Chance (10 page)

Her bachelorette party
was the next issue to tackle. She definitely wanted one. She wanted to go out and
have one last big night with her friends. However, she was worried about Logan,
especially after his admission that he had no friends. Who'd go out with him for
his bachelor party? Would he even want one? And how would he feel about her
having a party night if he wasn’t planning to have one? It was all so
complicated and for quite some time she avoided broaching the subject.

Eventually, when there were
only two weeks until the wedding, she worked up the courage to ask him. He was
surprisingly relaxed and laid back about the whole idea, telling her that she should
go on ahead and have a wonderful time and it didn’t matter in the slightest
that he wasn’t going out. Surprisingly, this actually made her feel worse about
the whole thing, not better.

“But…you need to go out,
too,” she insisted. “With friends.”

“I don’t have any
friends,” he told her again. “The only person I’ve got is you. You're the only
one I want to be with.”

“Well, what about the
people you’ve invited to the wedding? You said there were a couple of
people…who you trusted.”

“I’m not sure I’d
actually want to go out for an evening with them. We don’t really do that type
of thing. Seriously, darling.”

He bent down and kissed
her cheek, then approached the mirror and began combing his hair.

“You go out with your
friends and have a good time. Don’t worry about me.”

Logan was up early the
next morning. It was the first time he’d beaten her out of bed since the
shooting. When she stumbled into the kitchen, she found him all dressed up in a
suit and tie. He’d shaved, a hint of expensive cologne touched her nose. His hair
was slicked back. He looked relaxed and as handsome as she'd ever remembered.
She found herself suddenly aroused.

“You look very nice,” she
told him with a smile.

“Thank you,” he said smiling
back.

“Do you always dress like
that for work?” she asked as she reached for his zipper.

He allowed her to open it
and she grasped his hardening cock through his underwear.

“Stop fishing,” he said.

“I’m not,” she blushed, unsure
if he meant her question or her busy fingers. “I've just...I’ve never seen what
you wear to work. You normally don’t leave this early.”

“Today’s an important
day. I’ve got a…sort of business transaction going on. I need to be there on
time and I need to look impeccable. To give the right impression.”

He pushed her hand away
gently, tucked himself in and pulled his zipper back up. The large bulge his
pants barely hid made her want it even more, but she suppressed the urge to
pursue him further. She'd already let her desire be known and he apparently
wasn't going to make love right now.

She wanted to be
respectful towards Logan about his work and his need to be on time, as well as
to look 'impeccable.' However, she was more than a little disappointed that the
incredibly rare event occurred that
she
was the one with a sexual itch
to scratch and he'd deny her of satisfaction. It was simply unfortunate timing.

Charlotte listened to
what Logan had said about his job. She replayed his statement repeatedly in her
mind. Those few words were the most he’d ever uttered about his work, and she
was so thrilled he'd let his guard down and said even that much. It was a
start. However, it didn’t actually reveal any useful information about the type
of work it was. Of course, she knew better by now than to push him for answers.

She tried to change her
focus and just be happy with the fact he'd both initiated and volunteered the
information without her knowingly trying to pull it out of him. In addition,
she was thrilled the topic of what he did for a living had come up, for once,
without causing his temper to flare. Could this possibly be a sign the topic
had become less taboo? She certainly hoped so.

“Well, I hope everything
goes well for you today,” she said with a smile.

“I’m sure it will,” he
said with confidence.

He straightened out his
tie.

“Go on ahead and tell
your friends they can plan your bachelorette party.”

“Are you sure? Are you also
sure
you
don’t want to go out to celebrate?”

“If I'm not mistaken, it
seems as though it's somehow important to you that I go out. Why? What
difference does it make? You get
your
party.”

“It
is
import to
me. I care about you and…,” she laughed.

“I just…I’d feel bad if I
get to have a fun, special time to go out and have a fun party while you sit at
home waiting. Plus, I'm excited to be getting married so I want to celebrate it
with my friends. I guess our upcoming wedding gives us some sort of bragging
rights. I'd like if you'd make a bigger deal about it, as well."

He sighed and picked up
his keys. “Well, I suppose if it means that much to you, I could have a word
with a couple of the guys. Even if we just go for one drink or something. If it'll
make you feel better.”

“It would,” she said
sincerely.

“Well then. You know I’d
do anything for you. I want to make you as happy as you make me. Come on, I’ll
give you a ride to work.”

And so, the arrangements
were made. Only two days later, Charlotte went out with Bethany, Louise and
Sarah in honor of her upcoming nuptials. She was happy to see her friends
again. They'd grown to become more special to her recently. Seeing them was
always a nice break from her usual routine.

She only wished her
girls' nights out would create less stress between Logan and her. The fact that
there was a specific reason for her to see them this time seemed to help. It
was her Bachelorette party, so she had an excuse for the momentous occasion. It
was like a Girls'-Night-Out-free ticket, as was Bethany's wedding.

Charlotte wondered if
she'd always have to jump through so many hoops if she wanted to spend time
with her friends. She may not always have specific reasons to see them, that
Logan would consider worthy. She wanted to spend more time with them, just to
be with them. She wanted and needed friends in her life. She was different from
Logan in that way. She didn't want him to be her
only
friend.

