37. Melissa
37
MELISSA
I scanned the rows of vehicles parked in the lot at Jokers as Jason pulled the truck in beside Hannah Jane’s car.
It was girls’ night, I finally had a day off, and in a few days, Bridget would be free from a monster.
It should have been a good day, but I was on high alert. If things went sideways—if someone tipped Kyle off—the consequences would be deadly. Bridget would pay the price.
Jason had been quiet on the ride over. I chalked it up to a million things being on his mind. Taking over the airfield, navigating the red tape to become a flight instructor, and meeting with contractors to break ground on the house.
Our house.
I nearly passed out when he told me about Pops’ proposal. Hell, when Jason brought it up when we were getting ready for bed, I thought I was just delirious and hallucinating after working a fourteen-hour day.
But after having a little while to chew on it, everything seemed so right. Serendipitous even .
Jason and I video chatted with my parents to tell them the good news. I don’t think I had ever seen my dad smile so much. Not that I needed their approval, but I liked knowing that we had people rooting for us.
Life was so fucking good.
I moved to unbuckle my seatbelt when he cut the ignition. Jase’s hand shot out, landing on top of mine. “Wait—” he blurted out.
I froze and looked up at him, expectant. “Is this about my birth control again?” I giggled. “I told you. I will go off of it when I’m ready. And that’s certainly not when we’re about to be emptying my apartment to move into a smaller apartment while we build a house.” I closed the space between us and pecked his lips. “We’ll just have to get lots of practice in until then.”
Jason smirked and twirled one of my long, thin braids around his finger. “Smartass.” He leaned back against his seat and rubbed his neck—his tell when he was anxious. “No—I, uh… Wanted to ask you something. It’s about Bee.”
I froze for real that time. My spine tingled, and adrenaline pulsed through my body like a flash flood. “What about her?” I asked, trying like hell to keep my voice steady.
His brows knitted together, forming a deep groove over his nose. Jase hooked his index finger around his chin, wiping the pad of his thumb down the corner of his mouth. “Has she said anything to you about Kyle?” There was tension in his words. Like his tongue was the arresting cable on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, snagging stray words before they escaped his lips.
I nearly choked on my tongue. “Said what about him?” I stammered, staring out the window as cars pulled into the lot to avoid looking at him. I was a shit liar.
A puff of air escaped his mouth as he huffed and slumped against the corner of his seat and the door. “I dunno…” He pushed his fingers back through his hair. “Some of the guys were talking and…”
I knew Steve was suspicious. He’d prodded Bee about the issue before. That was back when the abuse was a rare occurrence. Now, it was regular.
Bridget had told me that Maddie, Kristin, and Will got a peek of some bruises after the whole Kristin-almost-getting-arrested fiasco. Maddie probably told Luca.
I needed a scapegoat.
“Was Chase part of some of the guys ?” I asked.
The thing was, a restraining order was simply a piece of paper. Until the police could bring Kyle up on charges and put him behind bars, a piece of paper wasn’t going to stop him from harming Bridget.
And heaven forbid if the evidence wasn’t strong enough for them to move forward with a court case . Bridget had to be willing to come forward.
Narcissists couldn’t stand to lose their most prized possession. Even if it meant keeping them locked away from the world. Even if it meant abusing them into submission. In Kyle’s case, his possession was her.
And a pathological narcissist? There were no limits to what one would do if their possession showed a glimmer of regaining their autonomy.
“Yeah,” Jase said. “Steve. Luca. Isaac. Will. Chase. Me.” He sighed, reaching over and wrapping his hand around my thigh and giving it a squeeze. “Things just felt weird the other night, you know? Bee wasn’t herself. I’m worried.”
“She was probably just stressed about having us over and wanting it to go well,” I reasoned. It wasn’t a lie. Things tended to get stressful when you were living a double life. “Plus, work and the wedding… She’s got a lot on her plate.”
That seemed to do the trick. Jase cracked a smile, and it made me feel like the worst girlfriend in the world. Hell, it made me feel like the worst friend in the world. I was hiding a secret that I knew would hurt him.
