Falling helplessly episode 21

🔥 FALLING
HELPLESSLY 👠

( For his brother’s friend …. 😇 )
.
.
Written by:- Williams Kendall____✍🏽
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

🏈 CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

“Please, Charlotte! I’m only in town for tonight! The guys said you come here all of the time, why won’t you come to see me?”

I sighed into the phone. Because your best friend broke my heart? Because I don’t want to risk seeing him? Because I’m pretty sure if I have to look at his cold eyes one more time, I’ll lose it? “Because Oliver… I have a lot of homework. If I had known you were coming to town I could have finished it earlier,” I lied.

“Sorry, Lotty.” Oliver’s voice was muffled by the music in the background. “James literally called me tonight after dinner and I just hopped in my car right away and drove here. But I really want to see you! We don’t really get to hang out like this anymore.”

The sincerity in his voice shook me. There was no excuse I could give Oliver that would justify not wanting to see him. Not without driving a wedge between him and Archer—which I wasn’t ready to do. “Okay,” I sighed. “If I can get Mads to walk over with me, I’ll come by. But only for a bit, Ollie.”

Twenty minutes later Madeline and I were walking up to the football house arm-in-arm. “You’re strong okay? Just relax and if it’s too much, we leave. No questions asked,” she spoke into my ear as we approached the front steps.

“Thanks, Mads.” I smiled up at her. “Let’s just find Oliver and get this over with.”

This party was much more intense than the last one we came to. People spilled out of the house everywhere. The front lawn had clumps of party-goers standing in thick streaks of smoke. The front door flew open as more people came pouring out. The open door created a frame for me to peek through.

The lighting was low, but party lights cast bursts of colour over the crowd. Everyone in,side looked like sweaty sardines shoved into a can. Anxiety prickled my spine at the thought of getting trapped in that many people.

We walked through the front door, angling our bodies to slip through the people leaving. I took a moment to gain my barrings as I peered around the party. I couldn’t see Oliver but there was a large group of the football guys crowded near the kitchen, which had once again been turned into a bar. Drunk people crammed into whatever small spaces they could find in the living area, dancing and yelling.

Madeline’s hand shot to my wrist and tightened, pulling my attention back to her. Her hærd eyes were locked on something on the outskirts of the crowd. Confused, I traced her line of vision to see what had her so tense.

A phantom hand reached into my chest and squeezed my heart as I found what she was looking at. Archer was sitting in a recliner pushed up against the wall. He was twisted so his back faced us, but I recognized his broad shoulders and messy brown waves immediately. Teela was propped on the arm of his chair, whispering in his ear.

Archer’s hand came up and grasped her arm for a moment, his head shook as he said something to her. Teela looked up and our eyes connected. She smirked at me, sending a chill down my spine, before shifting her attention back to Archer. She leant forward running her finger over his shoulder flirtatiously before getting up and walking away.

Pain shot through me as I stared at him. I couldn’t bring myself to look away even as I felt Madeline yanking on my shirt to pull me outside. Seeing Archer now—after almost a week apart—made my invisible wounds feel fresh and raw again. But a sick part of me was also grateful to see him at all. I guess I was a glutton for punishment.

I stood frozen, unable to comprehend what I should do. Tears stung my eyes making me blink rapidly to keep them at bay. Coming here had been a bad idea. After everything that happened between us, how could I not have assumed that he’d be here with someone else?

He stood then and turned towards us. As his gaze fell on mine, the oxygen levels around me dropped. It didn’t matter how much air I s-cked in, my brain still felt hazy and lost. Archer’s face twisted in what seemed like pain. That confused me, I looked back at Teela as she walked away. Had they gotten into a fight?

Archer twisted back to watch Teela go too, and finally, the spell that kept me frozen was broken. I rushed back out the door as fast as I could, leaving Madeline and everyone else in my wake. I could hear random shouts as the cold night air filled my lungs, but I just wanted to be alone.

