If she was misjudging the situation, she’d feel like a fool, but if she wasn’t…
“I do want you to get the job,” Seth said, stepping closer, his other hand coming to her waist, gripping her with enough force that her fluttery pulse became an adrenaline fueled pounding in her ears. “Now I just need you to show me that you want to get the job, beautiful. You understand?”
His face moved closer to hers and Melody shoved at his chest.
“Stop,” she said in a firm voice, but he didn’t stop, his fingers only bit into the flesh above her hips with more force as he tugged her off the stool.
Before she could cry out, Melody was pressed against the bar, Seth’s breath hot at her neck as he ground his hips against hers. She felt his erection against her thigh and bile rose in her mouth.
“Stop!” She screamed the word this time and punched a fist into Seth’s thick shoulders, but he acted like he didn’t even feel it.
He was built like a hunk of rock, and Melody couldn’t remember the last time she’d hit the gym. Their similar heights weren’t going to make a difference. She was weak, and he was strong, and if she didn’t find a way to escape, he was going to do what he wanted, with or without her permission.
“Stop! Help me! Someone help!” Melody screamed as loud as she could, until Seth’s thick palm came down on her lips, muffling the sound as he spoke in her ear—
“There’s nobody here, baby,” he said, pressing forward, pinning her so tight against the bar that it was hard to draw her next breath. “And nobody’s coming. It’s just you and me tonight.”
He pressed a kiss to her cheek and Melody whimpered, an instinctive plea for mercy that made Seth’s hot breath rush over her ear.
“You are so sexy, you know that?” he asked. “And we can have a good time if you’ll just relax. Just relax, sweetheart, and let me show you a good time.”
Melody struggled and kicked and tried to scream again, but the sound was stifled by Seth’s hand. His other hand was busy pulling up her dress.
For a brief second, Melody flashed on her first kiss with Nick and how it had felt to have his hand bunching up her skirt—scary, but exhilarating and sexy and wonderful, all at the same time.
Seth’s touch was only scary. Terrifying. Horrible.
Melody squeezed her eyes shut and pushed Seth away with every last bit of strength in her shaking arms, screaming into his hot, sweaty hand, but she could already feel her muscles beginning to weaken and her skirt was nearly up around her waist. A cold certainly spread through her, making her shiver: Seth was going to be her first. Seth was going to take the virginity that had scared Nick away and now she would never know that beautiful first time he’d wished for her.
Something deep inside her, something primal and full of rage that Melody hadn’t realized existed within her until this moment, roared at the thought. It bared its claws and howled, giving her the strength to squirm free of Seth’s grip just enough to bring her knee up between his legs. Hard.
“Shit,” he grunted, his hand slipping from her mouth as he gripped his crotch.
“Help! Help me!” Melody screamed in a raw voice as she went for Seth’s eyes with her nails. He caught her wrists before she could do any damage, but Melody was already bringing her leg up between his thighs again when the bar’s front door opened and a familiar voice called her name.
“Melody?”
“Nick, I’m here, in here!” Melody screamed, her words ending in a sob as she twisted free of Seth, snatched her purse from the top of the bar with one shaking hand, and ran for the door.
For a second, she was certain Seth was following her, but then she realized the thudding sound she heard was just her pulse pounding in her ears.
She reached the front of the bar as Nick was stepping inside and the door sliding slowly closed behind him. With a panicked sound, Melody grabbed Nick’s arm and pulled him backwards, toward the sliver of lamplight and the promise of safety on the street outside.
“What’s wrong?” Nick asked. “Melody—”
“Let’s get out of here, please just-get-out-of-here,” Melody said, her words running together as she hit the door and pushed.
Nick followed without another word, staying close behind her as she tumbled out onto the sidewalk. With a quick glance up and down the street, she ran for the opposite side of Main, bound for the door of the tattoo shop, where she planned to lock her and Nick inside where they would both be safe.
