Date = 8 NovemberPlace = San Francisco (Damion’s house)POV - MelaenaMy nose wriggles at the scent of garlic and melted cheese, and if I’m not mistaken, something caramelized in sugar. “Smells good.” My stomach purrs.He slouches over the counter, opens some tinfoil, and sinks his pearly-whites into a big piece of cheesy garlic bread. Moaning, he closes his eyes. “Mm, good.”My mouth waters.He polishes off the leftover piece, puts on some lemon-green mitts, and removes two glass dishes from the oven before placing them on the counter next to the bread and potato salad. I stare at the food. Chicken pie and sweet sugary carrots. Not what I was expecting. But better.“I thought your mom brought takeaways.” He laughs and I hate that I love the way it sounds.“Oh, honey, Haley Grimm doesn’t do takeaways.” Another reason why she would be the perfect mother-in-law. Too bad her son is so annoying.“I think I might just be in love with your mom.” I reach for a piece of bread, but he pulls it
Date = 9 NovemberPlace = San Francisco (Damion’s house)POV - MelaenaI wake up clinging to a pillow that smells like Damion and I take a deep breath, enjoying the familiar fragrance. What a great dream — I kissed Damion. Not that I haven’t dreamed it before, but this time is different — it felt more real. I softly touch my lips. So real.I roll onto my back with a big smile and open my eyes slowly, not wanting to let this dream end.“Good, you’re up.” I look lovingly at the guy sitting on the side of the bed. This really is an almost perfect dream.“I was getting tired of your snoring.” I jump up, pulling the covers with me. I look around frantically. This is not my room. And just like that, reality hits me and the asshole is back.“I don’t snore!” He laughs and then hands me a cup of coffee. My mind is looping trying to decode what’s real and what’s not.I eagerly take a sip of the hot beverage. If I ever needed a cup of coffee it would be right now. Hell, I think I need a whole pot
Date = 9 NovemberPlace = San Francisco (Damion’s house)POV - Damion“So, what are we making?” She jumps onto the counter and the scent of my soap comes to me, light and familiar, and I fucking love the idea of her covered in my scent — and I love it even more that she’s covered in my shirt.I purposely didn’t pack shirts, only pants, since my pants are too big.I move between her legs, putting my hands on either side of the counter, boxing her in. I bend forward so we are eye to eye. Hers are dark and buzzing and skeptical as she stares at me. Then, there is the slightly unsure posture, saying she is at least a little out of her element and knows it. If she only knew how over my head I’m feeling she would probably laugh.“So, it’s we now?” I tease, “And here I thought I am supposed to make the food so you can fall in love with me.”“I think it’s too late,” she murmurs as if to herself, and as if she said too much, she adjusts herself with a scowl. “Let me help. What are YOU making?”
Date = 9 NovemberPlace = San Francisco (Mel’s house)POV - MelaenaThe house is empty, and I fall onto the sofa and fling my legs over the backside. I take my phone from my pocket and message Kiara.Mel: Where are you bitch? I’m home.She answers almost immediately.Kiara: Date. C U soon. Mel: Bring burgers. Starving.I urgently need to talk to my best friend, about … what? Me and Damion? What we are? I’m not sure there even is a WE …Oh, I know WE crossed the line. I know WE kissed. WE even slept in the same bed. And WE are a secret. Oh, and WE are so confusing. But are WE together? Is this really real?I’ve realized that my feelings for him are real — whether it’s love or hate … or a combination of the two that’s still up for debate. There’s definitely a sizzling itch of desire. And I’ve seen a side of him I’ve never seen before.Knock. Knock.There’s someone at the door and as I didn’t lock it, I just yell for the person to enter.Anticipating one of my brothers, I glance over the
Date = 9 NovemberPlace = San Francisco (Mel’s house)POV - MelaenaCandles. Wine. And a very long, hot bath with lavender-flavored foam is just what the doctor ordered. I slide into the bubbles and close my eyes, wondering if Damion and Logan are already on the plane.Just then my ringtone breaks the invigorating silence and upon seeing the caller ID I feel my insides pull into a knot. How does he do that? Even over a distance.“Hello,” It’s not Harry or D … but a whole other type of danger. I answer the video call, trying to hold the phone so he can only see my face, not that it’s possible to see anything with all the bubbles.“Hi angel,” the hoarse worry in his voice rolls over me, before I even catch his dark gaze, filled with an emotion between possession, vulnerability, safeguard, guilt, and what I would like to believe, lust.“I should have never left,” his voice changes, and he swears, hitting the wall next to him with his fist. The loud thud jolts through me. Over the years, I
Date = 12 NovemberPlace = San Francisco (Groovzies)POV - MelaenaEnrique is pouting. Even over the phone, I know he’s pouting. Hard.“I asked Alejandro to take us. I’m sure he’s just as big and strong and badass as you, if not more.”My life is not normal. But I’ve heard normal is overrated — whatever normal is.But sometimes, even just once, I wish for tranquility where everyone in my life is pleasing and agreeable and I have this trouble-free uncomplicated existence where some or other annoying cockhead is not trying to dominate my being.After the incident with Harry, the guys are set on guarding me 24/7. And it’s enough to drive a patient saint up the walls. And I’m no saint. Also, it’s not good for my sensitive morale.That’s why Alejandro came to pick us up — a change of scenery so to speak — to take us to Haley. Her oh-so-handsome prodigal son, landed on US turf early this morning and is expected to arrive at her home for breakfast.“So you’re going to Haley’s again.” It’s mor
