Chapter 35 #2
I know for a fact that tomorrow morning we’re leaving at the crack of dawn again, so I know I have a time limit, but it can’t take away from how amazingly comfortable this bed is. I never want to leave. Manchester’s hotel rooms are where it’s at.
I sigh happily, pulling the blanket up to my nose. My eyes flutter closed right as I hear the soft beep, beep, beep of the door opening in the other room.
“MELODY SULLIVAN!” Kai roars, and I sink deeper into the bed. I knew they’d be mad and hurt that I skipped the concert.
“She’s not in here,” Markus growls, probably checking the small living room area. Their boots thunder through the rooms as they search for me, but instead of facing the music like an adult, I cover my face completely with the blanket.
“You don’t think—” Adam says loudly and I can hear the trepidation in his voice, while Reis snaps, “No.”
The bedroom door opens and the blankets are ripped from on top of me rather rudely.
“Hey!” I yell, reaching for the blankets only to find Kai standing at the foot of the bed looking murderous.
“She’s here,” he calls just loudly enough to make my chest vibrate. Kai stares me down angrily, his fists clench at his sides, and his nostrils flare as he breathes in deeply. “How. Could. You?” he snaps through clenched teeth as the rest of the guys storm in looking equally as angry.
“I’m sorry I missed the concert,” I say, pushing up to sit and rub my hand down my face.
Reis cuts me off. “Do you think we care about you missing a concert? Fucking really?” He shakes his head and growls. “No, Melody, we’re furious because you fucking left without a word.”
Pot calling the kettle black, I think, but purse my lips.
“The only reason we didn’t stop the concert the moment we looked over and found you weren’t there was because Paul told me he got you sorted,” Markus snaps, moving his hand through the air like he’s cutting through the bullshit. “We were really fucking scared.”
“I told Louis to tell you guys.” I look down at my hand, rubbing my palm softly. I know I should’ve probably waited. I didn’t need to fully leave the venue; I could’ve just gone to the dressing room, but Louis just… got to me.
“They were all… into it.” His voice floats through my mind and I screw my eyes closed to try to get his words out of my head.
“Louis? You think we trust him with you? Fuck no,” Adam snarls, stepping closer into my space, smacking his hands on either side of the foot of the bed aggressively.
His light eyes look at me like he’d somehow absorb me into his skin so he didn’t have to go through this shit again, if there was any way to actually do so.
There’s anger, yeah, but I can see a lot of other emotions brimming underneath.
Anger’s just the loudest right now.
I’m not scared of them. I know they won’t touch me in any way but how I like and encourage, but all of them standing around me, brimming with this possessive, frustrated energy, lording over me… it’s hot. It’s really hot.
In fact, my hands drop between my bent knees as I clock how his forearms pop while his hands dig into the mattress.
He must not have changed because my eyes drag up his bare, tattooed arms to where his deep cut T-shirt hangs and reveals his heavily tattooed and leanly serrated torso.
I know my mouth starts to water because I bite my lip to close my mouth, but my eyes… My eyes keep drinking him in.
And that’s when my whole body locks up.
There’s lipstick on his neck.
Smeared as if he tried to wipe it off.
Slowly, locked onto him, I move from sitting to kneeling, eyes narrowing at the mark and grit my teeth.
“What the fuck is that?” I growl menacingly and point to it.
“Fuck,” Markus says under his breath and my eyes dart to him.
“Confessing already?” I taunt, anger and devastation churning through my gut and turning my ache into bite.
“No, absolutely not,” Markus says quickly, crossing his arms over his chest so his black T-shirt pulls tightly against his chest. “There’s nothing to confess, Songbird.”
“That?” I move closer, pointing at Adam’s neck and he sits back, rubbing his skin aggressively. “That’s nothing?”
“Don’t try to turn this around, Sync,” Kai argues as he grabs my arm, surprisingly gently for as abrupt as he sounds. “You left. Why?”
I yank my arm back. “Why did you come back with lipstick on your neck? Do I need to inspect you all?”
“Melody.” Reis steps forward, putting his hands out like he’s trying to negotiate something.
And that just pisses me off even more.
“We’re around other women all the time,” he says, shrugging like those stupid fucking words would soothe me, and all my anger turns to Reis.
“ What did you just say to me?” It’s my turn to snap now, my eyes narrowing as I push off the bed and crowd his space like there isn’t a significant height difference between us.
