Unmask (Adrenaline Series (Stand Alone) Book 4) (17 page)

Melody

At least you're listening to me now. I tried to talk to Drew yesterday and nothing. I wasn't surprised, not even a little, but spent most of the day crying as a result. You know what's even worse? He wouldn't come out to eat or drink anything. He needs to. Even if I have to force feed it to him. If he doesn't he's going to be dying a lot faster without giving me a chance to save him. Like I told you and have been trying to tell you, I'm not gonna keep killing him. I wanna heal him.

With a heavy knock, I forcefully say, “Open the door, Drew.”

There's no response.

I could just open the door because there aren't locks on them, but I'm not trying to make the situation worse.

“Open the door, Drew. Now.”

To my surprise this time he yanks it open. His usually strong frame looks like it's seconds from tumbling over. His skin looks washed out. There's a distinct blood shot hue to his eyes from constant vomiting.

My hand twitches to touch him. I wait for him to say something. Anything. Finally I offer him the glass I'm holding and the pills. “Take. These.”

His eyes glare. “Get that shit the fuck out of my face.”

Holding my ground and more importantly my tears at bay I shove them at him.  “Stop being so fucking stubborn and take them.” He doesn't move. “You look like shit. Feel like hell. Take them, so you can feel better.”

Cruelly he says, “As in when I'm a dead man?”

In a weak whisper I demand, “Take. Them.”

Drew gives the pills one final look before reaching for them. He gulps them down with the glass of water and shoves it back at me. “You can go now.”

“No.” I firmly state. Surprised his eyebrows dart down. “I gave you all the space you needed yesterday. Today, you eat. You drink. You live to escape the fuck out of this place. Now get dressed or don't but breakfast is on the table.”

He rubs the back of his neck clearly on the cusp of passing out. With a shrug he says, “I guess I should eat something.”

Swiftly he moves past me and heads for the kitchen table where pancakes, eggs, and bacon are waiting for him.

What can I say? Just trying to make it all easier...

As soon as he sits down at the table he sneers, “Peace offering? Pathetic.”

“I deserve that,” I reply sitting beside him. Picking up my coffee cup I sigh, “I deserve a lot. So hit me with it. Yell at me. Scream at me. Tell me what a shitty person I am, but at the end, I need you to listen to what I have to say.”

Hesitantly he reaches for his fork. “Talk.”

Surprised he's not ripping me apart, I choke out, “Huh?”

“You wanna explain or justify killing me and my brother. Go ahead. Talk.”

“Aren't you gonna-”

“Walk out of this room if you don't start explaining and start explaining fast? Yeah.” Before I have a chance to say anything he snaps, “Tell me he was lying. Tell me you haven't been killing me since I walked through the door.”

My fingers clink the side of the mug. “Not exactly.”

The pointed look pushes me to continue.

“You're given two tablets every morning. One is the poison, the other is like an antidote. Not enough to cure you but enough to slow down and mask the symptoms you should be experiencing.”

“So Daniel's dying faster because you're not fucking him?”

Hearing the harsh nature of his sentence I put my cup down. “No. He's dying faster because he's either not taking them like he should or he's only taking one instead of both. The purpose was to kill you slowly and after it was all finished the 'antidote' is the final dose to end your life. It wouldn't be enough for you to just fall out, so much as die in front of your brother's eyes.”

His jaw slips open.

It's okay. You can be speechless too.

“I've been working on an actual antidote for you and your brother. One you can take home and immediately use to cancel out what The Devil wants you to take.” Drew's mouth twitches. “I've also swapped the poison pill for two antidotes. I was going to sooner, but I wasn't here that morning then your brother got extra sick and I just hadn't had the chance.”

“The Devil is going to notice.”

“Use some of your paints and to create a similar discoloring and continue to fake the symptoms. No one will know the difference.”

Drew leans back in his seat, food still untouched.

“You need to eat. You're body will heal faster.”

“Why did you do it to begin with?” He questions.

“It was my job,” I answer. “This is what he keeps me for. Well kept me for. I'm a dead woman now.”

Confused he tilts his head in question.

“You know in this lifestyle there are only two choices. Kill. Or be killed.” With a shrug and tears in my eyes I sigh, “I'm tired of helping kill people. I'm tired of living under The Devil's reign. And after just days with you, I knew I would rather die than be responsible for killing you or your brother.”

“But-”

“The sacrifice you make for love, I guess.” My eyes glance down at my cup in an attempt to gain my composure. “Fact is, everything is a choice. Even when there are nothing but bad choices, with no possible way out, you still have to choose. A choice still has to be made.” I sniffle. “You deserve to live more than I do.”

So do you.

