Chapter three

Chapter Three 

MELISSA. 

I ran the brush through my think wavy brow hair as I stared at my reflection in the bathroom's half length mirror.  

Coffee brown eyes stared right back at me,  eyes that had never revealed much. 

My gaze trailed down slowly. 

Scars..

Some older than others. 

Others barely visible but I could see them just fine. 

The way they mar  the skin almost all over my back. 

My fingers reached to my bare shoulders to encircled around one of the very visible ones absently  ,  I think it was a cigarette burn.  

The last one he had left on my skin. 

I knew each and everyone of them,   the mistakes that earned each one was still perfectly imprinted in my memories. 

Had it been really eight months?  

It still felt  like everything had happened only just yesterday.

He is dead...

He can't hurt you... Not anymore,   my sister Gracie had often told me in these past few months.

She was wrong. 

I didn't believe her words,  something told me she didn't believe it as well.

He was dead , but his ghost still haunted me, and these scars would forever remind me of the control he held over me. 

The control he still had despite the fact he was already rotten in the grave. 

"Burn in hell dad " I muttered the curse under my breath. 

Few months ago I had finally met her in person.

My half sister.  And so far we've bonded even closer than I had ever imagined. 

She was the only person I could regard as family,  it was still hard to believe that I finally had one. 

The best I could say,  as fucked up as I was in the head she understood me. 

She didn't judge me.  Only accepted me as I was. 

The way she had so easily emphasize with my situation had made me thought that she had gone through the same. 

But that couldn't be,  sure she has a jerk of a fiancee but he seemed to see no other world apart from her, their love didn't need to be told,  you could feel it from miles away. 

To me her life was perfect. 

So unlike mine.  

Her fiance,  Hayden had disapproved of our relationship from the very start, and  considering the reason for that , he wasn't wrong to doubt me .

But I couldn't help but feel he was being too excessive and extreme about it . 

I would die before I hurt her,  she meant much to me than a family. 

I saw her and my niece as my hope.  They both are the only good things that has ever happened to me. 

But her fiance most times, hell all the time was being too controlling. 

I wondered about how she managed to put up with him most of the time,  but they were happy,   that was the most important thing, not to mention that she was already pregnant with their second child. 

I wrapped a towel around myself and walked out of the bathroom,  I skimmed through my wardrobe searching for an outfit. 

A month ago,  I had decided to get a job.  

To work like other people and relate with others had been something I've never had the  opportunity to do. 

A normal life, was what something in me told me I could never have. 

But I still have to try. 

Currently ,I work as a waitress at a renowned club in town. 

I sold most of dad's property and I also had mine before that,  so I could consider myself pretty rich. But the actual reason I sold them off was because I didn't need any reminder of him. 

He would seem more dead to me that way. 

For the first time in my life I wanted to associate myself with others and live and see life the way they do. 

It was precisely why I was dressed up right now in a mid thigh evening gown. 

I met this guy Owen at the club last week. He had seemed pretty decent,  so when he had asked me out and I had accepted. 

Gracie had also told me it was a good start to begin my life all over again. 

So here I was... 

My eyes were lined with eyeliner, lips coated a deep shade of red with lipstick. 

When I was done I would say I looked stunning. Confident , and untouchable opposed to the scared little girl caged inside. 

I've always loved make up.  It kept everything hidden,  it was always a perfect guise for everything I felt inside. 

I was done. 

I took a last glance at myself, my dress  covered enough not to showcase the ugly scars. 

I inhaled sharply and struggled for another,  I hope I could make it through this night. 

I was beginning to doubt my decision . Maybe I should just call off  everything,  there could be no other way to end this night than to stay here,  hidden in my room,  away from the rest of the world. 

My cellphone rang and I snatched it from the nightstand. 

Gracie.

Such a perfect timing,  now she would convince me not to change my mind,  I thought sarcastically.

"Hello girl ,you ready yet?" The excitement in her voice managed to set a smile on my face , sometimes she still behaved like a teen,  it made me wonder how her life as a teenager was,  if it was anything like mine then it would be so fucking bad. 

