Chapter seventeen

"I'll drown and make her mine,"- She (For Liz) by Parachute

Kingston, New York

4 years ago

Charlie paced her boyfriend's bedroom while he just sat on his bed and stared blankly up at him. Ben had known that Charlie had cardiomyopathy ever since she was diagnosed with it, but this news was terribly bad news.

"You need a heart transplant?" Ben repeated her words, and Charlie stopped her pacing. He could see that she was trying her best to hold herself together, while she just wanted to fall apart. Charlie was eighteen years old, and she needed a heart transplant.

She nodded slowly, fearing the worst. Ben had been there for her ever since she was diagnosed, but what nineteen year old college boy wanted to date a girl with a defective heart? She expected him to break up with her, because it would be too much. Most boys at her high school would've.

"Marry me," Ben suddenly blurted out at her.

Charlie froze, not expecting those words. "What?" she whispered dumbly.

"Marry me, Charlie Mathews," Ben repeated, getting down on one knee. "I don't have a ring, but I'll get you one."

Charlie stared down at him, hazel eyes wide. They were just barely adults. She was still in high school. Charlie had a heart disease that just might kill her. They were so young, and Charlie had just started saying 'I love you' to him. It was stupid, foolish. Their marriage never would work.

She blamed it on how emotional she was. She had just found out that she needed a new heart- her emotions were haywire. She wasn't in a particular condition to emit good judgment. But still, Charlie uttered one word that she would regret.

"Yes."

"Ex-fiancé?" Damon repeated, looking frozen in shock.

"Charlie didn't tell you that we were engaged?" Ben asked with a slight smirk.

"For like, five minutes," Charlie said quickly, glaring at Ben.

"More like three months," Ben corrected her.

Charlie narrowed her eyes at him. "We were not engaged for three months!"

He rolled his brown eyes at her. "You had half of the wedding planned before you called it off."

"I've had my wedding planned since I was eight!" Charlie retorted.

"Tell me Char; did your wedding live up to the one in your head?" Ben asked, and Charlie glared at him. She knew what he was trying to do.

Damon's eyes snapped to Ben when he heard him use his nickname for his Charlie. He wanted to tear his heart out so badly. "Yes, it did," Charlie said gruffly, and Damon had no idea what they were talking about.

"Please Charlotte- you had no guests, it was at a small church I've never even heard of, and you didn't even have a reception!" Karen argued, and Charlie turned her furious gaze onto her mother. She wanted to yell at her for bringing Ben here, but she didn't trust Damon not to kill Ben if she left them alone together.

"Yes, but the honeymoon was a blast," she retorted with a smirk. Ben's eyes widened, before narrowing in jealousy. Her mum just gaped at her.

"I need to talk to my wife alone," Damon growled suddenly, before yanking her away. His grip on her wrist was tight, and it hurt.

"Ow!" she whimpered, and Damon instantly let go even if he was furious at her for not telling him that she was engaged before him, but he didn't want to hurt Charlie. He never wanted to hurt Charlie.

"I'm sorry," he said immediately, as Charlie rubbed her wrist. There would be bruises.

"It's okay." She sighed. Charlie didn't blame him for being angry. She knew that he would never hurt her on purpose.

"How come you never said that you were engaged?" Damon asked her, his blue eyes icy with anger and jealousy.

Charlie hung her head. "I'm sorry, I should've. It just didn't seem that important, and I didn't like to think about it."

"Not important? Charlie you were engaged. That's important!" Damon snapped.

Charlie opened her mouth to answer, but Damon just continued talking. "I'm not even mad that you were engaged. You hid it from me. I'm not worried about that guy Ben coming in and sweeping you off of your feet again, but if you hid your engagement from me, then should I be?"

"Of course not," Charlie said quickly, pleading to Damon with her eyes. "I should've told you, I know. I'm sorry that I didn't, but I would never choose Ben over you, Damon. I married you- remember that."

Damon shook his head slightly. As if Charlie's condition, a bitchy mother-in-law, and the mysterious group of vampires, werewolves, and hunters running around wasn't enough for him to deal with. Now he had his wife's exe, who would undoubtedly try to get her back.

"I need air," he muttered, before walking away.

Charlie sighed, but let him go. He needed to think, and Charlie needed to murder her mother.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Charlie snarled, marching up to her mother.

"Oh, is everything between you and Damon okay, Charlotte?" Karen asked with fake innocence.

"I told you, time and time again, that if you continued to try to ruin my marriage, I'd never speak to you again. You didn't listen though, so now I want you to leave this town, and leave me and my husband alone. Are we clear?" Charlie said in a serious voice, crossing her arms over her chest.

Karen saw in her daughter's yes that she meant every word. "Charlotte-"

"Do me a favor and take Ben with you," Charlie called over her shoulder before walking away.

Ben and Charlie had been dating since she was a freshman and he was a sophomore. He was nice enough, and treated her right, but that spark just wasn't there. It wasn't like with Damon. She didn't even know why she stayed with him for so long let along say yes to his marriage proposal.

They had been engaged for three weeks before Charlie came to her senses. Surprisingly, Karen was supportive of the engagement, as were her friends. But Charlie realized one day that she didn't want to be Missus Ben Scott. That's when she ended the engagement- and her relationship- with Ben, and she probably broke her mum's heart more than she broke Ben's.

