Happy Easter! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far and added this story to their story alert! It's really nice to hear all your thoughts and I'm intrigued to know where you guys think I should take this so please carry on reviewing!
Here's another chapter- enjoy and review!
Outside Brax quickly the scanned the car park in search of his brother but instead his eyes found Charlie who was inspecting the paint work on a very nice Mercedes.
"Nice car." He called out, prompting her to turn around and face him.
"Thanks." She replied wanting to get away but before she could close her car door, Brax was standing there holding it open. "What do you want?" she asked, sighing.
"To apologise. Look, I realise that I have a reputation or whatever, but please give me a chance and I'll try to prove to you that I'm not as bad as I seem. I have a lot of ideas for this place to improve it and would really like to discuss them with you at some point." He answered solemnly.
"I'm not so sure that's a good idea Darryl," Charlie replied slowly, "I take my business very seriously and I don't want anyone wasting my time."
"I have no intention of wasting your time Charlie. I was too quick to judge you the other day and I want us to be able to start again." he said.
"Start again." she repeated.
"I mean in a business context. I understand you don't see me in that light but I really appreciate you not firing me after what I said about you the other day and I want to prove to you that I can actually fill my job capacity sufficiently," he explained.
"I'll think about it Darryl." she answered after a moment's pause causing him to laugh. "What's so funny?"
"I'm sorry, it's just you're the only person apart from my mum who calls me Darryl. Everyone else just calls me Brax." He explained, his eyes twinkling.
"Well I'm not everyone else am I? And anyway, Brax implies we are friends which we're obviously not. You're my employee."
"Hey, you sound so sexy when you say my name that I really don't care." A grin broke out across his face as he saw a tinge of pink spread up her cheeks.
"You think it's sexy that I sound like your mum?" Charlie raised her eyebrows in disbelief at him.
"What can I say? I like women who tell me what to do, who are in charge, who are on top." His eyes were twinkling with laughter by now as Charlie continued stonily staring at him, her face masking her true emotions.
"Shame then isn't it that we don't always get what we like or what we want?" She asked, rising to his bait.
"Oh no, I always get what I want in the end. You should know Charlie, I'll never give up." His smile subdued a little as he stared pointedly into her cool blue eyes, trying to see what she was really thinking.
"Arrogance isn't a good trait Darryl and nor is being unable to accept you're fighting a losing battle. Prepare yourself for disappointment Mr. Braxton because you should know," She leaned her face in close to him, so her lips were just centimetres away from his, before whispering, "I always win." It was Brax's turn to blush now as a red glow snaked its way up his cheeks, causing Charlie to smirk. "Can you let go of my door please?"
"Yeah of course, sorry" he said, releasing the car door from his grasp and letting it slam shut. He watched as she reversed out of her gap and drove off narrowly avoiding a truck that had parked crossed over three spaces in the time they had been talking. Taking his eyes off the back of the Mercedes he walked over to the truck where his brother was parked. They greeted each other in the normal masculine manner.
"Who's that girl you were talking to?" Heath demanded.
"Charlie Buckton and we weren't really talking" Brax snapped in response.
"Wow, defensive. Is she not interested in you, mate? Ah well, the intelligent ones never are," he joked, "I wouldn't take it too hard".
"Funny Heath and I could get her if I wanted to." Brax responded.
"Yeah right. I'll give you a $100 if you get her to go out with you if you're so sure."
"Fine, consider it done" Brax said.
"Okay, if you're so confident get her to go out with you and say you're a couple." Heath challenged.
"That's a bit cruel isn't it?" Brax asked.
"Look if you don't think you can do it that's alright, I don't think you can do it either."
"No, I can do it," Brax decided, "You coming in? We need to talk business."
"You sure you want to talk in there with Angelo around?" Heath asked, uncertainly.
"Yeah, we don't need to worry about him anymore. He knows what he's got to lose."
Charlie and Ruby had a tradition of going out together on a Sunday afternoon, after all the homework was complete to discuss what had happened the previous week and what was planned for the following week. It was a tradition they'd had since Charlie came to live with her Godmother at the age of five and it was one they'd found hard to let go. When they first moved, after Ruby's mother had died, it used to be a walk on the beach and an ice cream but as Ruby had grown older, and Charlie's wealth had increased, they'd started going to restaurants or spas instead. This day was different though, it was exactly 10years since they'd moved here and Charlie thought that it needed a whole day's celebration rather than an afternoon's.
Charlie pulled her Mercedes into the drive and wandered into the house.
