Chapter 6
“My afternoon appointment was rescheduled so I’m getting off for the rest of the day. I’ll be around town if you need me, though. Not that you ever do,” Charlie said.
“I’ll be fine. Tell Zoe I said hi,” Jamie said. Charlie felt a stab of guilt as hope crept across his face.
“She won’t call, you know. You’re not her type, babe, but I did try to tell you that before you went and threw yourself at her.”
“I know,” Jamie said, “But you never know. She might feel sorry for me and give me a chance.”
Shaking her head, Charlie couldn’t help but laugh at his determination as she let the shop door close behind her. Jamie was a glutton for punishment when it came to the ladies, which often resulted in Charlie’s shoulder being used as a drop off point for his bruised and battered feelings. She hadn’t minded at first, even felt sorry for him, but it hadn’t taken long for her to realise that the emotional roller coasters were self-inflicted. He just couldn’t keep himself away from women that would break his heart.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
“Fucking hell, Zoe. I’ve just dyed my hair and you’re trying to turn it fucking white! Bitch,” Charlie said.
“Well, if you’re going to wander around town with your head up your arse,” Zoe shrugged. “What were you thinking about, anyway?”
Grabbing Zoe's hand, Charlie pulled her into the pub they were passing and led her to the beer garden at the back. “I was thinking about how bloody starving I am.”
“Your usual, ladies?”
Zoe nodded at the waiter who had called over to them, then nervously looked around at the other tables. “It’s the court case, isn’t it?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t think the people at the back heard you.” Charlie shot her a look of warning.
“What? There’s nobody here to hear, except that dude that’s just walked in and he’s hardly going to know your gangster dad. Nobody over here knows who Hernandez is, or even cares that you’re the prosecution's expert witness in the trial that will end his mafia career and…”
“Seriously, shut up! I knew I shouldn’t have told you!” Charlie forced the words through her gritted teeth and frantically looked around for signs of anybody having overheard. Zoe was right, there was nobody to overhear, other than a gentleman that was probably older than her eighty-year-old next-door neighbour.
“Relax. I’m only asking. Anyone would think he’s over here and about to kill you on the spot, but he’s not. He’s in America and can’t get anywhere near you.”
“You don’t get it, do you? It doesn’t matter where I am. If anyone connects me to him and what’s going on, I may as well be dead. Why the fuck does my mouth have to be as big as my arse? On second thoughts, don’t answer that.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to answer? Jokes. Your big mouth, big arse and big everything are just perfect. I don’t know why you think there’s anything wrong with you. You’re curvaceously fuckable in all the right places. All the wrong places, too, if you find the right guy.”
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Aiden nursed the pint of lager in his wrinkled hands as he listened to Charlie and the woman she was with. They had lowered their voices while discussing the trial but Aiden had still heard every word.
She’s beautiful…
Rolling his eyes, Aiden told his cockbrain to shut up. He had mentioned the voice to Sarah, who had concluded that finding his mate had finally awoken the wolf in him and that he would have a hard time ignoring it. Aiden wasn’t convinced. His wolf had never made an appearance, not through shifting or anything else and it wasn’t about to show its first muzzle now. He only knew that he was a hybrid because Sarah had told him. Before that, when the shifting first started, he had presumed that he was a wolf but with no furry beast showing its canines to prove it, he had decided that he was just wired wrong and it meant that he could do strange things.
“When do you fly out?”
Aiden wanted to laugh at the blonde woman’s persistence and then again some more at Charlie's look of death that she shot her.
“For the holiday? I’m not sure yet. A few months, maybe,” Charlie said.
“Do you want me to come? I know a few karate moves.”
Aiden covered his smirk with his hand. Charlie was right. The woman had no idea what Rafael was capable of.
“Give your head a wobble, hard enough to rattle some sense out or at least fall off your neck. I’m going to the bathroom.”
With a mental note to avoid morphing into elderly men, Aiden left the beer garden and went in search of the bathrooms. He could feel Charlie following behind him, completely unaware of who he was and what he was about to do.
You can’t…
Pretending to lose his balance, Aiden stopped to ask the woman for directions to the bathroom. His smile was sincere as he thanked her for helping him and let go of her hand.
Don’t do it…
Aiden walked through the first door of the ladies bathroom as an elderly gentleman, but it was a middle-aged woman that walked through the second door and checked the stalls.
Please, don’t…
Walking into the empty stall next to the only one that was occupied, Aiden waited. He could have waited an eternity, but he knew it wouldn’t be long before his job would be complete.
Please…
Hearing the lock click open, Aiden counted to five then hit the flush. Charlie was at the basin, shaking the water off her hands. Aiden’s heart raced, thudding in his ears as he walked towards her. His entire body felt alive, fueled by some unknown source as he got closer. Flexing his fingers, he prepared himself. Time seemed to slow as he raised his hands towards her neck. It would only take a second, that was all. Just a quick flick and twist in an upwards motion and it would be done, then he could be on his way.
His hands paused midway to their destination as if trapped in air that felt like rock. He couldn’t breathe. He didn’t want to, not if she was going to be dead. Every part of his being told him to walk away, but he couldn’t make his feet move as he thought of Rafael.
He had a job to do and he had to finish it.
“Are you okay?” Charlie asked as she turned around.
“I… yeah. I don’t know,” Aiden told her. Charlie touched his arm and led him to a chair that had been left against the wall. A shiver of ecstasy ran down his spine the moment she touched him, sending his skin crawling with goosebumps and he struggled to contain a throaty purr.
“Take a breather for a few minutes. Do you want me to stay with you?”
Aiden shook his head in answer but his soul shouted yes as she turned and walked away.
