The housekeeper nodded in agreement and patted the singer's arm lightly.
"You're a sweet boy.” She smiled slightly at him. "You don’t need to apologize for your sister. You didn’t do anything wrong”. Turning her gaze to Melissa, she continued, "You’re lovely too, my dear. Thanks for the defense! But Gabriel is not to blame for what happened ... So, stop it and eat those delicious pancakes.”
Lissa was silent as she watched the lady walk away, leaving her alone with Gabriel.
"No matter what she said..." The designer began, after a while. "You're to blame for always defending and running your hand over her head."
"She's my sister, Mel.” The rocker took the place in the chair that his maid left vacant. "And honestly, it's horrible to see you two constantly misunderstanding. Please, for me, can’t you let the picking aside?”
Bittencourt almost laughed. The "for me" pleading didn’t have the effect on her that he intended.
"It's not a picking.” She corrected him. "And you'd see that if you forgot, just for a second, that she's your little sister and seeing her with the same eyes as everyone else.”
"Maybe you could see her with my eyes, too. Karen is impulsive, and yes, I admit, spoiled, but she is not the worst person in the world, as you implied.”
Melissa stared up at him, still irritated. She could think of a thousand things to disprove what he had just said. Karen was more than impulsive and spoiled, she was stingy, intolerant, prejudiced, and inedible. If she could choose, she would never cross her path again with hers. What had begun with a slight enmity had made them into declared defects. She could not bear it and she couldn’t understand how Gabriel couldn’t see who his sister really was.
"Or you're very blind..." She turned her back on the singer, intending to leave him alone. "Or pretend to be different from her. I don’t know what's worse.”
"Why do you always have to think the worst?" Gabriel reached for a female arm. With a weary sigh, he focused on improving the mood between them. "I don’t want to fight, Mel.” Pulling her closer, he made light strokes on the furious countenance facing him. "I'm sorry for what my sister said. I don’t agree with her behavior, so I'm sorry if I acted in any way that would make you believe otherwise.”
Melissa wanted to remain furious, but it was difficult when he apologized like that, being all loving and helpful. And it was as Nelly had said earlier, he wasn’t to blame for the scene that his sister had promoted.
She nodded, melting in his arms. She didn’t want to, but it was so difficult to resist when only his presence made her all bewildered and needy.
“No more fights?” Gabe laid a light kiss on her lips.
“With you?” She tried to play. “I can try”.
“That's enough… for now.” Unable to resist, the two left the rest aside and kissed each other intensely, with Mel's fingers clinging to the singer's hair, pulling him closer.
"You two are cute together.” Angela interrupted the kiss with a chuckle as she caught Gabriel's frustrated look on her. "But, dammit, it's such a miracle that the world doesn’t know you're dating."
"We're not dating..." Melissa said, pretending not to see the grimace Gabriel made and used her fingertips to wipe the mark her lipstick left on his lips.
"Of course not..." Angela mocked. "You can continue with yours “don’t date’, but before can anyone show me where I'm staying?”
"I'll show your room..." Gabriel forced himself to take his hands of Melissa.
"You can stay in my room..." Lissa suggested cheerfully, chuckling as Gabriel complained. “It'll be fun”
"It will not be any fun at all." The rocker made a mouthful after Angela nodded and went back into the dining room, saying she would eat another pancake before going upstairs. "How do we do at night?"
"You're going to sleep in your room, and I'll sleep in mine with Angela."
"You dispense me very easily, don’t you?" He frowned.
Lissa watched him for a moment, annoyed to see him head down. She wanted to say something to ease the situation, but she didn’t know what to say.
"All right," Gabriel continued, doing a lousy job of pretending he was not feeling deprived. "But you're going to have to make up for it."
“Oh yes? How?
“Meet me outside in 30 minutes...”
♫
“No way!” Melissa stopped so left the house back, bumping into a completely relaxed Gabriel, his body leaning nonchalantly in an imposing Harley-Davidson. "If you think I'm going to climb on this thing, you're wrong."