Date = 12 NovemberPlace = San Francisco (Inferno)POV - Melaena“So, what’s your problem?” Kiara is watching me with big eyes and a knowing expression on her pretty face.Not really knowing what to tell her, I look down from the VIP section through the ‘magic’ glass, as we call it — it separates the main clubbing area below with huge glass panes that can switch from normal to one-way glass or frosted, depending on what you want.Comfortable pine seating booths are situated alongside the glass wall, and we’re seated at one of them.Right now the glass is switched to normal, so that both sides can see through, and my gaze sweeps over the dancing mass below — anxious as if I’m sitting on needles and pins — to seek out the stage and the guys on it.There are five of them tonight. Damion (yes, he can sing too), and the regular quartet band my brothers bring into the club as a side act to attract the ladies. Enrique’s strategy — more pretty ladies attract more men who buy more drinks.Indee
Date = 12 NovemberPlace = San Francisco (Inferno)POV - DamionA bone-piercing scream flies through the club and my heart skips a beat, pulling my intestines into a tight knot. It came from the VIP section and somehow I know it was Mel.I hightail it for the stairs, prying myself from groping hands in the rabble, resisting the need to punch my way through, while I struggle to take small painful breaths.“Fucking MOVE!” I shout at a group clouding the bottom of the stairs, trying to enter the VIP section. They move. I reach the next floor and stop dead in my tracks.Mel is a dead weight in Alejandro’s arms, blood trickling from her throat. He runs to Enrique’s office, I follow, and he puts her down on the sofa.My demons slowly crawl from their shadows and dread freezes me to the spot as the panic starts to rise in my throat. I gag and swallow, putting my hand on my chest to try and crush the anguish where a demonic finger is tearing and ripping through my heart. I can’t lose her. I ca
Date = 1 September (about 1 year later)Place = San Francisco (Grimm house)Melaena Blackburn = 21 years oldDamion Grimm = 22 years oldXamos = 1 year old (born 15 August the previous year)(You get to meet the little girls Leyla, Lili, and River in Book 2) (Ethan is Thalia’s little 10 year old brother)POV – DamionDamion: I’m sure that from lack of use, my sperm grew legs and looks like frogs instead of tadpoles! But it’s gonna be fixed before the night is over (winking-face emoji)(hot-pepper emoji)(eggplant emoji)I touch my crotch with a groan, abstinence from Mel is definitely not my thing. These last weeks have been torture, being in bed next to the woman of my dreams, and the closest I got to touch her was a hug. Fuck, a day without sex with Mel is a fudging long time, two weeks is a fudging excruciating fierce eternity … a month … that’s just plain torturing hell.These four weeks without sex were even worse than the six I had to wait after the baby was born.This no-sex shit
Date = 15 August (about 6 months later) = Enrique’s wedding (Book 2)Place = San Francisco (where the haunted house was)POV - Damion“Hey, son, where is Mel … she needs to get dressed?” Judging by the sound of her voice, Mom is panicking. Why is everyone so on edge? I mean, since we left the club Enrique phoned once … the other bridesmaids three times … and this must be Mom’s fifth call. Hell, it’s just a wedding. And not ours. And there’s still time.“We’re still at the building site …” I calmly explain … again. “We got what we came for.” And what we came for is a tiny piece of blue jewelry… for the bride.Mel got a blue angel charm to hang on her new sister-in-law’s bracelet today as her ‘something blue’. And apparently, it’s very important — a crucial part of the wedding. And that would be why we are back here at the haunted house construction site instead of getting ready at Inferno.“We’ll be there,” I pause slightly to calculate the time it will take us to get there, “in about t
Date = 14 FebruaryPlace = San Francisco (different places)POV - MelaenaI rush through the door of his house with my 3 followers to see Luke’s face lighting up from the exact sofa where the experiment took place.He jumps up and down excitedly before literally throwing me the next clue. Damn, will I ever get used to the Grimm boys and their wild ways? All 3 of them are over-energetic cocky bouncing blobs of sexy cuteness. I wonder how poor Haley manages sometimes. Does she ever get tired?I know for a fact that Luke got called into the principal’s office twice this week alone, and his brother was no better when he was in school. And as far as I understand from Alejandro’s stories, he too was the same.But right now the littlest devil’s naughty hazel eyes are waiting anxiously for me to open the envelope.I know you're hungry – go grab some food at the place where I declared my love openly for you in a song – and where you called my name. “Let me guess — we’re going to have lunch at
