Hey guys here's the next chapter. Thank you all so much for all of your reviews. They really mean a lot. Quick note: Charlie may seem slightly...or well...very out of character in this chapter but remember she's really really pissed off since Grant almost killed Ruby in the last chapter. That can lead someone to do a hell of a lot of crazy stuff. Oh and I'm sorry in advance for the evil cliff-hanger at the end hehe...
Chapter 72
"This is adding insult to injury" Grant complained as Charlie set about taping him into a chair "You could have at least used somebody else's house...But what do you do? You decide to use mine instead!"
"Shut it!" Charlie growled angrily as she stepped back her gun still in her hand. Grant struggled furiously against the ties that bound him to the chair and winced as he did so "Too tight?"
"YES!" Grant bellowed "It fucking is! Now let me go or I swear to God, I'll..."
"You're in no position to be making threats" Charlie said coldly as she grabbed a chair and sat in front of him. Grant was unnerved to see the uncharacteristically unemotional look in her eyes.
"What do you want with me?" he asked her at last his tone so soft that Charlie found it hard to hear him.
"What do I want with you?" she echoed "I've been wondering the same thing about you for a while now and then I came to a simple conclusion..."
"What conclusion is that?" Grant smirked at her.
"You're evil" Charlie spoke simply "It's as simple as that"
"Then why don't you arrest me?" Grant asked curiously "Why have you brought me here? Why am I tied to a chair?!"
"You're tied to a chair because you can't be trusted" Charlie answered anger simmering silently in her eyes "You're here because you think it's funny to hurt the people I care about"
"So you've been planning this for a while now?" Grant asked cautiously "Kidnapping me and..." he trailed off unable to comprehend what Charlie was going to do to him.
"No" Charlie shook her head honestly "I was planning on arresting you and locking you up for the rest of your miserable life but then..." her grip tightened unconsciously on the gun and she leaned forward. Grant swallowed nervously and leaned back against the wooden chair "You hurt her...Threatened to kill her. I won't allow that"
"So what are you going to do?" Grant smirked with false bravado "Shoot me? You wouldn't be able to do it. You could defend yourself the first time you won't be able to..." he trailed off as Charlie lifted the gun and pressed it against his temple in one swift movement.
"Bad idea" Charlie said icily "Don't tell me what I will and won't do when it comes to protecting my family"
Grant closed his eyes tightly and his breathing sped up in his panic "Charlie...Stop. This isn't you...You can't do this"
"You don't know me" Charlie muttered even as she lowered the gun back to her side.
Grant released a breath and opened his eyes to look at her "Just let me go"
"NO!" Charlie snapped instantly as she looked back up at him "There's not a hope in hell of that happening..." she stood up and wiped her clammy hands on her jeans as she muttered to herself "I need a drink..."
"Um...In the kitchen" Grant spoke up "Top cupboard on the left. There should be a couple of bottles of Whiskey"
Charlie glanced at him suspiciously but walked out of the room anyway.
"Shit..." Grant muttered to himself as he looked around for an appropriate weapon. The only thing he spotted however was Charlie's phone close to his foot on the ground. Realising it must have fallen out of her pocket her struggled against his bonds. He finally managed to loosen the tape slightly on his leg and kicked the phone gently closer to him making sure not to damage it.
"What are you doing?" Charlie asked as she walked in a moment later with a bottle of whiskey in her hand "You're not going to be able to get out of those you know"
"You need to stop this before it gets too out of hand" Grant pleaded as he looked up at Charlie "You need to let me go...Or arrest me! I won't put up a fight, I swear!"
"I'm not done with you yet" Charlie said as she slumped into her seat and took a quick swig from the bottle of whiskey "I want to talk to you"
Grant again swallowed nervously but merely stared at her silently.
"You want to know something?" Charlie asked thoughtfully as she leaned her head on her hand tiredly.
"Um...No?" Grant attempted "Couldn't we do this in a cell? Without your Gun?"
