Chance (12 page)

Charlotte could easily see,
from the look on her dad’s face, the rift between them remained. Damage had
been done and wouldn't be repaired by a few disingenuous words. While Logan was
extremely intelligent in many ways, it was crystal clear to Charlotte, he
lacked certain social skills. One skill was the ability to pick up on, even
some not-so-subtle, social cues.  Although, they might be obvious for most
other people.

“I've been talking about you
two, excited to be seeing you after so long,” she lied.

She was trying to smooth
things over, wanting to support Logan's statement and prevent him from looking
like an idiot if her father questioned him.

“I was telling Logan about
our great Christmases growing up, and how we should see each other more often.”

“That’s right,” Logan
joined in, picking up on her lie with a quick glance over at her and a little
smile, obviously quietly impressed and glad for the extra help.

“Your Christmases sounded
excellent. We should come to visit you sometime, now that I’m part of the
family.”

No one said anything for
an awkward moment. Her father was looking off into the distance, as if he wasn't
interested in the conversation at all.

“Yes, of course,” her mother
said to fill the awkward silence. Sadly, she didn't exactly sounding
enthusiastic about the idea. “Charlotte certainly talks a lot about you,
anyway,” she said. “In her e-mails.”

“I'd imagine she does,”
replied Logan, reaching for Charlotte’s hand across the table. She linked
fingers with him and stroked the back of his thumb with the edge of hers.

“You seem to have swept
her off her feet,” her mother continued. “You've only known each other for
about six months, and you're already married.”

“It’s true love,” Logan
answered smoothly. “We can’t stay away from each other; we can barely keep our
hands off each other.”

That was too much
information for him to be disclosing to her parents, and certainly
inappropriate. The sharp look her father gave Logan actually frightened her. Charlotte’s
cheeks flushed deeply. This was not going well at all. Logan seemed to be
making matters worse. She found herself wishing she could go back in time or
just erase all of the interactions involving her parents and Logan.

Maybe she should've
prepared him better before they'd met. If she'd only known, she would've begged
him to avoid the topic of politics as well as
anything
sexual…
especiall
y
concerning
their
sex life!

What the Hell's he
thinking? Is he thinking? How in the world can we patch this rift up?

It's terribly improper at
any time to talk to someone about having sex with that someone's daughter! Yet,
after the disaster of last night and then given how things were going right now.
This was a disaster. Charlotte was so embarrassed and wasn't sure what, if any,
damage control could be done.

“We’re very much in
love,” she added quickly, before her father could say anything in response to
Logan's inappropriate comment.

“Did you enjoy the
wedding?” she asked her parents to serve as further distraction.

“Oh yes, it was lovely,
darling,” her mother said with a smile.

“Ahh, Mrs. Rankin,” Logan
reached over and offered her his hand. “Thank you for being here on our special
day.”

“Oh. That’s…that’s nice,
thank you” her Mom seemed uncomfortable, unsure of how to take the familiar
gesture, and probably not knowing what he'd say or do next.

“That dress really suits
you, darling. You look lovely,” she said to Charlotte.

“Thanks, mom,” Charlotte
smiled. “And thank you both for coming. It means so much.”

“Excuse me, one moment,
sweetheart,” Logan whispered distractedly.

He stood up, his focus no
longer on her or the table.

Charlotte followed his
gaze and saw he was staring across the room at the two men in the corner, his
guests, Shez and Orton. They'd gotten up together, and were apparently walking
out of the main room towards the bathrooms in the corridor. Without a further
word to excuse himself, or any explanation for anyone else, Logan set off
following after them. It wasn't the most courteous way to leave the table.

He was probably hoping
Charlotte hadn’t seen what had attracted his attention. However, she wasn’t as clueless
as he'd thought. She'd spotted what had happened and was intrigued about why he'd
followed them out. She briefly finished her conversation with her parents
before her father could say anything about Logan, which seemed bound to happen
had she stayed.

Then she politely excused
herself from the table and went off to say hello to her brother and his wife.

Charlotte surreptitiously
watched Logan's actions with growing intrigue and a sense of excitement and
horror. She saw him follow Shez into the corridor. Once there, he approached
him from behind, grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around, slamming his back
up against the nearest wall. Orton stood nearby and glanced nervously into the main
room, to check that nobody from the wedding party could see what was going on.

At that point, Charlotte
quickly looked away and turned her face and attention back towards her brother.
She smiled weakly and nodded at something they’d just said, hoping it was an
appropriate gesture for her to make at the time.

“Sounds great,” she
agreed, turning her gaze back to the goings on in the corridor.

Orton had changed his position
and was now standing directly in front of Logan and Shez. He was unsuccessfully
attempting to block the view, of whatever was going on, from the people in the main
room. However, being shorter and trying to block two taller men, proved a
difficult task. Charlotte was still able to see the heads of both of the other
men above Orton’s.

Logan was clearly angry, looking
as if he was balling Shez out over something. Shez looked terrified and guilty.
He stood with both of his hands up in the air, as if he was trying to defend
himself. Then, Logan leaned forward and whispered something into his ear.
Whatever the words were, they seemed to have the desired effect. Shez fell
silent, then nodded. Logan clapped him on the back in a friendly manner and
then stepped away from the wall, allowing Shez the freedom to walk away.

Charlotte looked away from
the scene as Logan returned to the main room. She didn't want him to know she'd
been watching. The other two men appeared to go back to doing as they were
before Logan had stopped them. They were walking toward the bathroom, as they'd
obviously originally planned.

