I knew she was there the moment she stepped into the doorway. She hadn’t even made a sound, but I could tell she was watching me. For one thing, I could smell her – her perfume… her shampoo… whatever that smell that followed her everywhere was, it was just her, and I knew I’d recognise it anywhere.
But it was more than just the smell, I had this awareness of her – the connection we shared was something I’d never experienced before.
I finished the verse and stilled my hands. I sat silently for a moment – reworking a section in my mind.
When I was satisfied, I sat my guitar down. “Can’t sleep, legs?” I asked her without turning around.
I heard the whoosh of fabric as she padded lightly into the room. She came up behind me and wrapped her tiny arms around me, resting her chin on my shoulder.
“How’d you know I was there?” she murmured against my neck.
“My built-in ‘Charlotte radar’ buzzed.”
She giggled and the vibration of her laugh against the back of my body gave me tingles up and down my spine.
I loosened her arms and turned around on the stool I was sitting on to face her.
God she’s beautiful.
I’d never really understood the obsession some men had with seeing a woman wearing their shirt, or some other item of their clothing.
But now I get it.
Holy hell, did I understand it now. The sweatshirt of mine that Charlotte was wearing was more like a dress on her, and it was in no way a revealing outfit, but it was undoubtedly the sexiest I’d ever seen her look. Her hair was loose and wild, just the way I liked it, and her lips were pouty and full, swollen from the hours of attention I’d given them earlier tonight.
Sexy as hell.
I tugged her forward so she was seated in my lap, her legs straddling me. “You okay, baby? It’s not like you to be up at this hour.”
Where I could function off a few short hours sleep each night, Charlotte was like a grizzly bear if she got less than a solid seven. It wasn’t an exaggeration on my behalf either; both Charlotte and Hannah were sleepers. And for such a tiny little woman, my girl could be damn terrifying if anyone messed with her beauty rest.
“Well… there actually is something bothering me…” she confessed, as she nibbled on her bottom lip – what I’d quickly learned to be her nervous tell.
My heart sped up in my chest – my sense of panic rising in an instant. There was nothing in this world that scared me more than seeing uncertainty in her eyes.
She knew me well already. “It’s nothing bad,” she reassured me quickly, running her hands through my hair in calming strokes. “I probably should have realised sooner, but I didn’t…”
I looked into her beautiful blue eyes and waited as patiently as I could for whatever the question was that had caused the centre of my universe to lose sleep.
“Stephen.” She stated his name, her tone laced with repulsion. “You two have a history that has nothing to do with me… don’t you?”
I couldn’t help the small growl that escaped my lips at the mention of that bastard’s name.
I’d never told Charlotte about my encounter with her ex-boyfriend. I hadn’t wanted to upset her, and it wasn’t like it really mattered now anyway – she already knew he was a prick, so rehashing the past wasn’t going to achieve anything. He’d hurt her so much already, I hadn’t wanted to inflict any more pain by telling her about what I knew.
But here she was, asking me outright, when she knew I’d never ever lie to her. I’d made that very clear to her – that even when she asked difficult questions; I’d always give her my honesty.
I swept her hair back from her face and pushed it out of the way behind her shoulders.
“Yeah… we do,” I confirmed. “Do you want me to tell you about it?” I asked the question with warning in my tone – a not so subtle hint that she wouldn’t like what I was going to tell her.
She searched my eyes for a minute, squared her shoulders and nodded. “I want to know.”
Well alright…
I launched straight into it.
No point beating around the bush.
“It was about two, maybe three years ago,” I began. “There was this awards event; I was nominated for a few things, as were a ton of people in the industry. I took this model as my date, Casey, and she wanted to introduce me to the new photographer she’d been working with – I could tell she worshipped the ground he walked on, and by the time she finally got hold of him and introduced us, it was pretty obvious to me that she wanted a piece of him.”
“It was Stephen?” Charlotte questioned.
I nodded. “So, I shook his hand, watched him eye fuck my date, and then I headed for the bar... Casey stayed talking to him. I can clearly remember sipping on my scotch and watching them flirting from across the room.”
Charlotte frowned and I could tell she was trying to recall something in her mind.
