Stardom

Reckless Abandon

As soon as I got to the club, I changed quickly and made a beeline for the bar, ordering a double vodka and tossing it back in a flash, drowning my sorrows and forcing the thoughts of my latest failure from my head.

"You okay, Lena?" Davey asked sceptically, fulfilling my request to top the glass back up.

"Yeah, just one of those days," I replied, throwing it back again and skating the glass across the bar. "Do you know if the rota's been done for next week yet?"

He nodded his head toward Charlie's office.

"I think he's doing it now."

With a quick thanks, I took off around the bar and dashed up to his office, knocking on the door and entering before I even got a reply.

"Please tell me you haven't finished the rota yet, becaus-" I stopped in the middle of my sentence as my eyes adjusted to what I was seeing.

"What the hell happened?" I gasped, noting the large bruise across Charlie's cheek, along with the gash to his eye and the busted lip.

He groaned and cursed under his breath.

"I guess Davey didn't pass on that I didn't want to be disturbed," He sighed, whilst I approached, stopping at his side and turning his head to look at me.

"Screw that, Charlie. What happened?"

"My brother," He said flatly, taking hold of my wrist and lowering my hand tenderly.

"He attacked you?" I asked, instantly blaming myself for it.

Charlie tipped his head a little, looking somewhat guilty.

"Not exactly."

I arched a brow questioningly, waiting for him to continue, which he did a moment later.

"I attacked him. We fought, and may have inflicted some, much deserved in his case, pain on each other."

"You look like you need stitches," I said sadly, regretting involving him in my issues with his brother, and delicately inspecting the wound above his eye.

"It's fine," He insisted, looking deep into my eyes, a familiar spark striking me in the chest as we stood together, my finger softly sweeping over his skin whilst he gazed up at me with such care.

"I hope you got a few good hits in yourself," I smiled, withdrawing before I could begin to sway into the muddy waters of temptation.

Charlie seemed to feel the same as he adjusted his position and turned away, pulling something back up on his computer screen whilst I retreated to a chair on the other side of his desk.

"He came off worse than me this time, I don't see him being a problem for a while," He informed me with a smirk.

"Good. Hopefully, that'll be the last I see of him then."

"One can hope," Charlie nodded. "So what did you want with the rota?"

I shifted awkwardly, wondering how much to tell him, I needed this. I needed to be here. Not only for a cover but because right now, it was the best thing I had going for me.

"I wanted to pick up some extra shifts from now on," I said, trying to sound casual, "Things are even more expensive, two people and all, bills doubled. We pull in enough with both of our wages, but with my other stuff, I just need to make sure I have enough for a rainy day. And well, why not start now."

He looked suspicious for a second or two, but then, seemingly satisfied with my reasoning, he shrugged and began tapping on his computer.

"I get it. It's never easy."