Chapter Fourteen
Wednesday – Southern Maryland
Melody
I get off work late, and Finn is already sitting in his truck in the driveway, getting ready to head to work when I get home. I pull in next to him, hop out and climb up onto the truck, kissing him through the window.
“Have a good night with your friends, lass. Please be safe and remember you’re my kumquat. All mine,” he says with a growl, and I get the whole wolfy territorial thing that is rolling off of him. I know it is because I will be in a room full of other Dominants looking for potential subs.
“You’re cute when you’re jealous,” I say, wrinkling my nose at him and kissing him again. “I promise to make good decisions and stay safe. Scouts honor.” I hold up three fingers towards him. “That’s the sign, right?” I ask, laughing and jumping down from the truck. “Either way,” I shrug, “I promise, Finn. You have nothing to worry about.” I hop down and wave to him. He revs the engine and smiles at me as he pulls out onto the road.
I head inside to change for the munch. I have a couple of hours before I’m supposed to meet Sam at her house, but since I’m not going to be showering before then. I don’t want to work out and get too sweaty. I stand in the bathroom in just my bra and panties, looking at the word across my belly covered in dried cum stains. I snap a picture with my phone, I make the most seductive pouty lips I can and laugh. Nice Mel. You look like a crazy person, not a sexy duck-faced girl at all. I quickly send the photo to Finn with the message.
Mel: Your kumquat forever. Xo ***
It’s quarter to six when I pull into Sam’s driveway. I park and head to the door. I’m halfway there when I hear a noise in the strip of woods separating her house from the neighbors. I freeze and turn to look. Please do not be a wolf. A squirrel darts into the trees, and I laugh at myself. Chill Mel. It’s been days since we saw anything, and Colin said they have confirmed the Alpha is back in Ireland.
“Hey! You’re going to freeze out there on the sidewalk, Chica. Get your ass in here. I need help picking out a shirt to wear.” I look up and see Sam standing barefoot on the front porch holding a rack of clothes in her arms.
“What's the big deal, Sam? It’s just a munch. We aren’t going to a club. You just need to be yourself.” I make my way up the sidewalk to her. “I know you’re hoping to meet up with someone and click. But breathe, hun. Okay?” I take several shirts draped over one of her arms and follow her through the front door. Not giving a second thought to the sounds I think I may or may not hear from the woods behind me.
“I know, I know. But there is someone I’m hoping will show up tonight.” Sam’s flustered.
“Oh, really? Did you pull the RSVP list from the community site? Who is going to be there?” We make our way to her bedroom while I chat, “Summer and Donnie are supposed to be meeting us, right? I just want to make sure the info I gave Finn was actually the truth.”
She is digging through her closet again and says, “Yep. They’ll be there tonight. Saw it in the RSVPs, and she texted me about thirty minutes ago asking if we were on the way yet.”
“Why would she have texted you then? We aren’t supposed to be there until seven, right? We have plenty of time. She is so extra sometimes.” I roll my eyes. Sam turns around, holding a little pink crop top.
“This one?”
“No, it clashes with your hair. You need black. What about that black tee with the ruffle cap sleeves? Where is that? If you’re wearing those jeans, then you need the black tee.” I dig through the pile of clothes on her bed. “Here. This one. Hurry up. Apparently, we are already running late, according to Summer.” Just then, as if her ears were burning, my phone rings. I glance at my watch and see it is Summer. “Speak of the devil.” I motion to Sam as she finishes getting dressed. I step into the hall.
“Hey, Summer. We are just finishing up Sam’s ensemble, and we will be there in ten.”
“Oh great! We are at the bar having cervezas!” How many margaritas has she downed already?
“Really? And how many have you already had? Is Donnie with you?” I ask her.
“Yep, he is talking to his buddy. I've been eating his nachos since he left them unattended. Please get here soon, hun.”
Sam comes out of the bedroom then. I look her up and down.
“You look amazing, Sam. I’d fuck you.” I wink at her.
