Twisted Fire (30 page)

“
Charlotte, you didn’t know and you trusted him.” Chelsea sat beside her on the bed and pushed back the curls from Charlotte’s face.

“
I was warned, though.” She shook her head and screwed her face up as she thought about her mistake.

“
Yes, you were. You’re a very trusting person which means you should …. ”

Charlotte cut her off. “I know what you are going to say. Save your breath.”

“
He doesn’t know anything about it, Charlotte.”

“
She must have been told by someone. Who else but him? It wouldn’t be Sam or his brothers. Who else could it be?” Her brow furrowed as her puzzled mind attempted to sort through her thoughts.

“
I don’t know. I just believe it wasn’t him.”

“
Well she must be a good liar because I believed her.”

“
Why don’t you talk to him - see what he has to say?”

“
Maybe. Doesn’t mean he’ll tell me the truth.”

“
Of course he will and the truth will be that he hasn’t been with her.”

“
I wouldn’t blame him if he had.” She lowered her eyes and bit her lower lip.

“
What? Why?”

“
Why would he want to be with me when he can be with her? Chelsea she is beautiful and I am … me.” Tears shone in her eyes.

Chelsea frowned, then shook her head. “You don’t see what others do, honey.” When Charlotte said nothing, Chelsea continued. “Do you remember how hurt you were when he didn’t believe in you?’

“
Yes, but this is different. This is his ex girlfriend, the love of his life.”

“
No, Charlotte, you are.”

The doctor came in at this moment and told her she could go home.

“
Take me home, Chelsea. I just want to talk to Mitch on the way out.”

They brought Charlotte another wheelchair and Chelsea took her out to the waiting room. Mitch looked desolate and Charlotte’s heart went out to him.

“
Mitch,” she began, “it’s not your fault.” She took one of his hands between hers, hoping to sooth his distress.

“
If I’d been there, like I was supposed to, this mightn’t have happened. Max would be alive, Jared’s house wouldn’t be gone, all his belongings and yours.” He looked at her sadly.

“
Belongings and houses can be replaced.”

“
Max can’t.”

“
No, he can’t, but you didn’t shoot him, and if you had been there Shaw might have shot you too. Maybe it was a good thing you weren’t there. He shot Max because he was protecting me.”

“
He’s going to be devastated.” Mitch lowered his eyes to the floor.

“
I know, but he has you.” His head shot up.

“
What about you?”

“
I can’t after what Emma said.”

“
You believed her?” Mitch screwed up his face.

“
I don’t know. I just don’t want his pity or charity.”

“
That’s what you think this is? He loves you. I have never seen him like this before.”

“
Maybe that was because Emma was back in his life. Have you considered that?”

“
He wouldn’t sleep with two women at once and he would never go back to that woman.”

“
That’s what I told her,” Chelsea piped up.

“
Enough, both of you. I don’t want to hear it,” she said sharply. “I’m sorry, Mitch, but I have to go. Chelsea, please, let’s go.”

Mitch watched them leave and knew this would break Jared’s heart much more than the loss of Max.

* * *

Jared winced impatiently through his stitches. He was anxious to clear up the mess Emma had created. He knew Charlotte was doubtful about the truth whereas he was simply confused. How did Emma know about their relationship? Who would tell her these things? He knew she was deceitful, but making up complete lies was vindictive even for her. Things mustn’t be going so well with Rick so she’d obviously decided to spoil it for him as well.

He would try to talk to Charlotte first but he knew there would be no convincing her until he found out who’d been speaking to Emma. If Charlotte didn’t believe him or wouldn’t listen, he would then have to talk to the source and find out the real facts.

When they finally completed stitching and bandaging his arm, he went to find out where Charlotte was and how Max was progressing. He found Mitch in the waiting room and he didn’t look happy. When Jared’s eyes found Mitch’s he saw remorse and knew Max hadn’t made it.

“
I’m sorry, Jared. He’d lost too much blood. They did everything they could.”

Jared sat for a moment trying to get hold of the runaway grief overwhelming him. He remembered the day he had pulled Max from the fire and saved his life. The owners were so grateful he’d saved their beloved dog and her puppies, they gave Max to Jared and the other puppies to his fellow crew members. He’d been a loyal and unconditional friend and he was going to miss him dearly.

“
Where’s Charlotte?” he finally asked, his voice rich with pain.

“
She left with Chelsea. She’s alright, so they let her go home.”

“
So did Emma totally crucify me?”

“
Yeah, she did a damn good job. I knew she was a bitch but, man, she really laid it on thick today.” He shook his head.

“
Why would she do this?”

“
She said she was having problems with Rick and she still loved you, or some crap like that. Frankly I don’t know why she would do this now, unless hearing about Charlotte brought out the wickedness in her.”

“
The question is who told her about Charlotte?”

“
That I don’t know, which is probably the reason why Charlotte believed her. She had her convinced that you told her everything.”

“
I’d better go see if I can fix this.” He stood up and placed a hand on Mitch’s shoulder.

“
What are you going to do?”

“
Arm myself with as much information as possible and find out who told Emma.”

“
How?”

“
I’m going to ask her.”