Date = 14 FebruaryPlace = San Francisco (different places)POV - MelaenaSuddenly the looming darkness of the house we’ve just stopped at is not that dark anymore.I know the things and lives we’ve lost here will always leave a hole. My hand rubs over my tummy. But the sadness will go away … we all have a bright future ahead … a wonderful happy one.I will help every San Francisco boy to find happiness and a love that can heal them. A love like ours. But knowing my boys it’s not going to be an easy task.A red fire truck from Station 34 is parked next to the house and the men are standing around as if they’re waiting for us.“Can I have the keys to the car?” one fireman asks politely. Alejandro hands it over, knowing that he must be working with Axel.“I’ll make sure to get it back to your place.” He walks away and I’m not sure how we’re going to get back to my place, but it seems that at least Kiara’s car will make it there.I walk through the weathered door to find Jackson sitting o
Date = 14 FebruaryPlace = San Francisco (graveyard)POV - MelaenaI shift my legs into a more comfortable position where I sit on the freshly-planted green grass covering the small heap of the grave site, and then I place the red flowers against the newly erected marble tombstone. A few tears roll down my cheek and I wipe them away anxiously with my hand. I didn’t know it was possible to feel so devastatingly sad losing someone you didn’t even truly know. Fudge jackets, it’s so unfair.Hatred for Harry, for Darren, for Lucinda … for the whole fudge-upped Brown family … boils through me. But most of all I hate my grandfather. How can one person be so cruel? Even after Alejandro explained that Alexander must have been a psychopath, someone without any feelings, I still can’t comprehend it totally.I put my hand against the cold stone that’s now the only indication of the life that was lost and buried deep in the earth underneath. And for what? Revenge? Money? Power?And in the end, Harr
Date = 23 JanuaryPlace = San Francisco (UCSF Mission Bay Medical)POV – MelaenaLike a black-and-white movie in color, I see Kiara smile at me, holding a picture in her hands. I don’t want to look at it, but I can’t seem to look away. Her mouth moves but no words come out. A blob on the gray picture starts beating in rhythm with the noise in my ears. A heartbeat. A baby. My baby. Damion’s baby.Beep! Beep! Beep! I open my eyes. A green light blinks … on; off; on; off.It’s bothersome. A turn signal. The car rolls, tumbles, crashes … the indicator light flashes alone in the darkness. The air is voided with sound. I scream for help but it’s only in my head, no sound escapes. Through the shattered window I see a man standing in the shadows, like a ghost, watching … his face locked in terror, his gray eyes filled with guilt. It’s dad.Beep! Beep! Something drips on the bonnet of the car like single drops of rain. Blood. My father is standing next to the wreckage, his face full of pain,
Date = 21 January (late at night)Place = San Francisco (UCSF Mission Bay Medical)POV - Damion“Get Dr. Burden on the phone, now!” My aching head lifts a fraction from my knees on hearing Doc Barney’s voice. He is standing at the nursing station a few feet from my chair. Something in his posture alerts my non-functioning brain as he takes the phone over the counter.“Dr. Burden? Doc Barney from ER. Melaena Blackburn is here — level 2, your name is on her chart and listed as her main care provider. Anything I need to know?” He rambles the information off.He looks confused and surprised, pouting his mouth.“Neh!” he shouts out in shock. Something is off.His eyes that land on me, accusingly, mixed with confusion and worry, confirm the dread that sparks through my body. A spark that, at this point in time, I wish would electrocute itself and die out because I’m done. I’m so fucking done.I want to shout at him, but my tongue is stuck to the top of my mouth and all I can do is stare back
Date = 21 JanuaryPlace = San Francisco (Haunted house)POV - DamionGuppy winks secretly at me before he slams the door of the van closed. They’ve handed me over to two other gang members, looking like Homer-Simpson-twins. I adjust my hands behind my back slightly, making sure the loose ropes don’t fall off prematurely and ruin the plan. Turning my head to the right I give the guy my cockiest lopsided grin, the one that makes girls weak in the knees and wet between the legs. Guess it won’t have quite the same effect here though.I watch as the van drives off, and my smile turns slightly sinister. I hope the meeting between the boys and our new allies works as planned.But even though I know they’re ready to infiltrate the house at any moment, I’m not totally relaxed — I have a bad omen about all this. I need to play my part collectively … no place for errors. I need to create a distraction so the boys can move in secretly. It’s probably the only advantage we have …“So do you guys wat
Date = 21 JanuaryPlace = San Francisco (Uncle John’s house)(Opera House)POV - Damion“Let’s get ready, guys,” Uncle John shouts as soon as we walk through the hermetic sliding door of the underground bunker.Uncle John shouts out orders at the people working down here with some sophisticated equipment any spying agency will kill to have … all part of Blackburn Inc. Jesse goes to a high-tech computer area to get acquainted with the other nerds who are going to help track us.“Guys, grab some clothes,” Logan points to a large walk-in room filled with tactical clothing — in black, navy, gray, brown, camo, and dark green — complete with every possible extra you can think of. We quickly suit up.“You all know that the company created this new tracking device. You spray it onto the skin and it leaves an invisible tracker that makes it possible to locate the person for at least two days. It’s some next-level outer-space shit this,” Logan explains, walking around the room spraying all of us