The singer couldn’t help, but laugh, especially at the incredulous look she gave him, which only left the girl more aloof.
Leaving the helmet, he had separated for her on the bike, he approached to extend his hand in a mute invitation.
Melissa admired the long fingers partially adorned with a leather glove, as well as the arms covered by the jacket she already knew to be his favorite. All in black and standing like that near the bike, he looked a lot like a bad boy. He was hot as hell. So sexy. But still she was not going to get on that bike.
"Come on..." He tried to persuade her when she folded her arms and refused to follow him with a nod. “Melissa Bittencourt is afraid of a motorcycle ride... Seriously? I'm not recognizing you.”
“I'm not afraid.” Lissa denied it. She was terrified. "I just do not want to.”
Gabe laughed again and beat the distance to her, sliding his fingers over the feminine arms still covered by a long cardigan. She had changed the short by a legging pants and leather shoes heavy combat boots. It looked like they had agreed, she was perfect and he was determined to take her for a ride on his favorite bike. He've been dreaming about it ever since they got to Sarasota.
“I will not let you down, babe...” He whispered in her ear, purposefully using all his charm. "You can hold on to me..." With a malicious glare that made her blush, the rocker wrapped her in a hug. "You can hold as tightly as you want."
Melissa tried to avoid it, but she ended up laughing.
"You have the worst pickup lines in the world." She took advantage of the proximity and kissed the chin that already began to call for a shave. "I like your face like this..." She remarked casually, feeling his beard for pricking her fingers.
“Do you like it?” He loved it, when she relaxed enough to talk to him without having to think too much about each word, when she ends up making little confessions. “What else do you like?”
"I like you wearing leather..." Lissa let her nails run down the skin of his neck, loving the fact that he shivered and looked at her as if his world were all about holding her in his arms. “You look like a bad boy now.”
Laughing, Voss stepped back to look to her eyes, a fun gleam in his own gaze.
"And, of course, a bad girl like you..." He commented with amusement. “Likes bad boys.”
“Am I a bad girl?” Lissa stepped on tiptoe to bite the singer's lower lip, teasing him.
"You are..." He confirmed, his voice hoarse, giving the fact that she was arousing him. “And as such, tread on my heart.”
Proving that she was really a bit mean to him, Melissa laughed loudly at the singer's speech.
"How dramatic you are..." She pushed him away. "And you can take those abused hands off me. Not all the charm of the world will make me climb on that thing. I hate motorcycles!”
"Have you ever been to one before?" Gabriel challenged her.
"No... and I'm not going to start now ..." Determined to not give in, the girl was ready to go back into the house, when she had the displeasure to meet Karen again. The youngest Voss was passing through the door and stopped to see the couple.
“Will you leave?” She asked, analyzing her brother.
Trying to avoid further misunderstanding, the rockstar kept Melissa sticking to him and to distract her, kissed the exposed skin of a shoulder, after removed the cloth covering it.
"Yep." He confirmed without looking at his sister. He had talked to her after M
elissa carried her best friend upstairs, but he was still upset about the breakfast scene. “I'm taking Mel for a ride.”
"On your motorcycle?" Karen asked in surprise. "You never take anyone. I've asked a thousand times.”
The information made Melissa raise her face to face the girl in front of her, with a convinced smile.
To tease, Lissa turned to Gabriel and took his hand, pressing her fingers into his.
"It's better it’s be a good ride," she said as she pulled him toward the motorcycle. "I swear I'll kill you if you drop me."
"See how bad you are?" He helped her onto the motorcycle and put the helmet on her, trying to ignore his sister's hurt look on him. "I tried to convince you anyway, and you're just agreeing to go to provoke Karen."
Melissa settled herself on the bench, still with a teasing smile on her lips, and shrugged.
"You can leave me here and go out for a ride with her," She replied as she sat across from her. To tug it, she wrapped his waist with her arms, sliding her hands under the shirt that covered the defined chest, scratching the hot skin with his fingernails. "You decide."
