Chapter 25

As the door closed behind them Richie sighed. Damn Jon anyway what the hell was he doing messing with a girl like Shay? That was just so wrong. And what happened to the sweet little bouncing curly headed kid who used to follow her sister around like a stray puppy? Damn she'd been harsh! He just shook his head and wordlessly pulled Mel into his embrace. "I'm sorry baby don't worry about it k'?

She leaned into him for just a moment, then pulled away as she tried to push down the torrent of hurt and fear. "I can't help but worry. She was so upset. I don't blame her. I've never.. I just DON'T lose control like that."

Richie bit back a snort. "You don't?" He shook his head and held her back enough to peer down into her face "I think you're mixed up Mel..... Whoever you became.... that wasn't you, that was just a shell of you..... That.. out there" he motioned to the closed door with his head "That was the Mel I know."

She was torn between wanting to snuggle into his chest and pulling away. She couldn't think when he was so close. "That Mel died a long time ago." She pulled away and moved to the window, her eyes staring blankly through the now clean windows. "She died the day we left Woodbridge, hell maybe before, never was really sure exactly when."

"Bullshit Mel!" he barked and stalked up behind her turning her around "She's standing right in front of me."

She glanced up and encountered blazing brown, earnest eyes. How did you explain that to someone, how a part of you was dead? "I thought she was dead gave a good showing of it. The last two days are an aberration, its not what I am now. It died, I killed it, I had too, for Shannon." She snorted, "for my own sanity."

"The last two days were a...." he growled "Mel... I understand what you did and why, it can't have been easy, especially at your age, but honey...if you didn't notice.. Shannon.... little Shannon .... seems to be growin’ up pretty fuckin fast if that little scene was any indication so don't you think it’s about time you lived for you?"

She stiffened and felt the growl before it bolted her lips. "DONT fuckin' remind me! God!" She nearly vibrated as the picture rose in her mind, her baby sister sprawled open, so languid, her eyes..... "Dammit Dork did you HAVE to bring that up?"

She twisted to look at him, "YES it was an aberration, I lost that part of myself a long time ago, I cultivated the boring, the icy disdain. I had to, thank YOU very much."

"Thank me???? I said I was sorry!! And it wasn't an aber...what the fuck ever! The last 2 days were NOTHING short of heaven Mel if you say anything else, you’re a damn liar!" His eyes flashed dangerously. How dare she! No way could she really believe what she was saying. Couldn't she feel it? How right they were together???

She crowded in on him as she pushed into his space, her anger, need and want mixing into a lethal, explosive, combination. "Fuck yeah you apologized. Shit did I say you hadn't? But that don't CHANGE the facts! What happened changed me dammit. Maybe it’s not important to guys, Hell you'll have to let me know on that one. But it was IMPORTANT to me.. It was sort of a natural step with who we were... it saved me when Dad... well..."

She stopped and took a ragged breath, then started again, "And it changed things, then mom up and left, she just GAVE UP and I didn’t have what I .." her voice dropped and she went stone cold still, "needed to make it out alive. I don't know how to be Mel anymore."

He closed his eyes and fought the urge to strangle her. He thought they'd moved past all that. Hoped they could work on now, but..... Damn he couldn’t expect her to change over night now could he? "Then maybe you could try to trust me enough to let me help you learn how again?" he said softly in an effort to stop the seemingly constant whirlwind that was them.

She started to laugh, her shoulders shaking with the force of it all. "Help me? HELP ME??? HOW?? Your here for what? A day? Maybe two? Then what?" God he was infuriating. How was he going to help from wherever in the world he was going to be?

"Why would you even want too?"

"A week! I'm home for a week! Then I..." He sighed and hung his head. Why was it always like this? The road is what did it. No one really understood. "Why would I want to??? " He went silent fighting the urge to just scream. "Maybe because I love you Melanie!" he spat out.

He watched as she paled, her eyes going wide and shocky and wished for a brief instant he could yank those words back. He didn’t mean to say them, hell he’d felt them for years but he had never meant to utter the dread three words.

"You can't!! My God we haven't seen each other in fourteen years!!" Her eyes snapped shut as she tried to pull in a breath. He couldn't, she was just metal mouth, the bane of his existence. "It makes no sense Rich."

"Maybe not but this sure does make sense!" He barked the words, closing the space between them and grabbing her to him to plunder her mouth with a deep angry kiss.

