Chapter 13 #4
Reis' nose starts to bleed profusely, his eyes watering, and he immediately starts to cup his nose, while looking at Kai like he betrayed him.
“What the fuck, man?!” Reis cries. The black eye I gave him earlier is dark and now a stark contrast to the blood trickling down his face.
“Don’t you ever fucking speak to her like that again.
It’s time to grow up, Reisyn. She’s our girl; Adam, Markus and mine.
If you have an issue with that, fine, but you will not talk to her that way.
It’s only because we’re such good friends that I’m not killing you right now,” Kai speaks clearly.
Each word drips with threat and violence.
“You’re taking her side?” Reis scoffs.
“Damn right I am.” Kai takes my hand and pushes me behind him slightly. “You were wrong. I was wrong. And it fucked everything up. I won’t let it happen again.”
My gaze goes to Reis, to see how he takes it. For a split-second, I’m worried that he’s hurt. Reis' dark eyes dip down and he bites the inside of his lip as he takes a steadying breath.
Maybe Kai finally got through to him that I’m not the enemy here. That I’m not doing everything I can to fuck them over. That I’m not a liar. That I wasn’t using them.
But then his eyes meet mine.
Gone is the vulnerability that was there a second ago; in its place is anger. All of it directed at me.
“You did this,” he snarls at me.
“I didn’t do shit!” What am I going to have to do to get through to this idiot? Fuck, I’m just going to leave. Screw cleaning up. If there are people watching us out there, they’re going to get photos of my walk of shame.
It’ll be embarrassing, but I can’t stay in here for a moment longer.
“I’m leaving.” I rip the door open so hard, everyone outside of the bathroom would be able to see the two guys inside it, but there’s no one there.
Thank the universe for small mercies.
“Melody, wait!” Kai calls after me.
That’s a real quick no.
Going out the back of the building is probably my best bet to try and avoid the swarm of paparazzi that are probably waiting out front.
Especially if they saw Reis come in. I make my way through the aisles, the levels, until I find a dark door with the big red ‘EXIT’ overhead. I’m so close to freedom.
But what then, Melody? I have no idea. Try to get back to their place to grab my phone and then run?
It hurts to think that Reis hates me this much.
That he’s willing to ruin relationships with his closest friends just because of how much he hates me.
I run down the stairs, trying to get to the first level, and out the back door as tears fill my eyes.
I know one thing, I won’t be the cause of them hurting each other. That’s why I didn’t ever choose before, and if this is how it’s going to be, I’m not going to choose now either. Even if it’s harder because I know what I’m missing now.
Pain fills my chest so much it’s hard to breathe.
I can’t do that to them, I won’t.
“Melody, wait, please,” Kai’s voice carries through the building. He’s chasing me.
But should I let him catch me?
Would he? I know the answer to that one. Yes.
And honestly, I’m already his.
I look back, and above me on the ledge of the second floor, Kai stands looking wrecked, gripping the railing with everything he has.
There’s a desperation in his eyes as he realizes he can’t make it downstairs before I’m out the door.
He looks wild as he holds the metal bar and that psycho look in his eyes is visible even from here. He’s going to jump.
“Don’t,” I mouth, putting my hand up to try and convince him not to do anything stupid.
I’m not worth it.
Reis comes running up behind him, looking at me with a confused look. He looked arrogant and stubborn before, but now… He’s in pain. More pain than just a nose bleed
The question is why is he in pain? Does he actually care about me or is it because he’s upset he’s now fighting with Kai too? His handsome face is set, like I’m doing exactly what he thought I’d do. Run.
He thinks I’m running to get away from them, but really, I’m doing it to save them.
He puts a hand on Kai’s shoulder and I watch as he mouths something softly to him.
Don’t do it, man.
Kai shrugs off Reis' hand, and jumps over the side.
“No!” I scream, lunging for him. Terror paralyzes me, and him laying at my feet dead fills my mind. “Kai!” I cry, running towards him. Kai lands on his feet, bending at the knee to absorb the fall.
Like a fucking superhero.
“Melody,” he reaches out and pulls me to him.
