Reinventing Mel: A Hellion MC Novel (4 page)

Chapter Four

Mel looked over the selection of jeans he had in the top of the small closet.  But then, he didn't need a large space due to the few clothes he had.  Although, with the new HC threads, his wardrobe was expanding.

When Deschames' guards had rounded the remaining people in his family up to be taken to the old man's huge house, they'd been allowed one small suitcase each.  One small suitcase that would hold the whole of the worldly possessions that each of them could take with them. 

All three of them had cried silently during the packing which had been overseen by same people that Mel was so to be a part of.

At the time he'd decided to grab a couple of photo albums and family pics, mementoes of happier times rather than clothes.  Which worked out in his favor since, as one of the old man's personal guards, he'd been forced into weight training by Mr. Terrence, the head of security who held the ear of Deschames.  And Mel'd taken to the punishing training like a duck to water because the pain of lifting eradicated all the protesting noises in his head.  Protestations of the unfairness of life and the hamster-wheel of how he was going to get himself, Der and Jules out and away.  And that had soon found him outgrowing the clothes from home at an alarming rate.

He ran his hand over the stack.  He had five pairs of jeans and one pair of trousers.  Boots wasn't a trousers kind of bar so he considered the different jeans before making his selection. 

Adding a white buttoned-downed shirt with the tails out and cuffs rolled back and his new boots which gave another inch and a half to his height, he perused himself in the bathroom mirror. 

He'd do, he decided.

"Wow, Mel, you clean up nice!" Jules exclaimed as she met him in the small hallway.  "Though you probably should've shaved."

He ran a hand over the scruff on his face.  "I thought this was the style."

"It is but it's gonna scratch her face when you kiss her," Julie explained as if she had all the intel of how it worked when a man and a woman came together.  "Is her name  really Lulu?  That is so cool!"

"Yeah.  She's the definition of the word 'cool'."

"What does she look like?"  Jules asked with big eyes.

"Like that girl with the cupcakes on her boobs on the poster of your room," Mel said.  He'd been shocked at how much Lulu actually looked like the singer Julie so admired.  "Only her hair is bright pink on the underneath side."

"Pink!"  He watched his little sister's eyes went unfocused and he couldn't help but smile at what she must've been thinking.  "I bet I could rock pink hair…"

"Not on your life, Julie."

"But…"

"You wanna mess with your looks, do it when you turn eighteen.  Otherwise we're sticking with what you were given."  Mel reached out and tweaked her nose.  "And you look perfect just the way you are."

"You always say that," she pouted, swiping at his hand.  "What if I had the Honeys do it for me?"

"Then I'd have no choice but to take my belt to all y'all's backsides."  Chuckling, he turned to move around her as he walked to Der's bedroom door, rapping hard against the wood.  "Der, you've got the controls.  I'm leaving…"

The door wrenched open and was filled with the tall form of his ever-growing brother.  Though still on the thin side, the squirt had shot up another two inches since they'd landed in Missoula.

"I already told you, I'm not some damn babysitter!" Der yelled, his chin jutting out to punctuate his words.

"And I told you that, for tonight, you are," Mel ground out.  Why was everything a battle between the two of them?

"I'm not watching Jules."

"Why?  It's a school night and you're gonna be home anyway."  Mel tried appealing to his brother's logic which had always played a big part in swaying his younger sibling.

"Show's how much you know, dickwad!  I've got plans with my friends," Derek challenged with another chin lift. 

"Those plans are cancelled…"

"Oh, no they're not!  You can't tell me what to do, Mel.  You aren't my dad!  You're nothing but my 'custodial parent', right?  Isn't that what it says on the legal stuff?"

Mel couldn't help himself as he stepped forward and pressed his huge chest against his brother's much skinnier one in challenge.  "You know what that means, Der? 
Do
you?  That means it's
my
fucking ass on the line for all y'all.  That you do shit and
I'm
the one held accountable.  Is that what you want?  Well, is it?"

Derek glared at him before he shot around Mel and slammed out of the house.

Damn.

He'd lost it again and over what?  But the argument just epitomized how Der was no longer willing to be a part of their family.  That he wanted out maybe to even go back to Texas.

Mel sighed and glanced at Julie.

"Call Miss Dee," she offered with a small shaky smile.  "Either she'll come or one of the other Honeys will.  I'd rather stay with them than Derek anyway."

He pulled his phone from his back pocket and scrolled to Dee's contact info.

The background noise of what sounded like a party hit him first before Dee said, "And what do I owe this wonderful call from a hot young stud on a Tuesday night?"

"Hey, Dee.  Uhm, I was wondering if you or one of the other Honeys could watch Julie tonight.  I kind of have a date…"

"With the beautiful kittenish Ms. Palmer.  Yeah, I heard and was surprised you didn't ask earlier," the husky voice interrupted.

"I thought I could count on Derek to watch her but he bailed." 

"What time, sweetie?"  She cooed and for a moment Mel wondered if the older buxom woman had been drinking.  But quickly remembered that she always flirted with him especially on the phone.

