She had moved in with Brandi a year ago after leaving her hometown of Tehachapi. They had been unlikely best friends in high school.Brandi was cute and petite. She was wicked smart and made straight A’s without even cracking the book, but she was far from a nerd and had actually been fairly popular. Melinda on the other hand didn’t care for school, preferred her own company for the most part, and had a driving passion and love for movies.–
She could still remember the day that they met the first day of Freshman year. Melinda was looking for a class and stopped in the hall to ask Brandi, who happened to be looking for the same exact class. The two girls had gone to different elementary schools and so had never actually seen each other before. It was nice meeting someone else who felt as nervous and out of place walking around the halls that firs day as she did.
They continued to look for this elusive classroom which had most likely been sucked into a parallel dimension just to frustrate them. They were both growing nervous since the warning bell had just ringed and they were both going to be late. This was not the impression they wanted to make on the first day.
They eventually bumped into some older girls and asked for directions. These girls were the wrong ones to asked, apparently. They had made it their mission as brand new seniors to give freshman a tough time. The girls started picking on them and calling them little “runts” who had better learn real quick who was boss around the school. The girls expected them both to pay five dollars for the information. Brandi started to freak out, especially when the biggest girl pushed her.
Melinda was already five eleven and fairly robust for her age even then. One thing she hated more than anything in the world was a damn bully. It totally shocked everyone standing there when Melinda knocked that girl to the ground and then made one of the other bitches scream uncle until they gave she and Brandi five dollars instead.
Brandi could not stop laughing as the older girls ran down the hall after each coughing up five bucks. “And that is how we deal with that,” Melinda had joked.
Melinda had never been one to bow down from a confrontation or to run the other way when someone tried to make her feel bad. As a bigger girl she knew she was going to face a lot of criticism and hatred, but that was their problem and not hers. She believed her independent spirit left her immune to such hurtful shaming.
She and Brandi had never really had that much in common. Brandi loved pop music, cheerleading, and always had her nose in a book (as long as popular people were not around and she didn’t have to pretend to be an airhead) whereas Melinda spent her time listening to heavy rock music and watching movies. The two girls clicked somehow though and became great friends. They had stayed in touch after Brandi had left to attend the University of Southern California.
Melinda had been trying to get into UCLA to study filmmaking but there had been no way she could have afforded the SoCal rents on her own. That’s when Brandi had offered her a room, and a better chance at a new life.
Of course, her family had tried to get her to move back home every single day since she moved out here. It wasn’t that they did not want to support her dream of getting into film school and one day being a great filmmaker, but they just didn’t understand her passion and pursuit of that passion. They were simple people who led simple lives; they didn’t understand anything else. Growing up in that small town you were taught that reaching for the stars was wrong and that it would never get you anywhere. You worked hard and you stayed poor; that was the town’s motto. If you had a dream to pursue you were considered odd and out of touch with reality.
Melinda had held onto her dream since she was young, no matter who told her it was a waste of time or who didn’t believe in her. After the time she’d spent out here she had become used to her mother and father asking her when she was going to come home and get a nice waitressing job at the tavern like her cousin Ella, or settle down and get married to a stable young man who painted houses or worked on a farm.
She placed her purse next to her keys on the small foyer table. “Can it wait long enough for me to get changed out of my work clothes?” she asked, trying to buy a little time to prepare herself mentally for whatever it was Brandi needed to talk about. Was the landlord raising their rent? Did Melinda drink the last of the milk and forget to buy more?
“I still smell like churros and rediscovered childhoods.” She picked at the front of her white blouse with the little blue castles printed all over it, the iconic symbol of the amusement park where she ran a cash register in a souvenir shop.
“I need a shower, too. It was over ninety-eight degrees out there, today. I’ve been sweating like a pig.” She ran her fingers through her wavy, thick hair, which Brandi had always envied, but right now felt greasy and in need of a good wash. “I’ve been a hot mess since I left here this morning.”
“Actually,” Brandi said, shifting in her seat and glancing at Tyler, “it’s kind of important.”
Alarms began to go off inside Melinda’s head. “Okay,” she said, even more apprehensive, and made her way over to the armchair.
Tyler continued to glare at her, but now he had a slight curve to the hard line of his mouth. That made Melinda’s anxiety spike higher. She cleared her throat and tried to sound casual. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m pregnant.”
Melinda’s eyes widened at Brandi’s abrupt announcement. “Oh my God, what? Are you serious?”
At Brandi’s excited nod, Melinda felt a momentary rush of relief, and she laughed. “Oh my God! Bran, that’s so awesome! I know you always said you wanted kids but you were going to wait until after college.” She shook her head and smiled. “Congratulations, honey. Here, let me give you a hug.” She started to push up from the chair.
“You might want to stay sitting down,” Brandi said, holding up a cautioning hand. “There’s more.”
“More?” Blinking, Melinda watched as Tyler freed his hand from Brandi’s only to wrap his arm around her shoulders. He sank down deeper into the sofa, manspreading, like settling in to watch one of his basketball games on TV. That feeling of uncertainty crept back in and Melinda looked at Brandi. “You’re not thinking of getting rid of it, are you?”
