Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty Eight

The following morning, Charlie, Joey and Ruby struggled to look each other in the eye. The previous evening, having done the deed with Xavier, Ruby had arrived home and spotted Charlie's laptop. She'd opened it in order to check Facebook but her eyes had nearly fallen out of her head when she'd seen a website full of dildos. Deeply embarrassed and rather horrified, she had hurried to put the laptop away in Charlie's room, only to find her in throes of passion with Joey. Now, all three women were embarrassed and struggling to make conversation.

"Look, we're really sorry about last night," Charlie finally said. "Can we forget it ever happened?"

"I'd love to," Ruby said. "Unfortunately, certain images are now imprinted on my brain."

Charlie cringed. Joey tried not to laugh.

"We're really sorry," she said. "How can we make it up to you?"

"Driving lessons would be good," Ruby said immediately.

"How else can we make it up to you?" Charlie asked.

She and Ruby had had the same argument about driving several times. If she could fund it then Ruby was entitled to pay for lessons with a proper instructor. But there was no way Charlie was going to play teacher if she could help it.

"Fine," Ruby sighed. "I'm sure we can forget it if maybe you do something fun – and wholesome – with me at the weekend. And don't leave your laptop lying around anymore and don't let me see or hear you at it for a whole week."

"Deal," Charlie said quietly. "We'll do our best anyway."

"What would you like to do at the weekend then, Rubes?" Joey asked, happy to change the subject.


"Are you sure this is okay?" Marilyn asked. "I mean, it's not precious or anything?"

"No," Martha lied, handing over the engagement ring she had been wearing around her neck for months. "It's fine."

"I promise to take good care of it," Marilyn said.

She had coerced Alf into freaking Colleen out by pretending they were engaged. Somehow or other, the nosy old crow had concluded that they were together and preparing to marry so, to teach her a lesson, Marilyn had decided to play her at her own game. And with all the history between them, she was ashamed to say that she was looking forward to it.


After school, Xavier jogged to catch up with Ruby who seemed to be in a world of her own.

"Hey," he greeted warmly, kissing her on the lips. "I feel like I've hardly seen you all day."

"Yeah, sorry," Ruby said. "I've been kind of busy."

"With Liam?" Xavier asked, rather more sourly than he intended.

Ruby immediately bristled.

"What's that meant to mean?" she demanded.

"Nothing," Xavier said quickly. "It doesn't matter. Listen, Mum's over at Martha's for the evening if you wanted to… you know, come round?"

"I can't," Ruby said apologetically.

Xavier's face fell.

"I promised Charlie and Joey that I wouldn't let my school work suffer because of the music," she explained. "And I'm already a bit more behind than I should be so I have to go home and study up."

"Oh," Xavier said, disappointed.

Last night had been a surprise to him, but it had most definitely been a good one. And he very much hoped it would be repeated sometime soon.

"Well, maybe at the weekend we could do something then?" he suggested.

"Yeah," Ruby agreed. "I've said I'd spend some time with my folks but sure, we could hang out too."


Having finished work and arranged to meet Charlie at the Surf Club for a juice before they headed out into town to go sex toy shopping, Joey was at the bar, chatting away merrily with Alf and Marilyn. She was most amused by Marilyn's plan for Colleen but she very much hoped nothing would go wrong. Alf in particular had come to mean ever such a lot to her over the last year or so and she didn't want him to get hurt in any way. He was almost like the father she'd wished her own Dad could have been. It was nice to feel cared for by someone she thought of as so special.

"Uh oh," Alf frowned when he spotted a group of what could only be described as thugs entered the Surf Club. "They'd better not be staying."


"You're looking pretty pleased with yourself," Watson remarked, seating herself opposite her Sergeant.

Charlie blushed and grinned.

"Let's just say that things are going pretty well right now," she revealed.

"Now, is that because you've cut Angelo out of your life or because things are extra hot with Joey?"

Charlie snorted.

"Both!" she said. "Well, more the latter. I don't really care enough about Angelo for him to make that much of a difference."

Watson winced but remained amused.

"What happened between the two of you?" she wondered. "One minute you were getting on great and working intently on some secret project together and the next…"

"The next he tried to hit on me and then tried to convince Joey that I was going to miss cocks before too long," Charlie replied bluntly.

Watson pulled a face.

"I'm assuming you're not," she grinned.

"As if!" Charlie laughed. "In his dreams, maybe."

"No maybe about that," Watson remarked.

Charlie nodded and sighed.

"I don't know what to do with him aside from cut him out completely," she admitted. "I mean, I keep giving him all these chances and he keeps screwing them up. He's told so many lies and he's caused so much trouble. Joey can't stand him and I'm starting to really see what she's been complaining about all this time."

She sighed again.


Joey froze when she caught sight of a photograph of Hugo and Martha, tucked inside one of the thug's wallets when he approached the bar to get a drink. Pretending she hadn't seen, she continued sipping her own drink and chatting with Marilyn while Alf served the man with vague politeness. He couldn't turn away custom and technically the boys hadn't done anything wrong but he was cautious to say the least.

"Hey, sweetheart," Charlie greeted when Joey phoned her mobile. "I'll be with you in about ten minutes. I'm just packing up to leave."

"Charlie, there are some guys here and I think they're after Hugo and Martha," Joey said quietly, her tone extremely serious, bordering on panicked.

"What?" Charlie squeaked.

"I'm outside the Surf Club," Joey said. "I was just waiting for you and saw one of these thuggish looking guys had a picture of Hugo and Martha in his wallet."

"I'll be there in five," Charlie said, hanging up quickly and racing out of the police station.