Seth wasn’t following them, and even if he did Nick was probably capable of taking care of the other man—Seth was more muscled, but Nick was taller and looked like he could handle himself in a fight—but Melody wasn’t thinking rationally. She was thinking with her survival brain, and her survival brain wanted a locked door or three between her and Seth as soon as possible.
They reached the shop and Melody grasped desperately at the door, a whimper rising in her throat when it didn’t move in response to her tugging.
“Just a second,” Nick said in a gentle voice, his hand resting on her shoulder as he dug his keys from his pocket.
Immediately, comfort flowed from his hand into her clenched muscles. The effect of his touch was so dramatically different from Seth’s that it was almost dizzying. When he pulled away to fit the shop key into the door, Melody felt the loss of his warmth like a punch in the gut.
If someone had told her ten seconds ago that she would be dying to be held in a man’s arms—any man’s arms—she would have told them they were crazy. But as soon as Nick closed the door behind them and flipped the lock, Melody launched herself at him, twining her arms around his neck, burying her face in his white button-down shirt, the one that still smelled of food and spilled wine and other hazards of cater-waitering. It was a comforting smell, safe and familiar and almost as wonderful as the feel of Nick pulling her close.
“What’s wrong, Mel?” he asked, stroking her hair with a gentle hand. “What happened in there? I heard you scream, but when I opened the door it was so dark I couldn’t see anything.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Melody took a shaky breath, and squeezed her eyes shut. “It’s over, I’m just glad it’s over.”
Nick tried to pull back, but Melody tightened her grip on his neck. After a moment, he relaxed and resumed petting her hair, which Melody soon decided was one of the nicest feeling things ever.
They stood there for several long minutes, Melody clinging to Nick, and Nick rocking her back and forth, stroking her hair until finally the storm inside her began to calm. She loosened her arms, pulling away just far enough to look up into Nick’s face. The lights in the tattoo shop were off, but there was enough light from the streetlight outside for her to see how worried he was.
“It was a guy, wasn’t it?” Nick asked, his jaw tight.
Melody nodded, still not wanting to say Seth’s name or what he’d done out loud. It would only make it more real, and she didn’t want it to be real. She wanted to pretend it was all some terrible dream and forget about the terrifying feel of Seth’s hands on her forever.
“Did he hurt you? Do we need to call the police?” Nick asked softly.
Melody shook her head quickly, panicked by the thought. “No, I don’t want to call the police.”
“Mel, if he hurt you, we have to—”
“He tried…but he didn’t,” Melody said. “He didn’t,” she repeated when Nick frowned. “You opened the door and I got away before… Before.”
Anger filled Nick’s eyes, his rage so immediate and intense Melody would swear she could feel it heating the skin beneath his shirt. “But what if I hadn’t opened the door?” Nick said. “Do you think he would have raped you?”
Melody backed away, slipping out of Nick’s arms as she dropped her eyes to the black and white tile on the floor.
“Mel…” Nick said, insistent.
“I-I don’t know,” she stammered.
“You don’t know,” Nick repeated in a dubious tone. “I think you know,
baby. Either he was going to—”
“Yes, okay,” Melody said, tears filling her eyes for the first time since Seth put his hands on her. Something about Nick’s voice when he called her “baby” was so nice it made it impossible not to fall apart. “Yes. He would have.”
“Then we’re calling the police,” Nick said gently, his fingers brushing her hair out of her face and lingering on her cheek.
Melody looked up, fighting to swallow. “I can’t. Please, Nick, I just can’t. I don’t want to talk about it. Ever.”
“I’ll be with you,” Nick said, pulling her back into his arms. “I’ll stay right with you the entire time. I’ll tell them I heard you screaming and—”
“I said no!” Melody said, the words coming out louder than she intended.
Unlike Seth, however, Nick immediately backed off.
“Okay. I’m sorry.” He shook his head and hugged her close, dropping a kiss to the top of her head that helped her breath come easier.
Melody rested her cheek on his shirt with a sigh.
“It’s your decision, I just…” Nick’s arms tightened around her. “I can’t stand the idea of someone hurting you. I wish I’d gotten there sooner.”
