When Love Breaks Down - Chapter 2 - by Maro Z

So, generally people are enjoying this, I'm really pleased as I'm having the most doubts over this story. It's been in my mind for a long time and it's appearing to be difficult to get onto paper.

Ms March Angel - you are SO impatient! And the story will not be simple, and probably my longest yet....sorry if the suspense is too much!

Bee - I'm glad!! Thanks:)

Annie - I like your style! Glad he's aroused such a strong emotion in you!

Mal K - Think the next few chapters will throw up a lot of questions, and hopefully I'll answer them all!

Alena - Aww thanks! great that you keep commenting!

Bethany Fellows - glad you love this already. As for my ideas, they come from many sources, but there are usually a set of scenarios that I like ot link to make the start of a story. I have an idea where we'll be ultimately, but generally I write off the cuff and see where it goes! Oh and bold on here - start use triangle brackets <> between them use b for bold, I for italics etc. To close it's the same brackets but with a /b or /I instead of just the letter.....hope this makes sense!

Amber L - you disappeared! I am SO glad that I caught the comment before! So 18 chapters....you HAVE to post it! Would love to read it! I always try to stay a few chapters ahead of where I've posted to ease the pressure during busy weeks, but when I'm really into a story I post as quick as I can.....then I have to put my life on hold to keep up!

Lee - great that you're enjoying! And thanks for commenting!

So thanks guys, hope it's all still going the right way!!
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The next morning she was making breakfast when Lucas emerged from his new bedroom.

"Hey monster!"

He laughed, rubbing his eyes, "where Dad?"

Charlie sighed, "he's not here chicken. Do you want some breakfast?"

When he nodded she lifted him up to the table and placed a bowl of porridge and some juice in front of him. Sitting opposite she picked at her toast, her appetite was poor, she felt sick, everything was just so foreign.

She didn't mind the flat, it was small, but she'd not been brought up in the opulence she'd lived in the last few years, so materialistic things were no real issue to her. But even when they'd been arguing, her marriage to Noah had been both fiery and passionate, she'd felt loved, cherished, Noah was her best friend. Now as she looked at the day ahead, there was a huge void in her world, and if she'd didn't have Lucas, she knew she'd really struggle to get through this. She looked at his whizzing a toy airplane around his head. His blond curls covered his eyes as he swooped the plane down to land next to his breakfast. His cherubic smile, his twinkling blue eyes, her heart broke at the thought of the disruption ahead of them.

A knock on the door dragged her attention back to the here and now, with feet as heavy as her heart, she made to the door.

A beaming Jack stood there, arms filled with packages, "You ok?"

She nodded, "didn't sleep much, but think that's going to be a problem for a while." She tried to smile. "You had breakfast?"

Jack nodded, "I have, but I could murder a cup of coffee!"

"Hey Luke!" he hi-fived the three year old who giggled uncontrollably. "Look what I've got!"

Lucas chuckled and clapped as a new, bigger Buzz Light year came out of a Disney Store bag. "To Infinity....."

Lucas reached for the toy shouting, "...AND BEYOND!"

As they watched the little boy running around with his new toys, Charlie poured them both a coffee.

"So what now?" Jack asked. "Are you going to stay here?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. I want to stay close, Lucas loves him, I don't want to drag them apart. But he's angry, he's not the man I remember anymore.....I don't need grief from him."

Jack nodded, and she knew he was worried about the business. She'd started renovating this building when she'd met Jack, his company did all the work, and when there were a few issues and things got out of hand, he became a partner. A lot of the quirkiness that made the restaurant a success was due to his ideas. Charlie in a fit of independence had wanted to separate this from Noah entirely, and she felt so much happier knowing that it was hers. Especially now.

"I'm not going to leave you in the lurch Jack, I promise."

Shrugging he drank his coffee, "I enjoy this part of my life, away from construction. It's like a breath of fresh air!"

"An expensive breath!"

He laughed, "we made a profit last month!"

Gathering the dishes, she headed to the sink, "and I do honestly believe that'll be the way forward."

