Revenge 2: Charlie's revenge

The wedding reception

Charlie looks coldly at his new wife sitting next to him, pretending to be happy, and he knows she is doing it all for money, she is just like her mother who is sitting next to her, the toasts are over and done with, and soon he will have the first dance with his bride. It should have been Lea sitting next to him, but Lea left him for the model she is with here tonight. He looks at where Lea and her husband are sitting, and he can see she is not happy at all. He had known Lea very well since they were kids. First, they were best friends, later their friendship turned into love, and when Lea was eighteen, she gave herself to him for the first time. Still, to his surprise, his Lea was not a virgin anymore. She explained to him that she lost her virginity in the heat of the moment to the captain of the basketball team, she was the head cheerleader, and they ended up alone in the locker room, and things got out of hand. He forgave her and pretended it never happened. He loved Lea with all his heart. He was the captain of the football team, and he knew that the girls always threw themselves at him, and he knew it happened to Lea as well as she was the head cheerleader, so he forgave her for that one misstep. Billy warned him back then that the basketball captain was not the only one Lea had been seeing, but he was blind and did not believe Billy at all.

After school, he went to C.T Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston. He wanted to stay near home and not leave his family alone. Lea went to study in Milan to become a fashion designer. He wanted to go with her to Milan to study, but she said she needed her freedom a bit. They were still a couple, and everyone thought they would get married one day, even his father and his mother, who always love Lea, but she broke up with him that day at the airport and married her model husband.

"Charlie, we need to dance," Valerie whispers to him, bringing him back to reality.

He gets up and holds his hand out to her. He looks at the petite little woman in front of him and takes her in his arms, smiling like a happy couple. His eyes are on her face, and she looks up at him. She is not afraid of Charlie or what he thinks of her. She knows his heart is still with Lea, and even before she married him, his mother talked to her, asking her if she was sure she wanted to marry Charlie as she thought Charlie was not over Lea yet. Valerie just laughed it away as she knew she was not in love with Charlie and that she would never allow herself to fall in love with a man who is obviously still in love with another woman. This marriage is just for two years, and she has to stay with him for two years. Charlie pulls her closer to him. He can feel her body press to his. She is well built, and she goes to the same gym he does, and he has seen her in very short shorts and a training bra. He will have to tell her that she can not go to the gym dressed like that anymore as she is the wife of Charles Stevens now, and he will not allow her to use her body to pick up other men anymore, he does not care about her, but he does care about his good name.

After the dance, they get separated as he dances with his mother and Valerie dances with her father. He was just about to walk off the dancefloor when  Lea grabbed him for a dance, he had no choice but to dance with her as they danced Lea looked up at him, to his surprise he was not feeling anything, she was always the one for him, or so he thought, but she is not anymore she is the wife of another man. She pushes her body to his, but he pushes her away. He is not like that. His parents will not approve of him hugging another man's wife so tightly on the dancefloor. He sees Isabella looking at him, and he smiles at his mother. He can see she is worried. He pushes Lea away from him. He is not feeling anything for her. His heart is hard, and he does not know why he is not having the feelings he used to have for her before, she smells like alcohol, and it is obvious she had too much to drink. She is still as beautiful as always, but she does not do anything to his heart anymore. It must just be because he feels guilty towards her husband, who is in the same room.

"Excuse me, I need to find my wife," Charlie says coldly to Lea. Isabella and Lea are surprised when they see how coldly Charlie treats her, and Isabella smiles happily. She was worried for nothing. She is sure Charlie is over Lea, and the love she saw on his face for a second was just brotherly love. He obviously rather wants to be with Valerie. Isabella looks at Lea, who has a nasty look on her face. What has happened to the Lea she used to know? This woman looking at Charlie's bride is not the same girl she knew back in the old day. The old Lea would have been happy for Charlie and not look at his bride like she wanted to kill her. Is Lea jealous, but she is married. Lea walks to the bar and orders a whiskey on the rocks. She swallows it in one shot. Her husband walks over to her and takes her away from the bar. It looks like they are arguing, and Isabella wonders if it is because he does not want Lea to drink anymore. She can see Lea had a few too many already. She looks at where Valerie is standing, talking to some of the guessed and laughing. She sees Charlie join her, taking her around the waist and pulling her closer to him. She is not sure why Charlie suddenly decided that he loves Valerie, he first mistreated her at his office, and the next moment, they are a happy couple that wants to get married as soon as possible. Sometimes, Isabella wonders if this is all an act since Lea and her husband move back to Houston. Does Charlie want to show her that he is over her, using Valerie to do it? She sure hopes it is not the case. She loves little Valerie. The quiet little girl of Sandy and Clark Green.

