Mel followed Mr. Montgomery inside the building and stood back as he spoke to the officer behind the counter, the one who’d said she couldn’t help. Mel had no idea what he was saying or how he could go about freeing her mother, she was only grateful that he was trying to help. She stayed a few feet back and Mr. Montgomery didn’t spare her a glance as he was led through a security door. Mel found a chair and lowered herself into it, wringing her hands as she waited and prayed that he could free her mother. Honestly, she wasn’t sure how this would affect Ryeland. His father was pretty harsh with him, and even though Mel had been reluctant to let Ryeland call home, his father was the only chance she had of getting her mom out.
Seconds turned to minutes, and when her mother finally came from the back room, an officer Mel didn’t recognize leading her through the security doors to the main counter, Mel jumped to her feet.
“Mel,” her mom said, her eyes still glossy, her words harsh as she zeroed in on her, like everything was Mel’s fault. “I would rather rot in hell than let that man help me.”
Mel flinched at the hard words aimed her way, but not wanting to discuss this here, Mel grabbed her by the waist and led her outside. Her mother straightened slightly as the cool night air washed over them. She looked for Ryeland, but he was long gone.
“Did you want me to leave you in there?” she hissed out.
“Yes.” Her mother struggled against her.
Feeling the fight drain out of her, she said, “Mom, come on. Let’s get you home.”
She practically carried her mom down the sidewalk and when they reached her building, Mel fished the keys from her mother’s pocket and dragged her upstairs to her apartment. Her mother threw herself on the sofa and Mel sat down on the coffee table, wanting answers.
“How do you know the Montgomerys?” she asked pointedly.
“You stay away from them,” she slurred.
“I’m with their son, so you’d better tell me how you know them.”
Her mother jerked up and nearly fell off the sofa, Mel’s words having the affect she’d hoped. Honest to God, she was so freaking tired of this, tired of her mother’s behavior, her self-pity, all the secrets.
Her mother wagged her finger, but couldn’t seem to focus it on Mel. “Mel, you stay away from them. You need to listen to me.”
“Tell me how you know them,” she demanded.
Her mother fell back on to the sofa, and put her hand over her face, a moment later she began crying. “He…he was my first, Melody. My first love. Seeing him tonight…I never wanted him to see me like that…”
This time Mel nearly fell to the floor. “What?” she asked, shaking her head in disbelief. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, Arthur was such a beautiful boy, with such a promising future. I was nothing but a poor townie, but he fell for me. We were in love.”
Her mother and Arthur were in love?
“Then what happened?”
“Eliza happened.”
“Ryeland’s mother,” she stated.
“Yeah,” Rita said, her voice rising. “We were friends, and she was jealous that Arthur was going to take me away and marry me and give me the life I dreamed of.” She grabbed Mel’s hands. “We were friends and she betrayed me. Arthur betrayed me.”
“How did they do that?”
“They slept together.” She sobbed harder and Mel ran to the bathroom to grab her some tissues. Rita blew her nose and continued, “Then Eliza got pregnant and the rest is history.”
Mel’s heart squeezed as understanding dawned. Her gaze moved over her mother’s red puffy face. “You never got over him.”
She hiccupped, then said quietly, “No.”
“What about Dad?”
“He was a rebound. He was never any good. And I’m so sorry, Mel. I’m so sorry. He told me he was taking you for ice cream that night. I had no idea.” Mel could feel tears pricking at her eyes, but fought them back, not wanting to think about the events that took place in that hotel room so long ago.
“I want you to go in to rehab, Mom,” she said firmly. “You need help.”
Her mother nodded slowly and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I know,” she whispered.
“I mean it. You need help. Let me take you to rehab in the morning.”
“Okay,” she said so quietly Mel had to strain to hear. Rita sagged against the pillow and Mel grabbed the blanket at the foot of the sofa. Her mom might be agreeing to it tonight, but tomorrow could very well be a different story. Mel just hoped this run-in with Arthur was enough to show her she’d hit rock bottom and now there was only one way to go—up.
