About Time (Broken Vows #4)

Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Hattie Past- Age 26

"Who keeps calling you? Maybe you should just answer. They seem pretty determined," Wren comments, as I reject another call from Charlie.

I waive her off. "It's nobody don't worry about it." I set my phone down and take a seat at the table. With my foot, I push out the chair opposite me. “Wren, we need to talk. I know we've talked about me going back to Florida, but there are some things that need to be decided before I go. I've gone over the numbers and there is no way to keep the house unless we drain your parents insurance policies. I know that's not what they wanted them for. I'm sure they would much rather that money went to take care of you than to tie you to this house."

"What are you saying we need to do?" she asks me.

"I spoke to a realtor, and the market in Harriston is actually not very bad. I think you should sell the house, and combine the equity with the payout from their insurance policies. There are also some investments and a savings account that your father had started. It's not a lot of money, but it will help. This way you can get a nice apartment, and you won't have to work to pay rent or your bills. You should be able to make it through college without having to work on the side. Since you got that scholarship to Central Valley, you can focus on your studies and not start your life out in debt."

She looks down at the table, and absentmindedly picks at a small scratch in the wood veneer. When she looks up at me, her green eyes are glassy with unshed tears. “You don't think they would be disappointed that I sold our home?"

I reach across the table and take her hands. “No, sweetie. I think they would be proud of you for making the adult decision at such a difficult time. I'm very sorry to be leaving you here alone. Are you sure you don't wanna come with me? "

"I'm sure. I don't want to leave Liam. This is the only home I've ever known. Are you upset?"

I shake my head. "No, I understand. Believe it or not I know what it's like to throw yourself into young love."

Wren points at my phone. "Is that who keeps calling you?"

Without thinking, I nod slightly. “yeah, but don't worry about it. It's long over. I don't really want to speak about him if you don't mind."

She squeezes my hands. “Just be happy. My mom would have wanted you to do what was best for yourself. Don't worry about me I will be fine."

"I am going to miss you," she says.

I feel a bit guilty because I already know I have no plans on coming back. “We will have to make plans for you to visit me. This town doesn't have good memories for me."

“Damn, I’ll have to go to Florida? Oh, no, whatever on earth shall I do?” Wren says sarcastically.

I roll my eyes at her. “I am going to miss you.”

She tries to give me a smile, but it wobbles. I can feel my own eyes swelling with tears. “Me too,” she says in a choked whisper. Wren clears her throat. “I know you don’t like to talk about your personal life, but whatever puts that sad look on your face, I hope you take care of it. You deserve to be happy.”

Life speeds by at warp speed over the next week. Wren’s eighteenth birthday falls in the middle of the week, and by the end of the week she’s signed the agreement with the realtor to begin the process of selling the house.

Packing is proving more difficult than I anticipated. We got boxes, tape, and bubble wrap, but I didn’t think about the emotional toll of packing away the last reminders of Elisa and Martin.

I volunteer to go through their clothes while Wren tackles the photographs. Going into their room is hard. Neither of us have stepped foot in here since the day of the funeral. I know we should donate their clothes, and I do have a box set up for that purpose, but that’s not easy to do in practice.

When I open the closet the first thing that hits me is the smell. There’s a mingling of a floral scent with a spicier cologne. I grab a sweater from a hanger and bring it to my nose. I’m reminded of all the times that my sister wrapped her arms around me. The softness of the fabric and the smell of her perfume overwhelms me and my knees buckle.

I’ve cried since I got the news of their fatal car accident, but I think a part of me was still holding back. Even seeing their caskets side by side in the church didn’t drive the point home like packing their things does.

I bury my face in the sweater and let it all out. The fabric stifles my cries for the most part.

“What am I going to do without you? I’m not ready to be on my own, Lis. I do the dumbest shit. I should have told you years ago so you could have talked me out of developing feelings for Charlie. I need you so much right now, and I’m so sorry I took you for granted. I shouldn’t have let my broken heart keep me away so long. I promise you that if the day ever comes that Wren finds herself in need of that kind of help I will be there for her.”

That sweater doesn’t go into the box to donate, but I set it aside for myself. I put a few things aside for Wren too. Then I do the same with her father’s things. The boxes to keep are overflowing, while the box to donate is barely half full.

I have a storage unit here that I’ve had since I left town six years ago. There wasn’t a lot put in it since I had a studio apartment here. I’ve never gotten around to getting rid of it or my old things. The easiest thing to do is to add the things not going to Wren’s new apartment with my things.

