Living In The Shadows Ch. 02

I smiled and said, "When I woke in your arms at the hospital, I felt a strong connection with you too. Honestly, I like you and even though we just met, I wouldn't mind getting to know you better and seeing how this is gonna play out."

"Yeah, me too." He smirked and had a funny look to his face. "Um, Melanie, would it be alright to kiss you again?"

I stood, walked over to him, and sat on his lap. I didn't answer his question with words, I answered with my lips caressing his; and then there was another knock on the door.

"Grr..." I growled and kissed him one last time. "Someone better be dead!" I shouted and then freaked out when I realized what I said.

"I'm sorry, Joe. I..."

"It's okay." His smile warmed my heart. "You'd better get the door though."

I opened the door, and no one was there. I looked out into the hall and didn't see anyone, then I realized there was another door. The adjoining door to Keri's room.

I opened my side and peered at her.

"What?" she asked as she pushed past into my room. "Oh!" she said when she saw Joe wave at her from the corner.

"Sorry, guys. I didn't mean to interrupt anything. I'm just bored."

"Okay," I said as I sat back onto Joe's lap. "Turn on the TV and see if you can find any news on Jim. I'm sure they would've called us if there was a change, but it will be interesting to see what the news jerks are saying."

If she thought my sitting on Joe's lap was strange, she didn't show it. She turned on the TV and found one of the cable news stations. They weren't talking about Jim directly but were debating whether Abby was in the right for telling the nurses off.

I felt bad for Abby. First her husband is hurt, and she has to fly across the country, then she has to push her way through reporters and cameras, and then one of the nurses leaks a picture of Jim convalescing. I already hated the press after all of the hounding they did of my sister and Ken, but that was kicked up a notch when they started on Abby while her husband was fighting for his life. Hell, all she was doing was loving and protecting her husband. Keep the damn cameras out of her face and shit won't escalate.

One of the commentators said, "Abby Steel is a menace and should be kicked out of the hospital. She had no right to punch our reporter, and absolutely no right to threaten the nurses. She's power mad Hollywood elite and should be arrested for making terroristic threats."

One of the others on the show said, "For Christ's sake. Terroristic threats? One of those nurses broke hospital policy and took a picture of that poor man and his wife in a most private of times. Shame on our network for buying that photo. It's disgusting that we aired it."

"Hear, hear," Joe said sharply as he stroked my back with his hand. I think he smirked when he realized I hadn't put a bra on yet.

***Keri***

I knew Joe was in her room when I knocked on the door. I could hear their voices and then they stopped. My body shook with jealousy, and I did something stupid; I knocked on her door. I felt horrible as soon as I did it and snapped out of my green fog. He liked her, not me, and I shouldn't have acted like a five-year-old who had her doll taken from her.

The look on her face when she opened the door told me how mad she was. I feigned ignorance and walked into her room. I pretended to be surprised to find Joe sitting there and apologized. When she sat on his lap as I turned the television on, I knew then they were a couple and I had to get over it. I needed to talk to her about rubbing it in my face like she did. We're best friends for Christ's sake. We never fought over boys. But Jim wasn't a boy, he was one hell of a man.

After getting caught up on the Abby drama, I suggested, "How about we order some food. I'm starving."

Joe quickly agreed and Mel said, "Okay, let me text Lainey and see if they want anything."

I was scrolling through Door Dash choices when Mel tossed her phone on the bed.

"Ken already ordered us all dinner. It will be here in about an hour, and they want us to join them in their room."

"Okay then. What are we eating?" I asked.

"Apparently, Ken's favorite shawarma place is nearby. He ordered shawarma and kifta for us."

***

I took a shower and by the time I was dressed and ready, Mel walked into my room.

"Dinner's here. We're gonna head up to Ken's room," she said with attitude.

"Wait!" I begged. I walked over and shut the adjoining door and leaned against it.

"Mel, I'm sorry I interrupted you. I should've turned and went back to my room as soon as I saw the look on your face."

She softened, "It's okay. We had just started kissing." She smirked and winked at me.

"I liked him too, but I can see he wants you. I won't get in the way again. Besties forever, right?"

"Always," she said and hugged me.

We took the elevator to Ken's room, and I took a deep breath. I didn't understand why I acted like such an idiot around Ken. I'd been over to his house a bunch of times and even babysat his baby. I shouldn't have been acting by a starstruck groupie every time I saw him. I thought that maybe I needed a therapist.

Thankfully, Lainey opened the door and ushered us into Ken's suite. There were trays of delicious looking Indian food on the desk, and I saw Abby already enjoying a plate.

As Mel and Joe were filling plates, I looked around and wondered where Ken was. The jerk was always picking on me for freezing up around him and made it a point to give me big hugs or walk in the room wearing tight shirts. Heck, one time he wore a shirt so tight, I thought it was Lainey's. He was flipping burgers on the grill and did some kind of hot flex of his upper body and tore the shirt to shreds. He could be a jerk, but always a playful jerk.

I was filling my plate with the lamb and beef patties when I heard from behind, "Hi, everyone. Sorry, but I had to take a shower."

I didn't turn around. I knew he was standing there in nothing but a towel to mess with me. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. Then, he walked around me.

"Hi, Keri."

The jerk's muscular arms and chest glistened with the remaining droplets of water from his shower. An amazing thing happened; I didn't freeze. Immediately, I got the devilish idea to give back as much as I got, so I put the plate on the desk and extended my hand to him as if I were going to give him a handshake.

I saw the look in his eyes as it dawned on him what I was actually doing. He wasn't quick enough to stop me, and I quickly pulled the towel off of his waist and threw it across the room.

