4. Melissa Domaine
Ishould have known peace was never going to last too long for me.
After that little walk with Roman earlier, I spent most of the day doing my best to keep my distance from him. I stayed on the beach for a while, ordered food to my villa, talked to Fee for a little bit, and tried my hardest not to look across the walkway every five minutes like I had lost my mind.
But Roman Blake had already gotten under my skin, and I hated that for me.
By that evening, I was feeling restless in a way I could not shake.
My mind was all over the place, and being in that villa by myself was starting to feel too quiet.
It was too still, too empty, and it gave me way too much time to think.
So I threw on a little dress, fixed myself up just enough, and decided I was going to go sit at the resort bar, have a few drinks, and mind my business.
At least, that was the plan.
The bar sat right off the beach with low lights, soft music, and people laughing and talking like life was easy. I found me a seat toward the end, ordered a drink, and pulled out my phone just so I would have something to do besides sit there in my own head.
The first drink went down smooth.
The second one hit a little harder, but not enough for me to think too much of it.
By the time I got to my third, though, I knew something was off.
I did not feel drunk.
I felt strange.
My head got light way too fast, and my limbs started feeling heavier than they should have.
The music around me began sounding farther away, like it was coming from underwater.
At first, I tried to tell myself maybe I had drunk too much without eating enough, but deep down I knew something about it did not feel right.
I blinked hard and tried to focus on the room, but everything looked like it was starting to blur around the edges.
That was when I noticed the man.
He had been standing too close to me for too long. He kept trying to talk to me, asking if I was okay, if I needed help, if I wanted him to walk me back to my villa. I remember telling him that I was fine. At least, I think I did. After that, everything started coming to me in broken pieces.
I remember his hand on my arm.
I remember my feet dragging.
I remember the sound of the waves.
I remember a voice that did not sound right.
Then I remember another voice.
One I knew.
Roman.
Even through the haze, I knew that voice. It was low, sharp, and angry in a way that cut through everything else around me.
“What the fuck you doing?”
After that, I didn’t remember much of anything.
There was shouting.
There was a loud thud.
There was cursing.
Then everything went black.
When I opened my eyes again, sunlight was cutting through the room so hard it made my head start throbbing instantly. I groaned and turned over, but even that little movement made my stomach roll. My mouth was dry as hell, and my head was pounding like somebody had beat on it all night.
“What the fuck…” I mumbled to myself.
I pushed myself up slowly and looked around the room, confused. I was in my bed. I was still dressed, just without my shoes, and that alone made my stomach tighten.
I looked around again, trying to piece together how I had gotten there, and that was when my eyes landed on the chair in the corner, where Roman was sitting.
He was sitting there with his head tilted back, one arm folded across his chest and the other hanging loosely at his side like he had fallen asleep while waiting on something.
For a second, I just stared at him.
Then irritation hit me before my brain even had time to catch up.
“Roman?” My voice came out rough from sleep and whatever the hell had been in my system. “What the fuck are you doing in here?”
His eyes opened slow, but he sat up as soon as he saw I was awake.
“You up,” he said, his voice deep and heavy with sleep.
I pushed the covers off me and swung my legs over the side of the bed. “Why are you in my villa?”
He stood up, calm as ever, and somehow that irritated me even more.
“Melissa—”
“No, fuck that,” I snapped, standing up too fast and instantly regretting it when the room spun around me. “Why the fuck are you in my room while I’m asleep?”
Roman’s jaw tightened, but he still stepped closer.
“Sit down.”
“I am not sitting down.”
“Yes, the fuck you are,” he said, and the sharpness in his voice made me pause. “Sit your ass down before you fall.”
I opened my mouth to argue again, but another wave of dizziness hit me so hard I had to catch myself on the edge of the bed. Roman stepped in immediately, gripped my arm, and eased me back down before I could do anything else.
I snatched my arm away from him. “Do not touch me.”
That was when his whole face changed. He did not look hurt. He did not look soft. He looked pissed.
“Watch your fuckin’ mouth when talking to me, Lissa,” he barked. “You have a whole lot to say this morning for somebody who does not even know what the fuck happened last night.”
That made me stop.
I stared at him through the pounding in my head and the confusion clouding my brain.
“What happened?” I asked, with my voice a little quieter now.
Roman let out a slow breath and dragged a hand over his face like he was trying hard not to lose his temper.
