Chapter 2 ***Charlotte and Old Friends******************

The two men pulled Charlotte out of Violets house and into the back of a van. Charlotte's mind was racing with thoughts of how to fight her way out of this. She had taken self-defense classes at the gym but there were two against one. This was going to be difficult. One of the men got in the back of the van with her and the other hopped in the drivers seat. After they began driving the man in the back with Charlotte pulled off his ski mask.

"Remember me?" The young man with brown hair pulled back in a short pony tail smiled at Charlotte. His face was scruffy as if he was trying to grow a beard.

Charlotte's eyes opened wide and she made a sigh of relief. "It's you. My God you scared me half to death." Charlotte then started smacking the young man on the arms. "Why'd you just do that?"

"Calm down Bama. We just need your help with something." The young man pushed her flinging arm away still smiling at her. "You look good Bama."

"You could have used the phone if you needed my help." Charlotte grumbled at him.

"And you would have said 'no' like always. This way you couldn't say no." He answered flat out.

"My friend Violet was home. She's probably traumatized now." Charlotte folded her arms and glared at him.

"Your friend saw us and slammed the door. She hid in her room. Some friend she is coming to your rescue." The young man laughed.

"That was mean, Jesse. She's been through a bad trauma before. Wasn't right of you guys to do what you just did. She's probably called the cops by now an there probably lookin' for me."

"You let us worry bout the cops Bama." Jesse lit up a cigarette and offered one to Charlotte.

Charlotte put her hand up. "No. I don't smoke anymore. Although I could really use one to calm my nerves. But I can't. Pregnant ya know. Kind of puts a damper on things. I can't have a drink, can't smoke." Charlotte started rambling.

"Whoa. You're preggers? No one told me that." Jesse was surprised.

"That's cause no one knows. I just found out about it. Haven't even been to the doctor yet. I have my first appointment tomorrow morning." Charlotte was relieved to tell someone she was pregnant. She found out about two weeks ago and had kept it to herself.

"So, Who's the daddy?" Jesse was interested.

"Some doctor I was living with for a while but we just broke up." Charlotte didn't want to give Jesse too much information.

"I always wished you and my brother would have had kids before you left him." Jesse really liked Charlotte. She started dating his older brother when he was just a kid. She was like an older sister to him.

"I left your brother because of what he did. I wasn't willing to forgive him." Charlotte looked at Jesse straight in the eyes.

"Do you forgive him now after all this time? Jesse asked hopeful .

"Time heals things. Doesn't hurt as much now. Why?" Charlotte looked at Jesse.

"I don't know. I always hoped you and my brother could at least be friends again. You guys were amazing together. My brother was lucky to have you."

"And I was lucky to have him." Charlotte was gazing straight ahead dreaming back to her past relationship. Charlotte realized what she just said and snapped out of it. Her voice got strong and snarky now. "Too much time has gone by. There's no turning back."

Jesse looked at her. He didn't know if he should believe her or if she was just trying to convince herself of it. "Well I guess it doesn't matter anyway. You're havin some other guys kid."

Charlotte changed the subject . "What do you need my help with that you dragged me out of bed at 4:30 in the morning?"

"One of our guys is sick. He needs a doctor bad. Can't just go to any doctor because they'll call the cops. He ran out on his bail. So we decided to ask you."

"You didn't exactly ask me." Charlotte snapped. "I don't want to get involved in any of your criminal activities. I'm out of it." Charlotte was getting mad now.

"That's what we thought you would say Bama . That's why we dragged you out in the middle of the night. Just cooperate. Help the guy out and we'll let you go." Jesse gave her smile.

After driving for several hours they pulled up to a large mansion style house. They entered the property through two large gates.

"It still looks the same." Charlotte commented noticing someone had kept up the rose garden she planted many years ago. The dogwood tree she planted when she first moved in had grown tall and was blossoming. Charlotte couldn't help but smile at the sight of it. It felt kind of good to be back home.

They walked in the front door. It looked the same as Charlotte remembered it aside from a few new pieces of furniture. Jesse took her to a room down the hall. There was a young man only about eighteen lying in bed he looked pail and weak.

"What's wrong with him?" Charlotte asked.

"He was shot. He had surgery at the hospital four days ago. He was under police guard but we managed to distract the guard long enough to get him out of the hospital. Something must have went wrong because he's got a high fever and he's getting worse every day. He needs your help."

Charlotte examined the young man and decided he had an infection from the surgical site.

"He's got an infection. He'll need antibiotics. The wound will need to be cleaned out."

Someone walked in the room. Charlotte turned to look at him.

"Welcome home Bama." The tall attractive gentleman smiled with a twinkle to his eyes.

Charlotte could only just smile back as she studied her ex husband. She had not seen him in about eight years. The years had been kind to him. He looked just as attractive and desirable now as he did on their wedding day.

THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS- I LOVE REVIEWS!!