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“It’s Melissa, right?” Angel Dust asked her, putting his boots up on the table, which she was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to do.
It was just the three of them: her, Angel, and Vox’s assistant Ethan. Their respective bosses were in a conference room, talking together. Melissa knew Ethan well enough, but she’d never talked to Angel. She didn’t really want to. After glancing around the room for a moment as if another Melissa would appear out of thin air, she gave him a cautious nod.
“Yup,” she said. “I, uh, know who you are.”
“I betcha you do, toots,” he said. “Friendly warning here: you’re being a fucking idiot.”
“Sorry?”
“Velvette?” Angel said. “I’ve got eyes, bitch. And I ain’t the only one.”
He nodded towards the cameras, and Melissa felt her stomach sink. Oh shit. The hell did he want? Blackmail? What could she even give him?
“It was one time,” she said.
Ethan almost spat out his drink, having chosen this moment to start listening. Of course he did.
“What was one time?”
“Me and Velvette,” she said.
“Fucked,” Angel helpfully interjected.
He was really getting on her goddamn nerves. Why did he have to be so loud about it?
“I…I have to pee,” Ethan muttered before making his escape.
“He likes you, you know,” Angel said.
She had known. It wasn’t anything against Ethan; he was a sweet guy. Cute too. But Velvette was…well, she was Velvette. Not a lot of people could compare.
“Is this what you do all day?” she snapped. “Figure out everyone’s personal romantic lives and gossip about it?”
“Aw,” Angel said. “You think what you have with her is romantic? That’s so naive it’s a little sad.”
“It’s none of your fucking business,” she said.
“Hey, doll, I’m just tryin’ to help you,” he said. “You don’t want this. I don’t care how much you think you love her; it ain’t gonna last. She couldn’t give a singular shit about you.”
“I don’t want your help,” Melissa said. “She’s not Valentino; she’s different. Maybe she’s not a good person, but she’s not going to hurt me.”
That came out much harsher than she meant it too. But Angel didn’t seem angry. He just shrugged.
“I tried to warn ya, toots,” he said. “Don’t blame me when she fucks you up.”
Angel Dust was the last fucking person she wanted to see today. Especially not now, in some shitty club's bathroom desperately trying to wipe away her running mascara. The fuck was he even doing in the woman’s bathroom? That was creepy, right?
She froze when she saw him in the mirror. He walked up to her, but she did her best to ignore him, continuing to wipe away at the black streaks on her face. God, Velvette would be pissed if she showed up looking like this. And a single gloating word from this asshole next to her would send her sobbing again, ruining all her hard work.
“You’re making a fucking mess of it,” he said. “Here, let me. I’ve got a waterproof brand and wipes. What kind of model doesn’t carry her own makeup?”
She flinched at his words, but they were unexpected enough to stave off the expected tears. He finished wiping away the black smears and started reapplying the mascara. Why the fuck was he helping her like this? She’d been so shitty the last (and only other) time they’d met.
“You were right,” she said, hating every word.
“Mmh,” he said. “What’d she do, baby?”
“Nothing,” Melissa said.
“You’re crying your eyes out and hiding out in this literal shithole because she didn’t do nothing?”
“She didn’t hit me or force herself on me or anything like that.”
“And everyone knows that’s the only two shitty things someone can do to a soul,” Angel said. “Come on, kid.”
His voice was weirdly gentle and much deeper than it usually was. She’d never heard that tone on him or even imagined someone so vulgar could sound like that. It was enough to coax her into spilling her guts.
“I was so stupid! I told her I loved her.”
“Oh, toots,” Angel winced in sympathy.
“It just slipped out of me. She fucking laughed. And then she said all these things about how I was just a living coat hanger she could fuck sometimes and how she’s been screwing half a dozen other girls, and I knew that we weren’t official or anything, but she told me that they were all so much better than me because they weren't so fucking fat—"
“You weigh like a hundred pounds!”
“No, she’s right, I’m one hundred and twenty point nine!”
“That’s not fat. It just means you’re not an anorexic.”
“She fucking posted about it,” Melissa said, barely holding back tears now.
“Your weight?”
“Everything. How bad I was at sex and how ugly I looked whenever she wasn’t personally dressing me, and she even said I cheated on her! I’ve never been with anyone else ever since we started sleeping together. Even though I knew she had other girls. I didn’t care because I thought I was special. I’m such an idiot.”
Angel finished fixing her makeup. He put the supplies back into his—were those boobs? If she were less distressed, she probably would have spent some more time figuring out how that worked.
“Makes two of us,” he said. “Watch, tomorrow she’s going to be all apologies. Maybe you’ll even get an expensive gift. And you’ll get a great week. Two if you’re lucky. Then everything will go to shit again. This your phone?”
“Uh, yeah,” she said.
He held it up to her face to unlock the screen and began scrolling through it before she could even say a word.
“This is a fuck ton of hate mail.”
“Everyone thinks I’m a total bitch now,” Melissa said. “She posted about me doing and saying all kinds of shit I didn’t do.”
“Yeah, you’ve got a bunch of death threats. I’m just going to screenshot them and send it to my phone so I can hunt down these fuckers and get them to knock it off.”
“What?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll give you my number.”
“That’s not—what are you going to do?”
“Make some examples so they’ll fuck off,” Angel said. “Then the others should get the message and leave you alone a bit. I can’t do shit about Velvette, but I can go fuck up these losers for you.”
“Oh my god, you don’t have to do that.”
“Yeah, I do,” he said. “Some of these guys could be dangerous, and I wouldn’t put it past Velvette to let them hurt you to teach a lesson.”
Melissa found herself gaping at him before realizing there was probably very little to do to stop him. Not that she really wanted to. He was right last time; he was probably right this time.
“I—thank you,” she said.
“No problem, sweetheart. Let’s go back out there, okay?”
“Right,” she said. “She’s going to be pissed I’m late.”
“Not as pissed as Val’s going to be,” he said casually.
“Oh shit, did I get you in trouble? I don’t want to—“
“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Angel said. “Hey, want some Xanax?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Thanks. I’m not really sure why you’re doing this. I was awful last time. And my problems must seem so stupid.”
“Nah,” Angel said. “What she did to you was fucked. Honestly? I’d take a beating over that shit. You don't gotten bleed to be hurting, toots.”
The words comforted her. In that grimy bathroom with its flickering lights and awful smell, she felt seen. And by the guy she would have considered as shallow as a puddle only a few days ago.
“You’re…kinda nice, you know?”
“Someone has to be,” he said. “You look like a million fucking dollars. Almost as good as me. Show that plastic bitch what you’re made out of, okay? They don’t get to see they hurt us.”
Melissa nodded, Angel's words lending her some of his courage. She wouldn’t let Velvette get another tear out of her, whatever happened. Maybe she owned her, but that didn’t mean she needed her to be happy.
Tonight, she decided, she was going to call Ethan.