Lea looks at her husband, who fights with her because he does not like her drinking so much in public. At home, he does not really care if she drinks. Her husband is the french model and businessman Hugo Boucher. She walks away from him, ignoring him as she always does. He is becoming too demanding lately. He wants children, and she is not ready to become a mother and a housewife. She is a career woman anyway. He is also the reason they are moving to Houston. He wants her near her parents and her family. If he thinks it will change her, he is making a big mistake. She loves having affairs and the European lifestyle, where people are not so old-fashioned as here in Houston. Tonight she is glad they came back after seeing Charlie Stevens again. She knows she wants him back. That little bride of his is the daughter of the woman Charlie despises the most, Sandy Green, and she knows Charlie only married Valerie Green because he wants her Lea Boucher to think her is not in love with her anymore, but he is not fooling her, she knows better. She made a mistake to let Charlie go, and she plans on getting him back. His coldness took her a bit by surprise, but she knows it is all just an act. She knows Charlie Stevens too well, and it will be easy to get him back. She just needs to divorce Hugo Boucher. She is sick of him anyway. He thinks he is her boss and tries to order her around. She takes a glass of red wine from a tray a waiter is carrying around and downs it. She sees her husband staring at her and to spite him. She takes another one and downs it as well.

Charlie sees Lea drinking two glasses of red wine in a row, and he frowns since when does she drink so much? Is she unhappy with her husband? Does he treat her badly? He is worried he does not like to see Lea so unhappy. He wants to talk to her, but he knows he can not interfere in her business unless she comes to him to talk. He looks again at his bride. Unlike Lea, she has only been sipping on a glass of champagne all night. She looks really classy. What a joke the daughter of the biggest w***e he knows is looking classy. He looks at Lea again, and he feels sorry for her, she is wearing too much makeup, and he can see that all the long hours of hard work took their toll on her, but she is still a gorgeous woman. He sees her husband walking over to her and takes the third glass of wine from her hand as he looks worriedly and with love in his eyes at Lea. Charlie is confused. It is evident that her husband loves her, but still, Lea does not look happy. It is not his problem, he has his own issues to worry about, and he has a new bride now.

Kyle and Joan look worriedly at their daughter that has obviously too much to drink. They love their son-in-law, Hugo Boucher, he is always looking after Lea, and even when they visited them in Milan, he was always making excuses for her and her drinking. He said it helped her with her creativity. Still, about a month ago, he called them and told them he wants to bring Lea home to Houston, where she can be closer to her family as he is really getting worried about her drinking and the affairs she has with other men, Kyle and Joan were shocked they did not know their daughter like this and agreed to help Hugo. He also told them straight that it was the last chance he would give her to change her ways or have no option but to leave her. Although he loves her with all his heart, he can not stand the hurt she causes him anymore. Now they are all at the reception of Charlie and Valerie's wedding, and Kyle and Joan are worried as they see the way Lea is looking at Charlie. They just hope their daughter does not still have feelings for Charlie that she hid all these years.

Charlie and his bride greet everyone. They are leaving for their honeymoon, Lea looks at the couple that walks out of the reception, and she is not feeling too happy. Will Charlie claim his bride in bed tonight? She is going crazy just thinking of another woman sleeping in Charlie's arms. He is hers. He always was, and he was not supposed to get married to another woman! She is furious and hides her feeling. She downs another drink.

Charlie helps his bride into the car and closes the door for her. As soon as he gets in, he sits at the other side of the limo's back seat, which is taking them to the airport. They are going for their honeymoon to a small private island of one of his friends. His private jet is ready to take them there, and he wonders why he even when through so much trouble to arrange a honeymoon. It is just a waste of money and time, but he has to keep up the charade, and he does not want anyone to find out this marriage is just an agreement between him and this woman he has no feelings for.