I cut across the front lawn, racing towards the side of the house where I knew there was a small unkempt garden I could hide in. An old iron bench sat up against the house, but instead, I pushed farther back to the overgrown rose bushes. I stumbled in the darkness as the shouting got closer before dropping my body behind a bush. The chill from the cold grass permeated my jeans but I didn’t care as I tucked my head into my knees and tried to breathe.

“Seriously, go away!” Madeline shouted from the outskirts of the garden.

“Please,” a deep voice begged. My heart skipped a beat as I recognized who it belonged to. “I need to see her. I need to f-cking explain!”

“You had your chance and you f-cked it up,” Madeline spat.

“It wasn’t what it looked like.” Archer’s voice was quiet and defeated now. It barely reached me in my hiding place.

You are so weak, I chastised myself as I softened at Archer’s tone. He sounded so broken. My natural instinct was to help him but that just made me more disappointed in myself.

“Charlotte!” Madeline called into the darkness. “Please come out, we can go home.”

“Sweetheart, look—if you don’t want to see me I get it. I’ll go back in,side so you can leave. But please, I really just want to explain myself. I feel like shit and I want to make this better. I don’t know how… but f-f-ck,” the tremble in Archer’s voice shook me to the core as he coughed and continued, “I’m so f-cking sorry.”

The cool night air was thick with silence as we all stopped and waited. The low thuds from the music outside vibrated over us, as the suspense of what would happen next grew. Finally, Archer let out a soft sigh before a rustling sound alerted me that he was walking away.

My pulse raced as I panicked. I was terrified to face Archer but every step that he took away from me burned my throat. I was so hurt by how he acted, and yet all I wanted was for him to make it better. To k-ss my forehead and hold me in his arms. Weak.

“Wait!” I called as I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping I wouldn’t regret this. I stood up from behind the rose bush and took a moment to wipe the grass off my legs as I collected myself. When I looked up Madeline and Archer were both standing near the edge of the house, staring at me unsurely. The light from in,side cast a light gloom around the otherwise dark garden.

“Five minutes,” Archer said as he stepped towards me. “That’s all I need.”

I nodded to Madeline, letting her know I was okay then walked over to the bench and sat down. I purposely sat in the middle so Archer wouldn’t be able to sit next to me. I couldn’t handle him that close yet.

“Alright,” Madeline said. “I’ll just go try to find Emmett. Text me if you need me, Charlotte.”

I kept my head turned down, knowing I was now alone with Archer. His footsteps approached me slowly, then stopped in front of the bench. “I don’t even know where to start,” he said lowly. A scoff escaped my l-ips before I could stop it. All of that and he doesn’t even know what to say? “Well, for starters… That wh0le Teela thing was bullshit. She just sat down on my chair and I told her I wasn’t interested and to leave. I can see where it looked bad but I swear—”

“That’s… complicated,” Archer sighed.

Frustration boiled within me at his evasiveness. Was he not the one who followed me out here wanting to talk? “Uncomplicate it then,” I snapped.

“When we got home that night, my dad was back,” he whispered. I could hear the pain in his voice and it broke my resolve. I looked up to see him standing a few feet away. His head was hung low as he slipped back into the memory. “He’d gotten home pretty early in the day I guess, but decided he didn’t need to come see his family on a holiday. I can’t tell you how, but I knew he’d had a woman there. When we got home everything just seemed… I don’t know. Tainted? I knew my mom could tell too but she just shut right up like always.”

I stayed quiet. I wanted to tell Archer to stop talking, that it was okay and he didn’t need to relive it, but I was frozen in shock.

Archer rubbed his hand over his face aggressively before continuing. “Once Mom took Annie upstairs I confronted him. I told him he was a loser who didn’t deserve any of us. That it was f-cking pathetic that he was so desperate to get laid that he’d bring someone home. He uh… he didn’t like that.” Archer lifted his head, just now noticing that I had been watching him.

I s-cked in a breath as the light from a window shone on his face. His eyes were rimmed red and his cheeks were w-t. He looked hollow, but he kept talking. “He started pushing me, saying a bunch of shit that he knew would hurt me. I could have f-cking flattened him. But he’s my dad. Pretty pathetic huh? He’s shoving me and talking shit—and I just took it.”