“Hey, Summer.” I can hear her through the phone demanding “mas cervezas,” and I motion to Sam that we have to hurry. “Summer,” I practically have to yell to get her attention, “we are leaving Sam’s now. See you in ten. Go find Donnie.”
I put my phone back into my pocket, “We need to hurry up. Summer is going to be three sheets to the wind before we even get there. I don’t know why Donnie is letting her get trashed like that. But I don’t like it, Sam.”
“Let’s go,” she says, swiping her keys from the table, “I’ll drive.”
***
We pull up to Mexico, and the parking lot is packed. Typically, they’re not this busy on a Wednesday night, so I know that most of the crowd will be part of our group. Sam parks the car next to Summer’s, and we head inside.
“Don’t you think it’s weird that she drove herself?” I ask over the din of the restaurant. What is going on, Summer? My Spidey senses are tingling. Something isn’t right. That’s when I see her slumped over onto the bar, one arm under her face. Picking at a plate of nachos, she has a smear of queso on her cheek.
Sam and I look at each other and at the same time say, “Shit!”
“Hey, honey,” I whisper softly to Summer when I walk up, rubbing her back gently, “you okay?” I see Sam sit next to her and slide the almost full frozen drink away from our friend. She signals to the bartender to cut Summer off. He leans into her, and I think I catch the words Virgin daiquiris. I raise an eyebrow at Sam, and she nods with a look as confused as mine on her face.
“Ah, Summer. Where is Donnie?” I look around the bar and restaurant, but I don’t see him anywhere. “Did he come with you?”
“That asshole? Who cares where he is? He probably left, abandoning me here to deal with his mess!” She sits up and yells the last part looking around the room to see if she can find him.
“All right, stop. You need to start from the beginning.” Summer’s tear-stained cheeks tell me she has been crying. She is acting like a loon, but the bartender seems to think she is sober, and he has only been serving her virgins all night. “What is going on?”
“I think I can help with that, lass.” I hear the Irish accent, and my stomach does a flip, but I see that it’s not Finn when I look up.
“Colin, what are you doing here?” Finn! I am immediately pissed and full of assumptions. “Did Finn tell you to come check on me? I’m fine, Colin. I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Whoa, there. Back down, lass. The three of you sure as hell have a set of tempers on you. I watched her go off on her man earlier,” he is motioning to Summer, “and this one has been giving it to me all week,” he finishes by pointing over my shoulder to Sam. I raise a brow at her, and she shrugs. “Now you're coming at me? A man needs a stiff drink to deal with the three of you. That's for sure. Melody, Finn did not tell me to come here. Sam invited me.”
“That was before you ignored me for three days. You can leave,” Sam says. I roll my eyes at her. She doesn’t mean it. He is the one she was making sure she looked nice for. I smile. She can handle herself. It’s Summer who needs help right now. One crisis at a time, ladies. I think Colin might be right. I need a stiff drink.
“Hey!” I flag down the bartender. “Rum and Coke, please.”
“What information do you have to explain this?” I’m demanding when I turn back to Colin and point to Summer, who is still quietly sobbing into her nachos.
“Well, Donnie. That’s her man’s name, right? Well, they got into it. She says he got her into this trouble, and he will have to stick around now and help. Kept saying he needed to man up and accept responsibility for what he’s done. Got pretty heated. He left about five minutes before you got here. I think he took a walk around the block to cool down. I’ve been keeping an eye on her since then. She has been sitting here eating her feelings. Which, if you ask me, lass, is not the answer.”
“Thanks, Colin.”
I point my finger towards Sam, “Can I talk to you for a second? Over here?” Turning back around, I ask, “Colin, do you mind keeping an eye on Summer for a few more minutes? While we formulate a game plan?”
I stand from my barstool and make my way towards the end of the bar. “All right, I think I know what is going on,” I tell Sam once we are out of earshot.
“Do you think she is pregnant?” Sam practically yells at me.
“I think it is pretty obvious, Sam, to us at least. You need to take Colin and see if you two can find Donnie. I’ll stay here and see if I can get Summer cleaned up enough to tell me what happened.”
