"You Call It Madness But I Call It Love"

Hi CJers!

Sorry about the long delay getting back to you with this chapter! Life has been crazy hectic but I hope to be back with more updates on a more regular basis!

Thanks for your patience and I hope you haven't forgotten this lil story of mine!

And thank you to everyone who reveiwed the last chapter! I hope to hear more from you guys on what you think of this update!

Enjoy reading!

Chapter Thirty-Six

Charlie cuddled up against Joey's body. The perspiration from their love making was evident all over their bodies. Charlie couldn't believe how amazing it was to be with the woman she loved.

The pair of them had been seeing each other secretly for over a week now. Almost every night since they'd returned from the surfing competition, Joey had snuck out of her room at the Braxton's and spent the entire night at Charlie's place making love to her girlfriend. Though she was well and truly old enough to do as she pleases and not have to sneak out of her own house, Joey didn't want Brax knowing about her midnight adventures.

And they were indeed adventures.

Though the couple were secure enough in their relationship and wanted everyone including the Braxton family to know about them, Charlie and Joey were enjoying their secret relationship.

Taking so much effort to trying to find the time for them to be together alone at Charlie's was becoming harder every day. They knew they had their own place out by the cove they had discovered but the couple rightly agreed that being together in a bed was a lot more comfortable and private than being together on the middle of the public though deserted beach.

While they spent their evenings hiding up in Charlie's room making love to one another passionately with that freedom of being together came the knowledge that they had to keep their passions quiet from anyone else in the house finding out.

Charlie and Joey longed for the times they did manage to find time alone at Charlie's with no one around so they could let their loud emotions out without restriction. Their love making was an amazing experience for both of them but the fact they were keeping their rendezvous' a secret from everyone was providing them with extra excitement that they felt they might lose once their relationship became public.

Charlie knew she could tell Ruby the truth that she was finally in a relationship with the Braxton woman and that her daughter would accept it but she also knew that Ruby wouldn't be able to keep it a secret from Casey. The last thing either her or Joey wanted was for Brax to find out about them from anyone else.

Charlie had no idea how Leah would react and she felt guilty about sneaking her girlfriend into their house so they could spend their nights' together when Leah probably wouldn't be happy with what was going on under her nose especially when she had her son VJ to consider as he also lived there.

But the guilt from enjoying her nights with her girlfriend was well and truly overwhelmed by the love she had for Joey and the excitement of spending every moment possible in her lovers' embrace.

Now Charlie was once more finding it harder and harder as the days wore on to leave her girlfriend so she could go to work at the Station. Joey wasn't making anything easier for her and just the look in her eyes was enough to make Charlie want to spend every waking moment in her girlfriends' arms.

Since Joey had won some prize money for winning the surfing competition to add to her 'small fortune' – as she called it – she didn't particularly need her job down at the Bait Shop. She'd only taken it as it was something to keep her busy whilst she was in town for what she thought was only going to be a short time. Bumping into Casey's friend Romeo one day at the Surf Club, she found out that he had left high school but was struggling to find work.

Offering up her shifts at the Bait Shop to the young man had felt like the right thing for Joey to do and Morag had no arguments over the change of staff. Talking with Romeo about his future plans after he'd accepted her kind offer of taking her shifts at the Bait Shop, the former Summer Bay High School student informed Joey that he was hoping to save enough money to be able to run some Fishing & Charter business on the Blaxland with the possibility of providing surfing lessons during his free time for extra cash.

Having a love for boating, though not as deep as her love for surfing, Joey made Romeo promise to let her know when he was going to start skippering the Blaxland as she was keen to help him learn the ropes if that meant spending some time out on the boat.

Though Romeo was deeply appreciative of both her kind offers, Joey couldn't help but feel deep down she only offered him her job at the Bait Shop so she had more time to spend with Charlie and didn't feel like she was constantly leaving the Bait Shop unattended during the middle of the day just so she could partake in a loving rendezvous whenever Charlie could get away from the Station for her lunch break.

Charlie groaned heavily as she laid in Joey's arms and her girlfriend began writing patterns across her lower body, "Damn it Jo, I'm meant to be getting ready for work."

