Broken Truth (3 page)

She wasn’t sure what she had said to make him suddenly act so different, but deciding not to press the issue she just nodded.

He followed her to the passenger side door of the car, so he could hold onto her handbag as she got inside. Placing it onto her lap once she was securely seat belted up, he closed the door and rounded the car for the driver’s seat.

“Wow!” he exclaimed, sliding into his seat. “This is
very
nice!”

Charlie smiled and shook her head. “So what is this thing called?”

He pressed the illuminated start/stop button on the dashboard. “This is the Jaguar XKR-S Convertible. Isn’t she an absolute beaut?” he spoke animatedly as the centre console slowly began to rise revealing the automatic gearbox. Switching to reverse, she watched on with amusement as Callum began to manoeuvre the expensive vehicle out of its parking bay. “I can’t wait to open her up when we get onto the M60. I hope you don’t mind if I take the longer route to Alderley Edge, Baby?”

Opening the window, he leant across to swipe his key fob over the electronic panel. Within seconds the large security gate had opened up to reveal the glorious midday sun.

Revving the engine, he pulled out of the underground garage to join the bumper to bumper traffic on Deansgate. “Shit,” Charlie cursed looking at the gridlock before them. “We are really going to be late.”

If she had to pick something, punctuality would definitely be one of her biggest pet peeves. As a stylist working in a little upmarket boutique on King Street, she was always running at a hundred miles per hour with no room for falling behind. Over running with one client meant that she was late for the next, which was certainly not acceptable in her line of work.

With clientele spending more money than her annual salary within the hour, Charlie had to make sure that she consistently dealt with the diva strops and high demands. Of course, with this happening almost every day, she was now a seasoned pro at the sport.

“If I wasn’t so concerned about these bloody speed cameras everywhere then we would probably be there by now,” Callum replied as he pushed his foot down on the accelerator slightly to merge them smoothly onto the motorway. Swerving straight into the fast lane, he turned his head quickly with a boyish smile. “We have three miles to our junction. Shall we see what this baby can do, eh?”

Slamming his foot onto the pedal, Charlie felt the sudden queasiness in her stomach as the car surged forward at a crazed speed. Having not eaten anything this morning, she lifted her head to the sky in a silent prayer. On days like this she was proud of her laziness. Had she listened to her mother’s usual ranting and made time for breakfast, the interior of Callum’s new car would be spectacularly covered in vomit right now.

“Wow!” Callum’s excited voice filtered through the small space in her subconscious.

Snapping herself back into the moment, she registered the speed of the car increasing. Gripping the door handle for dear life, she tried to look anywhere but out of the window at the trees and buildings whizzing past at great speed. She had hoped that they would hit some traffic on the motorway, but it just appeared that cars were moving over into the slower lanes before they approached.

“Just one mile till we get off, Baby. Shall we go faster?” he asked as his foot pushed the accelerator pedal to the floor.

Charlie swallowed down the rising bile in her throat. She was totally going to get the little fucker back for this.

 “Charlie!” both Amelia and Lucy squealed over the lunchtime chatter in the small restaurant.

She waved happily as she noticed them seated in their usual booth tucked away at the back. As she started to move towards them, Charlie felt the press of Callum’s hand on the small of her back. His gesture was commanding and it halted her in place. “I thought Jack and Ollie were supposed to be here?” he said dipping his head low so that he could whisper softly into her ear.

Flicking a glance across the room at the table, she realised Callum was right and that the girls were on their own. “I can’t believe that I didn’t even notice the boys weren’t here,” she replied. “I’ll have to ask them why they aren’t here. Did you still want to have lunch with us?”

“Of course I will. I still love spending time with the girls as well,” he smiled, taking her hand in his.

Weaving her way through the crowded tables with Callum in tow, Charlie smiled brightly as she focused on her two best friends. It had only been a few days since they had last seen each other, but it may as well have been years. For Charlie, her friends were like lifelines during the week while Callum was away. With nights in and nights out filling her social calendar, they always made sure to keep her busy rather than wallowing away in the apartment by herself.

Releasing his hand, Charlie squeezed herself in at one end of the rounded booth and placed her handbag on the table so that she could hug them both.

“Girl, you are looking beautiful as always,” Lucy said, admiring her outfit from head to toe. Snapping her gaze to the centre of the table, her jaw opened slightly. “And that bag? Damn! How the heck did you manage to get your hands on that?”

Picking up the bag by its handles, Charlie twirled it around in the air. “Oh, this old thing?” she started to tease. She knew that it would be one of the first things both girls would mention on her arrival.

“You bitch! I have been on waitlist for that thing for the past six months,” Amelia screeched, lunging across the table. “How did you get it?”

“My Baby got it for me,” she laughed as she held the bag above her head.

Finally, Amelia gave up trying to claw it from her hands. She retreated back to the other side of the booth and apologised to Lucy whom she had climbed over in the process.

“Ladies,” Callum’s deep voice broke through the mayhem at the table.

Switching their attention towards him, all three girls squeaked excitedly as the waiter stood closely by with three bubbling glasses of champagne. “A little treat for you all, perhaps?”

“Oh, Cal, you shouldn’t have,” Lucy said, sweetly fluttering her eyelashes in his direction.

