Protecting Melody (16 page)

When her entire body was shaking, Tex said the words she’d been waiting for. “Now, Mel. Come for me
now
.”
 

She did, and it was beautiful. Every muscle in her body tensed and shook. She threw her head back and moaned long and low. Her fingers gripped the pillowcase by her head as she shivered. “Please, Tex, now. Come inside. I want to feel you.”
 

Tex turned Melody until she was on her back again. He took her ankles in his hands and bent her knees up until she was fully open. He eased forward until his cock nudged her sex. Thank God he’d had the foresight to put the condom on before they started playing. He was so hard he didn’t have to worry about guiding himself in. It was as if his dick knew right where it wanted to go.
 

They both groaned as Tex finally eased himself inside her. He pushed in until he was in as far as he could go. Placing Mel’s legs over his shoulders he leaned down and braced himself on his hands.
 

“I changed my mind about two, Mel. Reach down and touch yourself. I want one more out of you.”
 

Melody hadn’t yet recovered from the most intense orgasm she’d ever had, but she followed Tex’s command anyway. She took one hand and snaked it between their bodies until she could reach where they were connected. She groaned as Tex pulled his hips back to give her some room. She couldn’t help but move her hand lower and circle his length as he pulled out. She tightened her grip as he pushed back in, loving the groan that escaped his mouth.
 

“Touch yourself, Mel, not me. I’m holding on by a thread here as it is.”
 

“But I like touching you.”
 

“And I like you touching me. But I’m serious, hands off. I want to feel you squeezing my cock when you orgasm again, but I’m not going to be much help here. Touch yourself. Make yourself come and take me with you.”
 

Since he put it that way . . . Mel moved her hand and ran her fingertip around her clit. She immediately arched her back. “I’m so sensitive.”
 

“Yeah, you are.” Tex looked down at Mel. She was so beautiful, and she was his. He moved his hips rhythmically. In and out. In and out. He watched as her breasts jiggled and he felt remorse for just a moment that he hadn’t had time to worship them. Later. He’d spend time with them later.
 

He sped up his thrusts. He could feel the tingle in his balls, warning him his release was imminent. “Faster, Mel. I’m close. You’re too tight and too wet. I can’t hold off. Come on. Let me feel you squeeze me.” He leaned down to take one quick taste of her nipples before he lost all control. He sucked one into his mouth and took it between his teeth. He pressed down with just enough pressure to be a bit uncomfortable, but not enough to cause her true pain. It was apparently enough.
 

Tex felt her inner muscles clamp down on his cock as she exploded once again. She bucked up into him as she orgasmed. He groaned and pushed his way in and out of her body, through her muscles that were still flexing and squeezing against him.
 

“Oh yeah. Fuck, Mel. Yes.” Tex thrust one more time and held himself still as he emptied himself into the condom. He couldn’t help but thrust one more time, then two. Finally when he couldn’t hold himself up anymore, he collapsed down practically on top of Mel, partially off to her side.
 

It was many moments before Tex could bring himself to move. He propped himself up on an elbow, careful not to dislodge himself from her. He knew he had to pull out and get rid of the condom, he just didn’t want to leave her yet. He brought up a hand and pushed Mel’s hair out of her face. It had gotten stuck in the sweat that now covered her brow.
 

“You all right?”
 

“No.”
 

Tex’s lips quirked up into a smile. “No? Anything I can do to help?”
 

“Just let me lie here. You’ve killed me.”
 

“But what a way to go, huh?”
 

Melody opened one eye and looked right into Tex’s face. He was within an inch of hers and he was smiling. “Yeah. What a way to go.”
 

“Is your leg okay?”
 

The smile on Tex’s face faded and he got serious. “You’re amazing. Seriously. You just had three orgasms and you did everything I wanted you to, and practically the first words out of your mouth are to ask if
I’m
all right?”
 

“Yeah. Are you?”
 