We spend the rest of the day packing up the house and moving things over to the storage unit. I have a moment of panic when Liam pulls up to the house with his truck, fearing that Charlie will be with him, but he came alone.

Charlie has always been really close to his godson. It’s one of the things I love most about him. I’m done lying to myself that I’m not still in love with him. The way I reacted seeing him with that woman confirms that I am, and probably always will be hopelessly in love with him.

There are some wounds that we just have to learn to live with. Loving Charlie is part of who I am now. The tricky part is going to be moving on. I don’t want to be alone the rest of my life, and I can’t accept being Charlie’s dirty secret, which means the only option is to do my best to make a new life for myself.

You don’t get to choose who you love, unfortunately. At least not the person who takes over your soul as if yours belongs to him alone. But, you can choose who to spend your life with. It is possible to love someone enough to be happy.

There’s just one thing I need in order to let go of him forever. Last time I was here he broke up with me, and that was that. We hadn’t seen each other until coming back for the funeral. I don’t want to sneak away in the night without putting a proper end to our relationship.

I need to let go of the hurt and even the anger. I hope to be able to look back at these memories with some fondness someday, and it will be tainted if my last memory with him was of us arguing.

I help Wren get moved into her new place. It’s small, and there’s no place for me to stay with her. We pushed this out until my last day here on purpose so that I only have to stay in a hotel for one night. I really can’t delay any longer since only working at the clinic a couple days a week for the past few months has seriously cut into the savings I had managed to build. The hospital is expecting me back in a few days, and so is Clark.

I know he wants more from me, and I can’t say I will be ready to move on that fast, but I am going to make a concerted effort to be ready as soon as I can. It’ll take some time, but not years like before. Perhaps a few months, but there’s no reason Clark and I can’t start slowly.

Before I go back to Florida and face that future, I want to put a bookend on my relationship with Charlie. After the last box is unpacked at Wren’s I hug her goodbye and head over to Charlie’s. He may not want to see me, and he might not even be alone, but I need to see him one last time even if it is bad.

His truck is in his parking spot when I pull into the drive. I knock on the door and hold my breath, hoping he’s alone.

He opens the door and is surprised to see me standing on the porch. He recovers himself after a moment spent gaping at me. “What are you doing here?”

Not exactly the welcome I was hoping for. I jerk my thumb over my shoulder in the direction of the car. “I can leave if this is a bad time.”

Charlie throws the door open the rest of the way. “No, don’t leave. I just didn’t think you’d ever be willing to talk to me again.”

I walk in past him and set down my purse. “I don’t really want to talk.”

His stance widens, and I can tell by the lift to his lips that he understands what I mean. “I think we should talk about what happened at Donovan’s.”

I cock my head to the side. “You really want to go over all that again when I’m actually here?”

“I’m kind of mad at you,” he tells me. I can see that he means it, even if he tries to play it off like he’s joking.

I start to undo the buttons on my shirt, and let it fall to the floor. Normally I’d wait for him to issue a command, but I’m not interested in playing the same game we usually do.

His eyes flick up and down my body. “So we’re going to get right to it then?”

I don’t reply with words, I just undo my pants and push them down my hips. Then I’m standing in front of him in a lacy set of lingerie.

Charlie hoists me up, and I wrap my legs around his waist. He walks me across the room, and sets me down on the couch. He kneels in front of me, and helps me out of my bra and underwear until I’m completely nude.

I grab his t-shirt and pull. “It’s not fair that I’m the only one naked.”

He sits back on his ankles, and pulls his shirt off the rest of the way. “Any other demands?”

“You seem to enjoy it so much, I wanted to see what it was like,” I tell him.

“Tell me what you want, Doll.”

“You, exactly as you are.”

His hands grip my knees, and he spreads my legs apart. “Then that’s what you’ll get. Lean back, I want to taste you.”

This is an easy direction to follow. I watch as he lowers his head between my thighs. I don’t see anything after his tongue sweeps through my folds, because my eyes squeeze shut. He consumes me as if he’s ravenous for me. My legs start to shake as my body is overwhelmed with pleasure.

My head is rolling from side to side on the back of the couch. “It’s too much. Ah,” I scream. I continue to mumble about needing him to stop, but my body language contradicts this. My fingers lace in his hair and I hold him against my pussy. His tongue spears inside of me before he moves to suck on my clit. His fingers plunge inside of me and stroke that place inside that sends jolts of electricity through my body.

