While he was far from watching her, she allowed herself for a feminine moment of excitement, grabbing the sheet that had covered the singer and led it to her face, delighting in his scent.
"Despised, confident, smelling good, and, absurdly, enthralling”. She whispered to herself. “And he loves me”.
“I really do”. Gabriel's voice made her drop the sheet and, embarrassed, leave the bed. "I love everything about you, even when you talk to yourself”.
He knew how to use the words to make her dazzled, maybe that's why she'd forgotten the rest and pulled him into a long, wet kiss.
♫
“Did you find what I asked for?” Arthur questioned as the private investigator walked through the door of his apartment, in the first hour of that new day.
"Yes, Mr. Montgomery. Here is Melissa Bittencourt's complete dossier." The boy handed him the binding.
"Tell me the most relevant information." He said as he flipped through the pages without reading them.
"There are no records of the girl's father, the mother is a socialite married to the owner of a major hotel chain, and I investigated some domestic violence. The two are not in good relation because Melissa doesn’t bear the mother's subordination to the man who harasses her. Before the contest, the girl worked in a bar and her best friend has cancer in terminal phase.”
Arthur sighed, he knew about Angela, but it seemed everything around Melissa was more complicated than he thought.
"Problematic, as I imagined…" he concluded. "I still feel something is missing... A piece in that puzzle. Anyway, thanks for the service and as we agreed, keep your discretion”.
“Yes, sir”.
Impatiently, the manager walked through the room after the investigator left. He felt things coming out of his control and he hated it. He needed to find a way to help Melissa and consequently, Gabriel.
He didn’t want his friend to be devastated again by another tragedy, because this time he knew it would be much worse.
He wouldn’t reach the conclusion by wandering aimlessly around his house, so he placed the file in his briefcase and resignedly left the apartment. He would try to find a solution directly with the source of all the chaos that had become that tour.
♫
Gabriel couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was so beautiful with her eyes closed and a smile playing on her lips as she let her body float quietly in the middle of the pool. He wanted to come up and play with the long hair that swayed around the perfect face, but he also wanted to stay there, on the edge of the pool just watching Melissa, being charmed more every minute.
"Will you be standing there all the time?" Lissa spoke to him, still with her eyes closed, the still faint light of the sun illuminating her. "Soon the sun gets too strong, the pool bath is over and you don’t even get wet."
“I like the landscape...” He answered and, to prove what he was saying, he turned on the camera of the cell phone that was next to him and photographed her. "Come here..." He asked, wanting those green eyes on him.
Melissa let the body sink and swam to the singer.
The sight of her submerging and then emerging right in front of him with her arms resting on his thighs and the water running down her black hair was, definitely, one of the most beautiful things he had ever witnessed.
"Afraid of the water?" She threw herself against the male body, deliberately wetting it.
"No... I’m just getting lost in your beauty." He liked the rosy tone that formed in her cheeks and the shy smile. He was happy that he had managed to perpetuate the moment in yet another of the many photos he made of her.
"Stop it..." Mel complained, pulling away. "With all those complacent compliments and all those pictures. If my scars appear on some of them, I swear I’ll throw that damn cell phone in the middle of the pool.”
He knew she can do what she had threatened. Not wanting to lose the cellphone and consequently all the photos he had achieved of his girl, he triggered a digital music app and then choose a playlist random rock classics, and threw himself in the water, along with Melissa.
"I like your hair..." He confessed as she floated back to him, and he stood beside her, one hand resting on her back, keeping her floppy and the other playing with the black wires spreading through the water. “The contrast with your skin is fascinating.”
Melissa liked what she heard.
"It wasn’t always like that," She said quietly.
“So long?” Gabriel asked, confused, as he guided her body around the pool.
"So dark..." Lissa clarified with a laugh. "Without all the black dye, the strands are blonde.”
“Oh really? There is something I would like to see...”
Melissa opened her eyes and faced the singer.
"Do you prefer blondes, Gabriel Voss?"
Gabe laughed slightly in annoyance.
"I prefer you, blond or brunette. Whatever.”
He always had the best answers, Melissa concluded as she moved, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"So… wouldn’t you like to see me as a Barbie girl?"
The way the last word was uttered made it clear that a positive response would be the wrong one, but instead of completely denying it, the singer chose to be honest.
“It would be interesting...” He admitted. "Especially now that I was curious.”
Melissa studied the masculine face for a moment, appraising it. Then, she swam toward the edge of the pool and reached for the cell phone he had left playing some songs.
"Let's kill this curiosity." She said as he followed her and watched as she used the browser to access her Facebook profile almost forgotten.
Ignoring the never-seen notifications, she sailed through the old photos until she found the ones she had posted when she was just a silly girl with no idea the future could be so obscure. Since she didn’t like to review her innocent and smiling image, she handed the device to Gabriel and went diving again.
