A/N- I posted THREE NEW CHAPTERS yesterday, make sure you read them before this one. =)
Chapter 55 - What a Night!
Charlotte walks back in the hospital, mad as hell, after Cooper pulled away. Cooper knows where Tyler is and that Jolie has him. Charlotte doesn't know where and she has a good mind to call the police and tell them to follow Cooper's car. But she also knows Cooper's a good man and he'll do the right thing once he gets to Tyler and Jolie.
She walks down the hall to find Cole. He's leaning against the wall crying. She pats his back. "Hey, how are ya'?
"Not good." He responds.
"You should go home." She tells him.
"To my empty house?"
"I have a hunch Tyler will be back soon." Charlotte tells him.
"Do you know something?"
Charlotte doesn't answer. She bites her lip tightly.
"If you know something you have to tell me, Charlotte." Cole insists.
"I don't know anything, for sure, but Cooper got a phone call and ran off. I think it might have something to do with Tyler." She tells him straight.
"Who would call Cooper about Tyler instead of calling the police or me?" Cole's confused.
Charlotte puts her hands in the pockets of her lab coat. "Jolie Harris; they're friends."
"Jolie Harris? You think Dr. Harris took Tyler?" Cole asks. "Why would she do that to me?"
Charlotte answers. "It's just a hunch, so don't go callin' the police or anything but she's the one who started this whole ball rollin' suspecting you of abusing Tyler." Charlotte sighs. "She's the one who convinced Cooper to call social services."
"That bitch!" Cole hits the wall.
"Calm down, Cole. She thinks she's protecting Tyler. She got it in her head you're abusin' him."
"I need to call the police."
"Wait til mornin'," Charlotte convinces him. "Like I told you, it's just my hunch. I don't know anything for sure and if she does have Tyler, Cooper will bring him back to you." Charlotte hopes anyway.
Cole answers, "I hope you're right. I don't know what I'll do if they don't find Tyler by morning."
"I'll drive you home." Charlotte offers. "You shouldn't drive home all alone."
When they get to Cole's house he invites her in.
"Can I get you something to eat?" He offers.
"I'm fine." Charlotte sits on the couch. "Mind if I ask you something?"
"Shoot." Cole takes a beer out of the fridge.
"How did Tyler get those cigarette burn marks on his back?"
"I noticed them after we were visiting my pop in Texas. He watched Tyler for me a couple nights while I went out. I noticed the marks when Tyler got out of the bath one night."
Charlotte listens.
Cole continues, "Tyler was walking into his room with no shirt on, I asked him about the marks. Tyler said he didn't know how they got there. I even asked him if his grandpa did it but he told me no."
Charlotte asks. "So, why do you suspect your dad if Tyler said no?"
"Tyler loves my pop. My pop's good to Tyler, but my pop also has a drinking problem. He can get real mean when he drinks. I lived with it as a kid." Cole explains. "My brothers and I knew to steer clear of pop when he was drinking. All you had to do was look at him wrong or make too much noise and that would be enough to set him off."
"I hear ya'. My momma had an addiction problem, but she never got mean. She'd lock herself up in her room for days."
"I wish my pop hibernated in his room when he was drunk. It was a good thing he didn't drink too often. He usually drank around my mom's birthday or the anniversary of her death. We knew to stay away from pop at those times."
Charlotte rests her hand on his knee to comfort him.
"Funny thing is he never laid a hand on my sister." Cole tells her.
"Because she was a girl?" Charlotte asks.
"Because she looks exactly like my momma and hurting her would be hurting my momma, is how I always saw it."
Charlotte rubs his arm as a show of support.
Cole continues talking. "But let me tell ya', when my pop's sober, he's the greatest guy. My brothers and I would watch the game with him, we had a lot of fun. He took us on trips, we wanted for nothing. My pop worked hard to provide for us, but watchout when he drinks, ya know?"
"The man needs to get himself to some meetings, so he's not hurting anyone." Charlotte advices. "Especially little children."
"You can't teach an old man new tricks." Cole sips his beer.
"Well, you need to keep him away from Tyler" Charlotte tells him.
"I know that now."
"Your dad gave him the cigarette burns on his back but how did he get the two scars on his face?" Charlotte asks.
"Those are real honest to goodness being a boy and riding your bike into a tree branch injuries." Cole laughs. "Tyler's a real boy. Just you wait and see when that boy of yours gets a little older. He'll earn some scars too."
"I believe it." Charlotte laughs. "He's already got me worryin' and he's not even a year old yet."
"Thanks for hangin' with me. You're real easy to talk to." Cole smiles.
Charlotte laughs. "You're the only person who thinks that. I don't have a reputation for my communication skills."
"Could've fooled me." Cole looks at her. "I'd offer you a beer but I know you're in the family way."
Charlotte laughs. "I haven't heard that expression since I was back home in Alabama."
