Melissa sank back against Nick's chest, his arms warm around her in a loose embrace. She smiled as chills ran down her spine from his lips on the side of her neck. The TV blared a few commercials as her eyes fluttered closed and she tilted her head to bare the sensitive skin to his mouth. The moment was so wonderful, so perfect that Melissa was almost to the point of being intoxicated by his kisses.

The sensations were so great she almost didn't hear the phone ringing. She reluctantly moved to answer it, but Nick held her tighter and whispered against her neck, "Let the machine get it…" before pressing his lips to the sensitive hollow behind her ear. She sighed as the machine finally clicked on. She forgot about it quickly as Nick's teeth grazed over the sensitive skin of her ear lobe. His one hand flattened over her stomach, pressing her back against his body as he slowly traced the outline of her ear with the tip of his tongue.

"Oh, Nick…" she sighed happily.

"Hm?" he asked with a smile before gently biting her earlobe playfully.

She giggled in response before sitting forward and turning to face him. "I love you…thank you for so much…"

"You don't have to thank me, sweetie…All I did was care about you…"

"You cared about me so blindly, but he never could…"

"Let's not talk about your ex-husband right now, ok? You were young and made a mistake…" He leaned closer and wrapped his arms around her.

"Ok…" she whispered, falling into the warmth of his arms and nestling her head in his shoulder. In his arms, the world melted away around her as if they were the only two in existence. His hand came up to soothingly stroke her hair, the painful knowledge of her past making the bond his love only stronger.

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Later that evening, Melissa checked the messages on their machine. A few from friends and family, two of which were her mother reminding her that dinner was scheduled for one o'clock that Saturday afternoon. Melissa laughed as her mom stumbled over a few last words, not sure how to reword the exact thing she had said the last message. The next message started in silence before a deep familiar voice came over the speakers.

"Hello, my dearest…Have you missed me? I've been a good boy…They're letting me out next month…Hugs and kisses, sweetie pie…" His voice alone was enough to send chills down her spine as she back away. She suddenly felt something behind her and she whirled around, her eyes round in terror.

. "Melly, sweetie…what's wrong?" Nick asked as he pulled her into a warm embrace.

"He…he…" she sobbed into his chest

"What's wrong, baby?"

"He's getting out!" she wailed as he held her tighter.

His face set to the stone cold façade of strength as his insides churned in rage and fear. He remembered the day two years prior that almost hospitalized Melissa, and bereft her of her first attempt at a child. She told him the whole story….

She walked in the front door of her house, her arms full of grocery bags that she laid on the kitchen table and then started to put away. The door then flung open again and her husband, a tall man with dark hair and cold grey eyes marched in snarling.

She walked in the front door of her house, her arms full of grocery bags that she laid on the kitchen table and then started to put away. The door then flung open again and her husband, a tall man with dark hair and cold grey eyes marched in snarling.

"What the hell is this?" he growled, waving a slip of paper in front of her face. She gently took it, a bill for a doctor's visit she had the week prior.

"I told you that I had to go to the doctor..."she meekly said. "I'm pregnant....the doctor is neccessary...." Her voice is low and shaky as she explained.

"Who's going to pay for it? You're worthless....do you want ME to pay?!" the alcohol on his breath was strong even for the afternoon.

"Well..." she started to say. Before she could finish, his hand was across her cheek.

"Don't talk!" he growled before pushing her away from him. She flew across the kitchen and slammed against the counter, the ledge digging into her stomach. The pain was unbearable as she crumbled to the floor.

"Get out of my house..." he said in a low rumble. She tried to stand, her legs weak. He grabbed her arms and pulled her to her feet before throwing her out the door. She stumbled to her car, fumbling for the keys still in the pocket of her jeans as she ran.

She drove to her sister's house, finally making it, the road blurred by tears and physical pain.

When she rang the bell, her sister, Kerri, was busy on the sofa with her fiancée Brian, they're lips dancing in passionate kisses. She tore her lips from Brian's to answer the door, finding Mel on her doorstep, the side of her face growing purple in a deep bruise as she clutched her stomach.

"Kerri…" she whispered before practically collapsing into her sister's arms.

Brian gingerly picked her up and carried her to the sofa as she croaked out, "I think I'm losing the baby…" Kerri's eyes widened in realization that not only she was serious, but he did this. The man sworn to love and protect her beat her to a pulp yet again. Brian got a glass of water and tended to Melissa as Kerri ran upstairs.

Dropping to her knees by the bed, Kerri grabbed the shotgun her father had given her once to try to get her into hunting with him. Mel had willing gone to the shooting range with him so he thought Kerri would too. Even though he was wrong at the time, she was glad he did now.

As she ran down the stairs, Brian looked up from soothing Melissa to see the gun clutched in her hands. He jumped to his feet and cried out, "Kerri! NO! Let the cops deal with this…."