“Mel,” her mom said as Mel covered her up.
“Yeah?”
Her mother’s frail hands gripped Mel’s elbow and she held tight. “Don’t let them hurt you the way they hurt me.”
“I won’t.” She swallowed the lump pushing in to her throat. “Why don’t you try to get some sleep.”
“Will you stay? I don’t want to be alone.”
“I will.”
Mel dropped down onto the floor and laid her head against the cushions. Her mother stroked her hair and soon enough she fell into a drunken sleep. Her frail hand fell from Mel’s head. Mel closed her eyes and the next thing she knew dawn was upon them. She stretched out and turned to see her mother blink up at her.
“Mel,” she said, her voice thick with emotions. “I’m…I’m sick.” The hand reaching out to her trembled. Years of depression and alcohol had deepened the lines around the eyes looking up at her, making her appear so much older than her forty-five years. “I’m so tired of being sick.”
“I know.” Taking her mother’s hand, Mel gave it a comforting squeeze and choked back tears of relief. “I’m going to get you help.” She covered her mother back up and pulled her phone from her pocket. Her heart flipped when she saw all the concerned texts from Ryeland. Before she could text back, she made a few phone calls to make arrangements to get her mother placed in rehab at the hospital.
Once done she helped her mother up and packed her a bag. She called for a cab, but when she stepped outside, she found Ryeland leaning against his Jeep waiting for her.
“Rye,” she whispered under her breath, her heart squeezing so tight it hurt to breathe. She could hardly believe he was here for her.
He stepped up to her, and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “You okay?” he asked, his eyes narrowing as he assessed her. When she nodded his gaze moved to her mother.
“I’m taking her to the hospital,” Mel explained. “I called a cab.”
“I’ll take you.”
“Okay,” she said, needing his help, his quiet strength, and steady assuredness to get through this.
Ryeland helped Mel get her mother into the passenger seat. Twenty minutes later, Mel sat in the admissions office of the rehab center, filling out forms while her mother was led off for treatment. Knowing there was nothing more she could do today, she turned and walked in to Ryeland’s open arms.
“Let’s get you home,” he murmured into her hair.
He held her tight as he led her back to his vehicle and drove her home. Once inside her room, he dropped a kiss onto her mouth.
“You okay?”
“I will be,” she answered, tears so close to the surface it was all she could do to keep herself together. “I just need some sleep.”
Ryeland grabbed the hem of her shirt and lifted it over her head, leaving her in her bra and jeans. He backed her up until her knees hit the bed, then straightened her rumpled sheets. “Climb in,” he said.
With exhaustion pulling at her she slid between the sheets and Ryeland peeled off his shirt and moved in beside her. His warmth reached out to her and she snuggled in closer, enjoying the feel of his naked skin next to hers.
As Ryeland ran his hand up and down her arm, she said, “I asked my mother how she knew your mom.”
“Yeah, I got the story too. But I’m sure it’s different from yours.”
“From what my mother told me, she used to date your father back in the day, and then he left her for Eliza, leaving my mom heartbroken. I guess that’s why she hates the vacationers now. She married my father as a rebound and has been miserable ever since.” She stopped and breathed out a shuddering breath, a chill racing down her spine as her mind went back in time. “Then after he…well, she turned to the bottle.”
He cupped her face, everything in his eyes intense, serious. “After he what, Melody?”
She swallowed hard as his gaze moved over her face, and once again she could feel tears threating to spill. God, she did not want to talk about this with Ryeland, especially when she was such an emotional wreck. Sure he said he could never think less of her, but…what if he did?
“Melody,” he whispered, his hand so soft on the side of her face, her heart missed a beat. “No one is going to hurt you again. I promise.”
As she looked at him, it occurred to her that she believed him, believed in him, and that didn’t come easy to her. In that instant, as he held her so tight, so protectively, a barrage of emotions bubbled to the surface. Her heart squeezed as something inside her let go, and this time there was nothing she could do to stop the tears from running down her cheeks as painful memories rose to the surface.