Even if he wants, Gabriel would be able to resist. She knew how to tease him.
Turning on the engine, he laughed heartily when Mel stopped the teasing to cling firmly to her body.
"You know what you're doing, don’t you?" With the roar of the engine, he almost didn’t hear her before they left the house behind.
The rocker didn’t respond with words. Just accelerated, overcoming the distance to the condo too quickly, loving the feel of Melissa's small body glued to him, the scent of her at the touch of the wind.
For the first time, they would be really alone in public, with no bodyguards and managers to regulate them. This had to be even better than all the other times they had shared.
♫
“So! How was it like?” Angela studied the best friend's smiling face as she saw her enter the room with a beautiful, relaxed smile on her face. "What did you do all this time away from home?"
"It wasn’t that long..." Lissa defended herself as she threw herself on the bed and peered into what her friend was doing on the notebook. Obviously, she was checking out the fan site she ran.
"I slept for almost 4 hours and I've been awoken for at least an hour... Which means the ride lasted a long time.” Leaving the computer aside, Ang focused on her friend. “Go ahead, tell me everything... I confess I was so curious because I checked Gabe’s... He didn’t post anything new. I was waiting for a picture of you two on the beach.”
Melissa laughed heartily.
"We didn’t go to the beach," she said. "And even if we had gone, he wouldn’t post."
"Why not? Everyone would die of envy...”
Ignoring her friend's chattering, Lissa moved, resting her head on her lap and staring at the ceiling.
“It was great... I loved every second.” She confessed. "But if you tell him that, I'll deny it."
"You need to stop playing tough. What's wrong with enjoying the ride?”
"One hour, this will end, Ang... I'm just trying to keep my feet on the ground. So, the fall will be less when the tour ends and he sends me away.”
“Damn it! You're so negative ... Who said he's going to send you away? Maybe when the tour is over, you can come back here, take a vacation and enjoy the quiet, sunny days of Sarasota.”
Melissa kept her gaze on the ceiling, remembering how good it was to go holding hands with Gabriel, just the two, unconcerned and playful. How she had liked the way he showed his favorite places in the city and shared stories of his life. How she'd loved to sit in an inexpensive restaurant next to him and snuggle nearby while they were having lunch, the fast, stolen kisses he'd given her when no one was watching ... With a sigh, she gathered everything she'd had with him in the last hours, the nights they slept together and the daring exchanges of caresses and even the way he apologized when they didn’t... Yes. It would be great if all this continued after the tour was over, but she knew it would not be like this. So why fantasize about what wouldn’t happen?
"And you're too romantic. You still believe in enchanted princes and fairy tales.” She answered conformed. “I'm going to stop being something new in a few months and...”
“Oh my gosh!” Angela interrupted her. "You’re really in love. And like all lovers, you are insecure and miserably blind. You’re with him every day and you haven’t realized that he's crazy about you.”
“Look at me, Ang. Why would he be crazy about me?”
Angela sighed at the sound of her voice.
"Because you are fantastic, beautiful and intelligent. A wonderful friend, a human being with a kind heart, after all. Talented and dedicated. The correct question is why he would not be crazy about you.”
"He's a man, Angela. Attractive and desired by thousands of women quite willing to give him what I will never get even wanting too much. At some point, he will get tired of waiting.”
With fingers sliding through her black hair, Angela tried to comfort her friend.
"You don’t see yourself correctly, you can’t understand that it's worth all the effort in the world. If he ever gets tired it's because he's not the incredible guy we think he is. And if you want to have more to offer to him, and especially to yourself, look for it, Lissa. Ask for help. It isn’t a shame. It is a demonstration of strength.”
"I don’t want to talk about it..." Leaving her friend's lap, Melissa pulled away and picked up her old sketchbook, which had no more blank pages and was full of drawings of them. "I have something for you." I was going to mail it, but since you're here...”