"Sure  , I was just about to leave "  I replied.

I heard the familiar voice of her fiance in the back ground. 

Ugh ! 

Again,  how does she manage the way he continued breath down her neck. 

Or was it only because he was still wary about me? 

We spoke for about five minutes before I made my way out. 

*

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The sound of music blaring,  excited squeals of dancing sweaty almost naked and some completely bodies. 

They behaved like animals heat,  

This was the place I worked, but it was rare I worked here,  most of the times my shift fall on the simple restaurant just on the first floor. 

I was off today,  this place was also where Owen and I had agreed to meet.  It was where we had met the first time. 

I spaced out for the umpteenth time as he kept going on and on about himself and his achievements ,  he never did ask me much about myself but that fact was relieving. 

I had so many scars. 

Ones that I wanted to remain buried with me. 

For some reason I was restless and irritated,  not to mention that his constant leery smile was beginning to make my skin crawl. 

I couldn't do this.  I grabbed my purse tight in my fist. 

I wanted to leave,  it was suffocating in here. 

This wasn't just meant for me,  I realized about five minutes ago that coming here and ever agreeing to this date had been a big mistake. 

I managed everything with a polite smile, that was until I felt a cold palm massage my thighs. 

I couldn't avoid a backward flinch,  if there was another thing I hated,  it was being touched, especially when it happened so suddenly without my permission. 

HE had ruined me for that , the nightmares he left behind still remained. Still haunted the little sanity I had left  .

That was a god damn story I didn't want to remember. 

The cold fingers crawled their way up my inner thighs,  he shot me a smirk he probably thought was seductive. 

I resisted the urge to rip up those fingers from his hands entirely , it was the only thing I could think of. 

"Get your hands off me" I gritted with the last bit of civilization I had left. 

But the bastard didn't stop, instead his smirk widened,  his gaze already stripped me naked . 

"Don't act like you don't want it, see the way you even dressed up so nicely for me " He spoke wearing a smug smile whilst squeezing hard against my flesh. 

What a slimy bastard.  I could just fucking kill him. 

"I totally mean it Owen ,  fucking don't touch me! " I spoke in a sharp serious tone that hinted at the way he made my skin crawl. 

I needed to hide . I couldn't breathe. 

why was the air here suddenly so tight? 

His smug look changed to a sneer. 

"Don't like you don't want it,  if you behave I'll surely leave you a nice tip " His fingers grew even bolder ,almost reaching the band of my panties. 

Okay.  This was it.  I'm done. 

Did he just referred to me as some cheap whore? 

What a scum bag!  And he still looked pretty decent in his gray suit and a neck tie .

The saying was right, I guess we couldn't really judge a book by it's cover. 

"Uh.. how about we go upstairs so you can wrap those pretty sweet lips ar..... "

I reacted instantly, he didn't see it coming. 

I grabbed the palms on my thigh and placed it on the table,  I stabbed it hard with the dinner knife. 

"fucking Bitch!" He screeched, his features choked with pain. His clasped his injured hand as blood flowed freely. 

I would say he was lucky that the dinner knife wasn't solid enough,  or he might have lost a hand. 

Did I care? 

Hell no.  I had fucking warned him twice. 

"Don't wail at me pretty boy ,  go to your fucking mama,  I bet your dick will taste good on your own fucking mouth" I replied without a twinge of remorse. 

"Just wait and watch! " He spat hatefully before storming off. 

Once again I screwed up trying to relate with other people .  

I just couldn't stand being touched so intimately,  it filled me with those hateful memories that I was trying hard to forget. 

I downed my entire glass of tequila , it spread heat all over my insides. 

This was the best feeling ever,  alcohol always had a special effect of taking everything away. 

Even if it was just for a few moments. 

I needed more. 

I downed two more shots when  I suddenly had a feeling that  I was being watched.

The hairs at the back of my neck prickled .  I turned around most swiftly, and my gaze for some unknown  reason snapped towards the private reservation upstairs .

Then, I met a most familiar  gaze.  

An intense green.  Dark and stormy that sent a shiver through my spine. 

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