Hey, guys; how you doin'? Long time no see! Just thought I'd start to re-post Trust and it's sequel Retribution for you guys - and especially for those who read it the first time and gave great feedback and support! Wendy, if you still come on here...here's a little trip down memory lane! ^_^







Title: Trust
Website Nicknames: hollybaggins & Magikal Rhiannon
Authors: Holly Bratley and Wendy Hansen
Rating: NC-17
Reason for Rating: Horror, violence, language, sexual references, sex-scenes, adult themes, gory details.
Summary: A Murder Mystery Week holiday turns out to be their worst nightmare. When all hope starts to fade, who will you trust?
Disclaimer: This story is a joint fic, written by hollybaggins (Holly) and Magikal_Rhiannon (Wendy). For the purposes of posting, this story is being posted by Holly due to other commitments for Wendy (plus, well we agreed to it!). All chapters that are odd numbers are written by Holly, and all even numbered chapters are written by Wendy. See if you can spot the difference. We can't.

The following characters are used but are not owned by either Holly or Wendy and any infringment was unintentional. We do not nor have we ever received monetary reparations for these people or teams or for the use of them.

Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd.

All other characters used are figments of Holly's and Wendy's imagination, and if there is some original basis on a real person, it has been distorted for fictional purposes.

Any other mention of movies, music, people, things, trademarks or copywrite items used but are not owned by either Holly or Wendy, may have copywrite that is owned by someone else and any infringment was unintentional. We do not nor have we ever received monetary reparations for these people, or teams or for the use of them.

This story is fictional and any similarities to events in real life are purely coincidental. It is written for leisure and is not intended to offend, however any other emotions are a pure by-product and were most likely intended.

ONE

"I hate blindfolds." Charity sighed as she stared into darkness. She could feel her best friend Wendy sat beside her in the back of the van. There were other people in the van with them - all blindfolded and had no clue were they were going either.

"Stop whining." Charity heard Wendy and then felt her nudge her. "A week's holiday is what we both need." Wendy sighed, remembering recent events, and then pushed the thought from her head.

"Except this holiday needed a bit of excitement right?" Charity sighed sarcastically.

"Too right." Wendy chuckled.

This is just great...Charity thought to herself. Here she was, blindfolded, in the back of a van with 10 complete strangers, being driven to some location where she would spend the week playing some stupid game and trying to work out who was the ‘murderer’. Yep, that was what Wendy had signed them up for...a murder mystery week. That was Wendy's idea for an 'exciting' holiday. Charity, herself, could think of better things to do.

It was a whole hour before the car finally stopped.

"Finally." Charity heard a guy mutter. "My arse is so fucking numb here I can hardly walk!"

"I need this blindfold off." A woman's voice was heard now. "My eyes are killing."

Charity heard the van doors opening beside her and light shone through.

"Ok, take off your blindfolds." the guide called out.

"Thank fuck." Charity pulled off her blindfold and looked around the back of the van. Besides her and Wendy there were six guys and four other girls. Four of the guys looked very familiar but Charity pushed the thought away as she climbed out and started getting the blood pumping back to her legs.

Once everyone was outside and gaping at the large mansion they would be staying in, the guide ushered everyone to follow him inside.

"Looks like something out of Scooby-Doo." a guy with a Scottish accent declared with a laugh. Three other guys, who seemed to be very friendly with him, laughed along and shoved him.

The mansion was gigantic and had a large steel fence surrounding the gardens. It looked creepy and was in the middle of no-where. But then again, that was the whole reason...the location had to be creepy for effect.

"Please, sit down." the guide took them into the main room where there were sofas around. Wendy pulled a face at the amount of cobwebs and shuddered. "Here are your envelopes but do not open them yet." the guide handed out white envelopes to everyone. "They contain the rules of the game and also, your card and the key to your room which you'll be staying in."

"This looks all so real!" Wendy looked around the room again and nudged Charity.

"Someone shoot me." Charity answered and caught a guy with black hair, slicked back by gel giving her the eye from across the room.

"You may open your envelopes and look at the rules page which I will read out. But do not look at your cards until you are isolated." the guide instructed. Everybody did so.

Once everyone held up the rules page, the guide read through it.

"Welcome to the Haunted Mansion where all your nightmares become reality..." he read. Charity rolled her eyes. "These rules must be followed otherwise you will be disqualified from the game:
Rule one: You must NOT go past the fences surrounding the mansion gardens. Anyone who does so will be immediately disqualified.
Rule two: You each have your own card. The card reveals your role in the game - 'Murderer' or 'Victim'. You must NOT show your card to any other contestant throughout the week. Anyone who does so will be disqualified.
Rule three: The game must only be played from 4pm to 10pm.
Rule Four: Do not contact the guide unless it is a real emergency.
Rule Five: People who have been 'murdered' must not reveal who the 'murderer' is and must spend the rest of the week in the small cottage hidden in the garden at the back of the mansion. You must not see any of the remaining contestants once you have been 'murdered'
Rule Six: Once you have discovered the 'murderer' you must contact your guide at the number provided. That person is the official winner.
Rule Seven: NO GUESSING! You must have a positive reason with evidence before you accuse someone.
Rule Eight: Enjoy!"

The guide put the paper back into his pocket. "Any questions?"

The guy with a tonne of gel in his hair who was checking out Charity stuck his hand up. "We are allowed to hanky-panky with a sexy chick if we happen to spot one right?!"

Some of the guys laughed and Charity rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"If you wish Mr Smith." the guide looked at him. "As long as you know the risks if your 'sexy chick' happens to be the murderer."

"I wouldn't mind." he looked at Charity and she resisted every temptation not to stick her fingers up at him.

The guide left them all to it and people began introducing themselves. Besides Charity and Wendy, there was Jon, Dan, Elijah, Dominic, Orlando, Billy, Faye, Leticia, Sara and Alex. Six boys, six girls. Even. Everyone agreed to wait until after dinner before they opened their cards.

Charity found that most of the people were really nice...except for Dan, who was constantly staring at her and combing his hair every two seconds. Talk about living in the fifties...

Alex, a shy but sweet girl offered to make the dinner once everyone got their bags unpacked in their rooms and after that, everyone got prepared to open their cards alone to check out their roles...

TWO

Wendy and Charity had taken rooms that were opposite each other’s, and once Wendy had placed her bag in her room, went to Charity’s and knocked on the door.
”Char?” She asked, and waited for the door to open. “Come on, stop sulking and open the damn door!”

A moment later the door flew open, though Wendy couldn’t see Charity in sight. Sighing, she walked into the room and slammed it behind her, turning to face Charity who had been standing behind the door. She didn’t look happy, and had tossed her bag onto her bed, not even bothering to open it, unpack or anything.

“What?” Wendy said. “Come on, let me have it!” Wendy knew that Charity would be still pissed at her for dragging her here.
“This had better be worth it, Wen,” Charity said, her eyes narrowed. Charity was already regretting letting her best friend talk her into this week-long torture that the murder mystery game was sure to be.

Already she had felt Dan-the-sleazeball undressing her with his eyes, and she felt disgusted and dirty – enough to make her crave for a shower every time she saw him. The Fonz he wasn’t and no matter how many times he combed his hair he would never resemble Henry Winkler. Charity had the funny feeling this would be no where near as enjoyable as being in a dentist’s chair, having her wisdom teeth extracted would be.

“It will be!” Wendy said and she noticed the look on Charity’s face hadn’t changed a bit. She still looked like she was being dragged through hell for no good reason. Sighing again, Wendy said, “Look, Char, it will be easier to get through the week if you lighten up a bit!” Wendy sat on the end of Charity’s bed. Charity rolled her eyes, and folded her arms across her chest.

“Maybe,” Charity conceded, and sat beside her friend. She picked up her envelope that had the card inside and flipped it in her hands, while staring at it.
”No, Char!” Wendy said, knowing what her friend was thinking.
”What?” She asked, trying to sound innocent.

“You are not purposefully disqualifying yourself!” Wendy said, and Charity grumbled under her breath. “Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re saying. I’m a bitch, well you know what? You need to get this shitty attitude outta your system girl! There were some fine looking guys downstairs, you never know, you could get lucky!”

“I thought you said you were avoiding guys?!” Charity exclaimed as she watched Wendy get up from the bed and head for the door.

”I never said I’d get lucky, I said you could get lucky!” Wendy said as she flounced out of Charity’s room, reminding her not to be late for dinner over her shoulder before she shut the door behind her. Charity stared at the door for a moment before huffily standing up and walking over to the window, looking out at the grounds.

The gardens looked inviting, and Charity felt as if they were calling out to her. Turning on her heel, she strode out of her room, and headed downstairs, having an unfortunate encounter with Dan the sleazeball on the stairs.

“Hey babe, need help finding your room?” He asked in what Charity supposed was supposed to be a silky, sexy voice, but in her opinion he failed miserably.

“Thanks, but since you can’t follow the directions on a can of gel, why would I ask for your help in finding my room?” Charity said smiling, and jogged down the spiral staircase, leaving him on the stairs gaping at her. She looked up and he wiggled his eyebrows at her. She saluted him with her middle finger as she disappeared from his view.

Hearing voices in the direction of the kitchen, she went the opposite way, and searched her way through the mansion until she found a back door, and escaped the confines of the Scooby Doo mansion and took a deep breathe of fresh air, strolling her way through the grounds.
’Sweet sound of silence,’ she revelled, and closed her eyes, basking in the warmth the sun bathed on her face as she tilted it upwards to the sky.

“It’s beautiful out here, isn’t it?” A male voice said behind her and snapped her out of her enjoyment. This pissed her off, and she automatically went onto the offensive.
”So?” she asked bitterly, not wanting to show any sign of weakness, nor enjoyment. No one other than Wendy had ever been able to get past her outer shell that she surrounded herself with, and she wasn’t going to start allowing others that privilege now. She opened her eyes and found herself staring into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen.

“So, I’m just saying, it’s beautiful out here.” He said, and pulled a packet of Clove cigarettes out of his pocket, absent-mindedly selected a cigarette and put it in his mouth, shoving the packet back into his pocket before checking his pockets for a lighter. She watched him with narrowed eyes, mad at him for intruding on her solitude, groaning quietly once he’d found the lighter. As he lit up, she moved away from him, detesting the smell of smoke.

“Sorry,” he said as he turned his head away from her to blow the smoke out of his mouth. “Dirty habit.” When Charity didn’t say anything, he looked at her and tilted his head to the side. “You’re Charity right?”
“So?” She asked again. He was seriously getting on her nerves.
”Do you ever say anything other than so?” he asked, slightly amused.
“Yeah, how’s fuck off for you?” she asked, turning on her heel and walked further into the gardens, wanting to avoid human contact altogether.

Oh, I totally remember this!!!!!! I love this story so much! And, you know, I never got to read all of the sequel, Retribution, so I am very excited to find that I might have the chance now. :yes:

I love these characters so much....Charity is such a firecracker and Wendy such a dear! I can't wait to read about all their adventures again. I love the mysterious setting of this fic. Oh, and I despise Dan so! I had forgotten about that slimeball. ;-)

This is so great, I am so glad you've decided to post this here again. ^_^

Oh yes I do remember this one.
A definite favourite of mine in the horror/thriller genre.
Bloody brilliant!

I did start reading retribution but I left ewfn and never got the chane to finish it.
Definitly looking forward to doing that now.
*smiles*

Glad your posting this here.

