Free Release Me by Melanie Walker Page A

glass before I admit it.
    “Cal it’s not just business. It’s everything. I thought about all the good between us last night, and in all the good I realized that it wasn’t ever really good. We are comfortable and compatible but we suck at intimacy.”
    I want to choke on the sound of her sincerity. I want to know how she can sound so sincere and know she is lying through her teeth. Having had enough of this pathetic cop out she’s planned I let her know exactly what I think.
    “You want to know what I think? I mean honestly if that’s what you really want?” “Yes.
    I want your honest opinion about it all.” She wants me to let her off the hook. I know she is hoping that I’ll get pissed and storm out. Not gonna happen though. If she wants to pull some public bullshit to keep me in line, a knife in the back to do so in this industry anyway. Then I can show her the same courtesy and give her my own version of the fucked up truth.
    “We aren’t friends Tayla and we never will be. I am not your business transaction and the fact you pulled this shit-“
    “Excuse me, what shit?” She asks and I can hear the quiver in her voice and its all fear that I caught on to her bullshit tactic. “Oh you need me to spell it out, I can do that. You text me and invite me to dinner with a promise of relaxing and enjoying dinner together. You pick a crowded place where we sit in the center of the dining room and you come at me with this plan that takes me nothing more than business and that with a few post it note reminders you can wipe me lean from your world. It's too bad baby that I am embedded in the very fabric of your life. We both know that what is best for TAT is Noah and that anything else will fall into place. And as far as our friends go, I doubt they give a fuck in the tri-fecta of life changes they’ve all faced the last six months. You want to sit here and handle me like I am some deal you’re brokering. Fuck off with that. You want free of me Tay, there’s the fucking door. I don’t need the charade.”
    She looks stunned and speechless. That entire speech was said with a smile on my face and in a tone of voice that no one is the wiser, but inside I am on fire and ready to scream.
    “Cal I’m not trying to make a deal here, I’m trying to save us both from destroying each other.”
    I look at her then, and I see her, the real her, and she is breathtaking. But she’s got me pegged wrong if she thinks I’ll accept the easy way out. “You got me here and you were devious in your approach. In everything we have been through you use the one weapon you think I’ll accept. You’re giving me a get out of jail free card and you can keep it.” I stand and open my wallet dropping a hundred dollar bill on the table. “You send George to handle TAT business and I’ll fire you. You wanted out, you’re out. From here on out we are business and nothing more. Forget everything else, including that fucking plan of attack you just tried to sell me. Chad will handle shit from here on out.”
    I left the restaurant with a fury inside I have never felt before. I got in my jeep and blasted Korn coming undone, my fist hitting the steering wheel as flashes snuck in every time I would blink. Her skin wet in the shower… my teeth nipping the apple on her shoulder… the feel of her hair between my fingers when we would lounge on the couch.
    And that fucking kiss that ruined it all.
    Fuck her, fuck the bassist try outs, and fuck George and his ass trying to take over. Fuck it all.
     
     

I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh
    I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
    I keep your photograph I know it serves me well
    I wanna hold you high and steal your pain
     
     
    Chapter Seven
     
     
    Tayla
     
     
     
    Oh he was so crazy if he thought we were done talking. I stood on the front porch ringing his doorbell for the last fifteen minutes. He knew I was here. He knew he minute his security gate opened. He wanted