Melody frowned against Nick’s chest. “Why were you there? I mean, I’m so glad you were, but… I mean the bar isn’t even open on Sundays.”
“Lark said you had an audition,” Nick said in an embarrassed voice. “I was kind of hoping to watch, but then I pulled up and saw it was only your car out front. It seemed strange. I was walking around out front, wondering if I should check things out, when I heard you scream.”
“You’re smarter than I am.” Melody snuggled closer, still not ready to leave the comfort of his arms.
“No, I’m just more familiar with scum,” Nick said. “I lived in a pretty bad neighborhood in Atlanta.”
“Why did you want to watch my audition?” Melody asked after a moment. “I thought you couldn’t stand to make eye contact with me.”
Nick made an uncomfortable sound; Melody stepped out of his arms. Nick was wearing that same sad expression he’d had when she left the wedding earlier today.
She lifted an eyebrow and shot him a look she hoped made it clear she wasn’t going to let him off easy.
“I haven’t… Um.” He took a breath and cast his eyes up to the ceiling. “I may have had a little trouble keeping you off my mind the past few days.” He paused. “Okay, maybe a lot of trouble.”
“A lot of trouble,” Melody repeated, crossing her arms at her chest. “Why is thinking about me such a bad thing?”
“It isn’t,” Nick said, still gazing over her shoulder, refusing to meet her eyes.
“Okay, a ‘troublesome’ thing, then,” Melody prodded.
Nick hesitated. “I was dating this girl in Atlanta,” he finally said. “She was a lot like you, beautiful and sweet and…used to doing things a certain way. She’d been with the same guy for three years before we got together. I’d dated girls before, but nothing serious, nothing that lasted more than a few months. Sara Beth was my first real relationship.”
“So, what happened?” Melody asked gently, not wanting to push too hard now that Nick finally seemed to be opening up to her.
Nick shrugged. “It ended. She went back to the guy she’d been dating before and I went on a three week pub crawl through every shitty bar in Atlanta. One night I came home so drunk that I tossed a toaster oven out the window onto a car and my roommates kicked me out. I felt like a fool.”
“We all get dumped, Nick.” Melody reached out, taking Nick’s hand. “That doesn’t make you a fool.”
“No, it does.” Nick pulled his hand away, running it nervously through his spiky hair. “Because I knew from the beginning that Sarah Beth and I wouldn’t work. We were too different. I made the mistake of thinking I could fit into her world, or she might come to appreciate mine… But I couldn’t be myself and she couldn’t be herself, and it was a bad idea all around. I don’t want to go through that again.”
“I’m not Sarah Beth.”
“No, you’re worse,” Nick said, making Melody frown before he continued, “You’re prettier and smarter and funnier. Sarah Beth never made me laugh the way you do, or think about kissing her every five seconds and I…”
“And what?” Melody whispered, her chest fluttering with hope. The thing he’d said about kissing her was especially nice.
“I could fall hard for you,” he said, finally meeting her eyes with a look that made the fluttering in her chest a thousand times worse.
“Really?” Melody asked, throat so tight the word wasn’t much more than a squeak.
“Really. But then what?” he asked. “What happens when you realize you want more than I can give you? When I’m not enough?”
“Oh, my gosh, Nick,” Melody said, with a shaky laugh. “Are you serious?”
He scowled, clearly thinking she was laughing at him, not with him.
“I mean, that’s just silly,” she hurried to add. “You’re gorgeous and funny and so talented, and I have so much fun with you when you’re not trying to push me away. Why would you think that wouldn’t be enough for me? These past few weeks, I’ve been assuming you thought I wasn’t enough for you.”
Nick’s lips curved on one side. “Are you crazy?”
“Not any crazier than you are,” Melody said, a shy smile teasing at her mouth. “Maybe crazy is just one of the many things we have in common.”
Nick took a breath and that troubled look crept into his eyes again. “I haven’t been to church since I was eighteen, Melody. I’m not even sure what I believe about all that anymore.”
