Page 27 of His Savage Bride
“Kiss my ass.” Melissa crosses her arms under her breasts and turns her face away from him.
“Hey, I’m sorry, Red.” Trenton laughs at her pout. “Look, once you’re feeling better, let me make it up to you. I’ll buy you dinner, take you dancing, whatever you want. No hard feelings, okay?”
“Go stand outside with the other mouth-breathers,” Melissa orders him as she raises one arm to point the way. “And don’t call me Red.”
Trenton barks a laugh, then with a shake of his head walks over to the door. “I’ll be right outside if you need anything,” he tells us before leaving and pulling the door closed behind him.
“So, what happened?” I ask, trying to clarify things. “He let you hit his vape? And it fucked you up?”
“Ugh, yes.” She rolls her good eye and huffs. “I thought it was just a cigarette. God knows I could use one. But no, thatasshole just hands it over without warning me, and after a couple of drags, I’m practically comatose all evening. Anyway, that’s enough of that. I just wanted him to know he’s not forgiven, and I won’t be forgetting his little prank. Now, tell me what happened after you got snatched up and I got my face caved in yesterday!”
“They dragged me out of the restaurant and smacked me around a bit, then threw me into the back seat of their vehicle. One of them got in the back with me and zip-tied my wrists. They stopped to get some coffee, and while the driver was pumping gas, I pulled out a knife I had in my boot and stabbed the guy in the back seat in the throat. Then I grabbed the gun he was carrying and shot the other one through the window.”
“You…you killed them?Bothof them?” She gapes at me incredulously. “One of them with a knife you keep in your boot?”
“Yeah, it was one like this.” I pull the new knife Maximo had given me out and hold it up to show her.
“Is that the same knife?” Melissa’s mouth is still hanging open, and I can’t help but laugh.
“No.” I smile at her. “The police kept that one, I think. At least, I didn’t get it back. Maximo gave me this one from his collection to replace it.”
“Of course he did.” Melissa sighs. “I’m glad you’re okay, and that the men who did this,” she says waving a hand at her face, “are off the streets. But Constance…who even are you now? I mean that in the nicest way possible, but really, what have you done with the girl I grew up with? These last couple of months since your father was killed…you’ve become, I don’t know…different. Harder.”
“I know,” I whisper as I stick the knife back down the side of my boot. “Last night I could barely sleep because I kept reliving the entire thing, especially when they hurt you, and those few seconds where I fought with and killed them. It felt like the fearand anxiety would eat me from the inside out. Then Maximo rolled over and threw his arm over me, and I was finally able to sleep. I’m struggling with it all, Mel. One part of me is terrified of this life I’m leading with him, but for the most part, I feel like he’s helping me become the person I was always meant to be.” Shrugging, I tell her, “I don’t know if that makes sense, but I feel like if I can overcome this inadequacy, this fear of being with him and this lifestyle, that I can truly be myself. I guess what I’m saying is that I like who I’m becoming with Maximo. I want to be the woman he thinks I am.”
“I always knew you were fierce,” she says with a smile. “That Trenton guy called me Red just now. Do you remember the last guy who called me that, back in high school? Darren Schultz?”
“Darren ‘does the carpet match the drapes’ Schultz? The one who was always running his mouth to you and called you fire crotch? Yeah, I remember that loudmouth bastard. I remember the look on his face when he upset you before lunch our senior year and I smashed his face with my world history book.”
“You had a bloodstain from his nose on that book the rest of the year. You hit him so hard he cried,” Melissa reminds me.
“His eyes were just watering; that happens to us all when we get hit like that.”
“We don’t all whine and get squeaky. His voice cracked and he could barely call you a bitch before he ran off to the bathroom.” Melissa grins at the memory.
“He left you alone after that, though, didn’t he?” I remind her.
“He would call us dykes behind our backs,” she says with a laugh that brings one out of me.
“But never where either of us could hear him.”
As our laughter dies down, I reach over and take her hand. “I’m so sorry this happened to you. If you threw me outand never wanted to see me again after everything, I would understand.”
“Oh, shut up.” Melissa waves her free hand in a dismissive gesture. “You’re my best friend, and you’ve always handled situations like a badass. The doctor assured me my face will heal up just fine. You won’t even be able to tell anything ever happened. I’m more worried about your condition.” She points at my stomach meaningfully. “You haven’t had any issues with your little passenger, have you? Does Maximo know yet?” she adds in a hushed voice.
“Everything there seems to be fine, and no, I haven’t told him yet. The timing just hasn’t been right. Our current situation with these Russians causing all these issues doesn’t really lend itself to celebration, you know?”
“Is that really why you haven’t told him?” she prods me.
“That’s certainly part of it. But between you and me, yeah, I’m still…I guess I’m worried that despite everything he says, and everything he does, that Maximo isn’t really as serious about me as he seems. I mean, we’ve known each other for a couple of months, and he’s asked me to marry him. Who does that?”
“Crazy people. Intense people.” Melissa starts counting them on the fingers of her free hand. “Soldiers heading off to war, my parents…”
“Wait, what?” I interrupt her.
“Did I never tell you that? Yeah, my parents eloped after knowing each other for three months. They both said they just knew they were meant to be together forever.”
“When my dad would talk about his memories of my mother, he said the same thing. I mean, they were together for a couple of years before they got married, but he says he knew early on and he was just waiting because he didn’t want to overwhelm her.”
