Risqué Business (Club Risqué #8)

Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

T he first thing Melody did was contact the realtor directly and tell him exactly what she was looking for. She was in luck. He told her he had something that fitted all her criteria, and it was available for her to view that afternoon.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Charlotte asked as she dropped her at the end of a driveway leading to the property. “How will you get back to the club?”

Melody shook your head. “You’re right. I need to start acting for myself, and this is the first step. The club’s not far away, so I can call an Uber, and that’ll be the second step. Besides, I know you need to get back to Jacob and Daniel. I appreciate that you took time with me this morning and helped me get out of my head. Now it’s time for me to put those revelations into practice.”

“As long as you’re sure,” Charlotte pressed, biting her lip in obvious concern.

“Absolutely! I’m not completely incapable.” She said it with a smile, so her friend knew it wasn’t a dig.

“Goddesses, I know that! You have more resilience than anyone I know. I just meant that doing things for yourself and striving to be independent doesn't mean you need to do everything alone… or all at once.”

Melody smiled. “I know that. And thank you for offering. But I do need to do this for myself. Micah’s right about that. Not for any other reason than to know I can.”

“Well, call me if you need a ride or anything. I’m not far away.”

“I will,” Melody assured before waving Charlotte off and starting the short, but winding walk up a drive that needed some TLC in the form of pothole filling. She made a mental note about it in her head.

Finally rounding the curve that prevented the house from being visible from the road, Melody stopped in her tracks and gasped. The cottage was beautiful! Pale yellow climbing roses crawled up the front of the property and clung to a wrap-around veranda. They were overgrown and the house clearly needed as much work as the driveway, but it was delightful. Like something out of a fairytale.

And now she could appreciate the house without all the other shit hanging around in her brain, she realised she liked it. A lot.

The position was perfect, sitting as it was on about an acre of land, but completely surrounded by pasture. It was still only a fifteen-minute drive from the club, and it had the advantage of having a small rural community, complete with a diner and several stores less than a mile away. Close enough for convenience, but far enough away that she had privacy. Some might call it isolated, but Melody preferred that. She wasn’t comfortable being around a lot of people, despite the months she’d spent living at the club. Oh, she could tolerate them for limited periods of time, but she didn’t want to live surrounded by them.

Walking around the property, she felt compelled to jot down notes of everything that needed doing and all the things she’d need to organise, but instead of being daunted, Melody was energised. Having wealth was all well and good, but now her time was her own, she found she needed something to occupy it. Building a home of her own was surprisingly satisfying now she’d gotten out of her own way. And this cottage was certainly a project.

There was a family dining kitchen, with a laundry room off of it that led to the back of the house. A separate lounge, and a smaller room that could be used as an office, or sewing room, or a snug, or some such thing. Upstairs were three good sized bedrooms and a spacious family bathroom, though all of it was tired and required updating. But it had the kind of charm that couldn’t be bought.

“I’ll take it,” she told the realtor forty minutes later, and they spent another twenty minutes ironing out the details.

Taking advice from the realtor, she instructed a lawyer to act on her behalf for the conveyancing. Next, she called her bank, since she had the funds to buy the property outright thanks to Thomas Sutton’s bequest.

Micah wanted her to prove she could do this stuff for herself? Well, she was going to show him she didn’t need anyone to hold her hand.

She just wanted him to want to do that. And that was a whole different thing.

“That’s it. We’re all done.” The realtor told her, shaking her hand as they stood on the porch while he locked up. “I’ll be in touch.”

While he hurried off to his next appointment, Melody dug out her phone and called for a taxi as she walked down the driveway where she arranged to meet the driver. But as she stood there, making more notes, she felt that uneasy prickling sensation, like she was being watched again.

Looking around, Melody berated herself. This was a quiet, rural location with nobody in sight. She really needed to stop being so paranoid.

A few minutes later, a dark car with tinted windows pulled up on the side of the road and she started to walk towards it, surprised it had gotten there so fast. Not being able to see the driver made her stomach tense, but who else would be out here and pulling up for her?

Still, she paused before she opened the door, her sixth sense cautioning her.

Clearly impatient, the driver wound down his window a few inches. “Hurry up, lady. I got places to be.” It wasn’t much, but it was enough. Melody would never forget those dead, malevolent eyes.

Recognising Guthrie, Melody turned and sprinted down the road, praying her taxi arrived before he could catch her.

Dear God! It hadn’t been paranoia after all.