“No,” I said firmly. “It sounds like you have more respect than he does.”

The smallest smile lifted the corners of his l-ips, but then he shook his head. “Don’t give me that much credit. I finally f-cking snapped and pushed him back. I didn’t really want to hurt him, I just wanted him to leave me alone. But I guess I put more power behind it than I thought because he went flying backwards. That’s when…” Archer’s face crumpled as a small sob convulsed from the back of his throat.

“Annie saw,” he whispered. “She f-cking saw and started scre-ming. I f-cking did that to her. So I grabbed my shit and left. I couldn’t handle seeing her like that, because of me.”

My heart shattered for Archer as I listened. I wanted to take all of his pain and make it disappear, but I didn’t know how. He stumbled forward, falling to his knees in front of me so that our faces were on the same level. He tentatively brought his hands up to rest on the bench, not touching me but caging me in.

“I’m so sorry, Charlotte.”

“Please don’t,” I soothed as I stroked my hand through his hair. “It’s fine, okay? Everything is fine. I am so sorry you went through that alone.”

Archer shook his head, closing his eyes tightly. “It’s not fine. I was so shitty to you and you didn’t deserve it. I let my dad get in my head and I hadn’t slept at all and I just lost it.”

I continued to run my fingers through his hair, trying to show him it was okay. A question was at the forefront of my mind but it got stuck in my throat, refusing to be vocalized. His shoulders shook as he s-cked in air, still not opening his eyes.

“You’d be better off just walking away from me,” he mumbled. “It’s not fair to you, you’re so good and I can’t be. I lash out. How many times have I f-cking done that to you now? And it just keeps getting worse.”

“Don’t do that. Don’t treat me like a kid who can’t decide what’s best for themselves. Not you Archer, I get it from everyone else but I can’t take it from you too.”

Archer finally raised his head again to look me in the eyes. I shuffled forward on the bench so my calves rested loosely on either side of his h¡ps. His arms that had been caging me in moved the tiniest bit closer, still not touching me though. “You can’t push me away Archer, not because of this. If you regret the k-ss and just want to be friends then fine. But you aren’t going to push me away as some kind of hero act,” I whispered as I rested my hands on his tense shoulders.

I smiled softly as his tight muscles relaxed under my touch. He seemed to be mulling over my words as he searched for something in my eyes. Slowly he raised a hand up to rest on my cheek, giving me a small smile of his own. I was momentarily enamoured by our size difference. I felt like a china doll with how softly his oversized fingers splayed across my face. “I don’t. I can’t regret it. That was the best damn k-ss I’ve ever had, Sweetheart. I just… I don’t want to hurt you.”

My hands that rested on his shoulders slipped to the back of his neck. His soft waves twisted around my fingers as I ran my hands up, giving his head a small m-ssage. Archer’s jaw slackened as he closed his eyes for a moment and tipped his head back. Seeing the euphoric state that my touch could bring him was empowering.

“Then don’t,” I said simply. I used the fingers that were currently tangled in his hair to pull his face closer to me. Trying not to overthink it, I leant forward and pressed my l-ips to Archer’s.

I had obviously shocked him as his shoulders tightened and his l-ips were unresponsive to mine. I knew he was holding himself back, trying to ‘do the right thing’. A sting of defeat settled in my heart as I slowly pulled away. Our eyes connected for a moment before Archer swooped back in, catching my l-ips again.

This k-ss was very different. Our first was slow and hesitant as we explored each other. This was fierce and demanding as though we were both starved for the other. Archer’s arms wrapped around my back, pulling me to the very edge of the bench, pressing our bodies together. Every inch of my skin was overheating as my soft curves fit perfectly against his hærd body.

I shivered as Archer ran his hands back to my wa-ist. His fingers traced up my ribcage, around my shoulders, before settling on my neck. His gentle hands were a sharp contrast to the scrape of his stubble against my chin. He settled his fingers on the sensitive skin below my earlobes, tilting my head up to him. This new angle naturally slackened my jaw, parting my l-ips.