“Yeah, Mel. I’m perfect. You know what? For the first time since that fucking bomb blew up, my leg doesn’t hurt. Not even a twinge.”
 

Melody closed her eyes and pulled Tex down to her. “Now I know what to do when it hurts again. It’s a new treatment for the phantom pains.”
 

Tex laughed and pulled out of Mel with a groan and pulled off the condom and tied it off.
 

“The not-so-sexy part of sex,” Melody commented wryly. “Just put it on the floor, we’ll deal with it in a while.”
 

Tex did as she suggested, then turned back and gathered her into his arms. “Your practicality is one of the things I like about you the most. That and your perfect body.”
 

“Hush. I’m basking.”
 

“Basking?”
 

“Yes, now shhhh.”
 

Tex just shook his head and shushed. They had things to do. He knew Amy would be chomping at the bit to see her friend, but they had time to relax for a bit longer.
 

Tex watched as Amy and Mel cried in each other’s arms. After they’d gotten out of bed and cleaned up in the shower, which involved both of them orgasming again, they’d spent some time outside with Baby, then left to try to meet up with Amy. They hadn’t gotten two steps away from the apartment when Baby had started howling relentlessly.
 

Tex looked over at Mel who had an astonished look on her face.
 

“I take it she’s never done that before?”
 

“No, never.”
 

Tex had calmly opened the apartment door and snapped his fingers. Baby immediately stopped howling and sat on the floor by the couch watching Tex with her tail swishing back and forth on the floor.
 

“All right, Baby, you can come with us this time.”
 

As if she could understand English, Baby trotted over to the door and waited patiently for Melody to clip on her leash.
 

They walked out the door again and after Tex re-locked the door headed to Tex’s truck. They’d stopped at the bank where Mel had pulled out some cash. She’d spoken for a while to Diane, the woman she knew from high school, as well as another woman who came into the bank while they were there.
 

When they’d left, Mel had explained the other woman was Heather Wallace. Melody met her in college and while they weren’t close friends, Heather seemed very happy to have seen her again.
 

Mel had used Tex’s phone to call Amy and they’d agreed to meet at a fast food restaurant down the street. Now Tex watched as the two best friends were reunited.
 

“I’m so glad you’re okay! I missed you so much!”
 

“I know, I missed you too, Ames.”
 

Amy reared back out of Melody’s arms and smacked her on the arm. “Don’t do that shit again.”
 

“He said he was going to hurt you. And Becks. And Cindy. And Baby. And my parents. I couldn’t let that happen. I never would’ve forgiven myself if he hurt you.”
 

“Hashtag best friends.”
 

“Hashtag separated at birth.”
 

Tex watched as the women smiled at each other. He couldn’t resist butting in. They were so damn cute together. He’d never thought the things women did with each other as funny before, but now that he’d gotten to know his friends’ women better and watching Mel and Amy together, he found that he liked it. “Hashtag you guys are too cute.”
 

“No. You don’t get to hashtag,” Amy said immediately and seriously, glaring at Tex, not releasing Melody.
 

 “It’s ours,” Melody tried to explain to Tex gently. “We started it our senior year in high school. It was our ‘thing.’ Twitter had just started and we were using it and saying it before it was even popular and people knew what it meant. It drove other people crazy, but it was just between us. As typical teenagers we drove our teachers and parents nuts with it. I think there were some days we didn’t say anything that didn’t start with ‘hashtag.’ We loved it. Most people hated it.”
 

Amy and Melody looked at each other and smiled, obviously remembering good times.
 

“Okay ladies. No more hashtagging from me.” Tex reassured them. “Come on though, let’s get out of the main thoroughfare and you guys can continue your reunion.” He steered them out of the middle of the parking lot and away from the prying eyes of anyone who might be in the restaurant or driving by.
 

He watched as the women talked about Amy’s kids and how they were doing. Amy caught Melody up with the local gossip. Amy spent some time loving on Baby, who was very happy to see her. Finally, after thirty minutes or so, they’d gotten most of the basic information out of the way.
 

