Rusty Halo

The sun shone on the cobbles the light reflected off the puddles that lay on the ground from the previous day.

"Nick you don't have to walk me to work, I'll see you at lunch yeah," Carla said as the pair walked out of Victoria Court.

"Okay, I'll see you later," Nick said before kissing her softly and going to walk off. As the pair went their separate ways to work Callum appeared around the corner heading towards the Platt's house.

"Callum! Leave them alone," Nick shouted from the other side of the street; he walked over so they were opposite each other. Callum turned to face him fully and smirked.

"What you gonna do brain damage?" Callum said in is nasty, harsh voice. Nick looked him up and down; he was so fed up of Callum interfering with his brother and sister's lives. His constant threats and snide remarks were pulling the family to shreds.

"Stay away, just leave us all alone we don't want to see you around-"

"Oi, boys play time is over, leave each other alone!" Carla shouted, both Nick and Callum had been oblivious to her watching.

"Need your little tart to keep an eye on you now do you," Callum sneered before walking past Nick brushing their shoulders together.

Gemma knocked on Callum's car window, he wound it down, "Get in," he said sharply. She walked round to the other side and climbed in the passenger side.

"This better be good, I was busy," Gemma said.

"I need you to get some people together," confusion spread across her face when Callum said this.

"I need to get rid of someone who I think could cause me some problems," Callum said a smirk forming across his face.

"Who? What's happened?" Gemma leant forward eager to hear what Callum had to say.

"Nick's new bird. What's her name, that one that owns the factory."

"Carla?" Gemma now sounded unsure about what Callum was doing, she wasn't the sort of person Callum and Gemma would ever get involved with.

"Look Gemma, she's getting involved with Nick and she's helping them. I don't need more people taking Max away," Callum said sharply, he didn't like the prospect of Gemma not doing what he'd asked.

"Callum she's not stupid y'know. She owns a business; she's smart, level headed. She's not just a random nobody she won't be stupid and fall for your schemes."

"Look if you don't wanna help fine. Get out if you won't help," Callum spat the anger building up in his voice.

"No. I'll sort it."

Carla sat at her desk deeply focused on the work she was doing. Her breakfast meeting had gone well, better than she expected, and with more business coming in Carla finally felt like she was getting everything back on track. The last few months had been horrific, her head was constantly fully of guilt and self-hatred; the last few days she'd started feeling more herself again. After checking the accounts again and transferring some money to replace what she'd taken Carla's mind began to wonder. She thought about this morning and the conversation she'd overheard between Callum and Nick; part of her regretted opening her mouth, Callum could be so dangerous and she knew that. The radio suddenly got louder snapping Carla out her daydream. She stood from her seat and opened the office door.

"Turn that down!" She snapped. Sean jumped out his seat and turned the radio completely off; he moved quicker than anyone had seen him.

"Look, we've got some big orders coming in at the minute. I need you all working hard otherwise we'll never save this place," Carla had her arms crossed across her body; she'd worked so hard the last few days to build Underworld back up and she couldn't see it fall again.

"Well I don't think the radio is making a difference Mrs Connor," Beth said, she was commonly the first to argue against Carla.

"Well no but all this talking and bitching surely isn't helping, can you just get on with the work!" Carla raised her voice towards the end getting increasingly annoyed with her workers. She turned on her heel and loudly shut the office door behind her.

Kylie heard the door slam then slowly walked around the corner where she'd been listening to everything.

"Is now not a good time?" Kylie asked glancing at the office door where Carla was sat with her head buried in paper work.

"It's your funeral," Sean said in a sarcastic tone. Kylie stood nervously biting her nails before walking over knocking on the office door.

"I thought I just said to work not come-" Carla opened the office door and softened her expression. "Kylie, I'm so sorry come in love," Carla smiled and gestured for her to enter the office. Kylie smiled back and walked in her body language still giving a nervy vibe.

"Um, I just needed to talk to you about something," Kylie said fiddling with her fingers.

"Come on then spit it out," Carla said in a jokily way trying to relax the situation.

"Well it's just Nick told me about this morning."

"Did he now?" Carla crossed her arms and perched on the edge of her desk.

"I just don't want you to get involved, Callum's such a dangerous man and I don't want more people involved," Kylie had tears building up in her eyes now.

"Look, it's okay; I just didn't want either him or Nick going too far this morning. I don't think Callum even knows who I am," Carla said in a reassuring tone.

"I don't want more people getting hurt, all this is such a mess already," Kylie's tears spilled down her cheeks and Carla walked over to her and enclosed her in her arms.

"Kylie, everything will be okay. I promise," Carla rubbed Kylie's back lightly before breaking the hug.

"Thank you," Kylie wiped her eyes, gave Carla a small smile then left the office.

Carla walked into the Bistro, it was quite quiet for lunchtime but then again it was Tuesday. Nick immediately saw her enter and walked over a smile spread across his face. "Hey, how was your meeting?" He asked and kissed her on the cheek.