Suddenly there's a hand on my thigh. I drag my eyes upward.

“You don't deserve to die either.”

I try to offer him a smile. “I can't say I agree.”

“Mel-”

“I'm sorry,” my voice chokes out. “For everything. For not telling you sooner. For having to hurt you and your brother in the first place.”

“Thank you for saving us.”

“Haven't saved you yet...”

“But you will.” Drew squeezes my thigh with one hand and finally lifts his fork with the other. “And that's what matters.” When the corner of my lip turns upward he says, “Promise you won't try to kill me again.”

“No promises if you cheat on me...”

He chuckles reminding me of just how much I've missed that sound.

I love this side of him even more than I love the naked side. I know. Hard to believe. You've seen him naked. He's like a modern tattooed Adonis.

“I swear to never cheat on you. You're the only woman I wanna spend the rest of my life with.”

Hearing the words out loud causes new tears.

He will spend the rest of my short lived life with me. Bittersweet isn't it?

“And you're gonna make it out of this alive with me. Got it?” I nod and he has a bite of eggs moaning as they hit his pallet. After a few more bites he says, “Tell me about Jimmy.”

The sound of his name causes my body to go rigid. Drew immediately gives my leg a comforting rub.

“Honesty. That's the only way we can move forward.”

You agree?

A deep exhale escapes me. “I met Jimmy while I was working on my Master's Degree. On one of the few nights I was invited for a drink with my classmates, I went. He was there. He reminded me of a younger Benicio Del Toro. Women flocked to him, but he flocked to me.” Shaking my head slowly, I glare at the memory. “Thinking back on it now, it's obvious he was playing me from the beginning. Anyway, he wined me and dined me. Typical shy girl falling for the first guy to pay attention to her. Eventually he told me, he had a friend who needed a favor.”

“The Devil.”

“Sneaky as shit even then. We met and he offered me a job. Said he needed someone with my specific skill set. Turns out Jimmy was his 'Find It' man. He went out and found whoever it was The Devil needed. This time, a medicine maker. I had two choices. I could accept the job and the riches and live or deny him and be killed. On the spot.”

“Sounds about right.”

“So desperate to live, I agreed to do whatever it was he needed me too. At first, it was just little jobs. Pain killers. Healing aids. Then he had me start creating things to shut down memories. Then organs. Eventually, he saw the opportunity of a lifetime, which is when he kidnapped me from my apartment in the middle of the night and stuck me here. Made the whole thing look like I ran away and eloped with Jimmy. Only my mother didn't believe it. By that time Eden was slowly under way, but I created the rest. He told me I could have whatever I wanted.” In a whisper I snap, “Anything but my life back.”

“What happened to Jimmy?”

“Like a hopeless idiot I tried to give him more chances in the beginning. I didn't want to believe he was that horrible. I wanted to believe there was still good in him. Eventually though, no matter how hard I tried to hide from it, I couldn't anymore. Jimmy's biggest flaw besides lying was being greedy. He always wanted more. One day The Devil found out Jimmy was stealing from him. He had me create something he named 'Hail Mary'. It's a nasty poison. The first time I created it, he invited me to see the effects in person. He also failed to mention the person it would be used on was Jimmy. I watched as he injected it into him. I was forced to watch him die before my eyes. At the very end of it all, The Devil made sure to let me know I needed to be careful with the choices I made in his world or I could end up like Jimmy.”

Drew ceased eating. Slowly he takes my hand and lifts it to lips. “I'm not gonna let you end up like Jimmy. I promise.”

I offer him the reassuring smile he needs.

As much as I want to believe him, I know better. It's not that I don't trust him. It's that I know what The Devil is capable of. He's always three steps ahead. Chances are he's already got everything set up in place for my death, so I'm gonna do the only thing I can. Save the man I love and enjoy my dying days.

Drew

What do you do when it feels like there's no right answer? What do you do when you're not sure you can trust the person you love most in the world? Yeah. Yeah. I know. I have no business saying that bullshit. Spending a week with someone, chances are it's not love is what you're thinking. Well fuck you for that. You're willing to give up your own life to let them live? That's love. I believe everything Mel told me a couple days ago. Hell, she even made good on her word of slipping me antidote she hid in various places to make it less obvious in case we are being watched. The aspirin bottle. Back of the fridge behind fruit I could hide it with. Underneath my napkin. I don't think for one minute she ever wanted to kill me or Daniel for that matter. I don't even blame her for not telling me sooner. I hate that she didn't. I hate that she didn't trust that I would save her, that I'm going to get her out of this hell hole. And I'm gonna get us out. I just hope when we're on the other side, when we have a chance to start over, she actually starts to trust me. I hope I can start to trust her. Can you be in love with someone you don't trust? That doesn't trust you? How about this? Can you rebuild trust with someone you love?

