Melody

14

Alexander watched with held breath as he saw Melody escape out her window and scurry down the trellis before jumping from the overhang. She was getting very good at this, but everytime he saw her come out the window instead of the door his heart was in his throat, scared that she could fall and hurt herself, and scared for what might have happened behind those closed doors to make her want to avoid the front door again.

Melody again looked ravishing in her costume, but as she climbed up into the jeep Alexander saw what looked like fresh fingerprint sized bruises along her hip, and even with her face obscured by the lace mask again, he could tell that her face was tight. Something had happened this afternoon.

"Looking great baby." he complimented her. She smiled at him, but her eyes didn't join the expression. She was faking it.

"Thank you. Are there going to be a lot of people tonight?" her tone was light, but there was an edge to it. If you listened to hear it.

"Umm fewer than were at the dance since it's a private party but it will be a good sized crowd" she looked nervous, "If you don't want to go to the party we could go somewhere else and just hang out?" he offered, knowing something must have happened, she was shaking like a leaf.

"No I want to go. It would be nice to meet your cousins, and friends. I'm still not doing a good job meeting people here." untrue, people weren't giving her a chance, he thought to himself.

"Ok. Whatever you want Melody." She sat silent, looking out the window. The quiet growing more oppressive. Alexander wished she trusted him enough to just tell him what had happened, he didn't want to pry it out of her, but he needed to know. "Melody, did something happen this afternoon?"

He saw her stiffen at the question, back rigid against the passenger seat. "Robert and Randy, mostly Randy, tried to start something this afternoon. Royal stopped them though." she shivered and rubbed her hands over her arms as she remembered the slimy feeling of Randy's hands on her body.

Alexander was thinking about the bruises he saw on her hip, his blood boiled. He had a pretty good idea what Randy had tried to start. Randy had been spreading disgusting rumors all around school. Lies about what he was doing with his step sister at home. Alexander wanted to cut Randy's hands, dick and balls off for all the trouble he was causing Melody. Robert was more of a mystery, he was the quiet brother who seemed to just go along with what Randy wanted. Royal at least wasn't a total write off, but there were too many hostile people in Melody's home. "What did Randy do?" it took all Alexander's mental effort to keep the rage he felt under wraps, to school his voice to neutrality.

"Same as he did in gym class. Well maybe a little worse than before. But now him and Robert threatened to tell lies about me to Frank and Beverly to get me shipped off to boarding school. If I don't do what they want, Beverly will follow through and I'll be gone. Royal helped today, and I'll just need to be more careful from now on." Melody forced her voice to be upbeat, but there was nothing upbeat in her words.

Alexander knew she was already doing everything she could to avoid her brothers. With Frank's latest decree that Melody had to make dinner for the family every weeknight, she was basically caught in a trap. She had to be in that home, in that kitchen Monday to friday every evening. Robert and Randy knew it, knew where she would be, and that their parents wouldn't be home until later. If she didn't get dinner on the table, she'd be shipped out, if she made dinner every night then she basically set herself up to be attacked by Randy again, without a guarantee that Royal would be home to intervene again.

She wasn't safe. Even if she didn't want help, she needed it now. "Melody, you can't avoid them and make dinner, you're stuck in a trap."

"I'll figure something out. I always do." she shrugged, but he saw as she quickly caught a tear on a fingertip, trying to disguise the motion.

"Melody,"he slowed the jeep and pulled off to the shoulder, "Don't take this the wrong way, but do you feel safe in your house?" Alexander was being deadly serious now. This could be the opening he needed to get Melody away from her family.

"Not all the time. My room is pretty safe." she was squirming in her chair now, she didn't like to dwell on her home life, she tried to focus on the positives in her life. Didn't want to give in and let it start to weigh her down. She was terrified that if she focused on all that was wrong right now too much she would start falling, and might not be able to stop. "I'll figure it all out, it's not that bad, people have it much worse."

"Do you know what an emancipated minor is?" He was moving things along much faster than he had planned to. But he didn't feel like he had a choice, not with what he had learned about Randy and the bruises on her skin tonight. She can't stay in that house.

"It's not that bad Alexander..." She was looking at the floor, she knew deep down that it was that bad now, but sometimes it's hard to admit the truth.

"Melody, Randy's isn't going to stop. He's going to get worse. He lives with you." he reached out, putting his hand next to hers, letting her make the choice to take it or not. "If you want out, my uncle knows people who can help you. I can help you." her hand made the jump, and slid underneath his, he squeezed it, trying to reassure her, get her to look up at him, say something.

It felt like hours had passed while he waited, breath held when she finally moved. Her head came up to look him in the eyes "I could really leave? And she couldn't make me go back?"

Alexander knew who Melody was worried about. "You can really leave, I know I shouldn't have talked about your business but my uncle outright asked me what had me upset one night and I couldn't help but tell him. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry! I thought I was trapped,"Her face had lit up again, gone was the tight haunted look she had when she first got into the jeep, " I had looked into trying to separate myself but it was all so complicated and I had no idea where to start." Her eyes were still wet from unshed tears, but she looked so hopeful now; Lighter too, like a yoke had been lifted from around her neck, "Let's hit that party! I want to celebrate now, and you can tell me how soon I can get the fuck out of that nightmare while we drive." She had moved her hand onto her thigh, taking his with it.

Shit. It was hard enough for him to control himself when they were holding hands. Now all Alexander could think about was ripping the fishnets up at the apex of her thighs and burying his face inside her tongue first. His mouth was watering as he thought about tasting her as his cock grew inside his now too tight pants. He could control himself, he could do this. He put the window down and tried to breathe in his mouth subtly. But he could see Melody watching him, he wasn't hiding himself well. He focused on telling her what his uncle had explained to him already about the process. He didn't know much, but she was so excited by the small bit of information he could share.

Thankfully the distance left to the pack house wasn't that far and they arrived just a few minutes later. "Umm you didn't mention you were living in a mansion. Your uncle must be like crazy rich? This place is huge!" her mouth hung open as she took in the house. He knew it was a cheap move to have kept this from her, but he wanted to see the look of surprise on her face. It was worth it.

"Well, he's pretty important in the community, and uhh sometimes has a lot of visitors and it was just easier to have enough room for everyone. He already said you could live in a room here if you wanted somewhere to live."

"Awful quick to be asking me to live with you isn't it?" She was smiling now, teasing him.

"Not with me, alongside together. You would have your room, I have my room. Perfectly proper." Alexander used an exaggerated english accent to highlight just how proper it would be.

"I don't really have savings or money. I've never had a job. I don't think I could pay rent?"

"You wouldn't need to worry about that. He'd do this for anyone, he likes to help people when they need it." They had arrived in front of the doors to the great room where the party was, the outside had been decorated with an exceptional number of hay bales, carved and uncarved pumpkins, and torches for light. "Ready to enter the wolf den Melody?" He opened the door, music flowing out into the night air.