Chapter 10 - The smell of something

As soon as he had spotted Tegan outside the restaurant he knew something was up, and the smile she wore was just all wrong. She wanted something, she wouldn't smile otherwise considering they didn't leave things on a good note last time. It had ended with her throwing a beer bottle at his head, missing him with just a couple of inches. He had just been about to turn around and walk away when she walked up to him and he had nowhere to go without her following him. He knew her, and even him running into the men's room wouldn't help. There was no stopping her.

He had had to fight off the urge to cringe back when she reached out and touched him. There was no way he was going to let her get to him so he froze in place and waited for her to get on with it. That's when he had seen Charlie standing a few feet away by the fens and he he tore himself from Tegan without a second thought. Now he just had to find out away to get Charlie uninterested in Tegan. He didn't want her near Tegan, cause she could read people just as well as Charlie and he was afraid that she would see what was really going on and use it to her advantage.

After having said that Tegan was the mother of Heath's daughter and explained that Heath even had a daughter they had gone back to her place that was empty, considering it was now morning, and gone to sleep. He had woken up five minutes ago after a five hour long nap and was now just staring down at the beauty that laid next to him. It was the best feeling he knew, waking up next to her. At first when they started seeing each other that was something he never got the privilege to do and not something he desire either, he never considers himself as a cuddler. But after the first couple of times he found himself wanting to have her in his arms every night and now they often spent the night at the other ones house, they were seldom alone and that suited him just fine.

He knew that she would find his gazing, or what she was calling staring, was creepy but he couldn't help himself. It was not often he got the opportunity to study he without all of her walls up, she was always somewhat guarded even when she was with him. But when she slept she looked so peaceful and fragile. Sometimes he would catch himself and ask what was happening to him, he never used to be this sappy and he never wanted to cuddle with a woman ever before. She was special. But he already knew that, he knew that the first time he met her in his club. No woman had never gotten his attention like that and got him to fight to get her home, he always let the women come to him. But the first time he was absolutely sure was when he woke up alone the next morning and she was nowhere to be found and he found himself disappointed. That's when he knew that he was in for it.

He smiled as he felt Charlie's body stir a little before she snuggled closer to him and moaned softly, an indication that she was waking up. Soon enough her eyelids fluttered open and he was met by those blue eyes that he was totally compelled by.

"Morning beautiful." She blinked a couple of times to get the sleep out of her eyes so that she could focus her gaze on him.

"You need to stop doing that!" She groaned. "One of these days you'll give me a heart-attack, I swear!"

"You'll get used to it!" He chuckled and planted a kiss on her temple as she grunted and turned away from him and buried her face in her pillow. "What are you doing crazy?"

"I'm trying to sleep without some creepy stalker staring at me."

"Awe babe, come on!" He crept up closer to her, so that her back was flush with his chest, and started to plant kisses on her neck that got a slight moan out of her but she still swatted him away.

"Shut up or I will kick you out of the bed!"

"Someone is cranky this morning... But it's quite alright, I have to get to work anyway."

"Yeah, well it's been an exhausting night." He sighed. There it was, the elephant in the room. His teasing mood disappeared in a flash and he sat up slightly in the bed and leaned against the headboard, pulling her along with him because he didn't want to let her go. He was afraid she would pull away from him if he did. He clung to her petty body like she was his anchor that kept him safe

"You could say that again! And I'm sorry ay, this whole thing just..."

"Yeah, I know. Let's just forget about it, my bosses are on to me enough as it is and letting this go will not make it better. We're clutching for straws right now and it's getting us nowhere." She snuggled back into him and he could feel her body slacking and her breathing slowed down, letting him know she was falling back to sleep. She most truly be exhausted if she barley managed to stay awake for five minutes, he smiled down at her and waited until he was certain she had fallen asleep before moving out of the bed. He would've happily stayed right where he was but Heath was waiting for him at the restaurant so he put on his shoes and was out the door with a single backward glance at the sleeping goddess.

He had not heard from Tegan since he ditched her like he had expected, the only message he had was from Heath telling him to hurry. He didn't worry to much about it, he was just glad that she didn't bother him and hopefully she had gotten the message last time and gone away. But he didn't hold his breath, the saner part of him knew that she was up to something and that there was no way she would just disappear. Despite better judgement he kept the hope up and went up to the restaurant only to have it deflated at once by the sight at the bar. Next to Heath on one of the barstools sat no other than Tegan, he knew it was too good to be true. With a stealth face he walked over to the bar and took over from the staff member that was already there, turning his attention to Heath while completely ignoring Tegan once more.

"About time you showed up mate!"

"Yeah, well I had other things to take care of." Heath got a sour expression on his face and Tegan started to look interested in their conversation now that there was some drama.

"Like screwing your pig-girlfriend?"

"Don't test me mate, not after the stunt you just pulled!"