"Brian….this is personal…She's my sister. He's going to pay for this."

"Kerri...calm down...let him pay for it in jail..."

He pried the gun from her fingers, removing the bullets and placing them on a table before propping the gun against the wall. "Look, we'll deal with this. I will get her the best lawyer in town. She can stay here…and we'll put him away. I promise, Kerri…"

"No." She was no longer herself, and he didn't know what to do. Holding her hand, he led her to the living room and grabbed the phone. She immediately went to her sister's side, kneeling on the floor beside her. She brushed the bangs of hair from Melissa's forehead and her sister's bright green eyes blinked open.

"Oh, Mel…how could he do this to you?" she whispered as Brian called the police and told them the general happenings and the address to Kerri's house.

"The cops are on there way to talk to Melissa...." Brian softly said as he turned the phone off. Mel closed her eyes and swallowed hard.

Later that night, they watched the news as the televised arrest of her husband flashed onto the screen. She started to cry at the mere site of him, and her sister wrapped her arms around the poor girl, pulling her face into her shoulder.

"It will be ok, Mel…It will be ok…"

That night, Melissa stayed at Kerri's, afraid of the memories of her own house

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The next day, Nick visited. Growing up together, Nick and Mel were close friends. He had a simple bouquet of daisies and tulips with him as he walked into the living room to find her propped on the sofa. She was practically lost in a sea of pillows that propped her up and a fluffy down blanket draped over her lap. She was flipping through channels on the TV when he entered. The entire side of her face was purple and brown, and she still could not sit upright from the pain of her miscarriage.

"Hi there…" he softly said. "Feeling any better?"

"A little...I just wish I had divorced him when I had a chance..." she whispered. "But that's besides the point now…" She ended with a sad smile.

"Well…these are for you…" he said as he thrust the flowers toward her in the similar fashion of a five-year-old. "I thought that they might cheer you up…"

"Thank you, Nick…"

"Well…I'm always here for you Melly Belly. What are friends for?" he tried to laugh, but he was so emotional. He couldn't understand how any man could his a woman, especially one that was his wife.

"Thanks, Nick…"

Nick shuddered at the memory of her face that day. He loved her so much...and he hated seeing her in pain. He silently vowed that he would never allow her to be hurt like that again, especially by him. Marcus Trent will never get near enough to her again to ever lay a single finger on her! he thought as he pressed his cheek against the softness of her hair and tightened his embrace.

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Melissa tossed as turned in bed that night, mumbling and clawing until she gasped out and sat up abruptly, her heart racing and her breath labored as Nick woke up beside her. He sat up beside her, his hand caressing her bare back as she started to cry. "I saw him...H-he came...and he hurt you...Oh Nick..." she turned into Nick's sudden embrace, her tears hot on his bare shoulder.

"Hush, baby...it was just a dream..."

"Oh Nick...I was so scared..." she said as her hands smoothed over his bare chest as her sobs died down to mere hiccups in the darkness of their bedroom. The moonlight caught the diamond of her engagement ring and she stopped to admire the heart shaped stone for a moment before looking up to Nick, her eyes still sparkling with unshed tears. "Nick...he's going to come back..."

"Don't worry, Mel...I won't let him hurt you...Never again..." he tilted her chin up before brushing a light kiss across her lips. "I love you too much to ever let him hurt you again..."

"I love you too..."

He laid back down, the soft pillow curving around his head as he motioned for her to rest her head on his chest. Her ear came over the steady beating of his heart, the soft sign of life a comforting lullaby as she fell back asleep with his arms around her.

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Melissa awoke the next morning, Nick still sleeping in the exact position he was during the night. His hair stuck up a little in a charming disarray, his face relaxed in his slumber. His full lips turned down slightly in a pout, parted as he breathed deeply. He looked almost childlike laying there, the blankets pulled only up to his waist, one arm stretched across the pillows for her and the other dangling off the edge of the bed. She placed a soft kiss in the center of his chest before getting up, walking to the shower and turning it on.

The water was hot and comforting as it slid over the curves of her naked body, enveloping her like a liquid glove of protection from the harsh realities outside the shower. She turned to let the spray hit her hair, the water then rushing down her back like a waterfall before branching into smaller rivers of water down the backs of her legs.

She reached for her shampoo, opening the bottle and enjoying the soft scent of green apple as it filled the steamy shower. Pouring the cool gel into her palm, she set the bottle back on the shelf before gathering her wet hair at the crown of her head and then proceeded to lather the suds through the long brown strands. The foam flowed through her fingers like soft cotton, caressing her palms before she tilted her head to let the water rush over it again. The lather slid off her hair and down her body before swirling down the drain.

