Chapter 4
“This is my daughter Melody,” mom says, gesturing to me while I stare at Asher. “Melody, this is Daniel and his sons Asher and Axel. You may already know each other since you go to the same school.”
Jesus, if she only knew that I now know Asher in the biblical sense, I’d probably be disowned.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Melody,” Daniel says, holding his hand out to me. I stare at it for a second before my manners kick in, forcing me to take his hand, shaking it. “Your mother has told me so much about you. She’s very proud of you.”
I blink rapidly, wondering briefly where the hell the black hole is that’s supposed to swallow you up in moments like this.
“Hey, I know you,” Axel says. “You’re the girl that Carmen hates right?”
I snort and give him a smirk. “I think I’m one of many, but yeah.”
“When your mom said she had a daughter named Melody, I didn’t think it was you. I thought she was talking about someone younger.”
“Probably didn’t even know my name was Melody,” I mutter and his eyebrows raise in shock. Guess he heard me.
“Yeah, Carmen calls you Melanie doesn’t she?”
I nod, chancing a glance at Asher to find him staring at me, the shock finally faded from his eyes but now his eyes are as unreadable as his expression and that worries me.
We were done before we even got started it seems.
“Why don’t we sit? The food should be here soon,” mom says, gesturing to the table. The guys pull their chairs out and I stand, excusing myself to the bathroom.
“Is she okay?” I hear Daniel ask my mom while I walk away from the table.
“I think it’ll just take some time,” mom assures him softly.
I stay in the bathroom for several minutes longer than necessary, staring at my wide eyes in the mirror. When I got out of Asher’s car this morning, I never imagined we’d end up here. I don’t know how to do the whole casual sex thing. I’ve never had a one night stand before and that’s what Asher’s going to have to stay. Now that our parents are getting married, we can’t do anything like that again.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t upset. I am. Asher told me this morning he wasn’t done with me, he made me laugh last night. It’s been a long time since someone made me laugh like that and I wanted more of that. I guess now he’ll be a permanent fixture in my life so I’ll still have that but not in the way I want. The way I didn’t even realize I wanted until the moment it all came crashing down around me. I want to go back to this morning, hell, last night and relish in the few hours that Asher was mine and I was his, blissfully ignorant of the shit storm we just created without knowing it.
The bathroom door opens and I hear the chair that’s sitting off to the side of the opening being moved. I turn and see Asher straightening from positioning the chair in front of the door.
“What are you doing?” I ask quietly, my voice shaking.
“You were taking a while, I offered to check on you,” he says, moving to me. He cups my cheek, wiping at a tear that slipped down. “This doesn’t change anything Melody.”
“Are you kidding me? It changes everything.”
“Melody,” he whispers my name, forcing my eyes to rise to meet his. “We aren’t actually related, Kitten. They aren’t even married yet. It might be weird for some people to take, us being related through marriage but it doesn’t matter. None of it does. None of their opinions matter. I want to see where this is going to go with you.”
“Asher, I-I want that too, but,” I take in a shaky breath and close my eyes, “I can’t. I can’t do that to my mother Asher. We just lost my father, and even though they weren’t together anymore my mom is finally in a good place. I can’t take that from her.” Tears fall freely now. I open my eyes to see Asher’s expression pained but understanding in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“I get it Melody, my feelings haven’t changed though.” I let out a gasp when he moves. One second he was watching me and the next he’s got me pushed against the wall, his mouth covering mine, devouring me, claiming me. His tongue slips into my mouth, tangling with my tongue for a little bit before breaking the kiss. “You’re mine, Kitten. I’m going to give you space until after the holiday are over. Once they are, I’m done waiting. Two months babe, to give your mom time to stay in that good place, then you can’t use her as an excuse because you’re scared.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “I am not scared.”
“Yeah, babe, you are. I get it, I was a dick. Those times are done and over with now. I don’t want Carmen, I want you, and once the two months is over with, you and everyone else will know it.”
“Asher,” I start, but he shakes his head.
“Brace yourself Kitten. It’s going to happen. We’ve been gone too long so we need to get back at the table.” He slips his arm around my waist and pulls me close, his head tilting down. “I’m gonna kiss you, then we gotta go,” he mutters seconds before his mouth collides with mine in a sweet kiss. He pulls his head away, looking in my eyes he says, “Two months, Kitten.”
I know I won’t win in an argument with him right now and we don’t have time so I just nod my head. “Two months.”
