“Smells delicious,” she said.
“I’m a much better cook when my mother isn’t breathing down my neck.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “It’s been a great day, hasn’t it?”
It had. There was only one small dark spot on all her joy. She still hadn’t heard from Nikki. On their way to the store, Melanie had called the hotel in New Orleans and they’d patched her through to Gabe’s room. Nikki was supposed to be staying there, but she hadn’t answered. Recognizing Melanie’s distress, Gabe had taken pity on her and had sent Adam, who was staying in the same hotel, to knock on Nikki’s door. She hadn’t responded his summons either. Maybe she’d decided to go back to Wichita after all. It would have been nice of her to let Melanie know that.
The steaks were delicious. The company was delicious. But Melanie’s sense of dread was unsavory at best.
When a familiar ringtone began to blare from her purse in the living room, Melanie paused mid-bite.
“That’s Nikki,” she said and scrambled from her chair, her heart racing.
She pulled out the phone and answered just before it went to voicemail.
“Nikki?” she said. “Where the hell have you been? I’ve been worried sick.”
The only sound Melanie heard was a sniffle on the other end of the line.
“Nikki?”
“Can you come get me?” Nikki said, her voice strained.
“Where are you? Are you still in New Orleans?”
“Y-yeah.”
“I’m in Austin, hon. I can’t come get you until tomorrow.”
“He hurt me, Mel.”
“Who hurt you? What happened? Are you safe?”
“Please. Please, just… just… come get me.” Nikki’s broken gasps tore Melanie’s heart in two.
“Do you need me to call an ambulance? The cops? Nikki, what happened? Tell me.”
“I need you,” she said brokenly. “Please, Mel.”
“I’m on my way.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Gabe’s rock star card came in handy for getting them to New Orleans quickly. Melanie had tried to get Nikki to tell her what had happened, to get her help from someone who wasn’t 500 miles away, but she was adamant that she just needed Melanie.
Gabe held Melanie’s hand in support and got her on the chartered flight, but she was too consumed with anxiety to even thank him properly.
“I knew I shouldn’t have left her in New Orleans by herself,” she muttered under her breath. “It was only a matter of time before something bad happened to her.”
“It can’t be that bad,” Gabe said. “She won’t even tell you what’s wrong.”
But she could still hear those three words echoing through her head. He hurt me. No amount of cajoling had gotten Nikki to give her any details and when Melanie had threatened to call for emergency services, Nikki had gone completely hysterical and refused to even tell Melanie where she was.
“I’ll tell you where I am when you get to New Orleans,” she’d said.
Melanie knew that Nikki depended on her, but it was more than a little scary to realize how much. If she’d been on a larger plane, Melanie would have started pacing the aisle. As it was, she was feeling incredibly claustrophobic in the tiny, incredibly noisy aircraft, and she’d snapped at Gabe more than once.
“Maybe she’s exaggerating,” Gabe said. “Or making stuff up just to get you to come back a night early.”
Melanie glared at him. “How can you say that?” she spat.” How can you even think that?”
She was glad he was smart enough not to press his theory further. Melanie was still too distraught to want to consider that he might be right.
“She’ll be okay,” he said, running a hand over her hair and pressing a kiss to her temple. “We’ll get her taken care of. I promise.”
Melanie buried her face in her hands and took several deep breaths. Her stomach was seizing with nerves. “I feel like I’m going to throw up,” she said miserably.
“That’s probably my cooking.”
She chuckled half-heartedly, knowing he was trying to cheer her up, but until she could see Nikki and know that her friend was truly all right, cheerfulness just wasn’t a possibility.
As soon as the plane landed, Melanie called Nikki. When she didn’t answer, she really started to panic.
“Isn’t there a way to track the location of cellphones?” Melanie asked Gabe. She was ready to go full-out detective if she didn’t get Nikki on the line soon.
On her second attempt, Nikki answered. Melanie breathed a sigh of relief. “Why didn’t you answer?”
“I was in the shower.”
“So where are you? I’m in New Orleans now.”
“At the hotel.”
“In Gabe’s suite?”
“Yeah.”
“Have you been there the entire time?”
“No.” Her voice sounded hollow. The single word, the distance in her voice, was worse than listening to her cry. Melanie swayed and Gabe was right there to grab her before she collapsed on the sidewalk where they stood waiting for a cab.
“We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“We?”
“Gabe is with me.”
“Of course.”
Nikki was quiet for a moment and Melanie didn’t know what to say to break the silence. “Will you tell me what happened?”
“I’m going to take another shower,” Nikki said.
