Melissa cleared her throat, pulling her engagement ring out of her front pocket. "Chase…I have the ring, too. I'm sure you want it back."
He sat in her office chair and picked up some mail he'd left behind, not acknowledging what she'd said. Melissa held her breath when he picked up the picture of Brian she'd been looking at when he called.
"I thought you weren't seeing Brian?"
"Oh…uh, we're trying to work through some stuff," she said vaguely.
"Of course."
"Chase…" she said, not sure how to explain.
"You are such a liar."
She crossed her arms over her chest. "I didn't purposely lie."
"Where is he?" Chase asked. "How is it he let you meet me here alone?"
"He didn't know you were coming. I haven't spoken to him in a couple of days."
Chase stood up and walked toward her. "So much for fighting the good fight to keep what belongs to him," he said, his eyes sparkling with fire.
"Here." She thrust the ring into his hand. The quick mood swing surprised her and pissed her off. It was frankly none of his business. "If you're going to be rude, you can go."
Chase took the ring and stared at it for a moment. "Just like that, huh?" He looked up at her. "Out with the bathwater."
Melissa softened at the look on his face. "I thought you understood…it's not right…it doesn't feel right, and I don't want to settle."
His eyes lit again and he took a step forward. "Oh I understand…I understand that you're a selfish fool."
"Why does this make me selfish? I want you to be happy, too, and us—you and I—we're not happy together."
"We were fine until you moved back here. We were fine until you brought him into our lives." He held up the ring. "I have to explain this to people, Melissa. My family, my colleagues." He took another step forward. "I have to explain how I foolishly fell in love with a whore."
Melissa took a step back. "Excuse me?" She held a finger to her chest. "Not wanting to marry you doesn't make me a whore."
Chase took another step forward, forcing Melissa to step back again. He lifted the ring, with a sneer on his face. "You have no idea what you've done."
"You need to leave, Chase. I want you out of my house."
"No." He held the ring up higher. "Maybe Brian needs to learn a thing or two."
"Excuse me?" she said. "This doesn't have anything to do with Brian."
"Oh, you should have heard that smug bastard staking his claim." He waved a hand around. "And he's not even here to protect his property."
"I am nobody's property. You know better than that."
"Oh…sure, I know who you are, but does he?"
"It doesn't matter. I'm not arguing with you. Please leave."
When the phone rang, she turned away, but he reached out and grabbed her arm. Her heart jumped in reaction to the pinch and the shove as he pulled her back.
"No. No way," he said.
Melissa pulled away and slapped him across the face as hard as she could. Just as quickly, Chase smacked her back, but with much more force.
"Ow—damn it!" she shouted, shoving him away.
He gripped her arm tighter and threw his hand out to smack her again. His open palm made contact with her cheekbone and Melissa was momentarily senseless from the blow.
"You want to fight like a man—fine!" He jerked her closer.
Melissa tried to tug away from him and free her arm. "What the hell has gotten into you?"
"You selfish bitch!" he growled, and the twisted expression on his face was madness.
"Let go, Chase! Let me go!"
"I thought you liked it like this. I thought you liked cavemen, Melissa." He pulled her against his chest and took her mouth forcefully, his large hands fisting around her upper arms, tight enough to make her cry out.
Melissa's head pounded as she tried to fight him off, but she wasn't strong enough. "No," she grunted and pushed his face away.
Chase smacked her again and she fell back, losing her balance. She would have hit the ground, but he grabbed her and pulled her upright. Melissa pushed against him, flailing her hands out to push his face away, but that didn't stop him from forcing another kiss on her. His mouth was hard against hers, his teeth biting. Melissa had to fight the nausea, the truth of reality—the truth of Chase's actions made her sick. She would have never believed him violent until now. She bit his tongue and he withdrew.
"Stop it, Chase. What's wrong with you?"
"You're what's wrong with me!" He shoved her off her feet.
She landed hard on her back and slid across the hardwood floor.