The singer looked closely at the pictures trying to find some connection between the girl in those pictures and the young woman who was swimming around her. They looked like two completely different people, though the shape of the face was identical. She liked the carefree smile that was always on her lips, the natural glow in her clear eyes that weren’t as expressive as they are today. She was still beautiful, but despite the obvious tranquility and excitement the photos conveyed, he concluded that he preferred the brunette version of her girl. It wasn’t hair color, but the whole. That blond girl must be fantastic too, and certainly less complicated, but he doubted she would hug him as tightly as his girl did after watching him sing to her or after finally allowing herself to experience a moment of pleasure.
Closing the navigator and putting the cell phone back on the floor beside the pool, he returned to her side, hugging her from behind.
"So, blond or brunette?" She asked, bending her head against his chest. “Do you prefer the Barbie Melissa or "Gothic" Melissa as your sister likes to call me?”
"I'll always prefer what you want to be..." He answered in a whisper close to an ear that was soon nibbled. "But it was the irritable, troublesome, sulky Melissa that I fell in love with. With black hair, heavy makeup and many acerbic answers. I wouldn’t change anything in you, babe.”
Embracing his arms, Mel took advantage of the caress with a satisfied smile on her face.
Stirring in his arms, she searched the eyes of her singer and hugged him tightly, wrapping his waist and neck with legs and arms.
"Good answer!" She said with a small, cooing giggle. "Because that Melissa doesn’t exist anymore." She made a point of pointing out, after all her old version was the favorite of her uncle who never left her alone, so she had killed her and, despite the regrets, she didn’t miss being who she used to be.
Gabriel stroked her face for a moment, barely admiring her fair skin in contrast to her dark hair and smiled as he saw her eyes take on the same glow he had seen in the old photos. Apparently with him, she could be
a bit of both versions.
"When I see your face
There is not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you're ... "[43]
He hummed her before he pressed his lips to hers.
"Hmm..." Melissa didn’t care to hide her contentment as the kiss came to an end. "You know how to win a girl.
"Does that mean I got you?"
Laughing, Lissa ran her nails through his broad back.
"If you're expecting an explicit and verbal statement..." She grimaced. "You'd better don’t hold your breath." When he could not suppress a claim, the girl continued quickly. "But I don’t think you really need a statement after last night.”
Thinking of everything they had shared in the last few hours, Gabriel concluded that she was right. He really didn’t need a statement. Not when she had confided so fully in him and showed him they could complete.
"The whole statement I need is you in my arms..." Tightening her against him, he kissed her again, this time more urgently. “And who knows, from above, from below, from the side ...
Feeling his strong hands tighten his thighs and digesting the double meaning in the words he had just said, Melissa welcomed the whirlpool in her womb, the warmth in her body.
"I think I'd rather be on top," she replied, trying to sound confident and seductive. "You know, with my lips tearing those moans you tried, but couldn’t keep silent.”
“Holy shit!” The singer let go as he heard her talking about the exciting oral sex she had done hours before. "Those lips can tear out much more than just groans."
She smiled at him, enjoying the way he got all excited with just a few words.
"Does that mean you like it?" She asked with a twinge of insecurity.
“If I like it? Was not my moans enough to answer that question?” Carrying his girl to a corner of the pool, he pressed his body against hers, letting her feel how much he had enjoyed the experience.
"Yes..." It was her turn to moan softly as the singer's hands began to wander around her body. "I think you did."
“And you?” He asked hoarsely, too tempted to ask her to repeat the dose. “Did you like to drive me crazy?”
"More than I thought..." Lissa answered honestly.
When Gabriel arched an eyebrow at a mute question, she continued.
"I thought I was going to hate it." She confessed with a smirk.
"Then why did you want to do it?" Gabe paused for a moment and looked at her intently.
“Curiosity is my middle name, remember?” She tried to play. "And I wanted to know if it could be as good as anything we've done before. It was even better.”
Returning kisses to the woman's shoulders, the rocker thought about what she had said, before lowering her kisses to the lap of her swimsuit, bringing her lips close to her breasts.
"Wait until I'm teasing you with my lips..." He said against her skin, it was warm even though she was inside the pool. “It'll be even better.”
Melissa was very close to asking him to demonstrate.
"Maybe you should look for a more reserved place" Unfortunately the girl had to curb the excitement she felt at the sound of Arthur's voice.
“Shit!” She demanded softly.
When Gabriel released her to look for his best friend, Mel sank into the pool. She was too embarrassed to face the assistant.
"You fell out of bed, Arth?" Gabriel questioned his friend in obvious moodiness. "You're too early to work."
Since she couldn’t be submerged until the two friends separated, Melissa was obliged to return to the surface. Without know what to do, she finally clung to Gabriel again, hiding her bare arms around the men's underwater waist.
“Good morning to you too”. The manager commented casually as if he hadn’t interrupted anything. "The lenses of the paparazzi come easily here... as you know."
“Thank you, Arthur!” Gabriel rolled his eyes, irritably. “For disturbing our swimming pool.”
Melissa buried her face in the rocker's broad back.
"Well, we have a few details to get it right ..." Arthur continued, without care tor the look he received from his friend. "And, Melissa, I'd like to talk to you alone, later."
