Fire in Her Eyes - Charlie Weasley

Chapter 29

"How do you know him?"

 Those were first words that Charlie spoke to her as they apparated into their hotel room. She had been expecting the question, but not the gentleness in his voice as he asked. There was still tension between the two of them, and a kiss that Kai didn't understand.

She had been quiet as he grabbed his wand and apparated them to the room, reminiscing on all the memories she had with Felix. Some small part of her, the part that was never satisfied, wondered if she had chosen the right man to go home with tonight. She knew Felix. He was sweet and kind. She had no idea what Charlie even wanted from her.

But when she looked over at him, and her heart skipped a beat just at the sight of him, she knew she didn't regret it... at least not yet. He had taken off his suit jacket and flung it over the back of the couch, removed his tie, unbuttoned the top two buttons of his dress shirt, and rolled the sleeves of his white collared shirt up to his elbows. He looked like a dream come true. Her mouth watered slightly at the sight.

He poured two glasses of fire whiskey and handed her one. She took the seat he offered next to him on the couch, kicking off her high heels, giving a soft groan as she sunk into the couch.

"I met him a year or two ago when I was traveling South America. I guess he went there after the war to get away from the mess that London was," she started to answer his question. "He never mentioned it. He only ever told me that he wanted to study Peruvian Vipertooths in their natural habitat. We met dancing at a little hole in the wall dive bar. It was the kind of place where people go to forget their past. We, at least, never discussed ours. We danced all night and then watched the sun rise from a mountain," she paused, momentarily letting herself get lost in the memories.

"I was only planning to stay in Peru for two weeks, but I ended up staying for four months. We traveled during the day, studying dragons, and spent the nights discovering a new type of magic," she smirked slightly, remembering the long hot nights, "He was the first person that I fell in love with after I left America," She shrugged. "But I was young and still traumatized from love, so I woke up one morning and left while he was still sleeping. I left a note on his pillow that just said, "You deserve more than I can give.'"

"Why did he talk about Paris?" Charlie's brow furrowed.

Kai gave a small, soft smile, "It's from an old muggle movie. It means we'll always have the memories, even if things didn't work out." She sighed, looking out the window. "He was saying goodbye."

"He called you Lani," his voice was low, bringing her attention back to him.

"Yeah," she whispered. She didn't expand. Some parts of her past would always stays hers. He didn't need to know that yet. "Are we going to talk about what happened tonight?" She turned the conversation easily. She always had a question to change the subject on the tip of her tongue.

He ran a hand through his hair, and Kai did her best to avoid staring at the veins in his forearm as the muscles moved.

"I'm your boss," he hedged uncomfortably.

"So you've mentioned," she huffed, rolling her eyes. She was getting tired of that excuse. She looked out the window for a moment to gather her courage. "Are you going to tell your girlfriend about what happened?" She kept her voice quiet, trying to keep the jealousy out of it.

"What girlfriend?" He frowned, taking a sip of his whiskey.

"You said your date fell through," she countered, "and the way you grabbed me after we apparated... you've done that often enough to know a girl in heels would need help." She bit her lip and couldn't help but hope.

Charlie chuckled, running a hand through his hair, "I don't have a girlfriend. My 'date' was going to be Kellen, but I had to send him to handle an issue. And my mom raised us to be gentlemen. One of the first things she taught us was to always help a woman when they're wearing heels." A wry grin crossed his face, "She used to make all of us practice over and over. Said she refused to raise anything less than gentlemen."

A flush crossed her face at her unfounded jealousy. His eyes flickered to hers, before dropping to her lips, heat in his gaze.

"But," he continued softly, "I could get into serious trouble with the Ministry if they ever found out about what happened tonight," he sighed. "I could have lost my position at the sanctuary tonight if anyone other than Rosier had seen us. I don't know what came over me. Probably too much wine and that dress," he scanned an appraising eye over her, "but I shouldn't have let you kiss me. And I shouldn't have kissed you back. I'm sorry for letting it go that far.."

"Oh," she kept her voice bland, hiding the disappointment. She bit her lip and looked out the window. "Ok." She really didn't know where these emotions were coming from. A week ago she barely tolerated the man in front of her, and now she was disappointed that he didn't want to explore that kiss?

"Please stop biting your damned lip," his voice was hoarse and he clutched his whiskey glass like it was the only thing keeping him sitting where he was.

She flicked her eyes to his, scanning his face, leaving hers perfectly blank. Sometimes trauma was helpful, and right now she was thankful for all the times she'd ever had to hide emotions. She could see the heat in his eyes, how they kept dropping to her lips. "Then we stay just friends," she shrugged, letting the act of nonchalance wash over her body. "It was a mistake and it won't happen again."

He paused, looking torn, before his whole body slumped, "Exactly."

She downed the rest of her whiskey in one gulp. "I'm going to bed," she stood up and grabbed her clothes before changing in the bathroom, letting the mask fall only when she was alone. Her heart squeezed at the thought of what could have been, before she shoved that emotion deep down into her chest. 

She could do just friends. 

I know this was short and I'm sorry. It's definitely a filler chapter. I've had a bit of writer's block lately.

THANK YOU to everyone who's been reading. I'm over 1.3k now and that is absolutely WILD to me y'all. Please comment and vote. I literally cry when I see the comments 🥲

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~M