She disconnected, and Melanie told Gabe what she’d said and where she was. He didn’t press her for more information, just helped her into the nearest cab and told the driver to hurry.
When their knock on the door of the hotel suite went unanswered, Gabe used his spare key card and unlocked it. Melanie heard the water running in the bathroom. Was Nikki still in the shower?
“I should probably talk to her alone,” Melanie said to Gabe.
He nodded and stood back while Melanie let herself into the steamy bathroom and closed the door behind her. There were wrappers and empty containers all over the floor—soaps and shampoos, disposable douches, toothbrushes and mouthwash. She recognized Nikki’s need to get clean inside and out. She didn’t need a degree in psychology to know what it meant.
“Nikki, honey,” she said, her heart in her throat. “I’m here.”
“Can you wash my back for me?” she said in a small voice. “I can’t reach. I tried. I tried, but I can’t reach.”
Melanie was almost afraid to open the shower curtain. She had no idea what to expect. Would Nikki be beaten black and blue? Was Melanie strong enough to see someone she cared about like that? Eyes closed, Melanie drew back the curtain slowly. She steeled herself for the worst and opened her eyes. She let out a sigh of relief. Nikki wasn’t completely unscathed. Her lip was scabbed over where it had been split and she had several bruises, mostly on her wrists, hips, and thighs, but she mostly looked like herself. A very subdued, dead-eyed facsimile of Nikki Swanson, but at least she was recognizable. Her skin was red from being scrubbed in unbearably hot water and her eyes were swollen from the fall of countless tears, but were now dry. Maybe Nikki didn’t have another tear to shed, but Melanie did. Knowing she’d completely breakdown if she spoke, Melanie took the soapy wash cloth out of Nikki’s trembling hands and scrubbed her back over and over again while hot tears dripped down her own cheeks.
“Harder,” Nikki whispered. “I can still feel him.”
Melanie didn’t have the know-how to deal with this. She needed to get Nikki some help.
“You’re clean now,” Melanie said, burning with rage at the fingertip-shaped bruises on Nikki’s shoulders. Whoever had done this was going to pay. Melanie would make sure of it.
“I still feel him. Please.”
Melanie washed her back again, more gently this time, afraid to add to her pain.
Nikki started to shake uncontrollably. “I’m so cold.”
How could she possibly be cold? The water was almost scalding.
“Let’s get y
ou dried off and put some warm clothes on,” Melanie suggested. “Do you want some soup, maybe?”
“I don’t know. I don’t… know.”
Melanie turned off the water and wrapped Nikki in every towel in the hotel bathroom.
She opened the door and Gabe jerked away from the wall he’d been leaning against. He met Melanie’s eyes, a question in his gaze. She shook her head slightly. He then looked at Nikki, and both hands clenched into hard fists.
“Why is he here?” Nikki asked dully.
“He’s going to help me take care of you,” Melanie said. “Gabe, Nikki is cold. Can you go down to the restaurant and order her some hot soup and some cocoa.” She rubbed Nikki’s back. “Does that sound good?”
Nikki nodded.
“I’ll just call room service,” Gabe said.
Melanie gave him a stern look. There was no way she was going to help Nikki dress in front of a man. Not even Gabe. “Go down to the restaurant—”
“Right,” he said, and after one last heart-sick glance at Nikki, he left the two of them alone.
Melanie dried Nikki’s hair with a towel, and then dug through her huge overnight bag for warm, comfortable clothes. She ended up dressing Nikki in her workout clothes because most of Nikki’s wardrobe was far from comfortable. She then swaddled her in blankets and sat on the bed beside her, easing Nikki down until she was lying on her side with her head in Melanie’s lap. They’d sat the same way many times before. It broke Melanie’s heart that this was such a familiar scene between them.
Melanie stroked Nikki’s long damp hair gently and said, “Tell me.”
Without embellishment Nikki told her about being alone and bored in the hotel room. About calling that UFC fighter she’d met on the plane. How he showed her a good time on the town. And not such a good time in his hotel room. She left out a lot of details, claiming that she couldn’t remember everything. She had a lot of holes in her childhood memories as well. Her psychiatrist’s prognosis stated that Nikki’s mind had learned to blot out the most disturbing occurrences in her life, past and present. Occasionally her greatest horrors plagued her in nightmares, but she’d been doing well since Melanie had taken under her wing. And now this.
Melanie was still broken hearted for Nikki, but her rage toward Dick Bailey was nearly choking her.
“Did he rape you, Nikki?” Melanie asked.