“Oh God, no,” Brandi said. “No, I’m keeping it. In fact…” She held up her left hand to show off the small diamond engagement ring on her slender finger. “We’re going to be married before the baby arrives.”
Melinda stared at the ring. Immediately, she began to piece it all together: the somber “need to have a talk,” the smug look on Tyler’s face, the happy news… This took her down a path to which she could see only one possible end. A dark hole opened up inside her and her heart plunged into the abyss. “You’re telling me I have to move out,” she said quietly.
“We could put the crib in our room,” Brandi said, “but if the baby is up crying all night then Tyler won’t get any sleep and he works full-time. That means the baby is going to need his or her own room.” She swept her blonde hair off her shoulder with one hand and shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Mel. I wish we could afford to get a bigger place with three rooms, but my doctor is already telling me this is probably going to be a difficult pregnancy for me and that I’m looking at a C-section. I’m going to have to cut back to a half-shift at the hospital. That means less money coming in, and I can’t ask you for more because you don’t make enough on your thirty hours a week.”
“I also can’t afford a place of my own.” Melinda could feel her eyes filling with tears. “Even a studio in the worst neighborhood in town would be out of my price range.” She leaned forward, elbows on knees, and buried her face in her hands. “What am I going to do?”
“You can check online and see if there’s anyone looking for a roommate,” Brandi suggested. “I can help you search…”
“You know I have trust issues,” Melinda said, pulling her hands away from her face. “I can’t live with a total stranger.”
At this point, Tyler snorted a laugh. “Don’t wo
rry, I don’t think anyone’s going to rape you.”
“Tyler!” Brandi shot him a look, part shock, and part disapproval.
Melinda frowned at Tyler. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded, eyes narrowing. “Are you saying I’m too fat to be raped?”
“I don’t think that’s what he meant,” Brandi said, trying to calm the waters.
“No, I think that’s exactly what he meant.” Melinda’s dismay shifted and began to take on a fast rise to anger. Her mother – a white woman – had always said she had inherited her short temper from her Mexican father.
Melinda glared at Tyler. “I don’t know what your problem is with me. I have gone out of my way to be nice to you ever since you and Brandi started dating, but it doesn’t matter because you have always treated me like shit. I couldn’t figure out why you hated me so much until one day when I overheard you talking on the phone and you said you couldn’t meet up because you were ‘waiting for that fat bitch to get out of the bathroom’ so you could get a shower.”
“Is that true?” Brandi asked, gawping at Tyler. She turned back to Melinda. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
Melinda let out a short, embittered chuckle and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Because I didn’t want to ruin your happiness,” she said, voice cracking. “And because I kept hoping that you would wake up one day and realize what a jerk you dated.
She got to her feet and looked down at Tyler. “You could have had a really good friend in me, but instead of getting to know me you decided to judge me by my size.” Her tearful gaze shifted to Brandi. “I’m sorry, Bran, but your baby-daddy is a loser and an asshole.”
She headed for the door, grabbing her keys and purse. “I have Thursday off,” she said. “I’ll get some boxes and start packing my stuff. I guess I should probably put in my two weeks’ notice at work tomorrow.”
“Come on, Mel, don’t do this,” Brandi said.
She rose from the couch and started after Melinda. “You don’t have to move out right away.”
Melinda could not bring herself to look at her friend. “You really think I can stay here, now?” she asked.
She felt another wave of misery rising over her. “I guess I better call my mom…ask if I can move back in for a while until I can get a job and start saving up for a place of my own. At least I’ll be able to afford to live on my own, there.”
“You’re going back to Tehachapi?” Brandi asked, and she sounded like she had just asked if Melinda planned to go live in a cesspool – which was one of the words they often used to describe their hometown.
“Well,” Melinda said, “it’s not like I really have much of a choice.” Opening the door, she stepped out of the air-conditioned apartment and back into the heat of the waning day.
Chapter Two
Melinda made her way out to her car, an old beater she had purchased from one of her cousins when she left home over a year ago. It had a lot of miles on it, the stereo didn’t work, and it had some cosmetic flaws, but it passed the emissions tests and got her where she needed to go. Melinda hoped it would be able to make the long, winding drive back up the Grapevine loaded with all her personal belongings.
She sat behind the wheel for a moment, trying to catch her breath. She had to admit her exit from the apartment had been pretty dramatic. But who could blame her? Am I being selfish? She wondered, glancing up at the reflection of her red-rimmed eyes in the rear view mirror. My best friend is going to have a baby. I should be happy for her.
She was happy, but it also meant drastic changes to her life that might affect whether or not she could continue pursuing her dream. Melinda knew that she had overreacted to the news a bit and had a bit of a meltdown, which was not like her, but it all came at the wrong time. if she could have had a shower and something to eat after the long stressful day she’d just had then she might have been in a better mood to handle the news that was coming. She knew that she would have reacted in a much more mature fashion.