“I just meant—” Reis starts to say, but I shove him with all my might.
Not surprisingly, he barely moves. “Seriously, Melody, come on. I just meant, you have to know that we’re going to be around other women.
But you have to trust us that nothing is going to happen.
A fan got too close to Adam and he gently but swiftly got her out of his space and security took care of her. He didn’t go out seeking her.”
I take a deep breath and turn my gaze back to Adam, hoping the emotional bleeding I’m doing isn’t obvious through my eyes. I turn cool, dark, combative as I look at him.
“Is that true?”
“ God yes ,” Adam says quickly, stepping closer to me, but I back away immediately.
His hands fall from where he is reaching out to hold me, but when I move away, he doesn’t push.
“We were leaving and there were two fans standing by the back door to the venue. I got ambushed. She kissed my neck and grabbed at me before I knew what was happening, but security grabbed her and I jumped in the car.”
“Were you going to tell me?” I throw my hands up in frustration.
“Was I going to tell you that I was grabbed and kissed against my will when I was terrified wondering why you left? No, Echo. I wasn’t.
I’m not responsible for other people’s actions, only my own and how I handle theirs.
Hers? I shoved her from me so fast and then rubbed my neck raw to get the feel of her lips off of me. ”
“Why were there girls waiting?” My voice drops and I look from Adam, to them all.
They all look fucking guilty.
“Why were there girls waiting?” I say again, stronger and darker this time.
“Okay,” Reis starts as he steps towards me; always the one to lead the group and take the brunt of my anger. He runs a hand through his hair. “Okay. But I want you to remember that we were young and dumb. And remember that Louis is a fuckcunt.”
“Maybe you should sit this one out, Reis. You’re not exactly speaking to me in a way that’s reassuring tonight,” I snap, crossing my arms over my chest and narrowing my eyes. “You’re usually a smooth talker and now you’re saying every fucking wrong thing.”
“Hey now,” Markus tries to step in, but I turn my anger onto him.
“You wanna try?”
“Reverb, maybe a year after we made it big-ish, we noticed that there were a bunch of women who wanted us. We… partook in the lifestyle,” Reis admits quickly.
“Ahh,” I say sarcastically, dropping my head down. I just can’t fucking… “So you shared women?”
“We…” Reis looks around and I look up, daring him to lie to me.
Maybe he’s hoping someone will step in to answer me, maybe he’s wishing he could rewrite the past. But either way, I know the answer simply based on how they all refuse to speak.
At least Kai keeps eye contact with me, looking at me with a ‘do you really want to know?’ expression and his arms crossed tightly over his body.
“It was only once,” Adam says quietly. “It was one time where we… tried to see if we even could share. If that was something we…” He sighs, pulling off the bandana he had tied around his head and running his hand through his damp hair.
“If it was something we could offer you if we ever got the chance,” Markus finishes.
“It didn’t go well.” Kai grumbles. “It turns out, Melody Sullivan, that we can only work together in that kind of capacity, if the girl is you .”
My eyes widen just slightly as his words hit my brain and they start to make sense.
“You’re ours. Ours . And us being together like that?
Seamlessly and without jealousy? That proves it,” Reis says softly.
“We didn’t even… Trying to share that girl?
I think Kai started to kiss her and the rest of us left because it felt wrong.
But with you? God, Mel, with you, seeing my best friends with you only turned me on.
It showed me how much you love to be loved.
And it made me want to be a part of it. Of this. ”
I bite my lip to keep from speaking too quickly. I have a bad habit of doing that and making shit worse.
“So you… you guys used to have Louis find a girl, or girls, to fuck that night?” I ask for clarification, knowing that the truth will hurt me, but I’d rather know.
I need to know if Louis was lying.
“You sure you want the truth, baby?” Kai asks gently.
“Always. I always want the truth.”
“Yeah.” He nods, biting the bullet. Kai stands stoic, looking at me with a blank expression, but at least he’s not backing down.
Adam’s head falls forward as he shakes his head.
Markus closes his eyes tightly like he doesn’t like that answer.
And Reis… Reis takes a deep breath, eyeing me extremely closely.
“Yeah, Sync. We did.” Kai drops his arms and shrugs. “We would have him find willing girls and ask if they wanted to get a drink with the band. Sometimes, we took them back to the hotel, but sometimes we just got a drink and tried to… survive our own bullshit. It’s not just… cut-and-dry.”
I take a deep breath in through my nose, and bite my lip again.