Page 111 of On The Edge
And I’m not in any rush to let her out of my arms.
I walk into the bathroom behind them, closing the door behind us, rushing to help Reis hold her up.
Melody finds her footing and stands up.
“We shouldn’t have pushed her to get up and move around,” Reis says softly. “She’s in that blissed-out space. I just don’t want her to get sick when we’re so far from home.”
“I’m fine,” Melody says strongly. Her voice is a little wobbly, but very much still the strong girl we love. “I’m just so tired.”
“I know you are, baby,” Reis says quickly, “It’s okay. We’ve got you.”
“I’m just relaxed, for fuck’s sake,” she whispers before pushing out of my arms and past Reis to go sit on the toilet. “If you guys don’t want to be close enough that you hear me pee, I suggest leaving.”
We both shrug, turning to give her some privacy, which in and of itself is funny because we just fucked her so well… and so very thouroughly.
Mel goes to the restroom, no shame, and we only turn back around when we hear her flush.
“Come on, Songbird, shower time.” I hold my hand out to her, pulling her to the shower.
“This is ridiculous. You not only have a private jet, but you also made sure it came with a full shower?” She rolls her eyes with all the teasing and mirth that I love.
“Oh yeah. When you’re flying across the country, or across the world to get from east to west in a night, you need all the amenities.”
“Blah, blah, blah. All I heard is that you guys are spoiled.” Her sass is back and on full display, and to be honest, it’s making me hard again.
“Ifwe’respoiled, Reverb,” Reis says with a smirk, opening the curtain and helping her into the shower before slipping in behind her. He doesn’t close the curtain behind him, and I’m taking that as a damn invitation, so I climb in, in front of her. “Ifwe’respoiled, can you imagine how bad you’re going to be soon? All this wealth of ours, and all we care about is keeping you happy.”
I can see where he’s trying to go with this, but I also know Melody is going to throat punch him if he even so much as suggests she’ll get any financial compensation by staying with us. He’s going to be read the riot act soon, and I don’t necessarily want to be here for the aftermath. Turning the shower on hot, I start soaping up quickly. Once I’m cleaned, I slide my arms around Melody, shifting her closer so she can have the water as well.
We have a shower on the plane, but it’s not a hotel. We’ve got very limited water.
Reis cleans himself off as he and Mel are opposing each other. I canfeelthe way she’s trying desperately to be calm. She takes a deep breath, and lets it go quickly. It’s like she’s choosing her words very carefully.
“I’m so happy for you guys and your massive success. You know that, right?” Melody asks him, then looks to me for my answer.
“Yeah, Mel. I know.” I say as I tuck my chin into her neck, and Reis nods.
“I’m really proud of you guys. I always knew you could do it. Make it big,” she says with a sweet–too sweet–smile on her face. Reis is eating this up, her words are hitting exactly where they need to with him. I swear his chest puffs up at her words. Scratch that, I know it does.
The memory of what he told us she said that day fills my head. The way his voice broke when he said she didn’t think we’d make it big. That lie she told out of desperation, but we all believed like young idiots.
It hit Reis harder than the rest of us.
So for her to say those words, it has to be healing something inside him that he refuses to recognize.
I stay silent because I know there’s a ‘but’ coming. I can feel it.
“Butif you think that money means shit to me, you’re sorely mistaken,” she finishes her thought strongly. I see Reis' eyebrows rise so high they almost touch his hairline.
I can’t help it. I laugh.
His gaze turns on me, looking like he wants to murder me, but Melody just chuckles with me.
“Why are you fucking laughing?” He snaps.
“Because! Because. Songbird has never been the money girl. She’s never wanted more than just us. Us, stupid-ass high school boys who had twenty bucks between the four of us and a dream.”
“Yeah, but now, now we can get herwhatevershe wants. Whatever sheneeds,” Reis says quickly.
