With a wave of her hand, she asked the singer to continue.
"We have a few days off and the initial schedule would take me back home next week... Florida, here we come”.
The Girl on the other side of the screen grimaced.
“Melissa will love to get to know the sunny beauties of Sarasota”. She tried to play, after all she doesn’t know how much Melissa had shared with him. "She's not a beach girl, but I'm sure she'll survive the high temperature."
Gabriel took a deep breath, wondering if he told Angela what he knew, decided to go on with what was really bothering him at that moment, since it would be uncomfortable to talk about Melissa's life without her knowing it.
"Well, the initial programming would also take her back home," he said. "We'd meet again at the next show.
“Oh really?” Angela gave a huge smile, glad to see her friend. "That would be incredible ..." She broke off in the middle of the sentence, remembering the unexpected visit she'd been getting in the past few days. “But, it would be even better if she took the time to visit other places... She has not been on a beach for years. If that's not a problem for you, Sarasota would be a great place for her to thrive.”
Gabriel stared at the screen in silence for a while. If Melissa hadn’t shared her story, he would not have noticed Angela's attempt to keep her friend away from her hometown, even if she was crazy to review it. No one had to tell the singer to understand that Lissa’s uncle was still around.
"Are not you anxious for a visitor? It's going to be a long time before we have a break again.”
"It would be great to see her again. I really miss her.” Ang smiled sadly. "But I can wait. It will be cool for her to visit someplace new.”
The rocker thought for a moment, unsure how to continue the conversation. It was really noble that Angela was trying, somehow, to protect her friend. He would do the same, even if he had to change the plans without consulting the most interested.
"He's in town, is not he?" Gabe finally questioned her. He needed to be sure and it would be good to share his doubts with someone who knew Melissa better than anyone else.
When Angela looked at him with a mixture of disbelief and shock, he continued.
“She told me. About new year and birthdays.”
The girl stared at the screen for a long time, without believe in what she had heard. It had taken Melissa almost three years to finally be able to tell her best friend what was going on, and it took even longer for Angela to know everything. It was surprising that she had told the rocker of her own accord.
She wanted to know more about how the revelation happened, but it was not the time.
"Yes..." She confirmed with an annoyed look replacing the previous one. "Normally he would have gone back to hell from where he leaves every year, but things were different this time around.
Gabriel felt the anger growing inside his chest. He was there, waiting for her, certain that he would surprise her when she returned home. It was sick and disgusting.
"I'm sorry, Ang”. He managed to control his voice so as not to scream to overflow what he felt at the moment. "She will not come back."
Angela's eyes filled with tears, but she nodded in agreement. It was best for Lissa, but it hurt to know that she probably wouldn’t see her friend in person anymore.
"I wish I could see her just one more time," she replied as the tears exploded. "But she doesn’t belong here, Gabriel. No matter what, keep her away from here.
He agreed. Keep Melissa away from anyone who would hurt her even more was his objective. But he would try to find a way to arrange a meeting between the two friends.
"Do you feel well enough for a few days on the beach?"
Angela's red eyes widened before more tears streamed down and she nodded furiously.
“Great!” He winked at her. “Arthur will call your parents ... Let's make this week the best.”
♫
Melissa Bittencourt looked at the big house in front of her, feeling slightly, intimidated. Despite the obvious differences, the luxury of the property reminded her of the house where she used to live with her mother and stepfather.
“Are you coming or not?” Gabriel called her from the door, staring at her as she watched everything around her.
They were both alone, since Arthur had gone to his own house to rest, and most of the security team had been dismissed for the rest of the day. The property was inside a gated community that had its own security guards and as the day was already in the end and Gabriel had no plans to leave the house, it was not necessary that they had bodyguards following them all the time.
“Of course.” Lissa answered as she grabbed the handle of one of her bags and dragged it down the path to the main entrance. "Are you sure you want me to stay here?" She asked as she approached the singer. "You can send me to some hotel. I don’t care.”
Voss stared at her for a second.
“What is the problem?” He asked when they finally entered. “Don’t you want to stay here?”
She didn’t want to, and almost said that. Luckily, she was able to shut up in time.
"I just don’t want to bother your family with my presence.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes.
"My parents and Karen are in their own home. And if I'm not mistaken, Mari is on a trip with some friends.”
Melissa let out a small sigh.
"So, you live here by yourself?" She took the opportunity to remove the coat she wore, it was melting. "Do you really need such a big house just for you?"
“Theoretically, yes”. He left the suitcases where they were and took Mel's hand and guided her through the house. “I have a person to keep things in order and keep me, minimally, fed. Nelly. She must be somewhere out there..." The information made Melissa stop in the middle of the path to replace her coat and hide her uncovered arms. "And the house is never really empty when I'm here, which is not very frequent. My parents usually come by here to see how I am and Karen seems to live here more than at her house.”
"Of course..." Lissa followed the musician into a spacious kitchen. "So maybe I'd better stay in a hotel."
Gabriel purposefully pretended not to hear and reached the refrigerator from where he removed a bottle of mineral water and offered it to Mel.