* * *
The rest of lunch was strained on my end. I think my mom knows that something was up with me but I didn’t give her an opportunity to ask, keeping to myself, answering questions when they were directed to me but not really engaging in conversation unless I was brought into it.
At this exact moment I had no interest in getting to know my new family, my mind was still reeling with Asher and his words, the night before and everything in between. I was on autopilot. My mom and I may not be close but she knows when I’m not really putting in an effort.
I don’t think Daniel minded, I know that Axel couldn’t give a shit and Asher was acting relaxed, but I could surprisingly see through the charade. He was as pissed and upset as me. Probably not as confused as I was but the rest was an exact replica of my feelings.
Daniel is a nice man, relaxed, laid back. He isn’t an asshole. From the looks he gave my mother it is painfully clear he loves her and I just couldn’t believe the sparkle in my moms eyes when she looked at him.
From what I could remember she never looked at dad like that. She loved dad, but I don’t think she was in love with him. She loved him because he gave her me, and having a kid kind of ties you together. I know that mom and dad were dating for a while before they got pregnant with me. Dad did what he believed to be the right thing and married her in a shotgun wedding before she started showing her pregnancy.
The difference was, dad was in love with mom. Completely. She just wasn’t in love with him and I know that ate at my dad for a long time before they divorced. Mom could be a bitch and the divorce was pretty ugly, ended with her nearly hating my dad because I was a daddy’s girl and stayed with him until he died this past summer and I had to move to my moms.
Axel isn’t really an asshole, he just didn’t think before he spoke, at least that’s the way it seems. He can be a dick, I know that much, but he wasn’t ever a part of the whole “pick on Melody” bullshit. He isn’t a dick to people who can’t take it and dish it right back. Usually, anyways. He’s actually pretty nice as I found out during the lunch.
We said our goodbyes after a half hour of talking when the food was gone, since I had to work tonight for a few hours. I avoided looking at Asher, gave my mom a hug and told Daniel it was nice to meet him and booked it out of there.
I threw myself into work and ignored all my problems until I could have time to process it. I also had to talk to Flora when I got home about what’s going on between her and Keegan.
I hadn’t even realized their relationship had shifted until yesterday and I couldn’t help but wonder how long it was going on before I even noticed. Was I really in my head so much? When I stopped to think about it, I realized that I was in my head a lot.
The minute I got home I noticed that Flora was sitting on the couch with a wine bottle and a couple of empty wine glasses sitting on our coffee table, waiting for me and watching tv.
“Hey,” I say as I put my purse on the end table by the door.
“Hey, Keegan’s giving us space tonight for some girl talk,” she explains.
I nod and throw myself down beside her on the couch, leaning my head on her shoulder. “So when did the thing with you and Keegan start?” I ask quietly, keeping my eyes glued to the tv.
“Randomly,” she lets out a soft giggle. “It started about two weeks ago, you were at work and we were at home, studying, took a break to drink and it ended up with us kissing. Kissing quickly turned to more. We didn’t really know what was happening between us, so we kept it quiet. That, and I didn’t know how to tell you. Neither did he.”
“It’s okay, I understand.” My voice is still quiet, but cracked on the last word.
“What’s going on with you? You look like someone kicked your puppy.”
“I slept with Asher,” I admit.
“I kind of figured when you left with him last night and never came home. How was it?”
“It- he was amazing. Hell, he is amazing.” I still sound sad.
“So what’s the problem? Only a one-time thing?” She asks.
“I wish that was the problem, to be perfectly honest. And no, he wants to keep seeing me, but I’ve got two months until he actively pursues me.”
“What the hell does that mean?” She sounds confused and I don’t blame her, I’m still confused.
“My mom’s getting married.” I pause. “To Asher’s dad.”
“Holy shit!” She shrieks. “You mean you slept with your soon-to-be-step-brother?!”
I nod. “We didn’t know until we had lunch with our parents earlier. He says nothing changes, he’s giving me two months to let this all sink in.”
“Holy shit,” she repeats.
“Yeah. I don’t know what to do.”
“Well,” she says, leaning forward to grab the wine and corkscrew. She opens the wine and pours us both a glass. “We’re going to drink and just forget for tonight, no thinking.”
“Sounds good,” I agree with a small grin. “How did you even get this?”
She shrugs. “My dad. He doesn’t care if I drink so long as he provides it for me and am only drinking at home.”
“Lucky bitch,” I grumble, accepting my glass and downing half of it.