His guilt was eating him but he had to admit, as much as he adored Joey, she wasn't into being too adventurous in bed, so a couple of hours of mind blowing drug induced sex had been a tonic to his growing frustrations, he just hoped Joey never found out or his marriage would be over. Though he was still pissed Joey had worked last night, it had been a welcome relief when he'd returned to an empty house and had time to shower that whore off him and was asleep before Joey got home.
Splashing his face, he stares into the mirror, pleased to see clear eyes and no sign of the drugs he'd used. That was another thing Joey could never find out. If it ever got out he'd used, it would be the end of his marriage and his posting here, along with any chance of further advancement and he'd be stuck doing grunt work for the rest of his career. He splashes water on his face again. It was a slip up, that's all, he'd been clean for over four years and he had just needed to take the edge off his growing frustrations and it had done that, so now it was back to being a cop and cleaning up the force. "You fool, you're little better than that bitch you're trying to get rid of." He shakes his head. "Of course I'm better than her, she's corrupt, while I have an illness," he reminded himself. "It's an illness, one I can control," he goes over the familiar motto. He'd always been good at hiding his drug use and it was only bad luck his father had found the drugs on him that time, but the family money had ensured his stint in rehab was kept quiet and no one else, not even Joey, knew he'd ever had a problem. It was all Brett and Robbo's fault anyway, they'd started the parties in high school which were basically just drug and fuck parties with women they'd never see again. "That whore better keep her mouth shut," he mutters, not that anyone would believe a coked-out whore, but he didn't want Joey to be embarrassed by any malicious gossip. He checks himself out in the mirror again, seeing nothing but a strong, confident police Sergeant staring back.
Walking into the kitchen, he finds Joey reading a book while sipping her juice. "I apologised to Watson," he says, bending down and kissing her cheek. "Joey?" he says, irritated when Joey continued to read her book, basically ignoring him.
"Mmm?"
"Did you hear me?"
"You apologised to Georgie, I know, Martha told me."
Angelo bites back a curse when Joey still doesn't look up at him. "What are you reading?"
"Martha said she might need me to cover some night shifts, so I'm studying up on my drinks and that. It's mostly just beers and wines we serve during the day but I had a few orders for cocktails last night and I don't want to waste my time looking up the recipes under the bar again."
"You're going to be working at night again?"
She shrugs, "If Martha needs me." She finally looks up at Angelo. "I'm sorry I only left a note, but I didn't have much time to get to the club and then I was busy and couldn't call."
"It's fine Joey," he tells her, even though it wasn't. He was glad that Joey was making friends, but he didn't like the idea of her job taking over. He worked hard all day and wanted his wife home to greet him and if she wasn't going to give him kids, the least she could do was be a proper wife to him.
Glancing at the clock, Joey puts her book aside. "I'm going for my swim, have a good day." She picks her bag up and brushes her lips over his. "I love you," she says, rushing out of the house.
Charlie brings the water bottle to her lips, still some distance away from Joey, but enjoying the view as Joey strips down to her bikini. She frowns when she notices a familiar blonde walking toward Joey.
Preparing to enter the water, Joey's eyes are diverted by the gorgeous blonde heading in her direction.
"Good morning."
"Morning," Joey returns her friendly greeting.
"I've seen you here a few times now, you look right at home in the water."
"Thanks."
"Oh, I'm Bianca by the way."
Joey takes the proffered hand. "I'm Joey."
"You're new to the area, aren't you?" she asks, allowing her hand to linger on Joey's.
"That's right, my husband is the new sergeant." Not wanting to appear rude, Joey extracts her hand from Bianca's clutches as gently as possible. The woman was definitely flirting with her the way her eyes trailed up and down her body, but while Charlie's gaze always made her heart race, this woman's gaze made her distinctly uncomfortable and left her feeling like a piece of meat she wanted to devour.
"My ex is a cop and she was always busy, you must find the same with your husband."
"It's an important job that they do."
"That it is." Bianca's eyes catch sight over Joey's shoulder of her ex walking toward them. "Well, I should be going, enjoy your swim."
Joey nods, turning to see what Bianca was in such a hurry for.
Charlie had been hoping she'd been mistaken, but seeing Bianca striding toward her, wearing the same confident smile she always had, her mood soured. She hadn't been aware that Bianca was back in town.
"You're looking good Charlie."
"So are you." Despite what a bitch she was, Charlie could never deny that Bianca always looked fantastic. "How long have you been back?"
"Just over a week." She smirks at Charlie, not bothering to disguise her interest as she stares at Charlie's body. "I guess our paths just haven't crossed until now."
"You haven't changed, I see."
Bianca's eyes finally find Charlie's. "You know me, I always like to admire the view."
"Yeah, I do know you."
"Maybe we could catch up one night?"
"I don't think so Bianca."
"We were good together." She runs her hand along Charlie's hip. She had always been turned on by Charlie's hot body and it was no different now, especially in the skimpy running get up she was in.
Joey feels an irrational flash of jealousy as the woman touches Charlie with obvious familiarity. "I guess I know who the cop ex is now," she murmurs. She shakes the feeling of jealously off, telling herself it wasn't jealously, just concern for her friend; there was something about Bianca she hadn't liked or trusted and she didn't want her friend to succumb to this type of woman.
"Not that good together if you felt the need to cheat."
"I was lonely."
"Buy a dog. I'm not interested in sleeping with you."
"Since when do you turn down a string free fuck?"
"I've changed Bianca, I'm not into the one night stands and I'm seeing someone now."