"I know, I really wouldn't have come into this if I thought I'd be throwing good money after bad."

After an hour of playing with Lucas, Jack announced he really had to get back to work. As he was retrieving his coat, and his cement covered boots, there was another knock at the door.

Charlie pulled open the door and stepped back, it was Noah. For that first moment she drank him in, he looked tired, there were bags under his usually sparkling blue eyes, and five o'clock shadow was a gross underestimated description of his jaw line, even his blonde hair was lank.

"How did you find me?"

He laughed, "where else would you be? This bloody restaurant took over your life!" He kicked a doorframe, "in fact you wanted it to succeed more than you wanted my baby!"

She gasped, "Noah, please, that's not true!"

Leaning closer to her, he hissed through gritted teeth, "isn't it?"

"I got pregnant at the wrong time, I had a lot on. And yes I did say that it was a bit inconvenient. That was wrong! It was a shock." She squared up to him, nose-to-nose, "I NEVER wanted anything to happen to that baby. I loved it the second I found out!"

His laugh was more aggravating, more destabilizing to her control than any insult, "I want to see my son!"

She nodded, completely off balance by his accusations, leading him up the stairs.

Lucas squealed "Daddy!" as soon as he saw Noah, running into his arms. As he swung his son around in a full circle, Noah's expression changed from pleasure, relief, to anger.

"What's he doing here?"

Charlie frowned, "he's my friend and my business partner. And you have NO right to question anything I do!"

Leaning close so that Lucas wouldn't pick up on the tension, he snarled, "my son will NOT be spending time with him! The other man in our marriage!"

Jack sensed the tension, even though he was across the room, "I'll speak to you later Charlie....Noah" he nodded to the other man, then waved to Lucas.

Once she'd heard the door shut behind Jack, she turned on her husband, "you honestly think that blaming everyone else will make this right? Absolve you?" She shook her head, "you screwed another woman, and instead of admitting it, apologizing even, you treated me like a mug....but no! It's Jack's fault, the restaurant's fault....even MY fault!"

He was flushed with anger, but struggled to control it, "I won't argue with you now, not here."

She smiled sweetly, "that sounds perfect, I have no intention of having a conversation with you unless I really have to!"

Shrugging, he scooped Lucas back into his arms, "well we're going out. Where's his coat?"

"Where are you taking him?" she asked as she found a coat, some shoes for Lucas.

"Who knows?" He looked at the little boy and smiled, "where do you want to go mate?"

"Zoo!" he announced, "I LOVE Elephants!"

Noah turned back to her, "looks like we're off to the zoo."

"When will you be back?" Charlie felt bereft at the thought of him running away with Lucas.

"I won't take him from you, I know he needs you more than me.....but I'll bring him back when we're ready. And there's no reason you can deny us."

Within seconds they were gone.

It was a long day. Charlie spent a few hours in the restaurant office organizing the accounts, then she had a meeting with the head chef to discuss promotions and menus for the coming season. In the afternoon she found no music, television or book would amuse her, drag her from her depression. The weather was grim, rain pelting the windows. The beautiful view from the lounge over the sea and endless sky became the worst, most exposed place when the weather was bad, like it was today, ironically.

She was curled up on the sofa, finding more sleep than she had in days, when a hammering at the door disturbed her. Making her way sleepily downstairs, she pulled open the door to reveal Noah, a sleeping Lucas over his shoulder.

"I'll put him straight into bed?" he asked marching past her. Nodding she followed him upstairs, and watched him tuck Lucas into his bed. Standing back up, he turned to her, "I'll just get his things."

Dumping the bags in the hall, he was gone before she had chance to say another word. She didn't know what was worse, his anger, his animosity......or nothing!

She'd always aroused emotions in Noah, she remembered the day when he'd first got under her skin, the day that he turned from the most hated man in the World, to the object of her libido, if not affection. He'd been a hotbed of passion, emotion, and that was part of why she'd fallen for him, so hard!

