Chapter 2 #2
He’s so different from the boy I used to know.
Covered completely, except for his face, in tattoos that I can see between the heavy cut-outs of his sweat-soaked shirt; piercings in his eyebrow and the corner of his lower lip, with both ears pierced and gauged.
All these things are striking and add so fucking nicely to the strong jaw and naturally handsome looks he has.
Short, bright blonde hair is visible beneath the red bandana he has tied across his forehead, and those baby-blue eyes look at me with such hope and surprise, I can’t help but smile.
“I’m here. I’m right here,” I whisper as a tear drops down my face. “I can’t believe it’s you.”
A light blush color his cheeks as he says breathlessly, “I can’t believe it’s you .” He must have raced here the moment he could, because I’m just now hearing the rest of the band follow him.
“Fuck man, how did you run off stage fast enough?” Markus snaps at Adam before turning his attention to me. God, he’s so tall. I have to look up to them all, but Markus is easily 6’4”.
“Markus Cole? No fucking way,” I scoff with a bratty little smirk. I step right back into the teasing dynamic we had as kids, and he smiles seductively at me.
“Remember me well, do you, Songbird?” He winks and I roll my eyes before his arms open wide, lifting me as I jump into them.
God, Markus smells amazing, too. His long, chestnut-brown hair is soft under my hands.
I never thought the long hair would be my thing, but on him?
It’s such a good look, I have to keep myself from drooling.
Add that to his almond skin, dark-chocolate eyes and lean frame, and he’s exceeded every fantasy I will immediately deny having of how I imagined he’d grown up.
“Nothing’s changed.” I smile, pulling back to look at him as he sets me down.
Markus gestures down to his body before smirking like the devil. “Nothing’s changed in seven years? You wound me.”
Seven years… I can’t believe it’s been that long. But I also know exactly how long it’s been. Two thousand, seven hundred and thirty-eight days since they left without a trace. One day they were there and the next, poof.
Reis, Markus, Kai and Adam were thick as thieves. Then, there was me.
The new girl who showed up to the small-ass Haven High School on the first day of freshman year, having moved from Connecticut and knowing absolutely no one.
I sat down at ‘their’ table at lunchtime and instead of making the dorky new freshman leave, they let me sit with them.
From then on, the rest was history. I ended up having at least one of them in each of my classes and they took me under their sophomore wings.
It was safe to say I developed a crush.
But I developed a crush on all of them .
“What about me, doll?” Kai slides in, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind. I reach back, wrapping my arm around his neck and hugging him as best I can.
“Kai!” I cry with a smile. He’s looking at me with interest and a cocky grin on his face, but under it, I can see he’s holding back. I turn to assess him head on and try to school my features so I’m not completely drooling over him.
What the hell is going on—did they all make some hot-rocker demon deal?
Jesus fucking Christ. Kai’s got this gorgeous golden hair which he’s styled in a perfectly-imperfect way that just begs for fingers to thread through it.
His dark-brown eyes sparkle with sex and mirth, but under it…
I can see how he’s angry, too. At what, I’m not sure.
He smiles fondly at me, though, and brings his fingers up to brush a strand of my hair back gently. Fucking swoon.
But then Reis walks in, resting his back against the wall and crossing his arms with hostility.
What the fuck is his problem?
He’s the one that pulled me back here. He’s the one who was nice before and now looks like he’s sucking on a tack-filled lemon. I don’t know why he’s acting like I did something to personally piss him off when all this animosity is because of them .
Anger floods my senses as memories fill my eyes, the hurt of being abandoned thick in my heart and my nostrils flare. The hugs, seductive eyes, and long-buried feelings vanish as I remember exactly how mad I am.
“All fucking four of you just up and leave Haven without me, without saying goodbye or a single word? Fuck you!” I snap, slapping them all one after the other in a line.
“Well, that was a delightful four seconds,” Kai mutters, rubbing his cheek.
“Melody…” Reis pulls me to him; I must be imagining things because I swear his fingers grip my hips possessively, not just to pull me away from hitting them again.
They all share a stupid fucking look, one I would understand too if they hadn’t left me and made me lose seven years with them. “I got this, guys. Go get ready,” Reis orders the others. They all nod, varying looks of concern and humor flashing across their faces.
“Melody, look at me,” he says, spinning me in his arms so I have to look him in the eye and my breath catches at the intensity in which he’s staring at me. “Come out with us tonight. We’re all going to a club downtown for business. You owe us that.”
I can’t get a read on him at all. For no reason other than pure curiosity—because I need to know why they left—I decide to let myself relax.
“Fine.”