Chris gave Karen a lift into work a few minutes later; they made sure Charlie was nowhere to be seen before settling on going in together.
"I feel awful." She noted dimly.
"Don't feel awful." He told her steadily. "What he did was not your fault."
They both got through to the office, and Karen was still so shaky and nervous that Chris had to think of something to get her to relax.
"Have this." He got her some water, which she shakily took. "And try to calm down."
"I can't…not if I know that he can come in at any time." She was more worried about what Charlie would say to her after she failed to come home and spent the night somewhere else. She could only dread to think at what questions he'll fire at her.
"I'm right here." He positioned himself against the windowsill. "And I'm not moving till my first set is due – which isn't yet."
"But he could end up accusing you of doing things with me." Karen put to him carefully. "He might even go as far as hurt you."
"Not on the premises he can't." Chris didn't seem that bothered at the prospect of being accused by Charlie of having sex with his wife, or prospectively having his lights punched out by someone who was twice his size. "He'll only get thrown out if he does."
Sure enough, it didn't take long for Charlie to come in.
His gaze immediately fixed onto Karen. "Where did you go last night?" His voice almost became a snarl and his eyes became hard.
Chris almost jolted at the aggression in his voice.
"I spent the night at a friend's place." Which was partly true. "Not that it's any concern of yours."
"It's every much my concern, Karen, you are my wife." Charlie glanced over at the younger male, only assuming that he was there for work-based reasons. "You do not go to another person's property, doing god only knows what."
"Nothing ever happened." Karen affirmed, knowing she wasn't far off from getting some form of penalty off him.
"So tell me who he is then."
Chris was on standby for whatever Charlie was going to deal out to her; he didn't know himself what he was going to try, but he knew it wouldn't be anything nice.
"What makes you so sure that it was another guy?"
His smirk became wrier. "Because I know you." He grabbed her by her arm and pushed her up against the wall. "And I'm starting to lose my trust in you."
Chris sprung up from where he was positioned and slid up to the fighting pair; he pulled Charlie off of Karen, taking the larger male by surprise at how strong he was.
"Thanks…I think." She managed to gasp out, finally able to get her breath back before he throttled her.
"Are you all right?" Chris asked her shakily, tightening his grip around Charlie's arms as he'd forced them behind his back.
"I'll live."
"What do you want me to do with him?" Chucking him out would be his idea of sorting him out, but he didn't want to anything too extreme.
"Just throw him outside." Karen pulled herself away from the wall. "I'll decide something later."
Charlie sharply turned to Chris. "Don't tell me she's got you protecting her." He was starting to see him as nothing more than a shrimp.
"Just keep away from her." He put to him warningly, opening the door and pushing him outside.
She positioned herself back at her desk, with him going back to his previous spot.
"You can't live with someone like that, Karen."
She shook her head as she tried to get back on with her work. "I have to."
He leant over her desk. "No, you don't." His eyes bore a protective glint in them. "I saw what he was like with you just then, he turned into an animal. Please don't tell me you want to carry on living with someone like that."
Karen gazed at Chris, beat.
His gaze became softer. "I would never, ever treat you like that."
She smiled softly at what he'd said and secretly felt flattered. "I got off more lightly than I thought."
"But still, you didn't do anything to provoke him."
"I don't need to do much to provoke him, Chris." She watched him slide back to his previous spot again. "If I don't give him the right answers to his questions, he'll get wound up."
"Listen to me. You can't let him control you. You don't have to do anything he says, if you don't like what he asks of you."
Karen felt tears come to her eyes again.
Chris wasn't sure what to do, but he couldn't let her sort her problems out by herself. For all he knew, she could end up getting badly hurt, and he wouldn't want that. "What do you want me to do for you?" He eventually asked her.
"Just give me the rest of this week to try and make things better." She put to him. "And then you can intervene all you like."
He smiled softly. "Just be careful…ok?"
Karen decided to do whatever Charlie asked of her, however hard that was for her to do; she made sure she stuck to the times he wanted her back and that she spent hardly any time with anyone else, especially a certain person she could not stop thinking about.
She spent one night on the sofa in the lounge, a few thick blankets thrown over her to keep her as warm as possible from the overnight frost outside. She peered up at the ceiling, unable to get Chris out of her head.
Karen closed her eyes, her hand subconsciously drifting down along her stomach, wishing that he were right there with her…touching her. She gasped at the dreamlike contact, feeling herself get pulled up against a warmer body and have their arms wrapped around her protectively.
She hastily opened her eyes, feeling a little guilty at what she'd imagined and fantasized about. Chris was nothing more than just a friend, but their first night out together – when they were talking and then he took her back – only made her look further into his real feelings for her.
Especially when he leant further forward and kissed her; she felt his lips softly press themselves against her cheek, sending warm pulses through her pores and exciting her. She could sense no lewdness from him, but there was definitely something tender and affectionate in his action. Surely friends of either sex did things like that without construing anything intimate?
Even the scent of the young male excited Karen all the more – musky yet sweet at the same time. She wondered what it'd feel like to have him pressed up against her, laying beneath her as she did so many naughty and sexual things to him.
No! She snapped to, sitting upright in bed. She knew the intimate feelings and lewd thoughts she had for him had to stop. But they wouldn't, which was tiring her to no end.
The sheer thought of Chris, however small, made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And why wouldn't all those feelings for him stop?
Oh my god…she thought eventually. I think I'm falling for him.
