Chapter 53

Charlie

Millie was going down, I decided, as I circled the table, seeing all the different plays I could make. Or rather, I’d be going down on her when I won. Knox got knocked out and so did Noah, leaving just me to claim victory. I leaned over the pool table, ready to make my shot, seeing all the ways the white ball could go. If I knocked the red in, it could send the yellow into the other pocket and boobs.

Boobs?

Millie bent over the pool table right in front of me, the deep v of her blouse revealing mounds of beautiful breasts that were just dying for my touch and for a second, I couldn’t think of anything else. How hard her nipples got when I sucked them. The cute little noises she made when she was close to coming. Her fingers raking across my scalp, holding me right in place, even though she’d never need worry that I’d pull away. I shook my head, grinning and then narrowed my focus back to my shot.

“Anyone would think you don’t want me to win,” I told her.

“Well, I do hate to lose.”

She folded her arms under her tits, plumping them up so they looked like fruit on a tray, ready to be eaten.

“Who says you’re going to lose?” I potted the red if not the yellow ball, then moved closer, my mouth almost brushing her ear. “Pretty sure we’ll both win over and over.”

“Can we wrap this up?” Knox appeared by the table, spinning his finger in a circle. “Millie can kick your arse and then choose where she’s sleeping tonight.”

He said that with a confidence I didn’t feel. Noah was her childhood sweetheart, Knox rescued her, but what was I? I grinned as I leaned over the table, drawing my cue back. A man who’d spent way too much of his misspent youth playing pool with his mates. I worked methodically, sinking ball after ball after ball to the sounds of Millie’s exclamations, then stood up, putting my cue behind me and shooting the black in blind, grinning when I heard a familiar clunk.

“Holy crap, I didn’t stand a chance, did I?” she said, staring up at me.

“I was gonna warn you,” Noah told her, “but Knox said no.”

Millie turned to face our team leader. He smiled down at her, arms crossed.

“Seems neater this way. You spent last night with me, the other one with Noah?—”

So I was all that was left. I didn’t love that idea, watching Millie bristle.

“So, what, you’re going to pass me around between the three of you, each one of you claiming a night?”

She was trying for outrage, but I heard that note in her voice. A little tremble that said she didn’t hate that idea as much as she was saying. I stepped forward and so did the others so we could have this conversation a little more discreetly.

It hurt to maintain the distance between us. I wanted to pull Millie against me, making clear to every bloke that took a second look at her that she was mine.

Ours.

But there were too many eyes on us here, so I pitched my voice low.

“Maybe we will,” I told her, all the need and desire I’d been keeping back coming rushing out. “Maybe we’ll work it out between the three of us who you need on a given night. Maybe we’ll be there with everything you need waiting for you. From a long hot bath to a gentle massage to…” I swallowed hard, able to see it now. Her naked, beautiful, and flushed with pleasure. “Something more vigorous.”

She sucked in a breath, ready to reply, when the sharp sound of laughter came from further in the pub. The wives were cackling about something between them, but the spell was broken. Millie looked from them to us with a question in her eyes.

“So what do you want me to do, walk out of here on your arm?”

Yes, I wanted to say, yes, exactly that, but that wasn’t how this was going to work. I swallowed, struggling to keep smiling but I achieved it.

“No.” Why did it hurt so much to say that one little word? I couldn’t spend time wondering at that. I’d won and it was time to claim my prize in any way I could. “You’ll make your goodbyes.” I turned her around to face the wives sitting around their table and gossiping. “Say you’re tired and need to head home to bed. Instead you’ll stop at the service station for fifteen minutes. Grab yourself a drink or something and then I’ll meet you there.” Knox nodded, making clear he approved of this plan. “Sound do-able?”

Her lips parted and I knew then she was feeling the same way. Millie wanted to say fuck it, to go up on her tiptoes and kiss me in front of anyone. My arms moved, ready to catch her, to pull her closer, but instead she nodded and turned to do just that.

“If I won, why do I feel like I’m losing something?” I muttered.

“It won’t always be like this.” Noah put his elbow on my shoulder and I wondered why the hell it was more socially acceptable for him to touch me than the mother of my child. “We’ll work something out.” That was no consolation, I knew it, he knew it, but he grabbed the triangle and racked the balls again. “In the mean time you can crush me at pool again.”

I watched Millie smile and wave to the women, but when she pulled away from them, it felt like it was me she was walking away from, not towards, like she should.

