“Having a hard time seeing there, Mels?” Steve asked, smirking at her. “Maybe it’s time you got some reading glasses. You are getting to be about that age now, right?”
If Melanie hadn’t been feeling so bad, she would have pointed out that he was actually six years older than she was. But as it was, she kept silent and studied the papers.
“These are for spousal support—fifteen hundred dollars a month,” she said, frowning and looking up at him at last. “But I didn’t ask you for any money when we called it quits.”
In fact, all she had wanted was to get as far from her cheating rat of an ex-husband as possible. Which was why she’d been willing to sell everything off and split it right down the middle, even though it meant taking a loss on the house her parents had left her, which had been in her name before they married.
His half of the house money was probably what Steve had used to buy the flashy sports car, she thought, eyeing it. Not a very practical purchase but then, her ex had always cared more about style than substance.
“You really do need glasses, Mels.” Steve’s annoying smirk got wider. “Look again. These payments wouldn’t be from me to you. This is fifteen hundred a month from you to me.”
“What?” Finally something had penetrated the gray envelope of fog which had surrounded her all day. She glared at her ex. “You must be joking! What makes you think I should pay you fifteen hundred dollars a month?”
“Maybe the fact that you’re making so much now.” He raised one skinny eyebrow at her. “I looked it up—the compensation for humans working aboard the Mother Ship is extremely generous. And since Mitzy and I are about to have another mouth to feed I figured…” He shrugged his narrow shoulders. “That you oughta help out.”
“You’re crazy.” Melanie tried to shove the papers back at him but he wouldn’t take them. “I don’t owe you anything, you cheating bastard!”
The nasty smirk on her ex’s face didn’t falter a bit.
“Can you blame me for cheating?” he demanded. “Just look at Mitzy here—six months pregnant and I bet she still weighs less than you, you old bitch!”
Melanie felt the old icy pain wash over her again. Steve had only hit her once, but he had been verbally abusive throughout most of their marriage. It was one reason her self-esteem was so low and she’d had to work with a therapist to try and build it up again after her divorce.
It was hard not to be affected when you had spent so many years being told you were ugly and old and fat and worthless.
But I’m not any of those things, Melanie told herself.
Yes, you are—you’re all of them! the nasty voice in her head said. The voice that sounded like Steve.
Nasty voice or not, Melanie lifted her chin.
“I don’t care what you call me, Steve, you’re not getting a single penny out of me,” she said clearly. “I don’t think it’s even legal, you asking for spousal support after our marriage is already over.”
“It is when you sign those papers.” He got up in her face, just like he used to when he shouted at her, the coffee fumes on his breath nearly making her gag. “You’re gonna sign those papers and agree to send me fifteen hundred dollars a month for the rest of your miserable life, you cunt,” he snarled, glaring at her with his weasely little eyes. “Or you’re going to be spending Christmas in the hospital—understand?”
“You—” Melanie started to say when suddenly a new voice came from behind her.
“Excuse me.” It was a deep, angry growl. “Are you threatening our female?”
“Strong?” Melanie glanced to her right and saw the Dark Twin towering there beside her.
“You heard my brother,” Clear snarled, coming up on Melanie’s left side. “No one threatens or coerces the female we love.”
“The female you love?” Steve seemed to wilt as he stared up at the two angry Kindred warriors. He was losing all of his menace and bravado now that he was facing someone bigger than him.
“You heard correctly. Melanie is under our protection,” Strong growled. He looked down at Melanie. “Is this the ex-mate you talked about? Do you want me to break his neck?”
“Wait, now! Wait a minute!” Steve gasped and actually stepped behind the shivering Mitzy. He peeked out from behind his pregnant girlfriend, staring up at Clear and Strong. “You two are crazy! I was just talking to Mels, here—that’s all.”
“’Mels’?” Clear demanded. “You don’t even have the courtesy to call her by her correct name?” He looked at Strong. “Let’s break him, Brother. He deserves nothing less after threatening and hurting our female!”