“Anyway, next thing I see Stephen walk off towards the bathrooms, and no more than thirty seconds later, Casey glances around, before following after him.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes.
“Yeah… there were no prizes for guessing what they were going to get up to. And I wasn’t having it. I was pretty arrogant and full of myself back then, and having my date go off with another man was not something that was happening on my watch.”
Charlotte gasped in mock shock. “You? Arrogant? No… surely not.” She feigned surprise.
I chuckled.
“So, you followed?” Charlotte prompted, obviously keen to hear the rest of the story.
“You bet your ass I did.”
“And you fought over some model?” she asked with an eyebrow raised.
I shook my head.
I wish that was all it was.
“It took me a little while to find where they’d gone, and when I did, somebody else had already stumbled upon them. I’ll never forget what I heard that night, legs. I hadn’t realised before that moment, but he’d brought his own date with him that night.”
I shuddered at the thought of that poor girl, and also for Charlotte – no doubt Stephen had treated her just as poorly as he had treated his date.
“From what I can gather, she must have been coming back from the bathroom and she had stumbled across him getting his dick sucked by the stupid bimbo I’d brought along.”
I felt Charlotte tense in my arms.
“It was so fucked up, Charlotte. I heard him instruct Casey to carry on and he made his date watch.”
I was looking at the ground as I spoke. I was so ashamed of myself for not stepping in earlier than I had that night.
“I’ll never forget the way he spoke to that woman – his date… he told her—”
“You’ll watch her suck my dick and then maybe next time I give you the privilege, you’ll do a better job,” Charlotte cut in.
My eyes flicked up to meet hers in disbelief. Her beautiful eyes were full of tears. My blood ran cold.
It was her…
My mind flashed back to the moment, all those years ago. The minute I’d realized what the hell was happening, I’d snapped.
I’d screamed at Casey to get off her knees, and the tone of my voice must have told her I wasn’t messing around. She’d skulked out from the dark alcove, her face flushed red with embarrassment.
She’d tried to speak to me, but I’d silenced her with one look.
Stephen had stepped out a moment later, still zipping his fly like the arrogant fucker he was. He’d glanced back into the alcove and commanded the woman, who I now assumed had been Charlotte, to ‘stay’, like he was talking to some kind of dog.
I’d seen red. I couldn’t believe after what I’d just heard that he was still in control of her, and that she – whoever she was, was still listening to him and following his orders.
I couldn’t remember exactly what followed after that, I did remember calling out to the woman in hiding, telling her that I’d help her, and then I remembered punching the bastard when he’d lunged for me.
That was when Sammy arrived and damage control kicked in. I never got to see the woman and I’d accepted that I never would.
I looked at my girl and felt sick to my stomach.
“Oh fuck, Charlotte, please tell me that wasn’t you?”
She didn’t answer, but just burst into tears, giving me her answer without words.
I’ll kill him.
The rage I’d felt at the time was nothing compared to the all-consuming fury I felt right now, knowing that he’d treated this incredible woman like dirt.
The woman I love.
He was a bastard of the worst kind.
I pulled her in close and rocked her. “Oh, babe, I’m so, so sorry,” I repeated the words over and over until her sobs slowed and stopped.
“Oh my god, it was you.” She looked up at me suddenly with wide eyes. “You’re the one who tried to save me.”
I nodded slowly, shame creeping in.
I should have saved her.
I could have done more that night… I should have gone back for her… and if I had, I would have met Charlotte then.
“You punched him in the face… you broke his nose.” She smiled. “You were my hero that night, Parker, even though I never saw your face… I didn’t know who it was that had tried to help me, but it gave me a confidence boost I desperately needed.”
“I can’t believe he didn’t tell you who it was,” I muttered in disbelief. I was sure he would have told anyone who’d listen what he thought of me.
She shook her head slowly. “He didn’t speak about it again. I think he was horrified that someone knew his dirty little secret.” She took a deep, steadying breath. “The next day he was so flustered that when he went to the hospital to get his nose looked at, he forgot to start up the security system like he normally did if he left me in the apartment alone. That was the day I finally got away, Parker… I called Hannah and she helped me get out.”
What. The. Fuck.