“I’m not going to try to make you go to church with me,” Melody said. “I would love it if you did, but my faith is my own personal business. It’s meaningful to me, but I can understand that you’re still looking for what’s meaningful to you. As long as you respect my journey, I can respect yours.”
Nicks eyebrows shot up.
“What?” Melody asked.
“You just…. I’m surprised,” Nick said. “In a good way. That’s a nice way to think. Very tolerant.”
“My faith insists on tolerance.”
He shot her a sideways look. “Not everyone sees your faith the same way you do.”
Melody smiled. “Not everyone is as awesome as I am.”
Nick laughed, a wonderful, happy sound that ended with him gathering her into his arms for an even more wonderful embrace.
“You’re something else, you know that?” He smiled down at her, surprise and affection mixing in his eyes.
“I think you’re pretty spiffy too,” Melody said, suddenly nervous all over again. Were she and Nick dating now? Had they agreed to give this thing between them a real shot? She supposed there was only one way to find out…
“Want to get out of here?” she asked. “Maybe go get some coffee or something? Somewhere far away from downtown?”
Nick’s smile faded. “I definitely want to get out of here, but I still think we should call Nash.”
Melody frowned as she remembered why Nick would want to call his brother, the police Captain.
“I bet he would meet us at the police station and make everything go smoothly,” Nick continued. “You really should report this asshole, Mel. It’s not just you. Think about your sisters, my sisters, all the other women you care about. Guys like that don’t just do it once. Reporting what happened could help make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
Melody’s muscles tightened up all over again. He was right, but for some reason the thought of reporting the attack to anyone—even Nash, who was one of the nicest, most compassionate people she knew—made her want to dig a hole in the ground and hide there for the rest of eternity.
“Can I think about it?” Melody asked. “I just…I know you’re right, but…”
“Okay,” Nick said. “I won’t push it anymore tonight, but could you at least tell me the guy’s name?”
M
elody peered up at him through her lashes. “Why do you want his name?”
“You know, just in case,” Nick said, the tension in his jaw betraying his casual tone.
“In case of what?”
“In case you decide not to report him,” he said, heat creeping into his eyes. “And I need to give him an off-the-record reminder not to touch a woman like that again, and not to get within ten feet of you or I’ll fucking kill him.”
Melody’s eyes widened. She didn’t know what was scarier, that Nick sounded so convincingly menacing, or that she liked it so much. She’d never been a fan of violence—she was a turn-the-other-cheek kind of girl—but she couldn’t deny that the thought of Nick pounding Seth into a bloody pulp made something savage inside of her extremely happy.
“All right,” she said, voice shaking. “Call Nash.”
“Really?” Nick asked, hugging her closer. “Are you sure? I feel like an asshole for pressuring you, but—”
“No, you’re right. It’s something I should do, and I don’t want to put you in that kind of position. I don’t want you to get hurt, and you shouldn’t have to defend me.”
“I know I don’t have to, I want to,” he said. “I want to rip this guy’s dick off and feed it to my pet snake.”
Melody cringed. “You have a pet snake?”
“I do,” Nick said. “Her name is Clare, but don’t worry she’s a lady and not the jealous type. She’s more than willing to share me with the right girl.”
“Good to know,” Melody said dryly.
Nick’s expression grew serious once more. “Look, the point is I’ve got your back, Mel. You can count on me any time you need me. Even if this—whatever it is—between us doesn’t work out.”
Melody’s forehead pinched. “Is that your way of saying we’re dating?”
Nick’s dimples popped. “Yeah. That sounds better than ‘whatever it is.’”
“Much better.” Melody smiled.
“But I want you to know… I’m sorry about the other night,” he said, that new, shy note in his voice that made Melody’s heart squeeze inside her chest. “I shouldn’t have asked you to come home with me. That’s not how I want it to go with us. I just, I kind of lose my ability to think straight when I kiss you.”
Wild For You (Always a Bridesmaid 3) Page 6
