"There's something wrong with your uncle," Bass grumbled. "He's gone more than soft. What? He thinks that he can just play the good guy and everything will work out for him? Well I've got news for him. Nice guys finish last."
Charlie rolled her eyes at that, then turned to look over at him as she insisted, "Maybe, but at least they've got someone willing to help them finish."
For a moment, Bass thought that it might have been a shot at him and the fact that he didn't have much of anyone who was willing to help him out with anything these days. But as he turned to stare over at her smirking face, he became more convinced that she had intended to make the innuendo that he had heard.
He decided to test that theory out as he taunted, "So if I was nicer, then you would help me finish?"
Charlie smirked back at him as she retorted, "You're not nice, are you? So I guess you'll never find out."
Bass shrugged and his lip twitched upwards before he commented, in a tone that was dripping with suggestion, "Well it's either naughty or nice and I guess we know which one I am. Which are you, Charlotte?"
She turned towards him and took a step closer as her whole body stretched upwards in a blatant attempt to hide even the slightest possibility that he might be getting to her. She stared him down and, a little too defensively if you asked him, bit back, "Nice."
Bass's lip twitched up as he asked, "So who's helping you finish?"
She glared over at him, but he just kept on smirking, even as she smacked him hard in the side of the head before turning to walk away. He wasn't complaining though as he watched her go, enjoying the view of her ass as it pressed against her tight jeans while she stormed off. His smirk didn't falter as he called out after her, "Not so nice after all, huh?"
Charlie shot Bass a confused look as he stopped and held the door of the safe-house open for her.
"Ladies first," he insisted as he waited for her to go through in front of him.
She shook her head, then stepped through the door as she sarcastically commented, "How nice of you."
"Not really. I'm just enjoying the view," he admitted in an amused tone. Charlie's head whipped around to glare at him, but that didn't stop him from adding, "Besides I've noticed you like being first."
"Well I'm not nice or a guy. Am I?" She pointed out. "So why would I be last?"
A cocky grin formed on his lips as he told her, "Don't worry, I'll make sure you aren't."
Charlie shook her head in disbelief, then turned around to walk away. As he watched her go, Bass let out a chuckle as she insisted, "No, you won't."
Bass wasn't going to give up that easily though, so he followed her outside as he commented, "I seem to remember you paying good money for me back in New Vegas." Maybe she was under the impression that he hadn't figured that out, but he had been holding onto that information for a while as he'd waited for the perfect opportunity to share his knowledge. "Feel free to cash that in any time."
"I'd rather have my money back," she shot back at him without hesitation.
"Sorry," he remarked unapologetically. "No refunds. No exchanges. Cash it in on me or not at all."
"I paid good money to kill you," she pointed out. "That's all."
"I'm starting to think that you're just toying with my feelings, Charlotte," he taunted.
She stopped and turned to look over at him as she raised a brow at him and challenged, "Wouldn't that require you to have feelings in the first place?"
"That hurts, Charlie," Bass insisted in a tone that was completely devoid of any signs of suffering. "It makes me wonder if you're just leading me on."
That was by no means true. Sure, she was fun to mess with, especially considering she tried so hard to hide that he was getting to her. There wasn't much to do around there anyways, so he'd begun to occupy some of his spare time by flirting with her. Hell, sometimes she'd even flirt back when she seemed to be particularly bored. But that didn't mean that he had any expectation of anything coming from it and he was sure that Charlie expected even less.
She was being strangely quiet now though. Usually by this point she would have stormed off or made some quick retort. The look on her face was calculating and he wondered what she could possibly be considering.
Finally, Bass proudly questioned, "I'm getting under your skin, aren't I?"
"We both know you wish you were," she taunted.
There it was. She was back to her ordinary reaction again. Maybe he'd been imagining it.
"But we both know, I'm not leading on anyone on," she insisted. "You're still not playing nice, are you?"
