Next to Me

Chapter Twenty-Five: Maui, Hawaii

Sergio wrapped his arms around Charlotte and pressed a kiss to her cheek, he couldn’t believe that they had managed to get away with it so far; he knew that the moment that his parents discover that he had eloped that he would never hear the end of it.

!What do you think?” the Sevillian asked as he allowed his fiancée to turn and look at him, in a couple of days’ time she would be his wife; he couldn’t wait for that moment but he knew that it couldn’t come soon enough.

Charlotte smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed a kiss to his lips, she was relieved that they had made it this far since she felt completely relaxed about being away from his family for now.

Sergio wrapped his arms around the blonde and held her close, he didn’t care how it happened but he knew that he wasn’t going to roll over when it came to his parents anymore; he had made his choice and he was going to stick to it.

“It’s beautiful,” Charlotte said as she pulled back from Sergio and rested her head against his, she smiled knowing that she couldn’t asked for anything more; she loved him and as long as they were together then she didn’t care where they were.

Sergio grinned as he leant forward to kiss her before his mobile started to ring, he sighed as she pulled away from him allowing him to check his phone while she headed to check out their hotel suite.

“Hola padre,” Sergio said as he watched Charlotte go, he didn’t want her to hear this conversation since he knew that it was going to be far from pretty; he could already imagine how angry his parents were about the fact that he had eloped.

Charlotte sighed as she listened to Sergio talking in hushed tones with his father, she knew that a lot of people were going to be angry about what they had done; the blonde just hoped that it wouldn’t end badly when they returned to Seville.

Charlotte looked out over the balcony, she had a feeling that this holiday was going to be the one good thing that was going to happen for a while; she knew that Paqui was going to make things difficult when they went home.

“You okay?” Sergio asked as he appeared, he carefully approached his fiancée knowing that he would do anything for her; his parents wanted him to return home and he refused because of her, because he wanted her to be happy.

Charlotte nodded her head as she looked at him, she knew that whatever had been said had been hard for him; she could see it in his brown eyes that he had been hurt by what had been said.

“Are you?” the blonde countered as she watched him, she felt a little guilty that he had been forced to elope with her and now he was likely to be in trouble with his parents.

***

“I love you,” Sergio whispered as he kissed Charlotte, he knew that he would do anything for her and to have her to himself right now; he didn’t care what his parents thought, he was going to stay with her no matter what happened.

The blonde smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer as they continued to kiss, they hadn’t been apart since he had gotten off the phone with his parent; he wasn’t going to change his mind anytime soon.

“I love you too,” Charlotte breathed as she felt him move closer, she was surprised that they had been able to do this without his parents coming after them; she knew that their eloping wasn’t going to warm his family to her in anyway, she was shunning their traditions and she wasn’t going to conform when she had the baby either.

“Stop thinking too much,” the Sevillian murmured as he pulled back from his fiancée, in a couple of days’ time she would be his wife and then no one could hurt her; the blonde was it for him and he knew that he wasn’t going to ever let her go, she was going to be safe.

Charlotte smiled as she ran her fingers through his brown hair, she watched him wondering what would happen in the future; she was already ten weeks pregnant with their first child and it made her both nervous and excited at the same time.

"I don’t want to lose you,” the blonde said softly, she was all too aware of the fact that anyone could turn around and take him from her; his life wasn’t safe and she wasn’t sure that anything would be able to help her if she were to lose him.

“You never will,” Sergio said as he kissed her, he knew what she was talking about and that was the last thing that he would let happen; the Sevillian knew his life was dangerous and he had started to set up a life where he could walk away without having no way to provide for his family.

It was the one factor that his father disliked about his relationship with Charlotte, since he had made it clear that he was going to take a step back from working with his family and there was nothing anyone could do that would change that.

***

“I don’t know why he isn’t listening to reason,” Paqui said as she continued to work on making dinner, she looked at her husband who was sat at the table; she had been shocked and hurt to learn that her youngest child and son had eloped without so much as a warning.

José María huffed as he nodded his head, he couldn’t understand why his son would do something like this; his own married to Paqui hadn’t been for love and yet they had grown to love one another plus she understood the life that he lived.

“The woman is nothing but trouble… Lara was a perfect match for him and if she hadn’t of lost that baby then she’d still be with him,” Paqui ranted as she thought about Charlotte, she didn’t know why Sergio had chosen her; she wasn’t the woman that they wanted for him and she had hoped that he would take Lara back at some point.

José María stopped what he was doing and looked at his wife, they had always hoped that their son would come around and do what they wanted however now that he had eloped there was no chance of him seeing sense.

“It’ll be fine… just you wait and see, she won’t be able to handle the life as a mobster’s wife,” José María said as he got to his feet and walked over to his wife, he wrapped his arms around her knowing that once Charlotte was back in Seville; they were going to make her life a living hell.

Paqui looked at him wondering what he had planned, she knew that there was no way that Sergio would allow them to harm the blonde especially when she was pregnant with his child; he had made it clear that he wouldn’t tolerate them lashing out at Charlotte.

“What do you have planned mi amor?” Paqui asked curiously as she tilted her head, she watched as a smile formed on José María grinned before he lowered his lips to her ear and slowly started to whisper to her; he knew that she was going to get what she wanted one way or another.

Paqui’s lips turned into a smile as she listened to what her husband was saying, she knew that this was the chance to get rid of Charlotte once and for all.