All most of the others saw was his naked white ass as he rushed into the bedroom. I, on the other hand, got a nice view of his bait and tackle. Lainey was a lucky woman, indeed.

The room burst into laughter. Lainey had tears in her eyes from laughing so hard. She got up and high-fived me. "It's about time you fought back. He won't tease you again, I'm sure."

I smiled; glad she wasn't mad at me.

***Melanie***

When Keri ripped Ken's towel off, I spat rice across the room in a burst of shocked laughter. When Ken ran out of the room, it was the funniest thing I'd seen in ages. I just wish I had a view from the front. I was going to have to have Keri fill me in on every visual detail later.

Ken came back in the room fully clothed and said, "Keri, that was a good one. I deserved it."

She smirked and said, "It was the first time I didn't freeze up when I saw you. I had to take advantage of that.

Ken laughed and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank God, you didn't have a camera at that moment."

The room burst into laughter again and Abby said, "It's nothing some of us haven't seen before."

All eyes, except Lainey's, swung over to her.

"Oh, no!" she said. "You ain't getting that story out of me when I'm still sober."

Lainey smiled, while Mel, Joe, and I were still shocked that she'd seen his soldier.

After we ate, Ken said, "There's nothing we can do at the hospital tonight. The earliest Jim will be awake is tomorrow afternoon. Do you want to see a movie or something? I don't know about you, but I need to get my mind off of Jim's suffering for a while."

Joe said, "I think that's a good idea. Can I see him first?"

Abby said, "I'm going to go back and stay as long as those bitches will let me. Hell, the fear in their faces when they see me might mean I'll get to spend the night with him."

Keri and I agreed to the movie, and we all went back to the hospital so Joe could get a visit in.

***

Joe visited with Jim for a half hour. When he came out, I could tell he'd been crying so I jumped up and gave him a hug.

"Thank you, Melanie. Your support means a lot," he whispered.

"I'll always be there for my man." I don't know why I said it. I just blurted it out.

He smiled and said, "I'll do my best to live up to the honor of being your man."

It was a corny line, yet it was sweet. I gave him a soft kiss and we made our goodbyes to Abby.

As we walked out of the hospital, we saw a reporter had returned to do the evening news show. They just had to have the hospital in the background to make it look like they stayed there all day waiting for updates. I really hated the press.

You know how sometimes when a reporter is doing their live on the street schtick and some idiot is always behind them waving at the camera or yelling 'hi, mom' or something? Ken decided he was going to be that idiot. The reporter was standing in front of Jim's group of fans, which had grown to double what was there that morning. Ken walked into the crowd and pushed his way to the front. The man working the camera couldn't believe it when he saw Ken standing directly behind the reporter holding his fingers over her head, giving her bunny ears.

The reporter continued as if nothing was happening, but the crowd was laughing and hooting it up. Ken waved to the camera and walked back through the crowd, shook a bunch of hands, and rejoined us.

"Get that out of your system, honey?" Lainey asked.

"Yeah. I think I made the cameraman's year."

We walked on, and I looked back at the crowd. They were all watching us walk away and I was honestly shocked none of them asked Ken for his autograph. I wasn't sure if it was out of respect for it being a hospital, or if they didn't recognize him.

***

Joe held my hand with his left and fed me popcorn with his right during the movie. I have no idea how good or bad it was, because I was looking at or kissing Joe most of the time. if I hadn't already melted for him, I was a goner after that show.

When we were walking back to the hotel, Lainey asked, "Mel, what did you think of Aunt Sally in that movie? Wasn't she a trip?"

I stuttered, "Um, yeah. She was really funny."

Keri and Lainey laughed.

Ken shook his head. "Leave her alone. She's in love."

That made them laugh harder and I knew then there was no Aunt Sally in the movie.

I endured their ribbing all the way to our rooms. Keri said goodnight and left me and Joe in the hallway.

I kissed him or he kissed me, I'm not sure which, but it was wonderful. I'm not sure how it happened or when, but soon we were sitting on a bed making out. I didn't even know if it was my room or his.

He was a good kisser in general, but he was little sloppy at times. I could tell he was inexperienced, and I liked that I could teach him. We could learn together, and If I were honest, I'd say that I didn't have much experience either. I was too busy for boyfriends, being involved in sports and club activities all throughout high school.

It felt like our lips didn't separate for hours. His tongue explored mine as our hands explored each other's bodies. He was a perfect gentleman, and I didn't want him to be. His hands never roamed to my breasts or butt yet were tantalizingly close. I was more turned on than I'd ever been in my life.

I was technically a virgin. I'd never had a penis inside me. I'd had oral sex, both giving and receiving, and I owned a damn good vibrator, but I never allowed a man inside me. I was awfully close to letting Joe have me, but I slowed us down.

He smiled as I broke our kiss. "You're a great kisser, Melanie."

"Joe, let's slow down okay. I don't..."

"Shh...it's okay. Let's call it a night," he said.

He stood and walked me out of his room and gave me another scorching kiss at my door.

"Goodnight, Melanie."

"You can call me Mel. Everyone else does."

"So that makes Melanie more special then, doesn't it?" He smiled and I melted again.

I smiled, kissed him again, and said, "Goodnight, Joe."

I closed my door and leaned back against it. I saw Keri standing in the doorway of the adjoining doors. She shook her head at me yet couldn't hold her smile back.

I looked at her, returned her smile, and said, "I'm gonna marry that man someday."

She shook her head and closed the adjoining door.

To be continued