“
Good luck, man. She’s a snake.”

“
Don’t I know it.”

Chapter 32

The End

When Jared pulled up out the front of Rick’s place where he lived with Emma, it brought back memories of the times they’d spent there during training. He remembered Rick’s fun, spontaneous temperament and the mischief he used to cause. Jared missed him and was shattered that Rick had taken up with Emma and ruined their friendship.

He rang the bell and waited. There were knots in his stomach as this was the first time he’d seen her since finding her with Rick. She had phoned and tried to talk to him after the fact but he would have none of it. After a week or so she gave up and stayed with Rick.

Emma opened the door and it struck him again how conventionally beautiful she was. She encompassed the fresh perky look he used to find attractive but, looking at her now, he realised the ugliness inside made her seem ordinary. Next to Charlotte, Emma paled in comparison. While Emma was a classic beauty, Charlotte was unique and this only added to her loveliness.

“
Jared!” she exclaimed. “What a pleasant surprise.”

“
Knock it off, Emma,” he said bluntly. “Why did you do it?”

“
Why did I do what?” She flicked her light hair over her shoulder in the trademark stereotypical way.

“
Oh, so you’re going to play dumb? Fine, why did you go and see Charlotte?”

“
Who’s Charlotte?” Emma inspected her nails, as though she had not a care in the world. Jared wanted to strangle her.

“
You know very well who she is and I want to know why you told her what you did?”

“
I don’t know what you are talking about,” she said indignantly, flipping her hair over her shoulder again. “Whoever she is, she must be delusional.” He took a hostile step forward, his temper close to ignition.

“
Emma, tell me who told you about us. Now,” he yelled.

Jared’s patience was running out. Rick appeared at the door to check what all the commotion was.

“
Hey, Jared,” he said looking pleased to see him. “It’s good to see you. What happened to your arm?

“
There was a fire at my house. I hurt it breaking the glass on the door.”

“
My God! Your house! Is everyone OK?”

“
No, Max didn’t make it.”

“
Oh, man, I’m sorry to hear that. He was a great dog.” He paused. “So what’s up here?”

“
Ask your girlfriend.”

“
Emma,” Rick said in a warning tone. “What did you do?”

“
Nothing. He’s raving on about some girl I know nothing about.”

“
You mean Charlotte?” he asked Jared.

“
Yes. How do you know about Charlotte and me?”

“
Sam told me, and I told Emma. It seems apparent now how foolish that was.”

“
Sam? Why would he tell you anything? I didn’t know you were still talking.”

“
Don’t be pissed at him. I ring him and he’s too nice not talk to me. He didn’t want you to know because he knew it would bother you and he didn’t want to harm your friendship with him. When he told me about Charlotte, he was really happy for you and knew I would be too. I’ve been feeling pretty guilty about what happened and he knew I would be pleased to hear that you had found someone who made you happy. Emma knows I’m very close to booting her ass out so she obviously decided to be spiteful. I’m sorry, man, I’m actually really happy for you.” He frowned at Emma.

“
I wish Sam had told me. I never asked him to end his friendship with you too. I just figured he did it to be loyal to me. I wouldn’t have minded if he had stayed in contact. This was between you and me. Thanks for being honest with me, Rick.”

He then turned to Emma. “And as for you, you’d better hope I can repair the damage you’ve done. I am totally in love with Charlotte and I would never go back to you.”

“
Emma,” Rick said grabbing her arm. “I think we need to talk”.

He turned to Jared and stuck out his hand.

“
I’m sorry for what happened and hope one day maybe you can forgive me.”

“
It’s a possibility. Maybe I’ll call sometime.”

“
I’d like that. Now I have to help this one pack.” He shut the door.

As Jared drove to see Charlotte, he thought about Sam. He would certainly never begrudge him for being friends with Rick. It wasn’t his place to ask Sam to end his relationship as well. He just wished Sam hadn’t felt the need to hide this from him.

Now he simply had to convince Charlotte that he was telling the truth, that Emma blatantly tried to ruin his relationship with her out of spite. He knew it was not going to be easy.

It was hard to believe that someone was capable of being so vicious but that was Emma - selfish and shallow. He refused to imagine a life without Charlotte; things would never be the same without her. The pain at the thought of losing her was suffocating him.

When he arrived at Chelsea and Lucas’, the knot in his stomach was much bigger and there were butterflies dancing around it. This was scarier than going into a blazing fire; at least he knew what he was doing then. He knocked on the door and waited. Chelsea answered and he apologised for calling by so late.

“
That’s OK,” she replied. “I was starting to think you weren’t going to come. I started to doubt you. Now that you’re here, I still believe you.”

“
I had to find out the facts first before coming so I would be able to convince her of the truth.”

“
So how did she know, then?”

“
Rick kept in touch with Sam, who told him and he told Emma. She took it upon herself to try and ruin things for me. She’s just … not a nice girl.”

“
No, she wasn’t nice. Charlotte’s upstairs.”

Jared walked up the stairs with his heart in his throat. He found her sitting out on the balcony, her left leg resting on a chair. She was hugging her other leg to her chest. Her head was resting on her knee and turned away from him.