Deadly(20)

I quickly get to my feet, holding my hands out in surrender gesture. “I didn’t come here to fight you or hurt you Melody, I only came for Cereus. She needs me and being in that place is dangerous for her.”

She does a backwards crab type crawl thing along the floor until she stops in front of the kid, wrapping him up in her arms without taking her eyes from me. “Why would a police station be dangerous for her?” Her breathing is labored and she’s gotten to her feet. I know she’s about to dart in the direction of the front door.

“She’s like me Mel, she has the darkness inside her.”

“No, I don’t believe you.” She’s getting herself all worked up and rational thinking is not her strong point at the best of times. She’s not going to stick around to hear me out. She rushes to the front door and I have no energy left to get to her before she disappears through it and down the driveway. I watch through the window as she still takes the time to strap the kid in before screeching out of here.

FUCK!





PRESENT DAY

I check the destination Mel took the car in and cringe when it shows she’s at a motel. How is she ever going to get over this betrayal?

Then I hack into the MPD database to gain access to the evidence they have on file for the murders in Miami. My cell rings and it’s Darcy, a uniform officer from the precinct who has a soft spot for me so gives me the heads up if there’s anything I need to know. She a sweet girl, ambitious and a good cop. I’m thinking of bringing her into the special unit with me. I need good cops like her. “Braxton.” I bark down the line out of routine.

“Hey, the girl they brought in that you were interested in.”

“Yeah, what’s happened?” I demand, nervous of her answer.

“She’s freaking out and they’ve called psyche, they’re referring her over to Blue Water.”

I can’t believe this is happening and I don’t know how to help her, how to prevent this from happening. I feel vulnerable and helpless… I’m so fucking lost. I need Mel.

Rapping my fist against the door again my knuckles split and bleed. I welcome the sting but nothing could compare to the ache inside my chest. “Don’t do this to us Mel.”

Loud thunder cracks the sky and rain pours down. Mother Nature is mourning with me. We are soulmates and belong together. We were strong enough to get through anything, damn we’d been tested enough.

Then why does this feel so different?

“Let me in Mel, don’t shut me out. I can’t do this without you.”

The door swings open and my wife, overtaken my emotion, stares at me like she detests me and my insides crumble. “You can’t do this without me?” She spits, disgusted. “It appears that you’ve been doing a hell of a lot without me, Blake. I can’t forgive this. How can you do this? Why wouldn’t you tell me? She’s my baby Blake.” Sobs tear from her chest and her knees buckle, causing her to fall. I reach out and ease her down, cradling her into me while she falls apart. “She’s my baby, how can this happen? Why didn’t you tell me? How can I help her? Oh God, my beautiful baby girl.”

“She’s not that little girl anymore. She’s sick, baby,”

“No …No!” Her arms tackle with mine and I don’t want to hurt her so I loosen my hold, only for her to get her arms free and rain blows down on me. “Your brother is sick! He did this to her and you let him, you son of a bitch, you let him have our baby girl. Argh…” A sound I never want to hear ever again ripped from her chest, causing my own scream of agony. I was losing her, she wasn’t going to come back from this and it was my fault. Everything bad that’s happened in her life revolves around me. I’m a sick fuck that’s too selfish to let her go and live a better life. I was never strong enough to let her go and I’m still not. There was no me without her, life would cease to exist. Nothing made sense without her there to figure it out for us. She was created for me and as cruel as that was to give such a shining light to a dark soul with even darker ones haunting him, she was still given to me and she was mine to keep and heal. I’d do what I’ve always done. I’ll reassemble all those fragmented pieces and love her so hard that she can’t help but accept that I love her more than life itself. We belong together and can get past anything.

“I need time, Blake. I can’t even freaking look at you right now. This hurts too much. Leave.”

She’s risen to her feet and all I can do is look up at her from my knees and plead with my eyes that she knows I didn’t do this to deceive her, I just didn’t think she could handle what Cereus was.