He lightly brushed the tears away, chasing them with soft kisses. “Baby, whatever it is, it’s going to be okay.”
She nodded as her body sank into his, letting him fill the hollowness inside her with something other than anger and pain. “I was only thirteen,” she began on a hiccup. “An innocent kid.” She stopped to get her breath, then remained quiet, but Rye’s soft hand on her face and the warmth in his eyes gave her the courage to go on. “My father drank for as long as I could remember. And he was mean, always mean, but even worse when he was drunk. One night he got mixed up in the poker games held at the resort each year, and well, he lost everything.”
“Everything?”
“Yeah, everything. So he…” Bile rose in her throat and she swallowed at the hurtful things he’d done, to both her, and her mother. She looked away, staring unseeingly at a spot just past his shoulder.
Rye touched her chin, pulling her gaze back to his. The concern in his eyes warmed her heart.
“What did he do, Melody?” he asked, his voice rough with emotions.
Melody looked into Rye’s eyes, so full of concern. She reached up, ran her finger along the faint crinkles left from laughter and wondered how he would see her once the whole story was told. If they were going to have any shot at a future together, there could be no secrets between them. It was now or never. She took a cleansing breath, let her hand fall to the mattress, and took the hardest step of her life.
“My father was never an affectionate man. I can’t remember him ever going out of his way to spend time with me, so when he came in one evening and said he was taking me out for ice cream, well…” She pulled in another breath, let it shudder out. Rye’s arms tightened encouragingly. “Chocolate swirl. He told me I could have any flavor, and I loved chocolate swirl. We drove around a while and then he stopped at the lodge, said he needed to see a guy about something and it would only take a minute. That he was…a special friend and I was to be nice to him.”
His forehead dropped to hers, his thumbs gently brushing away the tears that streamed down the sides of her face. “Baby, you don’t have to say anything else.”
She wrapped her fingers around his wrists, drawing from his strength. “Yes, I do. I have to.”
When a drop of moisture fell to her cheek, Melody realized it wasn’t only her tears Rye was wiping away. Her heart swelled as she went on.
“He…he used me to pay his debt.”
Ryeland stiffened and she could tell it was taking a great effort for him to keep it together. But she knew he would, because right now she needed his strength, and he knew that. He sucked in a couple of deep breaths and held them for a few seconds before he let them out slowly.
“There were a lot of rumors, but I never told anyone what he did to me.” A strangled noise sounded in her throat and she shook her head. “How could a man do that to his own daughter? How could he leave me there with that man while he went to his car to wait?”
“I don’t know, baby. I don’t know,” he said, pulling her in tighter, and squeezing her so hard she could barely breathe. “But I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Years of pent-up pain and anguish broke free and her tears flowed harder when he ran his hands over her back, holding her in such a tender, possessive way her entire heart opened to him. “No one is ever going to hurt you again. I swear to God. If anyone ever comes near you again, they’ll have to go through me first.”
She sniffed, her tears soaking his skin as her face pressed against his neck. “I didn’t sleep with him, Ryeland. It never came to that,” she said, wanting to tell him everything, no matter how ugly the truth was.
He inched back, relief backlighting his eyes. “No?”
“No.” She breathed deep, then blurted out, “I killed him.”
He sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. Clearly he hadn’t seen that coming.
“How?” he asked, his voice low, his hands practically trembling as they held her.
“He came at me, all drunk and slobbering and grabby. There was a lamp beside me. I reacted and grabbed it. He tripped on the cord and fell and cracked his head wide open.”
“Jesus,” he said, his thumb rubbing her shoulder as he took a moment to process.
“I was afraid he was going to get back up so I smashed it over his head. Over and over and over again.” A hard shiver moved through her and when she shook, violently, he tightened his hold on her. “I can still remember the sound of his bones crushing, see the blood pooling on that awful green carpet.”
He hugged her tighter. “It was self defense against a grown man. You’re a fighter, baby. I love that about you.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, I do.”