“He watched you on a security system?” I hissed, totally outraged.
She laughed humourlessly. “Of course he did. He had alerts set up on his phone so he’d know if I left a particular room, let alone attempted to leave the whole building,” she replied quietly. “It wasn’t that I was never allowed to leave, but he always made sure that he knew where I was going and when I’d be back – I never went anywhere unless him or his driver took me.”
Charlotte had talked to me about her time with Stephen before, but never to this extent – she’d clearly sheltered me from the whole truth, I had no idea things had been this bad for her.
If I had to guess, I would say she’d probably never told anybody absolutely everything that went on between them, and she probably never would.
“But you broke the pattern.” She smiled.
“Nah, I just broke his nose.” I smirked.
She grinned in satisfaction. “Yeah you did, rock star. And that broke the routine… you caught him off guard and he slipped up.”
She looked into my eyes and I could see overwhelming admiration shining in the blue pools. “You saved me, Parker.”
“You saved yourself,” I insisted.
She shook her head in disagreement. “If it weren’t for you…”
I didn’t even want to entertain the thought. I may not have been the one to actually save her, but clearly things had changed for her that night, and whether or not that was my doing didn’t matter. She’d got out.
“Don’t even think about it. It’s over, he’s gone and he’ll never hurt you again,” I promised her.
She pressed her face against my chest. “Thank you,” she murmured. “Just… thank you for caring about a stranger the way you did. You’re a good man.”
“I can’t believe that was you,” I murmured in disbelief.
“I can’t believe that you never figured it out… I was his girlfriend… you knew I’d been in a relationship with him around that time… I’m not sure why you never considered it.”
It was pretty stupid on my behalf, but when I looked at Charlotte, I didn’t see her as a victim, I saw a brave, beautiful woman that didn’t take any shit from anyone. I also never in a million years considered that the woman Stephen was treating like that was actually in a relationship with him. I’d naively let myself believe that she was just some girl he’d dragged along for the evening. Even when Charlotte had told me the time frames of her relationship, my slow, rocker brain still never made the connection.
And that’s not the girl I know…
“I don’t see you as the woman that dated a bastard, legs, I look at you and see my woman, the woman I love. You’ve got too much strength and sass to be that woman in the hallway, baby. You’re not her anymore.”
What I said must have been the right thing, because Charlotte cupped my face in her hands and kissed me softly.
“I’m sorry I didn’t make the connection,” I murmured against her mouth.
“It’s not important now,” she whispered back.
“If only I’d gone into that alcove and taken you away… I could have met you then…”
I could have had you all these years…
“That version of me couldn’t have handled you,” she teased as she kissed me again. “I was broken. I needed the time to become whole again.”
I knew what she was saying, but I still couldn’t shake the guilt.
If only…
I should have punched him harder.
I was so tightly wound right now. Making the discovery that it had been Charlotte that I’d heard being degraded like that made me feel like I needed to punch something all over again.
“You’ll watch her suck my dick…”
“…next time I give you the privilege…”
Bile rose in my throat as the thought hit me like a slap in the face.
Oh god… he didn’t… did he?
“Charlotte, babe, I need you to look at me.” I gently coaxed her chin up so she was looking into my eyes. “Did he ever… you know… force you to do anything?”
She shook her head gently and I felt a deep breath of relief exhale from my lungs.
I didn’t expect her to have anything more to say, so I was surprised when she spoke quietly.
“He never physically harmed me. He never hit me, or raped me or even touched me in any way that was inappropriate sexually… but he messed with my mind.” She sighed.
I could feel my hands shaking and I tried desperately to make them stop.
“He made me think I needed things that I didn’t, he could fool me into thinking he was genuine… that he was sorry… that things would be different…. and then he’d go back to treating me like shit right after he got what he wanted from me. So, no, he never forced me, but sometimes I think that the ability he had to somehow make me believe I wanted him, was nearly as bad.”
I held my girl close and made a promise to myself, that if I ever laid eyes on Stephen Miles again, I’d kill him.
“Legs?” I called into the bathroom where I could hear Charlotte brushing her teeth. I still couldn’t figure out why she brushed them before and after breakfast, but it was like what Jasper had told me – women were complex creatures, and sometimes it was best not to attempt to figure them out.