"When you turned up..." Charlie started quietly her eyes slightly glazed over as if she was remembering something "Ruby thought she was like you...Because of the unfortunate blood relation. She thought that I looked at her differently because of it"
"Why are you telling me this?" Grant questioned awkwardly.
Charlie merely carried on without listening however "Summer told me that when you were at the house...When you tried to attack her...You were thinking about doing the same to Ruby...Is that true?" when Grant merely gazed at her in pure fear she felt herself growing slightly irritated "ANSWER ME!"
"I...I was threatening Summer" Grant stumbled over his words in his panic "So she wouldn't struggle...So I could have what I wanted"
"So you could have what you wanted" Charlie repeated slowly "the same thing you wanted from me? From Cameron?!"
Grant nodded, surprised to find himself shaking in his seat "Y...Yeah"
"You're lying about Ruby aren't you?" Charlie accused "You wouldn't have cared..."
"I wouldn't have done it!" Grant protested feebly "I mean I would have...But I swear I wouldn't have gone all the way. I would have just..."
"Stop!" Charlie ordered loudly as she clutched the bottle tighter "I'd advise you not to go into too much detail when I'm this pissed off" she lifted the bottle to her lips and took another drink of the liquid, finding the burning sensation in her throat comfortingly distracting.
"Just let me go" Grant pleaded again "I..."
"You attacked her again" Charlie said softly as she looked back up at him. Her eyes though glazed over had turned even colder "And you hit her"
"I know" Grant nodded slowly "And I'm sorry. I..."
"Sorry?!" Charlie laughed bitterly "You tried to fucking kill her! You held a knife to her throat..." the realisation of what had almost happened finally hit Charlie like a punch to the gut "Oh God...You were going to..."
"I was just trying to scare her!" Grant lied quickly as he noticed Charlie getting even more agitated and the gun twitched in her free hand "I wasn't going to kill her; I was just trying to scare her...Honestly"
"Where do you get off?!" Charlie growled furiously as she leaned forward even more "You're fucking sick!"
"I...I know" Grant nodded as his heart began to beat furiously against his chest "I know I am but I wasn't going to hurt. I just wanted to scare her into..." his breath caught in his throat again when Charlie raised the gun and pointed it directly at his forehead. He held his breath as the metal of the gun dug into his skin and the safety was removed from the gun with a soft click which seemed to echo around the room ominously.
"Scared now?" Charlie asked her hand shaking violently as unwilling tears obscured her vision "You cut her..." her mind flashed back to her conversation with Ruby only hours previously.
A knife" Ruby answered shakily "He said that he was going to kill me and he pressed the knife against my throat..."
"I...I know" Grant shut his eyes tightly "Please Charlie just let me go. I swear I'll leave you alone or...or you can arrest me. I won't put up a fight"
"What would I have done if you killed her?!" Charlie appeared to be speaking more to herself than to Grant as she pressed unconsciously on the gun.
"Charlie!" Grant gasped in pain "Stop. Please...This isn't you. You're...you're not like me"
"I thought I told you to shut it" Charlie
"You can arrest me!" Grant said again as he opened his eyes to look at the woman in front of him.
"You don't deserve to be arrested" Charlie muttered tearfully "After everything you did..."
"You're supposed to be a cop!" Grant exclaimed desperately "You can't just kill me! You'll go to jail...You'll be just as bad as I am"
"I could never be anything like you!" Charlie stated furiously as she applied a slight pressure to the trigger "And I can do what I damn well want..."
"This isn't you" Grant said again "You're not like this. You're just upset and I kind of get that but...I swear I'll let you arrest me"
"I don't want to arrest you!" Charlie finally allowed the alcohol to drop from her grip and smash on the ground before she raised her other hand to the gun.
"What would Ruby do?!" Grant exclaimed desperately "If you kill me and get locked up?!"
