Chapter 51
FIFTY-ONE
We all thunder back into Melody’s apartment. Checking my watch, we’ve only been gone for three hours. I’m hoping she saw the interview, but there’s an inkling of terror growing in my chest that maybe she left.
If she’s gone… I don’t know if we’ll be able to find her.
I don’t know where she’d go.
We get to the top step and Reis takes a deep breath before his hand reaches for the knob. I’m relieved to know that it’s not just me who’s feeling this nervous.
“Here goes nothing,” Reis mumbles, but I stop him.
“No, here goes everything.”
They all look at me, truth dawning in their eyes and Kai bumps my arm with his elbow.
“You’re right. This is it.” Kai takes a deep breath before exhaling quickly.
Reis closes his eyes and his shoulders hunch forward a little more.
I know how he feels because I’m trying so fucking hard not to fall into the despair that what we’ve done might not be enough to keep her.
We talk a big game about not leaving until she comes with us, but we all know that when she’s better, if she asks us, we’ll give her the peace she wants.
But it has to be her choice.
I step forward and twist the door knob, my heart in my throat. I push the door open slightly, walking into the dark apartment first. We put a sheet over the bare window for some privacy, but it really makes the whole apartment eerily dark.
The flickering of the TV and its low volume fill the room. On the couch, my girl sits. The TV plays the end of the interview we just left as she rewinds it again. I can’t believe it’s already on the Internet, because she’s found the whole thing online.
She’s awake.
She watched it.
She found it and is watching it repetitively.
“Melody?” I ask softly, going to the couch quickly. We all crowd her, sitting next to her and at her feet while her eyes stay locked onto the screen.
“Why’d you do that?” she whispers brokenly, tears lining her eyes.
Out of all the questions I thought she’d ask, out of all the things I thought she’d say, that was not it.
“What?” Markus asks, his voice cracking slightly like the wind just got knocked out of him.
“You’re going to lose everything,” she gasps, eyes finally darting from the TV to us.
The room is silent for a moment, because what she said is a real possibility. We knew that. But we chose what we couldn’t live without.
Her.
“Have we lost you?” I ask her softly.
I want to touch her so badly. I want to hold her while she goes through all the emotions she’s warring with. I want to be there for her as much as she’ll let me.
Melody looks at me quickly, her head whipping to the side. It feels like we have a million conversations with our eyes and I… I don’t know where we land. Nodding encouragingly, I smile softly, hope filling my chest more than dread.
She turns and looks at the others, searching, looking, wanting to know their truths.
“No,” she breathes softly. “No, you haven’t lost me.”
I exhale quickly, not even fully aware that I had been holding a breath. Relief floods my body.
“Then we could never lose everything. You, Melody, are our everything. Our reason, our muse, our life ,” Reis speaks quickly, trying to show her, and Kai starts talking when he pauses.
“We told you we’d always be here for you. We’d choose you. And that?” Kai gestures to the TV where the four of us sit frozen. “That was us staking our claim for the world to see. We’re yours, even if you chose not to be ours.”
The tears start to fall, dripping down her face silently as she looks at each of us.
“What if you regret it?” she asks, the watery tone in her voice breaking my heart. Especially because I can hear the real question she’s asking.
What if you all regret me ?
“That will never happen,” Markus says quickly.
“I think I can speak for us all when I say we’ll never regret being with you.
Not a day in our life or the time beyond.
You’re enough. You’re more than enough. The real question is, can you believe that?
Can you trust us when we say you’re all we’ve ever wanted? ”
“Please, baby, understand.” I lean into her side closer. “You’re the reason we’re living.”
Melody turns to me, her cheeks wet with tears and her lower lip caught between her teeth. She’s beautiful in her hope, in her fear, in how she wants to reach out for us, but is still guarding her heart. I hope she lets me prove that I’ll never misstep ever again.
Her eyes lighten and it’s like the sun starts to shine again after being hidden behind the clouds.
Because she’s back.
She’s back .
