CHAPTER 29

REEVES’ POV:

Melanie.

Finally seeing her made it easy for me to breathe, it felt like she had taken off all the burden and tiredness I had been feeling since the last time she came to my house. Given I was angry at her, and still is, but I couldn’t deny that whatever it is that I felt for her never left, if anything, those feelings were amplified, and I could feel my heart burning, just like it did last Saturday night.

I had only gone for the party in hopes that I’d see her there, and when I did, I had to control myself to keep me from going mad and walking over to her like a mad man. She had indeed showed up to take over the entire room with her body in that dress. She walked confidently and graceful and I could swear she knew what she was doing by wearing that dress and showing off her legs in that manner. I couldn’t take my eyes off her as do all the men in that hall that night, and it made me uneasy. Maybe if she was beside me instead, I wouldn’t have to feel that way, but she wasn’t.

I had found myself day dreaming about her getting ready right in front of me; shimming her perfect body to get into the dress while keeping her eyes steady on me, giving me my own private show while I leaned back and watch my girl work it; my thoughts that night had been cut short by Daisy, who noticed I wasn’t listening to anything she was saying as my mind and eyes were on someone else.

“I wanted to ask what she was doing here, but I think she should be here since it’s her boyfriend organizing the thing,” Daisy’s words came in like a test to my sanity, and I wanted to yell at her, to tell her that Stephen is Melanie’s best friend and nothing more. She might’ve lied about that too; I heard the voice in my head, but the sincerity in her voice when she told me she and Stephen were just friends, was more convincing that when she had told me she liked me, so when I was shaken out of my daze, when the new comer, a beautiful pale woman in a red dress, who raised her voice as she spoke to Melanie. What had she meant when she said she had expected Stephen to outgrow whatever he had for her? Stephen had feelings for Melanie? I was right to be wary of him then?

I couldn’t quite hear anything they were saying anymore, so I forced myself through the crowd to get a better view of everything, just in case I’d have to drag Melanie out of the hall when I heard the next words the lady said.

“You have nothing of your own; you get off by living off people. You think it’s your sexy woman charm, but you’re just a beggar.” Those words struck a chord in my head as I heard them. Not only did she lie to me, but she used me. It was a thing for her to take things from people. She did it to Stephen and he was still friends with her? In that moment, Melanie found my eyes and our eyes locked for a split second. She didn’t want me to be there, that much was evident in the look in her eyes, so I took that as my cue to leave.

The rest of the night and the morning after was hell for me; Melanie filled my thoughts, took over my mind and lived there like, just like she came into my life and invaded my space like it was hers from the onset. Days later, it became worse. I had taken Daisy out on a date to free my mind from every thought about Melanie, but Daisy couldn’t stop talking about how she couldn’t believe Melanie was that type of person, and though she was kind of right, it didn’t do me any good, because I was still finding it hard to accept that Melanie was that type of person and she had targeted me.

“Thank God she didn’t sink her claws into you like she did that Stephen guy. She’s clearly using him, but he’s not bothered one bit,” Daisy went on. I had leaned back in my sit, asking myself why I was too cowardly to talk to Melanie about what I had heard that night, and what that lady was talking about at the party. Maybe it was because I hated confrontations, and I didn’t want to hear her say she had really used me and lied to me because she wanted my money.

I remember looking at Daisy talk, it was the first time she had talked much about anything as everything with her felt forced, unlike how it was with Melanie. I felt suffocated by everything, and Daisy was the main reason why. I couldn’t do it anymore, so I had told her exactly how I felt about her and how I felt about Melanie.

“I guess I was trying to hope it wasn’t true. I knew your heart was somewhere else, yet I still came on to you,” she had said with a sad smile on her face.

“I’m sorry,” were the only words I could mutter.

“Let me take you home,” I offered but she refused me, telling me she needed some time to herself; to think and gather her thoughts. I didn’t feel any better though; because the one person I wanted was out of my reach, and I wanted to see her somehow.

So, as I stood there, looking straight at Melanie, I was frozen in place. I had a list of things I wanted to say to her, but I was frozen in place and all the things I wanted to say to her disappeared from my head. I could only look at her and wonder what was going on in that pretty head of hers. She was beautiful as always, even with the scowl on her face as she looked at me, probably wondering what I was doing in the store, and in the women section.

I had decided, after my talk with Daisy, that I was going to get Melanie back, no matter what it took, and since she liked bags and shoes and clothes, more than she liked humans, I was going to use those things to get her back; hence the reason why I was in the store. I didn’t think of the possibilities of actually seeing her.

I took one step forward and opened my mouth, hoping that the right words would come out of my mouth.

“Mel—”

Melanie started walking towards me, until she walked past me, leaving me standing there like the loser I was.

“I don’t think I’m in the right place to say anything, but everything that happened on Saturday night took its toll on her, and she’s just here and there, never fully anywhere,” Stephen let out a breath.

I let out a breath of my own and nodded, trying to understand just how much damage the Saturday night incident did to her, but a thought crossed my mind. Whenever Melanie wanted to see me, she usually did things she knew would get to me, so I was going to use her method to get her to come see me herself. I hurried to the manager of the store and told her I was going to pay for everything Melanie picked, so when Melanie would come to pay, she’d tell the cashier to tell her that I paid for her stuff. The manager, knowing me accepted and practiced what she’d say to her. It was perfect, my plan. All I had to do was to wait patiently for Melanie to show up.