Page 36 of On The Edge
“I definitely am.”
Kai pulls his shoulders back, and the look in his eye shows me that my wild boy is back. He wants to see what I’m going to do to make Reis' life hell.
I’m not the sweet little girl they left behind. I had to grow up and defend myself really quickly.
Reis is going to regret a lot of things.
Kai steps back, gesturing for me to open the door, while Adam and Markus just loiter around, here for the showdown.
Or for back up. For which of us, I’m not sure.
I point to the door next to the one I woke up in, and turn back to them. “That one’s his?”
Adam nods, smirking. Markus crosses his arms over his chest and winks at me. Kai bites his lower lip to keep from laughing and nods, his eyes shining with mischief.
Raising an eyebrow, I crack a small smile and narrow my eyes in determination to ruin this man's day.
Taking the shiny brass doorknob in my hand, I turn it quietly before slipping into the dark room. And I don’t mean that just because Reis has the curtains drawn. I mean, the whole room just screams darkness, hiding, mystery, hurt. The vibe as I enter his room nearly knocks me back.
Pain. Lost. Yearning. Darkness.
I push those feelings aside because right now, it’s not about his pain. It’s about what fuckery he decided to do to me and getting revenge for it.
My eyes take just a second to adjust to the darkness, but once they do, I stop in my tracks by the sight before me. Reis is sleeping on his stomach with both hands under his pillow. It’s like he’s subconsciously showcasing his muscles and my jaw drops. The soft snores tell me he’s unaware of my presence, so I can take a moment to just observe him.
There’s beautiful artwork on his back; an amazing tattoo of a prairie with a single tree in the distance. It takes my breath away, honestly. It looks just like the place where he built me a treehouse during my sophomore year. Reis spear-headed the effort to make it, saving money to buy any bits he needed, scrapping the lumber from different things, and slowly taking wood from his dad’s pile in the garage.
I still remember when he unveiled it to me. I find myself getting lost in the memory of one of the safest places I’d known before it was ripped from me.
It was right when the bullying was getting bad. Markus had turned down a cheerleader, and she was sure that it was because I was fucking him—and the others.
The rumors started; the quiet hazing, the rough shoves in the hallway. Nothing the guys would have noticed, or the teachers would get wind of.
The day it all came to a head, that same girl… she took my bra and underwear during gym class, and told me I didn’t needthem since I was so easy anyway. I needed to “be ready to be their cum slut.”
I ditched the last period of class and raced to one of the fields out by Reis’ house. He lived on a big piece of land with his family, so I ran there, out into the open and headed for the lone tree. The place where I could be alone but still feel supported. I vividly remember falling into the tree with no more energy left in my body, and letting my frustration out in a blood-curdling scream. My fingers traced the five names along the trunk Kai carved into the bark one night.
There was nothing special about that tree, nothing at all. But it was the guys, the care, and friendship I always felt there that built my love for the space. We’d spend hours laying out in the sun, just talking and doing homework. It was far enough away where we didn’t have to deal with Reis’ terrible mother, but close enough that we were still technically on their property.
And that’swhere he found me. Reis, out of breath and sweating, knelt beside me as I lay on the ground with my hand resting against our names.
“How’d you know I was here?” I asked, my voice hoarse from tears.
“Where else would you be but at our spot?” he replied, lying on his back beside me. “You want to talk about it?”
“Does it even matter?”
Reis rolled onto his side and held my hand. “Melody, we didn’t know where you were or what happened. You weren’t waiting for us after school. You look like you’ve been crying. Please, just tell me what happened.”
“Nothing,” I answered softly, hoping and praying he didn’t look deeper into it. The guys were popular in a cool outcastkind of way, and made it clear I was off-limits to everyone else. They weren’t above fighting to protect me, so people usually did what they said.
But that never stopped people from doing shitty things to me quietly or behind their backs. And I was too scared of making it worse to say anything.
Reis and I laid there in silence, just holding hands and watching the clouds float by.
“We should build a treehouse,” Reis blurted out, pulling me from my dozing.
“I can’t build anything,” I chuckled. “Don’t you remember my attempt at a birdhouse in shop class?”