Joey grinned at her girlfriend and pressed their lips together, "So you can be a little late but very happy. Besides you're the boss, nobody can tell you off for being late."

Charlie bit her tongue as Joey's hand inched further down her body, "You are too damn sexy! But it's not enough to make me late to work again! Besides it'll only delay our lunch break together. I don't want to go to work but..."

"Someone's got to catch the bad guys," Joey finished for Charlie, as her hand hovered at the cops' hip.

Brushing their lips together passionately once more, Charlie reluctantly pulled herself from Joey's embrace.

Charlie blushed as Joey spent the next few minutes watching her walking around her room trying to find her police uniform then struggling to put her clothes on. With Leah already at work, Ruby and VJ at school, all she wanted was to leave her clothes off and spend some more passionate moments alone with the tattooed brunette but Charlie had made a promise to herself not to let her relationship interfere in her career. As much as she loved Joey and knew the girl was more important than her career, Charlie didn't want to be accused of neglecting everything else important in her life just to make love to the bad girl.

Finally managing to get herself changed, Charlie walked back over to her bed as she was slipping on her uniform shirt over her bra. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Charlie smiled as Joey shifted over to her and they kissed gently, "You gonna get up and do something this morning or are you gonna stay here and be all 'naked and waiting for me in my bed' when I get back for my lunch break?"

Joey playfully took hold of the edge of Charlie's shirt, trying unsuccessfully to get her girlfriend to stop doing up the buttons, "'Naked and waiting for you in your bed' sounds like a good plan but I think I'll sneak out of here and go down the beach for a surf. I'll sneak back in here and be waiting for you when you text me to let me know you're on your break and coming back here."

Charlie licked her lips, the image of enjoying her break with Joey making her more eager to get to work so she could be back here with Joey sooner, "I can't wait. I love you."

Joey stroked Charlie's cheek softly, "I love you too. Now get out of here and go get those bad guys. Oh and you might want to wipe that smile off your face before someone notices how incredibly 'loved up' you are and figures us out."

Charlie grinned even more hopelessly, pecking Joey on the lips, "Okay I'm going but I'm not promising I can wipe this smile off my face. I am totally 'loved up' and I'm not about to hide it. If anyone asks I'll just tell them life couldn't be any better right now. Have fun with your surfing and I'll see you soon."

Joey sighed in frustration at not wanting to let Charlie go but reluctantly did so. Joey watched on longingly as Charlie stood up and exited her bedroom whilst doing up the rest of the buttons of her shirt.

A few hours later, just before she was meant to have her break and go back home to meet Joey, Charlie got called out to the Surf Club by John Palmer to deal with another situation with the River Boys being rowdy at the Club.

After insisting to Heath and Brodie that they and the other River Boys need to find another place to hang out because they're upsetting the Surf Club officials, Charlie made a quick exit desperate to be in the arms of the woman she loved.

But Joey's arms were not the ones Charlie landed in when she exited the Surf Club and crashed straight into Brax who was entering the venue.

Though shocked at walking straight into someone, Brax instinctively wrapped his arms out to catch the woman from falling backwards. His face fell as he recognised Charlie being the woman now in his arms.

Charlie frowned at the icy look in Brax's eyes as he realized who he'd run into. Though taking a few seconds to get her balance, Charlie soon stepped back out of Brax's instinctual embrace and allowed his arms to fall to his side.

Brax swallowed hard at the sudden feeling of loss when Charlie released herself from his grip. He didn't understand why he felt like that when Charlie had only been in his grip for a few seconds. It was no secret that he couldn't stand the Buckton cop and those feelings were even stronger since he'd witnessed his sister kissing Charlie over a week ago at the surfing competition.

Brax was conflicted on what to do about it. He could tell just by the way Joey had been acting the last week that she was very happy and was even talking about staying in town for a lot longer than they thought. There was no denying the reason behind her decision was not that of spending more time with her family as she had insisted and that if he made an obvious move to split them apart he would risk making his sister hate him for losing Charlie.

But the thing that really got to Brax was that he couldn't understand how a woman like Charlie could be attracted to his little sister. Whilst not been blind to Joey's attractive qualities, it was well known that Charlie had a string of strong-bodied ex-boyfriends that she had spent her adult life throwing herself at without any thought to the consequences.

