Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
“Melody, baby, you have to stand up.” I hold her as tightly as I can, trying to keep her from slipping as we enter the bathroom. It’s bigger than a typical airplane bathroom with an actual shower and a slightly larger sink/toilet area. But still, if she falls, she’s hitting her head on something.
And I’m not in any rush to let her out of my arms.
I walk into the bathroom behind them, closing the door behind us, rushing to help Reis hold her up.
Melody finds her footing and stands up.
“We shouldn’t have pushed her to get up and move around,” Reis says softly. “She’s in that blissed-out space. I just don’t want her to get sick when we’re so far from home.”
“I’m fine,” Melody says strongly. Her voice is a little wobbly, but very much still the strong girl we love. “I’m just so tired.”
“I know you are, baby,” Reis says quickly, “It’s okay. We’ve got you.”
“I’m just relaxed, for fuck’s sake,” she whispers before pushing out of my arms and past Reis to go sit on the toilet. “If you guys don’t want to be close enough that you hear me pee, I suggest leaving.”
We both shrug, turning to give her some privacy, which in and of itself is funny because we just fucked her so well… and so very thouroughly.
Mel goes to the restroom, no shame, and we only turn back around when we hear her flush.
“Come on, Songbird, shower time.” I hold my hand out to her, pulling her to the shower.
“This is ridiculous. You not only have a private jet, but you also made sure it came with a full shower?” She rolls her eyes with all the teasing and mirth that I love.
“Oh yeah. When you’re flying across the country, or across the world to get from east to west in a night, you need all the amenities.”
“Blah, blah, blah. All I heard is that you guys are spoiled.” Her sass is back and on full display, and to be honest, it’s making me hard again.
“If we’re spoiled, Reverb,” Reis says with a smirk, opening the curtain and helping her into the shower before slipping in behind her.
He doesn’t close the curtain behind him, and I’m taking that as a damn invitation, so I climb in, in front of her.
“If we’re spoiled, can you imagine how bad you’re going to be soon?
All this wealth of ours, and all we care about is keeping you happy. ”
I can see where he’s trying to go with this, but I also know Melody is going to throat punch him if he even so much as suggests she’ll get any financial compensation by staying with us.
He’s going to be read the riot act soon, and I don’t necessarily want to be here for the aftermath.
Turning the shower on hot, I start soaping up quickly.
Once I’m cleaned, I slide my arms around Melody, shifting her closer so she can have the water as well.
We have a shower on the plane, but it’s not a hotel. We’ve got very limited water.
Reis cleans himself off as he and Mel are opposing each other. I can feel the way she’s trying desperately to be calm. She takes a deep breath, and lets it go quickly. It’s like she’s choosing her words very carefully.
“I’m so happy for you guys and your massive success. You know that, right?” Melody asks him, then looks to me for my answer.
“Yeah, Mel. I know.” I say as I tuck my chin into her neck, and Reis nods.
“I’m really proud of you guys. I always knew you could do it. Make it big,” she says with a sweet–too sweet–smile on her face. Reis is eating this up, her words are hitting exactly where they need to with him. I swear his chest puffs up at her words. Scratch that, I know it does.
The memory of what he told us she said that day fills my head. The way his voice broke when he said she didn’t think we’d make it big. That lie she told out of desperation, but we all believed like young idiots.
It hit Reis harder than the rest of us.
So for her to say those words, it has to be healing something inside him that he refuses to recognize.
I stay silent because I know there’s a ‘but’ coming. I can feel it.
“ But if you think that money means shit to me, you’re sorely mistaken,” she finishes her thought strongly. I see Reis' eyebrows rise so high they almost touch his hairline.
I can’t help it. I laugh.
His gaze turns on me, looking like he wants to murder me, but Melody just chuckles with me.
“Why are you fucking laughing?” He snaps.
“Because! Because. Songbird has never been the money girl. She’s never wanted more than just us. Us, stupid-ass high school boys who had twenty bucks between the four of us and a dream.”
“Yeah, but now, now we can get her whatever she wants. Whatever she needs ,” Reis says quickly.
“Yeah, we can. But will she let us?” I counter.
“Um, she is right here.” Melody pushes me out of the path of the water. “For the record, I’m not interested in your money. I’m proud of you for it, but I’d never expect anything from it. Don’t insult me by implying that. I’ll smack you next time.”
I twist Mel so I can rinse the soap off of her quickly while Reis tries to convince her to let us pay for every need or want for the rest of her life. He doesn’t need to convince the rest of us, we all will gladly whip out our black cards to buy her anything she wants.
If she’s happy, it’s money well spent.
“Reverb, I just want to take care of you. To prove that I can now.”
“You always could. You always did. You, you all , were all I needed.” Her hand cups his jaw and I bite my tongue to keep from breaking the moment. “You’re all I need.”
Instead of speaking, I just drop a kiss to her shoulder.
“But…I, we… It’s,” Reis' struggling for words, something that doesn’t happen to him frequently. I put my hand on his shoulder.
“She wants us. We’re hers. Wholly. Totally. No matter what. Money or no money.”
“That was never in question,” Reis says, looking directly at Melody.
“Good.” She smiles at us both, nudging me softly before leaning up to kiss me.
I can see in her eyes just how much she appreciates that I see her.
“If I need something, I’ll ask, but I don’t want to be financially dependent on you guys.
Until we are all married, your money is your money, and my money is my money. ”
Both Reis and I stop. Freezing completely like we’re being rebooted.
She dropped the ‘M’ word. Melody just shrugs as if she doesn’t realize what she said.
I start moving before Reis does because I don’t want to bring attention to the fact that Melody just dropped that she’s already thinking of us married.
Sometimes she’s like a baby deer; if you move too fast, she emotionally gets spooked and runs away.
I pull open the curtain, and that brings Reis back into his body. I’m sure he just envisioned her in a wedding dress–I know I did–and he starts moving. He’s silent, but there’s this blinding smile on his face.
We all step out, wrapping our girl in the biggest towel we can find. Reis then hands her a mini bottle of water. The look on his face says there’s no room for her to disregard his orders.
Mel opens the bottle, rolls her eyes, but downs the water anyway.
“Good girl,” Reis hums softly, pressing a kiss into her neck before walking over to his clothes.
“You know we’d do anything for you, right?” I ask her softly, rubbing her arms over the towel to help her dry off.
“I’m starting to,” she answers, matching my tone. The honesty is hard to swallow, but I’d rather her be honest than lie for my sake.
We fucked up, and there’s no timetable on her to trust us completely again.
Reis steps back into his boxers and sweats before coming up and hugging her waist from behind while I hold her face gently in my hands.
“We’ll spend every single moment proving to you just how much you should trust us. How much we love you. And one day… One day you won’t doubt it.” I pour as much trust and intention as I can into my words, into my expression. I want her to know that every last beat of my heart is hers.
Reis nods against her shoulder, his body covering her back completely like he’s decided if he can’t speak, he’s going to imbue his love into her by touch.
Mel smiles brightly and I know right then that I’m going to marry this girl. I don’t know how, I don’t know what that will mean for the group, but somehow, this girl is going to be mine. Forever.