Or maybe not. He couldn't tell if she was just screwing with him or if she was serious. Her expression was once again irritatingly unreadable. There was a hint of smugness in her tone, but he still wasn't sure whether she really meant her words or if she was just playing along for something to do.
"Right, well what chance do I stand?" He asked, daring her with his eyes to really tell him, despite the lightness in his tone. His gaze flickered behind her to where Aaron and Rachel were standing together, a ways off, talking. She turned around to see what he was looking at as he added, "I mean, if you're looking for nice, then I'm sure you've been hung up on Stay Puft for years. You're just waiting for your golden opportunity to swoop in, aren't you?"
He felt an elbow connect with his gut, none too gently, and let out a low chuckle.
"What? Not your type?" Bass teased. "Looking for something a little more rough?"
She turned back to face him with a glare that only brought out his dimples in full effect.
He looked her up and down slowly before he pointed out, "It's getting awfully hard to keep up with what your type is. Why don't you explain it for me? Just to clear things up."
She took a few steps closer to him and stopped only when she was close enough that he could feel the warmth radiating off of her. She stretched upwards, her heels leaving the ground for added height, as she stared him down and warned him, "You do realize that you can't win, right?"
"I wasn't aware that we're playing a game," he commented. Making her admit that there was some kind of competition to their back and forth only made him even more pleased with himself than he already had been from the feeling of her chest pressed up against his. "How exactly do you figure I'm going to lose?"
"How long do you think you'll survive if I bring any attention to us?" Charlie challenged.
"Oh, so there's an us?" He questioned as one of his eyebrows shot upwards.
She ignored that as she added, "Do you really think that I'll be the one getting blamed if my mom looks over here, no matter who makes a move on who?"
He looked down at how close she was standing and asked, "Does that mean this is you making a move, Charlotte?"
"No," she told him as her arms wrapped loosely around his neck. "But this is."
He hadn't been expecting her to really take action, but there was no way that he was going to complain as he felt her lips against his, softer than he had been expecting. Her tongue pressed against his lips and he parted them to give her access as his hands moved to grab her ass. If she wanted to play a game of chicken, then there sure as hell was no way he was losing it. Besides, he planned on getting as much as he could out of it.
Charlie tore herself away from him suddenly as she shoved him back by the shoulders hard. She took a few steps back and he saw the arrogant smile on her lips before her mother's yells coming from behind her even registered in his mind. Charlie began to walk away triumphantly as Rachel stormed up to him and he suddenly realized that she had been very right. There was no winning for him in this situation. But he'd also been right about something of his own.
She definitely was not nice. And that only made him want her more.
He found Charlie sitting by herself later, when Rachel wasn't around. She was off who knew where with Miles, since Miles had found Rachel attacking Bass and had eventually decided to step in and defuse the situation a little. Bass was still left with quite a few fresh bruises from her, but he had made it out much better than Rachel probably would have preferred.
Charlie looked up at him from the large rock she was sitting on as she, in a tone that he thought ought to be quite a bit more sympathetic, commented, "Hope it was worth it."
He shrugged, then moved to sit down next to her.
"Looks like she taught you a lesson," Charlie added as one of her hands moved to touch a bruise beside one of his eyes.
"You're right. You win," Bass told her. "But I'd do it over again."
"You sure about that?" She challenged.
He looked over his shoulder, only to find that Rachel and Miles were back from wherever it was they had gone to let off a little steam. Rachel was looking none too happily over at where he was sitting with her daughter and he was sure that she was just waiting for an excuse to come after him again.
He turned his attention back to Charlie as he decided that he was going to give her a good one and grabbed Charlie by the legs to pull her onto his lap.
Charlie's lip twitched up into a smirk as she looked down at him and corrected, "Looks like nice guys don't finish last after all. You do."
He couldn't see Rachel anymore past Charlie's curtain of hair, but he was sure he'd be paying the price for this later as her mouth found his.
A/N: Please read and review! :)