let out a frustrated breath.
“Then it’s working.”
“Yeah.”
She pulled back enough to give him a look.
“That wasn’t very helpful.”
“I’m not going to lie to you either.”
That earned him a shake of her head, but he could already see something beginning to change. The worry was still there, but the rigid tension that had greeted him when he came through the door was slowly easing.
“You don’t even look stressed,” she muttered.
Reeze laughed.
“Babe, I came over the second you called.”
“Yes, but you still look calm.”
“That’s because one of us needs to think clearly while you’re doing enough worrying for both of us.”
Charlie frowned.
“I’m not panicking.”
“No?”
“No.”
Reeze raised an eyebrow and glanced meaningfully towards the door.
“You locked it behind me before I’d even had a chance to say hello.”
She opened her mouth to argue, only to realise almost immediately that this was going to be a difficult one to win.
“That proves nothing.”
“Absolutely nothing.”
“I mean it.”
“Of course you do.”
She heard how ridiculous it sounded herself and a laugh escaped before she could stop it.
Reeze smiled when he saw some colour begin to return to her face.
The worry was still there in her eyes, but her shoulders had dropped a little and the constant alertness that had been holding her body rigid was beginning to loosen its grip.
That was really why he kept talking. Not because anything he said could make the man outside disappear or change what had happened, but because he wanted the bastard’s shadow out of her head, even if it was only for a few minutes. Every time Charlie smiled, something inside Reeze eased with her.
“You’re very interested in analysing me today,” he said.
Charlie lifted one shoulder.
“I studied journalism. Occupational hazard.”
“Journalism?” His eyebrows rose. “You seem too smart to live around here.”
“That was rude.”
“That was a compliment.”
She rolled her eyes and walked towards the sink, but Reeze followed her.
“So what happened to journalism?”
Charlie ran a hand through her hair.
“I thought I was going to write about important things. Expose corruption. Make a difference.”
“You mean dating sites and obituaries weren’t the dream?”
“Strangely enough, no.”
“Fierce competition for those jobs.”
She laughed again, and he felt the warmth of it settle somewhere in his chest.
“I just thought life would look different,” she continued.
“Different how?”
Charlie shrugged.
“A house. A normal job. Some safe man who never did anything stupid.”
Reeze put a hand dramatically over his chest.
“Ouch.”
“What?”
“That felt personal.”
Now she really laughed. “I didn’t even mention you.”
“Everyone knows you meant me.”
“You are not the centre of the universe.”
“That’s a matter of opinion.”
Charlie rolled her eyes again and turned back towards the sink, but Reeze stepped in behind her. He didn’t even think about it any more. Being close to her had somehow become natural, as though the distance between them was always slightly wrong whenever he stood too far away.
His hands settled on her hips and remained there while he looked down at her. Charlie drew in a breath, almost too softly for him to hear, but she didn’t move away. Instead, she leaned a little closer and rested both hands against his chest.
“Reeze.”
“Mm?”
“I’m trying to have a serious conversation.”
“I noticed.”
He bent his head and brushed his mouth over the skin just beneath her ear.
“I’m trying to help.”
“Is this how you help people?”
“It’s worked pretty fucking well so far.”
She laughed, although the sound faded when his lips touched her skin again.
Reeze had never been particularly good at long explanations.
When something mattered to him, he was far more likely to show it than talk about it, and when Charlie looked up at him, he could still see the worry in her eyes, but it was no longer sitting quite so close to the surface.
So he kissed her.
Charlie kissed him back almost immediately, one hand sliding up around his neck as Reeze pulled her closer. Little by little he felt the tension leave her body, felt her stop holding herself so damned tightly and simply stand there with him for a moment.
When he finally drew back, he rested his forehead against hers.
“You’re thinking less now.”
Charlie blinked.
“What?”
“You get that line between your eyebrows when you think too much.”
Her hand went automatically to her forehead and Reeze laughed.
“Exactly that one.”
“That was cheating.”
“Yeah.”
“So you admit it?”
“Absolutely.”
His thumb moved slowly across her cheek.
“I’m not letting some fucking idiot stand in the yard and take up all the space in your head.”
Something softened in her expression.
“You can’t kiss every problem away.”
“No,” Reeze admitted as he leaned towards her again. “But I can fucking try.”
This time Charlie kissed him first, and he laughed softly against her lips before wrapping his arms around her again. When they finally separated, only a few centimetres remained between them.
“I like it when you laugh,” he said.
Charlie looked genuinely surprised.
“That was unexpected.”
“Why?”
“You don’t exactly seem like someone who walks around thinking about things like that.”
“I think about loads of things.”
“Such as?”
Reeze didn’t even have the decency to look embarrassed.
“Right now I’m mostly thinking about how fucking difficult it is to have a sensible conversation with you standing this close.”
Heat rushed into her cheeks, which pleased him far more than it should have.
“Babe,” he continued, his voice softer now, “I know seeing him out there shook you, but you don’t have to carry that shit on your own.”
Charlie remained silent. He wasn’t promising to save her or claiming he could solve everything for her. He simply stood there with his hands around her waist as though there was nowhere else in the world they ought to be.
And somehow that meant more than she wanted to admit.
The phone shattered the quiet between them, and Reeze sighed before he had even looked at the screen.
Charlie saw one eyebrow rise.
“What?”
He turned the phone towards her.
Rollo.
“You should answer.”
“Probably.”
He made absolutely no move to do so. The phone continued ringing until it stopped, only to begin again almost immediately.
Charlie laughed.
“He’s not giving up.”
“No.”
“You really should answer.”
Reeze finally accepted the call.
“What?”
Rollo said something that made him roll his eyes.
“I’m alive.”
Pause.
“Yes.”
Another pause.
“No.”
Charlie saw the corner of his mouth begin to twitch.
“Because I’m busy.”
This time she could actually hear Rollo’s voice coming through the phone, although she couldn’t make out the words. She didn’t need to. The tone was more than enough and sounded suspiciously like a man who already knew exactly why Reeze hadn’t returned to the clubhouse.
When he finally ended the call, Charlie shook her head.
“What?”
“Rollo has apparently decided I’ve abandoned the club.”
“Haven’t you?”
“No.”
Charlie raised an eyebrow.
Reeze considered it. “All right. Maybe a little.”
She laughed again, but almost at once her gaze flicked towards the window. It was only a quick movement and probably not even conscious, but Reeze saw it.
The same unease stirred inside him.
Someone had stood down there looking up at her flat. Someone had wanted Charlie to see him, and people who did that kind of thing rarely contented themselves with one visit.
“You’re still thinking about him,” Charlie said.
“Yeah.”
There was no point lying about that either.
“I don’t like people turning up uninvited and standing outside windows.”
“Neither do I.”
“Good.”
His hand found her hip again.
“Then I won’t have to explain why I’m staying a while longer.”