Spawn
For a split second, as I took off my helmet, I thought Hailey had opened the door to welcome me.
But when I refocused my vision after placing my helmet in my bike, I knew immediately it wasn’t Hailey, even though the resemblance was striking.
It washer.
Melissa Cook.
The only woman I’d ever cared about, and the one that I’d pined to get back for so long—and the one that I’d acted like a jackass to as I had slowly come to realize I wouldn’t get her back.
And yet, she was standing there. It didn’t make any sense. Why?
And yet, I didn’t care so much about the why as I did about how goddamn fucking beautiful she looked. She had her hair pulled back into a ponytail, which made her sharp eyes more pronounced. Fierce wasn’t quite the right word—Melissa had never been the type to command a room. But there was always a level of certainty to them that suggested even if she didn’t dominate the room, she still knew who she was and what she believed in.
She had on clothes that covered everything, not even so much as revealing some cleavage, but I knew what that body looked like. And God help me if I started fantasizing about her; other girls might have had faker tits and more time in the tanning salon, but none of them had the combination of everything that could make me rock hard just thinking about her for a mere second.
But for all of that, there was decidedly one thing different about her than when we dated. Gone was the expression of affection, love, or even at the end, annoyance.
Instead, there was now only hatred and vile repulsion.
“What sort of sick fucking game are you playing here, Hailey?” she said, never once turning back to wherever her sister was.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t—”
Hailey came into view too. And she cut herself off.
“Bad timing, Spawn!” Satan shouted from within the house.
You don’t fucking say.
Several awkward seconds passed as the three of us just stood there staring at each other. I was waiting for Melissa to say something to me; for how intense her eyes laid upon me, I figured she would have saidsomething.I couldn’t tell what Melissa was waiting for, maybe the same thing? Hailey just looked like she wished she had a way out of this but didn’t want to leave her sister to fend for herself.
I fucking bit the bullet. What good was it being a sergeant-at-arms if I fucking froze at the first instance of trouble?Even if that trouble isn’t violence and instead…whatever the fuck you’d call this.
“Melissa, I—”
“Don’t,” she snapped.
So she was waiting for me to chat. But, for what, so she could be the one to fucking tear me down?
“Don’t you dare fucking say a word, Corey,” she said. “You ruined my life. Chased me around the fucking town. And now I’ve been here less than a week, only to learn that my sister is dating your boss. Did fucking Satan and Hailey set you up?”
“Christ, woman, no, I—”
“I see you learned to speak with as much respect as before. Or perhaps it should be said you haven’t learned to speak better.”
Melissa groaned.
“Do me a goddamn favor, Corey. Step to the side so Hailey and I can get the hell out of here. And if you have any fucking interventions planned, forget it. I’ll be going back to Texas soon. And if you have any common sense, you won’t follow me there.”
“Do what she says,” Satan’s voice came from the inside.
What the fuck, so now Satan was supporting Melissa in this? I was going to do what she said anyway, but Christ…
I pushed my bike to the side, away from her car. Melissa followed Hailey down, keeping her head down. She didn’t look at me. She looked so angry she could have put a dent in Hailey’s car.
She thought I couldn’t see it, and I pretended not to, but as the two Cook girls pulled away, I could see her looking at me through the car windows. She had a curious but nevertheless pissed off look to her. Maybe I’d behaved differently than she expected?