Charlie hesitated for a moment but tightened her grip on the gun "Shut up"
"You can't kill me" Grant stated as he opened his eyes and looked at Charlie "You're...You're just trying to freak me out....That's what you're doing" he moved his foot and brought it down on the phone gently in hopes that it would dial a number "You're not going to kill me, are you?" he paused for a moment before speaking again "So what? You brought me out here to my own house which is coincidentally where I locked Ruby and Summer up...To prove something to yourself? To prove that you can protect them?"
"Shut up!" Charlie said angrily "I can protect them...I am. I will be by getting rid of you"
"Is that any way for a cop to talk?!" Grant exclaimed though fear was obvious in his eyes "You can't beat me Charlie...Because you're turning into me"
---
"Where is she?" Ruby muttered nervously as she paced back and forth next to Summer and Joey "It's like...4am! She should be back by now
"She's probably at the station" Joey suggested though she looked just as worried "She probably arrested Grant and now she'll be interviewing him...or something"
"It shouldn't take this long!" Ruby stated in worry "She would be back by now...Or she would have at least called to let us know she was okay, unless something happened with Grant and she's hurt or something. She could be anywhere. She..."
"Ruby!" Summer reached out and caught Ruby's hand pulling her gently onto the couch between herself and Joey "Calm down...Charlie's fine. Nothing could have happened to her. I mean she's a cop right? She had her gun with her...She's probably just doing paperwork now" she glanced over at Joey who was biting her lip nervously "Right Joey?"
"Right" Joey agreed reluctantly.
"Maybe you're right" Ruby sighed "But I hate to think of her out there with him...He's dangerous and it's getting really late"
"She'll be fine" Summer said comfortingly as she wrapped an arm around Ruby's shoulders and hugged her lightly "You'll see. She's going to walk through the door any second now..."
Joey and Ruby looked at the door as if they were pleading with it to open.
"I wish she would hurry up!" Ruby exclaimed as she tapped her foot impatiently on the floor "I'm going out of my mind here..."
Joey nodded in agreement "Maybe we should try phoning her again. She has been quite a while..." despite her best efforts her worry was obvious.
"Yeah!" Ruby nodded quickly "Let's d..." she trailed off as a ringing filled the air. Joey looked confused and pulled her mobile out of her pocket.
"It's Charlie" she said in relief as she answered it and raised it to her ear "Hey...Charlie?" she frowned after a moment "Charlie are you..." she trailed off as a very different voice sounded.
"What is it?" Ruby asked having noticed Joey pale slightly. She shifted closer to the older girl and leaned her head close to the phone.
"...brought me out here to my own house which is coincidentally where I locked Ruby and Summer up...To prove something to yourself? To prove that you can protect them?" Grant's voice sounded faded across the line
"Shut up!" Charlie responded angrily "I can protect them...I am. I will be by getting rid of you"
Joey and Ruby gasped at the suggestion of what Charlie was about to do.
"Is that any way for a cop to talk?!" Grant exclaimed his voice sounding slightly shaky even to them "You can't beat me Charlie...Because you're turning into me"
"I'll never be like you!" Charlie stated adamantly "You're evil...Pure evil!"
"You can't kill me!" Grant's voice sounded amused but scared at the same time "You may have the gun pointed at me but you won't pull the trigger Charlie...I know you won't"
"Shut up!"
"You could have put me away before" Grant continued stupidly "But you chose not to didn't you? You could have stopped what happened to Cameron, Ruby and Summer...You know you could have"
"Shut up!" Charlie repeated her voice clogged with tears "You don't know what you're talking about!"
"You're just as bad as me..." Grant snarled obviously growing angry at the power Charlie had over him "But you won't be able to pull that trigger. Just like you couldn't protect them the first time. The difference between you and me is that I would have been able to do it. I would have been able to kill her with just a small movement of that knife but you? You can't...Because while you're pissed that I hurt your precious daughter you won't do anything about it. You can't do anything about it. Maybe you were better off being just a sister to her. Maybe I should have finished the job I sta..."
BANG!!
Ruby and Joey both jumped as the loud bang sounded and the phone dropped from Joey's loose grip. She scrambled to pick it up from where it had dropped onto the couch next to her but found the line had gone dead.
TBC