Ahhh... the memories... I totally remember this fic!! I'm so glad your posting it here... or re-posting it here!! I'll be happy to re-read it ^_^ ehehehe and watch the new readers squirm with anticipation buahahahahaha.
I also started reading retribution and then didn't get a chance to finish it... I can't wait to read it ^_^

I remember this (i was under a diff. name), at first when Cat said she was reading it for some odd reason didn't register. But this is going to be great because i unfortunately was unable to finish the first time it was posted so :yahoo

Ciao
~Claire

:blink: I can't believe you're posting this again, Holly! :hug: This is sooo awesome. I remember just loving this story. Charity is just so.. as Am said, fiery, and that rocks.

I can't wait till this gets caught up. :bye:

:heartbeat:
Sam

THREE

Charity lazily picked at a daisy and with no mercy, began to pick off the petals one by one in total boredom. That guy had thankfully left her to her peace and quiet - and she was glad she had probably scared him off good and proper.

Despite the creepy-looking house, the gardens were absolutely amazing. Fresh spring flowers and green grass...it didn't at all fit in with the location.

She was bored, she was bored out of her wits. But she was staying for Wendy...being a good friend all the time did not always have its advantages, but Charity remembered many a time when Wendy had sacrificed her fun and free-time to be with Charity. Charity knew she'd have to start making an effort - a small one at least.

"Charity!" Wendy called from the patio, which was near the back door of the house. Charity looked up and sighed slightly, standing up and brushing off the stray grass from her jeans. Wendy, knowing yelling was no way to get to Charity, sprinted over and breathed in. "Come on Char, Alex has made dinner." she announced, trying to regain her breath.

"Thanks Wend, but, I'm not hungry." Charity shook her head but gave a smile, which she hoped, would make Wendy see that she was trying to make an effort.

Obviously it was not a big enough effort...

"No Char, you're not getting away so easily. I know your life's complicated and I know this isn't your dig but you've got to at least try. Turns out we're spending the entire weekend with four actors!"

"Wow." Charity rolled her eyes in sarcasm.

"Four guys who happen to be in the new 'Lord of the Rings' movie. Ya know, your favourite book!"

"Oh right, so that gives me a perfectly good reason to waltz in, jump in their arms and marry them in an instant!" Charity shook her head, then let out a sigh of frustration. "I'm sorry Wend...there I go again..."

"Listen, I've put up with your temper and sarcastic comments for years! I can handle it! I just want you to enjoy this week - I promise it'll take a whole load of memories off our backs. Char, I need you to at least try and talk to everyone inside...I know you have that problem with trust but you can't avoid it forever. There are people in there who want to get to know you but you're not giving them a chance. Just please, for me?" she battled her eyelids jokingly and Charity smirked.

"I'll go in, but I never said I'd enjoy it!" Charity succumbed, but only slightly. Wendy clapped her hands together then nudged her friend with a grin.

"I got you once, I'll get you again." she warned, linking her arm with Charity's and leading her back to the house.

//

Alex had prepared a large portion of Spaghetti Bolognese, which was enough to feed a whole army, let alone twelve people!

"So guys," Faye battled her eyelids in the direction of Dominic, Billy, Elijah and Orlando. "How come you guys are here? It's just pretty strange that four international, fantastic and famous movie stars are on some murder mystery weekend!"

Charity rolled her eyes in annoyance at Faye's tone of voice. Elijah was sat opposite her and smirked at Charity's reaction.

"Well...apparently since this murder mystery holiday started up it’s been quite popular. But the guys who came up with the whole idea want to give it some major publicity. They asked us to trial it, then give our opinions to holiday magazines and leaflets. And hey, we're always up for a challenge!" Orlando answered confidently. "It took a bit of persuading though to get these guys to come along!"

"Hey, I was happy with the arrangement!" Billy called out, giving Orlando a slight punch in the arm. "It was these two bastards who weren’t too keen!"

Elijah and Dominic gave innocent glances to their friends, sending the table (Except Charity) into laughter.
Faye glanced to Elijah; her eyes festered on his face.

"Well," she said, in a flirty tone. "I hope you like what you have seen so far..."

Charity was going to be sick at any moment. Oh sure, give them all a chance, Wendy had said. That Dan was still checking her out, despite the dagger looks she gave him.

It wasn't much later that everyone was complimenting Alex on the 'wonderful' dinner (Which to Charity, tasted like cardboard) and then complaining that they were full. After washing up, everyone retreated to the main room, resting on sofas and drinking wine. Charity gulped down two glasses almost too quickly and was determined to get away from Dan and his seeking eyes, which continued to rest on her chest.

She got up quickly and turned to her friend. "I'm gonna go upstairs...I'm tired..."

"Oh," Wendy answered. "Well...okay...but its still early..."

"Yeah...long day." Charity hugged her then gave a sheepish wave goodnight to everyone else.

"Goodnight Charity." Dan spoke out and she tried to hold in the boiling anger from inside of her. Men. Rats.

She slowly climbed the creaking stairs to the second floor where she was sleeping. At the same time, she banged into someone and heard the familiar voice.

"Oops, sorry Charity!" Elijah apologised quickly, as if he knew she'd explode straight away. Charity looked at him for a brief moment, before starting to climb again. "Wait." Elijah stepped in front of her, blocking her way past.

"Excuse me." she said in annoyance.

"Look, we haven't really got off to a good start have we? And why, I don't know but I'm willing to make a fresh. I'm Elijah."

"I know who you are." she gazed at him. "Now if you'll kindly move your backside out of my way, I can go to my room and be alone."

"Fine," Elijah stepped out of the way and watched as Charity climbed past him. "It's just that by looking at you, I'd never guess that you'd judge people too quickly, and give them the cold shoulder before you knew them."

Charity turned around to face him. "You know shit all about my life," she hissed. "And you know fuck all about me..."

"I'd be willing to learn...if you let me..."

"Fuck you." she stated and climbed back up the stairs again in the direction of her room.

Elijah sighed. Well, he had tried...

FOUR

Elijah returned to the lounge room, where he found the others still gathered. He noticed the way that Billy’s gaze kept landing on Charity’s friend, ‘Wendy, isn’t it?’ he thought as he contemplated the looks that fleeted across his friend’s face. Billy had had a bad run of luck with the ladies of late, but it hadn’t seemed to worry him. He just happily floated through life, at least from the outside, but Elijah knew he felt differently, that loneliness attacked him from time to time.

Wendy was having a conversation with two of the girls, Leticia and Alex, about music, and novels, as the three of them seemed to have something in common. Elijah had noticed that Wendy tended to either stick very closely to Charity, and when she wasn’t around, either stayed on her own, or stuck close to the girls… almost as if she was avoiding the males. While he pondered over his interpretations of her personality, he watched her.

Wendy felt eyes on her skin, not moving, just sitting in the one place, as if staring. At first she thought it might have been the sleazeball, as she too had gotten the feeling that Dan’s hair was not the only slimy part to him, and guessed that the rest of him matched the slick, shining black matt that she supposed he called hair, but she called a hairdresser’s dream come true. She looked up, sensing that it wasn’t Dan-the-sleaze, and had a surprise to see the dreamboat of the group staring at her. Those blue eyes couldn’t mask his startled shock to find her catching him out in staring at her, and she watched in amusement as a red stain crept into his cheeks and he looked away.

Her eyes moved from Elijah, her amusement at his embarrassment fading just as quickly as it had arisen, and as she tuned out to the incessant rambling of Alex about some pop band Wendy had never heard of nor had any interest in, she allowed herself the time to slip into a silent observation of the room full of individuals, which had quite obviously arranged itself in smaller groups, or cliques as Wendy and Charity often referred to them. They had many times, gone shopping at the mall, and sat there for hours talking about what others were either doing, saying or what type of people they were as they walked passed them. It was their own private game of “Observation”.

She noticed that Orlando, the dark haired, dark eyed, self assured one, was deep in conversation with Billy, the luscious, shorter one with a dreamy Scottish accent – one which Wendy knew she had to avoid as she melted with accents. Dom, another dreamy looking one with dark hair and blue eyes was listening in to their conversation, though not adding much. She knew that Elijah was apart of their group; the four of them were the actors she’d been telling Charity about.

The fact that they were actors would be one major reason why Charity would avoid them like the plague, and this was a fact Wendy knew, which was one of the reasons why she was determined to get Charity to try and connect with people this week – it was time she let those walls down and allowed others to see what a wonderful, loving person she was!

Her eyes moved on from Dom, Billy and Orlando, who were now joined by Elijah, and wandered over to where Dan and Jon were having an in-depth conversation – at least it would have been if Wendy hadn’t caught Jon rolling his eyes while Dan stopped mid sentence to grab his comb from his back pocket and run it through his hair. It took all that she had in her to stop herself from laughing, and mentally filed it away in the “tell Charity” section. That left Faye and Sara who had both joined Leticia and Alex in their discussion of music, which had gone from unknown pop artists, to Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.

Faye asked Wendy’s opinion, and when she didn’t get a response the girls all called her name, causing the rest of the room to stop what they were doing and look over a the girls. Wendy came out of her observation trance and looked at the girls.
”What?” She asked, as everyone was staring at her.
“What do you think, should Justin take Britney back after she cheated on him?” Faye asked again, sighing as if she had been missing out on the best conversation in the world and this was a major decision to be made.

‘Air-head,’ Wendy thought and contemplated her decision. “Well, let me check my give-a-shit-o-metre…” she said as she pretended to think. “Nope don’t give a shit!” she finished before getting up and politely excusing herself as she had to brush past Billy on her way out of the room. Billy turned and watched her walk out of the room, awe and admiration in his eyes, which made Orlando and Dom look at each other and raise their eyebrows. Elijah smirked a little before making the cheeky smile disappear from his face.

“What a bitch!” Faye said to the other girls who all nodded in agreement. Billy got pissed off at this, and Elijah knew he was going to say something. He watched in silence, only nudging both Orlando and Dom as Billy walked over to the girls that were sitting on the couch.
“Excuse me, ladies, I couldn’t help but overhear your little conversation about the important matter as to whether or not Justin should get back together with Britney, nor could I help but over hear you call Wendy a bitch for saying she didn’t give a shite.” Billy said, his thick Scottish accent coming out in full force. He smiled at the girls, and his friends could see them starting to melt, as girls usually did when Billy opened his mouth.

“Well yes, we were discussing that Billy,” Faye said, and crossed her legs, put her elbow on her knee and rested her chin on her hand, staring up at him with a dreamy look on her face.
“Do you have an opinion, Billy?” Sara asked, and did the same as what Faye did, smiling up at him and batting her eyelids.

“As a matter of fact, I do!” he said, and turned to his friends, and winked. Dom and Orlando grinned, while Elijah smiled, looked at the floor and shook his head. They knew what was coming.
“What do you think, Billy?” Leticia asked, and grinned at her friends, thinking that Billy was going to be on their side.

“I think you’re the ones who are bitches, to be quite honest with you. You asked Wendy a question and all she did was tell you her honest opinion. The fact that you don’t like it that she doesn’t give a shit about whatever dribble you might be discussing about other people’s lives whom you’ve probably never met, nor will ever meet, gives you no right to call that lass a bitch. I thought what she said was not only honest, but fucking brilliant.” Billy said, and as the girls’ jaws all hit the ground, he turned, winked at his friends and announced he was going to bed.

Yay! I can't believe how wonderful this fic is...I remember reading it the whole way through and then Retribution as well, although I never finished Retribution, I lost the website or something.

