Chapter 32 #2
Amanda opened her mouth, but Charlie didn’t give her the chance. She stepped forward herself until they were almost nose to nose. “Say that again.”
Neither woman made the slightest attempt to back away, and Charlie had just enough time to see Nathalie’s expression change before a hand suddenly reached from the side and grabbed her hair.
Pain shot across Charlie’s scalp and her body reacted before her mind caught up.
She twisted out of the grip, caught Nathalie by the wrist and swung with her other hand just as Amanda threw herself in from the side.
A chair went over behind them. A second later, all three women crashed into a table and sent glasses, bottles and ashtrays flying.
It took approximately two seconds for the men to start behaving exactly like men.
“CAT FIGHT!”
“Five hundred on the blonde!”
“Are you all fucking stupid?”
Mia’s voice sliced through the noise and she was there almost as quickly as Reeze. She caught Nathalie from behind and hauled her backwards while Tony wrapped both arms around Amanda’s waist before she could launch herself forward again.
“Back the fuck off!”
Charlie stepped back on her own. Her hair had come loose from its bun and her lower lip stung where someone had managed to catch her, but apart from that she was mostly pissed off.
Mia looked first at Nathalie, then Amanda and finally Charlie. The corner of her mouth twitched.
“You learn quickly.”
“She started it!” Nathalie hissed.
“No,” Mia replied dismissively. “You’re just not used to somebody else being the centre of attention.”
Amanda stared at Charlie as though she were still trying to decide what to make of her.
Charlie wiped her lower lip with her thumb. “I just happen to think I’ve been chosen.”
The room went strangely quiet. She hadn’t thought much about the words before saying them, but from the looks around her she immediately understood that they carried more weight here than they might have anywhere else. She didn’t need to cling to Reeze. He had chosen her.
And nobody in the room needed to wonder who she was with any more. Mia was the first to break the silence. “That’s enough.”
She pointed first at Nathalie and Amanda.
“You two stop behaving like fucking teenagers if you want to keep your men. They’re here because they want to be here, not because you scream the loudest.”
Then she turned to Charlie. “And you pick your battles. Not everyone is worth bleeding for.”
Charlie nodded. “Fair.”
Tony released Amanda and Nathalie backed towards the bar, running a hand through her hair. Neither of them looked remotely happy, but at least they seemed to understand that Mia wasn’t going to tolerate another round.
A voice came from across the room. “Who the fuck won?”
Mia pointed at herself. “Me.”
The laughter that followed broke the tension almost immediately and people began returning to their beers, their conversations and whatever else they had been doing before three women had decided to rearrange the furniture with each other.
Reeze walked over to Charlie and put a hand on her hip. “You’re fucking crazy.”
“I know.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
“A little bit.”
He shook his head but couldn’t hide his smile. His gaze travelled over her face and stopped at her lower lip, darkening slightly before Charlie poked him in the chest.
“Don’t start.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You thought it.”
“I do occasionally.”
“Congratulations.” That actually made him laugh, and Charlie had just enough time to think how much she preferred this version of him to the tense man who had stood outside after Molly left.
Then her phone beeped.
She barely thought about it at first. Someone could have messaged her, an app could be trying to sell her something or remind her of something utterly irrelevant. Then it beeped again. Charlie pulled it from her pocket. The message came from a hidden number. There were no words.
Only a twelve-second video clip. Something tightened in her stomach before she even pressed play.
The video showed her and Reeze outside in the yard, his body pressed against hers, her hands against his cut and the men laughing in the background.
The camera was some distance away, but whoever held it had zoomed in enough to capture them clearly, and the image was far too steady to be some random clip someone had happened to film. Someone had been standing outside.
Watching. Waiting. Beneath the video was a single sentence.
He just signed his death warrant. Charlie stared at the words until the letters almost began to blur.
“What?” Reeze’s voice made her look up.
Without answering, she handed him the phone. He watched the clip once. Then again.
His expression barely changed, but Charlie had already learnt that this was when she needed to worry most. The anger disappeared and something colder and far more calculating took its place.
“Who sent it?”
“Hidden number.”
Billy had obviously noticed the change in him and came over. “What is it?”
Reeze handed him the phone. Billy watched the clip and swore under his breath.
“That’s not some passer-by with a phone.”
“No.”
Reeze looked towards the gate and then beyond it. “They were standing out there waiting.”
Charlie folded her arms. “Dennis?”
“Not his style.”
“Josh?”
“No.”
Reeze took the phone back and enlarged the image, but there was nothing useful to see beyond the angle and a small part of the area outside.
Billy ran a hand over his beard. “Sunkholes.”