CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
THOMAS
Thomas is startled awake by the sound of someone groaning in pain. He looks around the plane, trying to find the source. Thomas sees Melina asleep in the chair, sweating profusely, and her face tense with pain. He wonders why she didn’t go inside to sleep in the bedroom. Moving closer, he observes her mouth moving. He puts his ear close to her lips to hear what she's saying.
“Please leave me alone, Matteo; I didn’t tell Thomas to emasculate you,” Melina says, clenching her fist. Thomas immediately realizes she’s dreaming about what happened and begins to wake her up.
“Melina, open your eyes,” he says softly, gently tapping her shoulder.
“No, please stop. Please do not rape me,” screams Melina, startling Thomas. Panicking, he shakes her shoulders viciously, yelling her name.
“Fucking open your eyes!”
“No!” she yells louder, thrashing in her seat.
“Melina!” Thomas yells, forcing her body to remain still.
“Thomas,” Melina calls, with her eyes still closed
“Yes, it’s me. I’m here.”
“You’ve come to save me.” Thomas hears the hope in her voice, and that ice around his heart begins to crack. He can’t believe his voice gives Melina hope.
“Yes, I have; open your eyes, Melina” he says, softly patting her hair to calm her down.
Melina's eyes slowly flutter open.
“Thomas,” she sniffs, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Please don’t leave me,” Melina says as she wraps her arms around his neck. His eyes widen as he witnesses Melina's daring action. Thomas’ body stiffens as he is blinded by Melina’s scent. He can’t believe even though he hates Melina, her scent is still the sweetest fucking thing he has ever smelt. He moves away, but is stopped by the sensation of her tears on his shoulder. He decides to spend the night with her. She deserves it after what she went through yesterday.
Picking her up from the chair, Thomas wraps Melina’s legs around his waist and walks them to the bedroom on the plane. He moves to the bed and tries to put her on it, but she refuses to let go.
“Melina, you need to let go so you can take off your clothes and shower,” she shakes her head, tightening her arms around his neck. She must still be pretty shaken from her nightmare.
Thomas decides to walk them to the bathroom in this manner. They hop into the showers with their clothes on. Melina won’t let go, and she needs to shower. Thomas tries again to drop her, and this time Melina lets him, but remains close to him. He gently lifts her shirt off her head and pulls her pants down. Seeing her half naked hardens Thomas' dick in his pants. Ignoring it, he continues to remove her underwear before removing his own. He cleans her body with the small bottle of shower gel and washes her hair with shampoo.
Thomas looks down at her, wondering how she’s coping. What she went through was a nightmare, on top of the fact that he pretended to almost rape her two weeks ago. But it would be a mistake to believe Thomas cares for Melina. He’s fucking human. Anyone who walked in on what he did yesterday would have done the same. His blood is boiling just thinking about what those men almost did. Thomas even thinks their death was too easy for touching his Melina.
He cleans himself once he’s done with her and moves to step out to get towels, but Melina grabs his arm.
“I’m going to get us towels.” “I won’t be gone for more than a minute,” Thomas assures her softly.
“Okay,” she says, barely above a whisper. Thomas could tell she hadn’t fully recovered. He steps out of the bathroom and returns with two towels.
Cleaning Melina’s body before his, he walks them back out with Melina attached to him by the hips. He helps her put on her underwear and pajamas before tucking her in bed. Melina, Of course, doesn’t let him go and makes him sit on the chair close to the bed.
As he watches her fall asleep, Thomas realizes his demons made no attempt to bask in her misery. They were nowhere to be found. It’s as if they’ve vanished. He didn’t feel even an ounce of anger toward her again. He didn’t like it. He fucking didn't like it, and he'll have to fix it tomorrow because nothing has changed.
MELINA
Melina wakes up the following morning around the time they arrive in Chicago. She walks out of the bedroom cabin and to her seat. Looking at Thomas as he uses his phone, Melina wonders if Thomas will reprimand her for being clingy last night. She didn’t mean to. Melina simply needed someone to be there for her after her nightmare. She’s shocked that he took care of her last night. A part of her wondered if it had all been a dream because he was the Thomas she remembered.
Because he doesn't say anything to her, she smiles as time passes, believing he isn't angry about it. Perhaps things will turn out well for her while they are in Chicago.
They exit the plane as soon as it lands. Melina smiles as she breathes in the fresh air of Chicago, feeling happy to be back. She missed the US. She barely saw beyond the estate gates in Sicily, so it’s nice to be back in the city. Walking to the car waiting beside the private jet, Melina thanks Leo for holding the door open for her. Seated comfortably in the back seat, someone grabs her hand and pulls her closer to them. Turning to face the person, she realizes it’s Thomas. She didn’t notice him getting into the car.
“I am only going to say this only once. Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to flee while we are here. If you try to flee and I find you.” “Oh, Melina, you will truly wish you never met me. Do you understand?” Thomas issues a dire warning. She nods, swallowing hard.
As she said, in Sicily, she doesn’t intend to flee because she will be dead meat if he finds her. Her goal while they are here is to convince him she didn’t steal his money so he can set her free. How is she going to do that? She has no idea, but she believes she will figure it out. Thomas lets go of her hand and settles back into his seat. She exhales a sigh of relief as his cologne fades from her space. Getting comfortable in her seat, Melina’s stomach growls as she settles into her seat. She puts her hand on her stomach and begs it to shut up. She slept through most of the flight, so she hasn’t eaten since yesterday. Lifting her head from her growling stomach, she looks at Thomas, hoping he didn’t hear it.
“Find the nearest place where we can get food, Dave.”
“Okay, sir,” the driver replies.
She smiles, licking her lips. She couldn’t wait to put something in her stomach.