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BANG! BANG! BANG!
It takes me a minute to realize I’m not dreaming and that someone is actually banging on my door. It can’t be Julius. He has no respect for privacy, and Carl doesn’t knock like the motherfucking police, so that leaves two options. It’s Charlie or Teddy.
The thought of Charlie needing me, or that something is wrong, has me bolting upright, not even bothering to wipe the sleep from my eyes. As far as Teddy…
I don’t bother putting on a shirt before I sprint across the room and to my door. When I open it, the sight on the other side has me questioning a lot of things. I’ve worked under Teddy for the past eight years, and never once have I seen him broken.
I’ve seen him mad enough to burn down buildings, sad enough to scream, but never broken. Never broken and… crying. “Boss?”
I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say or do with him in front of me. Brotherly love is kind of a foreign concept. We don’t hug. We don’t comfort each other. And we most definitely don’t fucking cry. Sure, he isn’t a blubbering mess, but Boss has never been one for dramatics. If it wasn’t for the light from the hallway shining directly over him—making the streaks of almost dried tears on his cheeks glisten—I wouldn’t know he was crying at all.
“Lucas, I need you to go take care of Charlie.” His voice is cracked and weak.
“Take care of Charlie?” I tip my head to the side. When I’m told to take care of someone, that means one of two things. Either keep them quiet or shut them up. “What do you mean?”
When he doesn’t respond, I know things are bad. He’s never had a problem clarifying before which only makes me more confused.
I glance to the other side of the hall to make sure it’s clear before I pull him into my room and quietly close the door. “What did you do, Theodore?”
I never use his name, but something in me tells me that whatever he’s done must be bad.
Finally, he looks up from the floor and meets my eyes. Pain and regret swirl in them. “I fucked up. I really fucked up.”
Just the mention of Charlie accompanied with his words make my blood boil. I told myself from the very beginning I wouldn’t love her. I couldn’t. She had already been claimed, and, lord have mercy, on any man who tried to cross the boss. But seeing her so distraught and shattered did nothing but make me want to help her—comfort her.
I knew doing anything with Charlie was a bad idea, but I took the plunge. When she kissed me, I didn’t stop her. I needed to know what she felt like, what she tasted like. I needed to know what powers she had that made men like Teddy not even question walking to the ends of the earth.
I never had a mom, so the concept of loving a woman has always been unfamiliar, and all the women I’ve slept with have never caught my attention for more than a few minutes to get my dick wet.
Charlie though… There has always been something about her. The way she moves with complete and total confidence even when no one is watching. When she thinks I’m not watching. How she can hold her own in a fight and give an attitude like it’s her first language. Something about her has always intrigued me, and maybe that’s where I fucked up. Knowing damn well her and I would never happen, yet still letting myself dream about it.
“I hurt her, Lucas.” Teddy’s voice drags me out of my thoughts.
“What do you mean hurt her?” My fists ball on instinct, and my chest heaves with the rush of adrenaline.
He looks at me up and down before nodding. “Do you love her?”
His question catches me off guard. “What the fuck kind of question is that? Of course I don’t. She’s yours, boss. You’ve made it very clear.”
A sad huff escapes him. “She’s not mine anymore, so I need to hear you say it. Tell me you love her.”
I squint my eyes. “Do I need to call Dr. Kelly? You’re clearly losing your mind. Just tell me what you did so we can fix it.”
I almost feel like a father trying to get through to his child which is weird. The roles have never been reversed like this with Teddy and me.
He sits on the edge of my bed and lets out a deep breath. “You know, when I first put the pieces together that something was happening between you and Charlie, I was mad. Utterly fuming ready to kill you. Hell, maybe I still am a little. But yesterday the chief said something, and it made me wonder. This whole time I’ve been trying to hurt Charlie. I thought if I pissed her off enough, she’d open up and tell the truth, but when the chief said I don’t care about her, only the idea of her, it made me think maybe he’s right.
“Honestly, I love her. Sure, I’ve questioned it a bit since I’ve been back, but wouldn’t you?” His eyes burn into me before he looks to the floor again. “I want her to be happy, Lucas. I want her to know how loved she is. And with what I’m about to do, I don’t think I’ll be around to fix everything I’ve fucked up. I did what I did to her so she would hate me. I need her to hate me.”
“What did you do?” I grind out through my teeth.
He stands and smiles sadly. “Go take care of your girl.”
As he leaves the room, I hurry out my door behind him. He goes right and I turn left, heading straight to Charlie’s room. For a split second, I almost feel like I’m being set up. Him essentially letting everything go makes no sense to me, but the sinking feeling in my stomach tells me otherwise.
I steal one last glance to my right and see the front door closing. Turning back to Charlie’s door, I take a deep breath and knock. Then knock again. I knock a total of four times before I crack it open and peek inside.
“Flower?” I question out to the dark.