My heart pounded in my chest as Archer’s tongue swept in,side my mouth. I tasted whiskey and mint as he softly coaxed me to follow his lead. Fireworks exploded behind my eyelids before travelling down my spine and swirling in my stomach. I felt clumsy and inexperienced as I flicked my tongue, tangling it with his. But he didn’t seem to mind as his chest heaved against me and his fingers tightened at the nape of my neck.

Archer slowed the pace, eventually pulling back completely with one last sweet k-ss. A sigh escaped my l-ips as they mourned the loss of Archer’s warmth. My eyes fluttered open to see him staring intensely at me with a crooked smirk.

“Oliver is expecting me.” My voice sounded husky, shocking me as much as my words had. I hadn’t really meant to bring up my brother the second our k-ss was over, it just popped into my mind.

Archer gro-ned and dropped his head to my shoulder, “You’re killing me, Sweetheart.” I giggled softly as he lifted his face, c-cking his jaw as he fought a laugh. “Is that really what you’re thinking about while I’m k-ssing you?”

“No,” I giggled, “it’s what I was thinking about after you k-ssed me.”

“Okay, ya little smartass, let’s get you in,side then,” he laughed. A shiver ran across my collarbone as his deep chuckle rolled over me. It was such a pleasant yet rare sound.

Archer stood up, brushing off his jeans then offering me his hand. My heart glowed with happiness as he walked in front, pulling me around the house. My eyes greedily roamed over his back muscles as they shifted beneath his thin shirt. The party was still in full swing as we approached the front door. Shrieks of laughter blended with the pounding of electronic music popped our bubble from the garden.

Right before we got in,side, Archer swung around quickly, stopping me short so I slammed into him. His hands dropped to my wa-ist to settle me as another low laugh rumbled out of him. His eyes flicked over my face appraisingly as he swiped his thumb under my eye. I raised a silent eyebrow in question, making him smile down at me.

“You—uh—we look a little tousled,” he said bashfully.

I ran my fingers through my hair quickly as I scanned my body for signs of what we’d just been up to. My l-ips felt bruised and swollen as I tried to clean up my smudged makeup.

Archer gave me an approving nod before pulling me around to walk in,side in front of him. I felt so safe as he tucked me to his chest, using his long arms as barriers between me and the crowd. He steered us to the back by the bar where most of the football team was still drinking and laughing.

Oliver and James stood off to the side in the corner of the room. My l-ips pursed as I took them in. James stood with his shoulders set stiffly and his eyebrows puckered together. Oliver was standing next to him whisper-shouting over the music into his ear. His hands were waving around in the air, which he did when he was worked up about something. James saw us approaching first and slapped Oliver in the chest to get him to look up.

When Oliver’s glazed eyes met mine he stepped back from James and smiled widely. “Look who finally decided to show up!” He yelled as he pulled me into a hug. Sour beer stung my nose as my brother wrapped me tightly in his arms, lifting me off the ground easily.

“Easy, dude,” Archer grumbled as Oliver stumbled trying to put me down.

Oliver rolled his eyes. “So, what were you guys up to?” My shoulders tensed and my brain became jumbled with questions. Archer and I hadn’t discussed telling Oliver—heck, we hadn’t discussed telling anyone. Anxiety crept over my skin as I realized Archer and I hadn’t discussed anything. What we were, what we were doing… nothing.

Archer seemed to be thinking faster than I could because he jumped in quickly. “I just found her by the door and helped get her through the crowd.”

I made eye contact with James as he quirked a smile at me and leisurely let his eyes drop to my l-ips then back up. A blush warmed my cheeks as I silently pleaded with him to stay quiet. Thankfully, he pursed his l-ips together and shot me a wink.

Oliver was clearly way too out of it to pick up on any of the silent conversations happening around him. “Alright, shots!” He yelled as he fisted the air. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and guided me over to the bar. The football team was there, and I sighed in relief when Emmett and Madeline saddled up next to me.

The rest of the night went well. I stayed next to Oliver for most of it, wanting to enjoy his presence even if he was wasted way past my comfort zone. Archer kept his distance, but every time I looked up my eyes would find him right away. Every single time they did, he’d be looking back at me. We shared small secretive grins, or sometimes the tiniest touches in passing, but other than that—we stayed apart.