“Yeah, Cal, that is so nice of you,” Amelia gushed, clapping her hands together.

Trying to keep a straight face, Charlie watched on with amusement as Callum played along with her friends.

“
Like
, it’s totally nothing. I
like
, want you girls to enjoy yourselves,
like
,” he replied cheekily. 

On hearing the final and over the top
like
in his sentence, Charlie couldn’t contain her laughter any longer. Raising her hand to cover her mouth, she continued to splutter loudly as she watched the scene before her.   

“Okay, Callum. A little overkill that time,” Lucy laughed as she took the flutes off of the waiter’s tray.

“Totally,” Amelia agreed. “But anyway, are you joining us for lunch today?” She raised a questioning eyebrow in his direction.

“I would love to catch up with you beautiful ladies,” he grinned. “I have to admit though, I am feeling a little disappointed that my boys aren’t here to back me up. How come they didn’t come today?”

“They wanted to be here, but their sister had some sort of ‘thing’ she needed them to attend instead,” Lucy explained as she took a sip of her champagne. “They did say that they were sorry they couldn’t make it though.”

“This is where dating brothers can kind of suck,” Charlie said, gesturing towards the lack of testosterone on the opposite side of the booth. 

“I don’t mind. It just means that Callum is stuck with all three of us,” Amelia replied with a wink. “Are you going to be able to handle it?”

 As he opened his mouth to respond, the not so subtle sound of Callum’s phone ringing brought silence across the table. “Hold that thought,” he paused, reaching into the back pocket of his jeans. “Callum Ellis,” he answered with a firm and clipped tone.

Watching his face, Charlie noted the usual grimace which told her that work was interrupting them yet again. Raising his finger, he gestured for them to give him a minute as he headed towards the entrance of the restaurant and disappeared outside.

“Seriously...” Lucy broke through the silence around the table. “I think your man gets hotter and hotter each time I see him,” she whistled, fanning herself with her hand.

Smiling, Charlie pushed her friend’s shoulder. “You had better keep your eyes off of my man,” she threatened.

Lucy flew across to the other side of the booth in a flash. “Ooooooh! She’s on the defence, Mia. Protect me,” she squealed, pressing herself into Amelia’s side.

“Ok, enough,” Amelia groaned, pushing Lucy slightly away from her. “You know how territorial our Charlie is over her man. She doesn’t need to hear how hot you think he is!”

“Thanks,” Charlie nodded.

“What she needs to hear, is how every woman in this place practically fucked him with their eyes the moment he walked through that God damned door!” she shrieked without a care for those around them who could hear.

Folding her arms across her chest, Charlie tried to hide her smile as her best friends high fived each other victoriously. They totally knew which buttons to press when she was around. As much as she tried not to encourage the situation, she too couldn’t help but laugh. Her boyfriend was fucking hot as hell and she was completely pleased with that. In fact, she was more than pleased, she was
proud
to have such a good looking man in her life.

“You two shouldn’t be talking about my gorgeous man anyway. What would Jack and Ollie think?” Charlie shot back at them defensively.

Both girls looked at each other and sniggered.

“When Ollie can fuck me like a freight train for four solid hours, then, and only then will we talk about my hot guy,” Lucy half laughed and half snorted.

“Four? He fucked you for four orgasm ripping hours?” Amelia stared at her with her mouth hanging open slightly.

Turning a vibrant shade of pink, Charlie shot daggers across the booth at Lucy. “Big mouth,” she blushed. “We did have some breaks in between you know.”

“Holy shit! Do you think he can help train my Jack to have a bit more stamina?” Amelia asked hopefully before further explaining herself. “You see, once he’s in I’ve got exactly four and half minutes to make some magic before the load is blown and I’m left waiting until the morning for his dick to recharge.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Charlie noticed that their topic of conversation had clearly piqued the interest of others nearby, who were unashamedly looking over and listening to them speak. Never one to miss an opportunity, she decided they could have some fun with this.

“Girls,” she whispered, leaning in closely towards them. “We’ve got some earwiggers over here. Let’s give them something to listen to,” she said as a devious expression crossed her face.

Returning back to her original position, Charlie nodded for them to begin.

“Oh my God!” Lucy exclaimed, clasping her hands up to her mouth. “Charlie, tell Mia about what you texted me last night.”

Playing along, Charlie rambled on for several minutes about her epic shag-a-thon with Callum last night. Spurred on with the girls timely and well placed “Oooohs” and “Aaaaahs”, she continued to draw the attention their way. With no stone left unturned, she made sure to go into specific detail of their every location which did include: The stairwell leading up to the master suite, the sun lounger out on the terrace and the vanity unit in the bathroom. “And then...” she paused dramatically for effect. “He fucked what was perhaps the eighth or ninth orgasm out of me,” she finished with a dreamy sigh.

“Wow,” Callum chuckled, approaching the booth. “Now he sounds like a bit of a keeper.”

As she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, Charlie fluttered her eyelashes seductively. “He sure is,” she murmured, flicking her eyes up and down the length of his body.

Cocking an eyebrow, Callum ran a hand through his black and tinted silver tousled mess of hair. She could tell he was fighting the urge to just take her now in front of all of these people after what she had just divulged. His usual piercing glare glimmered steadily with the promise of more to come later.