14. Chapter Fourteen
Chapter fourteen
M elody had a tray full of drinks up on one hand as she scooted between two cowboys and headed for the pool tables, where a pack of rowdy customers were having their own little Friday-night tournament. Brian and Josh were taking on two cowboys. The insults were flying. The girls with them were cheering on their men as each of the guys tried to impress their respective dates.
She skirted a few more customers, her mind drifting to Fox. It drifted to him a lot. But the last few days had been amazing. They’d fallen into a routine. She worked her shift and landed at his place every night, using her key to get in and slip into his bed, waking him with a kiss. Every night, he found her naked beside him. Sex got better and better. He made her feel like he missed her every second she was away.
He left her sleeping in his bed each morning when he went to for work. Every morning she found a fresh pot of coffee waiting for her. And since she woke up at most people’s lunchtime, she either made them lunch at the apartment or they went out to a restaurant. Afterward, she’d sprint home to shower and change clothes, take care of stuff, including working on the class she was nearly ready to present, then headed into work at the bar.
Their opposite schedules didn’t seem to bother Fox. Though, like her, he voiced the desire to spend more time together.
Unfortunately, it was Friday night at the bar, and they didn’t close until two a.m. Which meant she wouldn’t get to Fox’s place until well after three.
He wasn’t here tonight. Fox, Dean, and Max planned to stay in and play some video game. Max was headed back to Boston on Sunday, so they wanted some bro time.
She loved that they were so close.
She’d made it a point to get to know Dean and Max better. Dean was—
Lost in thought, she miscalculated the distance between a customer and the pool table—specifically Josh with the stick, about to take a shot—and got jabbed in the ribs. The dude next to her tried to grab her as she stumbled, but all he did was upend the tray she was carrying. The whole thing fell from her hand, crashing to the polished cement floor. Her feet got tangled up together and she went down, catching the side of her head on a wood stool.
Pain blasted through her skull.
She saw the next disaster coming but couldn’t stop her momentum as she slipped in the spilled beer and landed in the pile of broken glass and booze. Glass punctured her calf and thigh as she landed on her hip. She instinctively put her hand out to catch herself. Her palm and finger got sliced too.
“Fuck!” Josh spun and dropped the stick and lunged for her before her head hit the floor. He grabbed her hand and pulled her up to sitting.
Blood poured down her hand and dribbled down her leg. Mostly because there were two huge chunks of glass from the broken beer mugs embedded in her skin.
The crowd gathered around her. A chorus of “Are you all right?” came from multiple people.
Josh squatted in front of her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
“Not your fault. Totally mine.”
“I should have checked behind me before I went for the shot.” He ran his hand over the back of his neck, his eyes filled with remorse as he swore again.
She met his concerned eyes. “It was an accident on both our parts.”
He scrunched his lips and grabbed the napkins someone held out to her. He pressed them to the side of her head, making her wholly aware of the cut and goose egg swelling just inside her hairline.
His thumb brushed along her cheek.
She flinched back from the intimate touch.
He frowned, his eyes narrowing. “You’re going to need some serious stitches for all this.”
Jax and Lyric pushed their way through the crowd around her.
Lyric held several clean towels. “Melody! Oh God!” She nudged Josh out of the way and bent close, replacing the soaked, bloody napkins at her head with one of the towels.
Melody winced, then looked at Jax. “I dropped something,” she teased, trying to erase the look of horror from his face.
“Damnit, Mel, this is bad.”
“It’s just some cuts.”
“There’s two chunks of glass sticking out of you.”
It had been a long time since she’d broken anything. Hazard of the job, especially with a packed crowd. Still, this was on her. She should have been paying better attention.
She looked up at her flustered sister. At nearly nine at night, the kitchen would be closing soon. “Can you drive me to the ER?”
“I’ll take you,” Josh cut in. “This was my fault. Lyric’s working. I’ll take you.”
Melody held Lyric’s gaze. “I want you.” She barely glanced at Josh before saying, “She’s family,” hoping that explained things to Josh without her having to say she didn’t want him taking care of her.
Lyric pulled the cloth away, winced, then pressed it back over the wound. “Of course I’ll take you. Can you stand?”
