Chapter 37: Chapter 37

MELODY

“Tell me you are kidding,” I hissed on the phone.

“Baby, I’m sorry, but it was shocking for me too.” Dan sighed.

“And you are okay with it?!” I snapped, losing my temper.

“I’m not.” He hesitated and exhaled before speaking again. “But there’s nothing I can do. Asher’s parents want the reception in their beach house.”

~His parents or Xavier? I wanted to ask.~

Why suddenly change the location after sending the invitations? Why the beach house? What was he trying to prove?

“Babe, relax,” Matt murmured, rubbing my back.

I shook my head. I couldn’t relax. We were ready to go to Los Angeles for Dan’s engagement reception. Now all of a sudden, they wanted the reception in New York.

Not just New York, but their beach house, the same fucking beach house where I’d spent some good time with Xavier, the same place where my life had turned upside down.

“I’m not coming,” I informed Dan.

He sighed heavily. “I knew you would say that, and selfishly, I still want you to come for me. I miss you, baby girl.”

“You can’t emotionally blackmail me, Dan. You know I love you. I would do anything for you, but this…this I…can’t.” I shook my head, standing up.

“We are not coming, Dan, and it’s final,” Matt said.

“I’m talking to Mel, Matt!” Dan growled.

“And she doesn’t want to come,” Matt growled back.

“Baby, please! I know I’m being selfish, but I won’t be happy or be able to enjoy my own reception without you, and there will be like two hundred people here. You probably won’t even see him.”

I knew he was trying to comfort me, but it wasn’t helping. “And then we’ll all leave for California together,” he said.

Tears stung behind my eyes. I sat again and rested my head on Matt’s shoulder. “You remember?” I asked. Matt wrapped his arms around me.

“Of course I remember, baby. It wasn’t just you who felt the loss. We all lived those moments together. We felt the loss together.” I could hear the sadness in his voice.

I nodded because he was right.

Mia, Jacob, and Dan had been there for me. All those nine months, we’d been together.

Mia had been with me when I felt first the kick of the baby, Dan had been with me when we’d gotten to know the gender of the baby. Jacob had always been there for me when I’d had a weird craving.

I may not have been lucky with my family, but I was the luckiest because I had friends like them.

***

~My stomach had been a mess for the last few days, and I was starting to wonder if I would ever keep any food down. It had been a month since we’d moved to California.~

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~We were staying with Mia and Jacob until I got a job and was able to pay rent.~

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~“Mel, you okay?” Mia knocked on the bathroom door.~

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~“Yeah,” I replied. After brushing my teeth for the fourth time, I opened the door and stepped out. Mia was still standing outside, looking at me with concern.~

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~“I think you might need this,” Mia handed me a plastic bag from a pharmacy.~

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~I opened the bag and saw a pregnancy test kit. “Mia, I’m not pregnant! I’ve been on pills and never missed one…” I trailed off.~

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~I froze.~

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~My period.~

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~I tried counting backward in my head—then realized I had missed my periods for two months.~

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Holy shit!~ My legs nearly gave out. I leaned against the wall to stop myself from falling. I still denied I was pregnant. I was on the pill, and he’d used a condom, except for one time.~

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Fuck!

~My mind was racing and blank at the same moment.~

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~“Humor me,” Mia said, pushing me back into the bathroom.~

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~I was mentally freaking out. I did my business and set the test on the counter while I washed my hands.~

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It’s okay~, I told myself. My period had been late before, plenty of times.~

~

~I paced the bathroom, my hands still shaking, not entirely sure that I wasn’t going to throw up. I checked the time on my phone. I still had two more minutes to wait. It felt like an eternity.~

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~Mia was already waiting outside for the news of whether or not I was knocked up.~

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~I checked the time again. The test was ready. I picked it up and saw the last thing that I wanted to see. Two identical lines.~

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~The test was screaming at me, “Pregnant.”~

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~This time, my knees literally gave out, and I collapsed on the floor. Tears welled up in my eyes as I struggled with my thoughts.~

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~I took a deep breath and tried to calm the anxiety that was threatening to suffocate me. I was pregnant with Xavier’s baby, and there wasn’t a damn thing that I could do about it.~

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~“Mel?” Mia knocked on the door and walked inside.~

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~“Oh, Mel,” she whispered and rubbed my back, whispering that everything would be fine, but how?~

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~We walked back to the living room.~

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~Jacob and Dan were already sitting on the couch, playing video games.~

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~Dan looked up and was in front of me in two strides. He took my face between his hands and made me look up into his worried brownish eyes. “You okay?”~

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~I shook my head. He pulled me into his arms and let me cry.~

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~After my sobbing subsided, I looked up. “I’m pregnant,” I whispered.~

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~His jaw clenched. He looked furious. I didn’t know if he was mad at me or Xavier. “What are you going to do?” He cocked his head to my belly.~

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~I thought for a minute. I had always wanted to be a mother, but never like this, and it was not the right time. I wasn’t prepared for it.~