I heard her spit her toothpaste into the sink.
“Yeah?” she called back to me.
I fidgeted with my hands.
God I’m nervous.
I still don’t know what it was about Charlotte, but she had this unique ability to turn my insides to jelly.
She appeared in the doorway in her pyjama bottoms and a tank top.
“You’re sweating bullets.” She grinned triumphantly when she noticed how freaked out I was – she knew me like the back of her hand.
“I wanted to ask you something.” I patted the space beside me on the bed – indicating for her to join me. “If you could try not to give me shit for two minutes, I’d appreciate it.”
“I make no promises,” she teased as she sat down next to me.
I ran my hand through my hair. This was a big deal for me – it was a proper announcement to the world that she was mine and that she wasn’t going anywhere – even more than dragging her out on stage and singing to her.
“I wanted to know if… I dunno, I just thought it’d be cool if…” I rambled.
Charlotte blinked and waited patiently, apparently trying her hardest to refrain from giving me a hard time.
“Will you come to an interview with me today? It’s for some big shot magazine… I thought it’d be cool for the world to get a little insight into us… they’ll have their own photographer and everything...”
Charlotte smiled sweetly and squeezed my bicep – giving me my cue to stop rambling, if I had to guess.
“That’s so incredibly sweet, rock star, but I really don’t think that anybody cares about me or wants to see photos that I’m in – it’s all about you… you’re the one everybody wants a piece of.”
“I care,” I replied. “You’re important to me, I love you and I want everyone to know it.”
Charlotte blushed, the same way she did every time I gave her a compliment. The girl was seriously deluded when it came to seeing herself clearly.
“Please?” I begged, giving her the best puppy-dog expression I could. “It’d be the perfect distraction from all this shit we’ve got going on.”
“Alright,” she grumbled eventually. “But don’t expect me to get all chatty.”
I fist pumped the air.
I’m calling it a win.
“Let’s start with a nice easy one…” the reporter – Elizabeth, or Liz as she’d asked us to call her, began.
I glanced over my shoulder at Charlotte. She’d insisted upon lingering over by the window rather than sitting her sweet ass down on the seat that was set down right next to me – put there specifically for her.
She gestured with a smirk and a flick of her head that I should get back to my interview.
“She’s a little stubborn,” I told Liz with a grin, knowing full well that I’d get a rise out of Charlotte.
“That’s a bit rich coming from you,” Charlotte replied swiftly.
Liz smiled, her eyes flicking backwards and forwards between the two of us. “I’d love for you to join us, Charlotte… the whole world is dying to find out something, actually… anything about the woman who has finally tamed the untameable Parker,” she spoke across the room to Charlotte.
“No offence intended,” she added in my direction.
“None taken,” I assured her as I leaned back in my chair, crossing my feet at my ankles. There was no denying that Charlotte had been able to do what the world had decided was impossible. She’d sunk me.
There was no one out there that was like Charlotte. Heading to this very interview was the perfect example.
There had been a ton of paparazzi outside waiting for us when we’d pulled up. Sammy and several of his men had cleared us a path and held back the fifty or so fans that had also got wind of the appointment I had upstairs.
I’d expected Charlotte to shy away – put her head down and get it over with as quickly as possible – If she even got out of the car that was.
What I hadn’t expected was her to stop and talk to a few of the fans that had called her name – she’d even taken photos with a couple of them. And then when someone had played one of my songs on a portable speaker, I certainly hadn’t expected her to ask me to dance.
It was one of the most surreal moments of my life. I may have travelled nearly the entire world, and performed hundreds of times, but I’d never felt eyes on me the same way I had as Charlotte and I swayed in each other’s arms, in the centre of a footpath – surrounded by burly-looking security.
That was Charlotte for you – shy and reserved in one moment, and open and fearless in the next.
“I’ll buy you chocolate on the way home?” I bargained with her.
She narrowed her eyes at me as she weighed up her options.
“The good stuff with those little M&M things in it that I like?” she bartered.
I looked at her and then down at the seat. “Deal.”