"You think you can humiliate me like that and get away with it?" He kicked her midsection.
Melissa couldn't breathe from the pain. She writhed on the floor, waiting for the next blow, but instead of hitting her again, he spat at her.
"Have a nice life, whore."
With her arms thrown over her face, she didn't see him leave. She couldn't breathe, her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath and her face throbbed along with her rapid pulse. She tilted her head toward the door and a shooting pain stabbed through her midsection. The front door was standing open and now that the ringing in her ears had mellowed, she heard the phone ringing.
She reached up to touch her face and felt the wetness of blood on her fingers. How could he do this…how could she have been so wrong about him? She sobbed in pain as she rolled onto her hands and knees in an effort to reach the phone. She was dizzy and unsteady as she grabbed the receiver and tried to focus on her finger pressing the talk button. She brought the phone to her swollen lips and cried out her sister's name.
~
Melissa opened her eyes to Mark's shouts bouncing in her head like a ping-pong ball. When his face came into focus, she realized it was through only one eye. She lifted her hand to her face and tried to sit up, but he held her down.
"Stay still, Lis." He rotated her head from side to side, brushing the hair out of her eyes. "Can you hear me? Who did this?"
"Chase…" She heard a weird beeping before her eyes focused on the cell phone in his hand.
"No!" she cried, sending a spiking pain through her head. "Don't you dare call Brian."
He looked at her like she was crazy. "I'm calling the police."
"No, don't call the cops," she said, wide eyed. "And don't tell Brian."
"Why don't you want Brian to know?"
"Because…" She stopped at the pounding footsteps on the stairs. A few seconds later, Ali came into view.
"Melissa! Oh God, what happened? Who did this to you?"
"Chase," Mark said. "Beat the crap out of her."
"What?" Ali knelt down and leaned over Melissa, examining her swollen face. "Melissa. Oh my God!"
"I'm okay," Melissa said into Ali's hair when Ali embraced her.
"Why would he do this? What happened?" Ali withdrew to examine her sister. "Did you call the police?"
"No, she won't let me."
"Why?" Ali said.
"I don't want Brian to go after him…just please don't call." Melissa pressed a finger to her bleeding mouth. "I'm fine anyway."
"You're not fine! Look at you!" Ali shouted. "I can't believe Chase would do this. Melissa, you need to make a report against him."
"I agree," Mark said. "We don't have to call Brian, but we should call the police."
Melissa lifted and said, "Help me sit up, please."
Ali and Mark both helped her sit upright and leaned her against the couch. "Go slow. I'll get you a cool cloth for your face," Mark said.
Melissa met Ali's eyes, only one of hers was open, the other was swollen and it throbbed like crazy. "Ali please don't…calling the police is the same as calling Brian. He'll hear it on that damned police scanner, and if he doesn't, someone will call him." She winced again and said, "Please, Ali, Mark, I don't want to talk to anyone. I don't want to go through that. I don't want Brian to know about this right now."
Mark knelt
down next to her and held the wet, cool cloth he'd retrieved to her swollen eye. Melissa laid her hand over it, the coolness sent a spike of pain through her, then instant relief.
"Melissa, Ali is required to report this," Mark said. "She could get into trouble."
"Damn it!" Ali said, "That son of a bitch!"
Melissa held her hand out. "I know. I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?" Ali said. "No, Melissa, that bastard is going to be the sorry one."
"I don't want to get you into trouble, but Ali…" Her voice broke and her face painfully crinkled as she started to cry. "I can't…I don't want to talk to the police." She brought her other hand up to cover her other eye. "Isn't this humiliating enough without sharing it with everyone Brian and Johnny work with?"
"Melissa…" Mark said. "You haven't done anything to…"
"This isn't your fault!" Ali said, her voice hard and unwavering. "You didn't do anything to deserve this, Melissa. You have no reason to feel responsible and you certainly shouldn't feel embarrassed."
"But I did…I did this," she sobbed. "My God, I almost married him, Ali."
