Page 29

Stumbling down the stairs Saturday morning, I only had one goal—seeing Charlotte.

It had been so fucking hard to stay away from her last night.

All I wanted to do was steal her away and have her to myself.

It was torture to be so close but yet have to keep my distance.

Even when we were only friends I was allowed to touch her as much as I wanted—but that was when Oliver wasn't around.

The stench of stale beer stung my nose as I walked into the living room. Sticky red solo cups littered the whole lower-floor of our house. I found Oliver, James, and Tyler in the kitchen all looking dishevelled and tired.

"This place fucking stinks," I muttered as I walked to the fridge to grab the orange juice.

"Well good morning to you too princess," James quipped.

"Which rookie is up for cleaning duty?" Tyler said with a yawn. "Reynolds?"

"Not Emmett," I said without thinking. "Uhm, give it to Smith. He was being a little bitch at practise the other day."

James walked over to look in the fridge next to me, then bumped my shoulder.

"Look who's already going soft," he smirked under his breath before offering Oliver a drink.

I flipped him the bird then went to sit at the island.

I really didn't have an argument, Charlotte was making me soft.

I'm pretty sure that should bother me, but it didn't.

"You sticking around, man?" I asked Oliver. He was slumped against the counter, resting his cheek on his fist. His eyes were bloodshot and I could smell the liquor sweating out of his pour.

"Nah, gonna shower then head home. I've got a T-time at one," he mumbled.

"Alright, well then I'm heading out boys," I said with a lazy salute and left to my truck.

Half-an-hour later I walked up to Charlotte's dorm holding two of her fancy coffee things. I got a little nervous as I knocked on the door. Maybe I should have called first? This was all totally new territory for me, and I didn't know the rules.

"One of those better be for me or you aren't allowed in," Madeline grumbled as she opened the door. I rolled my eyes but passed her one of the cups. She snapped it out of my hands, spinning around to walk back to her room. I caught the door and crept quietly into Charlotte's room.

I placed her coffee on the desk as I smiled down at the sleeping girl.

She was cocooned in her large comforter, with only her face peeking out.

Her dark lashes fanned her rosy cheeks, reminding me for the millionth time what an angel she was.

Her curls were wild as they flew in every direction on her pillow.

"Sweetheart," I whispered as I sat on the edge of her bed, "wake up." Charlotte mumbled some gibberish, shaking her head with a little frown. Fuck she's cute. I chuckled as I pressed my lips to the center of her eyebrows, smoothing out the wrinkles.

"Archer?" She mumbled as her lashes fluttered open. "Hi," she added with a coy smile as her eyes settled on me, "what are you doing here?"

I rubbed the back of my neck as those damn nerves hit me again. "I was hoping you'd spend the day with me... oh and I brought you coffee."

She perked up at the mention of coffee, looking around for it. I sighed and got up to grab it off the desk, delivering it back to her in bed. She wiggled excitedly as she grabbed the cup and sucked happily on the straw.

"So?" I prodded.

"Hmmm?" Her bright eyes flicked to me confused. "Oh right, yeah sure!"

I laid on Charlotte's bed grumbling as she got ready. I didn't understand how she could take so long. I was up and out of the house in fifteen minutes this morning, but now she was going on forty.

She came back in the room and her sweet fruity scent wafted over me.

I watched her as she absentmindedly walked around putting on small pieces of jewelry and grabbing her shoes.

I was going to tell her to hurry the fuck up, but I stopped myself.

I realized at that moment that I'd lay around waiting for Charlotte for as long as she'd let me.

An overwhelming need to touch her prickled my hands so I reached out and hooked my arm around her waist, pulling her down onto the bed. She let out a little shriek as I took her by surprise and huffed when I hugged her tightly to my chest.

"Archer! I just got ready now you're gonna make me all frumpled," she complained.

I laughed as I dropped a quick kiss on her forehead. "That's not a word."

"Sure it is. See? My hair is all frizzy now, and my clothes are crumpled. I'm frumpled." She looked at me as though her logic was sound, and I was the crazy one.