She wasn’t really sure, so she held her hands out to Jax. He immediately took one of the towels and wrapped it around her cut and bloody hand, then took her wrists and pulled her up. The glass in her leg pulled and stabbed at the movement, but she made it up with a wince.
Josh put his hand at her lower back. “I’m really sorry.”
“I’ll be okay.”
She caught Brian staring from his table against the back wall. His gaze shot to Josh and then to her again. She glanced at Josh as he shrugged at Brian, some kind of silent communication between them.
She turned to Jax. “Get one of the others to replace table twenty-three’s order and clean this up.”
Jax brushed her hair away from the wound. “I’ll take care of the bar. You let Lyric take care of you.”
Melody let Lyric lead her out of the bar. John, their bouncer, held the door open for them and had already pulled Lyric’s car up, leaving the driver’s side and passenger doors open. Lyric helped her in, then got behind the wheel.
“What happened?” she asked.
“I wasn’t paying attention and got knocked in the ribs by a pool cue. It was my fault.” She pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her skirt, wishing she’d worn jeans tonight because maybe they’d have given her some protection. Lyric had tied a towel around her leg in both places, helping to catch the blood below each piece of glass. They knew if they yanked them out, she’d probably bleed more and that was best done in the ER. Just in case.
Lyric pulled out onto the main road and headed for the hospital. “Are you calling Fox?”
“Yes.”
She glanced over. “You two are getting really close, huh?”
She’d always been able to open up the most with Lyric. “I think I’ve totally and irrevocably fallen for him.”
Lyric sensed something in her words. “What’s wrong, then?”
“Nothing. Really,” she assured her older sister. “It’s just so easy. He’s so perfect.”
Lyric raised a brow. “And that scares you?”
“I’m not scared. Just…”
A soft smile tugged at her sister’s lips. “It feels so right you don’t know what to do with it.”
“Yes.”
Lyric stopped at a light a few blocks from the hospital and turned to her. “You deserve it, Melody.”
She’d wished for a relationship like the one Lyric shared with Mason for a long time. She didn’t like being alone. But alone was better than being with the wrong person. That’s why she’d tried so many times to find the right one. And all along, she’d already known who was right for her. It just took a while for him to come back.
She hit the speed dial for Fox and waited for him to answer. Instead, she got his voicemail.
“Hey, it’s me. I had a little accident at work and am at the ER. Nothing major. Just need a few stitches. Call me.”
“He’s not answering?” Lyric raised a brow.
“He’s with his buddies. They’re having a boys’ night. Beer, pizza, and gaming. It’s apparently a thing they do. Bragging rights are on the line. Or so it seemed, so he probably can’t stop until his character is safe, or whatever.”
Lyric helped her check in at reception and settle into a cubicle while they waited for a doctor to arrive. The nurse came in and checked her injuries, hissing when she saw the glass in her leg and that her hand was still bleeding. “Back in a sec, hon.”
Just to be sure Fox got her message, she texted him.
MELODY: Waiting on ER doc for stitches. I guess I’ll be home early tonight.
She didn’t send the message right away. It hit her when she typed home that she meant it. But maybe it was too soon to be calling his place hers. She backtracked that last statement, rewriting it.
MELODY: Waiting on ER doc for stitches. I guess I’ll be at your place early tonight.
She sent the message this time.
“Why’d you do that?” Of course Lyric was watching everything she did.
“It feels like we went from online chatting to being in a really deep relationship.”
“Because you guys have a history. You knew each other already. You just needed some time to catch up with the in-between stuff.”
“True.” Those chats had only proven the friendship they shared as kids was deeper and stronger now. “I spend every night with him now.” Though it hadn’t been that long. And wasn’t the beginning of the relationship the best part? That time when you just couldn’t keep your hands off each other and you wanted to be with that person every second.
“That’s promising.”
“It’s amazing. Better than I’ve ever had with anyone else. And I’m not just talking about the sex.”
“He’s the one.” Lyric always had this way of cutting to the core of things.
“Yes. We’ve even talked about the future. But I have a key to his place, the code to his alarm”—which he’d given her when he kissed her goodbye the day she met him at the center—“but he hasn’t said I can leave anything at his place or that he wants me to move in. It’s too soon for any of that anyway.”
“Why?”
She stiffened her spine. “Why? Because it is.”