“Sorry about that,”
smiled her new husband. He was all charm as he returned to her side. “Just a
little business I needed to attend to.”

He then said a quick and
friendly greeting to Charlotte's brother and sister-in-law, as he joined them
at the table. As he sat next to his new bride, her head was spinning. She
couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d just witnessed. She hoped nobody else at
the reception noticed what had happened. That type of behavior certainly didn't
seem to belong at a wedding at all, especially involving the groom.

She racked her brain,
trying to figure out what the whole exchange could have meant. According to what
she'd observed, Logan was clearly in charge of both the men. Yet she had no
clue of in what way? Was he their manager or supervisor? Exactly what was their
connection? Where did they work? What did they all do together?

Despite his persistent
warnings not to get too interested in his work, she was more intrigued than
ever. She knew she couldn’t ask Logan. That was out of the question. It would
only lead to his temper, especially after the way he’d reacted when she’d
questioned him about his two
friends
. Hell, he'd actually physically
hurt her. She realized there was only one thing left for her to do. She'd need
to investigate the situation on her own if she wanted to find out anything.

“I’m going to the ladies
room, darling,” she found herself saying, almost without any thought, certainly
without any planning or thinking it through.

She quickly gulped down the
last of her wine and stood, as her brother engaged Logan in a conversation. She
leaned over and gave Logan a kiss on the cheek, said she'd be right back to the
rest of the table, and walked towards the door. She had no idea how this would
work or what she'd actually say or do.

If the two men were so
terrified of Logan, it was very unlikely they’d say much, if anything, to her.
She also knew they were in the men's room. Being a woman, and on top of that,
being the very conspicuous bride, she couldn’t just walk into the men’s room.

Could she?

Actually, yes, she could.

Briefly pausing in the
corridor, she looked up and down to check nobody was watching. Then, Charlotte
took a deep breath to gather her courage, braced herself and pushed open the
men’s room door. She peered around inside before quickly entering and closing
the door behind her.

She found herself standing
alone in a dimly lit, plush, anteroom. There was a waiting area, which
contained a luxurious looking sofa, of all things. She went past it to the door
that had to lead to the toilet stalls and sinks. She put her ear against it.
Her heart was thumping loudly in her chest, so loudly, in fact, she was
concerned she might not be able to hear anything over it.

That worry went away as
soon as she heard two quiet, muffled voices that sounded as if they were talking
in the distance. She strained to make out their words. If anyone walked in from
the corridor, she planned to give the appearance she was drunk. She'd sway,
appear embarrassed—which wouldn't be an act—and tell them she must've entered
the wrong restroom.

Of course, she knew it
would be awkward for her, but it certainly shouldn’t raise any suspicion.
Unless, of course, it was Logan who discovered her. Somehow, she didn’t think
he'd buy her story. It would be especially difficult to convince him considering
the fact that she had her ear up against a door—and behind said door were his
friends
.
He'd already made it known, to a painful degree, he wanted her nowhere near
them.

Once she realized there
was no way she could hear them well enough to understand them, she decided to
take yet another risk. Charlotte slowly and quietly opened the door, just
enough to peek in. She saw a row of large stalls on one side and sinks on the
other. Nobody was there, where they'd see her.

She braced herself again,
then slowly and quietly opened the door. She entered as silently as possible,
quickly assessing which stalls were occupied, obviously by Logan's
friends
.
She then entered the adjoining stall and carefully closed the door. She was
extremely glad her gown didn't have a train. That would've made this entire venture
quite a bit more difficult, if not impossible.

Charlotte carefully
lowered the toilet seat and sat down on it. She became very still and trained
her ears to listen to the hushed conversation that was going on in the next stall.
It was definitely Shez and Orton, but she’d only heard them speak once, and
very briefly. It was difficult for her to remember what each one sounded like or
to figure out which voice belonged to which man. From what she could recall, Shez
had a slightly higher pitched voice whereas Orton's was gruffer and lower.

“It was you that pissed
him off last time,” Shez was saying.

“Just shut up and get on
with it,” Orton replied sharply. “You’re just lucky this is his goddamn wedding
or you’d be in some serious shit, right now.”

“There…”

She heard a shuffling of
feet.

“Fuck off,” Orton said,
then, “Yours is bigger than mine.”

Charlotte’s eyes widened
and her mouth dropped open in shock. She wondered what on earth they were
comparing. She certainly hoped it wasn't the first thing that came to mind upon
hearing his words. I mean, they wouldn't be comparing…

Oh my God!
What the Hell was going on in there?
Could it be something sexual? In the bathroom at her wedding reception?

She was seriously scared
about what she might hear next. If they were about to engage in any type of
sex, she was getting out of there!

If only Logan would be
more open and tell her what she wanted to know!

Look at where his secrecy
had led her! The depths she'd sunk to were shameful. She's hiding in a men's
room, at her own wedding reception, listening to men possibly doing rather
inappropriate things. Hmm, it would follow that that two grown men sharing one
stall in and of itself is quite inappropriate enough.

“You take the other one,
then…you whiny bastard,” mumbled Shez.

Then she heard a loud
sniffing sound, followed by another shuffling of feet.

“Ahhh…fuck,” Orton
sighed, “That's better.”

She quickly realized they
weren't engaging in any type of sexual activity at all. They were doing
something far worse. They were obviously snorting some type of drugs in there. It
was most likely cocaine, she thought.