One Life To Live

My teeth grounded together in my mouth.

I was seated in the lounge room of 2i’s watching as Melanie took some guy’s hand as he led her to the dance floor. My hand was clenched into a tight fist, and I felt the fire rise into my throat.

What was Melanie doing?

I watched her - how she didn't really make eye contact with the guy, just tried to do her own thing as she danced. He had a huge grin on his face as he shuffled his feet clumsily to the music. Idiot, I hissed in my mind. What did Melanie see in this guy? - I kept repeating in my head. She swayed her body back and forth to the reverberating music, and he creeped his way closer and closer to her.

I drunk the rest of what was left of my Jack Daniel, and tapped my fingers against the cold, black countertop in aggravation. She looked up and smiled sheepishly at him - even laughing to some extent. His arrogant ego seemed to soak the sound of it up. Then, as he was only an inch from her body, he took her hands and tried to pulled her against him. Then he made a motion to grind on her.

I couldn't sit and watch this shit anymore.

Melanie was mine.

With red anger flashing in front of my eyes, I crossed the semi-crowded dance floor running into who ever was in my fucking way. Finally I closed in on them - the angle from which I was coming only let me look into the bastard's face and not Melanie's. The euphoric, smug look on his face only fueled my rage even more.

But what really stood out from the rest was that I recognized this asshole...

Adam Marino - a inside spy to Giorgio and all his little puppets.

My hands made contact with his chest, and I shoved him back away from Melanie. "Stay away from her." I seethed.

From behind me I heard Melanie's warning voice, "Lance."

Once he understood what was going on, he looked up at me and gave me a knowing smile. He tried to play all innocent, "Woah, man you need to settle the fuck down." The dipshit lifted up his hands, and then continued, "Plus it looks to me like she doesn't want to be hangin' around you anymore anyway."

I grabbed the collar of his shirt, "You fucking go near her again, and you'll be in a world of hurt. Don't think that I haven't got anyone behind me." I let go of his shirt, and struck him one time in the gut - hard. He moaned and bent over in pain.

"Lance!" Melanie exclaimed. "What in the world-"

Before she could finish, Adam swung back on me. His fist clipped me in the jaw. I shook it off, and fixed my mandible back into place. My hands curled into fists and I undercutted him. He tried to cover and protect himself, but I ended up slicing my punches into his midsection where I knew it hurt. All the while I could hear Melanie yelling, "Lance! What are you doing! Stop it!" Pretty soon, people started to gather around us, and I knew the bouncer was on his way to break up the fight. I landed the hit that I knew would finish him off and he slumped to ground.

"Melanie let's go." I said in a commanding voice.

"Lance, you-you," she stammered - the distrust showing clearly in her crystal blue eyes. It sank deep into the pit of my stomach - I hated it. "Melanie, I'll explain later - let's go." The finality in my voice.

She glanced back at the bar where I saw Bethany Lynn was standing. She appeared shocked, and speechless as well - she shot warning gestures at Melanie, ones that specifically told her to stay away from me, I was sure. Just then, Melanie turned back to me her mind calculating a hundred miles an hour trying to decide whether or not to trust me-

-and she began to follow me out of the club.