Amy kept her arm through Melody’s and turned to Tex. “Now what? What can I do to help?”
 

“No, Amy,” Melody told her seriously. “I don’t want you involved.”
 

“It’s too late, Mels, I’m already involved. This asshole threatened me and my family. He doesn’t get to do that and get away with it.”
 

“Amy is right,” Tex broke in. “At the very least, I need to talk to her to get her opinion on who might be doing this. She’ll have a different viewpoint than you and could really help.”
 

“I’m okay with that, Tex, but I’m not sure about anything else.”
 

“Mel, I told you before, and I’ll say it again. I wouldn’t do
anything
that would put you or your friends in jeopardy. I honestly think this has to be someone here in your hometown. Face it, it’s not like you’re a world traveler or anything.”
 

Amy giggled and tried to stifle it when Melody glared at her.
 

Melody sighed. “Okay, but . . .”
 

“No buts.”
 

“God, you can be annoying,” Melody huffed out.
 

“Shut it, Mels. He’s not annoying,” Amy told her. “He’s hashtag cute hashtag protective.”
 

“Hashtag you might be my best friend but I can still kick your butt.”
 

“Okay ladies,” Tex said laughing, “Amy, we’ll be in touch. I’m thinking we need to show ourselves around town some more, get whomever it is to see us together and hopefully make him emotional enough to make a mistake.”
 

“Keep her safe.” Amy’s voice was dead serious and aimed at Tex. “I could handle not seeing her for the last few months simply because I knew she was out there somewhere . . . alive. I
can’t
handle it if she’s dead.”
 

“She will
not
get dead.” Tex’s response was just as serious as Amy’s. He endured her intense look and inwardly sighed in relief when she nodded.
 

Amy turned back to Melody and put her hands on her hips. “Hashtag I think you have a lot to tell me, Mels.”
 

“I love you, Ames. Watch your back.” Melody hugged her friend.
 

“Love you back. You too.”
 

Tex watched as Amy walked over to her car on the other side of the parking lot and got in.
 

“Come on, Mel, We have a date downtown to go shopping.”
 

“Shopping?”
 

“Yup, what better place to be seen then downtown, the hub of the town? Since we have Baby we can’t go to the mall, we’ll do that maybe tomorrow. But for now we’ll see who else you know that we can run into. I want this done.”
 

“Me too.”
 

“All right then, let’s go. The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can go back to your place.”
 

Tex helped Mel into his truck and walked around and got in. They parked downtown and they all got out. Melody held onto Baby’s leash and they wandered around. Tex was amazed at how many people Mel actually knew. It seemed like every time they turned around, someone else was welcoming her home. They’d decided to tell people she had been gone because of work, and since no one really knew much about what a closed caption reporter did, it was easy to be vague in the explanation.
 

Tex paid close attention to both the people they met and Baby as they walked and talked with people. He tried to catalog people’s responses. They met up with several people who seemed genuinely pleased to see Melody, and others who were pretty fake in their response to her.
 

Baby only growled once, at Lee Davis. Lee was the last guy Mel had dated before the stalker started leaving her notes and threatening her. Tex remembered Mel had told him he’d been a jerk, but he was now dating the girl who worked at the bank . . . Diane.
 

Mel hadn’t moved to shake his hand or hug him or anything, but that hadn’t stopped him. He’d gone to embrace Melody, but Baby got between them and growled. Lee had quickly stepped back and ended their conversation not much longer after that.
 

The other person who Baby and Tex didn’t like was Robert Pletcher. He’d been Mel’s high school boyfriend and Tex hated him on sight. Tex just knew this was the man who’d taken Mel’s virginity. He shouldn’t have cared, it was a long time ago and he had no right to be pissed about it, or jealous, because he didn’t even know Melody back then. But he still felt it. He clenched his teeth when Robert kissed her on the cheek.