"Uh yeah it was good, um can we sit down?" Carla asked and led Nick to a table in the corner. Concern was spread across his face and they sat and Carla fiddled with the bracelets on her wrist.

"Are you okay? You seemed quiet last night, what's happened?" Nick said as he took Carla's hand in his.

"No, no I'm fine honestly. It's just well, I had Kylie in tears in my office this morning," Carla had a hint of worry in her voice as she said this.

"Is she okay now? What was it about, why did she go to the factory?" Carla moved her hand away from Nick's and raised her eyebrows at him.

"Think about it Nicholas," he sat back in his seat and looked at his girlfriend blankly.

"Why did you tell her about this morning hey? Nothing even really happened and now she's sick with worry about people getting hurt," Carla looked at Nick as he let out a big sigh and leant forward in the chair.

"Look, he was supposed to be picking Max up but he never came back after this morning. I just told her we'd had words but he walked off when you shouted across the street," Nick said; when he'd spoken to Kylie she'd seemed fine but he did worry about Callum's attitude towards Carla getting herself involved.

"She'd got herself so worked up about it Nick. She was saying how too many people were getting involved and hurt. She wasn't in a good place," Carla said moving forward in her seat.

"I'll go and see her in a bit and tell her it's nothing to worry about okay?" He smiled at Carla then took her hand back in his.

"Promise me you're okay?" Nick said in that soft, caring tone that melted Carla's heart.

"I'm fine but I do need to be getting back."

"I'll take you for dinner in town tonight if you want?" Nick asked, Carla nodded and smiled at him. She stood up, so did Nick, they hugged then shared a quick kiss.

"I'll come to the factory at six then," Nick said before Carla headed back to Underworld.

"You two might wanna move before Carla comes out," Luke warned the two young men sitting on the steps. They were probably mid-twenties and were dressed all in black with their hoods covering the majority of their faces. They'd sat on the steps of the factory blocking Carla's exit for when she came out. They completely ignored Luke but watched him intensely as he locked up the garage and walked off.

"Mate, it's still light we can't do it tonight; it' just too risky," one of the men said.

"We need to do something tonight, let's just introduce ourselves y'know. Just scare her a little bit to start-" they stopped talking when Carla opened the factory door.

"Come on boys, move along," Carla said then turned to lock the factory door. The boys remained seated staring up at her. "Did ya not hear me move. I've got places to go people to see. Chop, chop," Carla tried to hide her nerves as the two men slowly stood up.

"You need to pick your battles more carefully darling," one of them said holding Carla's hands tightly so she wouldn't move.

"Get off me," Carla said tears forming in her eyes. The second man came close to Carla's face, "no one hears a word about this, understood?" He spat before taking a few steps back. He looked her up and down before landing a punch to her face; Carla's lip split and she could instantly taste blood in her mouth. Before she could react in anyway the two men had fled and she was alone.

It was a matter of minutes before Nick walked up to the factory to take her for dinner.

"God, what the hell happened?" Nick lifted Carla's chin to look at her properly.

"I just tripped down the step, I'm okay," she said, her arms were crossed as if she was protecting herself. Nick raised his eyebrow at her before placing his hand in the small of her back.

"Lets get you home," he said as the pair walked away from Underworld towards Victoria Court.

"What do you mean you haven't got rid of her?" Callum said his voice raised.

"It was still light but trust me she was scared and now she's sporting a lovely bruised lip," the two men were in the corner of the 'Dog&Gun' with Callum telling him about the encounter with Carla.

"No more kissing for her and Nicky boy," the other one said with a smirk.

Callum drummed his fingers on the table and took a large swig of his pint.

"Sort her, get rid of her. You've got till Friday," Callum said in a hushed voice before walking back towards the bar.

Carla was sat on the sofa of her flat; she had brought her knees to her chest and she hadn't said a word since they'd got back.

"Let me clean that up," Nick approached Carla with a damp cloth and some antiseptic cream. She winced as he began to clean the area around the cut; Nick did it all as gently as possible his hand rested on her cheek the whole time as an aid of comfort.

"I'm just gonna put this on but it'll sting okay?" Carla just nodded in response and winced when Nick applied the cream. He smiled and kissed her forehead once he'd finished. Carla relaxed slightly and gave him a small smile.

"Thank you," she whispered as he sat next to her.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Nick asked although he already knew the answer.

"I just fell," Carla said quickly her body stiffening again.

"Now I've seen you in those heels, you're a pro there's no way you fell," Nick nudged her shoulder trying to lighten the mood. "You can talk to me Carla." She shuffled in her seat slightly clearly feeling uncomfortable.

"Can you just hold me?" Carla said in a vulnerable voice. Nick sighed then smiled at her pulling her closer to him. He kissed the top of her head and she relaxed into his arms.

Nick knew exactly who was behind this...Callum.

Thank You so much for reading. I don't know whether to carry this on so let me know if you'd like to keep reading this and also leave suggestions as to what you'd like to happen.
You could also read my Nick and Carla oneshot 'she's not you'

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Thank You