by Cruz, Sofia
Now he studied the woman who stood in front of him, tall and proud, hands on her hips, almost spoiling for a fight. He chuckled to himself. If she was getting involved with either one of his girls, she'd need that fighting spirit, otherwise his nieces would just chew her up and spit her out. Knowing that they hadn't managed to do that to this woman, he suddenly saw her in a new light. He was careful with his next words.
"Felicia and Jessica are grown women, and more than capable of making their own decisions, very capable of taking care of themselves." David almost laughed out loud at the 'No kidding!' look that spread over Melanie's face, but he stifled the laugh and went on. "I'll be honest here, Melanie, and admit that I always pictured them both finding some nice young man and settling down with families of their own while they helped me run this company. When they both finally confessed to me that they just weren't interested in men, I was a little upset at first. I suppose I felt like I had done something wrong, somewhere along the line, when I was raising them." He held up a hand, as Melanie was about to interrupt him. "No, I realize know that how I raised them wasn't the deciding factor, but I like to think it's natural for a parent to feel that way, at first. Now, I'm ok with their decisions for their personal lives. I just want them happy, and to find someone decent to spend their lives with, but because I'm old fashioned, I tend to treat their female suitors the same way I would if they were men."
Melanie smiled at David's admission. She gave him points for making peace with his nieces' personal choices and knew, as old fashioned as he was, he was handling things the best way he knew how. In the end, he loved Felicia and Jessica just the same as he would if they were both his biological daughters, and he was looking out for them. Melanie walked back towards the desk and retook the chair she had sat in earlier.
"Listen, David, I respect your position so I'll be honest here. Yes, I had a very personal relationship with both of your girls. When you first hired me, I was on the tail end of a very rough couple of years. I had a case blow up in my face and it landed me in the hospital. About six moths later, my parents died in a car accident and they were all the family I've ever had. I'd been drifting for quite a while, and when Felicia and I got involved, I was happy for the first time in a very long time. But she and I were never truly in love with each other and we've worked that out. Now, I consider Felicia a very dear, close friend, someone I care about very much. As for Jessica, well, she was angry that I left the way I did. I did it to give her and Felicia time to work things out, but she didn't see it that way. When I came back, I tried to work things out with her..." Melanie sighed, "Well, she just didn't see things they way I did." Melanie held her hands out, palms up, and shrugged.
David leaned a little further over his desk and looked Melanie straight in the eye. "Are you sure about that?" he asked softly.
Melanie looked at him in shock, for a minute, then lowered her eyes and sighed. "Yeah, unfortunately, I am."
David just nodded and Melanie thanked him for his time and left. David waited a few moments, giving time for Melanie to leave his office, then buzzed his secretary. "Linda, could you ask Jessica to come down here for a minute?"
He had a feeling that, where Jessica was concerned, Melanie was on the wrong track. He liked her, and suspected that his niece did as well. Loving his girls as much as he did, he thought it wouldn't hurt to give Jessica a gentle push in the right direction.
##
Melanie stood around waiting for the Chinese takeout she had just ordered and mulled over her conversation with David. She had to decide if her theory about Lonna Tassin was valid enough for her to pursue, but David's parting question kept interfering with her train of thought.
Climbing into her car, she carefully placed the bag of food on the passenger seat, and then just sat there, watching the people of New Orleans shuffle home. "Was she sure?" That had been David's question. When she answered him, she had been, but now... "Oh, hell!" she thought, twisting the key in the ignition and feeling the car come to life around her. Shifting into drive, she carefully pulled into traffic and headed towards her apartment. A picture of Jessica, smiling at her with the sun sparkling in her hair, popped into her mind, quickly followed with one of Alyshia, who was waiting for her at home. Next came Felicia. God only knows what she was in to, or how much trouble she was in if Melanie was right about Lonna using her to get revenge. A car streaked across her path and she jammed on the breaks. Swearing, she tried to clear her mind. If she didn't focus on the traffic in front of her, she won't have to worry about anything at all soon.
##
Fifteen minutes later, she strolled through her front door to find Alyshia asleep on the couch. She walked closer to the couch, the take-out bag still in her hands, and watched her sleep. She really liked Alyshia, and they were having a good time together. Maybe that was the best she was ever going to get, could ever dare to hope for. "Maybe I need to just learn to be happy with what I've got right now, instead of getting messed up over things I can't control." She decided she and Alyshia were due for another distraction, and she walked over to the kitchen to stash the Chinese food in the fridge. They could nuke it later, after Melanie woke Alyshia up, properly. A smile on her face, she walked back towards the couch.
##
Jessica had spent so much time talking with her uncle this afternoon; he had ended up rescheduling the rest of his appointments. She appreciated the fact that he had always put her and Felicia first. As far as he was concerned, work could wait, family always came first. It had felt good to finally have someone to talk to, to help her sort out her feelings. Now she was finally sure that she was in love with Melanie, and wanted to work things out between the two of them.