Bridget promised me that she would tell Jason everything when she was finally free. I just hoped that she actually made it out to tell the story.
Girls’ night was exactly the medicine I needed. The number of drinkers was down to me, Hannah Jane, and Kristin. Bridget was working, Maddie was pregnant, and Erica didn’t do alcohol, but we were a kick-ass crew, buzzed or sober.
The boys were on the other side of the bar, caught up in a competitive game of pool while we danced our hearts out. Luna was curled up under the pool table, snoozing through the ruckus while Chase kicked Will’s ass in stripes and solids.
Maddie was on top of the bar, shaking her ass to Any Man of Mine and stepping over half-empty glasses as she grapevine across the oak top. Half of those scratches were from the heels of her cowboy boots.
Luca hollered from the pool table, telling her to get down before she hurt herself.
“I’m fine!” she hollered back. “My center of gravity hasn’t shifted yet!”
Luca muttered something under his breath and shook his head.
The song changed over to a slower Chase Rice tune. As much as I loved Kristin, we weren’t exactly the platonic slow dance type. She skipped off to the bar to grab a bite, and I headed for the bathroom.
In all the years that I’d been a patron of Jokers, I didn’t think Miss Wanda or Bridget had ever once been successful at repairing the paper towel dispenser in the bathroom. That or they were just too busy to open the damn thing and actually put the paper-towel roll inside it. Instead, it was perched on top. The edge of the paper towel was still damp from the last person who had torn a sheet off.
At least they washed their hands, I reminded myself.
I pinched the barely-not-cardboard and gingerly tore the soiled paper towel away, dropping it in the overflowing trash can. Confident that I could dry my hands without contracting hepatitis or typhoid, I ripped off a new sheet.
I added my balled-up paper towel to the mountain and adjusted my sundress.
I wasn’t really a dress girl, but it was hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk. With my lackluster boobs and some convenient padding built into the sweetheart top, I could get away with cage-free tits. I may have been going without panties too, but that was my little secret.
As I smoothed down the hem that stopped mid-thigh and turned to flip the light switch, the door cracked open.
The bathroom technically had two stalls and a urinal, but everyone knew the corner stall didn’t work. Since the locks barely latched, it was an honor system facility. You waited until the person before you came out, or you peed outside.
I stood in front of the mirror, adjusting my sundress. “Just a minu—” Before I could get the words out, Jason slipped inside and blocked the door. The single flickering bulb above us cast shadows along the sharp lines of his face. The cut of his jaw in the dim light made him look lethal.
“What are you?— ”
He circled his hand around the base of my neck and slowly walked me backward into a wall. Cold concrete chilled my bare shoulders and back. He shackled my throat against the wall and barricaded me in with his broad chest. My breasts rose and fell, scraping against his shirt with each shallow intake of breath.
“You’ve been teasing me all night, baby girl,” he rasped in a low baritone that made my pussy purr like a wildcat. Jase reached down and slid his free hand up the back of my thigh. The hem of my dress gathered on his wrist as he moved higher and higher.
His calloused fingertips grazed my hip bone. When he didn’t find what he was looking for, a slow smile drew up at the corner of his mouth.
“No panties? Naughty girl.” His grip around the bottom of my throat tightened. My pulse pounded against his fingers. My breath turned to quick gasps as he parted my folds with two thick fingers, sliding them through my wetness.
Jason let out a groan from somewhere deep in his chest as he found my clit and gave it a firm pinch. “You in this little dress, dancing out there all by yourself.” A rumble of approval ripped out of his throat as he craned his head down and nipped at my earlobe. “I’m gonna have wet dreams about you in this dress,” he growled, stroking the column of my throat with his thumb. “So fucking beautiful.”
He dipped his mouth down, capturing my lips in a brutal kiss. He sank his teeth into the pout of my lower lip, sucking and pulling before sliding his tongue in with mine.
It was dirty and possessive, and I wanted more. I whimpered into his mouth, arching into him as he started strumming my clit back and forth just the way I liked it.
“Jase,” I whispered, pleading his name.