I'll be re-reading and following along!
Thanks for posting this super-great fanfic again...your suspensefullness is already killing me, even though I know what happens...and it's gunna get a lot worse/

Post more parts soon please!
:love: Sarah

This is such like a flashback moment :lol:
Can't wait for more :shine:
I love the describtions of Dan there very real, even thinking of someone like that makes me cringe

Ciao
~Claire

This one was definitely a hit. :laugh:

:heartbeat:
Sam

Oh, wow...I'm so falling in love with this all over again. Ah yes, I remember the first interactions between Elijah and Charity where she is so spitfire and he's trying his hardest just to gain a tiny bit of her respect. I love those two!!!

But, le sigh....I gotta say how much I heart Billy in this fic! He's such a dear, and I love the way he told off the other girls after they called Wendy a bitch. Serves them right, after all!

:love:

*smiles*
It is so nice to read this all over again.
Reminds me of the good ol' days at ewfn *sighs*

Char is still an awesome character and I have seen very few female leads who are this firey *grins* Which is a compliment cause I definitily like a woman who can take care of business and doesn't fall down on her knees when she sees a hot guy.
:lalala:

Looking forward to reading the rest.....I think that I soon will be biting my nails again :blush:

:eeek:

FIVE

Charity paced her room after unpacking her suitcase, staring at the white envelope, which contained her role. It was now totally dark outside and the loud howling of the wind against the outside walls gave the exact creepy effect the game needed. Too bad it was only a game, for Charity had already drawn a list in her mind of whom she wanted to really murder. Dan was at the top of the list...

She let out a frustrated sigh and shoved the envelope unopened under her mattress, not bothering to even take a look at her role. "This is ridiculous" she sighed, running her hands through her hair and walked from her room and across the hall to the second floor bathroom. She could still hear laughter downstairs and she shook her head and walked into the bathroom to clean her teeth.

"Oh," she stopped, seeing Elijah already in there doing his own teeth. "Sorry." she muttered and turned to leave.

"Hey, wait," Elijah stopped her. "Carry on...I mean, I'm nearly done and what's the harm?"

Charity scowled but obeyed none the less. Men - always her worst enemies. She'd never even had a boyfriend in her entire life as she'd avoided men like the plague. Nor did she ever intend to have a boyfriend, so if this Elijah thought he could worm his way inside of her, he had another thing coming.

Charity looked into the large mirror as she brushed her teeth, pretending Elijah was not even stood beside her. He was staring at her reflection and she averted her eyes, pretending not to notice.

"Smile." he urged with a charming smile and Charity rolled her eyes and ignored him. Elijah started pulling faces at her into the mirror and Charity hid a smirk and turned her back to him. She spat out the last bit of toothpaste, cleaned her toothbrush and wiped her mouth, giving him a dagger-stare.

"I can't smile, mainly because I have nothing to smile about."

"And why's that?"

"Because I'm stuck in some creepy place for a week surrounded by six complete jerks - or in a shortened term, men. That's why I have nothing to smile about."

Elijah was taken aback. Well, she sure kept up a large barrier that he'd find difficult to break. He guessed she'd probably had boyfriend troubles or something. A pretty girl like her couldn't live a life without having at least a boyfriend - though there was the disadvantage of her fiery temper which Elijah had seen quite a few times since meeting her only that morning!

"How do you know we're jerks? I can see where you're coming from with slick-hair, greaseball, fifties teddy-boy Dan... but can't you at least get to know the rest of us before you make a judgement?!"

"Can't you just mind your own fucking business and leave me alone?!" Charity shot back.

Woah...Elijah thought, what a woman! Man, now he did sound like a jerk! Charity stomped out of the bathroom almost in a fit of temper and walked back to the direction of her own room.

"Wen?" she frowned, seeing Wendy in her pyjamas at the entrance of her bedroom door - that Scottish actor stood talking to her sheepishly. 'Oh no way,' Charity thought in annoyance. 'No way was some jerk gonna hone in on my best friend and break her heart!'.

As she walked closer towards Wendy's room she could hear the conversation.

"Well, glad you're okay and er..." the guy was smiling slightly. "I'm sorry about everyone downstairs..."

"Oh, it's fine." Wendy said, leaning against the doorframe. "I'm just glad you defended me like that. Thanks that was really nice of you."

They both spotted Charity at that instant, giving Billy evil stares then softened as she looked to her friend.

"Well, I'd better get off to my own room, goodnight girls." he smiled and began to walk off.

"Night." Wendy answered quietly just as Charity grabbed her arm and pulled her into her room.

"Ow...Char, what's the big idea?!" Wendy pulled her arm back and rubbed it.

"Refresh my memory - I thought you were going to stay clear of any man from now on!" Charity called.

"Char..." Wendy sighed. "I mean just until I get over what happened a couple of weeks ago...I didn't mean forever!"

"Oh, so, you're gonna let that Scottish guy into your life just like that?!" Charity clicked her fingers then folded her arms.

Wendy sighed, being a life-long witness of Charity's tempers and knew how to handle them. "No of course not. He just came to see if I'd settled in and to ignore the slimy comments Faye and Leticia made to me. That's all!"

"Well..." Charity calmed down slightly. "As long as you've seen sense..."

"Char...I am seeing sense...but that doesn't mean I can't date other guys. And I don't mean date Billy - I'm not ready for a new relationship right now. Just because I promised myself I'd stay clear of men, doesn't mean I can't be friends with them! I don't live your way of life..."

"Obviously not."

"Look," Wendy sighed and touched Charity's arm softly. "You're my best friend, and I know you want what's best for me. I promise you that I'll lay off relationships for a good while...but I will find the right guy for me and keep him. Not all men are rats - as you call them."

"Yes they are."

"No, Char, no they're not. There are some complete jerks, but seriously, most aren't. And you'll never know that unless you give them a chance."

"They don't deserve a chance." Charity mumbled. "They're all pigs; I don't know how you can defend them after what you've been through lately!"

"Trust me." Wendy answered. "Just at least give those guys down there a chance - except Dan, coz I've concluded so far that he *is* a jerk...but the rest aren't bad. Just try. For me."

Charity sighed. "You know I can't make that promise..."

"I don't mean go down there, snog their faces off and marry them in an instant! Just talk to them at least! I'm not asking for you to get in a relationship or anything...all I'm asking is that you talk to them, see that not all men are pigs."

"Fine," Charity huffed. "I'll try...just don't expect me to be successful!"

SIX

Wendy watched Charity’s retreating back disappear behind her bedroom door before she shut her own door and leaned against it. Taking a deep breath, she leaned her head back until it rested against the door and closed her eyes. Charity just had to mention the events she was there to try and forget, though she couldn’t blame her really, Charity was only trying to look out for her, which she appreciated. Try as she might, she couldn’t erase the memory that floated into her consciousness and had to surrender to watching the scene over again…

Wendy came home from Uni early, she hadn’t been feeling well, so she decided to go home and have the rest of the day off. Since both Wendy and Charity were studying Veterinary Science as they both loved animals, Charity said she would take notes for her while she went home. Wendy managed to catch a bus almost as soon as she had left University and was walking up the stairs of her apartment building when she heard giggling coming down the hall.

Wendy thought the sound was familiar, and walked towards her apartment door. Quietly she slid her key into the lock and opened the door. She shut the front door behind herself and dropped her bag on the floor by the lounge suite as she passed through, heading for her bedroom. She felt like taking a bath before sleeping the rest of the day away, and was so wrapped up in her thoughts of the nausea cursing through her body she didn’t notice the stereo was on when she had turned it off before she’d left that morning.

She opened the bedroom door and stopped dead in her tracks as she was confronted with two naked people on her bed…

She was shaken out of her reverie when she heard, and felt a knock on her door. She pushed herself off it, and opened it just a crack. She saw it was Billy on the other side again.

“Hi,” he said, a small sheepish smile on his lips as he blushed slightly, and looked at the floor before looking back up at her. She opened the door a bit further and leaned on the doorframe again.

“Hi…” she said softly.

“I um… we uh… got interrupted before,” he said and she was amused at the way he seemed to be embarrassed at coming back to see her again. She wondered if he’d been trying to decide whether or not to knock on the door and was about to leave when she’d opened the door…the knock had been quiet and if she hadn’t been leaning on the door she wouldn’t have heard it.

“Yeah… uh sorry about Char, she’s just a little protective,” Wendy said, and leaned her head against the frame.

“It’s okay, I can see you two are very close,” he said, his accent coming out in full force, and Wendy could feel her insides melting into oblivion. She had to get rid of him, and yawned, suddenly exhausted.

“Yeah we are. Listen, Billy, would you mind if we catch up tomorrow? I need to get some sleep, it’s been a long day,” she asked, and straightened up from leaning on the doorway.

“Oh, I’m sorry, of course. You must be exhausted. I’ll… uh… just… go back to my room. Good night Wendy,” he said a little flustered, a little embarrassed and she couldn’t help but smile at him. He was so sweet after all.

“Good night, Billy,” she said softly and backed into her room and shut the door softly yet firmly.

Billy stood there at her door for a few minutes, and turned to leave just as Dom came up the stairs and walked up behind him.

“You lost?” he asked Billy, a teasing smile on his face.

“Nah, just uh, saying goodnight,” he said and headed towards his room. As Dom’s room was opposite Billy’s, he walked with him, and informed Billy of what he missed – which was mostly Dan making a fool of himself in the lounge and everyone laughing at him when Leticia told him she’d rather sleep with a blue whale than touch his hair.

Normally Billy would have laughed with Dom over something like that, however his head was still back at the woman whose door had just been closed, however politely, in his face. He liked her, was definitely attracted to her, and wanted to know more about her. He also got the feeling that she too was going to be a “tough nut” like her friend Charity.

There was something that was stopping Wendy from being open, and he’d noticed, like Elijah had, that she tended to avoid being alone with males, and to his knowledge, her talking to him had been the first time she’d spoken to a male since they’d all arrived at the Scooby-Doo mansion.

Dom was babbling away at how distracted Elijah seemed to be, and sighed when he noticed that Billy was just as distracted.

”Man, what is it with those two women?” Dom asked and Billy’s reverie faded away and he turned to Dom.

”What two women?” He asked.

“Charity and Wendy!” Dom said, and stopped outside his room, hand on the doorknob ready to turn.
“After Elijah talked to Charity it was like his brain had gone on vacation and left his body here for us to converse with…and now you after I caught you staring at Wendy’s door!”

Billy shook his head. “What can I say?” Billy asked, “Not everyone can have your low sex drive man, some of us are actually attracted to women!”

“Hey I’m attracted to women!” Dom said defensively. “I love bosoms just as much as the next man, I just don’t get what it is about those two!?”

“Mmm you said bosoms…” Billy said jokingly, and they laughed. “To be honest man, I don’t know what it is about them either… but I’m willing to find out!” and Dom could see that Billy was dead serious about what he’d just said. He took this in as they bid each other good night and went into their respective rooms.

Billy laid there for hours waiting for sleep to claim him after getting into bed, but his mind kept drifting back to Wendy. Eventually his eyes closed as sleep slipped into his head and he floated away to a land filled with clouds, ice cream and Wendy’s face.

Wendy, too, had found sleep hard to reach after she had shut the door on Billy. Her mind ticked over the scene downstairs, not to mention the scenario he’d described to her when he’d knocked on her door the first time.

She thought he was sweet, and seemed very nice – not to mention sexy and the accent just made her melt into a puddle on the floor…but Charity was right. She’d vowed to stay away from men for a while, and that was exactly what she intended to do!

:lmao: I love this part! It was just so...so, Billy and Dom! Excellent job!