"Sweetheart," she called up the stairs "Are you ready?" There was a sudden scrabbling upstairs and then there was silence. Picking up a bat from beside the front door, Charlie crept silently upstairs. The doors of her bedroom and of the bathroom were open, but Ruby's was closed shut. That was strange, Ruby always kept her door open, she liked to have the light from the landing shining into her room. Mustering all the courage she could find in her body, Charlie crept a little further forward, a little further and then a little further until she was stood right outside the door. Breathing in deeply, raising the bat in her left hand, Charlie Buckton hit the door with her hip and it burst open.
"Aaaaaaarghhhhh!," she screamed barging in to the room, bat above her head, not expecting what she was about to see.
"Hang on,Ruby?" Charlie swore her eyes were deceiving her because laid in her Goddaughter's double bed was a half naked teenage boy and a very, very naked Ruby.
"Right." She said, unable to find a fitting response, "Ruby put your robe on, you," She gestured at the boy and asked civilly, " Out now and put your shirt back on. Can you please wait on the landing while I have a quick word with my Goddaughter?" He scurried past her, holding his shirt to his chest. Charlie turned her gaze on the now covered up Ruby.
"Who was that?" Charlie asked quietly, her voice little over a whisper.
"He's my boyfriend." Ruby answered, unable to make eye contact.
"What's his name?" she asked, just as quietly.
"Casey Braxton." She answered after a pause, staring at her feet.
"Braxton? As in the dodgy Braxton's?" Charlie's voice rose dangerously
"This is why I didn't tell you. I knew you'd over react!" Ruby's voice rose with her Godmother's.
"Over react? Ruby, let's put this into perspective, I've just found you in bed with some guy I didn't even know you were seeing and now you're telling me he's a Braxton, as in the family I've warned you about a million times." Shaking her head in disbelief she added, "Right, put some clothes on I'm going to drop him off".
"Can I come?" she asked hopefully.
"Fine, but only because I don't want you out of my sight anymore or you might decide to jump in bed with some other guy while I'm not looking." With one last disbelieving look at her Goddaughter she closed her bedroom door and escorted Casey downstairs where she left him in the living room as she went into the kitchen for some silent time. She did not understand; how could she not know that the girl, who was as good as her daughter, had a boyfriend and was sleeping with him? So many questions crossed her mind and she didn't know if she had the strength to ask them or perhaps more to the point, the strength to hear the answers. Ruby burst into the kitchen with a tentative smile which Charlie was unable to return. Storming past her goddaughter, she picked up her car keys from the sideboard and called for those two to come.
The car journey to the restaurant was awkward, at the very least. Silence passed between them all with each person looking out of a different window, no one meeting anyone else's eye, each too occupied with their own thoughts. Charlie reversed into her space for the second time today, how could her plans have gone so wrong? She waited for the two teenagers to emerge out of the car and turned around to see the two of them, hand in hand, looking at her and smiling. Sighing and shaking her head, Charlie led the way into the restaurant that she'd been in far too frequently recently.
Brax was sat in the corner reading over the books and inputting the relevant information into the laptop when he saw Charlie storming in, angrier than he could ever remember seeing her. He raised his head in acknowledgement of her arrival and smiled.
"Well hello, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that this isn't a visit for pleasure?" He joked smiling.
"No, not exactly. I'm guessing you know this teenage boy who's hiding behind me like a scared little girl?" she said, gesturing behind her.
"Yeah, I was going to ask what you were doing with my brother. You two aren't together are you because I understand the whole cougar thing is hot right now, but I think there might be a law prohibiting this behaviour Charlie. " he replied in mock sincerity.
"Darryl do I look like I'm in the mood for your stupid jokes? I've just gone home to pick up my Goddaughter to take her out and instead found your brother in bed with her!" Brax started to laugh and slapped his younger brother on the back.
"Nice one mate, glad to see you're finally starting to become a man." Turning back to Charlie he said, "What do you want me to do about it? They can do what they want, if they want to sleep with each other who are we to stop them? It's their choice." Brax returned to his accounting. "Was there something else Charlie, because I'm kind of busy right now?" Charlie looked at him with a look of repulsion etched across her young face.
"You two, go get something to drink, I'm sure you're thirsty after your strenuous activities" she said throwing some money into their hands. "I want to have a little conversation with Darryl here." She turned around to face him, fury coursing through her body.
"Can we go for a walk?" she asked.
"Lilly, I'm kind of working right now." He answered, shaking his head.
"And considering I'm the one who signs the cheque at the end of the month I think it would be in your interests to do what I ask, don't you?"She threatened. Sighing deeply, Brax logged off the laptop and followed Charlie out of the restaurant.