She pushed closer, her lips fusing with his as their tongues warred. Her heart pounded as fingers slipped to twist into his hair. And even as her mind screamed "NO!" her body molded itself to him.

This made sense. This felt right. She felt right. He quickly lifted her in his arms and took the few steps to her bed falling into it with her. He wasted no time, gave her no time to act or think he simply took. His lips traveled from her mouth to her neck to her breasts, his fingers making short work of her clothes. His mouth and tongue brutally yet tenderly teased her body into submission.

She writhed beneath him, and felt the shattering of yet another piece of the wall that held the true her captive. She had no defenses against him, never had. He could build her up, destroy her and remake her again and again. Only he had been able to do so without knowing it from the earliest memory she had. He called it love, she wasn't sure about that, but she recognized it for what it mostly was, life.

His lips worshiped her; his hands tantalized her, he knew every spot to touch, every little button, and he pushed it, daring her to not respond. His clothes soon followed hers to the floor and he teasingly rubbed himself against her as he kissed the breath from her soul little by little.

She breathed his name on a sigh, thrilling to feeling of skin on skin. Each kiss, each touch sent her higher, made her soar, and in some small way erased a moment in time of all that had went wrong. For the briefest moment she tried to concentrate on exactly how he did that, how he had learned to know a woman's body so well, then promptly felt the thoughts scatter as his lips slid along her skin.

He felt her coldness slipping away, then stole a glance at her face and saw it go from a mask of hidden pain to one of urgent need. His hands slid over her pulling her flush against him and he sunk himself home. Tight wet warmth enveloped him, his skin tingled and he shuddered in pure pleasure as he drew back to plunge into her once again. His hands grasped the firm round cheeks of her ass and pulled her in to meet his thrusts.

Her voice lifted into a shout as one slender leg wrapped around his waist, her nails sliding along his spine to cup his ass and pull him closer. She couldn't stop the raging tide of need, couldn't stop the heartbreaking call of his name as she took him again and again, only to cry for more.

Her cries drove him to a frenzied pace. He worked her up and up and up. There was nothing sweet or tender in his love making this time, only the simple primal need to fuck her mindless and make her cling to him, to erase anything from her mind but him.

She lost herself in the feel of him even as she pulled him in tighter, wanting no space between them. She hungered; she had hungered for years even as she argued it, as she denied it and even as she buried it she had hungered, and felt empty without him. Her soul set flight as he filled her up, erasing the hunger, blasting all but him from the darkest corner. "God Richie.... "

"That's it baby," His voice rumbled, his body now slick with sweat. "Come with me." He shifted his hips then rolled them plunging deeper, harder over and over.

The heat of the man, the drugging scent of his body wrapped around her filling her mind with sensation as her body met his urgent move upon move, and with his voice urging her on, she again followed and fell into mind altering pleasure. She sobbed his name on a broken breath, as hands slipped from his ass to tighten around his neck.

He felt her pulsing around him and he exploded, his cock twitching in time with his heartbeat as her hotness milked him dry. He held her as tight as he dared, his lips resting on her shoulder while he willed his breathing to slow.

She turned her head and nuzzled his neck, her own breathing hitching as she tried to control it. "Will it be like this every time?" She wasn't so sure she could survive the extreme high his loving gave, but she was willing to find out.

"I god damn well hope so," he kissed her gently.

She almost whimpered as he rolled to his back, even inches away she started to feel the separation. Wiggling closer her fingers traced circles on his chest, a chuckle rising, "it's gonna kill me.'

"Don’t worry... I know CPR," he wiggled his eyebrows

She huffed softly, "Sure ya do, you're a real medical genius."

"I'll show you genius!" He teased and kissed her. This time gently, slowly and with all the passion she made him feel.

As the kiss ended she snuggled closer. "Ya know that’s nothing like those stolen practice kisses. Boy have you learned a lot over the years."

"All I did was grow up darlin'." He smiled softly and kissed her a bit more. He wasn’t ready to try and explain to her exactly how he'd learned this little side trade of his. Not when she'd just melted a bit more of the ice surrounding her heart. He'd have to be careful with her. He'd do his best to make sure he played it straight this time. He couldn’t hurt her not again. He'd make sure of it this time.

She snorted, her tiny fist tapping against his shoulder in automatic response. "Hell I grew up too, but..." Her voice trailed off a moment as she pushed her thoughts away. Tomorrow, she'd think of all the ramifications tomorrow. Right now he was here and that was all she wanted to think on.