Charlie can work my body like I’m an instrument and he’s a virtuoso. He pushes me over that crest, and the tremors that take over my body feel like I’m convulsing.

He stands up and joins me on the couch while my body regrows bones. I roll my head to look at him. “I’ll regain the use of my muscles soon.”

My eyes flick down to the tent in his jeans. It looks like his cock is being strangled, and not in a fun way. “You should take off your pants. As soon as I’m able to move, I’ll take care of that for you.” I gesture to his dick with my chin.

“Or I could use your body how I want. You’ll let me, won’t you?” His voice has that low rumble it gets when he’s turned on. The sound of it makes me wet, even more than having his mouth on my pussy.

“Absolutely. You can take me how you want, but I would really like to ride you,” I admit.

Charlie groans, which I think means he would like that as well. “Come over here then and work my cock with your tight, wet, cunt.”

He takes my hand and silently urges me to straddle his lap. I put my hands on his shoulders to help hold myself up while he lines up the fat head of his cock with my opening. Slowly, I lower myself down on him. The stretch of his girthy member shocks me every time. As many times as he’s been inside of me, I never get used to it.

My previous orgasm is still sending tiny aftershocks through my body, and I can feel my walls constantly squeezing him. Charlie puts his hands on my hips and guides me up and down. We start slowly at first. I want to speed up, but I’m drawn into the look of awe and painful pleasure on his face.

I commit every expression to memory, knowing this is the last time we’ll be together this way. But, even though I want to draw this out as long as possible, my body soon takes over and I’m bouncing up and down on his cock.

“Fuck,” he draws out on a long exhale. The veins in his neck are bulging, and a bead of sweat is working its way down his temple. His fingers dig into my hips and I know the bruises from his finger tips will last longer than we will. I already dread the moment they fade, because that will be the last physical thing left from us.

My body detonates and I roll my hips as my second orgasm wanes.

Somehow Charlie turns us and lays me down on the couch all without pulling out of me. “I let you have your way with me, but now it’s my turn.”

He folds me in half, putting both of my knees up, and tucked under his arms. It changes the angle he’s hitting inside of me, making him feel deeper.

Charlie reaches above our heads and grabs the arm of the couch. It gives him leverage to thrust hard inside of me. “You are such a good slut. Always so eager for my cock. You take it so well, like my own perfectly made fucktoy.”

He’s fucking me so hard it feels like he’s trying to work his way into my heart through my vagina. I know I haven’t been with anyone else, but I’m certain when I do move on I am going to be disappointed.

His warm mouth closes around my nipple and he sucks hard. I feel the pull all the way to my clit as if he were working both at the same time. I can feel his cock jerk inside of me, and it occurs to me that we didn’t stop long enough to use a condom. For some reason, as reckless as this is, the knowledge that there’s nothing between us this one last time sends me skyrocketing to my third orgasm.

“Come for me, Doll. I need you to soak my cock. I’m going to fill you with my cum.”

I’m not sure how, but he manages to take me even harder. “I will never get enough of you,” he grunts.

My nails dig into his back as I clench around him.

“That’s my girl. Choke my cock.” He buries his face into the crook of my neck and releases a long, low groan. His cock jerks and I feel each spurt of his hot release as he keeps his promise and fills me.

We lay together for several minutes. He’s heavy, and his added weight isn’t the most comfortable, but I know the moment he pulls out of me I have to let him go.

He pushes up and pulls out. I can feel a gush of our combined fluids coming out of me, so I excuse myself to get cleaned up in the bathroom. He’s waiting on the other side of the door when I come out. He pulls me into his arms and kisses me tenderly. There’s so much emotion swirling in his dark eyes, but this time I don’t encourage him to share it. I’m afraid I’ll never be able to walk away if he were to manage to get past all the things telling him to keep up the wall that he’s erected between us.

When our kiss ends we stand holding each other’s eyes. He swipes his thumb across my bottom lip. “You are a treasure.” He kisses my head. “I’m going to clean up and we’ll order dinner.”

I smile, but say nothing. He closes the door, and my smile falls. “Goodbye, Charlie,” I whisper.

I dress quickly, and take a letter from my purse I wrote beforehand, and set it on the table. At the doorway I take one last look at this house that was almost my home, and leave for the last time.