Page 145 of On The Edge
“We didn’t,” Reis tells Paul. “We didn’t want her to leave. We love her so much it hurts.”
“How did she have her stuff?” Kai presses, “How did she get to the airport? How did she get home? Is she at home? Is she safe?”
Paul looks at each of us hesitantly, like he’s trying to figure out if he can actually trust us. It’s clear he’s grown attached to Mel and while it’s nice that she has someone in her corner, if he doesn’t get on with the point, I’m going to choke him out.
Besides, her harem is closed.
Seemingly hearing what he needs to trust us, Paul’s expression changes quickly when he sees how we’re chomping at the bit for more information on Melody.
“When Louis pulled me to the front during the Manchester concert, her bags were all packed and at the venue. I assumed she had done it. I drove her to the airport myself, but Louis said she’d figure out her own way home. Made her sign the NDA. It was cruel and hard to watch, but she handled him like a champ.” I grit my teeth angrily and I can hear Kai growl beside me. So not only did Louis manipulate her into leaving somehow, he also abandoned her to find her own way home internationally, all the while twisting the knife.
“What about her stuff? I had everything moved from Haven to New York,” Reis asks quickly, and I can hear the hope in his voice. Maybe she’s back in our apartment, sleeping in my shirt and lounging on the couch.
But Paul shakes his head. “She mentioned that Louis told her he had all her things moved back to Haven. She… gave me a hug, jumped from the SUV and I didn’t see her again. I even checkedher socials to make sure she was okay, but there’s nothing new posted since one of the selfies of her in London.”
So much in that statement makes me want to shove him and tell him to back off our girl, but I know he’s just being helpful. But hearing that she hugged him as she was heartbroken makes me want to rip his arms off.
“Are you able to see her socials?” I ask quickly. If he’s not blocked and he’s friends with her, maybe Reis can message her somehow. Plead with her to hear us out and that we love her. That weabsolutelydid not want this.
“Yeah,” Paul nods, “You can’t? Her stuff isn’t private.”
“We can’t. We’ve all tried. Can we use your account?” Reis asks quickly. I see the spark in his eye that I’m feeling.
Hope.
“Yeah, sure.” Paul nods, handing over his phone to Reis quickly. We all watch as the one tether we have to Mel makes its way into Reis' hands.
“I’ll be really fast. Code?” Reis asks.
“4523,” Paul prattles off automatically and Reis smiles, running to grab his computer.
“So, Louis told you she had chosen to leave becausewesaid we wanted her gone?” I ask, my chest tightening just a little.
“That’s what I was told,” Paul confirms.
“Why would she believe it, though? I thought… I thought we had shown her how much we love her. I thought she trusted us,” Adam asks, looking at me with eyes full of emotion.
“He must have done something.” I try to think back to every interaction to find any clue of what might have been said or done. “And I’m going to figure it out.”
“We,” Kai chimes in quickly. “We are going to figure it out. And when we do? He’s going to pay for this.”
“Fuck yeah, he is.”
Reis spendsour free hour at his computer, searching for her and drafting messages, trying to do anything he can to get in contact with Mel. But she never responds.
I try not to spiral about her safety or her mental health. She’s strong, she’s smart, but those twenty-four hours where we thought she’d left us of her own choice… those brought me to my metaphorical knees. I can’t…
I don’t want to imagine how she felt being cornered by Louis and told all those disgusting things. Untrue things.
I need to find out how he proved to her that it was what we wanted. Was it the lipstick on Adam’s neck? Did another girl get to her? No, she would’ve come to us and kicked our asses.
It has to be something Louis did.
At the venue, we decide to go sniffing around. To keep up appearances, we take turns getting ready, saying hello to the new staff, all that stuff, but the rest of us look for any sort of clues. Anything that could give us an idea.
Paul said he’d keep an eye out as well. That he just wants to help Melody.
I’m trying really fucking hard herenotto snap at him possessively about how she’s ours. Always has been.