She nods. “Okay. Good plan.”
“Hey, Colin!” she yells at him and waves him over. “Let’s go see if we can find that big dumbass and drag him back here to fix this mess he made. Melody is going to handle Summer.”
I laugh at how bossy she is to him and see by the look in his eyes that he is humoring her. Sam is a pretty well-known brat in the D/s world, and I suspect Colin is in for quite the fight if he tries to start anything with her. I head back towards the bar and the drink waiting for me next to Summer. I sit down, take a sip, and a deep breath.
“All right, honey. Tell me what happened.”
“I’m pregnant!” she cries.
“Well, honey. I’m pretty sure the whole bar figured that out. I’m sure by now the entire SOMD BDSM community knows because this place is packed. Take a breath and back up. You’re pregnant,” she lifts her head and nods, wiping at the queso on her cheek with the back of her hand, “and you brought Donnie here before the munch and told him?” She nods again. “So, he doesn’t want it?” I’m trying to be sympathetic but still direct enough to get an answer from her.
“No, it’s not that. I don’t know what it is, Mel. I told him, and he just sat there staring at me. He wouldn’t say anything. Except, it's not possible.” I look at her earnestly then.
“So, I’m guessing that is when you went all Summer on him and flipped out. Yelling and screaming and not even giving him the chance to process what you told him, right?”
“I can’t do it, Melody. I can’t do it alone again. I cannot be a single mom of two kids on my own at twenty-five.”
I let out a long breath and take a sip of my drink while I process her words. “Honey, Donnie loves you and Gus. He treats that boy like he is his own. The two of you are his world.” I glance towards the door, looking for any sign of Sam and Colin. “I don’t think for one second that he will not love you and this baby just as much. I think you told him at the wrong time, maybe in the wrong place. You didn’t give him the chance to process what this would mean for you two before you flipped the switch and started yelling at him because you’re panicking.” I sit and let what I said sink in. She wipes her eyes and then her nose with her sleeve.
“Melody, you’re right. What am I going to do? I messed it up good this time.” She sniffs.
“No, you didn’t, sweetie,” I say, grabbing her hand. “This isn’t Donnie’s first time facing your crazy. Let's be honest. Sam and Colin went to go find him, and they’re going to drag his ass back here kicking and screaming if they have to. But, Summer, they won't have to. That man is head over heels in love with you. He will love you when this night is over and love the baby the two of you made more than you ever thought possible. I promise.”
“I will,” I hear a heartfelt male voice say behind me, and I turn to see Donnie standing next to me, holding his hand out to Summer. “Come here, baby. I’m so sorry I left.”
“No, I'm the one who should be sorry,” she is saying to him as both continue to talk quickly over one another. He holds his hand up.
“Stop. Listen, Summer. We need to talk about this in private. I’m never going to walk out on you like that again. But you need to come home with me now so we can talk. Okay?”
“Go,” I mouth the word to her. She looks at me, hesitant, and I nod my assent. She waves as they head towards the door and out into the night together, ready to face their new future. I smile then as I turn to Colin and Sam.
“Thank you, guys. Where did you find him?”
“He was in the parking lot, sitting in his truck. Just staring out the windshield,” Sam says. “Colin is the one who talked to him and got him to agree to come back inside.”
“Thank you, Colin,” I smile at him, “we owe you one.” Then looking around at the crowd, I say, “I don’t know about you two, but I think that I've had enough excitement for one night. I’m not really up for the munch now.”
“Oh?” Sam says, looking down, and I know she is disappointed. She wants to stay with Colin, but she drove me here.
“Hey, if you want to stay, Sam, I can drive you home. And Melody can take your car?” Colins asks her. Oh, you’ve got it bad, Colin, don’t you?
“Sam? Is that all right with you?” I ask, but I give her our sign to let me know if it's not. I wait and see how she responds. She nods slowly.
“Yep, if that’s good with you, Mel. Would you mind? I’d really like to stay with Colin for a bit. You can take my car back to my house and just leave the keys in it?”