With a confused and embarrassed look, the girl nodded.
"I think it's past time we left the pool..." Lissa commented softly when they were alone again after Arthur headed inside.
"That's not a bad idea..." Gabriel pulled her close. "My lips are eager to tear out some moans.”
♫
Light knocks on the door grabbed Arthur's attention.
Leaving the heap of leaves that he was reading for the tenth time on the side, he hurried to the door of the small office Gabriel never wore. A smiling Melissa was waiting for him on the other side.
Judging from her reddened face, her shaggy wet hair, and her rumpled clothes, although she was reluctantly trying to align them, Arthur was sure that she and Gabriel were ready to know what to do somewhere in the house. Which shouldn’t be surprising after having caught the two of them in the biggest kneading in the pool when he got to his best friend's house.
The manager sighed and smiled shaking his head. What would he do with those two?
“Hey, nanny? Will you leave me here waiting all day or will you invite me in?
“Come in.” He gave her passage. “We need to talk.”
“Damn it! What did I do wrong this time?”
Arthur could give him a complete and detailed list, but this time the matter was more serious. It would go straight to the point.
"Do you really love Gabriel?"
The question caught Lissa off guard. The girl frowned and folded her arms defensively.
"You called me here for this?"
“Just answer. This is important. I know Gabriel loves you, I need to know if it's reciprocal.”
“We have something.” She simply shrugged.
Arthur knew that was the biggest confession he could get from her. And he didn’t need more. Only an idiot would not see that they were crazy about each other.
“Right.” He nodded. "I need you to do something for him."
“What?”
“Before, I should tell a story: A few years ago, at the beginning of Gabriel's career, we had a friend, Hanna. We were inseparable. As expected, she fell in love with Gabe... to the point of becoming obsessive. The two even tried to date, at her insistence, but it didn’t work and Gabriel finished it all. Hanna was so desperate that she committed suicide. It was Gabriel who found her submerged in the tub, her wrists cut off. That's why he developed OCD, when he was covered by Hanna's blood as he entered the bathtub to try to save her.”
Melissa wasn’t sure how to digest what she had just heard, much less understand why the personal assistant was telling her that story. Her only reaction to what she had heard was to cover her mouth, preventing a startled exclamation.
"I’m sorry to throw all this information once, but I have to be objective and I’m hurry. Based on your depressive background I fear that...”
“That I do the same.” She finished, shaken.
She wanted to curse the man who was staring at her, but she was paralyzed by absorbing the fearful look he had upon her.
Arthur nodded.
"I'm not suicidal.”
“But you can become. I’m sorry to be so hard, but we need to face the facts. You self-mutilate.”
The girl unconsciously hid her wrists behind her.
"I will not kill myself. If I really wanted to, I would have already”. Melissa tried to argue, and especially to believe her own words.
It was true that in her worst moments she even thought that it would be best for her to die, but most of the time she wanted to live. If she could deal with her ghosts, she wanted to live, to find herself, to be happy ...
"Maybe you never had a strong enough reason yet."
“What are you talking about? What do you think you know about me?”
"I just
want to help you and Gabriel. I may seem insensitive, but I'm just being practical. I'm not going to wrap it up, I'll get right to the point. If you really love Gabriel, you need to seek psychiatric help.”
“What? Are you gone mad? I'm not going to talk about the shit that happens in my life with a stranger!”
“We can start slow. Calmly, respecting your limits.”
“Look, I know you're just trying to help, but quit, okay? No one can fix me... I'm too broken for that. You can confirm by reading this damn dossier”. The girl gestured at the file on the table he read before her arrival and left him behind, stepping hard.
Arthur had forgotten to keep it.
It sucked, but he had to find a way to get her to see a specialist. Melissa might have no idea, but what separated her from mortally sinking her blades into her wrists was a faint line called Angela, which could at any moment cease to exist.
CHAPTER THIRTY - BEST OF YOU
“Everyone's got their chains to break[44]”
J ust like the day before, Melissa Bittencourt helped Nelly prepare breakfast. But in this time the girl was quiet and too distracted, barely answering the housekeeper's lively questions.
When the girl finished with a burnt finger, the older lady pushed her away from the stove.
"It's all practically done. So why will not you tell that the breakfast is going to be served? I can finish everything here...”
Lissa thought of denying it, after all, she wanted to stay a while away from everyone, but eventually agreed with a nod and left the kitchen behind.
Fortunately, Gabriel's parents and sister weren’t at the rocker's house that morning, so she only bothered to tell her best friend and her mother that breakfast would be served, sent a direct message to Arthur, who still was stuck inside the office and walked too slowly to Voss's room.
He hadn’t yet seen the singer after what Arthur had told her and, with all the new information pounding in her head, she didn’t know if she should be with the rocker.
The personal assistant had only made her see what she had always known: she was toxic and her presence in Gabriel's life wouldn’t end well. It wasn’t much of a novelty, but the girl was hoping it would be different with Gabe.
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