"Wow! I really didn't believe it when I heard that you were going soft but a pig girlfriend and working in a bar?"

"He doesn't work here, he owns the place." He felt his jaw twitch and the glare he sent Heath's way should've been enough to bury him ten feet under ground. He really didn't know when to shut up and do as he's told, he just had to screw up more then once today. He knew exactly what Tegan would do with that kind of information. Not just the fact hat Charlie was a cop and she could get him into rouble but she would also use Angelo's as leverage. She wasn't stupid, she knew what their use of it was.

"Heath!" He saw the glimpse of triumph in Tegan's eyes and she knew he wouldn't be going anyway soon. She now knew that there was money to go around, giving her more motivation to stay around if not to make his life miserable for how he dumped her a year ago when he found out that it was Heath that was Darcy's father and not some stranger.

With a sigh and a shake of his head, that clearly indicated he had given up, he walked around the bar and over to his office. "When you've gotten rid of her, come and see me I have something I want to talk to you about."

Safely inside his office he punched the door, he hat was starting to get bumbs as an aftereffect of all frustration he had taken out on it, instead of punishing Heath. It barley took five minutes before the opened and Heath came standing in front of him where he sat at his desk. When he didn't say anything he could see Heath's fuse go off.

"Are you going to spit it out or what?!"

"What the hell were you thinking, bringing Tegan in to all of this?"

"What?! I thought you needed to remember where you really belonged." He had smug smirk covering his face, like he was proud of himself for putting him on edge.

"With the girl who cheated on me and had a baby with my brother?" You could almost smell how confused Heath was, it had all made perfect sense in his head when he connected the dots. But he never expected for Brax to react the way he did.

"Wait, I thought you were over that?"

"Of course I'm over that your idiot!" He growled "But don't you see that she's trouble? We have enough to deal with as it is with all the things the cops is trying to pin on you."

"I thought we sorted that last night?"

"They know you were there, so after last night they are trying to find anything even a parking ticket. So better be able to handle both that and Tegan cause I won't do it!"

They were both breathing heavily, trying to clam down and they just stood there for several minutes glaring at each other. Both equally frustrated. The tension could be cut by a knife and if someone would say one wrong word punches would be thrown, and as usual Heath couldn't keep his mouth shut. "So... You don't love her then?"

"Who?"

"Holden" Brax's jaw ticked and he had to restrain himself from jumping at Heath. He couldn't react that way about Charlie around him, everything had just died down.

"No" Heath nodded and looked pleased with the answer so without another word he turned around and walked out the door. He felt sick to his stomach, there was to much going on right now and he felt as if he had betrayed Charlie by denying her. Every day it got harder to tell himself he was just using her when he knew it wasn't true. It never had been, even from the beginning. That had just been an opportunity that showed afterwards. He wanted to go see Charlie but she had strictly told him to not show up at the house under any circumstances because she and the girls were having a girls day/night. He picked up the phone in hope that maybe, maybe they hadn't started just yet.

"Charlie Holden" her voice answered absentmindedly while she continued to laugh carefree at something in the background.

"Hey babe, what are you up?"

"Brax! We just cracked up a bottle of wine. Why?" Disappointment filled him and he slouched back in his chair.

"Oh, you've already started?"

"Yeah, why is something wrong?" He smiled at the concern he heard in her voice and he immediately felt better.

"Nah, everything's fine! I'll talk to you later yeah."

"You sure?"

"Definitively. You have fun babe!"

He hung up the phone and sat down thinking for a few seconds before grabbing his keys ready to go home and let Liam in charge for a few hours. When he got home he found Kyle and Casey sitting on the sofa playing video games and his mode spiralled downwards again, he had looked forward to have the house to himself if he couldn't be with Charlie. "Shouldn't you be at work or something?"

"Nah, it's my day of you goof, you did the roster."

"Smartass! Well don't you have something to do, girlfriends to see or something? Case?"

He could feel their gazes on him as he walked into the kitchen to get something to eat and later on when he sat down on the other sofa. It really started to bug him when they still didn't look away when he started eating, he hated when people watched him eating, they had even paused their game to be able to wait him out until he started talking. Finally he snapped and looked up at them and their eyes were pure, fake, innocence. "Spit it out will ya? A guy tries to eat?"

"What crawled up your ass?"

"Tegan" he grumbled and both Casey and Kyle's eyes widened at the mention of the name and he didn't blame them. Neither of them had expected for her to ever show her face again. Kyle the calm one just nodded and sort of accepted it but Casey, the more naive one, couldn't really grasp it.

"Wh-what, Tegan? Is she here?"

"Yep"

"Why?"

"Heath." He sighed. "Your idiot of a brother didn't think I had hard life enough trying to keep him out if jail so he decided to throw Tegan into the mix."

"Does Charlie know?"

