Page 97 of Edge of Desire

A crowd began to form around us, clearing tables and chairs out of the way. I was still beating on Neon Green’s back, screaming at the top of my lungs. Preston was swinging his arms and scissoring his legs, but She Hulk’s massive size had my vision blocked. I couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on, until I saw this giant wad of pink fuzz poking me in the face.

“Melissa! Melissa, is that you?” I screamed.

“Who else do you think would come to your rescue and put this asshole in a choke hold?”

“Stop it right this instant! He isn’t an asshole. I love him and let him go right now or I’m gonna disown you as my friend.”

That got her attention.

“What?” she asked.

“You heard me. What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m saving you from this jackass, that’s what.”

“For the love of God. He’s not a jackass. Would you let him up?”

Melissa released her hold on Preston, stood up, and I got my first full look at her. Sure enough, she was wearing a neon green jacket and matching pants, but she had changed her hair color again. This time it was bright pink, but she’d added a couple of bright purple streaks in it. It was still as fuzzy as the last time I’d seen her, which meant she was still getting perms. I was speechless. So much so that I’d totally forgotten about poor Preston, lying on the ground.

“Well, aren’t you at least going to say hello?”

I looked at her and then gave my head a slap. Not one, but two. It came to me then that Preston was still on the ground. I yelped and turned to find him struggling to get his senses back.

“Shit, Melissa! What the hell did you do to him?”

“I put him in a choke hold, like I said I would.”

“Fuck!” Turning to Preston, I said, “Preston, are you all right?”

He looked so out of it. I was getting worried. “Maybe we need to call an ambulance.”

“Huh-uh,” he finally said. “Give me a second. She cut off my oxygen and I almost blacked out.”

I turned back to Melissa and punched her. “Damn you, Melissa. What the hell were you thinking?”

“I thought I was saving you.”

“Did I look like I needed saving?”

“Well, come on, Ava, you never really used good judgment. So how was I to know?”

“Ugh, that’s so not fair.”

“What do you mean? Remember Little Dickie? I had to save you then!”

“Yeah, but if you recall, he was trying to rape me, Melissa!”

I was tearing my hair out by this time. The management had shown up and wanted to know if I wanted to press charges. Preston now sat in a chair, rubbing his neck and head. My head hurt too, but I wanted to strangle Melissa. I told the management no but to bring us some lemon drop shooters instead. I had a feeling I was going to need plenty of them to get through this.Fuck!

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

Melissa looked at me like I’d turned into a little green alien. “Well, duh! I wanted to surprise you.”

“So, you thought by trying to kill Preston, you’d accomplish that, huh?”

“I wasn’t going to kill him, Ava.”

Our shots showed up. I downed mine and told the waitress to bring another round. Preston eyed me, because I normally didn’t drink like this. Well, I normally didn’t see my friend trying to take down my boyfriend either.

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