Free Wild For You (Always a Bridesmaid 3) by Jessie Evans

white tile on the floor.
    “Mel…” Nick said, insistent.
    “I-I don’t know,” she stammered.
    “You don’t know,” Nick repeated in a dubious tone. “I think you know, baby. Either he was going to—”
    “Yes, okay,” Melody said, tears filling her eyes for the first time since Seth put his hands on her. Something about Nick’s voice when he called her “baby” was so nice it made it impossible not to fall apart. “Yes. He would have.”
    “Then we’re calling the police,” Nick said gently, his fingers brushing her hair out of her face and lingering on her cheek.
    Melody looked up, fighting to swallow. “I can’t. Please, Nick, I just can’t. I don’t want to talk about it. Ever.”
    “I’ll be with you,” Nick said, pulling her back into his arms. “I’ll stay right with you the entire time. I’ll tell them I heard you screaming and—”
    “I said no!” Melody said, the words coming out louder than she intended.
    Unlike Seth, however, Nick immediately backed off.
    “Okay. I’m sorry.” He shook his head and hugged her close, dropping a kiss to the top of her head that helped her breath come easier.
    Melody rested her cheek on his shirt with a sigh.
    “It’s your decision, I just…” Nick’s arms tightened around her. “I can’t stand the idea of someone hurting you. I wish I’d gotten there sooner.”
    Melody frowned against Nick’s chest. “Why were you there? I mean, I’m so glad you were, but… I mean the bar isn’t even open on Sundays.”
    “Lark said you had an audition,” Nick said in an embarrassed voice. “I was kind of hoping to watch, but then I pulled up and saw it was only your car out front. It seemed strange. I was walking around out front, wondering if I should check things out, when I heard you scream.”
    “You’re smarter than I am.” Melody snuggled closer, still not ready to leave the comfort of his arms.
    “No, I’m just more familiar with scum,” Nick said. “I lived in a pretty bad neighborhood in Atlanta.”
    “Why did you want to watch my audition?” Melody asked after a moment. “I thought you couldn’t stand to make eye contact with me.”
    Nick made an uncomfortable sound; Melody stepped out of his arms. Nick was wearing that same sad expression he’d had when she left the wedding earlier today.
    She lifted an eyebrow and shot him a look she hoped made it clear she wasn’t going to let him off easy.
    “I haven’t… Um.” He took a breath and cast his eyes up to the ceiling. “I may have had a little trouble keeping you off my mind the past few days.” He paused. “Okay, maybe a lot of trouble.”
    “A lot of trouble,” Melody repeated, crossing her arms at her chest. “Why is thinking about me such a bad thing?”
    “It isn’t,” Nick said, still gazing over her shoulder, refusing to meet her eyes.
    “Okay, a ‘troublesome’ thing, then,” Melody prodded.
    Nick hesitated. “I was dating this girl in Atlanta,” he finally said. “She was a lot like you, beautiful and sweet and…used to doing things a certain way. She’d been with the same guy for three years before we got together. I’d dated girls before, but nothing serious, nothing that lasted more than a few months. Sara Beth was my first real relationship.”
    “So, what happened?” Melody asked gently, not wanting to push too hard now that Nick finally seemed to be opening up to her.
    Nick shrugged. “It ended. She went back to the guy she’d been dating before and I went on a three week pub crawl through every shitty bar in Atlanta. One night I came home so drunk that I tossed a toaster oven out the window onto a car and my roommates kicked me out. I felt like a fool.”
    “We all get dumped, Nick.” Melody reached out, taking Nick’s hand. “That doesn’t make you a fool.”
    “No, it does.” Nick pulled his hand away, running it nervously through his spiky hair. “Because I knew from the beginning that Sarah Beth and I wouldn’t work. We