"Really?" Cole smirks. "People don't say you're in a family way, no more."
"Not in LA." Charlotte smiles. "It's a different world here." She tells him.
"Ain't that the truth." He puts his beer down on the table. "Me and you got a lot in common, it seems. Movin' here to LA as adults tryin' to fit in." Cole leans back on the couch.
Charlotte leans back next to him. "I had a hell of a time fitting in when I first moved here, nobody liked me." Charlotte confesses.
"You gotta be kidding? How can they not like an angel like you." Cole sips his beer.
"I'm no angel." Charlotte rolls her eyes. "Believe me when I tell you nobody liked me."
"The hell with them, I like you," he winks at her and then chugs down some beer.
"I like you too." Charlotte says with a smile, she knows it sounds flirty but she doesn't care. Cooper's off somewhere with Jolie, so she reserves the right to some innocent flirting.
Cole puts his beer back down on the table and puts his arm around her, "I really like you." They lock eyes after he says it. His eyes move down and now he's looking at her lips, she licks them, instinctively. She knows he wants to kiss her. She feels a rush of excitement wash over her. She lets him lift her chin up with two of his fingers. He gives her a soft, quick kiss to test her out. A small moan escapes from her mouth after the feeling of his warm lips on hers. He takes it as a cue to kiss her again. He gives her another soft kiss on the lips, she doesn't protest. He kisses her a third time. This time it's a deeper kiss and she finds herself kissing him back. She wraps her arms around his neck and feels his hands roaming her. The pulse in her neck is thumping hard and fast as he kisses over it. He pulls his shirt off first and then unbuttons her blouse, while she swirls her fingers over his chest and down to his abdomen. He groans in approval and moves his hands down to her slacks, unbuttoning them. She can feel his fingers reach in and trail down over her small baby bump. This feels all wrong now. It's the baby bump she made with Cooper, her husband. "Wait," she gently pushes Cole's hand away. "I can't do this to you," she tells him.
"Do what?" Cole asks, looking at her lips again.
"Use you like this." Charlotte answers, pressing her lips tightly together.
"I don't mind." Cole grins and leans in to kiss her again.
Charlotte gently pushes him away. "I'm sorry, I'm just really angry at Cooper right now and I got carried away, thinkin' this would make me feel better."
"It seemed to be working, until you stopped." Cole smiles and rubs her shoulder.
Charlotte smiles, "Yeah well, I have a thing for angry sex but I'd regret it as soon as it was over." Charlotte holds her hand over her baby bump. "I can't do this."
Cole moves away to the other end of the couch like a true gentleman, "I'm sorry too. You're so beautiful and I needed the distraction tonight." He leans back on his end of the couch and picks up his beer again. "I thought it would take my mind off the hell I've been going through tonight."
"I guess we were both looking for the same thing." Charlotte tells him.
"What's that?" Cole asks.
"To forget about our problems for a little while."
"But, we'd only be making more problems," Cole responds.
"Humongous problems." Charlotte nods.
"I hear ya'." Cole sighs and chugs down more beer.
"This never happened. " Charlotte tells him as she buttons up her pants. "We never kissed."
"Got it, never happened." Cole winks at Charlotte as she starts buttoning up her shirt.
The doorbell rings, Cole calls out. "Who is it?"
Tyler yells from the other side of the door, "Daddy it's me!"
Cole races to the door and opens it. Cooper's holding Tyler in his arms. Jolie's standing beside him. They walk in through the doorway. Cole grabs Tyler from Cooper's arms and hugs him tight. "Thank you," he reaches out to shake Cooper's hand.
Cooper notices Cole's not wearing a shirt, which wouldn't be so unusual, if he didn't look over and see Charlotte on the couch hastily buttoning up her blouse.
Cooper looks at Charlotte. "What the hell?" He says, not expecting any of this.
"Nothing happened, dude." Cole tells Cooper. "She's just a friend."
Cooper turns to leave and go to his car. Jolie follows him. "Are you okay, Coop?" Jolie asks.
Cooper stops and turns to face Jolie. "Worry about yourself, Jolie. Go explain to Cole why you took Tyler, see if he'll drop the charges."
"Where are you going?" Jolie asks him.
"Home, to my children," he answers. Cooper walks towards his car, Jolie walks back up the steps leading to the front door to talk to Cole. Charlotte rushes out the front door to catch up with Cooper, she passes Jolie on the steps.
"How could you do this to him?" Jolie snaps at her.
"It's your fault, everything that happened tonight is your fault!" Charlotte snaps back at Jolie. Charlotte rushes down the steps to the driveway and runs to Cooper who's starting to pull away in his car. "Coop!" Charlotte yells to him as he backs out of the driveway.
Cooper backs out, Charlotte hears his tires screech as he pulls away leaving her standing alone in Cole's driveway.
Review Please!