I love how both Wendy and Charity have their own issues to get over, yet the boys just refuse to give up on them. Elijah's persistence is endearing, I must say. And, of course Wendy can't get Billy and his accent out of her head! I'd like to know a woman who could. ^_^ I love this story so much!

SEVEN

"Charity? Get up its 9:30!" Wendy banged on Charity's door that next morning and Charity groaned and pulled a pillow over her head. Wendy banged harder. "Come on sleepy-head! Sara's making breakfast!"

"Leave me alone." Charity mumbled, for a moment forgetting she was in an unknown, creepy mansion and began to believe she was in her own bed.

"Charity!" Wendy groaned and opened the door. Good thing Charity never bothered to lock it... "Come on!" Wendy pulled the pillow off her friend's head and threw it across the room. Charity squinted her eyes and put a hand over them, blocking out sunlight.

"Can't." she muttered, reaching out for her blanket but Wendy had gotten rid of that also.

"I'm not leaving until you wake up!" Wendy sat on the edge of the bed stubbornly. "You can't stay in bed all day - you promised you'd interact with everyone downstairs - including the guys."

"Was I drunk last night or something?!"

"No...you were just doing your best friend a favour. Now do I have to get really stubborn and start singing annoying songs until you get up or is this enough?!"

Charity sat up and Wendy smirked at her hair, which was stuck up in all directions. "Fine," Charity's green eyes closed and she let out a sigh. "You win, me lose, you big, me small..."

"That's my girl!" Wendy stood up triumphantly. "Now get dressed...and if I hear you snoring again, I'll find a nice bucket of ice cold water..."

Charity quickly showered and got dressed in her usual type of clothes - jeans (mainly quite baggy) and a top which was never revealing. Yet it appealed to Elijah as she and Wendy walked into the kitchen, greeted with 'Good morning's' and 'Did you sleep alright?'.

"Yes, thank you." Wendy answered Jon's question with a smile and Billy gazed upon them both, looking for any kind of connection - then mentally scolded himself for acting so jealous over a girl he had only met the day before.

"Sit down everyone," Sara smiled, setting the table up with twelve plates. "Alex and I made a large cooked breakfast for you all - seems we're the cooks of the house so get used to it for a week!"

"Unless you get murdered," Leticia answered. "In which case we'll have to find a new cook."

"Yeah." Faye looked to a half-asleep Elijah and smiled. "Can you cook Elijah?"

"Fat chance!" Orlando smirked. "Anything he cooks is lethal!"

Charity had to smile at that comment, seeing as though Alex wasn't exactly a good cook either - and she couldn't imagine more lethal food that Alex's.

"Let's eat," Jon announced and offered all the ladies a seat. Charity held her hand out to him as a warning of 'back off' and got in her own chair, making Elijah chuckle slightly to himself. Wendy gave her a warning glance and she remembered the promise.

"Oh...erm..." Charity tried to find the right words to a shocked Jon. "Thank you Jon, but I can get my own seat..." she faked a smile and cringed inside, feeling as though she was turning into a Barbie. Jon smiled back and nodded, before going to his own seat.

They ate in silence, until Faye brought up the subject of films, much to Elijah, Billy, Dom and Orlando's annoyance (Which surprised Charity - weren't actors meant to be self-absorbed and big-headed?!). Elijah was sat opposite Charity and offered her friendly glances every so often. Charity would shoot dagger stares to him, but then remember the promise again and sometimes smile back. It confused Elijah so much, he wondered what was going on inside her head!

It was after the meal, that Charity excused herself quickly and headed outside into the gardens. It was peaceful and she was alone...well was alone until she heard footsteps behind her.

"Hey," Elijah came up beside her. "Great morning isn't it?"

"Bite me." she mumbled, and then again, remembered. "I mean...uh...yeah, it's great..."

Elijah frowned, trying to take all this in. First she was being cold...then friendly...then cold...and friendly again...

"Not as enjoyable as you imagined it to be?" he asked again, jamming his hands into his jeans pockets.

"I never imagined it to be enjoyable. I only came because Wendy was so keen on the idea." Charity answered, not allowing herself to look at him.

"Yeah...only came because Dom, Orli and Billy thought it would be a laugh - plus the publicity stunt. I'm not usually up for this kind of stuff. Frankly it bores me."

"But you'll get paid for this," Charity said sternly to him. "You'll get something out of this because whether you're the winner or not, you'll still get paid! It's all total bullshit."

Elijah shook his head. "We're doing it for free. Why should we get paid for having a holiday? You're right, it is bullshit."

Charity frowned and actually faced him. "Hold the fort..." she stopped him. "Actors are meant to be self-absorbed, completely selfish, greedy, care nothing for money and totally fancy themselves. Why is all that bullshit to you?!"

Elijah shrugged. "Maybe because I'm not like other actors. Maybe I'm just a normal guy. Acting’s my job, not my life." Charity paused for a while. "You could have found this all out yesterday - saved all the trouble of yelling and judging people..."

"Trouble?! Judging people?!" Charity stormed. "I have my reasons!"

"Stereotypical reasons...not everyone is what they are made out to be." Elijah looked her dead in the eye, as if trying to look for a way to break the barrier more. "And I know that even though you've got one hell of a temper...that there's got to be more to you than that - other sides of you."

"Look, actor-boy, could ya just lay off me? Ever since I got here you've been following me around and trying to talk to me and maybe I-" Charity paused again, seeing the look of horror on Elijah's face. She sighed and built up courage inside of her to sound nice to someone she wasn't particularly fond of. "I mean," she said more calmer. "I mean that I'm just not very good around new people...and well...I'm not good in new places and I tend to...er-"

"Shut people out?" Elijah finished off for her, still confused at her sudden changes in attitudes. Was her star sign Gemini or something?! Moody, then nice, moody than nice...in a great big cycle. His head was beginning to hurt now.

Charity sighed. "Sometimes. Look...if you think I'm a complete bitch than I don't blame you. Just know that I have my reasons for shutting people out - and they are very good reasons, and don't even bother asking me what they are!"

"Ok! Ok!" Elijah held his hands up defensively. "I'll respect your privacy...just...can we find some sort of common ground? We're going to be spending a whole week together and frankly, I don't really want to be in your temper path for seven days. This game isn't exactly a bed of roses for me either!"

It was starting...what Charity had feared. She'd let them find a common ground and then what would happen?! He'd force every last secret and detail out of her, suck out all her emotions and soul and then hurt her - as all men do in the end. She wasn't prepared for it all, not after everything that had happened in her life.

"Charity?" Elijah searched her face, sensing her tense up. "You ok?"

Charity looked back up at him. "We'll talk, nothing more." she stated, tucking some hair behind her ear. "But that's it!" her attitude changed again. "Talk...and don't think you can get anything else from me coz this is all your getting, and think yourself lucky for it!"

Elijah was feeling dizzy now...did he truly want to find a common ground with her?! He had only just started talking to her properly and already she was making him dizzy....

EIGHT

Wendy was getting bored of the pretentious bullshit that was spewing forth from Dan’s mouth on one end of the table, while completely uninterested in the teenybopper celebrity gossip that the other girls were discussing. Sighing, she excused herself quietly from the table and wandered out of the room and decided to take a leaf out of Charity’s book and explore the grounds.

Billy watched her silently, keeping one ear on the conversation that Dom and Orlando were having beside him. He loved the way she filled out her blue jeans and the black spaghetti strap top that looked like it was made from a Lycra type material. She wore black, inch-heeled boots on her feet, and he desperately wanted to know how far up her leg they went under her jeans. Dom nudged him as his eyes followed Wendy out the door and once she was out of sight, he looked at Dom.

”What?” he asked, irritated, and then mentally smacked himself on the head for showing any signs of feelings about being interrupted while watching Wendy.

“Nothing man, just wondering if you were gonna stare at her all day or go after her and talk to her like a normal person?” Orlando said, and winked at Dom who grinned back.

“Yeah, Bill, I mean she’s a hottie… someone might grab her before you do if you don’t get your sorry ass into gear!” Dom added, egging him on. Billy glared at him, and then thought, ‘See, this is why they’re teasing you!’

Billy sat there thinking, and Orlando could see the clogs turning in his brain. He decided to take another tactic, to get him going after the girl he wanted.
”You know, after you went to bed last night, I heard Dan telling Jon that he was going to go after Wendy… he’d be able to win her over and get into her pants!” Orlando said, and Billy’s eyes flashed angrily. Orlando knew he’d gone too far with the last part, and gave him a half-hearted smile.

“I’ll see you guys later,” Billy said, excusing himself from the table and walking briskly out of the room.

“What’d you say that for?” Dom asked Orlando, smacking him on the arm. Orlando rubbed the spot where Dom had gotten him and glared.

”Ow! I was just trying to get him to go after her!” Orlando said defensively.

“Yeah, go after her, not go out and kill Dan!” Dom said, still a little pissed off, but he knew that Orlando meant well.

“Well it is a murder mystery game isn’t it?” Orlando asked cheekily, and Dom couldn’t help but laugh. “Come on, Man, let’s go see if there’s anything to do in this dump other than beat each other senseless.”

They got up and Orlando muttered under his breath that he hoped to find some bows and arrows…so that if he couldn’t practice on Dan’s head to stop him dribbling shit from his mouth then he could always do himself and his friends a favour and tie a rope to the end of one and shoot it over the fence so they could climb their way out. His agent was going to pay for this pathetic excuse for a holiday she’d convinced them would be a great idea!

//

Wendy had seen Charity talking to Elijah in the gardens and smiled, deciding to go the opposite direction and not disturb them. She was pleased to see Charity making the effort, even if Elijah did look a little exasperated while talking to her. She wandered through the luscious gardens, feeling intoxicated by the scents that were mixing in the air and inhaled the sweet, yet bitter aroma in the air.

Looking closely at a purple flower she noticed a yellow and black ladybird, and smiled when the beetle walked onto her finger that was stroking the texture of the petals. Lifting her hand up to her face so that she could see it better, she moved her hand in the air as it ran over her skin. Too wrapped up in watching the small creature running in its new environment she didn’t notice Billy walking up to her.

“Looks like you found yourself a wee friend there,” he said and she looked up, startled. He’d given her a fright. “Oh I’m sorry, I guess I should have made more noise walking,” he said grinning and she couldn’t help but smile at him, too.

“Yeah, you gave me a fight,” she admitted and then turned her attention back to the beetle. “Isn’t she beautiful?” she breathed as she watched the yellow and black move fast over her hand.

“Breathtaking,” he said looking at her and not the beetle, though Wendy was too wrapped up in the creature to notice his eyes weren’t looking the same place hers were. She sighed, and decided it was time to put the beetle back down, and gently allowed the beetle to run down her finger and onto the flower she’d gotten it from.

She started to walk away from Billy and spotted a park bench in amongst some hedges and shrubs, while in the shade. She sat down and crossed her legs, staring out into the surroundings and just enjoying the atmosphere. Billy watched her, aching to join her and talk to her, but he wasn’t sure she would be receptive to it.

‘Fuck it,’ he thought, ‘Bill, you won’t know unless you ask,’ and he walked over to her. “Mind if I join you?” he asked and silently prayed that she’d say it would be okay. She hesitated, and his hopes fell, so much that he wasn’t sure he heard her right.

”Why not?” she said, and he looked at her, and she nodded, as if to say, ‘Yes, I said you could sit down!’ He felt a little silly, but shrugged it off as he sat down next to her.