“I can’t do this again. I won’t. This is your last chance. So you better be true, real and love me better than I ever thought possible.” Her words are clipped, but she sounds stronger. There’s a bite to her words that I’ve missed so fucking much.
“Never, This will not happen again, baby,” Reis promises as he leans up on his knees in front of her, while I can’t hold back anymore and I thread my fingers in hers.
“No more chances needed, Sync. Promise,” Kai says with a true, genuine smile and he takes a deep breath, picking up her other hand and kissing her knuckles.
“You won’t regret it. Us.” Markus adds with a smile.
“I better not,” Melody chuckles weakly, teasing through her fear. “For your sake, I better not. You just told the world you’re in a polyamorous relationship. You’re…You’re probably going to lose everything.”
I take a steading breath and turn her face towards me with two fingers under her chin.
“We’re prepared for what may come. We can live without it. But we cannot live without you.”
I need her to understand that. I know this won’t go away for a while. She’s always going to worry, but I’ll say it as many times as needed to make her feel safe. With us. I squeeze her fingers in mine and lean in, surprising her—and myself—with a kiss.
I just can’t help it.
Her big brown eyes flutter closed as she leans into the kiss.
She’s like the first breath of air after nearly drowning. Life-saving, sweet, and recentering to my heart and my mind.
“Adam,” Melody sighs against my lips.
“I’m right here, baby. And I’m never leaving,” I whisper against her lips, leaning in to kiss her again.
“So that’s it, right?” Markus asks, kneeling down at her foot, sliding his hand along her thigh like he needs the contact to stay grounded.
The sparkle in his eye tells me he’s feeling the effects of a high without a drug.
He’s happy because of her. I know I’m feeling fucking reverent. “We’re together?”
Melody smiles at him, taking her hand out of my hold and running it through his hair. Markus' eyes close as her fingers scrape through his hair.
“Yeah, Markus. We’re together,” she whispers, a smile growing slowly on her lips.
It’s like we all exhale together and the tension in the room builds. I brush the back of my fingers over her neck and she shivers, rolling her head towards me.
“I love you so fucking much,” I growl softly, moving in to kiss her again. This time there’s intent behind it.
“I love you,” she whispers against my lips, right before Kai wraps an arm around her waist and they whisper, lips pressed against each other, her thighs spread around his waist. I try not to listen, that moment should just be theirs, but I know he’s telling her how much he loves her.
I look over to Reis and Markus and they’re not-so-patiently waiting their turns, but I know the moment they think she’s lingering, they’re going to pounce.
Kai’s hands go to the back of her ass and he grips her tightly as she rolls forward.
Making eye contact with Reis, we both know where this is going to go.
We’re going to make love to her, together, slowly—but hard enough she knows there’s no more running. This is our forever.
Happily.
Gladly.
Hard fought.
Fated.
Forever.
“Come here,” Markus growls, losing his patience, and pulling her—more like picking her up—from Kai’s lap and holding her to him. He whispers in her ear, placing kisses all along her ear and neck. Melody’s eyes flutter closed and her head falls back.
I smirk, sitting back, watching the reunions unfold in front of me.
It’s like every time she touches someone, their whole energy shifts.
We were terrified, worried, dark, gloomy.
We’d decided this was it, we would be whatever she allowed us to be.
But now? She whispers she loves me and it’s like I can see in color again.
I know the others feel that way too because their eyes don’t leave her.
Like if they look away for a moment, the world will come crashing down around them again.
When Markus releases her, she turns to Reis and pauses.
I hold my breath and I see Kai shift in his seat.
These two have always pulled the best and the worst out of each other, but it stemmed from fear of losing the other.
The way they look at each other is intense; Reis looks terrified she won’t accept him, and Melody’s biting her lip like she’s worried he’ll pull the rug out from under her shaky footing again.
Instead, they both surge forward at the same time and wrap their arms around each other. Reis' hand goes to the back of her head and I hear him murmur in her ear and she sobs softly.
When they pull apart, I smile. The hole in my chest is gone. The worry, the ache, the fear… it’s all gone and filled completely with her.
Melody.
Our Melody.