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“Yes?”
“Then I’m going to keep pushing. What are you not telling me?”
“He used to make comments all the time when I started working for Nolan and Mia. Even more when I started spending more time here when I started looking after Sarah.” Melody buttoned and unbuttoned the same four buttons, stalling silently.
Wes didn’t waver. He waited quietly for her to continue, his fingers brushing her arms in reassurance.
“His favorite sport was starting an argument any night I went.” She sighed. “Nothing I tell you is going to change anything.”
“It won’t. Keeping it bottled up won’t help you.”
“I forget them when I’m with you.”
“Doesn’t make them disappear.”
“I’ve scars that nobody sees. They rattle my brain in the quiet. It’s always best to keep busy.” She poked at his chest. “I got so caught up fixing the things he broke–my apartment, my credit, all of it–that I forgot how much damage he caused me.”
“Mel–”
“I wouldn’t even know where to start. I can tell you about the night he asked me if Nolan and I were sleeping together when Penny was cutting a tooth and Mia had the flu. He said I was there too long and nobody needs a sitter that much.” Her lip curled in distaste. “Or the time I bought a silly print dress and he called me a child. ‘You watch them, when did you become one?’. The time he came with me to my dad’s and complained the whole way home when I told him he didn’t have to come in the first place. Or the time he…” It all came tumbling out of her. Once she started, the words that she had held so close began to flow.
“Not scared off. Not going anywhere.”
“He used things I told him against me. Made me ashamed.” Bile built up in her throat.
“Nothing you ever say will make me think less of you. In fact, I think you are incredibly strong to have gone through that and be willing to open up your heart again.” Wes wiped away a tear from her cheek then slowly stroked his thumb back and forth along her jaw.
“He thought it would be funny to use a sharpie. W-we were having a good day, I thought–I don’t know what the hell I thought. It was a good day that went south so fast.”
“Okay.”
“H-he noticed the marker on my calf from playing with the kids. Jason twisted it…”
Melody felt his hands tighten on her forearms and she wiggled in his lap, he refused to loosen his grip. “What happened, Melody?”
“You’re mad.”
“Not at you.”
“But you’re mad.”
“I’m furious that someone could make another person feel the way you do. I want to wipe away the hurt in your eyes. I’d also like to wipe him off the face of the earth.”
“I don’t think orange is your color.” She was unsuccessful at changing the subject. “Okay. Okay.” Melody sighed heavily, letting the words out in a rush and hoping they’d ease the heaviness in her chest. “He pinned me down and thought it was funny to sharpie me.”
“Sharp–oh.”
“The more I told him to stop, he just kept on…It’s why I don’t like that word.”
Whore.
Wes pulled her lip from between her teeth. “You’re gonna bleed.” He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her shoulder. “He wrote ‘whore’ on you? That’s why you get anxious if I need to mark projects when we’re working.”
“Yeah. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” Melody pressed her lips against his neck and pulled back from his hug. She placed her hands on his face and looked into his eyes. “I didn’t mean to keep something like this from you. I didn’t think–I blocked so much out. Hearing his voice broke the dam and I thought I was drowning.”
“Not as long as I’m around. I’ll be your life raft.”
“My very own Daddy floatie?”
