Chapter 8
Chris
Melinda drove me nuts.
There she was, sitting at the bar, laughing at something Caden had said until Bess swooped in and whisked him away. Bess was annoying as hell, but she was smart. She knew how to get what she wanted by batting those eyelashes. Melinda was a woman who was the prettiest girl in high school, the prom queen, class president, and dated the star football player—all which was clear if you only spent five minutes in her presence, or looked her up online. Which surely Bess had done.
We weren’t in high school anymore, but Bess acted like it—wanting to remain the uncrowned Queen of Breckenridge.
As Melinda was alone, I made my way over.
I didn’t miss her huff of annoyance when she saw me. I kept my game face on, but the first thing that ran through my mind was how pretty she looked.
Nope, Chris. No. Stop those thoughts now.
“Aw, Bess, get you again, Melinda?” I said, leaning against the bar.
“I was being ironic,” she muttered angrily. Though I knew she hadn’t. And a part of me felt shitty for putting her down, but I guess part of me was also in high school—the part that wanted to date the to-be prom Queen as much as her perfect ways irked me.
Mary placed a beer down and he grabbed it by the sweaty neck, lifting it in the air. “To you, Melinda. Always smart, yet always in the last place, because as I remember, I used to snatch first place. I wish you the best of luck.” I leaned in and clinked my bottle against her spill−proof cup. “You’ll be needing it because you’re working for me now. Meaning second place isn’t an option.” I took a swig, letting the bitter taste of hops coat my throat.
I turned around before she could say anything and made my way back over to a table where Ben and a few other buddies were sitting. I sat down and spread my legs to get comfortable, watching from afar the emotions that spread across her face. Anger, annoyance, a desire to compete, and then back to anger. She grabbed her purse, tossed some money down, and headed out the door.
Chris 1.
Melinda 0.
Hopefully, this would have her working up a storm in the marketing department. At least, that’s how it used to work in high school. One word from me, and she was dead set on outdoing me.
Tonight, I wasn’t done yet, though. I wanted to see if there were any updates with her ex−boyfriend. Sliding out my phone, I Googled her name, like a did a few days before, and the first thing that popped up was an article about her ex.
“Trent Colloway admitted to selling fake art to people around the world. The twenty−eight−year−old has been in the art industry since he was twenty. Born and raised in New York City, Trent Colloway had many connections for his art dealing, which led police to further arrests. Colloway created a criminal art ring where art was sold on the black market. The total sum he earned during this scam was over ten million dollars. He admitted that his girlfriend Melinda Bailey had nothing to do with the scam and the cops have cleared her on all charges that were pending during investigation. Trent Colloway has been denied bail and was sentenced to eight years in prison with three years probation and house−arrest.”
Jesus, that guy was a damn idiot. Who in their right mind would do that? I needed to have patience with Melinda, even if it felt like my skin was slowly peeling off from being tortured. She had a way of really getting under my skin. With a sigh, I exited out of that article and scrolled down to the link beneath it—an article about her life at large after she’d been spotted at some socialite event. It had a picture of her grinning from ear to ear, something I hadn’t seen her do since she got here, and I noticed how much I liked her hair up.
She was a pretty pain in the ass, what could I say?
Her neck was smooth and flawless, and the image of me kissing it raced through my mind. She might drive me crazy, but there was no denying Melinda Bailey was drop-dead gorgeous. I took a swig of beer and cleared my throat as I read on. It was stuff I already knew. She had gotten the online marketing manager job from her father to help with the family business and was involved in charities and fundraisers. Something she could be thanks to daddy’s money. No one thought she was doing it out of the goodness of her heart. I didn’t know about that. She’d always been kind to most people … but it had all been served to her on a silver platter, and I’d always had the impression she felt above others. The way she didn’t seem to be close to any of the girls in school. She was with them, but she wasn’t. It was as if she was one above everyone else.
She was smart, but an airhead most of the time, who loved fashion a bit too much and fell over her own two feet. Melinda was an accident waiting to happen in more ways than one, and I wished Ben had talked to me about hiring her. I would have stopped it. At least I hoped I would. Right now, I was too tired to think about it, and I’d rather blame Ben in advance for any mishaps that would surely happen either because of Melinda Bailey’s talent for landing on her ass, or my stupid attraction to her. It did bring out my worst side. But I had bigger fish to fry—my brother.
Ben had been great and picked up a lot of my slack when it came to the resort while I got my brother settled. I had to get up early to see him at rehab the next day. I drained my beer and stood, stretching my arms over my head.
“You headed out?” Ben asked, seeming a bit more tired than usual. That was my fault too.
“Yeah, man. I have to see my brother early in the morning.”
“Tell him hello for me, will you?” Ben held out his hand, and I shook it, patting his shoulder as I stepped away.
“Will do.”
Only when I got home and went to bed, the thing that came back to my mind was Melinda and the curve of her neck, which made it impossible to fall asleep as it aroused me. A neck. It was ridiculous. How could she (or her neck) still have that power over me? I was no longer a hormonal teen for Christ’s sake! I eventually fell asleep, dreaming weird dreams that had something to do with both my brother and Melinda’s beautiful neck. By the time I woke up, I was dead to the world due to my restless sleep.
I got up, got dressed, brushed my teeth, and headed over to the rehab center in Boulder. It was a top of the line facility. They gave me a progress report every day, which meant I didn’t have to see him, but I needed to make sure he knew he wasn’t alone. So, if that meant me visiting a few times a week, then so be it.
Nothing but snow filled my view for thirty minutes. When I pulled into the parking lot, it was eight o’clock on the dot. Right when visiting hours started. I grabbed the books I got Charlie in hand along with some word puzzles and slammed the door, forcing a slight dusting of snow to fall from the window.
I took a deep breath and started walking to the entry. Charlie had been in rehab a few times, but it never got easier for me. Every time he had to go back, a part of me wondered if this was how our life would be forever and if I’d eventually lose him to this disease.