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~So what if it was happening earlier than planned? I still wanted it. I would have the baby.~

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~“I want to keep it,” I said.~

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~Dan didn’t look happy but nodded anyway. “Are you going to tell him?”~

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~I felt my heart speed up, and I forced myself to continue to hold his gaze. I nodded. I wanted to tell him. It was the right thing to do.~

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~“Whatever you decide, we’re with you,” Dan said, kissing my temple, then he left the room.~

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~Mia wrapped her arms around me. “You can stay with us as long as you want.”~

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~“I can’t.” I shook my head. “I’ve applied for a job; tomorrow is the interview. If it goes well, I’ll start looking for an apartment.”~

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~“We have one empty flat in our building. If you want, I can talk to the owner,” Jacob said.~

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~“Thank you,” I said and shuffled back to my guest room.~

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~That night, I called to inform him, but he had already blocked my number. I cried and covered up my face with the pillow, concluding I wouldn’t ever tell Xavier about the baby.~

~

***

~“Mel?” Dan said softly, breaking me from my thoughts. “Baby, please?” he pleaded.~

“Okay, I will come, only because I love you,” I said. We talked for a few more minutes and hung up after saying goodbye.

“Babe?” Matt looked at me. His normally carefree expression was nowhere to be seen. His eyes looked troubled, and his mouth pursed, making his lips look like two thin lines.

“I’m good,” I forced the words past that damned lump in my throat, but I wasn’t.

I was having the same feeling again, the one I’d felt the day I walked out of Xavier’s room and found Lisa sitting in front of the door.

~Something bad is going to happen again.~

~

***

Nostalgia overwhelmed me as we pulled into the driveway of Xavier’s beach house.

My heart was hammering hard in my chest as I thought I would probably see Xavier any minute.

~What are the chances I see—~ ~No. But maybe. It didn’t matter—there was no turning back now.

For the whole flight, I’d barely been able to keep it together. My thoughts had been swirling back to him and the time we’d spent together.

“Babe?” Matt called, looking at me with a worried expression. I nodded and hopped out of the cab we’d taken from our hotel.

Matt came and stood beside me, placing his hand on my waist. We walked ahead, bypassing the line of guests who were showing their invitations at the door.

People looked us up and down and blatantly stared as we walked into the party. Photographers took our picture, and people continuously greeted Matt as we walked through the crowd at the entrance.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. ~I can do this~, I muttered a few times mentally, but nothing helped.

My stomach rolled, and my nerves consumed every inch of my body with each step I took down the long hallway.

I glanced up at the massive chandeliers and down at the marble, the same as last time. I looked around, and nothing had changed aside from decorations.

I smiled as I saw Sandy and Rick walking toward us with a huge smile on their faces. “Holy shit, Mel, you look amazing,” Sandy said and wrapped her arms around me.

I was wearing a red, form-fitting dress with a lace-up back and red stilettos.

“Thank you; you look beautiful,” I said as I stepped back. She looked amazing in her figure-skimming white dress. The top was off the shoulders with sexy little sleeves that clung to her biceps.

After greeting Matt, Rick pulled me into a bear hug. “How are you?” he asked, pulling back.

“Brilliant.” I smiled, and he glanced at my hand. I was nervously fidgeting with my ring. “So when is the date?”

Matt saved me from answering because I didn’t know what to say. “We haven’t decided yet,” Matt said, placing his hand on my waist and pulling me closer.

“Oh, there she is,” Dan exclaimed, walking over to us along with Asher, Mia, and Jacob. Dan looked amazing in his three-piece suit, and so did Asher.

I averted my eyes from Asher. It hurt to look at him for long because he looked like Xavier.

Jacob looked good in a custom-tailored navy-blue suit and a crisp, stark-white dress shirt with the top two buttons undone and no tie. Silver cufflinks rested at his wrists.

Mia was wearing a short black dress, showing her ample cleavage.

“Baby girl!” He picked me up and twirled me around, and I laughed and slapped his shoulder.

“Put me down, Dan.”

He stopped, but I was still in his arms, and his face was in my hair. “You came.” His voice was strained.

“Of course I did, Dan. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He put me back on my feet. We talked and drank and pulled each other’s legs like we used to do back in our college days.

For the first time in seven years, I was laughing freely.

Asher told us how nervous Dan had been when they’d decided to tell his parents. They all laughed, and I grabbed my glass with both my hands, laughing as well.

“Come, let’s dance,” Mia grabbed my hand and dragged me along with her, and soon, the boys joined us. I froze on the spot when I saw the one person I had been trying to avoid.

He was talking with someone, and Lisa was beside him.

The way she snaked her arm around him and pulled him closer made me sick. There was a hot flare of jealousy in my chest—I couldn’t deny that.

Xavier wore a slim black suit, cut perfectly for his frame. His dark gray shirt was paired with a shiny black tie.