“You're thinking too hard,” Melody calls to me.

I look up to see her leaned against the kitchen counter.

“I can tell by the way your forehead wrinkles.”

My eyes roll.

It's doesn't wrinkle. No. No it doesn't.

“Wanna talk about it?”

On a heavy sigh I push the finished sculpture I'll be delivering tomorrow away from me. “Not really.”

She nods. Silence settles between us once more.

There have been lots of these moments since she confessed everything. Every time I get to a point of understanding, Daniel's face pops back in my head and anger takes it’s place. Mistrust invades. Doubt that this is some sick move by the man who always seems to be ahead of everything.

“Just say it,” she whispers. “Just admit it, Drew.”

“Admit what?”

“You think you love me, but still don't trust me.”

I pause. “Do you blame me?”

Melody folds her arms. “No.” When I look away she adds, “And I don't blame you if you've changed your mind.”

Confused, I lift my eyebrows. “About what?”

“About trying to save me.”

“Mel-”

“I deserve to die for what I've done. And honestly? I would rather die than spend the rest of my life having to wake up to the look that's in your eyes right now.” Shocked at the words, my jaw cracks open. “I don't blame you for feeling the way you are. I don't blame you if you feel this way for a while, but I can't go on forever with you never truly forgiving me. So tell me that now, Drew. Can you really forgive me someday?”

Our eyes lock. The air in the room feels like it's being sucked out. Breathing doesn't even seem like it's more necessary than answering that question. Nothing is more important than answering that question.

Can I? Can I forgive her? Fuck. Can I blame her? If the situation was reversed, what would I have done? What about you? Aren't our brains wired to survive first and consider the consequences or hurt feelings second? We've all done shit we're not proud of to survive. Hurt others in the process. When life forces you to make the only moves you have, you do what's necessary. That's understandable. That's forgivable.

I extend my hand out for her to take. “Come here.”

With a hard swallow, she swipes away the tears on her cheeks and strolls over to me.

As soon as she arrives, I pull her into my lap, legs straddled around me. I touch the end of her braid. “Do you trust me?”

There's no hesitation. “Yes.”

Nodding I instruct, “Undo your braid.” She gives me a skeptical look, but follows my directions. When her hair is free from the braid, I run my finger through it for the first time. She shutters from the touch, eyes closing. In a whisper I question, “Do you care that The Devil's watching?”

“No,” she sighs as my fingers comb through it softly. “The only thing I care about is you.”

Pleased by her answer I pull her forehead down to mine by the nape of her neck. My voice falls to a hushed tone. “I hate what you did to me and my brother.”

Tears begins to land in our laps. “I'm so sorry...”

“I know, baby,” I sniffle my own pending tears away. “I know you only did what you had too. I can't hate you for trying to survive. Please...please don't ever give me another reason not to trust you.”

More tears drop. “I won't. I swear.”

“Good.” Tilting my lips up to hers I finish with, “Because I don't wanna regret falling in love with you, Mel.”

Our mouths softly join for just a moment. To my surprise she pulls away and whispers back, “I love you too, Drew.”

Fueled by relief as much as remorse, our actions become passionately hectic. Clothes begin to fly off. Our teeth bump together during kisses so brutal they could bruise. In the fanatical whirlwind in which we are so desperate to stop being separate entities, all other emotions outside of love disperse. The second my cock pushes inside Mel and she screams in pleasure, I know the only thing that matters is making it out alive together. Living the rest of our lives on the same team. Every pump is delivered with so much warmth I can feel her body being washed clean of The Devil. Her arms clamp around my neck. My teeth bite and mark her perfect skin. She sways her hips back and forth, seducing my orgasm to expose itself before hers. Finding this unacceptable, I abruptly stop, lift her up and lay her down, her back pressed against the table. I spread her thighs wide, gripping them tightly as I ram repeatedly into her.

During the roughness I roar, “Fuck!”

“Yes!” she shouts back, the simple action proving to me where her loyalty lies. Her pussy all of a sudden clamps down on my cock, exploding with damn near no warning.  Quiver after quiver seeps out of her, drowning my cock in a vortex of euphoria.

In several long waves come floods her tight pussy. I rumble, “Mel...”

Melody's body seems to accept the offering with welcoming squeezes. There's desperation in the gripping, almost as much as in her hands, which are clawing at my body to cover hers. When I fall forward, she arches upward, lips landing next to my ear, “I love you, Drew McCoy.”

Through my panting, I question, “Promise?”

“Promise.”