They both started forward but Melanie put a hand on both their muscular arms and said, “Wait.”
“Wait?” Strong turned to look at her, an incredulous expression on his dark features. “Why should we wait? We heard him threatening you!”
“He’s got a baby on the way.” She nodded at Mitzy’s pregnant belly, feeling another wave of sadness wash over her. “He can’t support his child if you kill him.”
“Well you won’t be supporting his child, either,” Clear said indignantly. “We heard what he was asking you, Melanie!” He glared at Steve. “What kind of male can’t even support his own offspring without resorting to threatening and intimidating a female?”
“I was with her for years!” Steve said shrilly, reaching around Mitzy to point at Melanie. “Years with that boring bitch! She owes me.”
“Then let me pay you on her behalf,” Strong growled.
With a single movement, he grabbed Steve by the back of his collar and hauled him out from behind his pregnant girlfriend. A fist the size of a Christmas ham plowed right into Steve’s nose and a low crunching sound followed by lots of howling split the night.
“You broke it!” Steve was on his knees, his face covered in blood. “You broke by node!” he moaned, his voice coming out funny now that his nose was sideways.
“You’re lucky I didn’t break your neck,” Strong said shortly. “This is your one and only warning.” He pointed a finger at Melanie’s blubbering ex. “If you ever come near Melanie—if you even try to contact her in any way—I will find you and I will make you pay. Do you understand?”
“Yes!” Steve nodded, blood flying from his broken nose. “Just leab be alode!”
“We’ll leave you alone if you agree to leave Melanie alone,” Clear told him.
Steve nodded again and then Mitzy was trying to haul him to his feet.
“C’mon, Stevie,” she muttered to him. “We gotta go now. Let’s get outa here—okay?”
“Get your hands off me!” Steve pushed her away petulantly. Mitzy stumbled and almost fell, barely catching herself on the hood of their car. “I can get up byself,” he snarled. “Leab be alone, you little bitch!”
Mitzy’s eyes went wide and hurt in the twinkling Christmas lights and Melanie felt an unexpected rush of sympathy for the young girl.
“Is this the first time he swore at you?” she asked Mitzy, who was still looking uncertainly at Steve.
“He’s upset,” she whispered, half to herself, half to Melanie. “He would never—”
“It took him a little while to become abusive with me, too,” Melanie told her softly. “He waited until we’d been married a while and all the bank accounts were in both our names and he’d gotten me to put him on the deed to my house. Then, when my finances were so entwined with his it was almost impossible to untangle them, he started being nasty.”
“You’re lying!” Steve snarled, his face an angry, bloody mask. “You bitch!”
“What did you call our female?” This time it was Clear stepping forward to grab Melanie’s ex and yank him up by the collar. “I thought my brother made it clear that you weren’t to threaten Melanie or speak badly of her anymore?” he growled, shaking Steve until his teeth clicked together and he howled and grabbed for his broken nose.
“Don’t hurt him, Clear,” Melanie said. “Just put him in the car. He won’t be able to sh
ut up until he’s out of here—he never did know when to stop being an asshole.”
Obligingly, the Light Twin yanked open the door of the shiny red car and thrust Steve inside. He slammed the door as Melanie’s ex started to shout something and leaned against it for good measure, so Steve couldn’t get out.
Mitzy stood there frozen, her eyes wide and frightened. Melanie walked up to her.
“Listen,” she said gently to the younger girl. “Get out while you still can. I know you’re pregnant and it’s scary, but you don’t want to raise a child with that man.”
“I…I can’t…” Mitzy began.
“If you have family, go back to them,” Melanie advised her. “If you don’t leave, the abuse will only continue and get worse. Not to mention the cheating. He cheated on me with so many women.” She gave Mitzy a level stare. “You were probably one of them, so you know I’m telling the truth.”
“He…he said you didn’t love him no more,” Mitzy whispered, her candy-cane red lips trembling. “He said you wouldn’t give him sex no more and you were mean to him.”