And Brax hated more than anything why it was that he cared so much about not understanding Charlie's 'out of the blue' feelings for Joey. There was something more than not wanting his sister involved with the woman whose family had ruined their own. Brax knew that but he didn't know what it was exactly.

Glad to be out of Brax's embrace, Charlie shivered as the bad boy asked her if she was okay, "Yeah I'm fine. Sorry but I've got to-"

As Charlie brushed past Brax, she spun around back to him suddenly in surprise as she heard him call out - "Do you have any plans tonight?"

Brax ran his tongue over his teeth pensively. The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them and he knew exactly what they sounded like to Charlie. He didn't know why he'd even asked her if she had plans that night and dreaded the answer as the image of Charlie being intimate with Joey crossed his mind. He didn't want to know just exactly what the girls' relationship was and could only imagine that Charlie would be hesitant to make things official between them.

Realizing he didn't even know why he asked Charlie if she was busy that night and that Charlie was expecting him to say something as she stood there staring at him anxiously, Brax stuttered, "I...uh...would you mind coming past Angelo's bar tonight? It's just...well last week after I didn't turn Ruby in for being the one who started the party when I gave you back her handbag which I found at the scene...I gave you some advice on dealing with raising a teenager...it's just that Case is having some trouble at school 'cause he's been asked to participate in this Science Fair but he doesn't want to do it even though he really is smart enough to and I can't seem to convince him to prove how smart he really is...so I was thinking you could...come by for a drink...and give me some advice about dealing with...this kind of thing...if you...had the time..."

Charlie bit her lip, shocked at Brax's suggestion, "You didn't have to help Ruby especially after everything between us...I thank you for it and hope that you don't change your mind about getting both Ruby and Casey in trouble for what they did...and I'm sure you can talk Casey into doing this Science Fair without my help...but I'm not...I have plans tonight...sorry."

With that Charlie turned around to leave but was surprised once more when Brax reached out and held her back by the elbow.

Gesturing that he didn't mean her any harm, Brax shrugged, "Come by another night...I know I haven't been the nicest guy to you but I'm trying to get past it because I really don't want a cop hassling me all the time...maybe if you have a drink with me you'll get to see a whole different side to me..."

Charlie cleared her throat, wondering if Brax had something criminal to hide which is why he didn't want her hassling him and was pretending to be nice, "I'm glad that you're trying to get past everything because holding onto your pain won't help you...but I'm not interested in having a drink with you...sorry."

Charlie shrugged out of Brax's grasp and walked away from the bad boy. Her mind was spinning at Brax's sudden turnaround from threatening her to stay away from his family to...

Asking me out on a date? That's what he was doing right? Flirting with me and thinking that I'd be interested in getting to know him better? What the hell is Brax playing at?

After everything Brax can't seriously be interested in me can he? And what am I supposed to tell Joey?

Your brother who hates me and doesn't know we're together is now making a play for me...this is gonna go over well...

Brax ran his hand through his hair as he watched Charlie walking away from him. He had no idea what had possessed him to ask Charlie out. He knew she was in some kind of relationship with his sister, though he didn't think it was anything serious, even though Charlie couldn't actually tell him that she was already with someone else when she turned him down. The two women didn't know that he knew about them and while he didn't know just what their relationship was he knew that he didn't want Joey to be with Charlie.

Trying to get over their family connection was never going to happen as far as Brax was concerned and pretending to get past it and watching Charlie trying to work out if he was been honest about it was interesting for him.

Licking his lips as he continued staring at Charlie as the cop walked over to her police car and got into the vehicle, Brax realized the only way to get Charlie away from his sister and end their fledging feelings was to win Charlie over and make her see that he was the only Braxton sibling she could ever want to be with...

Then be the bad boy that he was and break her heart the moment Charlie chose him over Joey - 'cause the idea of really wanting to be with the Buckton woman was madness!

So is Brax just playing a twisted game to steal Charlie from Joey or could he possibly start falling for the woman he hates?

Next Time - Charlie attempts to tell Joey about Brax's advances on her but will the couple get sprung by another Braxton sibling instead?