"You look beautiful tonight, Charlie. I didn't get a chance to tell you that."

Charlie groaned at his voice. "Please, just leave me alone."

Ben smirked slightly at her. He was handsome, with short brown hair and brown eyes. He was tall too, though not as tall as Damon. "I missed you, Char. You broke my heart when you broke our engagement," he told her.

"I'm sorry for that," Charlie told him honestly. "But I'm happier than I've ever been now. I don't regret breaking our engagement, because then I wouldn't be with Damon."

The determination in Ben's eyes didn't fade at those words. "I came here to win you back, Charlie."

"You can't win me back, Ben. I'm sorry, but I'm Damon's. I always will be," Charlie told him.

Ben wasn't fazed. "I'm going to get you back, husband or not." Ben gripped Charlie's arm tightly, and she frowned.

"Let me go, Ben," she told him, tugging at his arm.

His grip tightened, and Ben pulled her closer. "I'm going to convince you that you made a mistake, Charlie," he whispered roughly.

Charlie's eyes looked around for somebody to help her, but they were in a secluded part of the room. "Let me go, Ben," she insisted, his grip becoming painful.

"Let her go."

Charlie looked up to see Stefan, and relief flooded through her. Ben glared at him, but released Charlie's arm. "Who the hell are you?" he snapped.

"Her brother-in-law, and if you hurt Charlie again, I won't be nearly as nice the second time," Stefan said in a threatening tone. "You're just lucky that Damon wasn't here to see you touching his wife."

Ben glared at Stefan one more time before walking away. Charlie rubbed the finger-shaped bruises on her arm, before looking up at her brother-in-law. "Thank you." She smiled up at him.

"No problem." Stefan shrugged.

"Where's Damon?" she asked.

"Cooling off outside." Without another word, Charlie went to her husband.

She found him standing outside looking up at the night sky. She walked up to his side and neither said anything. Damon was hurt, jealous, and angry that Charlie hadn't told him about her engagement, and she knew that.

"Do you remember our honeymoon?" she blurted out suddenly.

A light smirk graced his lips. "How could I forget?"

"We were in Maui for a week, and we never left our hotel room." Charlie smirked slightly.

"Not true- we had hot beach sex," Damon corrected her.

Charlie laughed slightly. "Yes, hot beach sex was amazing. The only bad part was the sand." She groaned at the thought of how long it took to rid her body of sand.

"Why did you bring up our honeymoon?" Damon asked, turning his gaze from the moon to his wife.

"Because I thought that it might get you into a better mood, thinking about all our great honeymoon sex." Charlie smirked, and Damon chuckled.

"I'm not mad at you, Char, I'm not. I just want skin that guy alive, is all," Damon said casually. Charlie fixed him with a glare.

"Don't kill Ben, Damon. Just because we were engaged for a few weeks doesn't mean he deserves to die," Charlie argued.

"I beg to differ," Damon said darkly, and her glare intensified.

"Okay, how about this? If you kill Ben, we're not having sex for a very long time, and you're going to be kicked out of bed until further notice," Charlie threatened.

"Why do you care if Ben dies or not?" Damon shot at her, his eyes blazing with anger.

"Because we were friends, Damon. And just because you're jealous doesn't give you the right to kill him," Charlie argued.

He scoffed. "I'm not jealous, I just don't like the way he looks at you."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't kill him, okay? I won't forgive you if you do," she told him honestly before walking away.

Damon groaned to himself. He wanted to kill Ben so much, just because of how obvious it was that he wanted his Charlie back. But then he would risk his marriage, and he wasn't going to lose Charlie.

Damon walked back into the party, set on finding his wife, apologizing for his rather impulsive thoughts of killing Ben, and then taking her home. If he was lucky, he could still get that reward that Charlie had promised him earlier that night. But Damon wasn't going to push his luck.

He pushed through the crowd of people and scanned for Charlie. At first couldn't see her, but then his eyes locked on a kissing couple in a dark corner, and he froze. It was Ben and Charlie.

He felt so betrayed and heartbroken, that one second Damon thought that Charlie was kissing Ben back. But then he saw his wife struggling under Ben's grip, and he relaxed. Then he fired up again, at the thought of Ben kissing his wife.

Not even two seconds later, Damon ripped Charlie out of Ben's grip. She gasped out and rubbed her bruising arms. Damon's gaze never left Ben. At first, he stared defiantly back, but then he began to grow nervous under Damon's furious stare.

"Damon, don't!" Charlie exclaimed. But it was too late.

Before she could stop him, or he could come to his senses, Damon snapped Ben's neck. Thankfully, they weren't being watched, and nobody noticed when Ben's dead body fell to the floor.

Damon glared down at the body, before turning to Charlie. Her eyes were wide with surprise, but anger filled them. Damon started to regret his actions, as he looked back at his wife.

Where did this leave them?

A/N: thank you to: Stefanie, Samantha meyers, aerocrombielovr16, SomebodyWhoCares, vdemily, KimmyWSmith, and Be My Baby for reviewing!

Reviews equal updates!

~Abby :)