“I’ll give you a couple of shots to make sure you don’t have to show that lily white arse to the whole pub,” I told him.

A snort and a shake of his head was all I got in reply as he took the first shot.

Exactly fifteen minutes later I was downing the last ball, then my beer, readying myself to leave.

“Bring Millie by mine tomorrow evening,” Knox said, getting in my way, right as I was heading towards the door.

“Tomorrow is mine,” I told him through gritted teeth.

“Tomorrow evening we’ll have something that all of us can share.”

He looked then at Noah, making clear the two of them had been talking, but I couldn’t be bothered to find out what. They could chat all they bloody liked while I was with Millie.

“I’ll ask her and let you know.”

I didn’t wait for a reply, hearing some of my workmates call my name, offer me another beer, but none of them had what I needed. It wasn’t that bitter, hoppy taste I wanted, but hers.

Millie was sweet to the tongue, I remembered that much. Had me going back over and over, needing another taste. My cock throbbed like a sore tooth in my pants, but I’d happily ignore it for this. Her looking up from where she was parked, a look of surprise on her face despite the fact I’d told her I was coming, replaced quickly by a flush of pleasure. I treasured that as I swung out of my truck and walked over to her car, poking my head through her open window and claiming her mouth without thought.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, pressing my forehead against hers. “I’ve just been wanting to do that all week.”

“You kissed me before,” she gasped, “when you found out I was pregnant.”

“Wasn’t enough.” I went back for another and another, loving the way her lips felt soft beneath mine. “Not nearly enough.” My hand reached in, stroking her face, her hair. “Now tell me I can take you to my place and do all the things I’ve been dreaming about all week.”

“OK.” I pulled back, staring into her eyes, half expecting her to say no.

“OK?” I grinned down at her.

“Yes,” she said. “Yes to all of that. Now get in your car and show me the way to your place before someone sees us.”

That last bit, it was the sting in the tail of something awesome. Pleasure and pain, that was all I seemed to feel after I met Millie.

“See if you can keep up,” I told her with a wink and then jumped back into my car, staring into the rear vision mirror to make sure she was ready before taking off down the road.

My head wasn’t here in the car. It wasn’t even on the day I’d had, but instead I was mentally in the passenger seat of Millie’s car, watching her every movement, trying my best to distract her, as we drove closer to my place. This meant that when my phone started ringing it was a rude shock. I was forced to wrench my eyes away from the rear vision mirror, where I could see Millie’s car, to my phone. Astrid. My sister’s name flashed up on the screen, forcing a groan out of me.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit.

In my family I was rarely called Charlie. Space Cadet, Forgetful Jones when I was a little kid or just Dory after that bloody fish on Finding Nemo, I got them all and for good reason. I was caught up in Millie, in her news, in the fact she was treating us as more than just colleagues and that had me spacing completely on the plans I’d made with my sister and my nephews.

I liked kids so being the funcle was no great chore. Remembering that I’d said I would take the boys off Astrid’s hands was much harder. She wanted the morning off to get on top of some cleaning and then go to get her hair done and I’d said yes.

To the same morning that I intended to take Millie out.

I’ll just let it go to message bank , I thought, even as my grip on the steering wheel grew tighter. Just let it ring. It did, over and over, the persistent sound like a hard finger poking repetitively into my ribs, reminding me of my fuckup. My teeth grit together because this was not how I did things.

Answer the call, attend to whatever issue the person on the other end wanted fixed as soon as possible, because otherwise it just slipped my mind. I told myself I had no way to answer Astrid’s call safely while driving, so I drove on until it stopped ringing.

Only for it to start up again.

Astrid knew me and had no doubt worked out what had happened, knowing her best bet was to keep ringing until I gave in and picked up. I let out a low growl of frustration, flicking on my indicators to park by the side of the road. My eyes caught the moment that Millie did the same as I grabbed the phone and tapped on the screen.

“Hey Buttface,” I said with false cheer. A shriek in the background made me wince. “What’s up?”

“Have you forgotten about tomorrow?” And hello to you too, I thought. “You did, didn’t you? Bloody hell, Charlie.”

“In my defence, I’ve had a lot on this week. I?—”

“You and me both, Brother. We’ve talked about this. Don’t say yes to things you have no intention of doing.” That wasn’t it, I wanted to tell her, but Astrid charged on. “I can cope with your bullshit, but the boys…”

And that’s when I felt my heart sink.

