Chapter 25 Melanie
MELANIE
Nick’s been on edge all night, a live wire ready to snap.
He won’t say it, but after those guys were all over me earlier, he’s been brooding like he wants to kill something.
And after two screwed-up orders at my table, he finally let the storm break, nearly biting my head off in front of the entire kitchen, humiliating me.
I was ready to walk. Ready to tell him to shove his restaurant and his cold glares where the sun didn’t shine.
But storming out? That would look too suspicious.
I’m not just an employee here. I’m his wife — at least on paper.
Instead of acting like a man, he’s decided to ice me out like a bratty kid. And after last night, after everything, I thought maybe — just maybe — he’d be less of an asshole. Not worse.
I’m wiping down a table when Sophia’s voice cuts through the noise.
“Hey sis.”
I look up, force a smile. “Hey.”
“Nick said I could go home for the night, but I heard what happened. Just so you know, if you want me to kick his ass, I will. He might have been in the military for a decade, but I’ve been in sports my whole life.
These,” she grabs her thighs, “are like steel. One good kick to the shin and he’ll be limping for days, wishing he wasn’t a dick to you. ”
I let out a half-hearted laugh, shoving the sting down deep.
“No, it’s fine. I’m just giving him space. He’s been in a mood since this morning, really.”
Sophia leans against the table, studying me like she can see through the cracks I’m trying to patch together.
“I know my brother’s a lot. Empathy of a serial killer, but underneath it, he’s got a big heart. He’s my favorite person.” Her voice softens. “He loves you. That’s a big deal. He hasn’t had a serious girlfriend since he enlisted.”
The words hit like a sucker punch I didn’t see coming.
I swallow the ache clawing up my throat.
Love. That’s what a husband should feel for his wife, right?
But with Nick, love is a battlefield — and I’m not sure if I’m fighting with him, or against him.
Sophia smiles, oblivious to the wreckage inside me.
“After the incident,” she makes air quotes, “He’s been quiet lately and more distant, which is understandable but ever since you came along, he’s lightened up a bit, and from what I read on google, it takes time to find your new norm from being in such a highly adrenaline environment.
Guns firing, bombs blowing up, I mean I couldn’t even imagine what it feels like to have to literally fight for your life.
I could, because I survived a different kind of hell.
“So just be patient with him. I know my big brother is still in there.”
My heart slams against my ribs like it’s trying to break free. Why hadn’t Nick told me what really happened overseas?
Six months — that’s how long he’s been back in the States. Barely enough time to breathe after living in hell.
“Ya, I know, that’s what marriage is all about, for better or worse, right?
” My stomach tightened, and I felt a burning sensation at the bottom of my chest. I didn’t have a problem lying, but it sickened me to my core that I had to lie to his sister.
She’s been nothing but kind to me, and she was eating up everything I threw at her, and that’s how I justified it to be okay.
She blew out an exasperated breath. “I still can’t believe my brother is married before me.”
Panic set in,n and I feared she may be onto us, so I asked, “What do you mean? I thought you were only twenty-five?”
“Ya, but I’m the nice one, so it just doesn’t make sense and this is the Midwest, it’s normal for people my age to be married with kids already.
This isn’t L.A. People there actually have goals.
The goal for people here is to get married and pop out as many kids as you can to get a tax break.
” She says with a playful glint in her tone.
“Are you serious?” I say through a light laugh.
“Yup,” she pops the p at the end. “But you don’t have to worry about all that yet.
I told mom to calm her tits down. She should be lucky to have a daughter-in-law like you.
I mean hell, you're rich and pretty. I’m praying Nick will get tired of living here and sell his tiny house and go to the big city with you so I can follow, because I know you can’t be happy here. ”
If she only knew.
“It’s been my dream to be an actress ever since I was little.”
Sophia was stunning, and the camera would love her, along with the producers.
She had striking blue-green eyes and the perfect shade of olive skin.
Black, thick, wavy hair, and she was tall like me, too.
Her body was a little more filled out than mine, which made her even more exotic-looking.
But if the girl only knew that Hollywood was nothing but a mere mirage, she might change her mind.
Hollywood was a facade to the world, thinking those people were the happiest when, in reality, a lot of them were just slaves to the industry.
They did things they didn’t want to do, but since they had a taste of fame and money, they couldn’t stop themselves from falling deeper into the rabbit hole.
“It’s not as cracked up as you would think,” I start plating the dirty dishes on top of each other along with the silverware so I can grab the empty wine glasses when I get back. Gabreilla followed me into the kitchen.
“Is it true your dad is one of the biggest producers in Hollywood?”
With my back still to her, I squeezed my eyes shut as if the mere mention of my stepdad pained me.
As I put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, I said, “Yeah, he’s pretty well known in the movie industry.”
“What are you still doing here?” I could picture her small nose scrunched up.
“I told you to go home like twenty minutes ago.”
Nick’s voice made me nearly jump, as I turned around to face him.
“Oh my God, chill out, it’s not that late, and it was fifteen minutes ago.”
“It is late, and you know how mom freaks out. She called me because I told her I cut you twenty minutes ago, and she thought you died in a car wreck or some guys kidnapped you while you were walking to your car.”
“Now there is a lady who would have made it big in Hollywood, so dramatic.” Gabreilla said as she turned on her heels, “See y'all tomorrow.” She waved a hand in the air.
In that moment, I realized even though I was younger than Sophia, she still had a sense of innocence to her. She was clueless to how many monsters come lurking around at night and prey, specifically on pretty, vulnerable girls.
