Facade of Love

Chapter 300 Passing Out

Charlie tried to smile, but it was a weak one that faded quickly. “Yvette,” he said, looking at me with a hint of his usual strength, “does this mean we are friends now?”

“Absolutely,” I replied with a smile.

He held my gaze a moment longer and then said, “Then stop with the ‘Mr. Yates.‘ Just call me Charlie.”

I thought about it for a second. Calling him Mr. Yates did feel a bit stiff, but saying Charlie made me think of Idris, and it seemed like everyone close to him called him Iddy. That thought made my heart twinge with sadness. I took a deep breath, looked at Charlie, and said, “Yeah, I’ll just call you by your first name if that’s okay. I’m not really used to being so formal with people.”

He gave a small smile, nodded, and said, “Sure, first names are fine.”

I grinned back at him, but then I realized we had hit a lull in the conversation. I racked my brain, trying to think of something to say. Suddenly, I heard Charlie’s voice. “Yvette.”

“Huh?” I blinked, a little thrown off that he had dropped my last name so casually. It felt strange, yet I tried to act cool about it. “What’s up?”

He looked at me with those expressive eyes and asked, “Is it okay if I call you that?” I nodded, “Yeah, of course.” He smiled, and maybe it was the meds wearing off, but there was a bit more color in his cheeks.

“So, can you

repeating each other’s names. The thought

hard to

great smile.” It was a genuine compliment. Maybe it was because we had been through a life–or–death ordeal together, but I felt like the distance between us had closed. We were friends now,

smile that was

I turned to see him still

a twinge of concern for him; however, I knew better than to think he would listen to my advice, so I glanced over at

Inch, saying, “You’ve been through a lot these past few days. Go take

nod, set some paperwork on the nightstand, and left

out, I could not shake the feeling that there was something

300 Passing Out

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dynamic. It did not seem like they were just friends; it was more like they were

curious, but I

my phone and was about to step outside to

last thing I heard was Charlie’s voice calling out, Yvette…”