Lyric held her gaze, hers open and inquisitive. “Who said? Fox? You? Is that how you feel?”
“I feel like a pincushion.” As diversions from a conversation went, that one wasn’t bad.
Her sister wasn’t deterred. “Answer the question.”
“I feel like when he’s not with me, something is missing,” she blurted out. Like right now. She desperately wanted him to be with her. He’d hold her hand, comfort her, and everything would be all right.
Lyric grinned. “There you go.”
She raised her uninjured hand and let it drop. “I don’t even know what you mean by that.”
“Yes, you do. You’re just scared to admit that you love him.”
“I know I do. It’s just… How did this happen?”
Lyric put her hand on Melody’s knee. “I think what you really mean is, how do you hold on to it?”
She didn’t get a chance to figure that out.
The drape pulled back and a young doctor in dark gray scrubs walked in. “I’m Dr. Torres. Heard you took a dive at the bar and…” He glanced at the glass shards sticking out of her leg. “Ouch.”
She stared at her throbbing leg. “You could say that.”
He scrunched his nose. “You smell like a brewery.”
She pointed to the glass. “Beer mug.”
“Okay. I’ll numb you up, then we’ll wait for it to take effect. Once that’s done, I’ll start with your hand.” He gently put his hand under hers and unwrapped the blood-soaked towel from her palm and fingers. “A few stitches in each of these should do it. You’ll want to take a couple days off work to give yourself time to heal, so you don’t just pull the stitches out.”
Melody glanced at Lyric.
“Jax has probably already covered your Saturday shift. You don’t need to be back to work until Wednesday. Unless you need more time. In which case, we’ll cover for you. The weekday crowds aren’t as packed.”
She resigned herself to a few days off at the bar. She wasn’t great at doing nothing. Hence the two side gigs. But maybe she and Fox could spend that time together.
The doctor got to work, poking her with a needle in a couple different places around the glass in her leg, her finger, and palm to numb her. He cleaned out the wounds on her hand, then put in three stitches in her finger and five in her palm. She flinched when they took the glass out of her leg. She was shocked to see that one piece had gone at least two inches deep. The other only about an inch. But she had to turn away when the doctor dug into her thigh, opening the wound to be sure there were no tiny shards left behind.
She’d been sitting up while he worked and didn’t realize her head was still bleeding.
But the doc did when blood dripped from her hair onto her shirt. “You’ve got another wound?”
She pressed her hand to the knot on her head. “I hit it on a wood stool as I fell.”
“Any dizziness or blurry vision?” He checked her pupils with a small flashlight.
“No. It just stings a lot.”
The doctor stood and gently probed the tender, swollen skin. “Bonus stitches. Only a couple though. Head wounds bleed a lot.” He grabbed another syringe and numbed her head. “We’ll give that a few minutes to kick in while I pull the shard from your calf and finish that one.”
It took another fifteen minutes to sew up her calf, shave a small patch of skin on her head, and put in four more stitches.
The doc wasn’t finished with her though. He flashed a light in her eyes, checking her pupils again, and asked her several basic questions to make sure her cognitive skills were intact. “I don’t think you have a concussion.”
“I’ve had one before from a fall from a horse. This is nothing.”
“Okay. I’ll get you a prescription for some pain meds.”
She shook her head. “I’m good with over-the-counter ibuprofen.”
The doc nodded. “Okay. But I am going to prescribe antibiotics to stave off infection. I’ll have the nurse bring you some sterile dressings for your wounds. Keep them dry and clean. If you notice any discharge from the wounds, see a doctor immediately for infection. Contact your doctor and have them check the stitches in ten days. Any questions?”
“No. I think I’m good.”
“I’ll get your discharge papers and the nurse should be back in a few minutes.” Dr. Torres left them alone.
Melody checked her phone. No calls or texts. Fox must be really into his game.
“You okay?” Lyric asked.
“Fine. Everything’s still numb. But I’m sure in an hour or so it’s all going to be throbbing again.”
“Yeah, that’s what happened when I cut my wrist in the kitchen on that plate shard.”
She held up her hand. “Who knew working at a bar was so dangerous?”
Lyric grimaced. “It could have been worse.”
