Page 53 of Property of Thrasher
Anger turned into rage. Instincts took over and I stepped into her space. “You can fuck right off, Maria. I don’t bother you and you need not step in my line, bitch.”
Her arm moved and I had my fist up connecting right with her nose before I even realized it. Blood went everywhere as my emotions consumed me.
I had never been violent before. I had never lashed out on someone, much less someone I barely knew. Without another word, I left her there with tears running down her face and muttering about a broken nose.
Once inside the safety of my room, I fired off a text to him.
This doesn’t work for me anymore. Thank you for giving me the freedom found in a ride. I’ll cherish the memories.
Then I fired off a text to Lyric telling her I had a headache and I was going to bed before turning off my phone.
Only after climbing in the shower to let the tears of my insecurities go down the drain did I let myself feel the emotions I had been pushing down.
I saw him at the party. The interaction with Maria was that of practiced lovers. While he made it clear he didn’t share, he never gave me some real commitment. At least not one I could understand. Tonight proved I was in over my head with Enzo.
I should have known better. No one can go from the world I grew up in to thriving in the chaos of an outlaws life.
Well, lesson learned.
15
MELODY
I fell asleep crying. That wasn’t unusual for me, not really. It had been a thing back home. Nights in this place had a way of digging under my skin sometimes too. And the way I was, once I started crying I couldn’t stop easily which only made me angry and continued the tears. But tonight felt different. My chest hurt like someone had planted a boot square in the middle of it. My eyes burned, swollen from too many tears and too many ugly thoughts I couldn’t shut off.
Maria.
Her name was a knife. I had never once cared what she did, how she laughed too loud at club parties, how she wrapped herself around any man who gave her a glance, or how she swayed her hips like every song was played just for her. But tonight, the second I pictured her with Thrasher, my stomach turned inside out.
I hated that. Hated that I gave a damn. Hated that my heart had started building little castles around him, painting him in colors that weren’t meant for me. I had told myself from the beginning not to fall. He wasn’t the kind of man a girl like me could ever keep.
Still, that didn’t stop the tears. Didn’t stop me from pressing my face into the pillow, muffling sobs until exhaustion claimed me. I’d sent that stupid text and then hurled my phone across the room like the devil himself lived inside it.
Coward. That’s what I was. I couldn’t face him, couldn’t look him in the eye and risk him confirming my worst fear—that Maria was with him too and I never could be enough on my own.
So I cried, and I cried until darkness won.
A dip in the mattress jolted me awake.
My mind hadn’t yet untangled from the fog of restless dreams when the heat of another body pressed into mine. The scent hit me next—leather, smoke, and the faint musk that always clung to Thrasher.
My eyes flew open, panic rushing in fast and ugly.
Before I thought, before I breathed, my hand lashed out. The crack of my palm across skin echoed in the dark.
“Jesus—” his voice growled low.
I screamed, scrambling back against the headboard, clutching at the thin blanket as if it could shield me. My pulse pounded in my ears, my throat raw from the sound that tore out of me.
“Melody,” he said, sharper this time, the rasp of command laced through my name. His hand shot out, gripping my wrist—not hard, not enough to hurt, but enough to ground me. “It’s me. Calm down.”
I blinked at him, heart racing, chest heaving. The shadows shifted with the moonlight bleeding in from the blinds, outlining his features. His jaw tight, his eyes burning, his hair damp like he’d run water over it before coming here.
Enzo.
Relief slammed into me, tangled with confusion and leftover fear. And if I’m honest, heartbreak.
“You scared me half to death,” I whispered, voice breaking.