"She kinda met her yeah." He said evasive, hoping they would drop it all together but he was never that lucky.

"Yeah well does she know? About you two, I mean?"

"Drop it will ya Case?!"

"She doesn't know, does she? You have to tell her Brax!" He pinned him with his gaze to show him how serious he really was and Brax knew that he had to tell her he just hoped he could put it if a little bit longer. Then for the first time that night Kyle spoke up and as usual he was smart about it all.

"You have to tell her Brax. If you're not using her you have to tell her. And I know that you're not using her, you haven't ever been this happy. Don't mess her around! I might not have known her for very long, but you won't find better then her, so if you want my opinion... Do not screw it up." With that he picked up his control again and un-paused the game and turned his focus back to the TV. His mouth was slightly agape, he was astonished by the words that came from Kyle and he knew he was right.

"How did you know? About me using or not using Charlie?" Kyle smirked slightly but kept his eyes on the game.

"We live under the same house. We know what you guys are doing to some extent and you should really watch out for propel around you when you are talking if you do t want a certain someone find out. And about the not using part, well when you let down your walls you're not too hard to read." He shrugged not giving it too much thought, he knew he could trust Casey and Kyle, no matter what. They don't have any secret agendas. He went back to his food and slightly enjoying hearing the two of the banter. Not as livid as before he showed up but for that he was sort of grateful. But after a few seconds the silence was interrupted by Casey once more.

"Do you love her?" He stopped in mid motion as he was about to put another fork of food in his mouth. Taking his silence as doubt Casey continued on. "If you do, you will either have to give them up or... Or you'll have to let her go."

~#~#~#~#~#~

The laughter rang through the kitchen as she, Martha and Bianca sat on the many surfaces with a glad of wine, watching while Leah cooked their food. She smiled as she relished the secure feeling she had. She was laid back and relaxed, more so then ever. When the four of them get together all hell broke lose. They get tipsy, laugh and gossip and in general make a lot of noise but they have the time of their lives every single time.

"Yeah, well can you blame me?! The brat didn't even get into town before she had stolen away it's most eligible bachelor!" Bianca pointed towards her trying to hold a serious face when everybody else laughed so hard the almost fell to the floor. She was still banging on and on about how she supposedly had luckily snatched Brax away from here, even though she was just joking. But Charlie couldn't help but agree. She had been lucky that night she met him in the city and even more so that he wanted her and was a stubborn mule who wouldn't take a no as an answer.

"Honey you have to get over that!" Leah laughed out which earned her a death glare and the loss of her wine glass as Bianca took a huge sip of it before turning back towards Charlie.

"All jokes aside, how is it to date Summerbay ladies favourite hunk?"

"It's very nice actually."

"Nice?" Martha chocked out. "Nice? That's all you've got for us? Come on we want details!"

"Fine. Aside from having to arrest his brother all the time I'm really happy. I didn't think he would be able to do the whole one woman thing but he is very good. He keeps me grounded and he's there and makes me trust him. We don't do anything major but it's the little things, like when I wake up I find him staring at me like I'm the most precious thing in the world or if he wakes up before me, he sometimes make me breakfast... He makes me feel wanted and it's good. Nice." She smiled sheepishly and looked down to study her glass as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Now you're really making me jealous. I never wake up to find someone gazing at me or breakfast, only empty sheets and Irene's singing downstairs."

Bianca's comment broke the seriousness and they were back to laughing and the rest of the day followed the same patten until it got dark outside. They drank more wine, ate, gossiped. Drank some more wine while talking serious questions until they were back to laughing again. Currently they were talking about Bianca's sexlife, or lack there of.

"I'm serious!" She exclaimed as they continued to laugh at her. "Since Liam it's been pretty much dead, I've been out trying to find someone but no one really spiked my interest. And with Martha and Leah being married and now you finding Brax I have no one to go out with anymore." She pouted adorably and Charlie couldn't help but smile.

"We can still go out hun! How about we go into the city and go to Brax's club where I met him. Maybe you'll get as lucky as I got..."

"Now that's the best idea I've heard all day!" She raised her glass and clinked it with Charlie's in salute. "So I've spilled about my sexlife and I know you don't want to hear about Martha and Jack's... And let's face it Leah and Dan's isn't that interesting since they are married, the only interesting one's is yours my friend so spill it!"

"I'm not telling you anything!"

"Come on Charlie, you're the only one with an exiting life. So does he live up to his reputation?" Martha said while wiggling her eyebrows, making her blush slightly. "Is it good?"

"It's really, really good." She said blissfully while faking a dreamy look on her face, making the others laugh at her silliness.

"I'm starting to regret asking, I would've lived better in the unknown." Bianca pouted.

"Had better?" Leah chipped in and she just shock her head. In real honesty she never had better. Brax knew what he was doing and she guessed it helped to have such a strong attraction as they had.

