Chapter 10
TEN
My eyes feel so heavy.
Scratch that–my entire body feels like there’s an elephant sitting on me. I can’t move, I can barely breathe.
What happened? Where am I?
I push through the cotton candy fog in my mind that’s obscuring my memories, but I can’t remember. The closer I get to the surface of my consciousness, the more I can feel sunlight on my skin and the softness of something under my body.
“Uggghhh,” I groan loudly, ripping my eyes open only to be assaulted by the sunlight shining directly through the windows.
My head is killing me. I can feel each beat of my heart against my skull. And my mouth, fuck me , my mouth is so dry. It’s like I licked a floorboard.
Pushing myself up slowly, I’m relieved to see I’m at least dressed. My tights are gone, but I can vaguely remember Adam ripping them off me at the club. Suddenly, I gasp.
Adam.
Markus.
Kai.
Reis.
They’re On The Edge . I saw their concert, and they invited me to a club after. Then…put me on a plane…
Where the fuck am I now?
The bed I’m on is sleek, lush, and so comfortable it’s like I’m sitting on a cloud. I do my best to try and look around, and the first thing which sticks out is that everything is monochromatic. I’m definitely in some kind of hotel or fancy-ass house.
Come on, Mel, think. What’s the last thing you remember? Putting my hand to my head, I try to sort through my sore mind.
Reis.
Reis was mad and said some shitty things. He decided that I was going to New York with them, and we got onto a plane. Reis said more shitty things and offered me a drink… my favorite drink? After that, everything is blank.
Fucking Reis.
He drugged me.
And he’s going to pay .
Throwing back the blanket, I rip the door open and scream.
“Reisyn Gregory Mathers!” The rage is clear in my voice. The pitch, as well as volume, could shatter glass. “Get your sorry fucking ass out here, right now, or I swear to Lucifer you’re going to be sorry!”
The hallway is wide and pale; white marble floors, and white walls with white trim and high ceilings. Definitely giving off an opulent feel. I immediately want to paint all over. There’s no expression , no life. But I guess I haven’t seen the rest of the place. Wherever I am.
“It’s too early for this,” Kai groans in that deep voice of his. It’s even deeper with sleep. He peeks his head out of the door opposite me, his light hair sticking up all over and his eyes heavy with sleep. He’s shirtless and… well, my mind goes blank.
Damnit, are they all ripped now? How? When do they have the time to be so fucking muscular?
Kai has tattoos here and there; a huge pirate ship on his ribcage, some script on his chest right over his heart. It’s too small for me to see from here, but I want to go closer to read it. What words were so important that he got permanently inked into his skin?
Later. That’s a question for later.
“Where is he?” I sneer, my anger cutting through my attraction.
“Melody, baby girl, it’s only eight in the morning. Our fearless leader finally gave us the morning off, so we’re all trying to take advantage and sleep. It’s really hard to do with you screaming the house down. And not even for a fun reason.” He pouts, resting his head on the doorframe.
I storm closer to him. “Shut it, Kai. You know what he did, so where. Is. He?” I poke him with each word and he looks dramatically hurt.
“Physical violence is not necessary, but always welcome with me, Sync.” He smiles predatorily, but points to the door next to mine.
Adam steps out of the room further down the hall in navy pajama bottoms and a bare chest. “Melody, let him be. He’s an asshole in the morning. More than he usually is, if you can believe it,” he grumbles.
“Do you all sleep half-naked?” I mutter, but feel my cheeks redden with my arousal. Fuck, Adam grew up so nicely. He’s always been hot, but he went from “I’ll have her home by nine, sir,” to “she calls me daddy, too” kind of hotness.
Adam smirks and tips his chin to Kai like they’re laughing about something. Adam puts his hands in his pockets and winks at me. “Do you like what you see?”
I swallow the lump in my throat because I need to find Reis to give him an ass-whopping, but fuck, both Kai and Adam are looking at me like I’m breakfast. Shaking my head to try to clear some of the growing lust clouding my judgement, I clear my throat.
“I think you’ve both grown a lot since high school,” I blurt out stupidly. The words leave my mouth and I immediately, immediately , want to take them back.
“Oh, I have.” He winks again and stalks towards me, grabbing my hips possessively in his big hands. “But you knew that already.”
“What?” Kai snaps, the teasing mood broken as he looks at Adam with disbelief. “What does that mean?”
“Yeah, Melody, what does that mean?” Adam tilts his head, daring me to deny what happened. My eyes narrow. The cockiness on his face makes my anger flare again, blasting through the lusty-haze. Pushing against his chest with both of my hands, I break out of his hold, and clench my teeth.