They'd been touring the US for four months; she felt like a mother controlling four stroppy teenagers, if you threw in the road crew, then she was basically a school teacher controlling her rabble. Whilst she was there, the latest Hugh Grant RomCom was released, and Ebony Smile performed the title track....."Sinful Thoughts." It was an International hit, virtually overnight, and the band went from wannabes to something cataclysmic. Suddenly everyone wanted a piece of them, and her job went from busy to hectic, chaotic.

One evening during a stop in Washington State, she managed to catch up with Hannah an old college mate. Her and her friends were meeting up at a cheap nightclub, Charlie decided to take a rare night off and enjoy herself.

She'd been in the bar for a few hours, and Malachi one of Hannah's work acquaintances had been paying her a lot of attention, and she felt flattered, that was until she felt eyes burning into her shoulder blades. Turning she spotted Noah perched on a bar stool with some friends. He was always there watching everything she did, and back then she was defensive of that, not realizing that she should've been flattered instead.

She threw herself at Malachi, and he responded with fervor, kissing her like a man possessed, eventually leading out of the club. The street was quiet; there was an absence of both people and taxi's.

Malachi smiled, then pulled her into his arms again. Before she knew what was happening his lips were on hers, his arms wrapped around her, his hands trying to sneak under her top. Gone were the stolen kisses, the excitement, and suddenly she was nervous. As his hands started to grope her, she saw red, realizing she'd used the wrong man to get back at Noah.

"Get off!" she tried to shout against his lips after trying to prise herself from his grasp several times, but as her mouth opened, his tongue thrust into her and he moaned at the sensation. She started to pummel his shoulders, dig her fingers into his ribs, do anything to free herself. But he was huge, and very strong.

She started to panic; he was leading her to a side lane, a dark unlit alleyway that obviously led to the rear of the club.

"NO!" she shouted as she managed to drag her mouth from his.

He chuckled, "why are you fighting me?" his breath was hot in her ear and she shivered.

"Please just let me go!" She again pummeled his back and shoulders.

Shaking his head he reached down and ripped her shirt open, stepping back to admire her with a smile. Seeing a chance she tried to run away, but he grabbed her and wrestled her to the floor in the dark dirty alley. As his hands reached for the hem of her skirt she screamed.

Then he was pulled off her, thrown against the opposite wall, falling to the floor. Stood over him with snarling lips and an angry face was Noah, and she'd never been happier to see him. He shouted expletives at Malachi, threatening to call the police, before turning back to Charlie. She lay in the dirt; her skirt rucked up to mid thigh, her shirt ripped open to reveal her black lacy bra. But as Noah looked down at her, she could see only concern, he barely registered that she was half naked. Helping her to his feet, he silently slid out of his jacket, wrapping her in it and zipping it over her disheveled state.

They were silent all the way back to the hotel, and it wasn't until they got to her room that she realized how angry he was. She headed straight into the shower, eventually emerging to see him still pacing. Wrapped in a clean robe, lemon shower wash filling her nostrils she felt respectable. She handed him his coat and he'd snatched it before turning on her.

"You are a bloody fool! What if I hadn't come along? He would have finished the job, raped you, beaten you......shit he could have killed you."

"No danger with you as my stalker though!" she snapped angrily, trying to counteract her fear, the realization of the danger with bravado.

"I am not bloody stalking you! But maybe I should start!" his voice was full shout by now. "How else are you going to stay safe? How else will I sleep for worrying about your reckless behavior?"

She tried to shout back, to retaliate, but at that moment the shock seemed to hit her, and she started to shake, dropping onto the edge of the bed, she felt tears fill her eyes. She ducked her head to hide them from Noah, but he saw. Pulling her to her feet, he wrapped his arms around her, but still couldn't stop her shaking. The only way he managed to calm her was to pull them both into bed under the thick duvet and cuddle her until sleep claimed her.

She'd woken the next morning to an empty bed and wished the previous night had been a bad dream, but Noah turned up later to check on her, and all too soon they had formed a friendship.
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So???
I'm so nervous for this story! Hope you liked!
MZ.