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“I mean that I don’t want to have any fun with you, ever again, Adam. It means that I know why my credit card was over the limit and I couldn’t buy food for our daughter. You used my card to pay for a whore and a motel room, didn’t you?” she spat.
“You watch your fucking mouth, Melody. I told you that I wasn’t going to do that again, and I haven’t,” he said, keeping up with his lie. If given the chance, Adam would rather die than claim the truth. But she knew the truth, even if he wouldn’t say it out loud. He had cheated on her before, with her best friend from high school. Yeah, that one hurt like a bitch, but she forgave him. Melody was six months pregnant and a fool for thinking that staying with Adam was better for her and her unborn child than leaving him. She should have gotten out then, but she was too afraid to make a move that would cost her the roof over her head, so she stayed, and things went from bad to worse.
After he swore that he’d give up cheating on her, he got angry. It was as if he blamed her for not allowing him to screw around. Adam started getting rough with her and after a few times pushing her around and shouting at her, he finally hit her. She took it too, not wanting to cause waves. A part of her believed that she was responsible for his anger. She could deal with his anger, it was his cheating that broke her heart, so she stayed.
But now, finding out that he had cheated again, she felt numb. Melody was ready to walk out. Her and June’s bags were packed and in the trunk of her car. Tilly said that they could stay with her and her new husband, Owen, for a while until she could get back on her feet. She had a plan and for the first time in her life, Melody felt like she had some self-worth.
She defiantly raised her chin to Adam as if daring him to hit her. “You did cheat on me, Adam,” she insisted. “I have the credit card records to prove it. You’ve been going to that motel again, and this time, you’ve been paying for whores. Did you really believe that I wouldn’t find the charges?” she asked.
“Maybe I just didn’t fucking care if you found them,” he spat. Adam sucked down the rest of his beer and grabbed another one from the fridge. If he continued drinking at this pace, she only had a small window of opportunity to let him know that they were done.
“I want a divorce,” she said, “cutting right to the chase.”
“Well, that’s just too fucking bad,” he shouted. “You and I are married, for better or worse, and you’re not leaving me.”
“I am leaving you and I’m taking June with me. I want a divorce and I’m going to go to a lawyer tomorrow. I’m sure that my credit card records will be enough to prove that you’ve been cheating on me.” He put the new bottle of beer on the table and stepped closer to her. He smelled like cheap perfume and pussy. God, it made her want to gag, but she held it back. There was no way that she’d show any weakness around him ever again. She had already done enough of that to last a lifetime.
She stared him down and when he smiled and turned away, she thought that he was going to pick up his beer and leave her alone, but she was wrong. Adam quickly turned back and punched her so hard in the face that she landed on her ass, and damn if she didn’t see stars.
“You feel better?” she slurred. She was sure that her eye would swell shut in a matter of minutes and he was only getting started—that she knew from experience.
“Not yet, but I plan on hitting you until I do,” he growled.
“That’s usually your plan, asshole,” she said, sitting up from the kitchen floor. He stood over her and she smiled up at him, knowing something that he didn’t gave her a second wind.
“Why the fuck are you smiling at me, bitch?” he spat.
“Because for the first time, in a damn long time, I think I’m actually going to win this one,” she said.
“You think that you can beat me?” he asked. Adam clenched his fist, an act that usually made her cringe, but this time she didn’t feel anything. She had an ace up her sleeve—a large biker who stood in the doorway to her kitchen, and damn if he didn’t look pissed off enough to tear Adam limb from limb.
“She might not be able to beat you, but I’m pretty sure that I can,” Maverick growled. God, he was her knight coming to save her and she’d take it, even if she had just mentally sworn off all men forever.
“Who the fuck are you?” Adam shouted, turning his back on her. That’s how he treated her—always underestimating Melody and thinking that she’d never retaliate. She was ready to take her stand, and when she found her feet, grabbing the frying pan from the stove top, she swung it at the back of Adam’s head, knocking him out. He fell to the kitchen floor with a thud, and she tossed the frying pan to the ground.
“Hey, Maverick,” she breathed, “can you call the police for me? I need to make sure that I didn’t just kill my soon-to-be ex-husband.”
He shook his head at her and smiled. “I knew that I liked you, kid,” he said, calling her by that annoying little nickname he used for her. Melody knelt down to find that Adam still had a pulse. She stood, not sure if that was a good or bad thing. One thing was for sure, he wouldn’t let her retaliation go unpunished and there was no way that he’d underestimate her again.
Maverick
Maverick Blaine knew something was up when he showed up at his brother’s house and found him and his new bride babysitting Melody’s kid. As soon as he walked into their house, the toddler made a beeline for him and begged to be picked up. He didn’t mind kids, really, and Melody’s brat was the cutest one he knew. He asked her where her mama was, and she just smiled back at him, giving him that blank stare that she usually gave him as she checked him out. June was fascinated by his beard and tats. He just wished her mom felt the same way about him, but Melody was a married woman, and he wouldn’t cross that line, no matter how badly he wanted to.
Mav asked Tilly where Melody was, and she told him that her sister had some things to work out with her husband. That was all he got from her before she took June from him and whisked her off to the bathroom for a bath. It wasn’t until he found his brother sitting in the kitchen, drinking a beer, that he got a straight answer about what was going on. That was when Owen told him that Melody had caught her scumbag husband cheating on her, again. He couldn’t believe that anyone would cheat on her once, let alone twice. Hell, the woman he knew was sassy and confident and would never let some loser cheat on her.
Owen went on to tell him that he thought that letting Melody go back to her house to face her husband alone was a bad idea. He said that the asshole liked to smack Melody around and that’s when Maverick lost it. He questioned his brother for letting Melody face that jerk alone and then stormed out of the house, mumbling something about needing to beat his little brother’s ass.
He was right to show up at Melody’s house unannounced too. When he got there, he snuck into the back kitchen door and found her husband standing over her, shouting that he was going to beat the shit out of her. And from the looks of Melody, who was already lying on the floor, he had already started. It took all his restraint not to run in and pummel the guy. And when Melody stood and hit the fucker in the back of the head with a frying pan, he felt a sense of pride that he had no right to feel about her. She was one tough chick and had had the physical and mental scars to prove it.
He called the police, and they showed up at her house, taking Melody’s statement and arresting her husband for abuse. Maverick corroborated her statement, telling the cops that she acted in self-defense, and how he had found her on the floor after her husband had hit her. Mav’s only regret was that Melody didn’t kill the fucker. He was going to be taken to the hospital, to get checked out, and then, they were going to hold him until his bail hearing. He’d get out and then, he’d probably go after Melody and her kid, and Mav wouldn’t let that happen. He just had to figure out how to convince her to let him take both her and June back to his place. Her ex would look for her at home first, and then, when he couldn’t find her there, he’d head over to Tilly and Owen’s place. His brother could handle the guy, but Mav didn’t want Melody or June to have to go through any of that shit. Her asshole ex didn’t know where he lived and that would give them both a safe haven while Melody figured out her next move.
He watched as the last of the cops left and Melody looked around her kitchen. “What now?” she asked.
“Now, we get you out of here,” he said.
“Oh, yeah,” she breathed. “I forgot all about calling my sister. She must be worried to death about me.”
“I called Owen and filled him in. June is asleep and safe,” he said, knowing that would be her next question. The few times that he was around Melody and her kid, he could tell that she was a great mother. He just had no idea that she was dealing with an abusive asshole at home.
