Now it was something much different. Melody hadn’t had a chance to see what sort of woman Tabitha was, but Clay knew her. He should’ve known she wouldn’t just leave Wyatt without a
really
good reason.
Damn the men’s club.
And double damn Jules for being a part of it and fueling the fire of Clay’s bitterness even more. Melody considered Jules one of her closest friends, but she was one of those rare women who had somehow managed to become a part of the men’s club too.
But Melody most certainly wasn’t.
She closed the bathroom door and locked it for good measure.
“Okay, now I know something’s wrong,” Clay called from the other side.
“I’m taking a shower by myself,” Melody snapped when she finally acknowledged to herself how unfair his actions were to Tabitha.
“Mel—”
“Go do man things.” Melody turned away from the door and folded her arms over her chest as she reeled over the feelings washing over. “Go beat each other up and do the rest of us a favor.”
For the first time since she met him almost a year ago…Melody was mad at Clay.
* * * *
She was still mad at him two hours later when the two of them were lying in bed, because they only had one bedroom, and Clay was too damned big for the couch. Melody surely wasn’t going to sleep there. So she just lay on her side with her back to him.
“It ain’t fair for you to be mad at me and not even tell me what it is.”
“Not, it ain’t fair, is it?” Melody countered. “Being mad at someone for something they did out of loyalty and nobility. That’s just plain wrong.”
“Mel.” Clay let out a pained laugh. “I honestly have no idea what you are talking ’bout. Can you at least give me a hint? Whatever it is, I promise I’ll apologize.”
“You’d be apologizing to the wrong woman,” Melody said bitterly.
Clay rolled over to drape a muscular arm over her. “Please tell me what I did.”
Melody tried to shove him off, but Clay was two hundred and fifty pounds of pure muscle, and he decided he wasn’t moving. He held her tighter instead. Melody finally had to give in and stay where she was, smothered and angry.
“I love you,” he whispered in to her ear. “And I know I ain’t perfect. Whatever I did, tell me so I can make it better. I hate fighting with you.”
Melody lay there, silently debating with herself, before she finally asked, “Why don’t you talk to Tabitha?”
“What?” Clay rasped, making it obvious that was the last thing he expected.
“I just wanna know,” she went on. “Gimme a good reason, because from where I’m standing, that was mean. Both you and Jules have been giving Wyatt nothing but grief for months now for loving that woman. Tell me why.”
“I ain’t been giving him grief. I just sorta been trying to pretend it ain’t happening.”
Melody threw her elbow back into his chest and then turned around in his arms to glare at him. “Why?”
“’Cause she took off and left my best friend four days after they got married, and the way she did it wasn’t right. Tabitha was better than that. She didn’t need to turn to drugs,” Clay growled in a furious voice, making it obvious this was something that had been eating at him for years. “She went and turned out like the rest of ’em. Like my mother.”
“Are you crazy?” Melody let out a bitter laugh. “She’s written books that make millions of children happy. How do you reckon that makes her anything at all like your mother?”
“One fight with Wyatt, and she’s in the hospital with an overdose. He thinks it was something over the counter. That was fucking bullshit. I know her family. It was drugs,” Clay countered. “Wyatt worshipped her. He still does, and what did she do to repay him—”
Melody hit his shoulder hard enough to make Clay’s eyes grow wide in surprise, but she didn’t care as she got out of bed. She grabbed her pillow, deciding she could deal with the couch.
“This is all over Tabitha?” Clay barked at her. “What the hell? Why do you care? You don’t even know her.”
“You should have known she wouldn’t leave him without a good reason.” Melody lost the battle with tears as they welled in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. “You were her friend.
Her first friend
.”
Clay paled. “Who told you that?”
“You did!”
“No, I didn’t.” Clay shook his head. “Who was the crisis call for?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
Melody jerked the blanket off the bed, and Clay didn’t stop her. He was just sitting in there staring at her, his eyes wide in horror. She left him like that and stomped out of the bedroom, with the blanket dragging behind her.
She was busy situating herself on the couch and wiping at her cheeks when Clay came into the living room in nothing but his boxer shorts, making him look dark and intimidating with those powerful arms folded over his chest.
“Who was the call for, Melody?” He sounded dangerous in a way she had never heard before.
Melody rolled over, showing Clay her back rather than answer.
