Need You Now (Love in Unknown) - By Taylor M. Lunsford Page 0,84
must say I couldn’t be happier for you two.” An almost maternal look settled in Anna's brown eyes. It reminded Mel of how her mother had looked the other day when they’d talked about Caine. That proud, quiet assurance that women who knew what it was like to be loved always had. "That man is too good of a catch for most of the women in this town. And from the way you've been glowing lately, I'd say he's just what the doctor ordered for you."
Glowing. Hell. She knew she could just take out a freaking billboard already. She’d fallen for Caine. Maybe she’d never stopped loving him. She didn’t know which it was. Either way, it had to stop. Now. If she stayed with him, he would just get pulled deeper into this and might even get hurt.
Every night she had awful nightmares, each time a little different. In some, she saw Caine bruised and broken in the middle of the road. Others, he was shutting a door in her face, the words you’re not worth the trouble echoing in her head. With each subsequent nightmare, she woke up in a cold sweat, doubts swirling in her head even as Caine held her close and tried to tell her everything was all right. She didn’t want to lose him, but she couldn’t bear to see him hurt because someone had it in for her.
Mel spent the drive out to Caine’s house rehearsing her speech. Breaking up with him the first time had been hard enough. She remembered the uncontrollable nausea that had plagued her that day. Although she’d tried to blame it on something else at the time, the sick feeling in her stomach had come from the sobbing that she couldn’t seem to stop. When Caine finally knocked on the front door of her parents’ house, she hadn’t been able to go to the door. She sat on the landing of the second floor just out of sight and quietly sobbed into a sweatshirt of his she’d stolen while her dad told him she didn’t want to see him anymore.
She should have told him the real reason before she agreed to give it another shot with him. Something held her back and now she knew what it was. She needed an escape hatch. A permanent wedge that she could use to protect herself if the situation called for it. For the first time since that day, she felt like a scared, confused teenager who just needed her daddy to fix everything. And back then, he had fixed everything. She let him end it for her and it hurt. A lot. She’d spent two days crying in her room, ignoring the pebbles Caine threw at her window until her dad scared him away.
This time would be worse. So much worse. She didn't have the same solid justification now that she’d had last time. She knew that. If she told him she was ending things to protect him, he'd pull the macho "I don't need my woman to protect me" crap. Maybe he was right. But she couldn't sit back and let him get hurt because of her. So she’d play her trump card and force him to let her go.
Mel pulled her car through the gates and into the garage of Caine’s house. She entered as quietly as possible and went to the bedroom. Forcing herself not to start tearing up, she packed her things. Easier to make a quick exit if she didn’t have to worry about leaving anything behind.
“Mel? That you, sunshine?”
Sunshine—every time he called her that, her traitorous heart fluttered. He’d given her the nickname when she was five and would only wear yellow. It stuck and only he ever called her that. She wouldn’t let anyone else.
Caine’s footsteps echoed down the hallway. She didn’t respond, just kept throwing things into her bag. She felt him in the room before she saw him. She kept her tone even and neutral. “Hi.”
“Hey. What are you doing?” He came over to sit on the bed beside her bag and took her hand to stop her from tossing in the last bra.
She tried to pull away, but he only tightened his grip. “I’m leaving, Caine.”
Confusion furrowed that smooth brow of his, the look made darker by the slightly scruffy beard he hadn’t shaved that morning. “What? Why? I thought we agreed that you would be safer staying here.”
“No, Caine. You agreed with Gage. Not me. In case you missed