rally around him, acting as if Melody’s rejection occurred in the middle of prom. I’m not surprised. Madden still acts like he’s in high school when he gets a few drinks in him.
I think the worst is over, but not even two seconds later, I’m proven wrong. The color drains from Melody’s face as her hand shoots up to clamp her mouth. As her chest thrusts like she can’t suck in an entire breath, she cranks her neck back to peer at Madden and his friends. Her ghost-like stare ends their vulgarity in an instant. Even Madden seems taken aback—even more so when Melody upends his table, sending a jug of beer and six shots of Jägermeister spilling into his lap.
Even with a flipped table lodged between them, Melody is up in Madden’s face in an instant. “You fucking pig!”
When she bangs on his chest with her fists, its hollow echoes launch me into action. No matter how hard she fights, she’ll never drum any sense into a heartless man. It’s not possible. I gave up on Madden six years ago for that very reason. Attempting to teach him morals is like flogging a dead horse. Utterly pointless.
“I thought it was him. I thought it was Joey!” Melody shouts as I band my arm around her waist to pull her back.
“It was him,” Madden defends when I walk Melody toward the exit. “Don’t try to pin that shit on me because you’re running out of money.”
Madden’s reply agitates Melody more. She kicks and thrashes against me as she hurls abuse at Madden. She tells him she fucking hates him, and how she wishes it was him who was dead. She claws and screams and throws out threats as if they’re grenades. Her rant only ends when my attempt to remove her from a volatile situation veers us past my mom. She freezes in an instant as the fury on her face switches to remorse.
“I’m sorry, so so sorry,” she mutters to my mom on repeat, the anger gone from her voice. “I didn’t know it wasn’t him. I swear, I didn’t know.”
She repeats the same phrase another two times before the elevator doors closing gobbles up her words. I assumed a quiet, confined area would help get back her headspace, but it seems to do the opposite. The instant I jab the button for the Presidential suite, words fly out of Melody’s mouth nonstop.
“I thought it was him. He was wearing his shoes. He had on your cologne.” I place her onto her feet, fretful my clutch around her waist is hampering her breathing when she shudders through her last sentence. “He had no facial hair. None.” It dawns on me how hard she’s shaking when she runs her hand across my recently shaved jaw. “You had prickles. You didn’t bother shaving when we weren’t at school.” She drops her hand, the wetness in her eyes doubling. “He must have shaved.” She hiccups three times before adding devastatingly, “He wanted me to think he was Joey.”
“Who wanted you to think they were Joey?”
She folds in two when Joey’s name comes toppling out of my mouth. “Oh, Joey. I’m so sorry.” Her apology is utterly gut-wrenching. It steals the air from my lungs as quickly as it does Melody’s. She claws at her throat, begging for the strangling hold to lessen so she can secure a full breath.
“Breathe, Melody,” I demand when her wheezy grapple for air has her face whitening to the point she looks seconds from passing out.
“I… thought… it was him,” she squeaks between gasps.
“Don’t worry about that now. Just breathe,” I beg, panicked about how shallow her breathing is. With how frantic her chest thrusts with each breath she takes, her lungs shouldn’t be working as hard as they are. “Take big breaths for me, Mellowy. Big, calming breaths.”
When the elevator dings announcing our arrival at Melody’s floor, the fret in my voice is replaced by someone I didn’t anticipate. Julian is standing in the hallway dressed in a similar pair of sweats as Melody.
“Mel, what’s going on?” The slight slur of his words reveals he’s still drunk, but there’s nothing like finding your fiancée in the midst of a panic attack to sober you up.
After pulling her out of the elevator car, Julian runs his eyes over every inch of Melody’s face and body. The horrified expression on his face proves he loves her. He’s just as devastated by the hollow look in her eyes as