“Kai, god, are you okay? Are you hurt?” I can see he’s okay. Rationally, I know he’s okay, but watching him fall from that height… God, he could’ve twisted and cracked his head open.
“I’m fine, seriously.” He shrugs like he didn’t just jump from the second story of the store, but he wraps his arms around me, holding me tightly. “Don’t leave. Please, Melody. Don’t go.”
“I can’t do this to you guys, Kai,” I sigh.
“Please,” he says again, softly this time. A whisper in my ear, a plea just between us.
“I can’t tear you guys apart. I won’t be the cause of hurt for you guys any more.”
Kai pulls back to cup my face, looking at me square in the eye.
“He will come around. I would bet everything I have that he will. Don’t leave the three of us because one of us has his head up his own ass. We… fuck, Mel, we’ve missed you so much,” he says so reverently, so sincerely, that it takes my breath away.
“I love you,” Kai says earnestly, and my jaw drops. “You don’t have to say anything right now, but I want you to know that if you stay, you’ll be surrounded by love. I swear it.”
Tears fall from my eyes because I know how I feel. I love him. Just like I love Adam, like I love Markus, and unfortunately, like I love Reis.
“I love you, too,” I whisper.
The way his face lights up is something I’ll keep close to my heart until the day I die. It’s happiness personified; big, bright, true smile, open, honest, wide eyes like he can’t believe it, and his breath catches in his throat as he stops breathing when he fully hears my words.
It’s like we’re the only two people here.
Kai takes my face in his hands, pulling me in for a kiss that’s different from before. This one… this one means more. His strong arms wrap around my waist and he spins me around.
“Wooooo!” Kai cheers, his voice echoing embarrassingly throughout the shop.
“Come on,” I laugh as he sets me down. Awareness starts to trickle in as I feel eyes on me, many eyes, but there’s one gaze that stands out from the crowd.
Over Kai’s shoulder, Reis stands there. Watching us with a look I can’t place on his face.
He glooms with a stormy look in his eyes and his phone pressed to his ear.
“I promise you, baby, it’s going to be okay,” Kai murmurs in my ear before kissing me roughly. Kai might be slightly crazy, but damn, he’s a fantastic kisser.
“Let’s go home,” he says with a smile, pinching my chin in between his index finger and thumb.
I open my mouth to agree with him, but Reis interrupts.
“Get your shit together and meet me out back. I ordered a car and practice is in twenty.” The moment he finishes speaking, he disappears like a monster in the night, leaving me with a sick feeling in my belly. Like guilt mixed with frustration.
“Come on, sync. Let’s get you back to your other men,” Kai says softly with a quick kiss to my neck.
He says it like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
Like it doesn’t bother him one bit. Like it’s always been part of our story.
I search his face for any sign that it bothers him.
But all I see is love, excitement, and a possessive little smirk on his face.
“I don’t know about that,” I say nervously, tucking a dark lock of hair behind my ear.
His finger tips my face up to his and he grins softly, looking down to my lips before looking back up to my eyes.
“You know as well as I do, that you’ve got four men obsessed with you and we’re all willing to do whatever it takes to keep you with us.”
I lean up and kiss him lightly, just pressing my lips to his to show him how much I appreciate him.
“Let’s go, before Reis blows a fucking top, and I actually have to kill him,” Kai teases.
He threads our fingers together, pulling me to the back exit I was heading for before.
Right outside the door a black SUV waits with a driver and a very burly-looking security guard sitting in the front passenger side.
And then there’s Reis.
Standing with his arms crossed and his foot propped up on the door. Like we’ve inconvenienced him with living.
His head pops up when the door opens and our eyes meet. The dark brown of his eyes have amber-gold rings weaving throughout so they look like molten lava. Enticing and burning .
Reis opens the door, “In you go, Kai.”
“Ladies, first,” Kai says to me, pulling me forward to help me into the car, but Reis blocks the door.
“You first, Kai.”
Kai rolls his eyes, turns to me and pulls me into his chest to kiss me right in front of Reis. So close to him I could probably turn my head and kiss Reis as well.
I’m shocked frozen for a moment, but when I return back into my body, I recognize Kai’s kissing me to show his possession, his protection, and maybe, just to piss Reis off a little more.
