Damaged Alpha Read online

  “This?” she said as she held the notebook he had just passed her up between them. “It’s just, you know, Hemingway made them famous… they were all he would use to write in, so…”

  She trailed off and was wishing the ground would open and swallow her whole.

  “Hemingway, huh?” he said with an impressed and warm smile. “Well, I didn’t know about that.”

  “Ignore me,” she’d said with a brush of her hand as she reached for a paper bag and placed it inside.

  “But no,” he said. “In answer to your question, I am not a writer.”

  She looked up to him and he was holding her stare strong and good. Being closer to him like that had been amazing and she had felt weak at he knees.

  “But if I ever feel like becoming one, at least I know where to start,” he winked at her as he passed her some bills and then he turned and headed toward the door.

  Melissa’s jaw was almost on the floor, and she was completely lost for words. He had disarmed her with how charming and handsome he was, and she had been standing there like a dumbfounded fool.

  She’d watched as he’d climbed onto the bike and had made the engine roar to life, and as he pulled away from the store and headed back onto the street, her heart had pounded and she had felt lighter than air.

  It wasn’t until he was long gone that she had looked down into her hands and saw that he had given her much more than he had owed. She furrowed her brow and opened her mouth as if she was going to shout wait, even though it was obviously too late.

  “Who was that?” Roz said with a drawl as she sidled up next to her and bit her bottom lip.

  “No idea,” Melissa had said, almost in a whisper.

  “Well, he was hotter than hell,” Roz winked.

  And Melissa had nodded, unable to think of anything to say that would match how Roz had described him. She had hit the nail very much on the head.

  Now, several days later, she had played the meeting over and over in her mind and had recounted it to Carly several times over the telephone. She had dreamt about him, or a faceless figure that she thought could be him, and she wondered if he would ever come back to town, or whether she would be doomed to lust after a ghost ever since.

  “So,” Carly said as she poured herself a glass of wine and then one for Melissa. “Where are we going first tonight? What are we in the mood for?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Melissa teased. “I mean, we just have so many options…”

  The two girls started to laugh, and then Carly took a sip of her drink.

  “The Boathouse,” she nodded. “It’s got to be. Plus, they’ll have a band with it being Friday.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Melissa agreed. “It’s the only place in town that’ll be playing any kind of music, I’m sure.”

  “It’s the only place with anyone in it,” Carly laughed. “Well, anyone of our age anyway, unless we want to go and kick it over with the pensioners and the out of work down at the dive bar.”

  “Hey,” Melissa said with a wink. “I love it in there too.”

  They laughed and turned back to face the closet that had both of its doors open right to the hinges.

  “Where are all of these new clothes you splurged on this week then?” Carly asked as she sipped her wine and reached up to leaf through the top railing.

  “They’re all dotted about in there somewhere,” Melissa said as she took a further step back so she had a better view and some perspective. “As usual, I know I’m unlikely to wear any of it, but at least I’m trying.”

  “And how have you felt about Dylan since we last spoke?” Carly asked nervously.

  “Oh, I’m so over it,” she said with a wave of her hand. “In fact, I haven’t really thought about him once.”

  “Good for you,” Carly grinned. “I knew the day would come.”

  “Hell, I got the new hair, there was no turning back after that,” Melissa laughed.

  She leaned up onto her tiptoes and reached for a top right far in the left side. She hadn’t seen it in a while, and although it wasn’t new, it had the pull that excited her. The kind of appeal that made her want to wear something, and something she knew that would make her look good. She held it out in front of her and looked at it up and down. It was a simple black silk camisole with an edge of lace around the neckline.

  “I haven’t seen that in a while,” Carly beamed.

  “Me neither,” Melissa agreed. “Which is weird, considering I went through this entire thing only a few days ago.”

  She shrugged and held it up against herself. The top predated Dylan by about a year, and she had no intention of throwing it away. It was one of her staple and go to pieces and she would be damned it she would let him sully its memory.

  “And what about the bottom half?” Carly asked as she bent down slightly and started to leaf through the bottom wrack.

  “Some tight jeans,” Melissa said. “I’m not bothered on shade or color, just something skinny and figure hugging that isn’t going to make my ass look huge.”

  “Your ass could never look huge,” Carly said with a roll of her eyes. “If you want to see a big ass then…” and she stopped, turned her hips to the side and pointed at her own behind.

  Melissa rolled her eyes in return and then she shoved Carly out of the way playfully and started to look for herself. She had several pairs of skinny jeans, some were a darker indigo, and some were lighter and stonewashed. She wasn’t feeling casual, but she wasn’t feeling like getting massively dressed up either, so she chose the lighter ones to go with the camisole, and she decided she would dress it up with some big earrings and a nice wedge heel.

  “How long has it been since we’ve been out like this?” Melissa asked as she pulled down her sweatpants and slipped her manicured feet into the jeans, wiggled down into them and then pulled them up to her waist.

