Saving Lexi

Chapter 5

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Melvin crushed me to his chest and I gripped him tightly.

"I was so scared." The words tumbled from his lips and I began sobbing. He tangled his fingers in my hair and pressed my head to his chest. "You're okay, Lex, you're okay." 

I pulled back, feeling frantic.

"Your brothers—"

"It's better if we have this conversation inside," he said grimly, looking around at the empty street.

"I c-can't." I shook my head. The thought of going back inside made my skin crawl. "It's not safe." 

"Hey," Melvin said gently, lifting my face to look at his. "I won't let anything happen to you. Ever." 

The fierceness with which he said that made me want to melt in his arms. 

"Now, come on." Melvin led me by my hand to the front door, pushing it open, and walking into the living room. His foot crunched on broken glass and I recoiled.

He led me to the couch and wordlessly grabbed a broom, sweeping up the debris left by the men who broke into my house.

My eyes were glued to his every move, illuminated by moonlight peeking through the windows. 

"Melvin," I started when he finally finished cleaning the glass.

"Lex." 

"What happened tonight?"

From the look on his face, he knew this question was coming. He came and sat next to me on the couch.

"There's some things Felix and Leo do, that I can't really explain." 

"I saw it. The men, there was so much blood," my voice began trembling and I felt the already precarious calm slipping.

"Hey, hey." Melvin took my hands in his, stopping the trembling. "Everything is okay." 

I nodded and pulled my hands out of his. 

"What is going to happen to them?" I asked.

"Don't ask me that. And never ask Felix, okay? You don't want to know. And if we ever find out what happened to them, you never breathe a word of it to anyone, got it?"

I nodded, shaking. This was all too bizarre to wrap my mind around. All I knew was that Felix saved me from a more horrific fate than I could imagine. I owed him my life. 

"I owe Felix everything. I will never say anything, ever," I said to Melvin, as convincingly as I could. He had to know I would never tell anyone, Felix had to know.

"Whatever happens to those guys is going to be what they deserve," he said with such conviction and rage, that for a moment, he looked exactly like his oldest brother. 

It wasn't much of an answer, but it was enough of an answer. Felix Tonelli was not someone whose bad side you wanted to be on. 

"Does Lydia know? About Felix?"

"No, and you can't tell her either." 

"Not even about the break-in?" I asked. "I'd just tell her what I told the cops."

"It's better if you don't," Melvin sighed.

I felt sick and dizzy. This was yet another another secret that I had to keep from my best friend. I already didn't feel good about keeping Melvin's late-night visit from her, and now this?

"Okay," I agreed. I wouldn't argue, I saw what happens to people who go against the Tonellis. I would not be one of them. 

"Lexi, I'm sorry I dragged you into this," Melvin said with a pained expression that somehow hurt more than all of this. He had to know this wasn't his fault.