Charlotte's Scars

Chapter 12 - Christian

Chapter Twelve

Christian

Of all the things I expected Charlie to say, that was probably at the very bottom of the list. Hell – who am I kidding? It didn't even make it on the list. I always knew Charlie was a smart and caring girl, but I never thought she would have the courage to actually stand up for herself. This girl was a lot stronger than people gave her credit for.

I should have been pissed at her for saying that in front of all these people – if it were anyone else, I probably would've been mad, but instead I admired her for it. And what she said also made me realize what a dick I was being. I mean sure I had my reasons, but being an asshole wasn't going to change the fact that they were here and they were stuck with us for the night.

"You did what?!" My sister was the first to break the silence.

Kale, on the other hand, broke off into a loud, hearty laugh and then asked with disbelief, "You ditched Amber last night for that?"

Charlie's cheeks turned bright red, and she looked completely mortified. Seeing that look on her face caused a wave of anger to wash over me. "What's that supposed to mean, Kale?" I turned to face him, and I didn't even realize my fists were clenched until I felt my nails piercing my skin. "Charlie is better than every single one of your little whores put together. You don't even know what a real woman is because you're too used to fucking easy, sleazy bitches."

Adrian and Nate burst into laughter, but I could almost see smoke coming out of Kale's ears. The large muscles in his arms twitched and his jaw tightened. Adrian's and Nate's laughter started to fade away when they realized how angry their brother was. Kale took a step forward and his large, muscular frame towered over me.

Anyone else in my place would probably piss themselves, but I wasn't afraid of him. We've had our little grapple matches throughout the years, and admittedly, he always whooped my ass, but it wasn't till this moment that I actually had something – or someone – to fight for.

"You know what, Chris? You're probably right. That little nerd of yours might be better than all my bitches, but you sleep with more sleazy girls then me, so what the fuck does that say about you?" He let out a half-laugh, and added, "Better yet, what does that say about her?"

I glared at Kale, and I could feel my arm muscles stiffening with the need to punch him in the face. Kale might have been my cousin, but I never wanted to knock someone out as much as I did at that moment. I didn't care what he said about me, I was pissed because he kept bringing her into it.

There was something about Charlie that made me lose all self-discipline, and I've always prided myself on my ability to stay poised and controlled in every situation. Over the years, I've had many innocent girls fling themselves at me shamelessly, but I've always been able to gently let them down because I knew if I gave them what they wanted, I would eventually break their hearts. The cold, hard truth was Charlie scared me because she wasn't the one throwing herself at me, but it was me who kept going to her. This was why I didn't want her here on the boat with us – she did crazy things to me and I didn't know how to handle it.

My fist clenched together again, and just when I was about to deck Kale in the face, Karla was standing in front of me. She shoved me backwards, and shouted, "What the hell, Christian!"

She pushed me again. "How dare you-" another push, "go after-" another push than brought me up against the deck railing, "my best friend!"