“So… what do you do?” Billy asked her and she chuckled. “What?” he asked, afraid she didn’t like him.

”Oh I’m sorry, it’s just that’s the first line most people ask someone when they first meet… it just always seemed so corny to me… I’m studying Vet Science at UCLA,” she said, and he nodded. “I don’t have to ask what you do,” she added and he rolled his eyes.

”Yeah, every one knows what I fucking do,” he said, and she tilted her head to one side.

”You don’t like being a celebrity?” she asked him, genuinely interested in the answer. She had never thought of whether actors or musicians actually wanted to be celebrities before, she had always just assumed that they did being the industries they were in.

“I love acting, don’t get me wrong. It’s just after a while the whole celebrity thing is just a little over-rated and boring. I canna fucking get a cup of coffee back home without the London Bloody Daily Mirror reporting about it,” Billy said, a wry smile on his face. “I’m an actor, Wendy, not a celebrity. People like Charlton Hesston and Sean Connery, they’re celebrities… I’m just an ex-hobbit trying to land jobs to play different characters. I’m an actor… that’s all.”

Wendy nodded, taking in what he’d told her. He was right, she supposed. She’d never heard of him before seeing Lord Of The Rings and though she’d loved Pippin in the movie, she’d never really given much thought to Billy Boyd, the person.

“I can understand that,” she said slowly, and heard a bird chirping.

“I loved what you said to the girls last night, that was fucking brilliant by the way, if you don’t mind my saying so again,” he added, trying to turn the conversation off himself.

“Well, I hate superficial people, and well … their conversation was just crap! Who gives a flying fuck if Justin takes Britney back? It’s not going to solve world peace, or feed starving people in Africa…or stop domestic abuse, or cruelty to animals, or … well I could go on… the point is… well it was just a stupid conversation.” She finished lamely, after realising that she was getting passionate about what she was saying which tended to make her ramble.

Feeling embarrassed for the first time, she wished the ground would open up and swallow her. “Uh, excuse me, I forgot something up at the house,” she said before jumping up and running off back towards the house, leaving Billy sitting there, staring after her, wondering why whenever he felt like they had gotten to a point where she was opening up to him, she ran away…

Great updates!

It is kind of funny to see how charity and Wendy are screwing around with Elijah and Billy's heads (no pun intended :devil: )

I can see how they get all confused by them,
I mean these girls have serious issues.
But it is nice to see 2 gals who don't just fall on their knees when a hot looking actor is giving them attention.

I can't wait till the action begins,
though I probably regrest saying that very soon *winks*

haha! I love how Charity is trying to act 'nice' yet she keeps forgetting so it looks like she has changing personalities. Poor Elijah, trying to figure it all out! :laugh:

And, le sigh, such a sweet and adorable Billy-boy. How I love his endearing personality! Hope he can gain Wendy's trust. :wub:

NINE

The day droned on, and Alex offered to make dinner again. Charity groaned inwardly and was amazed to see Elijah making the same expression as she was.

Wendy mainly kept to herself at the dinner table - ignoring Faye and Leticia and their conversations, which now led onto JLO and Ben Affleck. Charity looked so bored that Wendy thought her friend was going to pass out, but was happy when she and Elijah would smile to each other occasionally. Perhaps Charity really did want to make an effort - and maybe finally she had found a guy to trust...

"Well...er...that was...delicious." Dom pushed his plate away, though it was still half full.

"But you haven't eaten it all, Dominic." Alex noticed. Homemade chips and beefburgers - probably containing soap still lay on everyone's plate. Whose idea was it for Alex to be the prime cook? Charity promised herself that she would offer to make the next meal.

Once the table was cleared, almost everyone went into the front room...and even some stepped outside. Charity grabbed an apple which looked days old and had a few bruises on it - but she was so hungry, she didn't care if it was poisoned.

"Oh man, I should have brought real food if I knew we'd all be eating food worse than my own." Elijah sighed, taking his chance of standing beside her. Charity nodded, taking another bite from her apple and sat up on the kitchen surface, her legs swinging.

"Don't worry; I'll save you all from food poisoning later. I'm cooking."

"Thank god!" Elijah sighed and smiled that she was actually talking to him like a person. "If you tell me you're a trained chef, I'll love you more!"

Charity raised her eyebrows in his direction at that comment, then focused back on her apple. "Wendy and I are at University, studying Vet Science - but for all you know I could be a trained chef in my spare time..."

"Are you?!"

"No...well, compared to Alex I am."

Elijah chuckled and then looked at her. "Glad I'm seeing more sides to you - you almost scared me off when we first met!"

"That was my intention." Charity stated, throwing her apple core into the bin and getting off the kitchen surface.

"But why?"

"My life's too complicated to risk anything like that - and if you knew you wouldn't like it, and you'd be avoiding me right now." Charity paused, realising she was saying too much. "Have fun." she mumbled and walked into the room. Wendy was sat on the couch, picking at her nails and Charity spotted Billy watching her. Rolling her eyes, she walked to her friend and hauled her up. "Come on Wend," she said. "Let's go to my room."

Wendy shrugged, and then followed out of the room just as Elijah entered.

"There's something totally freaky about those girls," Faye whispered as Charity and Wendy left the room and headed upstairs. "Something completely weird..."

"They're so freaky...it wouldn't surprise me if they were the murderer's. They have that freaky, creepy look about them." Leticia added.

"But it’s not just that..." Faye interrupted. "They never hang round with us or talk to us. It's just those two all by themselves. They're hiding something - I bet they’re lesbians or something!" Faye and Leticia giggled.

"And you have some sort of problem with lesbians?" Elijah inquired, making Faye and Leticia stop laughing.

"They're fine as long as they stay away from me," Faye stated. "And anyway, Elijah, you have to admit - they are creepy!"

"Only because you've never taken the time to get to know them." Billy spoke aloud, agreeing 100% with Elijah. "You coming up with idle gossip and bitching about them when you know nothing of them."

Everyone raised their eyebrows to Billy, who was acting over-protective here. Elijah agreed with him, but wasn't as full on as Billy. Maybe because Billy was not confused all the time with Charity's personality changes!

"Well...er...this is fun." Orli said sarcastically. "Anyone want another drink before the game starts?"

//

"Here's my list of people to shoot..." Charity said as she and Wendy walked upstairs to Charity's room. "So far I've got Faye, Leticia and....Dan." they stopped in their tracks as Dan blocked the stairway, grinning his face off.

"Well if it isn't the only two sexy chicks in the building!" he sneered, licking his lips as if trying to seduce them, which made Charity laugh at his pathetic behaviour.

"Well, if it isn't the only slimeball in the building." Charity sighed and pushed past him. Wendy followed and sniggered at Charity's remark.

"Hey, wait," Dan stood back in front of them. "Is that any way to treat a fellow housemate? We've got all week together Baby, why not go into your room and start something now...?"

Charity pushed him back. "Get a dick first, and maybe we'll think about it." she gritted her teeth in annoyance and made sure Wendy was still behind her. Wendy was laughing at Dan's face.

"Oh come on, Baby, if you wanted to see it all you had to do was ask..." he placed a hand on his hip and let his eyes swim all over her body, imagining what was under those clothes.

"Well..." Charity smiled and walked to him, making Dan walk backwards until his back hit the wall. Charity put her hands on his shoulders and looked at him with a sexy expression. "You caught me out there...you're right, all I have to do is ask..."

Dan grinned. "And what about your friend, does she wanna join in on the fun?"

"Who? Wendy? Probably, I mean who could resist you?"

"Exactly. So come on Baby, let me have it!"

"You want it?"

"Yes..."

"You really want it?" Charity narrowed her eyes to him. "Tell me how bad you want it..."

"Ooh...really bad Baby, come on, let me!" Dan called, placing his hands on Charity's hips. "Come on..."

"Alright, you want it? I'll give you it..."

Dan's face was all excited until Charity brought her knee up into his groin at lightning speed and he toppled onto the floor, groaning loudly in pain.

"Bitch!" he cursed in absolute agony. "You fucking slag!"

Charity smiled in satisfaction and Wendy was holding her stomach from laughing so much.

"Hey, you wanted it, I gave you it." Charity shrugged then stepped closer to him. "And if you ever try it on with me or Wendy...or even call me 'Baby' again, I swear you'll get far worse than that!"

They walked the rest of the way upstairs, leaving Dan on the floor, holding his groin and cursing in agony. Wendy laughed as they entered Charity's room and they both celebrated by opening a bottle of wine and drinking together, laughing.

As the clock struck four o'clock, Wendy stood up, feeling a little tipsy. "Char, it's four!" she screeched.

"So?" Charity asked, putting her glass down.

"So! The game begins at four, come on!"

"No..." Charity moaned as Wendy pulled on her arm. Wendy managed to pull Charity out of the room and they bounded downstairs, passing Dan who was walking like a penguin! Once they all got into the room, Jon stood up.

"Let the game begin!" he announced.

TEN

Charity looked around for an exit, and Wendy watched her as she edged towards the doorway that led into the library. ‘Damn,’ Wendy thought, ‘that’s where I was gonna hide!’ and wondered what other rooms she could escape to. Charity caught Wendy watching her, and stepped back to where she was standing, by the fireplace in the lounge room. She glared at Wendy, who got up and walked over to her.

“You want to disappear?” Wendy asked her quietly, and Charity nodded within a heartbeat. “Okay, I have a plan,” she said and Charity grinned for the first time in days!

“What’s the plan?” Charity asked, sounding happy for the first time in days.

“We stay here and play the game…” Wendy said softly, as if it were a conspiracy plan they were coming up with.

”Wen!” Charity groaned and pouted. She folded her arms across her chest and rolled her eyes.

”Okay, okay, I don’t want to be stuck in this damn room with the fucking teenybopper bitches either. I’m gonna go to the library and see if they have anything decent to read. Why don’t you check out the conservatory or the games room? They’re pretty nice you know, some art and shit on the walls…” Wendy suggested, and Charity’s eyes lit up at the thought of being able to escape.

“You mean it? I can leave?” Charity asked and Wendy smiled at her.
“Char, the point of the game is a murder mystery. You have checked out what character you are right? What role you have…” Wendy said, and Char looked at her blankly. “Charity! You didn’t open the envelope you were given?”

Charity thought for a moment, and then shook her head. “Why should I, Wen? I didn’t want to come to this fucking thing in the first place!” She said hotly and glared at Wendy.

“You promised Char!” Wendy threw back at her quietly, and Charity’s glare softened in guilt.

“Yeah, yeah okay, I promise, I’ll look at it when I go upstairs. I’m sure it won’t matter tonight anyway,” She said and felt her head start to spin. She looked over at Dan, who was trying to act suave and failing miserably. She couldn’t help herself and started to giggle.

Wendy looked over at what Charity was giggling at and couldn’t help but start giggling herself. Obviously Dan hadn’t checked a mirror before leaving his room…his toupee was falling off his head and no one else had noticed yet! Elijah and Billy had noticed the girls giggling by the fireplace, and Wendy was starting to laugh so much that Charity was pushing her out of the room.

Elijah, being inquisitive, followed them, with Billy on his heals as they stealthily exited to the room to watch them laughing their way down the hallway, walking while holding their stomachs. Billy turned to Elijah and said, “Mate, is that the first time you’ve seen her smile?”

”Yeah it was…and fuck I wish I could make her do that. It was gorgeous!” Elijah breathed, craving a cigarette. “I wonder where they’re going?”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m going to find out!” Billy announced and headed down the hallway towards the library. Elijah watched him, standing in the spot where Billy had left him. As much as he wanted to find Charity and talk to her more, he wasn’t sure he wanted to subject himself to her moods again, although the talk they’d had in the kitchen was enlightening, yet at the same time just as confusing as her mood changes.