  “I can’t even remember now,” Carly agreed. “How sad is that? We used to party every weekend and now we’re all about work, staying at home and looking after cats. No offence, Cleo.” She smirked as she looked down to the ball of black fluff that was curled up on the edge of Melissa’s bed and basking in the attention and buzz of the girls being around her.

  “She is so like a person,” Carly laughed as she reached forward and tickled Cleo behind the ear. “It’s as if she is just one of the girls.”

  “That’s because she is,” Melissa grinned. “I’ve raised her right. If she could have her nails painted and her eyelashes curled, I’m sure she’d be all for it.”

  “Imagine the PETA backlash,” Carly mused as she sipped her wine. “You’d be on the front cover of all sorts of animal rights promo material.”

  “Well, I would never actually do it, would I, Cleo?” She smiled as her lovely and very much adored cat rolled onto her back and stretched out her front legs. “Even if you would look smoking hot.”

  “Just like her Momma then,” Carly said with raised eyebrows as Melissa turned around and held out her arms. “Now that is what I call a killer outfit.” She nodded her head with approval and grinned.

  “Are you sure?” she asked as she pulled at the waist of the jeans and bit her lip. “I feel a little naked…”

  “Naked?” Carly grimaced. “Why? Because you’ve got your arms uncovered?”

  Melissa shrugged.

  “Put on a jacket?” she suggested. “But, personally, I think you look great just like that.”

  Melissa smiled and decided to take her friend’s word for it. It was strange to have had so much of her hair taken away and for her to be dressing up for summer. She had been so used to light sweaters and her long hair flowing down to her waist that it was the only explanation for her feeling so bare.

  “And you?” she asked Carly in jest, knowing full well that she was already dressed up to the nines. “What are you going to put on?”

  Carly’s mouth dropped open and she looked crestfallen. But Melissa couldn’t keep up with the joke and she burst into laughter and sh
ook her head.

  “Your face,” she said as she reached out to take Carly into a hug.

  “I was about to have the mother of all breakdowns there,” Carly said as she smoothed her hands down her shiny, wet-look jeans and vest. She had come to Melissa’s house more than ready for their night on the town, but Melissa couldn’t resist playing with her a little.

  “Are we ready then?” Carly asked as she slugged the remainder of her glass and placed it down on the side table once it was empty.

  “I guess so,” Melissa smiled as she reached for her own little clutch bag and slipped in some make-up, her cell phone, and her house keys. “Let’s do it.”

  The walk out of the main part of town and toward the coast only ever took them around ten minutes, but with them wearing heels, it seemed to be the longest it had ever taken them, and Carly kept stopping to rub at her toes.

  “We should have driven and left the car,” she said with a grimace.

  Melissa gave her a sympathetic smile but looked on ahead. She knew that, just around the bend, the ocean would come into view, and the little white wooden building down by the pier and on the edge of the dunes would be waiting for them.

  “We’re so close now,” she coached her as she wrapped her arm into Carly’s. “Why don’t you just walk without your shoes for now?”

  “You know what, that isn’t such a bad idea.”

  Carly reached down and slipped off her heels and clutched them between her fingers by the heel. The girls giggled and walked forward and Melissa was already feeling warm and buzzed from the glass of wine they had had back at the house.

  As they curved around the bend and the ocean came into view, Melissa felt her soul come alive. She hadn’t been out to The Boathouse in a couple of months, and she hadn’t had reason to leave town, so with the weather being so chilly, she hadn’t had reason to go out to the coast. Seeing the ocean again after such a long time made her smile and feel warm inside and she found herself gripping Carly’s arm in appreciation.

  “It’s lovely, isn’t it,” Carly smiled.

  The sun was just going down and was casting a pink glow across the sand and licking at the sea. The Boathouse was standing proud down near the beach and the dunes, and, already, they could hear the boom, boom of the music filtering out from the inside.

  “It looks pretty busy already,” Carly said as she picked up her pace. “And I want a seat, come on, we better hurry.”

  She pulled Melissa forward and the girls skipped along the road and toward the bar.

  As they wandered down the white washed walkway, they passed some familiar faces who were milling around outside, drinking beers and giggling as they watched the sun set. Melissa wrapped her arms around herself to protect herself from the chill of the breeze, she always forgot how the temperature seemed to dip the moment you got close to the ocean, but with the warmth inside of her, she didn’t mind too much.

  When the guy who sat by the door nodded and smiled to them and opened it for them to walk inside, Melissa gave him a little wave. He was another one of the folk around town that she always recognized but didn’t actually know. It was that which she liked about her hometown the most, it was as if she could feel familiarity in a room full of people who were practically strangers. They had all existed side by side for so long, it was just as if they were part of the furniture.

  They wandered through the small but bustling crowd to the bar and luckily, Carly immediately grabbed hold of two high stools so they could sit up at it and chat to the bar men. It was no secret that she had a bit of a crush on one of them, and Melissa already knew that Carly would spend the majority of their night flirting shamelessly with him. Even if she didn’t know his name.

  The warm wooden tones and the view of the ocean and the sunset that was beaming in from all along the back windows made Melissa smile and feel as if she had just woken up after a long winter. It felt good to be back in the fold and to be out of the house on an evening again after spending so much time being quiet, saving money and also giving her time to a cheating jackass who didn’t deserve it.