“Don’t be a dick,” I snap at Adam, intent on turning towards Reis’ door to punch him while he’s sleeping.
Kai grabs my arm and spins me toward him. “What does he mean, baby girl?”
I didn’t want everyone–and by everyone, I mean Reis and Kai–to find out that Markus and Adam had gotten me off at the bar. While those two seemed cool with sharing and… partaking in that experience with me, Reis and Kai… I don’t know where they stand.
I don’t think that I could survive being told by the objects of my high school fantasies that I was disgusting.
I’ve lived through being told that enough for one lifetime.
I decide on, “We had a moment at the bar. Adam and I.”
“Am I that forgettable, Melody?” Markus comes out of his room, pulling his curly hair up into a bun on the top of his head. As he does it, his biceps flex and his abs tighten, and my mouth starts to water as I watch. Once again, these guys must be allergic to sleeping with shirts on.
And I just can’t find it in myself to be mad about it. Look at all the eye candy.
I can’t drool. I can’t. I can’t… but God.
There’s a small tattoo on his hip bone, in the V of his adonis belt, of some kind of bird. But I can’t look too closely right now, otherwise he’ll outright comment on my ogling.
Groaning, I rub my eyes with the heels of my palms in frustration. I’m too fucking tired and feel like I’m hungover.
“Markus too?” Kai’s eyebrows shoot up and he gently pulls me closer to his chest, speaking softly. “You’ve kissed them both?”
“I’d say more than kiss,” Adam mutters and Markus purses his lips. Then those fuckers fist bump.
“Are you two fools still in high school?” I snap through clenched teeth, shooting a dirty look at them to the side.
“Melody,” Kai says roughly. He wants the truth, and I feel like I owe it to him.
I sigh. “Yes, Kai. I kissed them both.”
Kai stares past me with a look of disbelief. And my heart drops to my stomach.
I knew it. I knew this was going to happen. I go to rip my arms out of his, but he grips me tighter. Kai’s light eyes bore into mine and he’s searching for something. What it is, I don’t know.
After a long moment of just staring at me, and causing my heart to fracture open from a wound I thought I’d long since healed from, he opens his mouth to say something, but I cut him off.
“Don’t,” I snap sharply, trying to keep the intense need to cry from my voice. “I don’t need to hear that it’s wrong.”
“What?” Kai breathes the word out in a whisper. There’s a silence; an awkward, nerve-wrecking, nausea-inducing silence where my eyes stay glued to the floor.
I knew it, I knew it .
For Kai to not be about it… he’s the one I could’ve told I’d murdered someone, and he’d have laughed, hugged me and asked if I needed help hiding the body.
I feel a tear of rejection slip down my cheek and take a breath.
How do I get out of here?
“Melody,” Kai says softly, interrupting my panic. His voice is level and probably the gentlest I’ve ever heard from him.
A finger slips under my chin, and he tips my head up so I’m looking at him. My wild boy.
“Can I kiss you?” he asks softly, uncaring that his two closest friends are not even three feet from us. The way he asks me, instead of just taking, makes me realize he’s serious. That he wants me, even though I’ve been intimate with his friends. Even though I want them all.
“Please,” I whisper, afraid to talk too loudly in case it changes his mind. Kai leans down, cupping my face with his hands, and presses our lips together.
It feels like electricity; a spark that wakes us both up and ignites something inside. His hands wrap around my waist, pulling me tighter into his embrace while I press myself against him.
Kai licks my lips and I instantly part them, allowing him to deepen the kiss. The way he’s breathing and the small grunts he’s making have me wanting to jump in his arms and take this a hell of a lot further.
But then, of course , Markus coughs.
We immediately pull apart just enough so that our lips aren’t touching, but are still locked against each other.
“I knew it.” Adam adjusts himself in his sleep pants, and Markus nods at me in agreement. “I knew it’d be hot watching her with you guys.”
“Oh yeah,” Markus says, biting his lower lip. He’s also sporting quite the hard-on, and I really, really want to see it without the boxers hiding him from me.
“Kai,” I whisper, and search his eyes for any regret, even if it’s just a hint. Anything that tells me that he didn’t actually like it.
But I find nothing but want and excitement.
Kai rests his forehead against mine and smiles softly. “Melody,” he whispers, cupping my cheek. “I believe you were on a warpath.”
I am, I for sure still am. But I’m not sure I can let this moment end just yet. It feels so right being here in his arms, Kai holding me protectively and kissing me like he means it.
Nodding reluctantly against his forehead, I take a deep breath. I have to just hope things work out.