Cas
If I weren’t in a gloriously happy mood, I’d find this taxing. However, watching Melissa try to hand Dex his ass is fucking hilarious. I could see she was a fighter from the second she dared to speak back to me when we picked her up to trade for Oak and Sparky. Fuck, that feels like a long time ago now, and it’s only been a matter of a few weeks.
She realises her punches aren’t affecting him, and swings her hand back to slap him. I choose to intervene because I can’t have my brother being bitch slapped in front of me.
I close the distance between us and wrap my arms around her from behind. She didn’t see me coming and Dex’s face is safe for now.
She has persistence, I’ll give her that. She wriggles around like Leo does when he wants to be put down.
“Calm it, now,” I yell in her ear.
She listens and goes still. Her chest rises and falls heavily as she tries to catch her breath.
“Since you’ve caught me in a good mood, I’ll let you say your last goodbyes to your brothers.”
I don’t waste a minute in case she starts fighting us again, and drop my arms and take her by the arm. Dex follows as I take her down to the basement.
A huge part of me wants to see her crumble at the sight of them, the need to see someone hurting for Danny’s actions is like a hunger that can’t be supressed.
It takes every thread of will power to keep my cool as I push her through the door first and not throw her to the ground or have her tied up on a chair next to her brothers. I tell myself, again, Kyle won’t be hurt, Melissa won’t be hurt, that they aren’t anything to do with this apart from being a means to an end for us, but it’s fucking hard when I bring up memories of Oak coming home without a pulse.
She runs over to Kyle and doesn’t look Danny or Cayden’s way. Their family dynamic confuses me. When Danny found out we had Melissa, it got him riled up. Yet, she isn’t showing the same concern for him now.
I watch on as do my brothers, her checking Kyle over and hugging him before stepping around him.
“Don’t fuckin’ touch him,” I warn her and she freezes.
As always, she listens and then does what she wants. She continues to try and untie him and I nod at Dex. He is the closest to her, he can be the one to deal with her and if he thinks I’m stupid and haven’t worked out he’s been fucking her, he has a lot to learn about me. I spent a lot of time with women before I made Alannah my old lady, I know the look he gives her, it’s when you fucked her and you don’t want anyone to know.
I’ll keep it to myself until it becomes a problem, then he’ll have to deal with the consequences.
“I swear to God, if you all keep holding me down…” she shrieks before Sparky gets in her face.
“You’ll what, darlin’?”
She pales before him and shrinks into Dex’s hold on her.
“We have a dilemma on our hands, you say Kyle isn’t in Danny’s club and I believe it, but he’s seen and heard too much since he’s been here. If we let him go, who knows what he’ll say and who to?” I say, getting her attention and Kyles, “Sorry, I can’t let him go.”
“I’m not gonna say a word, man,” Kyle urges and I blatantly ignore him.
“He won’t either, technically he hasn’t seen anything as these two are clearly still alive,” Melissa adds herself.
Smart girl. She has a habit of almost impressing me. I never planned on taking out Kyle, but I’m learning as fast as she is, that to keep her quiet you have to keep her guessing in a cloud of fear and waiting.
Now we have Danny, I have all the time in the world to play with her.
“I told you before I like the chase, but there’s only so many times I like to hunt. When we catch the prey, we annihilate, not begin the chase all over again.”
“Kyle was never your target, please, I’ll beg if you make me…please, let him go,” she whines.
Stroking my chin, I play along and let her watch me think on it.
“I’ll get back to you when I’ve made a decision,” I smirk and pull out my smokes, popping a cigarette between my lips, I light up and inhale the smoke deep into my lungs.
She’s boiling over, every single emotion she is feeling is clear as glass on her face and it’s feeding my black soul of everything Danny isn’t giving me…yet.
“Get her out of here, her time is up,” I say, and she lunges towards me.
She is no match for Dex and he keeps his hold on her and she gets nowhere near me.
“You’ll never be rid of me if you don’t let him go, I will make your lives hell till the day I die, I’ll destroy this club…”
Her threats die out as Dex throws her over his shoulder and takes her upstairs. I keep my eyes on Kyle, and it’s the first time I see any emotion on him. It’s Kyle and Melissa, then it’s Danny and Cayden. Divided siblings, I don’t know if it’s an advantage or a disadvantage.
“Have at him,” I tell my brothers, “and of course, our special guest. Just don’t kill them or touch the college kid.”
I can hear Melissa shrieking up in the bar, she is beginning to bring back my headaches. I pull out my phone as I take the stairs up to the bar.
Her number is always top of the caller list and she picks up on the third ring.
“Hey, babe.”
“Hey, what’s up?” she asks.
“Nothing, I needed to hear your voice.”
It’s turning out to be a longer day than I expected with Melissa showing up. I should’ve known she’d make an appearance.
“Why don’t you come home for a while, Danny isn’t going anywhere. You can spend some time with Leo and…I need some time with you when he goes down for his nap.”
I fucking love the playful desire in her voice. I need to hear it, it takes over the darkness. It isn’t a hard choice to make.
“I’m leaving now.”
Hanging up, I shoot off a message to Sparky telling him I’ll be back this afternoon and find Dex and Melissa in the bar, with him blocking her attempts to get back to the basement.
“This is how this is gonna go as you’re hell bent on being a pain in my ass, Dex isn’t letting you out of his sight. He can take you home, he can keep you here, I don’t give a fuck but you’ll do well to keep your fuckin’ mouth shut.”
“You really think you can tell people what to do, don’t you? If I wanted to be treated like a kid, I’d move back in with my mom,” she spits.
Stepping close to her, I lower my voice and lean in.
“You’re in my world and I’m the fuckin’ king. Don’t forget, I let you go and you came back. If you don’t like what I say…fuck off.”
Halleluiah, she’s quiet. I move away from her, and pull out my keys. Danny is in the basement, Dex is watching Melissa, and my wife is waiting for me at home.
Everything is perfectly in place and it’s about time I started enjoying life again.