***POV - Damion fratello = Italian for ‘brother’ “Get Dr. Burden on the phone, now!” My aching head lifts a fraction from my hands, Doc Barney is standing at the nursing station a few feet from my chair. Something in his posture alerts my non-functioning brain. As if in a dream I see the nurse handing him the phone over the counter. “Dr. Burden? Doc Barney from ER. Melaena Blackburn is here – level 2, your name is on her chart. Anything I need to know?” He rambles the information off. He looks confused, surprised even, pouting his mouth. “Neh!” He shouts out in shock. Something is wrong, I can just feel it. His eyes find me and he looks even more confused and worried. What is wrong? I want to shout at him, but my tongue is stuck to the top of my mouth and all I can do is stare back. “Okay, thanks, doctor. I’ll see you in a few minutes then.” His eyes stay on me for the rest of the conversation, and the nurse takes back the phone. He rushes back to Mel’s room,
***POV – Melaena Like a black-and-white movie in color, I see Kiara smile at me, holding a picture in her hands. I don’t want to look at it, but I can’t seem to look away. Her mouth moves but no words come out. A blob on the grey picture starts beating in rhythm with the noise in my ears. A heartbeat. A baby. My baby. Damion’s baby. Beep! Beep! Beep! I open my eyes. A green light blinks … on; off; on; off. It’s bothersome. I shut my eyes. A turn signal. The car rolls, tumbles, crashes … The indicator light flashes alone in the darkness. The air is voided with sound. I scream for help but it’s only in my head, no sound escapes. Through the shattered window I see a man standing in the shadows, like a ghost, watching … his face locked in terror, his grey eyes filled with guilt. It’s dad. Beep! Beep! Something drips on the bonnet of the car like single drops of rain. My father is standing next to the wreckage, his face full of pain, his lips saying ‘sorry’
***POV - Melaena I shift my legs into a more comfortable position where I sit on the freshly-planted green grass covering the small heap of the gravesite, and then I place the red flowers against the newly erected marble tombstone. A few tears roll down my cheek and I wipe them away anxiously with my hand. I didn’t know it was possible to feel so devastatingly sad losing someone you didn’t even truly know. Fudge-jackets, it's so unfair. Hatred for Harry, for Darren, for Lucinda … for the whole fudge-upped family … boils through me. I put my hand against the cold stone that’s now the only indication of the life that was lost and buried deep in the earth underneath. And for what? Revenge? Money? Power? And in the end, Harry and his family ended up in graves themselves. What a loss of lives. And all the bloodshed and suffering was for nothing. It just caused more pain. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive them for everything they’ve taken from me, but in a way, I
***POV - Melaena I start reading the card: ‘This is a type of treasure hunt, just for you. Read the cards, listen to the songs, and relive the memories – good and bad. Maybe you'll understand how I feel about you at the end. First, you have to go back to the place where I first saw you but also almost lost you. We’ve both lost part of ourselves there, but it’s also the place where I realized that you are to me. I’ll never want to live without you. You are my angel … everything I want and I’ll die for you in a heartbeat.’ Tears build up in my eyes and slip down my cheeks again, but I don’t even bother to wipe them away. Alejandro grabs my arms and pulls me up as if I’m a delicate snowflake. He brushes the tears from my face with his thumb, his blue eyes full of love, giving me strength. So this is what Damion meant with his message – it’s a treasure hunt and I suppose he’s the freaking treasure. Cocky bastard. “I don’t know what you did to my brother, 'cause it seems t
***POV – Damion 18 months later Damion: I’m sure that from lack of use, my sperm grew legs and looks like frogs instead of tadpoles. But the situation is going to be rectified before the night is over. I touch my crotch with a groan, abstinence is definitely not my thing. These last weeks have been torture, being in bed next to the woman of my dreams, and the closest I got to touch her was a hug. Fuck, a day without sex with Mel is a fudging long time, two weeks is a fudging excruciating fierce eternity … a month … that’s just plain torturing hell. My dick stirs at the forecast of ripping off her clothes and moves into a full-blown hard-on when I look at the photo she sends me as her answer. She’s fudging with me, the devious little witch, but I keep staring at the picture of her feet, her toe nails painted in a checkered flag pattern. Damn my soon-to-be wife. Even her fudging feet turn me on. Damion: You make my balls so blue – sure this maltreatment is sexual abuse
*** POV - Melaena Blackburn - age 9 years old “Ilkay, I’m going to the park with some friends!” I shout to my brother as I close the front door, not waiting for his response. He’s busy studying like usual and probably won’t even hear me. My two blond ponytails make it difficult to fit my helmet on my head, but I manage eventually, strapping it under my chin. I fast-pedal my bike down the street to where the rest of my grade 4 class is waiting. We’re not actually heading for the park, but to investigate the haunted house near Big Basin and I just know that if my bloody family ever found out, they would kill me for sure – hence the lie. The building previously belonged to some or other rich dude, but it’s been deserted for years. According to legend, the entire family vanished overnight into thin air, never to be heard from again. Rumors spread that they were abducted by the devil himself! And if that’s not enough – a demon guards the place - ripping anyone who dares to tr
** POV - Melaena – age 19 Warning – sexual content! He moves his fingers under the lace of her panties, yanking them off. Moving slowly he kisses his way up her thigh, turning his head so his breath tickles her. She lets out a deep moan, moving her hips in anticipation. He moves in, tongue lashing against her clit while his hands move under her hips pulling her into his face. She lets out a cry of pleasure, her hands pulling his hair. He licks and sucks, moving his fingers into her wet …. I groan and close my eyes. Green orbs fly into my mind and I feel an ache forming between my legs. I press them together and throw the stupid book on the bed. Kiara peeps out of the closet. “Mel, stop reading yourself into a climax!” A pair of jeans hit me in the face before I can react. “It’s time to get funky!” She shouts excitedly pulling clothes from the shelves and throwing them on the bed. Kiara is a fashion-obsessed individual, unlike me. I will wear anything I like without thinkin
***POV - Melaena “Tell me the truth … are you in love with Ren?” I fall back onto the heap of clothes lying on top of the bed. Kiara still can’t decide what to wear. I know the answer … not that I would admit it. But my stuffed throat is not because of my new boyfriend … the fact that I can’t seem to breathe normally has more to do with the fact that I’m about to see Damion again. This past year Kiara and I have been backpacking through Europe, and we only got to see the boys when they happened to travel for work or something … mostly Enrique. But Damion … well, we ended up going to his races in France and Italy but never met him in person. Let’s just say I watched him from a distance … and stalked him on social media like always. But now … I’m going to see him face-to-face again. It’s times like this that I miss my mom the most - but she’s been dead for almost 10 years already. Just a little while after the whole haunted house incident in fact. But no matter how much time