5. Roman Blake
When I opened the door and saw Melissa standing there, I had to fight to keep my face straight.
She looked better than she had that morning, but I could still see it on her. The tension in her shoulders. The heaviness in her eyes. The quiet shake underneath all that attitude she liked to throw around when she felt cornered.
I already had a feeling why she was here.
Still, I leaned against the door and let my eyes drop over her once before I looked back at her face.
“I came to apologize,” she said, folding her arms like that was gone hold her together. “For how I talked to you.”
I ain’t say nothing right away.
I just looked at her.
Because truth be told, I was still mad.
Not just at her for waking up cussing me out after I spent the whole night making sure she was safe.
I was mad at the whole situation. Mad at the thought of what could have happened to her.
Mad that some nigga thought he was about to drag her off like she ain’t matter.
Mad because when I looked out that window and seen his hands on her, something black had came over me so quick I ain’t even think.
I moved.
That was it.
“I don’t remember anything,” she said softer this time. “I woke up confused and started going off. That was wrong.”
My jaw shifted a little, but I still did not answer right away.
Then she let out a breath and looked down for half a second before looking back up at me.
“So… thank you. For last night. For helping me. For staying.”
That last part hit me harder than it should have.
Like she knew that was the part that mattered.
I stepped back from the door and nodded my head toward the inside. “Come in.”
She hesitated for a second, then walked past me. I shut the door behind her and watched her look around my villa like she was trying not to look nervous. It was the same layout as hers, just a little darker inside because I kept the curtains halfway closed.
Melissa turned to face me, still standing by the couch.
“I meant what I said,” she told me. “I was wrong.”
“I know you was,” I said.
Her eyes narrowed a little at my tone. “You still got an attitude?”
I let out a humorless laugh and walked farther into the room. “Melissa, you woke up talking reckless as fuck to me after I carried your ass in there, took your shoes off, made sure you was breathing right through the night, and sat in that damn chair till the sun came up.”
Her lips pressed together.
I kept going because now that she was standing in front of me, looking all soft and stubborn at the same time, all that shit I had been holding in was right there at the front.
“So yeah, I still got an attitude. Not because you was confused. I get that. I got an attitude because you scared the fuck outta me last night.”
That made her whole expression shift.
She blinked at me. “I scared you?”
I looked at her like she should have knew better than to ask me something that stupid.
“Yes, you scared me.” I dragged a hand over my face and looked away for a second before bringing my eyes back to hers. “Do you know what it did to me seeing some nigga with his hands on you and you not even fighting back? Do you know how that looked from my window?”
Melissa swallowed hard, and some of the fight started leaving her shoulders.
“I did not know what was happening,” she said quietly.
“I know that.”
“And I would never…” She stopped, then shook her head. “I would never put myself in that situation on purpose.”
“I know that too,” I said, my voice calmer now. “But that shit still happened. And if I had not seen it…”
I did not finish the sentence because I did not want to.
I did not even want to give that possibility no life.
The room got quiet after that.
Melissa looked down at the floor, and when she spoke again her voice came out low.
“I been thinking about that part all day.”
I stayed where I was and watched her.
“That I really do not know what would have happened if you had not been there,” she continued. “That shit is messing with me bad.”
Some of my anger cooled hearing that. Not all the way, but enough.
I walked over to the kitchen counter, grabbed a bottle of water, and held it out to her. “You drink anything besides water today?”
She shook her head. “Not really.”
“Take this.”
She stepped forward and took it from my hand. Our fingers brushed for the briefest second, but it was enough to make me notice she was still a little shaky.
That did something to me I ain’t even like.
Made me want to pull her in.
Made me want to check every inch of her just to reassure myself she was really okay.
Made me want to find that nigga again and finish what I started.
Instead, I stepped back.
Melissa twisted the cap off and took a small sip. Then she looked up at me through her lashes and said, “You beat him up?”
I stared at her.
She blinked. “The man.”
A dark laugh left my chest. “Melissa.”
Her brows pulled together. “What?”
“I ain’t walk over there and politely ask that nigga to let you go.”
That made her mouth part a little.
I leaned one shoulder against the counter, keeping my eyes on her. “I beat the breaks off that nigga, by the time I got done with him, he knew exactly who the fuck he had put his hands on.”
Something unreadable crossed her face then. Not fear. Not exactly. It looked more like surprise mixed with something warmer. Something that sat too close to the same energy that had been living between us since this trip started.
“You are crazy,” she mumbled.
“Nah,” I said, my voice low. “I’m real clear about mine.”
The words hung there between us.
Melissa looked away first.
And just like that, the air in the room shifted.
I watched her bring the bottle to her mouth again, trying too hard to act unaffected. That little move alone let me know I wasn’t the only one feeling it.
“You hungry?” I asked.
Her eyes came back to mine. “What?”
“You heard me. You look like you ain’t ate for real.”
