Controlled By The Billionaire

Chapter 7

The tears didn’t come right away. Not while she was still in the building anyway. It wasn’t until she was barreling down the highway towards the bar when it hit her, and it hit hard. By the time Mel reached the parking lot she was sobbing so hard she couldn’t breathe. In her head she knew it was absurd to be this distraught over a man that didn’t love her, a man who made it clear from the start that he didn’t want a relationship.

Once again her heart refused to listen and it cried for all that it perceived to be lost. Mel hadn’t cried this hard since her parents died. She didn’t cry this hard when her first foster father crept into her room that first night she was there and slipped into her bed. But despite all she did to protect her heart from being broken it was shattering inside of her to pieces. Mel knew it wasn’t the wisest thing to fall in love with a man like Tristan and she cried hard with anger at her stupid luck that he would be the one she happened to fall for of all the men in the whole world.

After five more minutes of sobbing and hiccups, Mel was finally cried out and exhausted. The last thing she wanted to do was work, but she knew she needed the money. Taking a deep breath and making sure her makeup wasn’t too destroyed, Mel stepped from her car and locked the door. It was a Friday and she knew the bar would be busy, hopefully busy enough to distract her from thinking about Tristan.

*****

Friday nights working in a bar, especially one near a college campus, were busy, but tonight was unreal. Mel was sweating from the proximity of the crowds of people in the under air conditioned bar and running around like a maniac to serve drinks didn’t help. She and the other two girls were run ragged by eleven from orders being filled at the bar and from the tables. The high heeled sandals Mel wore were pinching the hell out of her feet as well.

“When do you think this will let up?” Blake yelled at Mel from two feet away.

“I have no idea, it’s never like this.” Mel poured a drink, Cocktail style, and slid it across the bar at a guy with dreads.

“I’m not sure how much more of this I can stand,” Blake complained, twisting her red curls into a bun on top of her head and letting it go to fall around her shoulders.

Mel nodded; she had been thinking the same thing. Hopefully it leveled off by midnight and by two when last call rolled around they would be clearing out. They had been so busy that Mel barely had a chance to talk to Blake about what went on with Tristan. She gave her the basics really quickly as they restocked the bar around ten but didn’t have much time for detail. Mel needed a shoulder to cry on, and she knew Blake would be there for her. Blake was the only person she had and she was never more grateful for her ‘sister’. But Blake was busy tonight and so was she so their conversation would have to wait.

Two hours later several of the groups of frat boys, or whatever they were, filed out, leaving messy tables and paltry tips behind. If the place wasn’t so crowded to make up for it, Mel would have been pissed. She took a bussing bin and headed back to a table to begin cleaning up the mess. There were too many empty beer bottles and pitchers to count so Mel just began loading the bin and wiping the table as she went. Twenty minutes later she had cleared the three disastrous tables and headed back towards the bar. She froze. Tristan was sitting on a bar stool looking right at her. Mel’s heart began to pound a mile a minute. His icy eyes were focused on hers and seemed to be peering right into her soul. She wanted to run. Why was he here? After earlier, Mel didn’t think she’d see him again except maybe in a business capacity related to her album. When he stood and started towards her Mel actually began to look around for a place to hide. He stopped inches from her, so close she could feel the warmth from his body and smell his intoxicating scent.

“What do you want, Tristan? You made it perfectly clear you were done with me earlier today.” Mel propped a hand on her hip, the heavy bin full of dirty dishes making her other arm feel like it was on fire.

“I tried to go home and forget about you, Mel. But I want you to be there with me.” Tristan’s eyes bored into hers as he waited for her response.

Mel started to say no, wanted to say it with all of her heart. “Okay. Just give me thirty minutes to close up.” Her brain screamed at her to change her mind and take it back but she just couldn’t do it.

*****

Tristan watched Mel as she walked into his house. She seemed at home here. His first reaction was happiness that she made this large imposing house feel like home. It was later followed by horror. What was he going to do about this? She was too close, they were getting too serious. For a moment Tristan couldn’t breathe, and he had to excuse himself to his office. He went to that bar tonight because he wanted Mel with him when he went home. The loneliness was eating him alive and he didn’t want just any woman in his bed, he wanted Mel.

Before he could think about what he was doing, he jumped in his car and headed down to the bar where she worked. It was a spontaneous, rash decision and so unlike him. Tristan’s life was ordered and controlled before he met Mel. Mel was breaking down his walls and it was making him uncomfortable. So why did he bring her here? Forget lust, he could feel that for any woman he met. There was something else, something that Tristan didn’t want to think about right now. He had to end it for good; he just wanted one more night. Just one more night with someone who made him feel whole and unbroken, then he would let her go.

*****

Tristan looked troubled as he walked away; telling Mel to go on upstairs and he would be there in a moment. Mel frowned, something was wrong. Fearing she made the wrong choice by coming here with him, Mel contemplated going home; just walking out the door and never looking back. But Tristan came into the bar looking for her, he must want her there. Perhaps something else happened to set him off. Deciding to wait it out, even if her gut was clenching at Tristan’s mood, Mel sat on the bed to take her shoes off. For a moment she felt awkward, unsure of how to proceed. It was very clear that he wanted to distance himself from her this morning. Mel kept that in mind as he walked back into the room, his mood still sour.

“Are you alright?” Mel asked fidgeting where she sat with nerves.

Tristan nodded not appearing to want to talk about it. He surprised her when he spoke. “Did I ever tell you about my parents?”

The question confused Mel. They rarely shared life stories. Their conversations were always focused on the present. “No.”

Tristan sighed, appearing at war with himself. “They left me. When I was thirteen they dropped me off at a group home and never looked back. Now you know it all.”

Mel’s heart broke for Tristan. She pictured a teenager troubled and alone with strangers trying to find his way without a mom and dad. He wasn’t too different than she was. Except that her parents didn’t willingly leave her. The hurt she felt over her parents’ deaths crushed her chest as she imagined the hurt Tristan must feel knowing the people he trusted most in the world didn’t want him anymore. Mel knew her parents loved her, more than anything in the world. An unfortunate accident took them and their love away and shattered Mel’s safe, comfy world. But they didn’t just abandon her. Her heart broke all over again for Tristan and before she could think any more about it she stood, pulling him to her chest. He didn’t speak or move but they held each other for a time, unable to let go.

When they finally did, Mel spoke first. “Tristan, I…”