"Ah, as soon as possible.  I'm supposed to be picking her up at…"

"Seven, yes I know.  Shit,
everyone
knows."  She laughed into Mel's shocked silence.  "I'll be there in ten.  Call her and let her know you're running a little bit late."

How did word get around?  Hell, he'd been approached by almost all the managers on some lame excuse but which had ended up being a conversation about how to work his date with Lulu.  Some, like Bishop and Silo, offered advice about taking it slow; that their receptionist wasn't
that
kind of girl.

Or like Dare saying that the woman was hot for him and he should, if given the opportunity, go for the gusto.  Whatever that meant, although he'd had an idea by the hand gesture that accompanied his sponsor's suggestion.

Even Huff, Brand and Trey had added their two cents even though it was of the congratulatory kind that acknowledged he'd snagged a date with what Huff'd said was, "the beautiful but elusive and cagey Lucille".

Mel hadn't had any idea of what they were trying to say.

He finished up his call with Dee and immediately went to contact Lulu and let her know he was running late. 

But as soon as Dee arrived he was off and racing to the address he'd been given, anticipation curling in the sides of his stomach.  He hadn't dated one-on-one in high school and never afterward, so he could be forgiven his eagerness at being alone in the company of such a beautiful, bright and smart girl.  A girl that seemed to enjoy his company as much as he did hers.

He did a breath-test before exiting his car and bounded up the stairs to her second floor apartment.

The vision that met him as she opened the door found his heart kicking up a notch in spite of his fast stair climb.  She was wearing another dress although this one was green with a thin shiny belt that accentuated her tiny waist.  It was also strapless and he found himself swallowing deep at the sight.  Primarily because it exposed a bit more of what he'd often fantasized about.

She'd paired it with the black petticoats, fishnets and the shiny black shoes he'd met her in.  Had even woven a black headband into her hair which she'd left loose and that fell softly over her gleaming tanned shoulders to touch the beginning of her dress.  The pink portions were framing her face and shyly peeking through the loose curls. 

"Hey, Mel," she'd greeted softly, her rounded blue eyes turned up at him and smiling.

Dddaaammmnnn, came his body's moan from somewhere around the level of his crotch.

"Ah.  Hey, Lulu.  Don't you look pretty.  You ready to go?"  He wasn't sure but he didn't think he'd blinked since she'd opened the door.

"Just let me grab my sweater," she said turning around and going down her hall.  He had to deliberately pulled his stare away from her swaying hips and sent his gaze to roam around her place. 

It was…different.  A long low-backed purple couch dotted with pink and orange pillows was set in the middle of her living room bracketed by to bright blue chairs.  There were even streamers of what looked to be hundreds of white Christmas lights twined together and hung on the walls just below ceiling level.  It was amazing, cool and quirky, just like her.

And as she came back into the room, he couldn't help his blurt of, "great place."

"I know, right?"  She turned and looked around the space, from the kitchen that had all pink (pink!) appliances and the dining room with a green table and multi-colored chairs  before sweeping the living room.  "Trey told me about it and then helped me get a deal.  Even negotiated to get me moved in before it was supposed to be available!"

Man, Mel wasn't sure but it seemed that the Hellions held the reins in Missoula.

"Shall we hit it, my lady?" he asked and offered his arm to his very first one-on-one date.

He caught a bright flare in her blue, blue eyes before she looped her arm in his, a move that caused a swirl of butterflies in his stomach to be released.

As he opened the heavy door of the old Cutlass, Lulu turned her face to his.  "This is so perfect!  A classic, right?"

He didn't know if she was referring to their date or his ride but just nodded and tried to smile.  Which seemed to be the right thing to do as she sat first, then twisted to pull her curvy legs into the car with a hand to her skirts in order to seat herself.  He took the time walking behind the car to readjust what was already throbbing in his jeans.

She was too screaming hot for words!

As he drove they kept up a steady stream of their favorite things about their new town which kept the conversation lively.  But soon, all too soon in Mel's opinion, they were pulling into an open space at the club.

"Do you dance?  Country, I mean," she asked as he offered her a hand to help her from the car.  The fact that she'd waited for him to open her door was, for him, a big deal and spoke of respect. 

"It's been a while but yeah.  It was popular back home although I learned the some of the dances from the forties and fifties from my mom who learned it from her mom," he said, tucking her hand into the crook of her elbow as they went inside.  " I'm not much for the newer stuff."

At her shift in posture, Mel glanced down and saw she was looking up at him.  "Me either."

He got another round of butterfly wings in his belly and whisper of 'jay-sus' from what was in his jeans. 

Paying the entrance fee, he guided her into the club which was fair shimmering with the loud strains of the bluegrass band on stage.  He glanced around and spied an empty table for two just three tables back from the dance floor.  And Mel was intent on dancing with her.  Of being able to touch her if only within the social confines of a dance.

He asked her what she wanted to drink before they sat down and was taken aback by the surprise in her eyes and voice as she told him.  When the haltered and daisy-duke clad waitress wove her way to their table he ordered a draft and a whiskey sour.