"Nah. He's very... attentive. He knows how to treat a woman better then anyone I've been with."

"And that's saying a lot considering you've been with a woman!"

"Haha shut up!"

"But you're happy though right?"

"Yeah, I really am." She smiled and the others found a new subject but she didn't really listen to them. She was happy. Really happy. She hadn't really thought about it this much before incase it would all end soon, but the girls asked questions that forced her to be honest with herself. And happy was a really good word to describe how she felt right now.

After talking a little more and cleaning the dishes after their dinner they all sat down on the sofas with wine and popcorn to watch a move. A typical girl movie were they all gushed over the handsome guy who would get the outcasted girl. They found each other, broke up only together right in time to the end.

Brax had texted her several times during the night to check in and see if the girls had yet to leave. She couldn't help but find it adorable that he wanted to spend time with he so much.

After the movie ended the girls left her alone with the dishes that she decided to leave until tomorrow, instead she walked into the bathroom and took shower. After making sure that all the windows and doors was locked and that all the lights were turned off she walked into her bedroom in just a towel, ready to jump into bed. She turned on the lights and let out a scream and almost jumped so she hit her head on the ceiling. On her bed laid Brax, leaning against the headboard with a shit eating grin on his face.

"The best you ever had huh?"

She did her best not react to what he was saying and focused instead on glaring holes into him. "Seriously?! Do I have to get locks on my windows as well as my doors? How long have you been in here?"

"Long enough and you could but I don't know what good that would do ya, I was never a Boy Scout when I was a kid. And you're avoiding my question. Am I really the best, attentive men that has had the pleasure of having you in his bed?"

The grin on his face grew about ten times bigger if that was even possible and the red on her face exploded. He got up from the bed and saunter over to her and gathered her in his arms.

"Don't be embarrassed babe." He whispered in her ear. "Your the best I've had too. You're pretty amazing, Charlie. You're very hard not like, and sexy as hell too!" She laughed and circled her arms around his neck and brought him in for a soft kiss.

"God, I missed you today!"

"You saw me this morning?"

"So?" He pulled her closer and kissed her again with so much passion she almost got dizzy.

"Good point. I missed you too."

"Good! Now it's time to justify that."

He grabbed her hands and pulled her down onto the bed with him where she curled up to his side, just enjoying him holding her. They lay in silence as his hand stroked up and down her spin outside the towel that covered her body, but a soon as he came across a patch of uncovered skin the touch of his hand on her bare skin sent chills up her entire body and a warm, fussy feeling grew in her stomach. Her muscles was somewhat relaxed since her hot shower but his motions on her back and the steady rhythm of his breathing made her entire body to mush. All coherent thoughts went out the window and she forgot about the embarrassment and the hope that he didn't hear everything they said. But boy was she wrong.

"What was it I heard about you being with a woman?"

"Oh god!" She groaned and buried her face in his chest, just eating for his laugh that never came.

"No I'm serious babe. Wh- is it true that you've been with another woman?" She peaked up from his chest when he heard the curios tone in his voice. There was not a trace of amusement or judgement in neither his voice or face and she couldn't do anything but tell him.

"Before Angelo I got involved with this girl, Joey, that I got in contact with through work and we sort if hit it off. I had never done it before, it was all new to me but we created feelings for each other but after a while she left town and that was it."

"So hang on. You've been in a relationship with a girl?"

"Yes..."

"Wow that is hot!" She laughed and smiled up to him and his serious looking face. "No I'm serious babe. That is hot!"

"Thank you! For not judging me."

"Anytime. Besides I don't have the right to judge now do I, and you wouldn't be you otherwise, and it's you that I like so it doesn't matter to me. It just makes you even sexier." She smiled up at him in amazement and reached up a hand to stroke his cheek gently.

"Why is it that every time you climb through my window you get all cheesy and emotional, though guy?" He looked at her without saying anything for a while with an intense yet gentle stare before speaking.

"Well that's what you do to me. "

She got all giddy and crawled on top of him so she was in the right height to kiss him. She poured out every once of the feelings she didn't dare to voice and say out loud, hoping he would grasp on either way. He answered her with the same passion, his tongue stroking along her roof and teeth clashing while they clung to each other likes they were drowning. Soon enough her towel was on the floor and soon his shirt joined it. He flipped them around so that she was on her back with him on top and then he started to devour her. He planted kisses all over her body, like he was trying to remind her of her words from before. They spent hours trying to show the other how they felt before they finally exhausted one and other and fell asleep.

There you go guys! These past week has been crazy at school with me doing the national test while I was trying to get my Cambridge certificate, but I've been trying to write as much as possible! There haven't been to much action in this chapter but next chapter will be more adventures. Tegan will get more involved when Heath put his foot in to it big time. Read and review lovelies! Xx Lexie