"No, honey, this isn't your fault. Chase did this. There is no excuse for a man to hit a woman." Ali wrapped her arms around Melissa gingerly and held her for a moment while she cried. "And thank God you didn't marry that animal," Ali whispered.
"She's right, Melissa. He's not a man, he's a coward," Mark said.
"Ali withdrew from the hug and brushed the hair from Melissa's bruised face. "Listen, you're coming home with me. I won't report this if you come and stay with me for a few days. Let me look after you until you feel better."
"Do you promise not to call Brian?" Melissa said.
"He's going to see for himself, Melissa."
Melissa shook her head and started to cry again. "No, we're not speaking right now. He's… we're…taking a break while he works things out with Erin and…he has some things to sort through."
Ali narrowed her eyes. "Oh my God, I can't believe—"
"No, it's not like that. We're not fighting." Melissa used the washcloth to wipe the tears from her face. "He just needs some time to sort through his anger with Julie. He's struggling with all this stuff Erin is going through. It's not about me…and…it's okay. Really, Ali."
Ali's eyes soften and she nodded. "I guess I can understand that. I'm feeling a little angry at Julie these days, too." She laid a hand under Melissa's elbow. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up."
~
When Melissa came out of her room with Ali and a duffle bag of clothes, she stopped and faced Mark. She'd forgotten he was still there. She hugged him and whispered a thank you. "I don't know how you got here so fast, but I'm glad you did."
"My office is closer, so Ali called me. I headed right over." He ran his hand through his hair. "Lis, I still think you should call Brian."
"No, Mark." She fought the tears as they stung her eyes. "I want Brian to return to me on his own terms…not because I'm hurt." She tried to smile, but it was weak at best. "He needs to work through his issues and decide what he wants without feeling obligated to protect me."
Mark chuckled. "He's going to kill me for not telling him."
"Blame me…I don't mind."
His expression turned somber. "Are you going to be okay?"
Melissa eyes watered. "Yes, I'll be fine." She stood aside while Ali hugged and thanked Mark.
When Ali withdrew from the hug, Mark raised in eyebrow at Melissa. "I'll tell you what—I won't tell Brian if you let me send Shane over to pay Chase a little visit."
Ali threw her hands up over her ears. "Lalalalalala, I can't hear this."
Melissa smiled a real smile this time. She felt thankful for having such good friends. "I appreciate you wanting to take care of things for me, but I don't want Shane in any trouble."
Mark smirked. "Gimme a break. Do you really think he's going to get caught?"
She lifted an eyebrow and considered that. Shane was the best agent Mark had, and she could trust him, too, as much as she trusted Mark. She finally nodded, walking over to her desk to pick up Chase's mail.
She wrote his Berkeley address on the top envelope. "Here, he forgot these. Maybe Shane can deliver them for me…oh and…" She looked around her apartment. "Damn, Chase still has a key. Do you think Shane can get that?"
Mark frowned. "No. I'll rekey the locks. That's safer anyway since he could have made copies."
Melissa relaxed a little and said, "Thank you."
Mark grinned and took the mail before turning to Ali. "Don't worry, Al, it's just mail delivery."
"Ha, strong-arm mail delivery." She rolled her eyes and gripped Melissa's arm to help her out."
Chapter Forty-Nine
Brian sat down in front of Mark's desk and watched as Mark typed out the proposal. He'd made the choice and now felt the excitement only a new adventure could bring. Fire burned in his chest, but not painfully. Brian hadn't felt like this since he was a kid joining the police academy with Mark and Shane, his two best friends. Now he was joining them again. He'd had his doubts, but now that he had done it, he wondered what had taken him so long. Why had it taken Julie's death for him to figure out what Mark had figured out years before?
He thought Mark had been the biggest fool when he quit the police department for his wife. He quit his job like a good little husband, and it made Brian sick. Little did Brian know that he'd been the fool, not Mark. Mark had given up his job for a family and had become successful in creating a one-of-a-kind program, training security agents for private protection. The in-home security systems and surveillance was a filler, something to bring in income and fill his time in between his yearly academies.