Her bachelorette party was
quite tame, a bit too tame in the minds of her friends. Of course, Charlotte
was simply happy just to see her friends. That alone was enough for her to be
more than happy. They stayed at the same bar the entire time, just talking,
drinking and laughing. Charlotte made sure she'd be home by midnight, since that
was what she’d arranged with Logan beforehand. A condition that appeased him,
so he'd accept the fact she was without him for the night.

His other condition for
her night out was for her to check in with him regularly while she was away. As
always, she kept in contact with him via text message every half hour. When she
did, he'd frequently ask about the number and type of men that were in the bar
as well as whether any of them were hitting on her.

Charlotte tried to view Logan's
strict requirements for her social time away from him as being flattering.
She'd try to frame it as if he loved her so much he wanted to protect her. He'd
be thinking of her and missing her the entire time she was away from him.

However, this positive
way of looking at a sometimes highly irritating and rather time-consuming
practice was often difficult for her to maintain, especially in light of the
fact her friends didn't share her view. They thought her curfew and her need to
remain in constant contact with Logan during her short time away from home was ridiculous.
To make matters more difficult for Charlotte, they weren’t shy about expressing
their opinion about the subject.

Her friends openly
expressed their growing aversion to Logan's extremely controlling nature. It
seemed both strange and unhealthy that he'd feel the need to keep Charlotte on
such a short leash. Apparently, none of her friends would've put up with that
type of behavior for a moment. They all viewed it as him treating her more like
a child or a prisoner than a partner does. They continually reminded her of
this fact every time she'd text him throughout the night. They'd ask her if it
was time to text the warden or her daddy
again
.

They were also exceedingly
suspicious and troubled over the circumstances of Logan's shooting. They
grilled Charlotte on and off throughout the night as more questions came to
mind about what he'd been doing that night and why he'd insisted on not
involving the police any further than their obligatory investigation. As usual,
Charlotte could provide them with very few answers, based on the little
information she had about it or him, due to his secrecy.

Charlotte's friends
genuinely cared about her safety and happiness. They were extremely suspicious about
Logan keeping so many secrets from her. They found it preposterous that Charlotte
had lived with him for so long and was about to marry a man who refused to tell
her anything about his career, even the smallest detail.

The fact he was obviously
rich only made him more suspect, in their eyes. He had no friends and no family.
He was a total mystery. Logan's being such a handsome man of mystery was
seemingly more than just an attractive quirk of his. They feared he might be
involved in something illegal, dangerous and possibly nefarious. It might've
been what had somehow led to his being shot.

“Are you absolutely sure this
is what you want?” Bethany asked her quietly on a trip to the bathroom. “I
mean, you’ve never talked about marriage before. Well, not in any kind of
positive light, anyway.”

“Of course it’s what I
want.”

“Ever since I've known
you, you'd always said you never wanted to get married,” Bethany said.

“Well, I’ve changed my
mind. That’s what happens when you get older, isn’t it? You grow—then you meet
the right person and you change your mind,” Charlotte explained.

“Are you
really
sure Logan’s the right person for you?" the tipsy Bethany persisted.

“Yes.”

“I mean, you barely know
anything about him, really.
Do you?
You don’t know what he does for a
living, for God’s sake. And you find out he was married—
twice
! Why
didn’t he tell you that before? Is that really the basis for a marriage?”
Bethany questioned, out of sincere concern.

“Bethany!” Charlotte
snapped, finally sick of her criticism. “I’m not a child. Will you just…
stop
?
Stop interfering.”

“Alright,” she said, as
she held her hands up in the universal sign for surrender. She shrugged her
shoulders and backed down.

“I'm sorry, Charlotte. I’m
just…I’m just worried about you, that’s all. I really care about you and your
happiness,” she said, to justify her actions.

“You're
worried
?”
Charlotte repeated and rolled her eyes. “Christ, Beth. What’s there to be
worried about?”

“So, he’s really the one
for you?” Bethany couldn't help asking one last time.

“Yes. I wouldn’t be
marrying him otherwise, would I?”

“And it was
your
idea to get married, not
his
?” Bethany was fishing, still suspicious of
how their impending marriage had played out.

“I asked him. I proposed
to him, actually,” Charlotte said, knowing it was a little white lie.

Technically, Logan had suggested
they get married in the first place. She purposely left that little fact out.
She knew Bethany would jump all over that. She'd twist it around and use it as another
excuse to dislike Logan. Charlotte didn’t understand everyone’s problem with
him in the first place.

She suddenly recalled
something Bethany had said at her own wedding reception after meeting Logan.

“Beth, I thought you
liked him. You said he was…a looker and he had an air of mystery about him, or
something.”

“Yeah, I did. But the
more I hear about him, the more I think there’s something a little wrong about
him,” Bethany said.

“
Wrong
? What do
you mean?” Charlotte asked, genuinely curious.