"Whatever you say, Sweetheart," I chuckled. I was feeling ballsy so I dropped my hand down to smack her ass playfully, "Now get your ass in gear I'm starving." She squeaked at the contact, glaring at me while she massaged her bottom. "Want me to do that for you?" I smirked.

"Nope, I'm getting up," she hastened as she climbed over me and started fixing her hair.

We decided to go back to Moe's—the 50's diner—for breakfast. I liked this place because it reminded me of our hometown. So many restaurants in LA had tiny portions and foods I couldn't even pronounce. I mean fuck, I'm a football player. I need meat and potatoes—and lots of it.

A waitress on rollerblades sat us at a booth by the large front window. I stretched my legs out under the table and smiled when I felt Charlotte put her little feet on top of mine. She didn't say anything about me invading her space as she peered at the menu.

"So did Ollie leave this morning?" She asked as she ran her slender finger over the options.

"He was still recovering when I left, but yeah he was on his way out." I cleared my throat as I realized we probably had some stuff to talk about. "So... about him. Well, about everyone in our families really... Are we uh, telling them?"

Charlotte looked up from her menu with apprehension in her eyes. "Do you want to?" She countered.

"I don't not want to," I said. I knew I was talking in circles but I didn't want to upset her with what was on my mind. "I just think that—well—your family might not be super receptive to this. They've seen me through my worst stages. I'm not sure they'd approve."

"My family loves you," she said with a small shake of her head.

I nodded slowly, getting closer to what I really wanted to say. "Yeah, I know. I just got some vibes at Thanksgiving. I don't think your dad really liked how close we'd gotten."

Charlotte looked back down to her menu for a moment. A small frown puckered her eyebrows. "Yeah, actually he did seem a little off maybe. So you think we shouldn't tell anyone?"

"I'm not saying anyone," I clarified.

I didn't want her to think I was keeping her a dirty little secret.

"Maybe let's just keep our families out of it for a bit?

It'll give us time to figure things out for ourselves.

And it will give me time to figure out how I'm going to tell Ollie I'm hot for his little sister. "

Charlotte's cheeks flushed red at my omission, making me chuckle. We left it at that and went back to looking over the menus. I watched her for any signs that she was upset by our talk, but she seemed okay—maybe a little quiet, but okay.

My phone buzzed in my pocket but I ignored it.

I didn't think most girls would consider this an official date but I still knew better than to start texting at the table.

It went off a few more times while we ordered our drinks and food.

Finally, I dug my hand in my pocket, finding the off button and holding it down.

Charlotte seemed to recover from her quietness after our family talk.

She chatted energetically about a history assignment she had coming up.

I listened intently, trying to keep up with everything she was saying.

She was a total enigma to me. I didn't understand how she managed to be so happy about something like a school assignment.

She'd always been that way though. Even when we were kids Charlotte had found the silver-lining in everything.

Hell, that was the reason I didn't like her hanging around us all of the time.

A pang of guilt hit me as I realized she had lost some of that in her later teen years.

I didn't pay much attention to her to be fair, but even I had noticed she stopped always having something positive to say.

Having reflected on that, it made me even happier to watch her now.

She was currently listing all of the options her prof had given her for paper topics like they were a gift.

It was like she'd pulled back the curtain and given me a glimpse of her old self, and this time I recognized how special it was.

She stopped mid-sentence, looking down at her purse where a buzzing sound was coming from. "Sorry," she said sheepishly, "but it might be Oliver leaving town." I waved her off, so she reached into her bag and pulled out her phone. "Oh, never mind—it's James."

"Ugh. Ignore him," I grumbled.

"He never calls me, it's probably important," she chastised, already answering the call.

I listened as she exchanged pleasantries with James, laughing at whatever he was saying.

It secretly made me feel proud of how loved she had become by my teammates.

I didn't particularly like sharing her attention, but it was nice that she was finally surrounded by people who saw her worth.

