Page 79 of Reclaiming Love

Chapter 44

She had been right. It was so close to downtown—the location was ideal. In fact, making his way from his apartment to hers had taken longer. Noah surveyed the outside of the whitewashed front façade of the condo Melissa lived in with admiration.

He rang the doorbell and wondered how much this gorgeous little place set them back in monthly rent. His recent move paled in comparison. Living with Matt was going to cause huge problems, and working with Matt—could never happen.

“Hi!” Melissa greeted him with a smile and tired eyes. “Come on in.” She led him through the wide-open hallway and into the living room. “You found it okay?” she asked him, as she walked.

“Yeah,” he replied and took a good look all around him as he entered the open plan living area. “Nice place,” he said admiringly. “So close to work and so central.” He put down his backpack and walked over to sit on the sofa next to the one where she had sat.

“We were lucky with this. Our landlord is always away, and it feels as though it’s just me and Heather here. Most of the time.” He noticed she was wearing casual clothes. A tee and lounge pants. Images lashed in front of him—images of her in one of her most vulnerable and darkest moments. He felt like a voyeur and tried to replace those sordid images with her now.

Despite her cheery exterior, he knew she was hurting. It killed him that he couldn’t make her feel better without admitting that he knew something she did not want him to know.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, drinking in her features, examining her as if this was the first time he’d ever clapped eyes on her. He assumed she’d been under the weather, her reason for staying at home today.

“I could be better.”

He leaned forward, sitting on the edge of the couch, not feeling totally at ease. The thing he needed to say stuck in his throat like a thorn from a rosebush. “What’s up, Melissa?”

She hitched her legs up on the couch, curling them to the side and looked at her hands, unwilling to meet his gaze. “I don’t know what to tell you,” she said slowly. “I feel I owe you the truth, but there are some things…” She shook her head and paused.

She seemed more open now, but he wasn’t sure if this was because they were meeting away from the coffee shop and imaginary barriers had lifted—or whether she was all battered and bruised from recent events. He debated about telling her what he’d seen. Perhaps for now it would be better to keep it to himself. She needed time, to get whatever it was that was buried inside her to the fore.

“I returned the CDs,” he said.

“Already?” she asked, surprised. “I only gave them to you this morning?”

“I went home early,” he confessed. “He was looking for them yesterday, the CDs. I didn’t want to risk putting them back this evening while he was around.”

“Thank you,” she said, quietly.

“And I had work which I needed to do at home.” It wasn’t technically true, though breaking into Matt’s computer and corrupting his files counted as necessary work in his eyes. He wasn’t looking forward to dealing with the aftershocks of hearing about it when he got home.

Melissa arched an eyebrow at him. “That’s pretty cool—working from home. I don’t think Nadine would allow it.” Her face lifted as she smiled and the awkwardness lifted a little.

“How come you’re home?” He was curious to know.

She looked at him then, as if she were considering a major decision. “I saw him earlier—as I got into work after we met. He caught me in the elevator.”

Noah felt his body start to sweat. “What did he say?”

“Nothing, for the longest time. He stared at me and then before he left he said ‘I’ll be watching you, Melissa.’”

“’I’ll be watching you?’” Noah repeated her words. “What does he mean by that?” he wondered out loud. Then, not wanting to worry her further he said, “The guy’s an idiot. I wouldn’t worry about it.” But he did worry about it. He worried about her most of all. She wasn’t done yet though. “That day, when I came to your place, after our night together.” She paused, as if remembering that night. “Uh—” She let out a long sigh, as though the words caught. “I don’t know how to tell you.” Her words were a whisper and he was torn between sitting beside her, and staying put. He wanted to comfort her, run his hands through her hair, to hold her. He got up and sat beside her.

“You said you had something to tell me,” he said softly, taking her hand, he stared at her downcast eyes, saw her face turn ashen. “I won’t judge you, Melissa. I kind of already have an idea what that guy’s about.”

“You asked me last time if I slept with him that day, when you first saw me in your apartment. I did.” She closed her eyes and said the rest. “He told me he’d give me back all my photos, he’d delete them all, for one final…”

Leaning over, he rubbed his thumbs over her closed eyes, soaking up the wet tears that coated her eyelashes.

“One last time with him.” The words choked high in her throat, as she struggled to say them.

When she opened her eyes, his thumbs had slid to either side of her mouth, his palms cupping her cheeks. He stared at her, looking deep inside her, touching her face gently. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“I didn’t want to. But I stupidly believed him. And so I let him.”

“It wasn’t your fault. He blackmailed you.”

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