LIAM
She’d played me.
She didn’t want a divorce, I knew she didn’t.
I wanted to be pissed at her. I wasn’t over the last five months, and yet as hard as I tried, I couldn’t muster the energy to keep fighting. I’d fucked it out of my system…and that was what she’d wanted. It had been two days and I couldn’t be around her without wanting to bury myself inside of her. We didn’t speak to each other; all we did was look over every last sale in the five months that we’d been away. Neither of us was surprised that we were bleeding money, but that didn’t mean we were going to accept it. There was so much work to do, and on top of that, Avian was the anvil hanging over our heads waiting to crush us.
Walking into our room, I stopped. To my knowledge she had only ever come in here to bathe and change before leaving. She spent her nights barely sleeping in the corner of Ethan’s room. There were more than a few times that I wanted to pick her up and take her to bed. But instead, I settled for sitting across from her. Now she sat in the center of our bed, with Ethan in the space between her legs. She looked so relaxed in her shorts and silk top while reading through what looked to be work related files.
Hearing me enter, she glanced up and stared at me. Taking off my jacket, tie, and shoes, I walked over to my side of the bed and leaned over to kiss Ethan on the head. He smacked my face with his little hands as if to say, “Leave me alone so I can concentrate.” He was trying to put the square peg into the circular slot. Moving his hand, I tried to help him place the square into the square slot. He stared at it for a moment and then at me. Frowning, he took the square and once again tried to fit it in the circle.
“He’s a hardhead. I wonder where it comes from?” Mel muttered softly.
I smirked, as I glanced up at her. “Both of us? Which means we’re screwed when he gets older.”
“I’m never letting him grow up then,” she replied as a small smile played on her lips.
I think my father used to say that about me.
We fell into silence for a moment, and I fought the urge to pull them both to me and just sleep. It had been a long day.
Should I say something? I didn’t want to fight. Not in front of Ethan at least.
“Coraline gave me a very long list of interviews for tomorrow,” she said to me as she handed me a piece of paper.
“Dear God.” Who weren’t we talking to? “Did they send a list of questions?”
She nodded. “They did, but it’s bullsh—”
Pausing, she stared down at Ethan who looked up at her. “They did, but it’s just a front. They’re not going to stick to it.”
Grinning, I bit back my comment as she glared at me. No cursing. Got it.
“What’s our story then?” I asked her as I ran my hand over Ethan’s feather-soft hair. I wasn’t sure if we would’ve been able to have this conversation if he wasn’t here. He kept us both calm and highly entertained.
“You knew the entire time where I was and stayed in jail to protect our family. I can’t talk about the investigation in any great detail for national security reasons, but I’ll go on about how terrible I felt and how scared I was…something along those lines. I’ve also called President Colemen to make sure our story is backed up.”
I waited for the anger. Surprisingly, it didn’t come. “Okay.”
“Okay?” she asked, as she me wearily.
“It’s your story, Mel. You planned it, and I trust that it will work.” Because nine times out of ten, it did.
“We also have business to discuss,” I said as I lay back, and reached for the file at my bedside table.
“Go on.”
“Before I do, I need you to be a hundred percent honest with me, Melody,” I replied sitting up. Her jaw tightened and she stared at me like she knew what I was going to ask. “The demand for cocaine is rising again, and so far…” I hesitated, unsure of how to approach this topic. I hated how tentative things were between us lately.
“Just say it, Liam.”
“What happened to you…will it affect this, our work? If so, I can take over.”
“I’m glad you asked, so I can say this once and for all,” she frowned, “I’m not an addict. I’m not impaired. I went through a rough withdrawal. It hurt, and I have no interest in going through it again.”
“Most people don’t have that choice,” I whispered.
“Well, I’m not like most people,” she snapped at me. “If they cared about anyone or anything, I mean if they truly cared as much as I do, they would stop. It’s not yours, mine, or anyone else’s fault that they don’t. I don’t feel any sympathy towards them. We supply, and whatever happens after it leaves our facility is not on our hands. Have I answered your question?”
