Page 77 of On The Edge
Melody tries to pull away from me, tries to get out of my grip, but that shit’s not happening. Not now.
I hold onto her tighter as she tries to push against my hold. Tears fall down her face and wild sobs leave her lips, all while I hold her steady and wish I could take all her pain away. I’d do it. In a goddamn heartbeat.
“Fuck off, Kai!” She grunts, trying to pull back, but I’m not letting that happen. She smacks my chest in anger.
With each pound of her fists, I feel a little less guilty for all the shit that we’ve put her through. I know that’s not the reason why she’s hitting me, but I let her do it. I’ll let her hit over and over me if it makes her feel better.
Call it penance.
“Melody, Melody, come on,” I do my best to speak softly to her while her eyes stay filled with tears. Her light fists keep hitting my chest, but she’s losing steam. Her hits are even lighter with each random blow. “Baby, please.”
“Kai,” she moans, crying softly as she collapses against my chest. I wrap my arms around her, and tuck her face into my chest as I try to completely shield her from anything and everything. I can feel the wetness of her tears seep through my shirt and into my skin.
Her sadness is my sadness.
“I’ve got you, I’m right here. I’ve got you, I’m right here,” I whisper repetitively into her ear, holding her head gently against my chest as we slip down to the floor.
Fucking Reis.
Mel fell asleep sometimeafter the fiftieth whispered, “It’s okay, baby. I’m here.”
Her head rests heavily against my chest as I breathe in her scent, holding her tightly to my chest. After her sobs had started to soften, I’d positioned us so that her legs were resting over my lap and my back was against the bed. It’s been a few hours and my ass is completely asleep and numb, but I’m not moving. Not an inch.
She fell asleep on me.She fell asleep on me. There has to be a certain level of subconscious trust involved for someone to fall asleep in your presence. Right?
Even if there isn’t, I don’t want to know because it’s what I believe. And I intend not to break her trust in any way.
What am I going to do to fix this? I thought telling her I love her would make any of the doubts disappear, but the trauma we’ve caused runs so deep. My heart breaks for her, for us, and I’m so fucking angry because Reis keeps doing shit that makes her think we’re just manipulating her.
Are we always one thing away from being ripped apart?
No. I refuse to believe that.
A soft knock at the door makes me tighten my grip on her protectively. Whoever’s there can fuck off.
“Melody?” I hear Adam call softly through the door. “Echo, can I come in?”
I don’t answer, I don’t want me speaking to wake her up. Maybe he’ll leave us alone.
Wishful thinking on my part though, because after a few moments of silence he opens the door that I should’ve fucking locked behind me.
“What are you doing in here?” he asks me accusingly.
“Holding her. Protecting her like I promised I would.” Adam looks like he’s about to argue with me, but I cut him off. “Like you’re not doing the same fucking thing,” I whisper. Adam sighs and shrugs, stepping inside before shutting the door quietly behind him.
“Is she okay?” His footsteps are soft as he comes to sit beside us.
“No, I don’t think she is.” I sigh. “I thought… I thought when we told her how we all felt that she’d trust us again.”
“That’s not how it works.” Adam shakes his head, leaning in, and pressing a kiss to her head. “I figured that she’d be skeptical of us for a long time. We fucked up, and didn’t do a thing to remedy it for years. We’re damn lucky that she even talked to us again, nevermind giving us another chance.”
“I didn’t think of it that way.”
“Was she upset?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I sigh, hugging her to me tighter. “She thinks we’re just toying with her. She said she doesn’t know how to trust that we mean what we say when Reis makes decisions and we all agree without any discussion. I get it, I understand where she’s coming from.”
“Did you at least tell her that we didn’t know about it either?”