"One sec," Charlotte said into the phone, then pulled it away from her ear and put her hand over the mouthpiece. "James wants to know why you aren't answering his calls," She directed at me.

"Because I didn't want to," I muttered.

"He says he didn't see them!" She said back to James, making me roll my eyes at her. She listened to James again before laughing and telling me, "James says he misses you."

"Tell him I said I don't fucking like him," I responded.

"Archer says he flipping misses you too!" She said to James with a wide smile. "Alright I'll tell him," she added before hanging up.

"James needs you to buy eggs, milk, and bread for the house before you go home," she reported back to me.

"Does he think I'm his mother?" I mumbled under my breath.

She pursed her lips, clearly hearing me. "He's really tired from last night and can't get downtown."

"What if I just don't want to?" I challenged.

"You'll survive," she shrugged as our food arrived. Well, I guess that's fucking that.

An hour later I walked up the driveway to our house carrying two brown bags filled with groceries. I tried to be grumpy about doing James' bitch work but watching Charlotte skip ahead of me to open the door was too cute to really be mad.

Most of the boys were downstairs when we walked in. They called greetings to both of us as we took our jackets off. Thankfully, they were more or less dressed this time. Tyler must have gotten a rookie here because the garbage was cleared and the floors smelled of fresh pine cleaner.

"We got cookies at the bakery!" Charlotte called as we walked into the kitchen to put the bags down.

The guys swarmed quickly, all grabbing stuff out of the bags as Charlotte handed out the treats she had insisted we buy for everyone.

Her tiny body got lost for a moment behind all of the oversized football players, so I pushed them aside to make sure she was okay.

She flashed me a grateful smile as I picked her up and placed her on the counter.

"We were about to watch a movie, you two down?" Tyler asked with a mouthful of cookie. I was about to say no and take Charlotte up to my room but she beat me to it.

"Sure!" She beamed. Tyler gave me a smug look, knowing that usually, I would tell them to get fucked if they asked me to hangout. He was clearly waiting to see if I'd fight her or not.

"It better not be a stupid movie," I sighed, as I helped Charlotte down from the counter. I didn't miss the snickers coming from my teammates.

By the time we got to the living room, most of the couches had already been filled. I decided that maybe this wouldn't be the worst thing ever, and seized my opportunity. I plopped into the last recliner, reaching out and grabbing Charlotte's wrist.

That cute little blush of her's spread across her cheeks as I pulled her onto my lap.

"Is this okay?" I whispered in her ear while she shuffled to get comfortable.

She gave me a smile as she snuck her feet between my legs, tucking her cold toes under my thigh.

I took that as a yes and relaxed back wrapping my arms around her.

My hands wandered while we watched the movie.

I swear I tried to keep them still. But Charlotte's soft body tucked against mine was so tempting.

My fingers travelled lightly up and down her spine, savouring the feeling of her muscles relaxing under my touch.

I pushed my luck a little when I dropped my hand to rub her thigh.

I thought I was being subtle as I crept my hand closer to her ass until she reached out and pinched the sensitive skin under my bicep.

I hissed air through my teeth and shot a glare at her. She laughed softly as she lifted one delicate eyebrow at me. I took the painful hint and went back to rubbing her back.

"You guys want to watch another?" James asked an hour later when the credits rolled.

"Charlotte didn't even make it through that one," Tyler laughed pointing to my lap. Sure enough, Charlotte was asleep with her face pressed against my chest.

"Any of you fucks wake her up and I'll kill you," I said quietly as I tightened my arms around her.

She let out a little sigh and pressed her face farther into me.

I can't even express the feelings that washed over me as I held her while she slept.

That caveman inside of me was back again, this time beating his chest that we finally had Charlotte.

I'd never felt so possessive in my life, or protective.

I suddenly felt like I needed to stand guard, watching for invisible threats that could hurt her—or at the very least wake her up. I barely registered the boys putting on another movie, I couldn't even say what it was called. I spent the whole time lost in the waves of emotions crashing over me.