Captive Heart (Club Risqué Book 6)

Chapter 36

Micah strode purposefully toward the staff lounge, then cursed under his breath when he realised it was in use. Changing direction without so much as a break in his stride, he altered his course and headed for his private office instead.

”Go find a blanket,” he demanded of Trinity, who was trotting along behind him, wringing her hands in distress. She had a decidedly guilty look on her face. So obviously, Trinity knew a damn sight more than he did as to why Melody was dressed in what could easily pass as fetish wear and appeared to have been out in the club. But he”d deal with that later. Right now, he was more concerned about Melody. She clung to him as if her life depended on it, her nails digging into his flesh where she gripped handfuls of shirt and skin. She was shaking like a leaf and more tears than he”d ever seen her shed streamed down her cheeks in a torrent of near hysterical distress. Something that was totally out of character.

Shouldering the door, he pushed through and didn”t stop until he eased himself down on the deep, comfortable couch in the corner of the room and settled Melody more comfortably onto his knee, snuggling her to his broad chest and holding her tight.

For long moments, he said nothing at all, just held her so she could calm down, while he got his own anger under control. That would serve neither of them right now.

Trinity came scurrying into the room with the subbie blanket he”d asked for, and he took it from her and tucked it around Melody”s trembling frame.

”Oh God, I”m so sorry!” Trinity lamented, her own voice none too steady. ”I honestly didn”t think she”d react this badly. I even made her wait a week in case she changed her mind. More than a week, in fact. But she seemed so together, and she was so excited about it that I never imagined… And I insisted on a chaperone, which, of course, she had to have anyway, but…”

Micah held up a hand to halt the uncharacteristic jumble of half formed sentences that were tumbling from his assistant manager”s mouth.

”She was down in the club, yes?” he asked succinctly.

”Yes, we had a discussion about it last?—”

Micah cut her off. ”Was somebody with her?”

”Yes, of course there was, I would never have let her?—”

”Trinity! Calm down and give me the facts,” Micah demanded. ”Who was with her?”

”Laurel. She took Melody as her guest and…sorry,” she conceded as he threw her a quelling look.

”Do you know what happened?”

”No, I went to investigate because I heard sobbing in the corridor. I found her on the floor in pretty much the same shape as when you got there.”

”Okay. Get Laurel. Let’s see if she can shed any light on the matter. And check if Xavier is in tonight. You don”t need to approach him, just confirm in case we need him, then cover my shift on the dungeon floor. I”ll deal with Melody.”

”I really am sorry, Micah,” Trinity whispered in clear agitation.

Micah shook his head. ”Leave it, Trinity. There”s no point in recriminations. We don”t even know what the problem is yet, so let”s just concentrate on Melody right now. We can talk later about the rest of it.”

Trinity gave a tight nod and turned to leave.

”Perhaps you could flip the lock,” Micah requested as she reached the door. ”So I can make sure Melody gets some peace and privacy. I don”t want a bunch of people rushing in here to check on her right now. I”ll call if I need anything.”

The lock snicked, and when they were finally alone, Melody quieted.

A peaceful sense of stillness and safekeeping rolled gently through the room, settling like a deep mist and enveloping them both in a hushed sphere of security in the balm of each other”s arms.

Enough time passed that Micah could almost have been fooled into thinking Melody was asleep. She was quiet as a mouse, her breathing had evened out, and her quaking body had stilled. It was only her hands that gave her away, clenched as they still were in the fabric of his shirt along with a generous measure of chest hair.

However, Micah felt like things were settled enough to move forward, so he started by loosening her stiff fingers and holding them in his own.

”Are you feeling better now?” he asked, keeping his voice low and quiet.

Melody just nodded.

”Do you want to tell me what happened?”

She was silent for so long, Micah decided to help her along with some prompts. ”Okay, so you wanted to go and check out the club. Is that right?”

Another nod.

”And you discussed it with Trinity, and Laurel offered to take you as a guest on her membership?”

She nodded again. This was shaping up to be as difficult as pulling teeth.

”Were you upstairs or downstairs?”

”Downstairs.”

Micah sighed. ”Did you find it was all just too much for you?”

A shake this time, but her denial had Micah straightening in his seat and pulling back to look at her properly. ”Did something happen down there?” he asked with a sharpness that made him wince internally. He didn”t want to unnerve her even more.

”Yes.” It was the tiniest whisper of sound and, at first, Micah wasn”t sure he”d heard her properly.

”Melody?” he urged insistently. ”If there was an incident, it”s imperative that you give me the details, sweetheart. I need you to tell me what happened.”

For the first time, Micah was getting the sense that there was more to this than Melody freaking out because of an anxiety attack.

”I came out of the locker rooms with Laurel,” she began haltingly. ”And I stopped to take a look around. The platforms caught my attention, and I ended up getting separated from Laurel.”

”You”re doing great, hon, just tell me the rest in your own time,” Micah encouraged.

”When I realised I”d lost sight of Laurel I suddenly felt a little overwhelmed.”

Micah breathed a sigh of relief, maybe that”s all there was to it after all. He didn”t want to search his own feelings too deeply about why this incident with Melody had so unnerved him, but it affected him on a far deeper level than he”d expected. His relief didn”t last long, though, and his blood ran cold at Melody”s next words.

”I felt like someone was watching me and, at first, I thought I was being paranoid, but then I turned around just as this guy was about to grab me.”

“What—”

He didn”t get to finish. Now that Melody had warmed up, she was on a roll, and the rest of the story tumbled out in a rapid tangle of words, ”I turned, and I ran for the door, so I could get up here. When I dared to look, he was following me, and I was so desperate for the locks to disengage so I could get to safety, but he put his hand in the door before I could shut it and I had to slam it against his fingers to make him move them.”

”Melody,” Micah began reasonably. ”Are you sure it wasn”t just another member following you upstairs to the club?”

Melody turned and stared at him as if he”d grown two heads, then suddenly, she sprang to her feet, fighting to get out from the folds of the blanket as panic had her flustered again, stealing the calm she’d managed to find.

”He”s a member?” she shrieked. ”Oh my God! I”ve got to get out of here. He”ll come. He”ll find me! I need to run before he tries to take me back.”

Her hair whirled around her face as she twisted agitatedly from side to side, checking the room as if an intruder might already be there, checking the door as if he might come through it.

She clutched the blanket to her chest like it was some sort of lifeline and balanced on the balls of her feet, ready to take flight, her breathing already coming in short, anxious pants.

Micah jumped up in alarm, taking her face in both of his hands. ”Melody, calm down!” he ordered. ”There”s no one here. The door is locked. Nobody can get to you. You know that!”

Her eyes clung to his, and he watched as rational comprehension overcame the spike of irrational fear. He wanted to wait for her to calm a little before he pushed her any more. He”d been halfway to believing that Melody had let her nightmares get the better of her, that she”d just panicked at the sight of another member following her through the security door to the upstairs section of the club, but something she had said had shards of icy fear slithering through his own veins.

”What did you mean when you said he”d try to take you back?”

”That man!” Melody insisted, grabbing his shirt once again. ”He”s a friend of V”s. He is one of the people he used to invite around to…” she trailed off, unable to say the words, but Micah knew she meant one of the fucktards who had abused her and colluded in her incarceration.

”He recognised me, and he tried to grab me, and then he chased me,” she persisted adamantly, before another realisation dawned, and her face lost what little colour it had.

She whispered starkly, ”He knows where I am!”