The nurse popped back in with a bag of supplies and her paperwork. “You’re all set. Prescription for your antibiotics was called in to the pharmacy. You can pick them up in the morning. Change the bandages twice a day for the next two days. They need to remain dry and clean. Pat them dry after you shower. No baths until they are completely healed and the stitches are removed. Any questions?”
“No. Thank you for everything.”
“You’re welcome. You’re free to go.”
Lyric helped her up and they walked out to the parking lot together and got in the car. “Where to?”
“Fox’s place.”
“I figured that. Point me in the right direction.”
“Take a right out of the lot.”
The drive only took ten minutes and by then Melody felt done for the day. She wanted to crawl in bed and sleep for a week after the anxiety rush from the fall and hospital visit. Lyric pulled up in front of the building and parked.
Melody stayed Lyric from opening the door by putting her hand on Lyric’s forearm. “I’ve got this. You don’t need to walk me up.”
She raised a brow, eyes filled with concern. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Jax probably needs you at the bar.”
“We texted while you were getting stitches. He’s got everything covered.”
She grabbed her bag of medical supplies off the floorboard. “Then go home to Mason. I’ll be fine.”
“Call me tomorrow.”
“I will.” She opened the door and realized she’d left her purse as well as her car at the bar. “Shit.”
“What?”
“Nothing. I’ll get all my stuff from the bar tomorrow.”
“I can ask Jax to drop it off to you.”
“No. It’s out of the way. It’s fine.” She squeezed her sister’s hand. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Get some rest.”
Melody climbed out of the car, closed the door, and headed up to Fox’s place. She entered her code in the front door, took the elevator up to the fourth floor, then dragged herself down the hall to Fox’s door. She could hear the guys talking and making noise as something happened in the game, and one of them cheered while the other shouted, “No!”
She knocked and waited, hoping they heard her.
Dean opened the door. “Why didn’t you—Fuck.” His eyes went wide as his gaze roamed over her. “What the hell happened?”
“Can I come in?”
He was standing in her way.
“Who is it?” Fox called.
“You need to see this,” Dean called back as he stepped aside and she walked in.
Fox dropped a controller on the table, stood, then turned to her. “Hey, sweet…” Shock filled his eyes as he took her in, then leaped over the couch and rushed to her. He gently brushed her head with his fingertips by the bandage covering her stitches. “What happened? Why didn’t you call me?”
“I did. You didn’t answer.” She waved that off when guilt filled his eyes. “I had an accident at work. It’s fine.”
“Fine? Your hand, head, and leg are bandaged. What happened?”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into him. “I had a bad night. I was distracted and got knocked in the ribs with a pool cue. I stumbled, dropped an entire tray of drinks, and hit my head on a barstool as I fell.” She pointed to the bandage covering a small portion of her hair. “Then I landed on my thigh and hip in the broken glass.” She pointed to her leg. “Then tried to catch myself, only to cut up my palm and hand.” She held it up. “The doctor had to pull two wicked sharp pieces of glass out of my thigh and calf.”
“Damn,” Dean said.
“Does it hurt?” Max asked.
“A little bit. The numbing stuff is starting to wear off.” For the first time, she noticed Amy sitting in the chair next to the sofa. “Looks like boys’ night, plus one.”
Fox’s gaze shot to Amy, then back to her. “She caught the pizza delivery out front and brought it up to us. She stayed for a slice and to watch us play. But forget about all that.”
Dean and Max winced, like even they couldn’t forget that Amy crashed their party and they knew why.
Fox gently rubbed her back. “How many stitches?”
“Twenty-one total in my leg, seven in my hand, and four in my scalp.”
Fox cupped her face and made her tilt her head back. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer the phone. I didn’t even hear it go off.”
“It fell under the coffee table.” Amy held it up, then set it on the table.
Melody wondered if someone had helped it disappear from Fox’s sight. He usually kept it close. “It’s fine. Lyric took me to the hospital and dropped me off here. You guys can finish your game thing. I’m going to bed. Well, first, I’m going to wash off the beer stink, then crawl into bed.” She gently pressed the heel of her hand to her head, barely touching the swollen part and wincing.
“Do you have a concussion?” Fox asked.
“No. Just a little headache. Probably more from the stress than the head wound.” She pressed her hands to his chest. “I’m fine. Really. I just need some sleep.”