Bill was Astrid’s deadbeat ex, a guy that rarely picked the boys up for the visitation time he’d fought hard to get to lower the child support payments he rarely made. “Jesus…” I could almost hear the moment when her teeth clenched down, her breath coming noisily down the phone. “So what do I tell the boys this time?”

That wasn’t fair. I took the boys out at least every second weekend, knowing Astrid needed the break, which was more than our parents signed up to do. She didn’t mean to get short with me, but sometimes it felt like she was only just hanging on by the skin of her teeth. Astrid couldn’t cope with any more disappointment.

My side door opened and a quizzical Millie slid into the truck, taking in the phone, and the tense set of my body.

“You can tell my nephews…” I mentally pleaded with Millie to understand and I liked to think she did. Her hand slid across the seat and gripped mine. “That I’ll take them to Tree Climb tomorrow.”

“That adventure playground place?” I let out a sigh at the rapid shift in Astrid’s tone. Surprise, relief replaced judgement. My thumbs moved, rerouting the audio to the speakers. “Are you sure, Charlie?” She was using my real name. My sister must be pleased with me. I silently asked Millie the same question. “Because once I tell the boys…”

They’d be devastated if I turned around and spaced on them. Millie snorted and then nodded in agreement.

“Tell them I’ll be by at 9.30am sharp,” I said. When Astrid got off the phone I turned to Millie, an apologetic expression on my face.

“I’m sorry?—”

“You have a prior commitment,” she said. “It’s OK.”

“No, it’s not.” Millie went to pull away but I held her hand fast, reaching for the other. “It’s really not and I want to tell you that I won’t double book shit again, but…” I swallowed hard. “I’d be lying. There’s a reason why I went into the fire service.”

“Because you look amazing in the uniform?”

“What?” She stopped my train of thought cold and then I looked down at myself. “OK, cool, good to know.”

“Because you really like helping people,” she prompted.

“Yeah, that’s a big part of it, but basically it’s this.” I took off my seat belt and turned to face her. This was always going to come out, but a selfish part of me hoped that it wouldn’t become an issue for some weeks, if not months, and preferably after we got naked. “I work hard and do what’s needed without complaint, at least that’s what my performance review said. I’m even good at showing initiative, often able to think of faster, better ways of doing things, but…”

My eyes dropped down, not wanting to see it, the moment she processed what I was saying.

“I couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery, that’s what my dad always said. The details, I never remember them.” I dragged out my phone and showed her my calendar. Every day was filled with notifications. From when to put the bins out, to getting the dishes done, it was the only way I could make sure any of that shit got done. Her eyes widened as she scanned the schedule I’d been forced to make for myself. “I was kinda hoping you’d have seen how good I was at… other things before you were confronted by this, but?—”

Fingers touched my lips, silencing me more definitely than any words because all I could feel was her. The warmth of her skin, the salty taste of her skin. I pressed a kiss there, wondering if this would be the last chance I got.

“You forgot that you were hanging out with your nephews, not kicked a puppy,” she told me, staring into my eyes. “I know a lot of people that are perfectly punctual and are complete arseholes.” I let out a little bark of laughter despite myself. “I’ve never seen anyone put a reminder in their phone to make sure they get the dishes done before, but…” She smiled slowly. “Do you make sure to get them all clean every night?”

“Every single one,” I said, “otherwise I just can’t. I’ll just leave them there and the pile just keeps getting bigger and bigger until I stop going into the kitchen to avoid dealing with it.” I winced, remembering how that went. “It gets ugly so I’ve learned to make sure I do every single one every night.”

“Well, that already makes you ten times better than the last guy I lived with.” My grip on her hands was punishing but I couldn’t seem to force myself to let go. “He didn’t do the dishes because he thought that was women’s work.”

“What a fucking dick,” I rasped.

“Yeah, and that didn’t even work that well.”

Her smile was what drew me closer. I was like one of those moths, unable to stop myself from flying towards all that radiance. Millie leaned in too, meeting me halfway so our lips grazed against the others.

“I promise to make sure the dishes are always done and the bathroom is scrubbed once a week. With bleach,” I added hastily. “I’ll sort all of the rubbish into the right bins and make sure they go out each Friday night and vacuum on a Sunday.”

“Who could say no to that?” Millie said, her lips twitching. “Take me home, Charlie, and show me exactly what those hands can do.”

I kissed her properly then, the part of me responsible for holding back all day thoroughly exhausted. Not one more moment could I go without kissing her, something I mumbled before claiming her mouth as mine.