All at once, his hands left my throat and my core. He slid the straps of my dress off my shoulders and pushed the neckline down. My tits spilled out, aching for his touch.
“I’m sorry, baby girl,” he said as he unzipped his jeans and freed his thick cock.
“What for?”
He lifted the hem of my dress and bunched it around my waist. “For how hard I’m about to fuck you.”
Jason pressed a sloppy kiss to the corner of my mouth as he bent down and grabbed the back of my thighs. He lifted me up and pinned me against the wall, lining his cock up with my entrance.
“You deserve to be worshiped. Savored. And I’m about to fuck you hard and fast in a dirty bar bathroom.” He stole another kiss before sliding the first inch of his dick into my pussy.
I whimpered at the invasion, squeezing my eyes shut as he whispered filthy praises into my ear. There was nothing I could do but hold on and enjoy the ride.
“Anyone could walk in here,” he grunted, sheathing himself and holding deep inside. “They’d see your tits bouncing as I rutted in your pussy. Hear those little whimpers and gasps that escape your lips.”
“Jase—”
“There’s one more thing I’m sorry about,” he said as he pounded into me at a punishing pace. Every thrust, every roll of his hips as he ground the thatch of hair around his shaft against my clit, drove me closer and closer to an explosion of nuclear proportions.
I could only muster one syllable. “What?”
My breasts bounced in his face as he fucked me against the wall. He tilted his head, catching a nipple with his teeth. I keened at the snap of pain and cried at the rush of pleasure as he sucked .
Jase released my nipple with a pop, leaving a trail of wet kisses up my chest until he made it up the side of my neck. He nuzzled my ear with his stubbled jaw.
“I’m sorry for how many times I fantasized about taking you right here. If you knew how long ago I wanted to do this, you’d run.”
“I’m not running,” I whispered as an orgasm built, slow and steady. My pussy fluttered around his cock, and he tilted my hips, catching me at a new angle. The slight shift was enough to make me detonate around him, exploding like dynamite as waves and waves of ecstasy shook my core.
Jason grunted, his features drawing in as he held himself deep inside while hot pulses of his release filled my pussy. A slow trickle escaped as he lowered me to my feet and pulled out. Without a word, he cleaned himself off, zipped his jeans, and wet a paper towel to wipe up the mess on my thighs.
“Promise me something,” he said gently as he kissed my knee while he cleaned me up.
“What’s that?” I was buzzed, winded, and orgasm drunk. I’d promise to name our first child “Maverick” if he asked.
“Promise me that no matter how hard life gets—kids, work, stress—promise me that you’ll let me fuck you like that.” He smiled as he pressed his lips to my thigh and looked up at me. “And after you let me fuck you like that, I’ll take you to bed and spend every moment possible making you feel like the goddamn treasure you are.”
I looped my arms around his shoulders, popping up on my tiptoes to kiss him. “You are the most polite troublemaker I’ve ever known.” I giggled. “And I love you.”
“Cheers!” my dad roared across the roar of the bar as he toasted Jason with his beer. “To Jason McGrath.”
“Hold your horses, Colonel!” Ms. Wanda shouted, her beehive of hair bobbing as she hustled around the bar with a tray full of root beer floats and Shirley Temples.
Billy Ray Cyrus was crooning out “Achy Breaky Heart” on the jukebox. The front door opened and slammed shut as customers rolled in, ready to blow off steam.
Maddie, Steve, Heather, Chase, Bridget, and I crowded around a table as Miss Wanda distributed the drinks.
My mom was busy snapping pictures to develop and put in her scrapbooks. The banner on the wall that read “Congratulations, Jason” was all her doing. Well—her and Creative Memories.
Steve and Heather were busy making eyes at each other over their root beer floats. I grabbed a Shirley Temple and held it up as we toasted Jason.
He had graduated high school and, in a few days, would be loading up his truck and driving to Annapolis, Maryland, to attend the United States Naval Academy.
My dad was not-so-secretly hoping that Jase would decide to commission into the Marines when he finished his degree. But I knew that in Jason’s heart, he wanted to fly.
“Fair winds and following seas,” my dad said as he finished his toast.