But she was so glad that she had told Tyler what she thought of him to his stupid face. The man was a pig; he was going to end up hurting Brandi. A year from now she would be a single mother struggling to pay the bills and hunting down Tyler’s deadbeat dad ass to get even a penny of alimony or child support from him.
But Brandi was almost as stubborn as she was about things and Brandi would do what she felt was right for her. Melinda had to respect that at least, even if she knew it was dead wrong and someone needed to talk some sense into Brandi. As the thoughts rolled through her head she knew that her family had often felt the same way about her.
But that was way different; she knew what she was doing.
As she had time to process and think it all over, Melinda could not stop feeling so guilty. She almost wanted to turn the car around and drive back to apologize. But she knew she was right.
Feeling guilty over being upset had been programmed into her at an early age. So had her response to the guilt – which was why she found herself pulling into the parking lot at the local El Burrito chain restaurant a few minutes later. She could use the excuse that she had not had dinner, but deep down she knew the reason she ordered the extra quesadilla had been out of a need to comfort herself with food.
She dried her eyes and managed to put on a smile when she walked up to the counter to place her order. She glanced around at the dining area. The blow-up with Tyler had served to make her more self-conscious about eating in public; right now, she knew she would lose it completely if just one person looked her way and started to snicker.
Grabbing her bag of food and her soda, she headed back to the car. She set the cup on the roof while she fumbled with her keys. “Fuck!” she said as they slipped out of her busy fingers. With a sigh, she bent to retrieve the keys. It seemed kind of crazy to get distressed over something so trivial.
She got the car unlocked and reached for her drink. “It’s not like this night can get any worse,” she muttered to herself.
A large hand appeared, grabbing the top of the door and stopping it before she could open it more than a few inches. Startled, Melinda jumped back with a shout of surprise – and wound up dumping her drink on herself. Ice cold soda soaked into her uniform shirt, which she knew from experience would result in a stain if she could not get it washed out right away. What didn’t absorb into her blouse wound up on her shoes.
“What the actual fuck?” Melinda cried. She pounded her fist on the top of the car in frustration. And now felt like her hand might be broken as she brought it to her mouth nursing her wound. As the pain subsided she turned to see what buffoon had decided to cause a drink to spill all over her.
She looked up at the man holding onto her car door. How he managed to come up on her so fast without her noticing, she had no idea; she only knew she had just gone from surprised to pissed off.
“Thanks a lot, asshole,” she snapped. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”
In the amber glow from the parking lot’s lights, she could see the guy stood a few inches taller than her, which put him over six feet in height. His long black coat did little to hide his strong shoulders, broad chest, and narrow waist.
His pale blond hair had been pulled back from his face into a ponytail, and his jaw and cheekbones looked sharp enough to saw through a redwood.
He seemed like someone who should be starring as the hero in some big budget action-adventure picture. Given their proximity to Hollywood, Melinda realized he could in all likelihood be an actor.
She had a feeling that she should know him, a powerful sense of familiarity as she stared up into his penetrating eyes. “Uh, hey.” When he just stood there without speaking, Melinda started to grow nervous. Her retail experience began to kick in. “Can I help you?”
He did not reply. Instead, he gave the door a forceful shove to close it and took a step toward her.
Melinda’s heart leaped. She shot a frantic glance toward the restaurant, hoping someone would come out at that moment and h
ear her if she screamed for help. But no one came out, and she felt pretty certain her cries would go unnoticed by those still inside. Her hand dropped to her purse, still hanging on her shoulder.
“Seriously,” she said, backing away slowly and carefully, “what do you want?”
“You,” he said, his voice a low, deep rumble.
Melinda’s fingers closed around the pepper spray. Before she could bring it up out of her purse, however, the stranger lunged at her.
His powerful arms banded around her and Melinda let out a shriek. A bright light enveloped them, her ears popped, and the world around them disappeared in a flash of white.
Chapter Three
Melinda continued to scream when the light faded and she found herself in a large, spherical chamber with smooth metal walls and a black metallic floor.
She shoved away from the stranger, who released her. Her eyes widened as she looked around. The room appeared brightly lit but she could see no light sources. “What the – what is this place?” she demanded. “Where are we?” She looked at him. “Who the fuck are you?”
“He is Roth, son of Mion.”
Melinda whipped around, feeling lightheaded, to see another tall, powerfully built man with pale skin, black hair, and eyes the color of gold coins. Like Roth, he dressed in a form-fitting black suit that shimmered in the light, with a sleeveless vest that extended past his knees.
Melinda saw no door and she had not heard him come in – if anything, he seemed to have materialized out of nowhere. “Who are you?” she asked.
“I,” he replied, in a smooth voice, “am Athan, son of Taran.” He smiled. “You are safe, Melinda. No harm shall come to you.”
She frowned. “How do you know my name?”
Athan chuckled. “We know everything about you,” he said. “Right down to your genetic make-up. We have been observing you for some time. As to where you are?”
The Bear Shifter's Virgin (Fated Bears Book 1) Page 35