“Our sex life ended when I started suspecting the cheating,” Melanie admitted. “But I think you can tell who was the mean one in the relationship. Seriously—get out while you can.”
The car horn blared suddenly and Steve rolled down the window a crack and shouted,
“Mitzy, get your fat ass in the fucking car!”
Mitzy jumped, her eyes going even wider.
“I gotta go!” she babbled.
“Are you sure?” Melanie asked her. “We can call somebody for you if you want.”
For a moment, she thought the pregnant girl was actually considering it. Then Steve blasted the horn again and she jumped and ran around to the passenger’s side. She got awkwardly into the car, maneuvering her big belly as she lowered herself into the low-slung seat. But she was barely inside before Steve revved the engine and pulled away.
As Mitzy struggled to shut the door, the car did a messy U-turn, spraying gravel as it drove away at a speed that certainly wasn’t safe.
Melanie watched the cherry red taillights disappear into the gathering gloom and the calm that had covered her pain shattered like glass.
Putting her face in her hands, she began to sob.
19
The antidote! Quickly, Strong—give it to her!” Melanie heard Clear saying anxiously to his twin.
“Hold still, little one,” Strong said to her and then a needle bit into her arm and something hot was pulsing through her veins.
Melanie gasped, distracted from her grief by the sudden pain and the strange sensation. Then, to her utter relief, the horrible gray cloud that had surrounded her all day, from the moment she’d woken up, suddenly seemed to dissipate and blow away on a cool breeze.
“Oh…” she whispered, looking up at the twins. “What…what just happened? I feel so much better.”
The depression and self-loathing and anxiety were gone. Best of all, the mean little voice that had been tormenting her was finally silent.
“You were drugged last night,” Strong explained. “We all were. Someone spiked the punch.”
“I know—with Fireflower juice, right?” Melanie asked, frowning.
The Dark Twin shook his head.
“The Fireflower juice was only to mask the taste of the drug. It’s an aphrodisiac which has some pretty heavy side effects once the initial euphoria wears off.”
“So…I was drugged?” Melanie bit her lip. “Is that why I, uh, acted the way I did last night?” She hoped desperately that it was. She needed a reason for the things she’d done.
“Yes.” Clear nodded firmly. “Though you know, sweetheart,” he added, reaching out to cup Melanie’s cheek, which was still wet with tears. “Strong and I wouldn’t think any less of you even if you hadn’t been drugged last night.”
“I would think less of myself, though,” Melanie admitted. “I mean, it’s one thing to be sexually uninhibited and empowered in my feminism and all that, but it’s something else entirely to throw myself at two guys who are way too young for me and act like—”
“We are not too young for you,” Strong interrupted, frowning sternly. “And you are not too old for us,” he continued. “We are exactly the right age for each other and Clear and I believe that the Goddess brought the three of us together for just that reason.”
Melanie shook her head.
“I…don’t understand.”
“Don’t you see, sweetheart? Strong and I are trying to tell you we love you.” Clear put an arm around her and then Strong did the same and in a moment, Melanie found herself in a sweet, three-way embrace.
“Guys,” she murmured, looking up at the two of them. “I…I just don’t know about this. I’m not sure.”
“Then let us convince you,” Strong rumbled, and kissed her.
“Yes, give us a chance,” Clear urged and kissed her as well, as soon as his brother pulled back.
Melanie didn’t know how to answer, so she simply kissed them back.
20
They spent the night in Aunt Marge’s spare room, since the little old lady insisted on getting to know Melanie’s “gentlemen friends” and said that Strong and Clear should stay for Christmas. Indeed, despite Melanie’s worries that she might disapprove of the fact that there were two of them and only one of Melanie, Aunt Marge seemed surprisingly flexible.
“As long as they treat you right,” she said to Melanie, as the three of them were going up to the guest room. “That nasty Steve, he never treated you right! I just want you to be with someone who appreciates you, Melly.”