We clinked our glasses together as my mom started slicing the cake she had whipped up for the occasion.
Steve and Heather hit the dance floor, stumbling as they tried to keep up with all the old-timers who were two-stepping to Shania Twain. Chase, Maddie, and Bridget had scurried off for a round of darts as soon as the board opened up, and my parents were talking to Miss Wanda, the lady who owned Jokers.
“Wanna dance?” Jason asked, pushing his messy hair out of his eyes .
I looked at the crowded dance floor and chewed on my lip. Stabbing my straw into the ice in my glass, I said, “I’m not very good.”
“C’mon, Mel,” he said with that heart-stopping grin of his. “I’m about to leave town. When’s the next time I’ll have a shot at showing you my moves?”
I giggled and stared at the cherries in my glass. “I’m sure there are plenty of girls here who would like to see your moves. You don’t have to patronize me.”
“You know, you’re the only teenager who uses the word ‘patronize,’” he shouted over the ever-increasing volume of the bar. “Please, dance with me.” There was an undeniable spark of something in his eyes. “Just one dance, and then you can go back to pretending you’re a wallflower.”
I made a show of huffing. Truthfully, I had a boatload of butterflies going absolutely berserk inside of me.
Jason was hot. I’d never admit that to anyone because he was so much older than me, and I didn’t want people thinking I was just a little girl with a crush.
Besides, he was Bridget’s brother. I had met some of my other friends’ brothers, but they were all annoying. They mostly liked to see who could fart the loudest or brag about not showering.
Jason was a man. He was eighteen and absolutely gorgeous. I mean, really—it should be criminal for a guy to be that pretty.
And when he looked at me? I melted. He didn’t look at me like I was just the annoying kid next door who he sometimes hung out with when he was bored. No, he looked at me like I was interesting and totally grown up.
“Fine,” I digressed as if I was barely on board with the notion of entertaining his request for a dance. “One dance. But if I step on your feet, just know that I warned you.”
He took my hand—engulfed it, really—and led me out to the dance floor. Steve and Heather were beside us, rocking back and forth as they boot-scooted to the Garth Brooks hit that had just come on .
“Mel!” Heather squealed as she passed by us in Steve’s arms. “I’ve been trying to get you out here for ages!” She tossed her stick-straight blonde hair over her shoulder. “Who knew all it would take to convince you was Jason?”
I blushed and stared at my feet as Jase and I awkwardly wobbled back and forth.
“Do you wanna switch?” Heather asked gently. “Steve’s really good at leading. He’ll show you the ropes.”
I knew she meant well, but I wanted to crawl under a rock.
Jason spun me under his arm and pulled me closer. “Nah, we’re just having fun,” he said with an unflappable smile. “Thanks, though.”
We swayed awkwardly for a whole ninety seconds before he took pity on me. I really was a terrible dancer. Maybe when the rest of my body caught up with my boobs, and I actually exceeded five feet tall, I’d be better. Maddie was the tallest girl in my grade, and she was a great dancer.
“When do you leave?” I asked as we sat back down and guzzled the watered-down remnants of our drinks.
“Day after tomorrow.”
I rested my elbows on the table and cradled my chin in my hand. “Do you think you’ll come back and visit?”
He shrugged. “I dunno.”
My only response was to stab the ice with my straw again. I liked having Jason around, and I was going to miss him.
“But you remember our promise, right?” he asked. “I’m only going because you promised to look out for Bee.”
“I know.” I smiled. “Don’t worry about her. I’ll keep her on the straight and narrow.”
“Yep.” Jase smirked as he nudged me with his elbow. “You’ll turn her into your twin. A proper, polite troublemaker.”
“I am not a troublemaker!” I laughed. “You take that back, Jason McGrath. ”
“I absolutely will not.” He grinned. “Because it’s true.”
I picked up what was left of my Shirley Temple and sucked it down. “You’re gonna miss me.”
His green eyes were soft as he looked down at me. “Yeah… Yeah, I will.”
I hooked my pinky around his like we had when I promised to watch out for Bee. “Don’t forget me, flyboy.”