Page 18 of Relentless Surrender

Sage waved her hands into the air. “Stop! Don’t tell me anymore.”

Rising she grabbed the bear from Melissa and headed into the kitchen. Her friend followed. Searching through her drawers Sage found a heavy metal meat mallet. Pulling the camera and SD card out of the bear she laid them both onto a wooden carving board. Turning to Melissa she held out the mallet.

Melissa’s lip’s thinned as her brow lowered. Grasping the cold metal handle in her hands, she swung down heavily…and missed.

“Dammit!” she screamed.

“Hit it again!” yelled Sage.

At this point all hell broke loose. Melissa started swinging with abandon, smashing the camera into tiny little plastic pieces as Sage cheered her on. Only when the camera had been reduced to a strewn mess of plastic shards did she relent.

“Feel better?”

“Much.”

Opening a cabinet, she pulled out a bottle of red and two glasses. “So, do you think he just liked to get his kink on when you weren’t around?”

“If only it were that stupidly simple,” smirked Melissa. “He kept ranting about getting paid. I think he planned on blackmailing me.”

“Bastard,” said Sage holding out a filled wine glass for her to take.

Raising her glass in a toast, Melissa observed, “As the lovely Jennifer Aniston once said, ‘There are no regrets in life, just lessons,’” before taking a big swig. “Ow!”

“What?” asked an alarmed Sage.

“The damn wine stung my split lip.”

Sage softly laughed. “You’re a mess. Let’s get you cleaned up.

* * *

Sometime later, Melissa was curled up on the sofa under a blanket wearing one of Sage’s oversized hoodies and a pair of yoga pants. Her third glass of wine clutched in her hand. Sage took a sip from her own glass before broaching what she knew would be a contentious subject.

Taking a deep breath, she said, “I think you should file a police report.”

Melissa said nothing, just shook her head no.

“Melly, listen to reason. At the very least, you should get a restraining order against him.”

“No.”

“Your father would understand!”

“No.”

“Melly, please!”

“I can’t Sage. I just can’t do that to my dad. I can’t see the look in his eyes when I tell him why I might be dragging him into the news. I just can’t.”

“Do you honestly think he cares more about his political reputation than your safety?”

Melissa gave her friend a weary look. “Yes.” After a long pause, “Let’s not talk about it anymore.”

It wasn’t right. Sage didn’t like the idea that someone like Ricardo could get away with hitting her friend and abusing her trust. What if Melissa wasn’t the only woman he had tried this crap on? She understood her friend’s reluctance to involve the police. Melissa wasn’t an ordinary citizen. Her father’s position in the government complicated things. But still.

Sage thought of Conner. How he had stood up to Ricardo in the parking lot the other day. A man like Conner would make the bastard pay. She knew that instinctively. Men like him lived by a certain code; it was a matter of honor. He may be arrogant and overly-confident where she was concerned. Even a bit primal in how he handled her, Sage blushed to think of his probably not idle threat to put her over-his-knee if she defied him, but there was a line she was certain he would never cross.

She gave herself a mental shake. One day with the man and already she was spoiling for him to fight her battles for her. Perhaps she should start searching Amazon for frilly aprons and crinoline skirts now?

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