  “What can I get you?” Carly’s cute barman spread his arms wide on the counter and smiled down at them with a wide grin.

  “What do you reckon?” Carly asked breathlessly. “Shall we share a bottle of something or do you want to just get something on your own.”

  What Melissa really wanted was something light and thirst quenching, so she told Carly to go ahead and order her own and she took her time trailing her eyes up and down the bottles and refrigerators at the back, as if she had never set foot in a bar before and the whole place was like another world.

  She really did feel like the old Melissa was slowly dissolving and a newer, shinier, much more mature and worldly-wise woman was appearing in her place. It had been a rough couple of months, but she truly knew now that she was out of the other side and she was ready for anything.

  She ordered a vodka tonic and a lime twist, and the girls sat at the bar and faced the windows so that they could watch the sunset and the stunning views over the ocean.

  “I wonder if any hot guys are outside,” Carly said as she wiggled her eyebrows in the direction of the terrace.

  “I thought you only had eyes for the bar boy?” Melissa said as she sipped her straw.

  “I do, I meant for you,” Carly winked.

  Melissa giggled and brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. It was an interesting concept, the thought of dating again after such a long time. She felt so out of practice she knew she would be a little rusty, but she was going to have to get back on the saddle at some point. Music was drifting around them and at the front of the room, the band were setting up.

  “Maybe when they come on we could head outside onto the terrace?” Carly said. “The heaters will be on by then and then we won’t get our eardrums blown out.”

  “Good plan,” Melissa agreed with a nod of her head.

  She leaned forward and watched as Carly began to beckon her bar boy. Their drinks were dry, and the night seemed to be passing quickly, so she was eager to get another drink before they headed outside and away from the loud noise.

  As Melissa was twirling her straw around in her glass and humming along to the song that was playing through the speakers, she could feel a pair of eyes on her and instantly tried to avoid looking in that direction. She didn’t know why, but something inside of her was bubbling with nerves, but when the eyes didn’t look away, she shot hers up to meet with them…

  And who she saw almost made her fall off her chair.

  It was him…

  The hot guy from the bookstore.

  The stranger on the motorcycle.

  She gulped and her heart seemed to burst out of her chest with nerves and excitement.

  He flashed her a little smile before he looked down and reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He looked a little bit different to the last time she had seen him, but there was no doubt in her mind that it was him. His beard seemed wispier and a bit longer, almost as if he was wearing it as a disguise, and his tan was deepened, adding to his exotic looking edge.

  She bit her lip and tried not to grin as wide as the sky, and when Carly leaned over to her and whispered in her ear, it took her a few moments to really process what she was saying.

  “Huh?” Melissa finally responded.

  “I said, are you having the same again?” Carly looked at her and then back to her bar boy.

  “Sorry,” Melissa smiled as she spoke to the guy behind the bar, “That would be great, thank you.”

  Her head was in a total spin and she could barely keep the smile from her face. When he had walked out of the store those couple of days earlier, she had assumed she would never see him again. She had thought he was just a stranger passing through and he would be lost to the wind like the rest of the out of towners. But there he was, right in front of her, staring at her with a fun little smirk on his face as if he had her all figured out.

 
She raised her hand slightly and waved to him with a nervous smile, and he raised his in return, flashing her a grin that shook her to her bones.

  “There you are,” Carly said as she plonked Melissa’s new drink down with a splash next to her hand and took a swig of her own. “Shall we head outside then? It’s getting far too busy in here.”

  “Sure,” Melissa said, trying to hide the blush from her cheeks. “You lead the way.”

  She felt a little sag of disappointment as she began to move away from the counter, but she glanced back over her shoulder and she saw him watching her. His eyes never left hers, nor did the little smile he was playing with.

  She felt on top of the world and so very nervous, it was exhilarating.

  There was something flirtatious and interesting about him… and now he was right there in The Boathouse, and she had the feeling that he was going to come and find her. She would just have to try and keep calm and see how the night was going to unfold.

  Carly had been back and forth to the bar on various trips all evening, trying to convince her bar boy to nick off early and come out to the terrace with her and Melissa. When she disappeared for the fourth time, Melissa sat back in her seat and looked out over the ocean and the silver glint of the moon that was shining down on it.

  “She’s up and down more times than a whore’s panties,” a voice came from behind her and sent a shiver up her spine.

  She brushed her hair to the side and turned to see him there. He was leaning against a wooden pillar and was drinking straight from a bottle of beer. His jeans were battered and frayed, but she could tell they were expensive rather than naturally worn from too many wears. His t-shirt was tight and showed off the muscles underneath and she could swear she could see a creep of tattoos just under the neckline.

  “That’s very crude,” she said with a giggle.

  “I know,” he smiled as he kicked at the floor with the toe of his boot. “Forgive me, it must be all of the creative energy I have flowing through me because of this place.”

  A little smile flitted across his lips again and Melissa laughed.