“Okay. Come on. Game night’s over. I’ll help you get cleaned up and put you in bed.”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t want to ruin your night. Max is leaving soon. Spend time with him.”
He shook his head all through that. “No. I’m taking care of you.”
Dean headed for the coffee table covered in wrappers, beer bottles, and food. “We’ll clean this up and get out of here.”
Max took a step closer to her. “Sorry I didn’t get to spend more time getting to know you. But I’ll be seeing you both soon.” Max’s gaze landed on Fox. “I’ll call you from the office on Monday.” He turned back to her. “Take care. And don’t let Fox obsess about letting you down. None of us heard his phone. He’s not going to let that happen again.”
She shook her head. “It’s not a big deal. I’m fine.”
“It’s a big deal to me,” Fox said, his words tight with anger.
Max nodded. “We protect each other. You’re included in that now.”
She stepped away from Fox and hugged Max. “Thank you. Have a safe trip back.”
Fox took her hand and tugged her away from Max. “Come on. I’ve got you.” He led her toward their bedroom.
She looked over her shoulder at Dean holding the door open for Amy to exit and Max bringing up the rear. “Goodnight.”
“Night,” the guys called out. Amy glanced back, frowning like Melody had ruined her night.
Tough shit. She wasn’t supposed to be here anyway.
Fox escorted her to the bathroom. He flipped on the light and said, “Sit on the toilet so I can get your boots off and clean you up.”
She took a seat.
“Why did you let Amy crash your boys’ night?”
“It felt rude to make her leave. And anyway, we were too busy playing to really interact with her. I’m surprised she didn’t just get up and leave.”
“I’m not.”
Fox stared down at her, his face a mask of sorrow and guilt. “Fuck, Mel. Look at you.”
She dropped the Amy bullshit and took his hand. “I’m okay. I’m not mad, not even a little bit, that you didn’t get my message.”
“I should have been there.”
“It’s just a few stitches.”
He brushed his hand over her head on the opposite side of her wound. “I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about. Just help me with my boots and maybe give me a warm washcloth to clean myself up for now. I’ll shower in the morning before I change the bandages.”
Fox pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, then dropped to his knees in front of her and pulled off her boots and wet socks.
“The beer and blood soaked into them.”
“I’ll toss all your clothes in the washer and dryer so they’ll be clean for you in the morning and you’ll have something to wear.” He cocked his head. “Why don’t you have anything here to wear?”
She met his gaze. “Because you never said I could keep anything here.”
His eyes went wide. “Fuck. I didn’t think about it. I just thought you would…”
“What?”
“Make yourself at home because this is our place.”
She shook her head. “This is your place, Fox. I’m your girlfriend, but we haven’t talked about whether it’s okay for me to…make myself at home.”
He scrubbed both hands over his face. “I’ve never done this before.”
“What?”
“Had a serious relationship with someone. Not like this. I want you here. All the time. I want you to feel like this is your place, too. That’s why I gave you the key.”
“You gave me the key so you didn’t sleep through me knocking on your door in the middle of the night so we can have sex.”
He leaned away from her. “Is that what you think? That this is just sex?”
“No. But I also didn’t want to assume that you want me all up in your space and taking up your closet when you haven’t said that’s okay.”
He leaned in and took her by the shoulders. “How is this? Take up all the space you need and want. Here, in my Boston place, in my car, wherever the hell you want, because I want to share everything with you.”
He blew her away.
“Really?”
He touched his forehead to hers. “Yes.”
“Okay. But I don’t want to hear you complain when you realize there is no space for your stuff in my apartment closet. Like at all. It’s dinky.”
“This place is big enough for all your stuff and mine.”
She hadn’t expected that and it must have shown on her face.
Fox brushed his hand up and down her arm. “Too fast? We’ll get there. Just know, it’s on the table whenever you want to, you know, move in. And stay. I’d really like that. But take some time. Think about all that. Get back to me whenever you’re ready. Because I am. Actually, it feels like I’ve been waiting for this…you…for too damn long. I promise, I’ll try to be patient. And I’ll be a better boyfriend. I’ll keep my phone on me so I’ll know if you call. I just thought you were at work and I wouldn’t hear from you until later tonight, if at all before you showed up here, so I left my phone on the table.”