.
.
.
ARCHER’S POV:

Stumbling down the stairs Saturday morning, I only had one goal—seeing Charlotte. It had been so f-cking hærd to stay away from her last night. All I wanted to do was steal her away and have her to myself. It was torture to be so close but yet have to keep my distance. Even when we were only friends I was allowed to touch her as much as I wanted—but that was when Oliver wasn’t around.

The stench of stale beer stung my nose as I walked into the living room. Sticky red solo cups littered the wh0le lower-floor of our house. I found Oliver, James, and Tyler in the kitchen all looking dishevelled and tired.

“This place f-cking stinks,” I muttered as I walked to the fridge to grab the orange juice.

“Well good morning to you too princess,” James quipped.

“Which rookie is up for cleaning duty?” Tyler said with a yawn. “Reynolds?”

“Not Emmett,” I said without thinking. “Uhm, give it to Smith. He was being a little bitch at practise the other day.”

James walked over to look in the fridge next to me, then bumped my shoulder. “Look who’s already going soft,” he smirked under his breath before offering Oliver a drink. I flipped him the bird then went to sit at the island. I really didn’t have an argument, Charlotte was making me soft. I’m pretty sure that should bother me, but it didn’t.

“You sticking around, man?” I asked Oliver. He was slumped against the counter, resting his cheek on his fist. His eyes were bloodshot and I could smell the liquor sweating out of his pour.

“Nah, gonna shower then head home. I’ve got a T-time at one,” he mumbled.

“Alright, well then I’m heading out boys,” I said with a lazy salute and left to my truck.

Half-an-hour later I walked up to Charlotte’s dorm holding two of her fancy coffee things. I got a little nervous as I knocked on the door. Maybe I should have called first? This was all totally new territory for me, and I didn’t know the rules.

“One of those better be for me or you aren’t allowed in,” Madeline grumbled as she opened the door. I rolled my eyes but passed her one of the cups. She snapped it out of my hands, spinning around to walk back to her room. I caught the door and crept quietly into Charlotte’s room.

I placed her coffee on the desk as I smiled down at the sleeping girl. She was cocooned in her large comforter, with only her face peeking out. Her dark lashes fanned her rosy cheeks, reminding me for the millionth time what an angel she was. Her curls were wild as they flew in every direction on her pillow.

“Sweetheart,” I whispered as I sat on the edge of her bed, “wake up.” Charlotte mumbled some gibberish, shaking her head with a little frown. f-ck she’s cute. I chuckled as I pressed my l-ips to the center of her eyebrows, smoothing out the wrinkles.

“Archer?” She mumbled as her lashes fluttered open. “Hi,” she added with a coy smile as her eyes settled on me, “what are you doing here?”

I rubbed the back of my neck as those damn nerves hit me again. “I was hoping you’d spend the day with me… oh and I brought you coffee.”

She perked up at the mention of coffee, looking around for it. I sighed and got up to grab it off the desk, delivering it back to her in bed. She wiggled excitedly as she grabbed the cup and s-cked happily on the straw.

“So?” I prodded.

“Hmmm?” Her bright eyes flicked to me confused. “Oh right, yeah sure!”

I laid on Charlotte’s bed grumbling as she got ready. I didn’t understand how she could take so long. I was up and out of the house in fifteen minutes this morning, but now she was going on forty.

She came back in the room and her sweet fruity scent wafted over me. I watched her as she absentmindedly walked around putting on small pieces of jewelry and grabbing her shoes. I was going to tell her to hurry the f-ck up, but I stopped myself. I realized at that moment that I’d lay around waiting for Charlotte for as long as she’d let me.

An overwhelming need to touch her prickled my hands so I reached out and hooked my arm around her wa-ist, pulling her down onto the bed. She let out a little shriek as I took her by surprise and huffed when I hugged her tightly to my chest.

“Archer! I just got ready now you’re gonna make me all frumpled,” she complained.

I laughed as I dropped a quick k-ss on her forehead. “That’s not a word.”