“I saw some nigga trying to carry you into your villa from my window.”
My stomach dropped so fast it made me feel sick.
“What?”
His eyes locked on mine. “You were damn near out of it. You could barely stand on your own. He had his arm around you and was dragging you up the walkway like you belonged to him.”
Every bit of irritation in me started draining out right then, replaced by something cold and ugly.
“I…” I swallowed hard. “I do not remember.”
“No shit,” he snapped. “Because somebody slipped something in your drink.”
I just stared at him.
His words hit me, but my mind did not want to fully take them in.
Roman’s expression darkened even more.
“The only reason I am here is because I saved your little pussy from getting took from you.”
My hand flew to my mouth before I could stop it.
A gasp slipped out, and my whole body went cold.
I knew exactly what he meant… rape. I couldn’t believe that almost happened to me.
I sat there frozen, my heart beating too fast all of a sudden, my skin crawling even with the sunlight warming the room.
Roman did not say anything else right away.
He was still angry, and I could feel it all over him.
Angry because of what almost happened. Angry because I had woken up cussing him out after he had spent the night there making sure I was safe.
“Oh my God,” I whispered.
I looked down at my hands and realized they were shaking. I kept trying to force my mind to remember more from the night before, but everything still came in pieces. The drink. The man. My body not working right. Roman’s voice.
That was all I had.
Tears started stinging behind my eyes, and that only made me more upset because I hated crying in front of anybody.
Roman looked at me for a long second before he finally spoke again, and this time his voice was lower.
“You need to be more careful, Melissa.”
Something about the way he said that made shame crawl all over me.
Not because I had done anything wrong.
But because I had let my guard down.
Because I had gotten that vulnerable.
Because I had almost paid for it in the worst possible way.
“I did not know,” I said softly, hating how weak my voice sounded. “I really did not know.”
His jaw worked like he was still trying to hold himself together.
“I know.”
The room got quiet after that, and that silence felt heavy as hell. I could not even look at him anymore. I was embarrassed, shaken, and mad at myself. I was mad at the man who had done that to me, and I was mad that Roman had to be the one to see me in a moment like that.
After a long minute, Roman grabbed his phone and his keys from the table.
“I’m gone,” he said.
I looked up at him fast. “Roman…”
But he was already heading toward the door. He only paused long enough to look back at me.
“Drink some water, eat something, and do not go nowhere by yourself today.”
Then he left.
And just like that, I was alone with my thoughts.
That was the worst part.
Because once the room got quiet again, everything started settling in for real. I started thinking about how bad it could have been. How close it came. How I would not have even known until it was too late.
I sat there for a long time, just staring at nothing and trying to pull myself together. Eventually, I got up, drank some water, and forced myself to breathe through the panic that was trying to creep up my chest.
Then I went and took a shower.
I stood under that hot water way longer than I needed to, just letting it run over me while I tried to shake off the nasty feeling clinging to my skin.
Even though nothing had happened, it still felt like something had.
It felt like danger had gotten close enough to touch me and left something behind.
Once I got out, I put on a simple little outfit and sat on the edge of the bed for another few minutes.
Roman did not deserve the shit I said to him.
He had saved me.
He had stayed with me.
He had made sure I was safe.
And I woke up cursing him out like he had done something wrong.
Guilt sat heavy on me then.
So before I could talk myself out of it, I got up and walked out of my villa.
That short walk across to Roman’s place felt longer than it should have. By the time I reached his door, my stomach was tied in knots.
I knocked once.
Then twice.
A few seconds later, the door opened.
Roman stood there in basketball shorts and a white T-shirt, looking like he had either just gotten out the shower or was about to get in one. His eyes dropped to me, unreadable, and for a second I forgot everything I had come there to say.
Then I pulled myself together.
“I came to apologize,” I said, folding my arms like that would somehow steady me. “For how I talked to you.”
Roman did not say anything right away. He just looked at me, and somehow that made me even more nervous.
“I don’t remember anything,” I added, softer this time. “I woke up confused and started going off. That was wrong.”
His expression shifted, but only a little.
I let out a breath. “So… thank you. For last night. For helping me. For staying.”
That last word came out quieter than everything else because that part did something to me more than I wanted it to.
He stayed.
He did not have to.
But he did.
And now, standing there in front of him, all I could think about was how different things might have been if Roman Blake had not looked out that damn window when he did.