As if he felt my gaze, he turned, and his eyes met mine. The room stilled, and all I could hear was the sound of my beating heart. It was almost as if everything around us disappeared.

His smile dropped, and it was like I could physically feel his pain from seeing me again. With a subtle shake of his head, he remembered where we were, and he looked away.

I made a beeline for the bar. “I need a drink,” I told Matt.

The bartender put the drink on the bar in front of me, and I took a sip of my margarita. I tried not to watch him from my spot at the bar, but I saw him heading my way out of the corner of my eye.

It felt like my fucking heart stopped.

A thousand fears raced through my mind, and I couldn’t even keep track of all of them, but I knew I couldn’t face him without losing my temper.

Standing straight, I made my way toward Dan and Asher to avoid Xavier. They were lost in each other’s eyes, and their wide smiles told how genuinely happy they both were.

“Baby girl, you came late. Care to explain?” he accused, but he was still grinning.

I swallowed around the knife in my throat and shrugged. “I wasn’t feeling well, so I took a nap for half an hour after we checked into the hotel.”

I really had felt sick as soon as we’d landed, and Matt had thought it would be better if we got some rest after flying for twenty-one hours straight.

“We have room for everyone here,” Asher frowned.

I tried to put on a casual smile, ignoring how my heart ached. He didn’t know about my history with his brother, and I was thankful Dan had kept it between us.

I was about to answer when I heard Xavier’s voice calling for Asher.

I could feel that thick bubble of emotion crawling and scraping up my throat, and I knew I was just seconds away from my eyes tearing up.

Xavier stood beside me. My head was down, but I knew it was Xavier. Seven years later, and he was still wearing the same cologne that always drove me crazy.

“Mom is looking for you,” Xavier announced. His voice was deep, just like I remembered.

“Yeah. Xavier, you remember Melody?” Asher asked.

Deciding it was now or never, I turned and faced him with a forced smile.

I could see something stirring beneath the surface in his eyes. His eyes had always been so expressive.

He wasn’t shocked at all; he’d known I was coming. I could see it in his eyes.

“It’s kind of impossible to forget her, isn’t it?” he sneered. “Congratulations, by the way,” he looked down at my ring.

“Imagine my surprise. I was watching the game that night. I saw you on screen after six years and five months, you getting engaged.” He looked angry.

He had no right to be angry when he’d married Lisa just three months after I’d left.

“One warning for you, Matt.” Xavier turned to Matt. “Hold her tightly. She has a habit of running. One night you sleep with her, and the next morning she will be gone with no trace.”

He slapped Matt’s back in a friendly manner.

“I need a drink.” I took two steps, then I froze when I heard Xavier’s voice again.

“Another piece of free advice. Don’t let her drink too much, because she opens her legs for every second person who promises to fuck hard,” he hissed.

There were collective gasps around us.

I clenched my hands together until they were curled into fists. I could feel my face heating, and my breathing was becoming labored.

I was struggling to get my anger under control, but it was hard. I shouldn’t have been this enraged.

I turned and stormed back over him, seething with anger. I slapped him across his face. “Jealous because I won’t open my legs for you anymore, huh?” I smirked.

“You know what? You are a fucking asshole, Xavier. If it weren’t for Dan, I wouldn’t be here in front of you.

“You are the last person I want to see. I would prefer to die before seeing your ugly face,” I sneered.

It was true. Seeing him only made me think of what I’d lost.

He stepped back from me. Shock flashed across his face.

He tilted his chin sarcastically. “Yeah, the same ugly face you used to sit on while my tongue was deep inside your cunt.” He looked up and down my body.

“The same ugly face you loved to see between your legs as you came, screaming my name, while I fucked you with my magical tongue. Isn’t that what you used to call it?” he hissed.

I slapped him again, this time hard. I could feel the stinging in my palm, but I didn’t care.

Suddenly, I stumbled back. Matt caught my arms before I fell on my butt. I looked down and saw a girl around six or seven years old, glaring at me.

“Why are you hitting my daddy?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips.

I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t speak. I was frozen.

Xavier’s daughter. I looked her over once again. She was the spitting image of him, same eyes, same hair.

~I’m going to be sick.~

~

My heart sank, and my stomach was burning with devastation.

I looked up at him one last time, and he picked up his daughter in his arms. I could hardly see him through my tears, and I swallowed down the painful lump in my throat.

Ignoring the agonizing pain in my heart, I turned to Dan, who was looking at me with guilt. “I’m sorry, Dan. I thought I could do this, but I can’t. I’m sorry, and congratulations once again.”

My tone was thankfully even and calm, but my heart was pounding like a damn horse racing in the Kentucky Derby.

Standing on my tiptoes, I kissed his cheek once, and turning on my heels, I left like I always did.

Xavier had been right. That was what I did when things started to get hard. I fucking ran, except I hadn’t run last time.

I’d left him a note, asking to meet in the same place where we’d first met, but he hadn’t come.

~🤔🤔

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