//

Billy couldn’t hear the giggling anymore, and wondered where they’d gone. He wandered around the mansion for about 15 minutes before hearing voices in the Library… and the voices weren’t pleasant ones either.

”Get the fuck off me!” Wendy said, as Billy recognised it in an instant. His heart raced and he automatically went into defence mode, and headed straight for the library. He walked in, stopping in the doorway and found Dan trying to put the moves on Wendy, who was pushing him away with both hands against Dan’s chest.

”But baby, on the stairs we had a moment!” Dan said, hearing someone in the doorway. He moved closer to her again and tried to stroke her arm with his hand.

”That moment was your balls cracking under Charity’s knee! And I was laughing my ass off at you!” She said and he tried to touch her again. “What part of fuck off don’t you understand?” she asked angrily, not seeing Billy striding over full of purpose.

“The off part… fuck I can handle just fine babe,” Dan said and Wendy felt sick with disgust. He pawed at her, and suddenly he was pulled back from having his hands on her, pressing himself up against her, and spun around. Billy didn’t stop to think, he drew his arm back and punched him right in the nose.

“The lady said to fuck off! Get a fucking hearing aide you pathetic excuse for a man!” he fumed, and Wendy stared open mouthed at Billy, who’s hand was now glowing red across his knuckles, his eyes full of anger at the man he’d just punched.

“OW! You broke my fucking nose!” he cried as he doubled over in pain, blood pouring from his nose, and his toupee falling off and onto the floor. If Wendy hadn’t been so shaken from him pawing his hands on her, she would have laughed at him.

“You ever, and I mean ever come near this lady again, I will personally remove your balls and shove them down your throat, do you understand me?” Billy asked him and Dan groaned in pain while nodding.

Billy turned to Wendy, who was starting to tremble. “Are you alright, lass?” he asked, and she nodded a little, and Billy put his arm around her shoulders. “Come on, I’ll take you back to the lounge room. I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to be on your own…” he said and she allowed him to lead her from the room, leaving Dan laying on the floor, holding his nose, and writhing in pain.

//

Elijah wandered through the house and came across the conservatory. As it was dark, he thought it would be a nice place to hide from the other members of the group, and have some alone time. He walked to the large bay windows and looked out into the night, the moonlight lighting the gardens in the view from the window.

“Nice view at night, isn’t it?” Charity said in the darkness, and Elijah jumped, not knowing that someone was in the room, and also from hearing a nice comment come out of her mouth at him!

Charity is my hero! :laugh:

I am loving how she's starting to warm up to Elijah. And, I forgot about how Dan had a toupee! hahaha! That's so great. I did remember Charity's knee to the groin, and it made me quite happy to read it all over again. Dan, for sure, deserved it!

And, Billy to the rescue! le sigh! :love:

Hahahahahaha
Big surprise there, NOT!

:lmao: ....that was indeed a brilliant moment!
Blah Dan is such a sleezeball *pukes*

:wub:
Billy to the rescue *cuddles him*

Great chappies dear!

ELEVEN

"Oh...Charity..." Elijah paused as she walked towards him and stood beside him, admiring the view. "Please don't tell me you're the 'murderer'...I'd look a real prick if I got 'killed' first!"

"Are you kidding?!" she shook her head and sighed. "I'm looking for the 'murderer' so I can spend the rest of the week in that cottage...all alone until the next sorry sod gets 'killed' and has to join me."

Elijah laughed. "Would you mind so much if it was me?"

"No. You’re the only decent guy...and I wouldn't have found that out if Wendy hadn't forced me to make the effort."

"Oh." Elijah answered; realising that the only reason she was talking to him was because she was forced to. So basically, she didn't really like him...god, this woman was so confusing... "So...I'll leave you alone then."

"Elijah." Charity stopped him. "I said you were the only decent guy...and actually I'm glad that I found that out. Alright?"

Elijah turned back around and nodded. "Ok."

"Jeez, are all you actors so sensitive?!"

"No... only me, I guess. Always been like that."

Charity smiled and Elijah loved the sight of her smiling. She should do it more often...she was so pretty when she did. "You should smile more often," he said calmly, studying her features.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah...your smile - its gorgeous..."

Charity's face hardened and she almost went into another rage. "Oh, this is just typical! I allow you to talk to me and kinda be friends and already you're trying to get into my pants by charming your way through! I can't believe it! I-"

"No!" Elijah stopped her. "No, I'm not trying to charm my way through you at all! Man, Charity, do you always take compliments this well?!"

Charity stopped on the spot. "Well, I..."

"I give you a compliment and you throw it back into my face!"

"Look," Charity stopped him now. "I'm sorry okay...I just...well I'm just wary of guys, that's all...I can never tell who's the good ones and who's the bad..."

"So you assume that we're all bad and push us away all the time?" Elijah calmed down as well and stepped closer to her.

Charity shrugged. "It's safer that way."

"Not for us good-guys - you scared me when I first met you and your fiery temper!" he joked and Charity let out a laugh.

"Yeah...sorry about that."

"Hey, no problem." Elijah said. "I think I've still got a few lives left."

Charity laughed again and looked at him.

"Look," he started again. "I think you've got a beautiful smile. Now, can you just take and accept that compliment without blowing off and getting awful images in your head that will never happen?"

Charity nodded. "Sure," she answered. "Thank you for the compliment."

"You're welcome." Elijah smiled; mentally patting himself on the back that he was finally working things out with her.

"And since we're on the compliment thing...you've got beautiful eyes..."

Elijah smiled and Charity blushed slightly, not believing what was happening to her. She saw Elijah move closer to her face and her heart pounded at what might happen. Or did she really want it to go too far...? Of course not. She pushed him away just as a loud clatter was heard in the next room. Both chuckling, they hid under the table, agreeing that they should at least play for one night.

//

"Woah..." Wendy noticed Billy's knuckles, looking painfully sore. "Billy, you'll need some ice on there or something..." Wendy said, holding his hand gently.

"What? Er...no, it's okay, really." Billy stuttered, feeling happiness overwhelm him with Wendy holding his hand like that.

"You defended my honour...twice now..." Wendy smiled in the darkness. "I think I'd better defend your hand from blowing up - it'll sorta pay you back."

Billy smiled and Wendy helped him up. "Come on," she whispered. "Be as quiet as possible..."

They both tiptoed towards the kitchen where Wendy would hopefully find some ice. The corridors were dark and it was so quiet. Whoever the 'murderer' was, was pretty good at their job!

As they entered the kitchen, Wendy opened the fridge and searched for some ice. "Great!" she whispered aloud in frustration. "No ice."

"It’s ok." Billy tried to hide the fact his hand was throbbing. "I'll live."

Wendy sighed at his stubbornness and got a knife and began breaking bits off ice off the side of the fridge. "There." she said in satisfaction, gathering the ice she'd broken off and putting it onto a tea towel. "Here." she placed the towel over Billy's knuckles and held it there. Billy winced with the slight sting, but tried to act brave for Wendy. She laughed at his poor attempt.

"Go on Billy," she laughed. "Scream like a girl...I won't mind. I think you deserve to after hitting Dan like that!"

Billy rolled his eyes. "I'd rather watch you...if you don't mind..."

Wendy looked back up at him and smiled sweetly.

TWELVE

“What do you think the clatter was?” Elijah asked Charity quietly. They were hiding under the table and well out of sight even if someone did come into the room.

“I’m not sure… though it sounded like someone knocked something over. Must be because there are no lights on anywhere,” Charity whispered back, and she could feel Elijah’s eyes on her, his scent wafting in the air to her nostrils. She wondered what cologne he wore, because it was intoxicating.

“I wonder how long we need to stay down here for?” Elijah asked, and moved, brushing his arm against Charity’s. She felt a current run up her arm and glared at him, though in the dark he couldn’t see it. He didn’t know she’d moved her head, so when he leaned forward to talk to her, they bumped heads.

”OW!” Charity hissed as she rubbed her head. “Are you sure you’re not the murderer?” she asked sarcastically.

“I’m so sorry!” he whispered and he cringed. ‘Good one, dick,’ he thought. ‘Make peace with her then try to knock her unconscious!’ He rubbed his head with one hand and looked at his watch with the other. Groaning, he pressed the button on the side that illuminated it so he could read it in the dark. “It’s now 9:45… doesn’t this crap end at 10?”

“Fuck this, I have a perfectly good bottle of chardonnay sitting in my room. Want to drink it with me?” Charity asked quietly and Elijah looked over in her direction, thankful for the darkness so she couldn’t see his stunned expression.

“Uh, Chardonnay sounds like fun,” he said and watched in amazement as she crawled out from under the table. As she stood up he crawled out and together they checked the hallway to make sure the coast was clear.

Pretending to be spies in a government facility and their only option of survival was to make it to her room without being spotted they made their way stealthily up to her room and shut the door, collapsing on the floor in fits of laughter at the noises they’d heard on their way past different rooms.

//

Wendy took Billy’s other hand. “Come on, before we get caught here,” she said, and he smiled in the darkness, enjoying the warmth of her hand and the tingling sensation of her touch. She felt the tingling too, and gasped, before silently berating herself. “Let’s go up to my room, no one will look for us there!” she whispered, and Billy’s mouth hit the floor before his face broke out into a smile.

“Aye, sounds like a plan to me,” he whispered back and she stifled a giggle. Charity would not be pleased if she knew what was going on, and for once, Wendy didn’t care. It was fun to be sneaking around a mansion that made her feel like a character out of Scooby-Doo, with a gorgeous, sweet and charming man seemingly eager to spend time with her. Reminded her of the times she snuck out of her parents house to visit her boyfriend in high school.

Now that the freezer was shut they had no source of light, and kept bumping into each other as they made their way upstairs, causing Wendy to giggle, and Billy kept saying “Shh, love, you’ll get us busted!” before snickering himself. They came to stop outside of what they thought was her room.

“Is this it?” he asked, and she ran her hand over the door, her fingers looking for the number marked on it. Feeling the carved number on the wooden door, she whispered in the affirmative, and opened the door, pulling Billy in behind her, and shut it before turning on the light.

“Well… here we are,” Billy said, still not able to believe that he was standing in her room. Wendy looked at him and suddenly became insecure and shy. Billy stepped toward her and went to kiss her but she ducked out of the way and walked to the window.

”Uh, I should, uh…probably…go,” Billy stammered, embarrassed that he’d misread her signals. Wendy closed her eyes, and felt her heart ache. ‘Come on, he’s a decent guy, at least give him a chance!’ she silently berated herself and turned around to face him.

”No… you don’t have to… why don’t you uh, stay and we can talk…?” she asked softly, and he suddenly felt that maybe he should stick around… he had a feeling that there was more to her running away than what meets the eye.

//

Charity and Elijah had drunk most of the bottle and were rolling on the floor in fits of laughter. Her inhibitions were overriding her barriers, and she had smiled and laughed more in the last hour than she had in the last year, which is what usually happened when she got drunk.

“Wow, you’re pretty nice when you’re smashed,” Elijah said, and started to giggle, pushing himself up to sit against the end of the bed, and stretched his legs out.

“Am I? I wouldn’t know…I’m pretty drunk right now!” she said, and sent herself into a giggling fit again. After taking a few deep breaths, she stood up, and Elijah looked up at her.