She let out a small breath. “I am a little hungry.”
“Aight.” I pushed off the counter and grabbed my phone. “I’m ordering something.”
“You do not have to do that.”
“I know I don’t.” I looked at her. “I want to.”
That shut her up.
I ordered us food from one of the resort restaurants, then motioned for her to sit down while we waited. She took a seat on the couch, and I sat across from her in the chair near the balcony.
For a few minutes, neither one of us said much.
The silence was not awkward exactly.
It was heavy and full.
Like too much had happened in too short a time for either of us to pretend it did not matter.
Finally, Melissa looked over at me. “Why did you stay?”
That question caught me off guard, even though I probably should have expected it.
I leaned back in the chair. “Because you wasn’t in no state to be left alone.”
“You could have called hotel security.”
“I did.”
She frowned. “Then why stay after that?”
Because the thought of leaving you there by yourself after what almost happened made my skin crawl.
Because I knew if I walked out that room, I would not have slept anyway.
Because something in me has been locked on you since the first time I dragged you into my office and listened to you cuss Jordan and half the world out.
Because I already move like you matter.
But I did not say none of that.
Instead, I looked at her and said, “Because I wanted to make sure you was safe.”
Melissa held my gaze for a second longer than she should have.
Then she looked down at the bottle in her hands. “Nobody really does that for me.”
That landed deep.
I kept my voice even when I answered. “They should.”
She gave a little shrug, but it looked more sad than dismissive. “Well. They don’t.”
I studied her face for a second. She tried to hide so much behind that mouth and that attitude, but moments like this told the truth on her anyway.
“Melissa.”
She looked up.
“You got to stop moving like you by yourself in this world.”
Her expression changed instantly, like them words rubbed up against some part of her she protected hard.
“I am by myself,” she said.
“No, you ain’t.”
“You do not know that.”
“I know enough.”
She sat back against the couch, crossing her arms like she needed the barrier. “And what exactly do you know, Roman?”
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees.
“I know you act like you do not need nobody because somewhere along the way needing people got dangerous for you. I know you talk tough because it keeps folks from seeing where you soft at. And I know you keep turning me away not because you do not feel shit…”
I paused, letting my eyes drag over her face.
“…but because you do.”
Melissa went still.
For a second, all I could hear was the ocean outside and both of us breathing.
Then she looked away and let out a little laugh with no humor in it. “You think you know everything.”
“Nah,” I said quietly. “Just enough.”
She did not answer.
A knock sounded at the door a few minutes later, and I got up to grab the food. When I brought it back to the coffee table, Melissa sat forward and helped me unpack it without me asking. The normalness of that hit me in a strange place.
Like this should not have felt as natural as it did.
We ate and talked a little more after that. Not heavy this time. Just small shit. The food. The island. Who had the worst attitude between us. By the time she started smiling for real, some of that tightness around her eyes had loosened.
And I could not stop looking at her.
At one point she caught me.
“What?” she asked.
I did not even try to lie. “Nothing.”
“That is not nothing.”
I leaned back and let my eyes stay on her. “You look better.”
A little color touched her face, and she rolled her eyes like she wanted to dismiss it.
“Whatever.”
“No,” I said. “I mean it.”
For the first time since she came through my door, Melissa looked like she did not have a comeback ready.
And for some reason, that made me want to see what else I could pull out of her.
So I stood, walked over to where she was sitting, and stopped right in front of her.
Her eyes lifted to mine slowly.
Neither one of us said anything.
I could feel the tension building again, climbing higher and higher, same as it had every time we got too close. But this time it felt different. Heavier. More honest.
Melissa wet her lips, and my eyes dropped to her mouth before I could help it.
When I looked back at her, she was already watching me.
“Roman…” she said, and my name sounded like both a warning and a question.
I bent down just enough to put myself closer to her face, close enough to feel her breath mix with mine.
“I know,” I said softly.
But I did not move back.
Neither did she.
For one long second, I really thought I was about to kiss her.
Hell, I wanted to real bad.
But she had been through enough for one day, and I was not about to take advantage of the emotions sitting all over this moment.
So instead, I lifted my hand and brushed my thumb lightly under her chin.
“You should get some more rest,” I said, my voice rougher than I meant for it to be.
Melissa blinked, and I could see the disappointment she tried to hide before she stood up too fast and smoothed her dress down.
“Yeah,” she said. “I probably should.”
I stepped back and gave her room, even though every part of me wanted to do the opposite.
I walked her to the door in silence. When I opened it, she paused and turned to look at me.
“Thank you,” she said again, and this time it sounded like she meant more than just last night.
I nodded once. “Anytime.”
She held my gaze for another second before walking back across the way to her villa.
I stood there in the doorway watching her the whole time.
And when she disappeared inside, I shut the door, dragged both hands down my face, and let out a breath.
Yeah… I was in trouble and I felt it.