“I can promise you, Ma’am, Clear and I will protect, love, cherish, and appreciate your niece,” Strong told her, putting an arm around Melanie’s shoulders.
“For all the days of our lives,” Clear added, putting an arm around her waist.
“That’s all right then.” Aunt Marge nodded approvingly. “It’s a good thing you two came!” she added. “Now that turkey won’t go to waste!”
“What’s a turkey?” Clear asked as Aunt Marge stumped away with several of her cats following.
“A traditional Earth holiday food,” Strong answered. “Which can wait until tomorrow.” He looked down at Melanie. “For now, Clear and I aren’t hungry for anything but you, little one.”
“Oh…” Melanie felt her breath catch in her throat. “Guys, we can’t—”
“No of course not—not until you’re ready,” Strong said. “But for tonight, can we just hold you between us?”
“You need healing again,” Clear murmured, stroking her cheek. “Please, Melanie—let us hold you.”
Melanie felt herself melting.
“All right,” she whispered, looking up at them. “As long as we’re just holding each other.”
“Of course.” And Strong led the way upstairs to the guest room, which thankfully had a king-sized bed or the three of them would never have fit.
As it was, it was still going to be a bit of a squeeze to get the two huge Kindred warriors in on either side of her. Melanie couldn’t help feeling a little nervous too, because Strong had asked that they all be naked.
“Skin-to-skin contact is best for healing,” he rumbled, looking down into Melanie’s eyes. “And we’ll need as much contact as we can get to rid your system of the last of that drug and the depression that went with it.”
“I’m feeling much more myself now,” Melanie said honestly.
“But you could feel even better between us,” Clear pointed out.
“Well…”
Melanie felt herself wavering. Did she really feel confidant enough to be completely naked with the two huge, muscular warriors? Then she remembered that she still had on the float dots Sonja had given her and that decided her.
“All right,” she said, biting her lip. “But I’m normally a lot more shy than I was last night when I was, uh, under the influence. “I’ll get naked with you, but only if I can undress by myself and get into bed
first.”
“As you wish,” Strong nodded. “Come on, Brother—let’s step outside for a moment.”
The two of them stepped out in the hallway and Melanie quickly took off her clothes and slipped, shivering, between the clean cotton sheets. She was glad Aunt Marge didn’t let her cats go in the guest room.
After a moment there was a rap at the door and the Strong and Clear came back in when she called for them to do so.
“Would you like us to turn out the lights before we disrobe?” Clear asked, looking at Melanie, who had the covers up to her chin.
“Only if you want to,” she told them. “I, uh, don’t mind seeing the two of you naked.”
“We don’t mind seeing you naked, either, little one,” Strong growled as they slipped out of their uniforms to stand nude before her. “Though we understand if you’re shy.”
“Although you have nothing to be ashamed of or shy about,” Clear added. “From what we saw last night, you’re perfect, sweetheart.”
“She might not want to talk about what we did last night, Clear,” Strong reminded him, frowning.
“No—it’s okay,” Melanie said quickly. She was trying not to look at the long, thick shafts between their legs and failing miserably. “I…I don’t mind talking about it now that I know why I was acting like that,” she said, at last tearing her eyes away.
“I hope you don’t feel like we took advantage of you,” Clear said anxiously. “We honestly didn’t know that you were drugged.”
“Well technically, we were all drugged,” Strong pointed out. “We all drank the punch but it affected the females the most.” He looked at Melanie. “Are you ready for us to join you?”
“Sure, come…” Her mouth was suddenly dry and she had to swallow. “Come on in.”
“Thank you.” And they slid into bed beside her, Strong on her right and Clear on her left.
“May we touch you?” Clear asked. “Hold you between us?”
“Yes.” She could already feel the heat from their big bodies radiating against her bare skin, but they were still keeping a little distance from her. “Hold me,” she said and then the two muscular male forms bracketed hers, just as they had the night after the accident with her hand…which seemed about a million years ago now.
Secret Santa Surprise: Book 29 in the Kindred Tales Series Page 14