She felt a little nervous as she climbed the steps to Melanie's apartment. She thought she heard voices and paused, halfway up the steps. Deciding it was just her imagination, she finished climbing the stairs. Reaching the screen door, she raised her hand to knock, but her hand froze in midair.
Melanie felt Alyshia's hand slipping down towards her clit and she quickly flipped her onto her back. She was enjoying this sweet tension that was slowly building inside of her while she made love to Alyshia, and she wanted to hold on to it a little longer. Trying to distract her, Melanie began trailing kisses down her body, but only made it as far as the valley between Alyshia's breast, when Alyshia arched her hips, trying to grind against her. She groaned as their clits hit each other perfectly, and she tried to pull away.
Ever since Melanie woke her up by sucking her nipples into hardened peaks, Alyshia felt like she was on fire; she couldn't get enough sex tonight. She knew Melanie was trying to prolong things, but she wasn't interested. Tonight, she was in the mood for hot and fast, and as many times as possible. Melanie tried to roll off of her, but she wrapped her legs around Melanie's waist, holding her in place as she arched against her.
Unable to get away, Melanie felt her clit rub against Alyshia's one more time, and finally gave up fighting the inevitable. Bracing her hands on either side of Alyshia's head, she pushed up; angling herself so all of her weight was pushing her pelvis into Alyshia's, and started to grind back, the friction between their pussies quickly pushing her to the edge.
Alyshia's eyes gleamed as Melanie arched into her, conceding defeat. She arched her back and blindly reached out. Finding a nipple, she started to pinch and roll it between her fingers. Melanie's groan of pleasure spurred her on. Deciding this wasn't enough, she rolled Melanie onto her back, and then changed her position so that they were facing each other on the bed, their legs scissored together. Alyshia used her arms, stretched out behind her, to give her more leverage, and she pushed even tighter into Melanie's sopping wet pussy, as hard as she could.
This position was driving her nuts. Melanie knew she wouldn't last much longer as their movements picked up speed. About to burst, she threw her head back and moaned Alyshia's name as her orgasm built to a fevered pitch, Alyshia right behind her.
Jessica watched through the sc
reen as Melanie and some blonde rolled around on Melanie's bed, naked. Jessica could hear their moans as she watched their bodies tangle the bed sheets. She felt the ground disappear from under her. Tears in her eyes, she whipped around and rushed down the steps, the sound of Melanie climaxing almost physically pushing her away from the apartment. She climbed back into her convertible and sat there, tears blinding her vision, ears ringing. She knew she couldn't drive right then, so she just sat there, sobbing uncontrollably.
Minutes later, she heard the passenger door open, causing her head to jerk up as she hastily wiped tears from her eyes. Her vision cleared just in time to see Mama Dubois climb into the passenger seat. Mama owned the club that was on the ground floor of the building Melanie's apartment was in. Uncle David and Mama were old friends and the bar owner had always been like an aunt to her and Felicia.
Mama brushed a hand over Jessica's hair. "There now, baby, take a breath." Mama watched Jessica try to get control over her crying jag. She suspected what the problem was, but decided to let Jessica start the conversation, rather than ambush the poor girl with a bunch of questions.
Jessica felt the tears subside and took a jerky breath as she stared at Mama, who just sat quietly, stroking her hair, understanding and love in her eyes. "Oh Mama!" Jessica cried and sank into Mama's arms, curling against her the best she could in bucket seats.
"Sssshhhh. It's ok, baby girl. You just cry it out. You can tell me all about it whenever you're ready."
"I screwed up," Jessica sobbed. "I found the best woman and treated her like shit, so she left. Now she's up there fucking some blonde," Jessica felt anger take over and it stopped the new crying jag she was on the verge of. "I lost her," Jessica announced, staring blindly at the dashboard as Mama held her.
"I take it you're talking about that sexy P.I. I've been renting to?"
Jessica gave a little laugh and just shook her head yes.
"You know, I can't remember the last time I saw you cry over a busted up relationship."
"I don't think it ever really mattered before."
"Hmmm. Well, you know, that little girl showed up with a whole lotta luggage."
"So?" Jessica asked, her voice sounding pouty.
"Well, maybe it's time she repacked her bags and went on back home."
Jessica slowly pulled away from Mama and twisted in her seat so she could face her. "What are you suggesting, Mama?"
Mama studied Jessica's tear streaked face, her eyes red and swollen. She'd known David Matthews since forever. When his brother went over the edge and killed himself and his wife, David had come to her desperate for help. He'd never raised a child before, knew nothing about it, and had hoped she, who had five children, could help him out. She remembered that day. David had been terrified that he was going to mess things up, make some horrific mistake that would screw the girls up for the rest of their lives. She'd had to give him several shots of bourbon before he finally clamed down. Since then, she'd given David all the help she could, and the girls had become as close to her as her own kids. She even thought of them as her nieces too, and her family had often celebrated many a holiday, or special occasion, with the Matthews's. Still did, as a matter of fact. And Lord help her, because she loved Jessica so much, she was going to help break up some couple. She let out a long sigh, stroking a hand over Jessica's face.