“Absolutely. Thank you, Colin. I’m beat from all the drama, and this,” I motion to the room, “isn’t really my scene without Finn anyway. It just doesn’t feel right to be here alone. I’m not looking for a Dom to pick me up, and I don’t want to start any trouble for anyone.”
“Ha,” Colin laughs, “that would be one hell of a fight. I feel bad for the poor S-O-B who tries to take you home from the bar.”
“Exactly, my point.” I smile. Sam digs in her bag and pulls out her car keys.
“Here, just leave them in the console when you drop it off. Please text me and let us know when you make it home safe.” She places the keys into my hand and kisses my cheek.
“Yes, I’ll text Finn now and let him know you’re leaving. That you’ll be back at your, or um, his place soon,” Colin says awkwardly.
“Thank you again, guys. I really appreciate it, Sam.” I nod at her. “Colin,” I look him square in the eyes, “remember you hurt her, and I’ll kill you. You know I can battle with the best of ’em too. Because I've been dealing with your crazy ass brother for this long.” I wink, and he smiles at me.
“I’ve got her, lass. Don’t you worry.”
I head out to Sam’s car, where I see Summer’s still parked next to it. But Donnie’s truck is gone. Good, they went home together to work out their issues and talk about what their future holds. Once I’m in the driver's seat, I pull my phone out of my pocket and text Finn to let him know there has been a change of plans.
Mel: Headed back to Sam’s place to get my car now. Leaving her at Mexico with Colin, just don’t feel up to staying out late tonight. Lots of drama. Will fill you in later. His response is almost instant.
Finn: Colin texted me. Drive safe, love. See you soon.
***
I pull into Sam’s driveway and park her car next to mine. I open the center console and drop her keys into the compartment. As I turn to open the door, I see a flash of red through the windshield. It is there for a split-second standing in front of me. But when I look again, there is nothing. Breathe, Melody. There is nothing there. They went back to Ireland. They don’t want you and Finn. Just breathe.
It takes me a few minutes to build up the courage to get out of the car and walk to mine. As soon as I do, I run to the driver's side and fumble with the keys. Dropping them in my panic before quickly scooping them back up. Once I slam the door, I lock it and turn to look in the back seat. I’m alone. Get a grip. I start the engine and mash my foot down on the pedal, squealing my tires as I back out of the driveway and head out to the main road.
I’m only five minutes from Finn’s house. I gun it because I can’t shake the feeling of panic in my throat, the feeling that I'm being chased. I look back and forth between the road and the rearview mirror. There is nothing there. “There is nothing there,” I tell myself out loud, hoping that hearing it, I will believe it.
When I pull into the driveway, I park and make a break for it, running to the front door. I slam the door behind me and lock the deadbolt, sliding down onto the floor. Back against the door, tears are streaming down my face, and my body is covered in a cold sweat. I cry then, a genuine, scared, sloppy cry. When I’ve been crying for so long, tears are no longer possible, my entire face and head hurt with the pressure, snot is clogging my nose, and I can’t breathe, I get up and crawl to the couch, pulling myself onto it. I roll onto my side and pass out with pure exhaustion.
***
Wednesday – Southern Maryland
The bitch smells like him. I can smell his scent on her as she runs from the car to the front door. She thinks the door could stop me? I laugh. I can hear her crying inside as I stalk up the steps. The stupid pup pretends he can run with the big dogs, but he isn’t smart enough not to leave his woman unprotected.
I can smell that he has been breeding her. She is covered in his seed and scent. The thought of breeding her in front of him while he watches and before he dies intrigues me, and I think maybe I’ll wait around for him to come home before I take her now.
I bend my head down and sniff the threshold. I can hear her pressed against the door. Oh, sweet lass. So close. I lick my jowls. You will taste so sweet. I’ll savor you. I circle the house once, then a second time. Looking for an inconspicuous way inside. But see no way in without drawing too much attention.
You get a pass tonight, sweet thing. I stalk back into the night, you won’t get another.
Sweet dreams, I chuckle to myself as I head towards the woods.