“Sure it is. See? My hair is all frizzy now, and my clothes are crumpled. I’m frumpled.” She looked at me as though her logic was sound, and I was the crazy one.

“Whatever you say, Sweetheart,” I chuckled. I was feeling ballsy so I dropped my hand down to smack her ass playfully, “Now get your ass in gear I’m starving.” She squeaked at the contact, glaring at me while she m-ssaged her bottom. “Want me to do that for you?” I smirked.

“Nope, I’m getting up,” she hastened as she climbed over me and started fixing her hair.

We decided to go back to Moe’s—the 50’s diner—for breakfast. I liked this place because it reminded me of our hometown. So many restaurants in LA had tiny portions and foods I couldn’t even pronounce. I mean f-ck, I’m a football player. I need meat and potatoes—and lots of it.

A waitress on rollerblades sat us at a booth by the large front window. I stretched my legs out under the table and smiled when I felt Charlotte put her little feet on top of mine. She didn’t say anything about me invading her space as she peered at the menu.

“So did Ollie leave this morning?” She asked as she ran her slender finger over the options.

“He was still recovering when I left, but yeah he was on his way out.” I cleared my throat as I realized we probably had some stuff to talk about. “So… about him. Well, about everyone in our families really… Are we uh, telling them?”

Charlotte looked up from her menu with apprehension in her eyes. “Do you want to?” She countered.

“I don’t not want to,” I said. I knew I was talking in circles but I didn’t want to upset her with what was on my mind. “I just think that—well—your family might not be super receptive to this. They’ve seen me through my worst stages. I’m not sure they’d approve.”

“My family loves you,” she said with a small shake of her head.

I nodded slowly, getting closer to what I really wanted to say. “Yeah, I know. I just got some vibes at Thanksgiving. I don’t think your dad really liked how close we’d gotten.”

Charlotte looked back down to her menu for a moment. A small frown puckered her eyebrows. “Yeah, actually he did seem a little off maybe. So you think we shouldn’t tell anyone?”

“I’m not saying anyone,” I clarified. I didn’t want her to think I was keeping her a dirty little secret. “Maybe let’s just keep our families out of it for a bit? It’ll give us time to figure things out for ourselves. And it will give me time to figure out how I’m going to tell Ollie I’m hot for his little sister.”

Charlotte’s cheeks flushed red at my omission, making me chuckle. We left it at that and went back to looking over the menus. I watched her for any signs that she was upset by our talk, but she seemed okay—maybe a little quiet, but okay.

My phone buzzed in my pocket but I ignored it. I didn’t think most girls would consider this an official date but I still knew better than to start texting at the table. It went off a few more times while we ordered our drinks and food. Finally, I dug my hand in my pocket, finding the off button and holding it down.

Charlotte seemed to recover from her quietness after our family talk. She chatted energetically about a history assignment she had coming up. I listened intently, trying to keep up with everything she was saying. She was a total enigma to me. I didn’t understand how she managed to be so happy about something like a school assignment.

She’d always been that way though. Even when we were kids Charlotte had found the silver-lining in everything. Hell, that was the reason I didn’t like her hanging around us all of the time. A pang of guilt hit me as I realized she had lost some of that in her later teen years. I didn’t pay much attention to her to be fair, but even I had noticed she stopped always having something positive to say.

Having reflected on that, it made me even happier to watch her now. She was currently listing all of the options her prof had given her for paper topics like they were a gift. It was like she’d pulled back the curtain and given me a glimpse of her old self, and this time I recognized how special it was.

She stopped mid-sentence, looking down at her purse where a buzzing sound was coming from. “Sorry,” she said sheepishly, “but it might be Oliver leaving town.” I waved her off, so she reached into her bag and pulled out her phone. “Oh, never mind—it’s James.”

“Ugh. Ignore him,” I grumbled.

“He never calls me, it’s probably important,” she chastised, already answering the call. I listened as she exchanged pleasantries with James, laughing at whatever he was saying. It secretly made me feel proud of how loved she had become by my teammates. I didn’t particularly like sharing her attention, but it was nice that she was finally surrounded by people who saw her worth.

