Page 114 of Stroked Hard
With all of my pleasantries accounted for, I guide Melony away from Ruby and Bodi and direct her toward the restaurant I told my family to meet me at.
“What the hell are you doing?” Melony asks, trying to shake away from my grip. Not happening, baby.
“Good to see you, too. Thanks, winning gold today was awesome. Your support hasn’t gone unnoticed.” It’s a dick thing to say, butwhat the hell are you doing here?wasn’t the greeting I expected. There is only so much I can take.
Stopping in her tracks, her face falls as she looks up at me. “You won gold today?”
Feeling slightly uncomfortable, I grip my hair and nod at her. “Yeah.”
Tears well up in her eyes, and her posture deflates as she shakes her head. “I can’t believe I didn’t know that. What kind of person does that make me?”
It’s like a stab to my heart. I want to be understanding, but I’m also mad. If she wasn’t running so damn much, we could have shared this moment together.She might have bothered to watch my dives.Instead, it looks like we are about to fight about it, which is the last thing I want.
“Doesn’t matter.”It does the fuck matter.I swallow my pride and remind myself who I’m speaking with. Melony needs someone strong right now. “I want to celebrate with you, so come have dinner with me.”
I can feel thenowanting to come from her but instead, she nods. “Okay.” When I try to guide her in the right direction, she stops me, her hand clasping on to mine and pulling me toward her. “You won gold,” she says in awe, her hand gripping my cheek. “I’m so proud of you, Hollis.” Standing on her tippy toes, she presses her delicious lips against mine, right here, in the middle of the Olympic complex. I don’t say a word, don’t point out that she’s providing a huge PDA moment. No, I take what she’s giving me and kiss her back, my tongue barely grazing hers.
Fuck yes, small victory. If I have to play the gold-medal card all night, I fucking will. I wonder how long the card will actually work?
“Melony, I love you. Will you marry me? You’re going to say no? Remember when I won that gold medal. . .”
I’m going to have to really play this out.
When she pulls away, I try to comprehend the myriad of emotions running through her eyes. If only I had a translator for her eyes, life would be so much easier. What’s going through the pretty mind of hers?
I’m bound and determined to find out.
On the way to the restaurant, I hold her hand, loving the way it fits in my palm. Even though holding her hand makes me the happiest man in the world, I can’t help but notice the way she’s nibbling her lower lip with worry the entire walk.
When we reach the restaurant after a short walk of awkward silence, I decide to break the news to her about my family being in attendance.
“Hey, before we go in there, my family will actually be having dinner with us.”
“What?” She backs up but I stop her. “Hollis, I thought we weren’t telling anyone about us.” I want to point out that she wasn’t worried about that a few minute ago when she was pressing her mouth against mine, but I refrain. Itryto dig deep into what’s bothering her.
“Is there even an us?” I ask, desperately trying to read her.
There she goes biting her bottom lip again, avoiding eye contact completely. I don’t fucking like that at all. Pulling her off to the side, out of the public’s eye, I grip her chin and force her to look at me.
“Melony, what the hell is going on? I left LA thinking I was sitting pretty with my girl by my side but slowly as time slipped by, you grew more and more distant. I don’t fucking understand. Is it something I did?”
“No.” She shakes her head and then takes a deep breath. “It’s just been a long trip.”
“It’s not the trip,” I point out. “You were acting like this while you were still in LA, waiting to fly here. So tell me, what the hell happened?”
Somberly, she looks up at me and says, “I don’t want to fight right now. Can we just celebrate your accomplishment?”
“It’s going to be pretty fucking hard for me to celebrate knowing there is a wall erecting up between us.”
“Please,” she begs.
Fucking frustrating woman. I grip my hair, irritated as shit and then throw my hands in the air. “Sure, let’s go fucking celebrate.” I blow up, right there, my level of anger tipping past what I can handle. “Let’s go have a jolly fucking time.” Hey, even Noah Calhoun had his moments.
“Hollis,” Melony pleads, gripping my arm.
“No, Mel, you want to celebrate? Fine let’s fucking celebrate.” Without another word, I take her hand in mine and walk through the restaurant to the back where my family is waiting for me. This was the last way I wanted Melony to meet my family, but fuck if I can give two fucks at this moment.
“Back here, son.” My dad stands and waves his hand, garnering our attention.