Ethan burped loudly and I was never more thankful for it because it was like ice water being poured over me…calming my desire to jump her. There was something about her that just turned me on.
“Fine,” I replied, trying to keep my cool as I handed her the file I’d just been looking over. “Roy, I believe his name is, has been cutting the product to make a small profit. Nothing major, but it bothers me.”
“Declan and I will speak to him. Apparently we were not clear enough last time we saw him.”
“No, we will.”
Her eyes cut into me. “Why ask me to be honest if you don’t believe me?”
“I believe you. I’ve just spent five months away from you, I don’t want any unnecessary distance until—”
“Until you’re sure I won’t disappear again.”
Why must she always cut me off? “Your disappearance was my fault, you staying away is all on you. I don’t want distance until I’m comfortable that we both won’t make the same mistake again.”
“You blame my disappearance on yourself?” she asked me slowly.
I really didn’t want to talk about this. “433K, our company in Colorado, is going to bring in at least four hundred million this year. We had lines going three hours long. I say we lobby for more states to legalize marijuana. But for now, I want to set up at least four 433K shops in every time zone selling medical marijuana so when it is legalized, we already have a foothold in the area.” If we played our cards right, we could control both the legal and illegal markets. It would also help with publicity.
“We can’t,” she said.
What the fuck? “Why the fucking hell not?”
Her hands snapped to Ethan’s ears as he yawned widely and his head bobbed back and forth as he started to drift. It was only 9:00 p.m., but I guessed that that was well past his bedtime.
“The public is going to be paying close attention to us for the next few weeks. Plus, the moment we start moving into that territory, many others will follow. So I say yes to your plan, but do it completely under the radar.” She lifted Ethan up and he hugged him onto her and he laid his head on her shoulder as his eyes began to close.
Moving the puzzle he’d been playing with, I expected her to take him back to the nursery, but instead she laid him on his stomach in the center of our bed. Resting her hand on his back as she lay beside him, I realized that she didn’t have her wedding ring on. How long hadn’t she had it on? It had to be since she came back, I couldn’t remember seeing her wearing it.
“What happened to your ring?” I whispered from the edge of the bed, watching them both.
She didn’t look up at me, instead she stared at Ethan as she answered. “My mother took it. I’m not sure what happened after that.”
Mother?
Since when did she start calling that psychotic bitch mother? Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to Coraline. I knew what ring I wanted to her to have.
“They may not have it,” Coraline texted back.
“Offer double…triple, I don’t care. Money talks, Coraline.”
Placing the phone on the bedside table, I crawled onto the bed, to the other side of Ethan. He sighed as I did, and his fist moved, as it tried to find a
way into his mouth.
God, it felt good to rest in our bed again.
“Why do you believe my disappearance was your fault?” she asked as her eyes met mine over Ethan’s head.
“Melody—”
“Stop,” she whispered. And because she had some sick supernatural control over me, I stopped. I couldn’t face her, so instead, I chose instead to stare at Ethan.
“I hate it when you call me, Melody,” she said softly. “It hurts. It hurts when you pull away from me. Everything you said before, it hurt me. I hate you for saying them, and I hate myself for caring. I hate more than anything that I…that it’s so hard for me to say how much I love you.”
Damn it, woman.
Looking up, I was transfixed. I didn’t know what to say.
“Why are you saying all of this?” This wasn’t like her at all.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I feel comfortable. I finally have you both; this is all I really need. Plus I may have had three or four glasses of red wine.”
“You’ve always had us, Mel. I can’t fathom why you don’t know that.” It’s like she didn’t get that she wasn’t alone anymore.
“I had a dog once,” she said, as she shifted onto her back. “His name was Rufus, which was ridiculous seeing as though he was all white and Rufus means red in Latin—”
Was she rambling? Did the Melody Giovanni-Callahan ever ramble?