Opening the sketchbook on the last pages, she showed the drawings he had made of Gabriel.
Angela was still in doubt if she insisted on the subject, but preferred to shut up for the time being. Melissa, though melancholy, was in a good mood. She didn’t want to ruin it.
“It is fantastic!” Ang said, truly delighted with what she saw. "But it's yours and Gabe's.”
"Nothing like that”. Lissa tried to deny it. "You always filled me up for a drawing of him ..."
“I really want it, and you never gave in. You just did the drawing because something about him... I don’t understand anything about art and yet I can feel the intensity with which you drew it. They are yours and you will leave them here, safely stored, for when the tour is over and you return.”
"I'm going home when this madness is over, Ang.”
"And where is your house, Lissa? You have nothing in Seattle to call home.”
“I have you.” Melissa answered angrily. She knew where that conversation was going to take.
"I will not be there when the tour is over, Lissa. You know that, I know that, the world knows... Damn it! It's time to you accepted that.”
"Thank you, Ang!" The designer left the bed, put the sketchbook on the mattress, and was unable to keep her voice down. "You did a great job of ruining my day.”
Angela was quite willing to continue the argument, but a knock on the door made her shut up and took a curse from Melissa.
"So, now you knock on the door?" Mel began as Gabriel peeked into the room. “What you want?”
With their hands raised in a false pose of surrender, the singer entered the room and cast a questioning look at Angela.
"I don’t think I'll ever be able to keep up with your mood..." he remarked. "If your killer instinct is under control, I'd like to invite you to a pool bath."
“Go to hell!” Melissa replied, masking the already known oppression with aggression. “You two”.
"OK..." Gabriel sat on the edge of the bed when the hurricane, named Melissa, locked herself in the bathroom, leaving him completely confused. "What have I done wrong now?"
Angela offered a comforting smile to her idol.
"She's angry with me, not with you." Picking up the sketchbook her friend had left behind, she stared at the first drawings. "And she's scared. I'm sorry she took it out on you.”
"It wasn’t
the first time..." The singer replied. "And it will not be the last. She will be in a good mood again before the end of the day. Let's give her a few minutes alone and enjoy the pool in the meantime.”
“Gabe?” Ang called before he reached the door. "You will not give it up, will you? I mean, you have all these pretty and less complicated girls who are crazy about you and...”
“I will not give up.” He assured her. "I know it's going to be difficult, and sometimes she'll piss me off, and maybe even make me think about quitting. But I will not.”
Leaving the bed behind her, Angela smiled. She didn’t know if she was being too gullible, but she trusted that Voss was telling the truth.
"I can’t stay long in the sun, but I think the pool is going to be cool."
"We have sunshades..." He blinked. “I'll wait outside.”
"Lissa..." Angela screamed, rummaging through her suitcase behind the bikini she had put on it. “Swimming pool with Gabriel Voss! My gosh! I'm in paradise...”
“Fuck off!” It was the reply that came muffled through the closed bathroom door.
“I'll wait for you downstairs... That'll be interesting.”
♫
That was definitely a bad idea, Melissa thought as she looked in the mirror and realized how much of the bikini she was trying to reveal from her body. Who did she want to fool? She wasn’t and never would be an ordinary girl, though Gabriel would make every effort to prove it. The mere attempt to wear that tiny piece of clothing was already absurd to herself. She would never have the courage to appear in front of him so exposed, with the evidence of her bizarre scattered all over in the form of scars. And she wanted to, she really wanted to get down to the pool, dive with Gabriel and take a shower with Angela. She wanted the sensation of the singer's bare and wet back in contact with her skin, she wanted to get a tan next to her best friend... She wanted to be normal, for a damn minute… she wanted to be normal.
Frustrated, the girl dropped to the floor, still staring at the reflection in the mirror. She wanted to hit something in it and break it into a thousand pieces, but it would draw too much attention. What she wanted least at that moment was an audience staring at her as an attraction to a circus of horrors. It sucked, but he had to control himself.
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