Brian had never been interested in Mark's business much. He respected Mark's goal, but to Brian, it sounded boring. Protecting people was important, but Brian and Mark had never had the same interest in law enforcement. Brian loved investigating; he loved getting his hands dirty trying to figure things out, looking in the dark places for things people had purposely hidden, listening to the stories and taking them apart to solve the crime.
The solution had hit Brian while sitting in the closet alone reading Julie's journals. He'd spent a week reading years worth of entries written in Julie's hand. It felt something like self-mutilation—masochism—reading every flaw and every mistake he'd made and not being able to defend himself to her. She'd never told him her struggles, hardly ever complained for fear he'd leave her. It sickened him—her fear of losing him. Her insecurities were boundless and baseless. He'd never threatened her, and he would have never walked out on her for such stupid reasons.
Julie had never been honest with her feelings about his job. Other than the occasional complaint of him missing dinner, he'd never heard any of the words she'd written in her journals. It pissed him off. How the hell would he know to fix things if he didn't know they were broken? But that was unfair. If he'd ever taken the time to consider what her life was like, if he'd considered how lonely a life with an absent husband was like. Common sense should have told him, common consideration toward a woman who had given him everything he'd ever asked for.
Brian had been too self-involved, too self-centered and arrogant.
Now he would change, though it was too late for Julie. For Melissa, for Erin and Cody, he would change and be a better man. Mark had always been the smart one. Brian shook his head in irritation. Fucking Mark, the smartass. He'd always been the jerk to show everyone up. Brian wanted to punch his smug face—then kiss it. He felt free and so sure of his decision, he couldn't be angry, not at his friend who had always been there for him.
"So, Brian, what about a name?" Mark said, looking up from his computer monitor. "Every business plan needs a title." Mark smiled smugly, and Brian's lips turned up in spite of himself.
"I don't know. I hadn't thought about that. What about something simple…like Hammel Investigations?"
~
Melissa looked over at Ali as she held the phone to her e
ar. "Erin, I'm sorry." She shook her head, squeezing her eyes closed. "I miss you, too, but I have a meeting with my editor today. Maybe I can pick you up on Monday."
"What about tomorrow? Can you come over?" Erin asked.
"I'll be working over the weekend, too," Melissa lied. "Let's just plan for Monday, okay? I promise to pick you up from school. We can spend the afternoon together, okay?"
"I miss you…"
"I miss you and love you, too, sweetheart." She frowned and said, "Erin, is this only about missing me? Is everything else okay?"
"Yeah, I guess. Dad's just really up my butt about everything."
"School is okay? No backlash about Coach Jeffries?"
"No, not too much. People are keeping their distance from me though." She sighed and said, "Nobody knows exactly what happened…but, you know how rumors are always more interesting than real life."
"How are things with Matt?" Melissa asked.
"Fine…he's the only person who knows the real truth." Melissa heard the smile in Erin's voice. "I tried to break up with him. I don't want him to have to deal with my drama, but he won't leave."
Melissa smiled. "That's a great guy you got there, Erin."
"I know…now if only he would stop treating me like I'm a ticking time bomb that might go off any second." She snickered. "It's endearing but also a little annoying."
"Hey, give Cody a big hug and a kiss from me. I really miss him."
"Do you miss Daddy, too? He's been in such a foul mood since you haven't been around."
It took everything Melissa had to hold her smile. She nodded. "Yes, of course, Daddy, too. I really need to go, Erin. I'll see you on Monday afternoon." She hung up before Erin could ask her more questions. She didn't have the answers, but she also didn't want to put it all off on Brian, especially since he was obviously having a hard time.
"Why?" Ali asked. "Just go see her today."
"I can't let her see me like this." Melissa held her cool hand to her fading bruises. "She'll freak out and tell Brian. Even if she doesn't, I don't want to ask her to lie to him."