“You all right?” He asked, getting to his feet. She had started to sway and he thought she’d fall over.

“I’m…fine!” she mumbled, and headed towards the bed, but couldn’t keep her balance, and fell into Elijah’s arms. He caught her, and she was taken by surprise at not only the strength in his arms, but the overwhelming desire she felt to kiss him.

Elijah’s heart rate increased, and his breathing became shallow. He had her in his arms, and suddenly wanted to kiss her, to hold her and show her that not all guys were assholes. Her face was agonisingly close yet neither of them had moved either closer together nor further apart.

Oh, they're starting to get closer! I loved it when Charity told Elijah he had gorgeous eyes. le sigh and so true! :wub: And, how sweet of Wendy to get the ice for Billy's hand. I love the building tension between the couples! Time for some kisses and.... :tsk:

THIRTEEN

"Have a seat," Wendy offered, pointing to the bed and Billy nervously sat down. He watched as she walked towards the window and stared out into blackness. "I wonder if anyone got 'murdered' tonight?" she wondered aloud.

"We'll find out tomorrow." Billy fiddled with his fingers in his lap.

"I bet Charity went out looking for the 'murderer' herself. It's so typical with her. She can be so stubborn and most of the time not even make an effort to do something."

Billy nodded, thinking his words through in his head before answering. "So...what's the deal with Charity? I mean, I think Elijah really likes her, but she's, well, ugh..."

Wendy chuckled. "She's got one fiery temper and a bad-ass attitude! Don't worry Billy you can say it!"

Billy smiled slightly, still feeling nervous for some reason. "So...um...why is she like that? Is her star-sign Gemini or something?!"

"No," Wendy shook her head and smiled. "She's a Scorpio - born November 12th..."

"It's usually Gemini's who have personality changes and huge tempers." Billy commented. "She's totally confusing Elijah..."

"Yeah, well..." Wendy went serious. "Her life hasn't exactly been rosy...which gives her a very good reason not to trust men."

"Series of bad boyfriends?"

"No...Charity's never had a boyfriend in her life; her trust in men failed from a very young age. I wish I could open up to you about my worries about her...but I can't."

"Why?"

"Because it's too terrible - and I promised Charity I'd let no one know."

"Well..." Billy shifted in his seating position. "I guess that's not all that's bothering you...is it? If you can't open up to me about Charity...then why not something else?"

"Too complicated." Wendy answered with a sigh. "I want to open up...I opened up to Charity about the situation...but that did no good. Her answer is always: 'I told you, never trust men! They bring nothing but trouble and they're all pigs!'." Wendy shook her head. "It's hard to open up to her about relationships when she doesn't trust nor understand them."

"I...understand." Billy answered as Wendy sat beside him on the bed and he began to get uneasy. Man, what was wrong with him?! Wendy turned to him and smiled.

"Would you understand if I told you? Tell me what to do?"

"I'll try." he smiled. "I really will try..."

Wendy stared at her hands which rested in her lap. "I've never been close to my parents..." she started. "They never supported any decision in my life and always believed I'd go to law school to become a lawyer like Dad. I met Charity when I was six...became best friends...and well...her parents were not exactly 'parent-type' and my parents didn't approve of our friendship for years because of that. The last straw came when I revealed to Mum and Dad that Charity and I wanted to go to University to study Vet Science and become Vets. My Dad was furious and tried every trick in the book to make me go to law school. I, of course refused, and so they told me never to come back. And we haven't talked since..."

Billy nodded, but did not dare interrupt, wanting to hear every detail so he could try his best to give his advice and comfort her afterwards.

"I did remain close to my sister though. She attended law school but didn't approve of Mum and Dad's behaviour so she'd visit whenever she could. Only problem was, she and Charity were always at each other's throats, which was...,eventful... University was real good, and Charity and I enjoyed it so much. It was always funny to see college guys trying to hit on Charity...and she'd literally hit on them...hard...right smack on their noses and mostly their groins!" Wendy laughed. "She's so funny! Anyway, about three months into the course I met Steve."

"Steve?" Billy enquired.

"Yeah...Steve McLean...god, he was so gorgeous, I'd melt every time I saw him. Charity instantly hated him of course, and he hated her back! But I was used to that kind of thing between my boyfriend's and Charity...it always happened. Anyway, we dated for months...I never felt so in love. I met his parents and they liked me and Steve even gave me an eternity ring. I couldn't tell you how happy I was, but Charity kept her mouth shut on her opinion of him. Our entire relationship lasted a year and four months..." she sighed.

"So...what happened?"

"It was exactly four weeks ago," Wendy continued and looked at Billy. "Only four weeks ago that I introduced him to my sister. You know, my caring, loving sister...my close sister..." Billy got nervous as Wendy's tone changed. "and I was glad that they hit it off, big time! They got on so well...except I didn't know that they really got on well..."

"What happened?" Billy asked gently, noticing the tears in Wendy's eyes.

"We...they..." she stuttered. "I...saw them!" she said. "Two weeks ago...only two weeks ago I...walked into my apartment and there they were...in my bed...they were..."

"Shh..." Billy put an arm over her shoulder to comfort her. "It's okay..."

Wendy wiped her eyes. "It was horrible Billy...I lost my sister because of that...and she didn't even apologise - she didn't care!"

"They don't deserve you..."

"And then...I found out he had been trying to get Charity into bed as well...but she wouldn't tell me because she said I was happy...and I yelled at her for it! I don't know why she forgave me...I mean, she tried to tell me but I wouldn't listen because Steve was everything I ever wanted and my sister was the only member of my family who was still there for me...but all the time, it was Charity who was there for me..."

"I'm sure you helped Charity out in all the bad times she's suffered." Billy said, stroking her hair as she let her head fall onto his shoulder. "Maybe Charity is right, men are rats...just not all of them..."

Wendy looked up at him and he wiped her tears away gently. "And you don't hate me? Or think I'm stupid?"

Billy shook his head. "No of course not. But I do think you're parents are stupid, your sister, Steve...they're stupid because they've let go one remarkable, intelligent, sweet, beautiful, funny and witty woman" he smiled shyly. "And it's their loss..."

Wendy smiled. "Really?"

"Really, really." Billy smiled and he hugged her tightly to him.

FOURTEEN

Charity looked at Elijah, and felt herself falling into his blue eyes, drowning in the simple beauty of them. He looked at her with a mixture of reflected desire and innocence, like a puppy that had seen it’s first bone and was torn between wanting to ravage it and burying it for eating later.

She couldn’t stand it any longer, and pushed herself forward, her lips connecting with his, and as she closed her eyes allowed herself to melt into the sensations that coursed through her body. His arms tightened around her waist, and he pulled her closer to him, holding her as if she were a lifeline he needed to be able to live.

Elijah deepened the kiss and Charity’s head spun as his tongue slid into her mouth and softly, slowly stroked hers. She felt an urgency to have more, and tried to turn the kiss into a more urgent, more passionate one, but he pulled away.

She whimpered, and he kissed her softly again on her lips, before kissing her cheek and trailing his lips across her face and down her neck. Her head fell back and he licked and kissed the hollow at the base of her neck, while letting his hands slip under her shirt. She moaned at the sensations he was invoking in her, and wanted more.

Pulling back from his embrace, he looked at her, a little confused and a little hurt until he saw her gather the hem of her shirt and pull it off over her head. Tossing it onto the floor, she stood there in her bra, and jeans, and stepped forward to him and pulled his t-shirt off over his head.

Hungrily, impatiently they removed each others clothing and once standing in their underwear kissed each other eagerly, their hands roaming over the other’s body, as if desperate to feel every inch of bared skin.

Elijah, with Charity in his arms, moved them so that the bed was behind Charity and gently pushed her back onto the bed, which she gladly fell onto, and burst into a fit of giggles. Reaching up, she pulled him onto her and kissed him savagely, feeling his hardness through the boxers that he was still wearing.

He swiftly removed her bra, and kissed her, while massaging her breasts softly, teasing her nipples. She whimpered when he moved his mouth from hers and kissed her chest, before taking one of her nipples in his mouth and flicking it with his tongue.

She arched her back, amazed at the sensations, her eyes flying open and she gasped. Her hands dived into his hair and she pushed him closer to her, enjoying every single tingle that was being caused by his hot, wet tongue that was licking and flicking her erect nipple.

“Oh god!” she moaned, and he paid attention to the other nipple, spending as much time and attention to it as he had to the other. He licked the under swell of her breast and she felt heat and a pressure building inside her. He kissed his way down her stomach, dipping his tongue into her navel, and she instinctly lifted her hips from the bed.

He used that opportunity to pull her thong off her, and dragged it down her legs, before sitting back on his knees and admiring her. ‘God, she’s so beautiful,’ he thought, his head fuzzy from the alcohol, and swimming from her intoxicating scent, not to mention the sizzling heat that was bouncing off both of them.

Running his hands up her silky legs, she was lost in her own little world of pleasure and couldn’t help but let her legs fall apart. He kissed and licked her inner thigh, before extending his tongue out to gently touch her swollen and slick bud. She jumped from the sensation, and he looked up at her, just to make sure that she was okay.

She was lost in a world of ecstasy, her eyes shut, her mouth open and her hands reaching down for his head. She finally made contact, and pushed him back down to her, which he gladly resumed what he was doing. He could sense she was on the edge when he’d taken her into his mouth, and sucked on her gently, every now and then stroking her with his tongue, before releasing her and delving his tongue into her silky walls, causing her to writhe with agonising pleasure.

“Elijah!” she gasped and he knew that she was going to explode unless he stopped. Pulling his tongue out of her she groaned and he kissed his way back up her body. “Why?” she asked breathlessly as he reached her lips again and he kissed her.

“Not yet,” he whispered, and looked into her eyes. She reached down for his boxers and pushed them off him, her desire to have him inside her growing by the second. Her impatience was turning him on, and once removing his boxers from his legs he positioned himself over her and kissed her as he slid carefully into her. He felt her arms tighten on him, and her mouth went still against his. His brain registered that she was in pain, and he stopped.

“You okay honey?” he asked and started to pull out of her, when she stopped him. She stroked his face and smiled at him, her eyes glassy and she pulled him down to her, kissing him softly, sweetly.
“Please,” she said and he nodded… though he wasn’t sure it was the best idea. He whispered in her ear how beautiful she was, and that he wanted her, which she gasped at. With one hand, he reached down between them and rubbed her most sensitive spot, in the hope that it would help to relax her.

“Relax, honey,” he said softly and kissed her neck. She kissed his shoulder and as he pushed into her again, she bit his shoulder, her teeth sinking into his skin, and her nails on his back digging deeply. “Char… honey…” he said, and stopped moving again. She whimpered and clenched her muscles around him, causing him to jump.

“Move it,” she said huskily, and brought his head down to hers and kissed him deeply. The pain she’d felt at first was swept away at the sensations their connected bodies caused and soon she was moving as fast as he was, touching him everywhere she could, and squeezing his nipples between her fingers, which caused him to groan with pleasure.

The sweet agony they were feeling was building and building until finally Elijah felt Charity clench him tightly, arching her back and her mouth opening wide as her head fell backwards on the pillows under it. His mouth claimed hers to stifle any screams she might have released and as soon as he felt her release he allowed himself to follow over the edge and join her in ecstasy.

:cry: I had forgotten about Wendy's past relationship woes. I can actually personally sympathize with her now, and that makes it all the more heartbreaking. It sucks that girls who are 'supposedly' so close to you could hurt you like that. *slaps her sister*

But, le sigh, supportive Billy. :wub:

And, Elijah and Charity.... :tsk: That was very sexy! I can't wait to read the morning after chapter. Very much wanting to know Charity's reaction.

