Page 54 of Captive Heart

Micah shook his head. "Leave it, Trinity. There's no point in recriminations. We don't even know what the problem is yet, so let's just concentrate on Melody right now. We can talk later about the rest of it."

Trinity gave a tight nod and turned to leave.

"Perhaps you could flip the lock," Micah requested as she reached the door. "So I can make sure Melody gets some peace and privacy. I don't want a bunch of people rushing in here to check on her right now. I'll call if I need anything."

The lock snicked, and when they were finally alone, Melody quieted.

A peaceful sense of stillness and safekeeping rolled gently through the room, settling like a deep mist and enveloping them both in a hushed sphere of security in the balm of each other's arms.

Enough time passed that Micah could almost have been fooled into thinking Melody was asleep. She was quiet as a mouse, her breathing had evened out, and her quaking body had stilled. It was only her hands that gave her away, clenched as they still were in the fabric of his shirt along with a generous measure of chest hair.

However, Micah felt like things were settled enough to move forward, so he started by loosening her stiff fingers and holding them in his own.

"Are you feeling better now?" he asked, keeping his voice low and quiet.

Melody just nodded.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

She was silent for so long, Micah decided to help her along with some prompts. "Okay, so you wanted to go and check out the club. Is that right?"

Another nod.

"And you discussed it with Trinity, and Laurel offered to take you as a guest on her membership?"

She nodded again. This was shaping up to be as difficult as pulling teeth.

"Were you upstairs or downstairs?"

"Downstairs."

Micah sighed. "Did you find it was all just too much for you?"

A shake this time, but her denial had Micah straightening in his seat and pulling back to look at her properly. "Did something happen down there?" he asked with a sharpness that made him wince internally. He didn't want to unnerve her even more.

"Yes." It was the tiniest whisper of sound and, at first, Micah wasn't sure he'd heard her properly.

"Melody?" he urged insistently. "If there was an incident, it's imperative that you give me the details, sweetheart. I need you to tell me what happened."

For the first time, Micah was getting the sense that there was more to this than Melody freaking out because of an anxiety attack.

"I came out of the locker rooms with Laurel," she began haltingly. "And I stopped to take a look around. The platforms caught my attention, and I ended up getting separated from Laurel."

"You're doing great, hon, just tell me the rest in your own time," Micah encouraged.

"When I realised I'd lost sight of Laurel I suddenly felt a little overwhelmed."

Micah breathed a sigh of relief, maybe that's all there was to it after all. He didn't want to search his own feelings too deeply about why this incident with Melody had so unnerved him, but it affected him on a far deeper level than he'd expected. His relief didn't last long, though, and his blood ran cold at Melody's next words.

"I felt like someone was watching me and, at first, I thought I was being paranoid, but then I turned around just as this guy was about to grab me."

“What—"

He didn't get to finish. Now that Melody had warmed up, she was on a roll, and the rest of the story tumbled out in a rapid tangle of words, "I turned, and I ran for the door, so I could get up here. When I dared to look, he was following me, and I was so desperate for the locks to disengage so I could get to safety, but he put his hand in the door before I could shut it and I had to slam it against his fingers to make him move them."

"Melody," Micah began reasonably. "Are you sure it wasn't just another member following you upstairs to the club?"

Melody turned and stared at him as if he'd grown two heads, then suddenly, she sprang to her feet, fighting to get out from the folds of the blanket as panic had her flustered again, stealing the calm she’d managed to find.

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