"Come on inside, baby girl. We've got a lot of work to do if we're going to convince that girl to leave town for another job."
Jessica looked at Mama in shook. "Melanie?!"
Mama laughed. "No, not Melanie, silly. That blonde she's playing with."
"You'd do that for me?"
"Now, you know it's not my habit to go interfering in other people's personal lives, but any fool can see you're head over heels for that girl. And I think she might feel the same way about you, so I'm going to make an exception, just this once, mine you, and help you clear the field, so to speak."
Jessica flung herself across the seat and gave Mama a huge hug. "Thank you."
Mama laughed and patted Jessica on the back. "Come on now. Get yourself together girl and let's get crackin'."
Jessica wiped her face clean with her hands and started to climb out of the car. As she followed Mama into the bar, she felt a twinge of guilt over what she was about to do, and then quickly pushed it aside. After all, 'All's fair in love and war.' This happened to be a bit of both.
Chapter 4
Melanie awoke slowly, letting her eyes adjust to the morning sun that was pouring through the French doors she had left open last night. She reached out for Alyshia and only found an empty bed. Coming fully awake, she sat up a little and looked around her apartment. Finally, she found a little slip of paper, folded in half, laying on the pillow next to her with her name written on the front.
She got this feeling of foreboding, already sensing she wasn't going to like what the note said. Just the same, she propped herself up against the headboard and reached for the note, slowly opening it.
"Melanie,
Sorry to leave like this but I got up to check my email and found a job offer I just can't pass up. They wanted me in L.A. this morning so I caught a cab to the airport. I'll try to e-mail you later. I left everything I was able to find so far in a folder on the coffee table. I had a great time.
Love,
Alyshia"
Angry, Melanie smashed the note into a ball and sent it sailing towards the French doors. She watched, a little impressed with herself, as she watched the crumbled ball fly through the air, through the doors, over the balcony, clear the flower beds, then arch towards the ground, disappearing from sight.
Groaning, Melanie scooted deeper into the bed and pulled the covers up over her head. Lying there, staring at the underside of the bedspread, she seriously considered just staying here the rest of the day. Any time your days starts with a Dear Jane letter, its only going to get worse from here, so why bother at all. "I'll just stay here, go back to sleep, and when I get up tomorrow, my luck will be a helluva lot better," she thought.
Contemplating the merits of never leaving the bed, she thought she heard a noise. She pulled the sheet down a little so she could hear better. Listening, she realized the noise she heard was someone knocking on her door. "Go away!" she shouted, and dived back under the covers.
Seconds later, she only heard silence and sighed with relief. There was no way she was going to answer that. They way her day started, she knew who ever was at her door was just trouble.
She heard the muffled sound of her screen door slamming shut and she bolted upright in bed, the bedspread dropping to her waist. There, standing in the middle of her hallway with her hands on her hips, was none other that Jessica Matthews.
"Shit! Go away, Jessica. I'm not in the mood to fight with you again." Melanie quickly plopped down on her bed, twisting to lie on her stomach, pulling the covers back over her as she went. She laid there, buried under the covers, alert to any little sound, but all she could hear was her heart hammering in her chest.
Jessica stood in the hallway considering the lump in the middle of the bed. This wasn't quite the welcome she was hoping for. She'd been staked out in her car since about five this morning. She parked at the opposite street corner waiting for the blonde to leave. When she'd seen the cab pick her up, then pull away, she started her car and drifted it across the street to park at the corner, at the end of Melanie's little alleyway. She had walked as far as the bottom of the steps, then had spent the morning sitting on the bottom step. She didn't want to wake Melanie up, or show up too soon after Melanie's lover left, afraid Melanie would get suspicious. When she'd heard a noise, she'd glanced over just in time to see a crumbled ball of paper hit the ground with a small plopping noise, just a foot away. Startled at first, she looked up, and then realized that Melanie must have thrown it out the window. She picked it up, scanned it, and felt a moment of glee as she read the blonde's note. Man, she hadn't even bothered to wake Melanie up to say good-bye, just took off
in the middle of the night. The plan her and Mama had worked out yesterday was going even better than she had hoped.
She sat back down on the steps, trying to give Melanie a few minutes, and then found she didn't have the patience to wait. Knocking at the door, she could feel the excitement bubbling inside her. Melanie's rough order to leave, though, had taken some of the wind out of her sails. Now, watching Melanie hide under the covers, she felt herself deflate a little more. She'd suspected Melanie might not be entirely happy to see her, but she had pictured a slightly better greeting than this.