“You said it was a rape call.” Clay’s voice cracked, the emotion breaking through his steely control. “Was Tabitha raped? Did something besides that fight with Wyatt make her leave?”
Melody looked over her shoulder, seeing that Clay’s dark eyes were glassy. She knew she wasn’t supposed to say anything, but she just couldn’t let the injustice go this time. “You shouldn’t be mad at her.”
Clay bowed his head. For one long moment Melody watched him stand there shaking as if everything he had ever believed about life had been ripped apart and thrown at his feet.
Then he lifted his head, his eyes narrowed, making tears roll down his face. “Did she say who it was?”
Melody shook her head. “I
really
can’t tell you that.”
“Was it Vaughn Davis?” Clay whispered.
Melody tried to make her features impassive, but she was genuinely surprised the first name Clay pulled out of the hat was the right one. It must have shown on her face, because he turned around with a growl and hit the wall, tearing through plaster easily and leaving a large hole. Melody gaped, because she couldn’t remember the last time Clay lost his temper.
“You can’t tell her I told you,” Melody whispered fearfully. “It was supposed to be a secret. I should have never—”
“I won’t tell her.” Clay still stood facing the wall, his shoulders heaving as if he was battling a terrible war with himself. “I couldn’t betray you like that. Even for something like this.”
“Do you promise?”
Clay nodded. “Yeah, I promise.”
“Why didn’t she come to you instead of Terry?” Melody asked as more tears rolled down her face. “Maybe you would’ve talked her into staying here. Y’all could’ve found a way to tell Wyatt together and—”
“She probably knew I’d hunt Vaughn down and bury him before Wyatt got a chance.”
“But you wouldn’t—”
Clay turned around, giving her a look that forced the denial to die in the back of her throat. He was serious.
“She was like a sister to me, Mel,” Clay whispered, the words still heavy with emotion. “She was the only one who understood my life growing up. She wasn’t just my first friend when I was a kid. She was my
only friend
. When she left, it killed me too. I know I never told you any of that, because talking ’bout it hurts too damn much.”
“This is the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever heard in my whole dang life, and I’ve heard a lot of terrible things.” Melody wiped at her eyes when she realized she was crying. “I’m so sorry, Clay. I’m sorry for all of you. I want to fix it, but I dunno how. I told her to tell Wyatt. Maybe—”
Clay made a choking sound of horror. “She can’t tell Wyatt!”
“She has to!” Melody countered. “It’s the only way. Otherwise he will never know why she left him, and Jules will go on hating her and—”
“Wyatt will come unglued if he finds this out.” Clay’s voice was suddenly wild and frantic. “He will kill Vaughn Davis, and that ain’t even a lie. He will kill that motherfucker dead, and then he’ll do something stupid like turn himself in after the deed is done. You think shit is bad now, wait and see what happens if Wyatt finds out. Tabitha was right to leave, and I owe her a huge apology for being mad at her for it.”
“This is unfair to her!” Melody shouted. “It’s horribly unfair, and y’all need to get over your stupid man crap and recognize that! She’s done sacrificing herself for everyone, and if you can’t pull yourself together enough to make Wyatt understand that, then I will!”
“You cannot tell Wyatt,” Clay repeated as if he hadn’t heard a word she said. “No one can.”
“And what’s gonna happen to Tabitha?” Melody raised her eyebrows pointedly. “Y’all are just gonna go on hating her and thinking—”
“I’m gonna fix things with Tabitha,” Clay said solemnly. “I ain’t really sure how, but I’m gonna try. You’re yelling at me like you’re the only one in her corner, but you ain’t. I don’t want her to hurt any more than you do.”
Melody paused, because that made her feel moderately better. She of all people knew Clay was a good man to have in her corner. She wiped at her eyes again and asked, “H-how are you gonna make things better?”
“I have no idea.” Clay walked over to her and fell down to his knees on the couch. He hugged Melody before he leaned down and buried his face in her long hair. “I promise, Mel. I’ll make sure she knows I’m not mad at her.”
“She’ll know I told you.”
“Then, oh well.” Clay sighed. “But you’re right. It’s not fair to her. I can hardly breathe with how unfair it is, and I hate that I was part of it. We’ll fix it.”
Melody wrapped her arms him and whispered, “Okay.”