“My father never let me out much. I didn’t have friends, and Rufus was all I had. I told him everything and he was always there. One morning around Christmas time, I wanted to go ice skating and ran outside. Rufus ran ahead of me and just pounced on the ice.” She paused, and her lips pressed together before they opened again. “He fell through and it was only because he was ahead of me that I didn’t make it on to the ice. Orlando wasn’t going to risk anyone’s life for a mutt. Rufus finally made it out on his own after what felt like hours. He was shaking, and no matter how many blankets I put on him, or how much I tried to warm him up, he didn’t get any better. Orlando wasn’t going to pass up this moment to teach me another lesson. He brought us both outside and handed me a gun.
“‘There are two types of pain, Melody,’ he’d said. ‘The first makes us grow, and the second gives no hope and carries us to death. Which one is he in? Why draw out his pain?’ he’d asked me and I couldn’t speak. He told me to fire and I did. I missed. I hit Rufus in the leg and he weakly cried out. I just wanted it to be over, so I kept shooting until he was silent. I cried the entire time, I told him he was my best friend, and that I was sorry. If there was anything Orlando hated, it was for me to cry. ‘Wipe your face and don’t be a disgrace. You don’t need any friends. Friends bring you down, Melody. The only person you should ever rely on is yourself. Everyone else will die and leave you. Stop wasting tears because anyone who would care can’t see them.’ I was nine.”
What could I say to that? Right now I wished I had pushed that needle in slower when I put him to sleep…the bastard deserved a painful death.
“Part of the reason I didn’t come back was because I was afraid.” Finally she tilted her head to the side and I saw her eyes. Both of them were glazed over. “I was afraid that I was Rufus.”
“You thought I was going to put you down?” I whispered.
How in the hell could she think that? Scratch that, I knew how.
“That’s what we’re supposed to do, Liam. If someone is a danger to the family, we put them down. No matter how hard it is. It’s what we were taught to do. I saw you in the back of my mind pushing me to get better, always worried, doubting; not sure if I could actually make it. So yes, you were right. I checked out. I did what was easier for me and I’m sorry.”
She didn’t say anything more.
“You trusted me,” I said pinching the bridge of my nose. “You trusted me completely when you were giving birth to him. I had never felt more…proud? Happy? I don’t know. But the way you looked at me with so much faith and joy. You’re good at protecting yourself, and the one time I was supposed to protect you, I failed. Yes, you stayed away, but if I had done my job, you never would have been gone to begin with. You were defenseless and I failed.”
“You’re not going to listen to me, but I don’t blame you. I never thought of it in that way.” With a sigh, she reached over, took my hand, and kissed the back of it.
“You’re right, I’m not.”
There it was, everything was out in the open.
“I love you too, Mel,” I whispered, as I closed my eyes. “Always and forever until the day I die.”
MELODY
We all slept into the late morning, which was odd considering how early we went to bed. But we were so relaxed and Ethan worked perfectly as an alarm. However, he’d missed his three a.m. applesauce and he was not happy about it.
I wasn’t sure why I’d shared so much with Liam last night. It’d just spilled out of me…it was just that his presence reminded me of how we were before this nightmare began, and Coraline’s damn voice kept echoing in my mind like a fucking mockingbird. Whatever the reason, I guess it worked, because Liam couldn’t keep his hands off of me after we woke up. As he fed Ethan on our small couch, his eyes looked me over hungrily. It caused me to shiver, he knew exactly what he was doing to me. I felt so…I felt like teenaged girl.
Stop fucking looking at me like that damn it.
“Our interview isn’t for another hour, he’s going to need a bath. You should take one with him,” he replied, as he put the bottle down and rubbed Ethan’s back. For not being around him for five months, he sure knew what he was doing.