She didn't bother to stop and tell Angelo what was going on.


Joey hung up the phone and headed back inside the Surf Club to collect her stuff. Colleen was at the bar with Marilyn and Alf.

"Is everything okay, love?" Alf asked. "You're as white as a sheet."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Joey lied.

"Well, I'm glad someone's fine!" Colleen exclaimed.

She looked at Alf and Marilyn disdainfully, shaking her head.

"I can't believe you've let this woman dupe you, Alf Stewart," she said. "You should be ashamed."

Joey watched her leave and then froze when she spotted the thugs leaving too.

"I'll see you later," she said quickly, deciding to wait for Charlie outside and keep an eye on the gang of four if she could.


"As long as all is forgiven and forgotten, I'm happy," Nicole promised.

Ruby had invited her round in a bid to apologise. Nicole had also said sorry and the pair had made friends again.

"You're not going to mention this to anyone, are you?" Ruby asked worriedly. "I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea and thinking I want more than a professional relationship with Liam. Because I really, really don't."

She hoped Nicole couldn't see through her façade.

"I love Xavier," she added. "I'm not interested in anyone else. We even… you know… last night."

Nicole looked surprised.

"I thought you'd already done that," she said.

"We did," Ruby told her. "But this is the first time since we got back together. I didn't want to… you know, rush anything."

Nicole nodded and smiled.

"Well, I'm glad things are going well between you," she said. "And I swear I won't be posing my incorrect theories to anyone. I really am sorry about yesterday."


Joey leapt into Charlie's car before it had even stopped moving. Her heart was pounding with fear that Martha could be in danger. She knew that really, it was her own fault. If she was going to commit herself to a criminal and wanted man then she should expect danger. But none of that stopped either Joey or Charlie caring about her and feeling concerned for her welfare.

"They drove off," Joey said. "I watched them go and they quite possibly went in the direction of the farm."

Charlie nodded and pulled back out onto the road. Even if it was nothing, they had to make sure.


At the farm, Martha was lying on the sofa in Hugo's arms. She had barely left the house since her long, lost boyfriend had returned. Although she had pulled a few shifts at the Surf Club, so as not to arouse suspicion, mostly she had just been at home with the man she loved. Inside the farmhouse, it felt like time was standing still. And although Hugo spoke regularly of having to leave, he hadn't made any moves to do so yet.

It was a dangerous situation and too many people already knew that Hugo was back in town. Alf was aware and not happy about it, Gina and Xavier visited all the time. Ruby had also found out and everyone was nervous as to whether she would tell her parents. And after Hugo's accident, he had broken his arm, which meant that Rachel and Tony now knew the truth. Tony had punched him when he'd first laid eyes on him. Then he'd hugged him, genuinely relieved that he wasn't dead after all. Martha and Hugo were also painfully aware that the police had a hunch about his return. Why else would Charlie and Angelo have charged round with a search warrant? Fortunately, they hadn't been back since and while Hugo was still concerned, Martha was hoping they might have somehow let it go.

She jumped when she heard a noise outside. Hugo stood up, instinct telling him to look out of the window that was now permanently covered by a curtain to prevent anyone from seeing into the house.

"Wait!" Martha squeaked.

Hugo hesitated and turned back to her.

"If it's the police you have to hide," she said, a tremble in her voice. "Let me check."

He nodded reluctantly, hating to put Martha in danger. Moving out of the way, he let her peer out of the window. She craned her neck and scanned the area but she couldn't see anyone there.


Charlie and Joey pulled up in the drive, behind Martha's car. They'd seen the car Joey had watched the thugs climb into, abandoned nearby. They were both certain that the men were at the farm, they just didn't know what they planned to do there.

Climbing out of the car, Charlie, still armed and in uniform, looked around for any sign of movement. Joey climbed out of the car also, keeping close to Charlie and feeling nervous. While she was generally a confident person, all of this was rather out of her comfort zone. She was worried about people, including herself, getting hurt. But her fears for Charlie were at the top of her list.

"What do we do?" she asked quietly.

"Let's knock," Charlie decided.


In the distance, the four men hid in some overgrown bushes. They'd been about to storm the house when the car had pulled up. The leader of the group growled in frustration.

"What's a fucking cop doing here?" he asked nobody in particular.

"What are we meant to do now?" another one of them asked.

The leader sighed heavily.

"We come back another day," he decided. "The last thing we want to do is get arrested."

The rest of the boys nodded and followed him off the property.


"Charlie!" Martha said in flushed surprise. "Joey! What are you guys doing here?"

"We just wanted to check on you," Charlie said, trying to peer around her and into the house.

There seemed to be some sort of damage to the property but Martha was doing an expert job of blocking her view.

"I'm fine," Martha said rather shrilly. "Why?"

"Nobody's come to visit you or anything?" Charlie checked. "No strangers? No weird noises or anything?"

"Nope," Martha said, eager to get rid of them.

Hugo hadn't had time to hide properly. He was only in the kitchen.

"Okay," Charlie said, giving up. "Well you just… make sure you call me if you run into any trouble."

"I will," Martha promised, closing the door as quickly as she could.

On the doorstep, Charlie and Joey both sighed.

"What now?" Joey asked.

"Now, we go and check if the car's gone," Charlie said. "And then I'm heading back to work to run the registration plate through the computer."

"No dildos then?" Joey smirked.

Charlie laughed and put her arm around her as they walked back to the car.

"Not tonight," she said. "But we won't forget."


Next time… Jill lets Romeo down again, Charlie and Joey inform Angelo of the latest Hugo developments and the thugs leave a warning for Hugo and Martha…