He pulls away, and turns his attention to Reisyn.
“You do anything to make her upset, and I’ll kill you,” Kai says as he pokes Reis' chest aggressively. “I’m not joking. I’ll be watching, so don’t think I won’t handle business right here.”
Reis scoffs, rolling his eyes, but Kai must take that as agreement because he climbs into the car.
Reis slams the door behind Kai, and grabs my elbow roughly. Dragging me towards the wall, he turns me around and pushes me against it so my back hits the warm brick.
“What do you want, Reis?”
“I don’t know what your angle is. I don’t know why you would be so cruel, and then suddenly come back into our lives, acting like you’ve done nothing wrong.
I don’t know how you could break us, only to say that you didn’t,” he speaks very pointedly, not mincing his words, but I can see the confusion in his eyes.
His eyebrows furrow together like he’s trying to see through the fog.
“You used us, and made it clear that you didn’t care about us.
As you proved by not even trying to find us after we left,” he sneers angrily.
I open my mouth to tell him how fucking wrong he is, but he cages me in with his arm overhead, leaning over me, and putting his finger on my lips more gently than I thought he would’ve.
“But then you do something like that. Kai jumps over the ledge, like a lunatic, to run after you and you could’ve turned your back on him. You could’ve left, but you saw him in danger and you ran toward him. Why?”
I shake my head in disbelief. That was not what I thought he was going to say.
“What?” I scoff.
“Why didn’t you run?” Reis asks pointedly.
“Because Kai could’ve been seriously hurt.” I close my eyes tightly to push out the terror my imagination brought up of the worst-case scenario. Kai, twisted neck, staring at me with unseeing eyes. Dead on the tiled floor, all because of me.
My hands come up to the sides of my head so I can try to physically keep myself together. I can’t stop seeing it. I can’t stop.
Kai laying on the ground, his arm reaching out for me, but he doesn’t get up.
Kai laying on the ground, his neck turned unnaturally to the side, and his eyes have unshed tears in them.
Kai laying on the ground, my name on his lips with his last breath.
I can’t.
“Melody,” Reis says, but his voice sounds like it’s underwater.
I can’t unsee it. Banging the sides of my head with my hands, I whimper.
“Melody, stop,” Reis says again, stronger this time. He grabs onto my arms, trying to stop me from hitting my head. “I just wanted to know why you came back. Please, stop hitting yourself.”
“Is he okay?” I ask in a small voice.
“Kai? Yeah, Mel. He’s okay. He’s perfectly fine.”
Finally, an easy breath enters my lungs as the panic recedes while I listen to his voice.
“It’s okay, breathe.” Reis steps into my space and his voice drops, becoming melodic in my ear. “It’s okay, baby,” he murmurs softly and starts humming.
He must feel my body relax, because he leans back to look into my eyes. I finally see how close we are. We look like we’re embracing, which I suppose we are.
Reis. voluntarily holding me. Comforting me.
“Just tell me why you came back for him,” he whispers, once he’s sure I’ve come out of my panic.
“Because,” I say weakly, looking at him through my eyelashes. I could lie; say something stupid or mean and push him away. But this might be a turning point for us, and I won’t give him any ammunition to keep hating me unjustly. “Because I care about him. Like I care about all of you.”
I can’t tell what he’s thinking. His eyes are muddled as he stares at me, and his expression is tightly guarded.
But his grip slowly loosens until he lets go of me.
It feels like hours we’re locked in this confusing embrace, not sure what to do.
If we should give in, or if we should keep arguing with each other.
“Thank you,” he says more kindly than he’s talked to me since he saved me at their concert.
I don’t know what to say to that.
“And thank you for caring. I think.” He turns from me and climbs into the car in the span of a breath, leaving the door open for me as he climbs into the back row.
What the hell just happened?
“Come on, love,” Kai calls from the car, big, knowing smile on his face, and his hand outstretched for me like a question. I look at him, then look at Reis in the back.
He’s so deep in thought, gazing out the window, his chin resting on his hand.
Maybe I can show him just how wrong he is about me, about what happened back then.
Maybe him being so confused means he’s not as soulless as I thought.