Blood Stained Collar BOOK 2 of The Collar Series #Wattys2017 ( BDSM )

CHAPTER 44

Cirrus was aware of the movement in his room but his eyelids were so heavy he couldn't bring himself to open them, presuming that it was hospital staff in his room. That was until he heard Melanie's whispered words. He opened his eyes and seeing her eyes closed he touched her hand.

Startled by her touch his eyes flew open. "I thought you were sleeping. I didn't mean to wake you. Just came back to top up your pain medication."

"Angel, I can see you are struggling with a decision."

"I'm living with Reece." Her words tumbled out so fast she didn't breathe for a while. "I mean, he is living with me, well sort of, has his own apartment but stays over mine mostly, we're a couple, have been for months."

"Breathe Melanie, Breathe." He waited for her to calm down. "Do you love him?"

"I do, well... I thought I did."

"Is your love for him stronger than the love we shared? Before you answer that, will you kiss me, please?"

"Cirrus, I ..."

"All I'm asking for is one last kiss before you decide who you want to be with."

She knew she wanted to taste his lips one last time and moved closer bending over him.

As their lips touched, unable to put his arms around her he held onto her hand and squeezed it. He wanted more than just a casual kiss and pressed his tongue against her closed lips. He sighed internally when her lips parted and allowed his tongue to reunite with hers in the most intimate kiss they had ever shared. Unable to make love to her body, his tongue made love to her mouth.

When their lips parted they were both breathless. Melanie's body screamed for his touch. It was as though every part of her had been asleep until now. Like the prince waking the sleeping princess, is how she felt at that moment. When she looked at Cirrus his voice was barely a whisper.

"You are still in love with me."

"Cirrus, please don't. You don't understand."

"What I understand is that your mouth won't let you lie to me. If I wasn't in this bed we would be making love right now. Every intimate part of you would be covered with my kisses and you would reach new heights of ecstasy. Our bodies would be reunited in such heated passion. Angel you can't deny you're still in love with me and want me as much as I want you. You're the yin to my yang Baby Girl." Breathing heavily, he coughed. He was beginning to feel drowsy.

"You need to rest, you are wearing yourself out."

"I need you to know .... I'm not going to give up .... on us. I don't care how involved you are ... with him." He was finding it difficult to get his tongue around his words.

"Hush now. You need to sleep the medication is kicking in. You're slurring your words."

"I love you ... Melanie." His jaw dropped open as his eyes shut and he gave in to the pain killer pumping through his veins. As he slipped into a semi-conscious state he felt her warm lips press against his forehead. 'She still loves me.' With that thought in his mind he fell asleep.

***

Melanie had four hours before her next shift and decided to go home and sleep. She was mentally and physically exhausted and needed to be alert whilst on duty. She set her alarm to wake her in time to have a quick shower before going back to work.

Reece was upset and annoyed, that Melanie did not meet him for their usual coffee break in the afternoon and could only guess she was with Cirrus. Knowing that Cirrus would be in the hospital for a while irritated him, especially as Melanie had now asked him to move back into his own apartment. He could feel a tension headache coming on and decided he would walk past Cirrus's room and see if she was there and possibly find some reason to interrupt their conversation. With that thought in mind he bought another cup of coffee to go, with the thought of giving it to Melanie as an excuse to be there.

He stopped outside Cirrus's door and not hearing any voices, tapped lightly and walked in. He was surprised to find Cirrus on his own and realized he had woken him up. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. Thought Melanie was here as she missed our coffee date." He said holding up the cup he'd brought with him. "Decided to bring the coffee to her."

Cirrus blinked and rubbed his eyes. "No, as you can see she is not here. She gave me more pain killer which sent me off to a peaceful sleep until you knocked at the door." He was grouchy and annoyed at being woken out of his first pain free sleep, especially as the person who woke him was the man who had been sleeping with 'his Melanie'.

"My apologies. Look, I know we are never going to be on friendly terms and this is a very uncomfortable situation for all of us, especially Mel and with you going to be a patient for a while ..."

"It is beyond uncomfortable, more like painful and very difficult for Melanie." Cirrus interrupted. "You may have picked up her pieces when she left me and came here, but have you ever thought you might just be her rebound guy?"

Reece was furious at this suggestion and wasn't aware he had squeezed the disposable coffee cup till the hot liquid ran over his hand. "Shit!" He dumped the cup in the bin. Rushing to the basin he turned on the cold water tap and left his hand under the running water while turning back to face Cirrus. "If you knew what Mel and I have been through together, you would know that is absolutely rubbish."

"I doubt you could have been through anything like we have been through together. I have loved her since I first laid eyes on her and I was her first lover. I asked her to marry me."

"She wouldn't be with me if she wanted to marry you and I saved her life when she was kidnapped."

"What? When was she kidnapped?" Suddenly things began to fall into place. Was this the reason Dante and Sheena had left for Australia so unexpectedly? Why didn't they say something? They knew how he felt about her. He would have to speak to them when he got back.

"She was taken and subjected to nightmarish BDSM treatment, which I believe is the very reason she left you." Reece almost spat these words out. A flash back of how he witnessed Melanie tied up when he found her, made the anger inside him boil over.

Cirrus was shocked. "Oh God no!"

"Yes, Cirrus. Because of you, the bastard seemed to recognize some sort of connection she had with this life style and had been stalking her for a while till he took her. I only found her three days later. She had been horribly sexually abused and beaten and was in hospital for some time. I was the one who found her. I was the one who saved her. I was the one who cared for her afterwards and who stood by her throughout the trail that put the bastard in jail for a very long time." He removed his hand from the cold running water, turned off the tap and used a paper towel to dry his hand. He looked across at Cirrus. "I see you have nothing more to say and suggest you think about what I've said. I'm not going to give Melanie up to you. She deserves a gentle life style with no collars and no masters and I can give her that. We work well together, we're on the same page, in the same line of work, in the same hospital. We understand our time constraints and our shifts. She is happy here with me. If you want her to be happy, leave as soon as you are able. Go back to UK and find a woman who lives by your rules and life style, not my Melanie. She never could and never will."

Cirrus was speechless. This shed a whole new light on everything. He needed to talk to Melanie as soon as possible. He wanted to hear from her how she really felt and hear her side of all the recent awful events in her life. Now more than ever he wanted to prove his love for her and more importantly that he was serious about giving up that life style which had caused her so much pain and love her in the way she wanted to be loved. He had to take away all the pain he had caused her and memories of the pain she had experienced at the hands of a man he now wanted to kill. He would not rest until this man was given a life sentence for hurting the woman he loved more than life.

Reece accepted Cirrus's silence as a victory. He left the room feeling as if he had achieved what he had set out to do and Cirrus would come to terms with the fact, that after everything Melanie had recently been through, he couldn't expect her to go back to him and would return to UK without her.