Chapter Thirty
The talk with Melody helped.
Tabitha was feeling almost human again instead of a shaky, nervous wreck who saw Vaughn’s face every time she closed her eyes. She made Wyatt dinner despite not being hungry herself because she enjoyed the task. It always brought her comfort. It reminded her of those lost days of her youth when having food in the fridge meant everything was going to be okay—until it wasn’t.
“Hey, pretty girl,” Wyatt said when he walked into the kitchen. He leaned over, giving her a kiss, and looked at the stove, where she had beef stroganoff in one pot, pasta in the other, and broccoli in the third. “You feeding an army?”
Tabitha grinned. “Just about. You eat more than any fella I ever met.”
“Yeah, you should see Clay put away food sometime.” Wyatt laughed. “Or Jules’s brother-in-law. Jesus, that boy is always eating.”
Tabitha turned back to the stove and tried to keep her voice even as she asked, “How’s Jules?”
“Bat shit over being stuck on bed rest.”
Tabitha giggled. “I reckon that’d make anyone stir crazy. How much longer?”
“Five days.” Wyatt wrapped his arms around her. “Can’t come fast enough far as I’m concerned.”
“Then you’ll be an uncle.”
“Yup.” A smile sounded in Wyatt’s voice. “You gonna come to the hospital with us?”
“Nah.” Tabitha shook her head. “I don’t wanna ruin y’all’s special day.”
“You never ruin my day,” Wyatt argued, sounding earnest. “You make my days better. I love you, Tabby. I want you there with me.”
“We’ll see what happens.” Tabitha gestured to the cabinet. “Get the plates.”
He got the plates, and Tabitha took time to make sure the food was presented nicely, which made Wyatt laugh. She even bought parsley for garnish.
“You ain’t eating that much?” Wyatt frowned at her across the table.
“I had dinner at Terry’s.” Tabitha lifted her head and smiled. “I just didn’t think you ought to be eating alone.”
“Yeah, eating alone is never fun,” Wyatt agreed.
Dinner was nice. Tabitha really was feeling much better, and she made a mental note to buy Melody a thank-you gift. It was sweet of her to drop everything and come over to talk.
Even if Clay was mad at her, Tabitha was still so incredibly pleased he’d found such a nice woman to be with. She had always wanted that for him. Something perfect and magical like Tabitha and Wyatt had once had.
They still had it—if she could just keep herself together.
When Tabitha got into the shower, Wyatt came in after a few minutes. Already naked, he pulled back the curtain and looked at her. “Mind if I join you?”
“Don’t mind at all.” Tabitha stepped out of the spray to make room.
She watched him tilt his head back, wetting his hair. It was a very nice sight as she admired his body and the way the water ran over his chest and down the deep lines of his abdominal muscles.
“What’re you looking at?” Wyatt raised his eyebrows and pushed his hair away from his forehead.
Tabitha grinned. “I’m looking at a very fine piece of sheriff.”
Wyatt laughed and reached out to her. He pulled her close, and Tabitha gladly melded into his strong, hard body and tilted her head up. Wyatt caught the invitation and leaned down to kiss her. She parted her lips to him, willing away the last of her stress. This was Wyatt. She was safe. Like food in the fridge, being near Wyatt made her feel like everything would be okay—until it wasn’t.
When he turned her around and pressed her against the shower wall, Tabitha wanted it to be okay—desperately—but she stiffened instead.
“I don’t want to do it like this,” she whispered as she fisted her hands to hide the shake in them. She turned around in his arms and studied his face. “I need to look at you when we do it, okay?”
“Yeah, sure. However you like it, I do too.” Wyatt frowned at her concern. “We don’t have to do it at all. If you’re still feeling ill, we can—”
“No, I want to,” she whispered, because they hadn’t done it since she’d seen Vaughn, and she didn’t want that asshole to take this from her too. She couldn’t feign headaches forever. “I just need to look at you. When I look at you, it’s okay.”
“Is there a reason it wouldn’t be okay?” Wyatt pulled her closer again. “You’ve been jumpy all week. Is there something you need to talk to me ’bout?”
“No,” she said a little too quickly. “I just like looking at you.”
“Come on, Tab.” Wyatt leaned down and placed a kiss against her forehead. “I think we ought to skip it tonight. I can’t do it when I know you’re not into it.”