"Really?" Bianca's tone carrying a hint of jealousy. "Who is she?"
"She's not from around here."
"So she's just a casual fuck. I thought you said you'd changed."
"I have. Daisy may not be a local and I'm still getting to know her, but my days of picking up women in a bar just for a night of sex is over."
"If you're looking for something more permanent, I'm up for that."
"Bianca, why the hell would I ever trust you after what you did?"
"I made a mistake."
"You do that a lot. For the last time, I'm not interested." She walks around Bianca, continuing on her path to Joey.
"Your loss," Bianca murmurs to herself as she walks away.
"Hey!" Charlie smiles to Joey in greeting.
"Hey. An old friend of yours," Joey tilts her head toward the retreating Bianca.
"More like a bad mistake."
Joey feels herself relaxing at Charlie's words. "She seems kind of full on."
"She is, not to mention she's trouble."
"Yeah, I kind of got that."
"What did she want?"
"To introduce herself to me before eating me," she jokes.
"Bianca does like to push boundaries, but as flirty as she can be, she rarely pushes once she realises there's no chance."
"Well, she definitely has no chance with me."
"Nor with me," adds Charlie. "If she does bother you again though, let me know and I can have a word with her."
"You'd risk your life like that?" Joey asks with a cheeky grin.
"For you, sure." Charlie grins back. "It is my job after all and speaking of which, I should finish my run or I'll be late. I'll see you later."
Smiling at the pleasant view Charlie's rear provided, Joey shakes her head. "I'm married, not dead and there's no harm in just looking," she tells herself as she runs into the surf.
"Rubes, shouldn't you be in school?"
"I have a study period." Ruby stares at the man standing next to her cousin, her heart beating fast.
Georgie rolls her eyes. Since she'd been paired up with Aden, it was becoming far too common an occurrence to have a woman staring lustily at him and she didn't really want her young cousin getting any ideas about him. "Shouldn't you be studying then?"
"Huh?"
"If it's a study period, shouldn't you be studying something?"
"I am," she murmurs, before blushing bright red when she realised how that sounded with her staring at Aden. "I mean, I'm studying for a test, I'm just having a break for a few minutes."
"You want a lift back to school?"
"Huh?"
Shaking her head, Georgie tells her cousin not to be late getting back to school before dragging Aden away. "Relax Georgie, she's too young for me."
"She's only a couple of years younger than Belle."
"Yeah, but that still makes her a kid and Belle a woman."
"Damn," Georgie mutters when she spies John Palmer waiting by their squad car.
Aden eyes her curiously. The more time he had spent with Georgie, the more ridiculous he'd found the rumours he kept hearing about her, yet with the way she was glaring at the guy with what looked very much like hatred, he was guessing there could be some truth in them after all. "Unless this is about official police business, you have nothing to say to me," Georgie says before John could say a word.
"I'm not here to start an argument Georgie, it's just that Gina heard what happened at the station the other day and wanted you to know that her door is always open."
"Tell her I'm fine."
"She understands how hard it can be for you Georgie," John presses on. "And she helped you deal with your problem before."
"Did you not hear me when I said I'm fine?" Georgie says in a cold voice. "I'm not a dummy you know and it's no longer a problem."
"That's not," he shakes his head, giving up.
"You really don't like that guy, do you?" Aden says once John was out of earshot.
Georgie says nothing as she climbs into the car. "We have a history, ok?" Georgie finally says. "One that is no one else's business."
"Fair enough."
"Any more ideas on this profile of yours?"
"Not just yet. We will catch this guy Georgie."
"Before or after he burns another place down?"
Sighing, Aden admits it will more than likely be after.
"Ruby, hurry up or we'll be late," Charlie calls out impatiently.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Ruby answers back.
Charlie rolls her eyes, putting her feet up on the table while she waited. The day had gone surprisingly well, things were back on track at work, she and Georgie were still getting along and she'd spoken to Daisy on the phone. They had a date tomorrow night and she was looking forward to it more than she expected. "It's because I haven't had sex for awhile," she mutters. It also didn't help that she saw Joey in a bikini nearly every day, which could easily be avoided by changing her run time or location, yet as much as Joey's body drove her to distraction, she just couldn't bring herself to change her routine.
"Well come on Charlie or we'll be late," Ruby says as she heads out the door.
"I hate it when she does that," Charlie says, rushing to catch up to her sister.
"I'm sorry for the short notice honey," Martha says as she rushes into the house just after 6, "But I invited Joey over for tea tonight."
"You did what?"
"It's my night off and Angelo is working late, so I thought it would be nice to have Joey over. We'll get takeaway or something, it's not a problem is it?"
"That depends, I kind of asked Charlie to come over with Ruby."
"Ah," Martha pauses with her top half over her head. "Well, Charlie and Joey are getting along now, so it shouldn't be a problem. In fact, why don't you invite Belle over as well while I have a quick shower."
"This should be fun," mutters Georgie as she dials her sister's number. "Up for tea at the madhouse tonight?" she asks the moment Belle answered.
"By madhouse, I take it that means Charlie will be there."
"Yep and the boss' wife."
"In that case, I'm definitely in, I'd like a chance to get to know her better."
"It's tea Belle, not the Inquisition."
"Ha, ha. I'll be over in a mo."
Georgie hangs up. Charlie and Joey were getting along better and she herself was getting along with both of them, so the night shouldn't be stressful, she just hoped that the ever-observant Belle didn't get too curious about Charlie and Joey's friendship, especially how it came about.