“Well, the whole business
of him getting shot leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Would being with him put you
in danger's way? I also really don't like the way he controls you. Frankly,
that's seriously messed up. And the fact that he won't tell you anything about
his job…it's just not right. I think if the shoe was on the other foot and one
of us girls were about to marry a guy like Logan, you'd be worried, too,”
Bethany said honestly.

“Look, I told you before,”
sighed Charlotte. “He likes me to check in with him to make sure I'm okay when
I'm not with him. It's just because he loves me so much and he's scared of
losing me. He doesn't really have anyone else in the world—no family or close
friends. He's insecure; he's lost two wives to other guys. Logan says he
can’t
talk about his career with me. I think he works as some kind of government spy
or something.”

“Like James Bond?”
Bethany questioned, her eyes opened wide.

“Well yeah, a bit like
James Bond—I
think
.” Charlotte admitted.

Bethany scoffed and began
to wash her hands, “That’s ridiculous, Charlotte.”

“You’re the one being ridiculous,
Bethany.
What?
You think spies don’t exist or something? And he doesn’t
control me, I’m my own person!” Charlotte's defenses were back up in spades.

“Of course you are. Oh
wait, you haven’t texted him while we’ve been in here, he might get worried,"
Bethany said with great dramatic flair.

Charlotte flicked water
at her from the running sink and rolled her eyes.

“If you don’t stop going
on about him," she warned. "I’m gonna leave early.”

Charlotte headed through the
door and returned to their table. She’d left her bag with their other two
friends. When she got back, she checked her phone and discovered that she had
two missed calls and three messages, all from Logan.

“Your phone’s been going
crazy, ringing and beeping,” Louise said.

“It’s him, isn’t it?”
asked Sarah, nodding towards the phone.

“He’s so possessive,”
Louise continued. “There’s no way I'd ever put up with someone like that. I'd
probably wind up killing him. Hell, maybe instead of breaking up with him, I'd
arrange to disappear for good. I'd trash the phone, move out and leave no trace…all
just to drive him crazy!”

The girls all chuckled at
Louise's idea. It was cruel, intelligent and funny.

When she stopped
laughing, Sarah agreed with Louise's general sentiment, “There's no way in Hell
I'd tolerate that, either. I’d be out that door so fast; I think I'd leave skid
marks in my wake. I really don’t understand what she sees in that man.”

“Well, he's pretty good
looking, apparently,” Louise said.

“Yeah, Bethany said that.
Still though, no matter how gorgeous the guy is, looks can only go so far. They
aren’t everything, are they?”

Charlotte cleared her
throat very loudly and looked up from her phone where she’d been replying to
Logan’s messages and assuring him she was fine and the night was going well.

“Hello?
I'm sitting
right here
, I can
hear you, you know. By the way, this has got to be the world's worst
Bachelorette party of all time! Thanks so much!” she said sarcastically.

“Well, we're sorry. You're
right about tonight stinking—as far as being a Bachelorette party. I guess it
seems to have turned into an intervention, of sorts. But we’re just seriously worried
about you. We want you to do what's best, for you, because we love you. Char,
getting married is such a huge thing and so far, everything we know and
don't
know
about Logan is pretty rough to swallow,” said Louise.

Bethany and Sarah nodded their
support.

“Well, please stop it—all
of you! I've made my decision and I’m marrying Logan because I love him. It’s
what we both want. I need you all to stop interfering or thinking you know
what’s best for me. It seems like
you
're the ones who are trying to
control me! You're my friends, so it's your job to support me—
and
my
decisions. If you can’t do that, then don’t bother coming to the wedding.”

With that, she pushed back
her chair with a loud scraping sound, picked up her bag and stalked out of the
bar in a huff. She was angry and extremely worked up about the whole thing. This
was supposed to be her last, grand girl's night out before her wedding. She'd
been looking forward to it. What a huge disappointment the night had turned out
to be.

They were supposed to be
her friends. They were supposed to support her and be there for her, no matter
what. It felt as if they were ganging up on her and attacking her. They seemed
to hate Logan for no good reason, and THEY were the ones telling her what to do,
not Logan.

She started thinking
about things he'd said in the past. Perhaps he was right all along, she thought
to herself as she hurriedly hailed a taxi. Maybe they didn’t need any friends
or outside influences on their relationship. Maybe, in order to be happy, they
just needed each other. She was looking forward to getting home, hugging and
snuggling with him.

***

Logan was already home by
the time she got back. It was just after eleven. He was sitting on the sofa
watching television.

“Oh, Hi Charlotte. Did
you have a good evening?” he asked, as he turned around to look at her. “You’re
back earlier than I expected.”

“Mmm, yeah. It was
alright,” she shrugged, taking off her jacket and dropping it and her bag. “I'm
just glad to be home, with you. I had a bit of a disagreement with the girls.”

“Oh really? What about?”

“You, actually.”

She settled down next to
him on the sofa and snuggled up against him, into his welcoming arms. She filled
him in on the details.

“What did I tell you?” he
said, seeming not at all displeased. “We don’t need anyone else. We have each
other.”

His response was almost
exactly as she'd predicted, but she didn’t mind. She was just relieved he was
there for her. She was looking forward to their wedding.

“I know. You were right,”
Charlotte said, taking comfort in his words and his embrace.