Page 76 of The Power Play

“Fine, tell me something real about your past. Your family. Give me something, Audrey.”

“I’m good, I’ll find out where we are going eventually.” I turn toward the window to watch the scenery pass by.

Charlie sighs, and I kind of feel bad. Okay, I feel really bad. He’s such a sweet guy and he has opened up to me about his struggles. I’m trying to keep him at arm’s length, but admittedly it’s getting harder and harder every day. Especially after everything that happened last night.

He trusted me in a way he hasn’t trusted anyone before. I can give him a piece of myself in return since it’s not possible to give him everything.

“My grandparents adopted me when I was five. Well, I guess I went to live with them when I was five, the adoption happened a couple years later,” I say reluctantly. Even mentioning them leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

“What happened to your parents?”

I shrug, “Who knows. They were awful, abusive, and the final straw was when my mom tried to sell me for drugs. That’s when I was finally taken and placed with my dad’s parents.”

“What the fuck? Who does that?”

“Pieces of shit. Pretty thankful for your mom now, aren’t ya?” I attempt to joke, but I can tell he’s bothered by what I just shared. “Hey, it’s okay, it’s in the past. I’m fine,obviously.It was just a sprinkle of trauma.”

I chuckle, but he doesn’t, and I know my humor about my past can make some people uncomfortable. But when Charlie reaches over, taking my hand in his and squeezing, I know it’s not that he’s uncomfortable with what I told him. It’s that he’s angry, I can feel the slight shake in his hand and it’s like holding mine is grounding him. I don’t know why that makes me feel those stupid flutters in my stomach again, but there they are.

“I’m sorry you went through that,” he finally says.

“Yeah, well turns out I was placed from one house of horrors to another. But really, I’m fine,” I smile over at him while squeezing his hand.

“Thank you for telling me something.”

“Now it’s your turn. Where are we going?”

This gets him to laugh and I’m thankful the thick air dissipates slightly. “McIntosh Lake, ever been?”

I shake my head, “Nope, you get to take my virginity.”

This earns me a full laugh from him. “So glad I get to be your first,” he winks.

Twenty minutes later we park by the large lake, and I will admit it’s gorgeous here. There’s a mountain in the distance that’s covered in snow, even though where we are it’s surprisingly temperate for being November.

“There’s a path over here to walk around the lake,” Charlie instructs, leading me to the paved area.

We start walking and I’m normally not a huge fan of silence, but the one we find ourselves in is comfortable. There’s a breeze off the water and it feels nice in contrast to the bright sun. Charlie breaks the silence first.

“So, if you aren’t close with any of your family, what are you doing for Thanksgiving?”

I truly hadn’t paid much attention to how close the holiday was since I never really do anything special. Chandler and I have always celebrated unless she goes to see her family in Boston, which is pretty rare.

“Probably nothing. Maybe I’ll go to Chandler’s unless they are doing something with their own families. Or a big orgy, you never know.”

Charlie chokes on a laugh and I smile.

“Well, if you truly have nothing to do then you can come over to my parent’s house. It’s not exciting and I’m sure my mom would be happy to see you again.”

I drop my gaze to watch our feet instead of looking at him. “That’s okay, that seems like a lot,” I murmur.

Charlie stops me with a hand on my arm. “Okay fine. I’m not asking for you, I’m asking for me. If you come then my momwon’t be on me about settling down, or worse try to invite my ex. You’d really be doing me a favor.”

I look up at him, though I think he’s only half telling the truth, I relent anyway. “Okay, fine, I’ll go.”

He smiles, and we keep walking. Holidays with the family are not very in line with our agreed situation, I’m not going to push it.

“Have you ever had a boyfriend?” he asks suddenly, and I’m taken aback.

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