Ah yes I am late again.

Those where great chappies.
It was really nice to see Wendy open up a bit and seeing Billy being so sweet to her.
I really really have a hard time in understand that people can do such things to each other, especially when it concerns close friends or family. How can you hurt your own sister so much. Pick a man over your sister....it boggles my mind.

The chappie with Elijah and Char is very :tsk: sexy.
You can say that the alcohol certainly losened her up :laugh:

FIFTEEN

Charity squinted her eyes as the morning sun reflected down on her face. Her head hurt and she wondered how much alcohol she had actually consumed the previous night. The previous night...

She quickly turned over and saw Elijah wide-awake next to her in the bed, smiling softly.

"Hey," he greeted her with a smile, his hand going to her arm and caressing it lightly with his fingers.

"Hey," Charity answered sheepishly, for once in her life, speechless. "Um...Elijah...did we um...well...sleep together last night?"

"Well we're laid in bed together naked...so I'd pretty say yes, we did. You don't remember?" he looked hurt.

"Well...yeah, I remember..." Charity bit her lip, her mind wandering to last night' events. "It's just that...we were drunk...very drunk, and er-"

"You don't regret it do you?" Elijah stopped her, searching her face with worry. "Because I don't regret it. Believe me Char, I never intended for it to happen - I mean its never happened to me like that before...but it did happen to us last night...and I don't regret it - in fact it was the best night of my life..."

"Don't Elijah..." Charity shook her head. "It wasn't supposed to happen..."

"You regret it, don't you?" he asked sadly, looking downwards. Charity lifted his face up to hers.

"No Elijah, I don't regret it.” and that was the truth - or was it...? She thought. Last night she had gone against her morals and vows...last night was a silly drunken one-night-stand...or was it?! Charity couldn't deny that last night was wonderful...amazing in fact. She had never done that before - not even had a boyfriend...and yet it was so amazing and brilliant. But then again, she had betrayed herself...

Elijah face turned to a smile and he leaned forward and kissed her lips softly. She moved away and smiled.

"I'm just gonna go to the bathroom...stay here...I'll...be back," she smiled and got out of bed and found some pyjamas on the floor...along with scattered clothes and empty bottles of wine. There was only one person that could help her out...and that person was Wendy.

Charity walked across the hall and quietly knocked on Wendy's door before opening it and letting herself in. "Wend," she called, walking to the bed and shaking her friend. "Wendy!"

"Huh? Wha?" Wendy said, opening her eyes fully. "Char?! You're up before me?!"

"Yeah and I need some best friend advice...like now..."

"At half past eight in the morning?!"

"Please Wendy...I'm trapped..." Charity pleaded. "Everything’s so fussed up in my head and I don't know what to do..."

"Woah, woah, woah!" Wendy stopped her. "Charity, slow down...what happened?" she sat up and rubbed her eyes, forcing herself awake to be there for her friend - just as Billy was there for her last night...

"I...slept with Elijah last night..."

Wendy's expression froze in shock mode - she couldn't even blink, nor would her mind accept it and believe it. "You did what?!"

Charity nodded. "I know...I can't believe it myself. We got drunk in my room last night and then well...one thing led to the other and next thing we're making love..."

"Oh, Charity," Wendy sighed. "I'm so sorry - I blame myself for this..."

"No-"

"Yes...I forced you to make the effort and talk to him...and now he's gone and taken advantage of you; taken your virginity and probably leave you now...god Char, please forgive me..."

"No, Wendy, I made the first move..."

"You?!"

"I kissed him." Charity admitted, calming Wendy down slightly. "I don't know why...I wasn't even all that drunk...I came to you this morning because I've got mixed feelings and emotions and I don't know what’s happening to me..."

"Do you regret it?"

"Well...no...yes...I don't know!" Charity sighed aloud. "I mean I should regret it. I swore never to lose my virginity, have a boyfriend...or have anything to do with men...I vowed that I wouldn't. And I should be throwing Elijah out of my room right now, telling him to fuck off and telling him I want nothing more to do with him..."

"Then why aren't you?"

"Because I don't regret it either!" Charity exclaimed. "I don't regret it because...because he was so gentle with me and so caring...and his kisses were amazing...and your first time is supposed to hurt right?!"

"Yeah..."

"Well it did hurt...but he kept stopping to make sure I was okay, to make I was comfortable and he soothed me, and whispered endearments to me...and he...was so wonderful..." Charity finally stopped for breath. "And now I'm all mixed up between my morals and my feelings..."

"You know what you have to do Char...morals are not as strong as feelings. You've fallen for him haven't you?"

"No..." she blushed slightly. "Just because I enjoyed last night, it doesn't mean that...well, it doesn't mean..."

"Exactly." Wendy grinned in happiness. Finally, Charity had found someone - someone she cared about deep down inside...and who cared for her back the same way. "Go on, go back to him Char. I don't think morals and vows matter anymore when you've found someone whom you can trust."

All this was making sense to Charity...and she actually hated it! Nothing was meant to come between her and her morals...and she only had herself to blame. She grinned, hugged Wendy, and then rushed back to her room where Elijah was resting his eyes.

Charity locked the door behind her and grinned in spite of herself.

"Hey," Elijah smiled. "Pretty long bathroom stop."

"I was just thinking." Charity shrugged and sat next to him on the bed.

"About...?"

"About stuff..." she smiled and hovered over him, her hands going into his hair straight away.

"Gee...that makes sense," Elijah rolled his eyes and smiled, putting his arms loosely around her waist. "You could put that into English."

"Or you could just shut up and kiss me?" Charity pressed her lips onto his and kissed him passionately.

//

The day went on and everyone was sat in the front room discussing how brilliant the game was last night and that they had not yet found the 'murderer'. No one had been 'killed' as yet, except everyone believed that Elijah and Charity had been, as they had not been seen all day.

Wendy chose to keep her mouth shut about the situation...not wanting to start idle gossip on the matter. Quite frankly, everyone could believe they were 'dead' until they showed up and then they could handle the situation.

"Well, I just don't like the idea of poor Elijah trapped in that cottage with that Madam," Faye concluded. "Never seen such a bad-ass, mouthy girl in all my life! And as for that temper...well...what else is there to say?! Poor Elijah...I should go keep him company you know..."

Wendy sighed, not being able to take anymore of this and headed out of the room.

"Stupid cow." Leticia giggled. "Can't handle it!"

Billy shook his head in disgust at them and followed Wendy up the stairs. "Hey, Wendy, hold on lass!"

Wendy stopped in her trackers and smiled at the familiar face. "Oh hi, Billy," she smiled to him.

"I'm with you on this one Wend, I can't stand their idle gossip and bitching either. Bet you're feeling lonely now that Charity is in the cottage for the rest of the week..."

"Hmm... Oh right..." Wendy winced. "I got some cards upstairs," she started. "Wanna play poker or something?"

"Sure," Billy smiled and stood next to her on the stairs. "After you milady."

Wendy smiled and they headed to the second floor. As they passed Charity's room, the door flew open and Charity and Elijah came out, kissing and giggling together. Wendy winced and looked to Billy for some sort of reaction.

"Lij?!" his face was a picture and Wendy put a hand over her mouth to hide her smile. "You...and Char...? But you were 'murdered'!"

"No we wasn't," Elijah answered out of breath. Charity laughed and poked him.

"So you and Charity have been...together...all night and all morning?!"

"Pretty much..."

"Come on Billy," Wendy sighed and pulled him into her room. "Leave them be!"

"But..." Billy stuttered as Wendy shut the door behind him.

"Just let them be...I'm glad Charity's found the right guy."

"Well...Elijah's the right guy alright." Billy huffed. "I just didn't think Charity would let him in so fast."

"Ah...she's fallen for him...she knows it deep down. So, how about that game of poker?"

They played game after game and Wendy won 80% of the time much to Billy's annoyance. They talked, laughed, and shared childhood memories...until dinner was called out from downstairs.

"I should get changed," Billy said, recovering from laughing so hard with her.

"Yeah...me too," Wendy answered, tucking some hair behind her ear. "Thanks for today so far Billy."

"No problem," he smiled and leaned forward, kissing her cheek. The moment was so precious and Wendy felt a large force between them. Slowly, she leaned forward and kissed his lips softly, arms reaching around his neck and his own lips responding. His arms came around her waist and held her tight.

They both knew one of them would have to pull away...but neither of them could...

SIXTEEN

Wendy felt Billy pull her closer, and she allowed her fingers to slide into his hair and massage his scalp lightly as Billy brushed her lips with his tongue. Wendy slowly opened her mouth, giving him access and he dipped his tongue into her mouth. She moaned when his tongue touched hers, and he slid his right hand up her back, to rest on her shoulder blade.

Finally, Wendy broke the kiss slowly, and kissed his lips softly as she pulled her head back. She rested her forehead against his, closing her brown eyes and moved her arms so they gripped him around the shoulders tightly, signalling she wasn’t ready to let the embrace, nor the moment go. As she looked into his green eyes, she could only think of one thing to say.

“Wait a minute… nice boys don’t kiss like that!” she said, quoting one of her favourite movies. She grinned at Billy, who recognised the line as his sister had dragged him to see Bridget Jones’ Diary, against his will at the time.

“Oh yes they fucking do!” Billy replied and they laughed. As their laughter died away, Wendy sighed happily, before Billy took the risk and descended his lips on hers again. She eagerly kissed him back, moved one of her hands from around his neck and slid it down his shoulder and rested it on his chest, curling her fingers in his shirt.

Billy loved the feel of holding her in his arms, and the sensations her tongue created when she stroked his with hers almost made his knees buckle. His heart leapt when he felt her responding to his kisses, and groaned with pleasure as she massaged his neck, and gripped his shirt. His mind went to mush, and his pulse raced, his heart thumping in his chest, and as he slid the hand that was at the small of her back downwards, he pressed her closer to him, showing her just what she did to him with only her kisses.

He wanted to pull her so close to him that they’d never part, and deep inside was stunned as to how deeply he felt, how strongly, so quickly over someone he’d just met. He wanted her, he wanted to kiss her everywhere, to touch every inch of her soft, supple skin and show her just how much she had come to mean to him in such a short amount of time.

Once again, Wendy broke the kiss, slowly pulling back, and gasping for air. His kisses were addictive, and she knew that she didn’t want to go downstairs for dinner…she wanted to stay here, with Billy, and melt into their chemistry. Without saying a word, she looked away from his eyes, and stared at his chest, while she moved her other hand from behind his neck and started to undo the buttons on his shirt.

“Uh…Wen…” He stuttered softly, and she looked up at him, her fingers still working on his shirt.

”Mmm?” she murmured and kissed his softly, sipping at his lips. Willingly he kissed her back, and felt the cool air hit his skin as she pushed his shirt from his shoulders. Letting her go for only a second, he let his shirt fall to the floor, and she shyly smiled at him.

“Are you sure?” he asked gently, and her heart swelled. She was amazed at how much of a gentleman he was, how sweet he was, and wondered how on earth did she find him? She nodded, and stepped backwards towards the bed. She reached up and placed a hand on his shoulder, allowing it to slid off and down his arm, catching his hand and pulling him to her. He jerked towards her and they smiled at each other as he caught her in his arms, placing a gentle kiss on her nose.

She reached for the fly of his jeans, and swiftly undid them, and he gasped as they hit the floor, leaving him sta