"I'll get you upstairs to take a shower and get rid of that coat. You will melt in there.”
"If you have air conditioning, I can spend the next five days hibernating inside the room”. She closed her eyes to enjoy the coolness of the icy water running down her throat.
"Don’t even think..." He pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her thin waist. "There are a lot of things I want to show you.”
"If you're thinking of carrying me to the beach..." She seemed to read his mind. “Forget it. Now, show me the room I'm staying. I'm really melting.”
Gabriel led her through the dining room and back to the living room to follow to the second floor.
"You could save us time and just stay in my room at once."
Melissa went up the stairs without paying any attention to what she was hearing.
“Really. We both know I'm going to end up in your room at the very end of the night”.
"With your sister hanging around the house?" She raised an eyebrow at him. “No way! She could drive me out of the room.”
“Mel?” Gabriel stopped her as they reached the bedroom doors. “Karen promised to behave. Can you, please, do the same?”
“I'm very well behaved”. She said sarcastically.
Gabriel knew that it would be no use to reply, so he moved on.
"That's my room..." He pointed to the second and last door on the right, ignoring the three rooms on the opposite wall. "Just to know..." He blinked and with a smile opened the first door. "And this is where you're staying."
Melissa had a fun answer for him, but immediately fell silent as they came face to face with a lady finishing the large bed that occupied much of the room.
“Nelly
!” Gabriel crossed the room and hugged the woman who smiled at him affectionately. She was short and had hair almost as dark as Melissa's, even though the strands were not chubby shoulders. "Have you missed me?"
"Did I miss your mess?" The woman teased him with a low chuckle from Melissa. "Not at all, but I'll survive this week with you here."
Gabriel grimaced, but then laughed, placing a kiss on the woman's forehead that returned the singer's smile.
""I'm going to pretend that you're not homesick for me." He joked. "But now let me introduce you to my most special guest... Melissa, the room will not catch fire if you drop the door and come in here.
Melissa felt her face flush, but she beat the distance to the middle of the room.
“Hi, Nelly!” She tried to sound nice. “Nice to meet you.”
"It's all my pleasure, my dear”. The housekeeper replied with a smile. "I didn’t have much time to prepare everything, but I hope the room is to your liking."
“Is perfect”. Lissa answered with a sincere smile. “Thanks!”
"Now that the introductions have been made..." Gabriel snatched the purse Melissa carried from her hands and tossed it onto the bed. "Nelly, my queen, you could arrange your wonderful pasta for me, would not you?"
"You always have the same request when you return home, my boy. It’s ready. Settle down, rest and go down to eat”. Nelly headed for the door. "I don’t even need to warn you that your sister will be here in a few minutes, so don’t delay."
♫
Melissa came down the stairs reluctantly. She was tired and wanted to stay in her bedroom and sleep and she had no desire to see Karen Voss. But Gabriel had summoned her to come down after he had gone to her room, to check her for the third time.
Smoothing the soft fabric of her long-sleeved dress, the designer let herself be guided by the excited voices of the brothers.
Although it was night, the temperature was still too high for Melissa's parameters, so the girl had let her hair dry naturally after the shower and dispensed her shoes. The dress didn’t bother her much, but she would have preferred to get rid of her too.
Karen was the first to see her when she reached the dining room and made no effort to disguise her displeasure but smiled at her and rose from the chair beside Gabriel as soon as the singer saw her and call her closer.
“Melissa?” The younger Voss called out humbly as Lissa settled in front of the two brothers. “I wanted to apologize for my behavior at Christmas and for my unfortunate comment on the photo you posted on my brother’s Instagram. Can you forgive me?”
Melissa stared at her for a moment, assessing her without disguise. She could be smiling and using sweet words, but the eyes that were on her were still the same ones that had mocked her the last time they met. Only if she was too stupid would Lissa believe her.
"Whatever..." she replied, without care to turn Gabriel's eyes. "Can we eat? I'm tired and I want to sleep.”
♫
"You're not making it easy..." Gabriel commented as he followed Melissa back into the bedroom. "You didn’t even try to get along with Karen and she spent the whole night trying to start a conversation with you.”
Melissa laughed and went straight to the bathroom to brush her teeth.
"If you call her offenses in my style as an attempt at conversation ..." she replied after finishing the mouthpiece.
"Mel, please, you may not have much in common about what to talk about, but she was struggling. She apologized and you ignored her.”
Melissa threw herself on the bed as the singer searched for a new toothbrush inside the bathroom cabinet. Apparently, he was even thinking of setting up wherever Melissa was.
"She can fool you, but not me. Her apology was as fake as my love of sunny cities.”
“Melissa...”
“Give it up, Gabriel.” She sat in the middle of the bed as he settled down beside her. “She stays in her corner and I in mine. That's the best you can get.”
"All right..." He gave up. “Let's forget about Karen. We're alone now... We could enjoy it.”
“Enjoy what?” She questioned as he approached her, placing her on his lap.
"I can think of a lot of things..." He responded by giving a light kiss to her neck. “I liked that dress”. He toyed with the wide sleeves that covered her arms.
