Impress Me Not: Neon Underground

Chapter 75

He was supposed to be asleep. And, trust him, he was trying. He had been sleeping on and off all morning at that point. The medicine was helping him breathe easier, which helped him get some of his energy back.

But it was so, very difficult to keep his eyes closed when he had such a great view.

Anton had found a new book for Mateo to read, and he had been invested in it that entire day. The man was on the other side of the bed, laying on his stomach. He wasn't wearing anything but boxers, and Melvin had the best view of his ass that he had in a while now.

It was so tempting to grab it.

He wished he had more energy right then. It had been a few days since they had told him he didn't have cancer. While bronchitis wasn't fun, Melvin knew that he could recover easily from it. Cancer was a whole other beast that he wasn't quite sure if his body could take. Melvin would have hated to lose his hair too. That, and he had no clue how he would manage his business while going through all those treatments. The morning he learned about the negative results was one of the best of his life.

Now he was on two different medications. One of them was steroids to help him breathe, and the other one was antibiotics. He had already started to feel a lot better over the past few days. The doctor had told him to stay in bed and not work for two weeks, but other than that, he should have a perfect bill of health. Of course, everyone was talking about him really needing to quit smoking. Melvin supposed this was a true wakeup call for him in those regards.

But oh, how he wished he could enjoy the scene in front of him to its fullest extent. Instead, Melvin caved and ran his hand down the man's leg, slowly moving towards the ass that had taunted him for hours that morning.

"Mel," Mateo moved his head to look at him, making sure not to move any part of his body. "Did I wake you up?"

"No," Melvin smirked. "But I wish you did."

"Do you need anything?" He moved to sit up, setting his book down. "Are you hungry?"

"I'm fine, Mat," he told him, moving his hand across that smooth skin. "I just can't sleep anymore."

"Do you want to put on a movie then?" Mateo moved closer to him, putting an arm around his chest. Having him close was nice. "We can play it in the background while we talk if you want."

"Sure," Melvin said. "Go ahead and pick one. Surprise me."

He had the movies in the living room. At this point, though, he was half tempted to just bring them all to his room. They were going to be stuck in that room of his for a while anyway, and Melvin had found himself not enjoying any time he had alone. It might be bad, but he realized just how much he loved having Mateo close to him. He didn't know what he was going to do if the man decided to go back to living in that beach house of his.

While he was waiting, his phone rang. There had been plenty of people that had called him or sent him messages throughout the week that he had been bedridden. Melvin enjoyed all of their messages. He spoke to them when he could. There were still plenty of times where he had slept through some phone calls. And sometimes it took a few hours to respond to someone, but he enjoyed in nonetheless.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Melvin," A familiar voice came out from the other side. "I'm glad I could reach you."

"I'm not," Melvin frowned. It was funny. The man almost sounded like he had been worried for him. "Why are you calling me from a different number?"

"Because you blocked my number," he answered.

"And you thought that I would still want to talk to you?" Melvin asked. "Has it really been so long since you've been to med school that you can't even understand common sense?"

"I wasn't intending on calling you again, Melvin," the man's voice went back to its normal, annoyed tone. Melvin almost missed it. "I heard that you were sick and wanted to see if you were okay. But you sound fine to me."

"That shows just how little you know about me," he told him. "Why do you care if I'm sick, anyway?" It was a little late too, if he really cared. Melvin had a feeling that this was just another game he was playing just so he could get his way.

"Because I'm your father."

"No, you aren't," Melvin stopped him. "You can't disown me, and still expect to call yourself my father when it's beneficial for you." He was sitting up now, trying to shake out his anger for this man. He never wanted to hear his voice again.

"I can't be worried about you?"

"I don't believe there's a bone in your body that can, no," Melvin said. "Is this about your daughter again?"

The silence told him all he needed to know. Melvin didn't have any remorse for the girl they adopted. As a matter of fact, he wished her the best life. She wasn't the reason why his parents had done what they did to him. She was just a strange outcome of his parents shitty dreams of having a perfect family.

"I was thinking of having her come and meet you," his father finally answered. "If you weren't too sick, that was."

"I don't want to," Melvin answered.

"Look, Melvin," he started. "This isn't about me and you anymore."

"Yes, it is," Melvin stopped him. "You disowned me and kicked me out of my own house right when I was eighteen. You still can't understand my lifestyle, and you don't want to. There's no point trying to tolerate each other for the sake of a girl who's going to figure it out eventually." Knowing his dad, he probably would just have him meet her once, or for a few times. Just enough for him to get attached and then take her away to never see her again. "Enjoy your happy little family, Gleb. You have your own little world now. Leave me out of it."

He hung up with that, putting his phone in a drawer of the nightstand just so he wouldn't be tempted to throw it against a wall. The man probably still needed Melvin's acceptance of his apology just so he could have her visit Vlad and all of the other members of their family. Melvin didn't care about what Vlad said or did. He didn't care if he was the reason why their family would be divided. He was never going to accept an apology that wasn't sincere.

He didn't want to get close with them ever again. Melvin had spent years realizing that they were never going to love him. Every call he had with them just opened the old wound up, and he had just gotten the bleeding to stop.

"His name is Gleb?" Mateo asked. He was leaned against the door.

"Gleb Vahn," Melvin told him. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to know that you shouldn't be answering numbers that you don't recognize anymore," Mateo sat down next to him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," Melvin shook his head, getting up and throwing some pants on. "I'm going to get some fresh air."

He needed a damn smoke. Melvin needed to keep himself from punching a hole in the wall. His emotions were wreaking havoc inside him, and the last thing he wanted to do was unleash it on the one person that cared for him.

Mateo really shouldn't care for him. Melvin wasn't a good person. He was just a monster, just like his father always told him. He probably should have gotten cancer. His own father told him that he was going to get thrown in prison because of what he did. While Melvin didn't break any laws, he wasn't the ray of sunshine that they always wanted. Melvin had gotten sick and tired of that a long time before that incident when he was sixteen.

They had a new kid they could play happy family with. She was probably the perfect pick for them, as well-behaved as the best kid could be. She didn't deserve to see Melvin. Knowing his father, he would just use their meeting as an excuse for her acting out or trying to be himself.

No one should try and meet him anyway. There was no point. It wasn't like he brought any good into the world. All he did was help other misfits that no one seemed to care about. They all had meaning and purpose to their lives, though. Melvin had none.

So what, if a cigarette utterly destroyed his lungs?

He was better off dead anyway.