She looked down, ashamed of herself. “I wanted him dead, Ryeland. It still scares me today how much I wanted him dead.” She buried her face in her hands, her stomach clenching when she added, “It scares me how capable I was of doing it.”
Ryeland brushed her hair back, put his thumb under her chin, and lifted it until their eyes met. “You were a frightened child. You reacted.”
“I murdered a man.”
His jaw tightened. “No, you protected yourself from a rapist pedophile, Melody. That’s what you did.”
“I wanted him dead, Ryeland,” she said. “That makes me a bad person.”
“No, it doesn’t. You’re the best person I know.”
She sniffed and looked into his eyes. “You don’t think any less of me?” she asked, her emotions about that night all over the place. God, she was just a kid then. How was she supposed to deal with what her father had done, what she’d done? Half the time she didn’t know whether it was right or wrong, and the counseling she’d received at the time had proved pretty worthless. What she had really needed was her mother, someone she could trust, turn to for comfort, but her mother had turned to the bottle, instead leaving Mel to deal with it herself. Some job she was doing of that.
But Ryeland was here now, giving her the comfort, the support she needed. No one had ever been there for her like him.
“Of course not. You were defending yourself. Christ, if I’d been there I’d have killed the bastard too.”
A strange strangled laugh sounded in her throat. “Officer Sattler came. He protected me.”
“He still watches out for you, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, and then last summer I slept with his nephew Trevor. I had no trust in men, and Trevor was nice to me. I thought he was one of the good guys, you know, like his uncle. I was wrong.” She took a big hiccupping breath. “You were right. I’m a bad judge of character.”
Her pulled her head to his chest and ran his hand over her hair. “Oh, baby, I’m sorry.”
“There were rumors about what happened in that hotel room,” she whispered against his chest. “After I slept with Trevor he bragged about ‘bagging’ me and told everyone how good I was in the sack.” A cold shiver moved through her and she pulled back to see him when she added, “He said that poker player died because I fucked him so good that I gave him a heart attack.”
Ryeland rubbed his temple, like he was trying to calm himself down. “What a prick.”
“Then I was bullied and harassed by almost everyone.”
The muscles along his jaw rippled and he pressed his fingers over his eyes. “I’m going to get you out of this town, Melody. I promise. I’m going to make things better for you.”
She sniffed and pulled his hands from his eyes. When she saw how watery they still were her heart squeezed. “Rye.”
He swallowed. “Yeah.”
“Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me for anything.”
“You helped me with my mom, and well…you’re always there for me. No one has ever been there for me before.”
“Don’t you see?” he said, his voice trembling slightly. “It’s because I love you, Melody, and would do anything for you.”
“You love me?”
“Hell yeah, I love you.”
She sniffed again, more tears falling, but this time they were tears of joy. “I love you too.”
“And you’re good for me too, baby.” He slid his hands over her bare arms and she quivered.
“I need you, Rye.” Feeling beaten down after dealing with her mother and sharing her painful memories, she put her palm on his cheek, needing to be touched, caressed, loved by him more than ever. “I need to be with you.”
“I need to be with you too.”
Ryeland kissed her, his mouth moving slowly over hers as he pressed her back onto her bed. His mouth left hers and he undressed her slowly, his dark gaze never leaving hers. Her heart pounded. God, she had never felt so loved, so close to anyone.
“I love you,” she said practically to herself, feeling like a tremendous weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
He made quick work of his clothes, then sheathed himself. With hands that were so gentle, so protective, he touched her all over. Soon he was moving inside her. She closed her eyes, losing herself completely in him, letting go of the past and reveling in the now. She hadn’t been prepared for a man like Ryeland, hadn’t believed a man like him existed, or how much her life had changed since meeting him.
Her hands moved over his, unable to get enough of him. Her heart swelled as he picked up the pace, his lips closing over hers as her body gave in to the pleasure.
“Melody,” he murmured, as he let go, releasing high inside her. “Oh, Jesus, Melody.” After they both climaxed, he covered them with the blankets and as she snuggled into him, she was certain nothing or no one could ever come between them.