“One sec,” Charlotte said into the phone, then pulled it away from her ear and put her hand over the mouthpiece. “James wants to know why you aren’t answering his calls,” She directed at me.

“Because I didn’t want to,” I muttered.

“He says he didn’t see them!” She said back to James, making me roll my eyes at her. She listened to James again before laughing and telling me, “James says he misses you.”

“Tell him I said I don’t f-cking like him,” I responded.

“Archer says he flipping misses you too!” She said to James with a wide smile. “Alright I’ll tell him,” she added before hanging up.

“James needs you to buy eggs, milk, and bread for the house before you go home,” she reported back to me.

“Does he think I’m his mother?” I mumbled under my breath.

She pursed her l-ips, clearly hearing me. “He’s really tired from last night and can’t get downtown.”

“What if I just don’t want to?” I challenged.

“You’ll survive,” she shrugged as our food arrived. Well, I guess that’s f-cking that.

An hour later I walked up the driveway to our house carrying two brown bags filled with groceries. I tried to be grumpy about doing James’ bitch work but watching Charlotte skip ahead of me to open the door was too cute to really be mad.

Most of the boys were downstairs when we walked in. They called greetings to both of us as we took our jackets off. Thankfully, they were more or less dressed this time. Tyler must have gotten a rookie here because the garbage was cleared and the floors smelled of fresh pine cleaner.

“We got cookies at the bakery!” Charlotte called as we walked into the kitchen to put the bags down. The guys swarmed quickly, all grabbing stuff out of the bags as Charlotte handed out the treats she had insisted we buy for everyone. Her tiny body got lost for a moment behind all of the oversized football players, so I pushed them aside to make sure she was okay. She flashed me a grateful smile as I picked her up and placed her on the counter.

“We were about to watch a movie, you two down?” Tyler asked with a mouthful of cookie. I was about to say no and take Charlotte up to my room but she beat me to it.

“Sure!” She beamed. Tyler gave me a smug look, knowing that usually, I would tell them to get f-cked if they asked me to hangout. He was clearly waiting to see if I’d fight her or not.

“It better not be a stupid movie,” I sighed, as I helped Charlotte down from the counter. I didn’t miss the snickers coming from my teammates.

By the time we got to the living room, most of the couches had already been filled. I decided that maybe this wouldn’t be the worst thing ever, and seized my opportunity. I plopped into the last recliner, reaching out and grabbing Charlotte’s wrist.

That cute little blush of her’s spread across her cheeks as I pulled her onto my lap. “Is this okay?” I whispered in her ear while she shuffled to get comfortable. She gave me a smile as she snuck her feet between my legs, tucking her cold toes under my th-gh. I took that as a yes and relaxed back wrapping my arms around her.

My hands wandered while we watched the movie. I swear I tried to keep them still. But Charlotte’s soft body tucked against mine was so tempting. My fingers travelled lightly up and down her spine, savouring the feeling of her muscles relaxing under my touch. I pushed my luck a little when I dropped my hand to rub her th-gh. I thought I was being subtle as I crept my hand closer to her ass until she reached out and pinched the sensitive skin under my bicep.

I hissed air through my teeth and shot a glare at her. She laughed softly as she lifted one delicate eyebrow at me. I took the painful hint and went back to rubbing her back.

“You guys want to watch another?” James asked an hour later when the credits rolled.

“Charlotte didn’t even make it through that one,” Tyler laughed pointing to my lap. Sure enough, Charlotte was asleep with her face pressed against my chest.

“Any of you f-cks wake her up and I’ll kill you,” I said quietly as I tightened my arms around her. She let out a little sigh and pressed her face farther into me. I can’t even express the feelings that washed over me as I held her while she slept. That caveman in,side of me was back again, this time beating his chest that we finally had Charlotte. I’d never felt so possessive in my life, or protective.

I suddenly felt like I needed to stand guard, watching for invisible threats that could hurt her—or at the very least wake her up. I barely registered the boys putting on another movie, I couldn’t even say what it was called. I spent the wh0le time lost in the waves of emotions crashing over me.

TBC

Like comment and share