“Your musical style isn’t really defined by one specific genre in the current market… how would you define your style?”
“Well, I’m not really sure… it’s just a bit of this and a bit of that. I just make music that I like.” I shrugged, knowing that my answer was a totally useless one.
Liz didn’t seem in the least bit deterred. “You’re right; you’ve shown us collaborations with rock, pop, folk, indie…”
“You know, it’s like what I told him once… he just doesn’t fit in any of the boxes,” Charlotte piped up helpfully, a shit-eating grin on her face.
I chuckled quietly but refrained from feeding her the same line I had a few months ago.
“Well I sure do my best to fit in your box, babe.”
Liz’s eyes flickered back and forth between us again, obviously aware that she was missing out on some private joke – I was waiting for her to begin her interrogation, like most of the reporters I’d ever dealt with would have, but to her credit she just smiled and looked back at her notes for the next question.
“Which musician would you describe as being your influences of this generation?”
“Personally, or musically?” I prompted.
“Whatever comes to mind,” she pressed.
I looked to Charlotte for help.
She eyed me up and down. “I’d say… you’re kind of an Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles, Adam Levine and Bruno Mars mash up.”
“Harry Styles?” I quizzed her.
“Yeah.” She nodded. “Definitely some Styles going on… he’s got that sexy rocker swag thing happening; especially now he’s out of 1D. And have you heard ‘Sweet Creature’? I think he might have channelled a bit of you for that one actually…” she mused.
“Well good for him,” I deadpanned. “But I don’t have ‘rocker swag’.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Well excuse me, Mr. Head-to-toe covered in tattoos.”
I chuckled.
“For a bit of old school, throw in some Van Morrison too,” she added in Liz’s direction.
“Love a bit of Van,” I agreed as I tapped out the beat to ‘Sweet Thing’ on my leg. I suddenly wished I had my guitar to strum the chords.
“Uh oh… you better start wrapping it up,” Charlotte told Liz. “He gets all twitchy when his hands aren’t busy.”
Liz laughed lightly and closed the folder in her lap. “I think I’m about done with you anyway, Mr. Sloan.”
“Parker,” I corrected her.
“Parker,” she amended with a satisfied smile.
She turned her attention to Charlotte. “If you don’t mind, I just have one question for you, Charlotte?”
“For me?” Charlotte balked. “What could you possibly want to know about me?”
“It’s actually a fan question… and well, they wanted me to ask Parker, but I think I’d rather hear your answer since you agreed to come,” Liz answered.
“Well you’ve piqued my interest now, so let’s hear it.” Charlotte crossed one leg over the other.
“Well as I’m sure you’re aware, every second woman seems to want a piece of your boyfriend.”
Charlotte let out a snort laugh. “I hadn’t noticed,” she replied, her voice filled with light-hearted sarcasm.
“Don’t forget about the men,” I added with a wink.
Liz laughed. “Well the question is… why you out of all the women in the world?”
What?
I jumped to Charlotte’s rescue. “I don’t think that’s really an appropriate qu—”
Charlotte interrupted me with a swat to my arm. “Oh, don’t be precious, it’s a fair question.”
Since when is she into sharing?
She ignored my perplexed expression and gestured for Liz to carry on.
Liz cleared her throat, now seemingly unsure of herself.
“Go on,” Charlotte encouraged.
“Well… what is it about you that’s different from every other woman that’s been vying for his attention for the past five years?”
Charlotte smiled. “Well that’s exactly it.”
Liz frowned. “What’s it?”
Charlotte giggled and looked at me with a smile. “I wasn’t vying for his attention.”
“Understatement of the century,” I mumbled under my breath, which got another giggle from my girl.
“Why does anybody end up with the person they’re with?” Charlotte looked back at Liz with a shrug. “People meet and fall in love everyday… this is no different. He’s just a person, like everyone else… and I’ve never seen him as anything more than that.”
“You know, Liz…” I cut in as I slung my arm around the back of Charlotte’s seat. “I think it’d be just as valid to ask… when there are all these other men in the world, why would she choose me?”
Liz smiled widely at me and I almost got the feeling that this whole thing had been a test, and I’d just gotten myself an ‘A’.