She May Not Belong to One of Us, but She Belongs to All of Us

Chapter 12

Melissa's POV

"So you mean to tell me that you just put up with that bullshit day in and out?"

A simple nod was my answer to her question. Honestly, I had no idea what I really wanted to say other than a loud stream of curse words and alternating screams. Her eyes widened largely and she took a large gulp of champagne from the sparkling glass she loosely held in her hand. Watching her reaction made my nerves go haywire. Maybe I made a huge mistake telling her my life story, I mean damn I can barely handle remembering half the shit I've lived through.

"Hey look I'm not here to judge you okay. I got a fucked up story of my own." Her eyes locked with mine and I felt that this was her way of offering me an olive branch, a first ever chance to bond with someone. I decided to take it, picked up the empty glass next to me and poured myself a drink.

"Well okay. I was born to a wonderful mother. She was young when she had me but it never stopped her from providing for me, even when it felt like it was beyond her capabilities. I loved her deeply and never thought a day would go by without her at my side. And then the worst fucking day of my life happened. While we were living every day like it was our last, we didn't realize how serious that statement was. She barely had enough money to feed me, let alone enough money to go to the doctor and get a head scan to tell her she had a growing brain aneurysm. It was January 25th the day she passed out in the grocery store and died on the way to the hospital. I was an orphan by the age of 10 with nobody to take care of me and damn sure nobody who loved me. It took all of 2 hours for child services to ship me to foster care where I bounced from one horror house to the next. Not one house could be called anything but hell on Earth."

It was here that she took a moment to really breathe. Looking at her it was easy to see she was overcome with emotions that she had processed but still hurt her. I can't say I understood exactly what she felt because truthfully I've never processed all the trauma I've been through. But, I do know that when I have to share my story with people, rather than sit there, pitying me, I wish they would just comfort me. Hold me and let me feel warm even if it is a fleeting moment. Nervously I reached a hand out to her in comfort. Her eyes met mine and I saw the steely resolve in her soul falter for just a minute before rebuilding itself.

"By the time I turned 18 my last foster family gave me an option, either be the newest bride to the 45 year old man who was supposed to be raising me or be sold to slavery. Honestly, I thought he was offering two of the same things but different prisons and wardens. I picked running away the night before I was to be sold and I kept running till I ended up on the border of Bat Country. Of course I had no skills and barely any education so I got a job busing tables at a nearby restaurant until I saw a job opening as a lady of the manor here. Of course everybody called me crazy for even considering it but I'm one tough bitch and I wasn't going to let anybody ever hurt me again. Between wanting the protection and safety that came with being Assistant Sevenfold, I would have done almost anything to stop living paycheck to paycheck. Boring story short, I landed the job here and I have loved it everyday since. The guys are idiots and very perverted but truthfully they're good guys. I know it may not seem that way from where you're standing but I assure you, I've been here long enough to know that each of those guys has had it rough themselves but they still care and try."

Then her face scrunches up like she just remembered a particularly awful memory.

"Well that is except for Gates. He's a dick for no reason. I mean there's never any bite to his bark but gosh damn all that fucking barking gets annoying you know."

A loud laugh escapes my throat at her comparison being envisioned in my mind. The towering man practically being compared to an upset chihuahua is astoundingly hilarious. She joins me in the laughter that fills the room. I make a tentative move to lie down in her bed breathing in the air saturated with roses and lilies.