Once Sophia was gone, I threw myself into closing duties, desperate to get the hell out of here before I did something reckless.
It was almost eleven. In a few miserable hours, I’d have to drag myself up and wake Nick, even though part of me wanted to let him sweat alone in his nightmares after the stunt he pulled tonight.
I stacked the last plate, ready to bolt, when a hand closed tight around my wrist — hot, firm, and unyielding.
“Come with me,” he growled, yanking me down the hallway.
The air between us crackled like dry leaves before a fire. He shoved me into his office and slammed the door behind us. The sound echoed through the empty space, locking us inside this boiling pressure cooker.
His eyes pinned me where I stood. Furious.
Hungry.
“You do realize, flirting with other men to get better tips makes me look like an idiot and you look like a whore, right?”
The slap of his words stung, but I snapped my hand up between us like a shield.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who said I was flirting with those assholes?”
His glare was blistering, his chest heaving under his black T-shirt.
“So some guy just happens to slip his number to you to be nice?”
“You saw how cocky that son of a bitch was. So why aren’t you getting mad at him?”
“I did.” His voice was steel and smoke, his jaw flexing hard enough to crack.
“Then why are you still so pissed?”
“Because you were taking pictures with the guys? And why the hell were you sitting on the guy’s lap? This isn’t a huge town. If someone sees that online, what do you think they’re gonna say?”
I rolled my eyes, jutting my hip out in defiance.
“He pulled me down. I didn’t actually offer to sit on his lap. Besides, I was in the picture sitting on their damn lap, not riding their dicks.”
He dragged a hand over his face, frustration radiating off him in waves.
“God, you have such a potty mouth. And news flash: we already had a shotgun wedding, so we don’t need to bring any more suspicion to us.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, hugging my anger to myself like armor.
“Do you even know who those guys were?”
“No.”
“One of the guys is the son of Branson News, and the other guy, Johnny, his dad owns a chain of restaurants and buildings. One good review from him could make this place blow up.”
His voice lost some of the heat, and for a second, a crack appeared in his fury.
The lines at the corners of his eyes softened just a hair.
“So while you are over here stewing, I’m actually working and trying to help your ungrateful ass.”
I bit down a bitter laugh.
“I don’t call flirting and using your body to land deals working. It’s more like hustling.”
He took a step forward, muscles tight, eyes glittering with something dark.
“Wow. You just can’t help yourself. You just have to insult me, don’t you?”
“It’s not an insult. It’s a fact.”
Something inside me snapped.
I surged forward, shoving my face close to his, our breath mingling — sharp, uneven, charged.
Our noses almost brushed.
“Just because you think the little bit of information I told you made you think you can break me, you have another thing coming. And if you don’t watch it, I will fuck those guys because remember, we aren’t really married, this is a F—”
I didn’t even finish.
His mouth crashed into mine, a brutal collision that stole the breath from my lungs. His hands clamped around my thighs and lifted me off the ground like I weighed nothing. My legs wrapped around him on instinct, my body betraying every angry thought screaming in my head.
He kissed like he fought, fiercely and without apology.
His tongue ravaged my mouth, demanding more, dragging more from me. I clutched at his hair, at his shoulders, desperate and furious and craving him in ways I hated to admit.
A low groan vibrated from his chest into mine as he angled my head and deepened the kiss, plundering me, taking.
His fingers dug into my ass, anchoring me to him, as if he couldn’t stand the idea of even an inch between us.
Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.
This couldn’t happen.
This shouldn’t happen.
But it was happening.
And I didn’t want it to stop.
Panic clawed its way up. I tore my mouth away, panting, pressing my hand against his chest. I unwrapped my legs and dropped to the floor, shoving space between us even though every part of me screamed against it.
“Last night was just for fun, a one-time thing,” I gasped out, trying to steady the hurricane inside me.
Nick braced his hands on the wall, boxing me in, his forehead almost touching mine.
His eyes raked over me, slow and searing.
“Not for me, princess,” he said, voice low and rough.
“And not for you either. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have started this little game of cat and mouse.”
He tilted his head and dragged the tip of his nose across the sensitive skin of my throat, sending a violent shudder through me.
“Besides, your little boyfriend Johnny needs to know who you belong to. And so do you. And I have just the reminder.”
A warning. A promise. A threat.
I hated how much I ached to hear it.
“I don’t belong to you. And you can’t force me to be yours.”
“You’re right.”
Hope flared — stupid, fragile — until I saw the sly curve of his mouth.
My stomach twisted as he finished:
“I can’t force someone who is clearly willing.”
Rage and humiliation clashed with the heavy pull of desire inside me.
I shoved past him, needing space, needing air.
He thinks I’m weak. He thinks I’m easy. He thinks he can use the little bit of truth I shared against me.
Well, fuck that.
“You are the one who said you’re never going to have sex with me, remember? And you can’t have someone when this,” I waved a hand between us, furious, hurt, “isn’t real.”
Nick was on me again before I could reach the door, his hand wrapping around my wrist, anchoring me to him.
His voice was low and rough in my ear.
“If you never wanted to be here, doing this with me, then you wouldn’t be standing here, sleeping in my bed, and showing me your pussy. Besides, we can keep sex and love separate while we pretend to be married and use each other. Your words — we are just using each other. So why not sex too?”
His grip tightened like he thought he could hold me here, keep me from slipping through his fingers.
He didn’t realize: I was already too far gone.
Too broken to be caught.
Too ruined to be saved.
“Because there’s no need to pretend there is an us when there isn’t.”