After she finished her shower, she reached for a large bath towel, but then saw Nick's hunter green terry cloth robe hanging behind the door. She smile softly before removing it from it's hook and sliding it up her wet arms, the water droplets gathering on the soft material as it moved up her biceps. She tied it closed and then rolled up the long sleeves. She wiped a hand towel over the steamed mirror before grabbing her large toothed comb and pulling it through the soaking wet waves and curls of her hair. She then cleaned up her mess-threw her wash cloth in the hamper, closed the shower doors, put her comb away- before returning to the bedroom. Nick was now yawning and slowly raising to a sitting position.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" he asked as he yawned again.

She smiled and sat next to him. "All I did was take a shower..."

"Exactly...why didn't you wake me up?" he replied with a grin as he wrapped his arms around her. "Nice robe..."

"Thanks...some tall, blond Backstreet Boy said I could use it..."

"I don't remember saying you could...but it looks good on you," he replied with a smile before kissing her lips gently. "It would look even better on the floor though..."

"You're naughty, Mr. Carter..." she said, trying to maintain a straight face.

. "Then I guess you'll just have to spank me..." he replied with a grin before fixing his mouth to hers. His hand slid inside her robe, sliding across the damp skin to cup a single breast in his hand, his fingers tracing the nipple. His other hand rested at her lower back, bracing her body as he pressed kisses down the pale column of her neck. Her back arched over his hand as his lips traveled lower. He removed his hand from inside her robe to untie the terry cloth belt and slip the article off her shoulders and tossing it to the floor. He laid her back on the bed, his lips coming down to her skin, gently pressing kisses to her shoulders, chest, belly and legs as her fingers tangled in his cropped blond locks.

When he entered her, she moaned softly before his lips locked onto hers, his tongue entering her mouth as gently as his manhood had slid into her secret core. As their hips moved in conjunction with each other, driving one another to earth shattering climaxes before they collapsed to the soft depths of the mattress, their sweaty bodies tangled together.

Through heavy breaths, Nick whispered, "I love you so much..."

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Nick slowly sipped his coffee as Melissa set a plate of pancakes in front of him. "Here, sweetie...You should eat before practice. You don't know when you'll get to eat lunch..." She gently brushed a fallen lock of hair from his forehead as he set the newspaper and his mug of coffee down.

"Thank you, but I'd rather have this..." he said with a grin as he pulled her down into his lap and pressed a kiss to her lips. "Do I really have to go to practice?"

"Yes...You're a Backstreet Boy sweetie. You have to practice." She kissed the tip of his nose before wiggling to get up.

"Fine...I'll go. But promise you'll be here when I get home."

"I promise..." she said as she smiled at him over her shoulder before she walked out of the room.

He grinned and finished his breakfast before running out the door, catching a quick kiss before he left. The smile never left his face as he drove to the dance studio in the city where his four band mates waited patiently with their choreographer.

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Melissa curled onto the sofa with her laptop on the cushion in front of her. She bit her lip and stared at the blank page before gently resting her fingers on the keys. Starting slowly she began to describe the hurt and pain of her life with Marcus. She told of how she met him her senior year in high school, his age a symbol of maturity. She wrote how she didn't mind the ten-year difference. She wrote of their wedding a month after her graduation. She wrote of the hell of her wedding night, his rough sex hard on her virgin body. She wrote of when the abuse first started and how it only got worse instead of better as he promised.

Her fingers flashed wildly, striking keys and forming words she didn't know she could right. Vivid descriptions flew from her fingertips to the screen as tears ran down her cheeks. The memories ran through her mind like a movie, the colors, the pain, the words…they all melded together until she sobbed, the cries tearing out her soul until she could no longer function but fall back against the sofa.

This is how Nick found her when he returned home, a heap on the sofa, a computer screen blinking back at her. He pulled her small frame into his arms, her wrenching sobs choked and weak from all the crying. Her fingers feebly curled around the side of his neck as her face buried in his chest. Too many times he saw her crying like this, every time caused by him. Nick glanced to the computer and scanned a few of the words and then looked down at Melissa as she slowly calmed down.

"Baby…what is this?" he asked softly as she lifted her tear-stained face. "Are you writing about…"

"Yeah…I want to be able to help people like me…I never thought I would survive…but…"

"Hush, baby…hush. I understand…" he whispered before pulling her back into a tight embrace. He wanted to help her, to erase her past…but his heart and soul was not enough to rid her of the pain. He knew it would be a long battle to heal her inner wounds…I'll stick with her until this is over… he silently vowed once again.

He pressed a soft kiss to her temple before carrying her upstairs to the bedroom. He laid her in bed gently and pulled the covers over her body as her eyes drifted shut. Sitting there, watching her sleep, the anger boiled inside of him. She was so beautiful, so peaceful…how could anyone hurt her?