"It's one of the ones you gave me”. She responded softly with the kisses he continued to spread across her neck and shoulder.
"I know..." He looked at her, his dark eyes glittering. "You must have realized that I love it when you use one of them. You look so fucking beautiful.”
Of course, she had realized, that’s why she always ended up choosing one of them when she wanted to make the singer happy?
"We could take a pool bath together..." he suggested shortly before his fingers infiltrated Mel's still damp hair and his lips caressed hers lightly. "I bet the water is delicious and would help you freshen up."
Lissa used her teeth to catch the singer's lips and let her nails slip through his arms. Who knew she'd love to be like this with a guy? She loved it when Gabriel put her on his lap and proceeded to kiss her, lightly or with a little desperation.
Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to imagine what it would be like to continue kissing in the pool as he was suggesting. It would probably be one of the things she would learn to enjoy sharing with him, but unfortunately, she would never know for sure. After all, if she accepted the invitation, she would have to wear a bikini, which she didn’t even have, and that would reveal more of her scars. She was already ashamed of what she had in her arms, she did not want to have to show the ones on her thighs either.
"No ..." She denied it after releasing his lips and smiling at the way he had gasped. "I've got plans for tonight. And I don’t even have a bikini.”
To keep him from convincing her in any way, Melissa flung herself away from the bed and busied herself with picking up and turning on her personal computer.
"Do you have plans?" Gabriel tried to calm his heartbeat. She would make him mad if she continued to tease him without even realizing it. "And those plans include me?"
He rolled onto the mattress to hide his excitement and stifled a groan as he turned his face as she returned with the notebook in hand.
“Not exactly." As always, Lissa was sincere in the extreme. "But you can stay if you want."
“What are you going to do?” He stretched his head to look at the computer as she mimicked his position and began to tinker with the device. "Oh no..." he grunted as she opened a folder that was filled with photos and videos of his shows. “We're off duty, Mel.”
“We really are.” She laughed at him. "And I'm going to take my time off to pick the best videos. I want to record and send it to Angela.”
"We're going to record a DVD at some point on the tour, you can give it to her when it launches" He made a pout that Melissa thought was pathetic and cute at the same time.
"Why do not you go to your swimming pool and let me do it in peace?"
"Are you sure you do not want to go with me?" He threw one arm and one leg over her back and brought his lips to one of her arms.
Melissa dropped her head against the mattress.
"Stop it..." She tried to move beneath him. "You're heavy!"
Gabriel removed his leg from above her, but kept his arm, as well as the distribution of kisses.
"And I said I don’t have a bikini." She continued by clicking on a video to review it.
“Come on in your dress. It’s no one is here to see.”
“You’re…” She paused the video and stared at him. "Now are you going to help me with the videos or do I have to put you out of the room?"
“Shit!” He cursed softly and released her. "Let's do it right then.”
Taking the notebook off the bed, he took the device to the rack across the room and connected it to the flat-screen TV attached to a wall panel. Less than a minute later, they were leaning against the head of the bed, watching Ga
briel's performances.
“You have a good look...” He praised after the third video. “You're always looking for the best angle. I'm impressed that you've made such good videos with your phone”
She liked the compliment, but she didn’t know how to answer it.
"I don’t know which one to choose..." She flinched. “Any suggestion?”
“Well, Stay Alive performance of the first show must go... You felt the crowd singing along energy? It was amazing!” He remarked enthusiastically. “And, of course, one of Everything covers and the All Of Me in the last show in London. And then we can choose a performance of every song is in standard setlist.”
She nodded, but was focused on the television screen where Gabriel appeared singing just the song that would always remind her of him.
“Do you like this?” He asked raising the sound a little and without waiting for an answer, pulled her out of bed.
“What are you doing?” She tried to get rid of the big hands that were already sliding down her back until they lodged around her waist.
"Close your eyes..." Gabriel asked. “Feel the music... Like you did at Christmas”. He began to sway her slowly, in the rhythm of his voice.
He wanted to dance with her from the first time and it was even better than he had imagined.
Melissa snuggled against his chest, her arms resting on his neck as she felt him guide her around the room, rolling them around and humming softly.
Why did he have to do these things? It was impossible to resist him when he was all tender, cute and romantic like that.
"I love to sing for you, Mel”. He said when the song came to an end.
“Why?” She asked, standing on tiptoe to brush the tip of her nose against his chin.
“Sincerely?” He bent down a little to look into her eyes. “Because you surrender when the music touches you, because all the sadness that is always reflected in your eyes goes away when you hear me sing just for you, because you smile at me in a way that makes my heart race, because when the show ends you just forget to be tough, just for a moment, and throw yourself in my arms and squeeze me so hard that I wonder that you'll never let me go again ... 'Cause every love song reminds me of you. When I'm singing to you, it does not matter if it's during the show, or before bedtime, I'm not the famous singer, the rock star, I'm just a guy with the heart in the hands of a beautiful girl.”
Broken Angel (English Edition) Page 30