She hooked her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him in for a kiss to stop his rambling.
He immediately took her by the hips and held on as the heat between them exploded and he took the kiss deeper. Their tongues tangled and a moan escaped her lips as he changed the angle and dove in for more.
Suddenly, he pulled away. “Hey.” He brushed his thumb over her bottom lip. “Sorry. I got carried away.”
“Yay for me!”
He chuckled. “You’re in no shape for what I’d like to do to you.”
She sighed. “As much as I want you, you’re probably right.” She felt drained and the pain in her leg and hand was starting to get worse.
He slipped his hands beneath her shirt. “Let’s get this off.”
She cocked a brow. “You’re just trying to get me naked.”
He grinned. “I’m going to take care of you in a different way.”
“Oh? Do tell. I’m very interested in whatever fantasies you have.”
He stared at her for a long moment. “We’ll save that for another day.” The look on his face said he had a few ideas rolling around his head.
“Or you could tell me now and I can surprise you later.”
He pulled her shirt off, making sure not to hit her head wound or her hand as he pulled it free. “Uh-uh. I start talking and I’ll want to touch. And right now the only touching I’m doing is to get the stench of stale beer off you and getting you into bed.”
“Where you’ll?” she prompted, still flirting with him.
He clamped his hands on her hips again. “You drive me wild, sometimes.”
She undid the button on her skirt and unzipped it. “Happy to oblige.” She stood and he tugged the denim down her legs as he leaned in and kissed her belly. Heat pooled between her thighs. “You’re making it very hard to be good.”
“You’re just making me hard.”
“I can take care of that.” She was tired, but not too tired for him.
“Not tonight, sweetheart. Tonight, I get to repay you for all the times you took care of me as a kid.”
She sat on the toilet again and leaned in so they were just an inch apart. “You don’t owe me anything.”
“I want to do this for you.”
She gave him a tilted smile. “Well, okay then.”
“Stay put.” He pulled a washcloth out of the cupboard by the door, then left for a moment and returned with one of his T-shirts. He turned on the faucet and dampened the washcloth with warm water, then turned off the tap and used the cloth to wipe down one arm, then the other, then her hands, and fingers, working around the bandages. He rinsed the cloth, then ran it over her right leg, avoiding the bandages, before cleaning her calf and foot. He did the rinse-and-repeat thing on her other leg.
Chilled a bit as the warm water on her skin cooled then started to evaporate, she shivered as he pulled the shirt over her head and helped her get her arms in the holes, then he pulled it down her torso.
“Do you want me to wash your face?”
She didn’t want to sleep in her makeup. “If you don’t mind, though we’re going to need some soap for that. Probably best if I lean over the sink. I can probably do it with one hand.”
“I want to help.”
She went to the sink.
Fox pulled her hair back and tucked it into the back of the shirt to keep it from falling forward.
She leaned over the sink. He cupped his big hand under the warm water and splashed it over her face. She helped, using her good hand. Then he rubbed the soap over her hand and she massaged it over her eyes and face, cleaning her skin. Fox helped her splash more water over her face, then gently dabbed a towel over her skin, drying her off.
“Feel a little better?”
She leaned into his chest. “Actually, yes. But I could use some ibuprofen before I crash for the night.”
He opened the medicine cabinet and pulled out a bottle, uncapping it. “How many?”
“The throbbing pain is ratcheting up. Let’s go with three.”
He handed them over, then filled the glass he kept by the sink with water.
She took the pills and hoped they worked soon.
He brushed his hands up and down her arms. “Need anything else?”
She shook her head.
He took her hand and led her to the bed. He’d already turned down the covers.
She crawled in and settled in her spot as Fox covered her with the blankets. “Thank you.”
“I’ll be right back.” He kissed her on the forehead and left their room, probably to put her clothes in the washer and turn out all the lights.
She was slowly drifting into sleep when he slipped into bed behind her and hooked his arm over her waist, pulling her into his warm body. “I like this.”
“This is where you belong. With me.” He kissed the back of her head. “Sleep, baby. I’m right here with you.”
It felt like she’d just closed her eyes and let go of everything except that one lovely statement and the feel of Fox wrapped around her when someone pounded on the door and wouldn’t stop.