Nodding, I stripped off my top and he gasped before he swallowed loudly. He was eye fucking me with our son in his arms. But then again, isn’t that what I’d wanted? At least being parents didn’t make us any less sexual.
“Please, just go, Mel, I can’t look at you like that…I’m dealing with five months of pent-up frustration.” He all but moaned.
“Pervert,” I snickered.
“You make me so.” He winked.
Rolling my eyes, I went to the bathroom, and for what felt like the tenth time since waking up, my toes curled. I felt so typical, like a regular wife doing her spousal duties. I stripped down completely after I’d filled the tub with lukewarm water and added a small amount of the baby wash. I slid in and relaxed for a few minutes before I called Liam in.
“I’m ready whenever,” I called out.
It took him only a moment to bring in Ethan who was now buck naked and wiggling in his arms. I looked up at Liam who was obviously trying not to stare at me.
“Are you sure we don’t need like a floater or something—” He stopped talking, apparently giving up the fight with himself and leered openly at me.
“Come here, you,” I said, as I reached up for Ethan. Placing him on my chest, I gently poured water onto his back.
Liam seemed to fall onto the tiles watching us both. He placed a hand into the tub, and on my knee. I moved Ethan onto my lap and smiled when Liam shifted, moving in just in case…it was cute.
When did I start using the word cute? Who the hell was I?
“I don’t want him to be involved in any of the interviews,” I told him.
He nodded. “Me neither. The last thing I want is him on display.”
Ethan slapped his hands over the water.
“I guess we’re agreed then.” I laughed, as I gently rinsed off his head, whilst trying to keep the water out of his eyes.
“God, he’s beautiful,” Liam whispered, glancing up at me. “Like his mother.”
“We only have an hour, Liam,” I warned. “But thank you.”
Pouting, he leaned over to kiss my head before he stood.
It took us more than an hour to finish the bath and get ready. But Liam and I didn’t care. We were in a bubble, a very happy bubble. Ethan had been bathed, fed, and dressed, and was now resting in the middle of our bed.
I felt Liam come up behind me. He brushed my hair to the side and
kissed the base of my neck before he zipped up my black and white dress.
“I want him baptized,” I muttered as I leaned into him.
“On one condition.”
What?
I turned to him, and saw him smirk at me before he took a knee and pulled out a small box from his coat pocket.
“Liam—”
“No. You aren’t going to stop me from doing this, Mrs. Callahan. You are not going on national television without a ring. So let me finish.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Fine.”
“Melody Nicci Giovanni-Callahan, will you marry me again? No contract. Not for money or power, just for me. Just for love.” He opened the ring box to reveal a large uncut diamond ring in the middle of an infinity looped platinum band. It was so much better than the first giant ring he’d given me.
“Any day now, Mrs. Callahan.” He frowned at me.
Grinning, I shrugged. “This a big commitment, Liam, I’m not —”
“I should have just put the fucking thing on you.” He sighed, standing up. He took my hand into his and placed the ring onto my finger. “Such a damn hardheaded.”
“His first word is going to be ‘fuck’ thanks to you.” I frowned, as I realized that I had just said it as well. This whole no cursing thing was bloody hard.
“Like father, like son. Right, boy?” Liam grinned crawling over to Ethan and pulling him into his arms. “Just don’t do it in front of grandma, okay? Or in church, or in public, or to us. In fact, we will go over the rules when you can speak.”
I laughed at his list. “I accepted your ring, now what do you think about the baptism?”
“The ring wasn’t the condition. You were going accept that whether you liked it or not.” He said seriously, as he licked his lips. “I was actually hoping you would put up a fight.”
“Noted. Then what is your condition?”
He grinned widely, as he whispered to Ethan. I didn’t like where this was going.
“Liam—”
“Date nights.”
“Okay, I will fight you on that. No date nights.”
“No baptism,” he countered.
He couldn’t be serious. I wanted to take off my heel and bash his face in.