Nikki nodded, her lower lip trembling.
“When did it happen?”
“Friday night.”
“What have you been doing since then?” Melanie asked.
“Praying for you to come get me.” Nikki sobbed and turned her face into Melanie’s lap.
Melanie cradled her head, stroking her hair to soothe her. “I’m here now,” she said. “I’m here.”
When Nikki settled down again, Melanie asked, “Why didn’t you answer your phone, hon? I tried calling and texting, but you never answered.”
“I left my phone here because I was mad at you and then after he finished with me…”
Her shaking intensified, and Melanie squeezed her shoulder. “It’s okay. Just breathe. Take deep breaths.”
After a moment she quieted. “I got lost, Mel. I couldn’t remember the name of this place, so I used your credit card and stayed in some scary hotel near where he dropped me off. I just couldn’t stand feeling so filthy inside. I had to get clean.” Nikki glanced up at her, her brows crumpled with remorse. “I’m sorry I used your credit card again.”
“It’s fine.” She tried smoothing Nikki’s troubled brow with her fingertips. “Don’t worry about it.”
“From that other hotel, I tried to call you, but couldn’t remember your number. I kept dialing some Chinese take-out place in Wichita.” She actually chuckled. “Stop cawing us, wady,” she said in a very bad attempt at a Chinese accent. “I awedy tell you dey no Mewanie here. I didn’t know what to do. I was freaking out. And then I got really tired. I must have slept for an entire day in the grossest bed in New Orleans.”
“Isn’t the hotel name on your key card?” Melanie asked.
She shook her head. “No. Just a logo. I looked in the phone book, but none of the names sounded familiar. And I asked the hotel maid, but she didn’t speak English and refused to look at me. I think because of the bruises. So I called a cab and described the place to the driver as best I could remember. I told him I was willing look at every hotel in the city until we found it. He knew the place I was talking about right away and brought me here.”
“You must have been scared. I know what it feels like to be lost. I hate that feeling.”
Nikki snuggled deeper into Melanie’s lap.
“Have you gone to the police and reported what happened?”
Nikki shook her head.
“The hospital?”
She shook her head again. “I don’t want to. Please don’t make me.”
“Nikki, I know you’re distraught right now, but you can’t let him get away with this. You need to go to the police.”
“But Dick Bailey is above the law,” she whispered. “That’s what he said while he was hurting me. You’re just a little slut and deserve to be fucked like one.” Her voice turned deeper and Melanie knew Nikki was repeating words she could hear in her head. “You better shut up and take it or I’m really going to hurt you. That’s it. Say please. I love when you beg. Beg for it, cunt. Beg.” Nikki winced as if someone were striking her. She cried out and covered her head with her arm.
Melanie drew her closer and rocked her. She needed just a minute to crumble, just a second to let the tears fall. Just one moment to be weak so afterward she could be the champion Nikki needed her to be.
“Don’t cry, Mel,” Nikki pleaded, her hand clenched in Melanie’s shirt. “Please don’t cry. Anything but that.”
Melanie wiped at her tears and she plastered a wavering smile on her face. She held Nikki’s sad blue gaze with her own.
“He’s not going to hurt you or anyone else again,” Melanie said as evenly as she could, hoping to convey strength. “Put your shoes on, Nikki. We’re going to the police station.”
She shook her head and buried her face in Melanie’s lap again. “I don’t want anyone else to know what happened,” she said, her words muffled.
Melanie rubbed her back reassuringly, but she wouldn’t make Nikki do anything against her will. She’d been forced enough, and Melanie refused to be one more tyrant in her life.
“I know you’re scared, hon,” Melanie said, “but I’m here with you now, okay? You can count on me. I’ve got you.”
Nikki lay across Melanie’s lap, staring unblinking into space. She was considering her options, Melanie guessed, and Melanie let her take the time she needed to gather her strength. No matter how strong Melanie was, she couldn’t do this for Nikki. Nikki had to do it herself. When Gabe returned with several kinds of soup and a carafe of cocoa, Nikki rose from Melanie’s lap and without another word put on her shoes.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“There’s no physical evidence,” the officer said to Melanie. “No witnesses. We questioned him and he denies everything. Said it was all consensual. So it boils down to her word against his. She can press charges and we can arrest him, but he’ll be out in days. I have to be honest here—even if he did do it, unless he confesses, he won’t be convicted. There’s no evidence anywhere on her body.”
What he meant was that they hadn’t been able to get a semen sample. There was plenty of evidence as far as Melanie was concerned.
“What about her bruises? And the trauma to her vagina?”