Chapter 3: All or Nothing

Collin POV

Collin stared at Melody across the table, just few feet away from him. He could feel the heat of her leg on his, and his skin pricked into attention. She stuck her tongue out and licked her bottom lip, the motion momentarily distracting him from the game at hand.

"I'm up'ing the ante. You gonna meet it?" She threw a few more chips in, giving him a challenging look that make him breathless and feel things that every now and then he wished he didn't.

Sometimes it was frustrating having Melody Tasher as an imprint. She'd give him an inch, sure, but that didn't mean her emotions were there with him. Collin remembered when he was fifteen and had gotten fed up of waiting. He had been waiting for a year already, and on impulse he kissed her.

It was the best moment of his life, at least until he opened his eyes.

She didn't fight him off, so he thought that meant she was ready to be with him. But when he pulled away feeling like his world had righted and opened his eyes tears sat in hers, and she couldn't look him in the face. When she finally did, he understood.

Guilt. She felt guilty for kissing him.

He had to be careful with Melody Tasher, because Melody was just as fragile about this imprint as he was. He was pretty sure if he asked Melody to kiss him she would, but then Melody would feel terrible for days. She felt like she took advantage of him, when really he was the one taking advantage of her. He had all the power and he knew it. He could make her do something with just a few repetitive words even if no one else got that.

But he felt bad for taking her life away. It's why he didn't try to stop her when she went out to party every week or two. It was why he let her keep the cigarettes although he really hated them.

He had taken enough already.

"I'll meet it," he said with a confident grin. She gave him a disgruntled expression, reaching down to scratch at an uncovered leg. His mouth watered at the sight, the skin soft and golden, before forcibly bringing his attention back to the cards. "Are you raising again?"

She gave him a thoughtful expression, before placing her cards down and pushing all her chips into the center with a smirk. "All in."

He stared at her for a moment, before smiling and meeting the bet. It was a big round, one to determine the winner and loser. Her smiled faltered, before turning to her cards as if it never happened.

"You first," she nodded to him, telling him to reveal his cards.

He placed down his three queens with a smile and she sighed loudly, showing her hand. There was nothing of value in it, all random cards that added up to naught. She had bluffed, and it costed her the game.

"I don't get how you always win Collin. I'm the one that taught you this game," she complained, resting her head on her hands with a sigh. Collin smiled a secret smile, and began to put away the chips up. Collin knew he would always win against Melody when it came to truth and deceit.

Because even when Melody Tasher lied she told the truth.

Melody POV

"We should just go! Come on, do we really want Collin trailing after us?" Sarah whined, staring up at Melody. Melody was the taller of the two friends, Sarah being on the short side at 5'2". Their whole looks were opposite if one were honest. Melody had beautiful cheek bones and long straight hair down to her lower back; Sarah had a bob and lips that were on the thin side. Melody had light brown eyes that became caramel in the sunlight, while Sarah's appeared dark and brooding. The only thing similar between them was their fashion style, and some were surprised to find out that the two were friends at all, let alone best friends. They had been together since kindergarten, when Dana Oaks had shoved Melody in the sandbox and Sarah screamed her lungs out at the girl for doing it.

"He's going to worry though," Melody mumbled, ruffling her bangs. Melody's words only served to make Sarah groan louder and face palm.

"He's not your keeper. You mother doesn't even keep tabs on you like that."

"Exactly," Melody said, finally pleased with what stared back at her in the mirror. "I can count on one hand the people that actually care about me in my life. Why would I do something to hurt them?" She actually could count them on two fingers: Collin and Sarah. Her mother sort of cared, but usually she was so strung out on her men that she tended to forget about Melody. Her mother had never hurt or abused her or anything like that. Melody always had food and clothes, and the bills were always paid on time. It's just that… her mother's priorities were different than most. Melody didn't blame her mother for it. After all, Melody's priorities were quite different too, and most of the time she enjoyed the freedoms her mother allowed her.

It didn't matter anymore anyways. As of this year she had moved into a two bedroom house with Sarah, finally decided this was the right route to take to become a real adult. She even had a big girl job as a receptionist at the hospital in Forks. She had never seen Collin more proud of her when she told him.

"You're so negative," Sarah groaned, tired of watching Melody preen in the mirror. Sarah yanked Melody by the hand out of the bathroom and into the living room, grabbing her purse and keys as she went. "I need some retail therapy after this week," Sarah complained, starting up the old car that was on its last leg. It belonged to Sarah's father, a 1995 Ford that was a bit on the rusty side. The ceiling was fraying, and unknown dark stains sat in strategic places on the floor. It was one of the few things Sarah had left of her father, so this car was her baby.

"I shouldn't buy anything," Melody mumbled. "Rent is coming up and I'm cutting it close."

Collin had told her a few times to quit smoking to save money. It was a very expensive hobby. But smoking was Melody's rebellion, her way to get away from everything. She didn't plan on giving it up anytime soon.

It turned out planning not to buy something and actually not buying something are in two separate categories, because as soon as Melody saw the cute little navy blue dress in the display case she knew she had to have it. Without a second thought she flashed her $50 and bought the dress, not regretting it until she left the store.

"Maybe I can convince them to let me work overtime," Melody murmured, stirring her latte with the black straw. They had given her a dented one to her chagrin, useless for any type of sipping.

Sarah snorted at Melody, rolling her eyes. "That's never gonna happen. You have a better chance of stripping for a few tips on the corner."

Laughter bubbled in Melody's throat and she made a choking noise in the back of her throat before bursting into giggles. Sarah rolled her eyes with a smile, shaking her head at her. It was a bit of a joke between the two. Melody and Sarah had tried pole dancing out of curiosity a few years back. Melody went her first class with high hopes and it had ended so badly that she never returned. Sarah turned out to be a pro, her lithe, athletic body jumping to the occasion. Melody's curves hindered her if anything, and even though it appeared she was in shape, Melody really wasn't. After skidding her hand down the pole and getting blisters, falling down heavily at least six times, and not being able to do a single trick, Melody called it quits. Sarah went to a few more classes, but Melody stubbornly stayed home, not willing to make a fool of herself anymore.

"That was one of the worst experiences in my life," Melody mumbled between fingers, covering her face in embarrassment. "I'm never going near a pole again."

Sarah shook her head at Melody in amusement. "So is Collin trailing us today?" she asked, changing the subject.

Melody shrugged, already used to the way the pack treated her. All imprints were carefully watched off the Res. She threw a fit about it at first, but after three years of it she honesty didn't care anymore. "Most likely, I mean I can't even think of one time that I wasn't trailed except the time I was pissed at the world and sneaked out."

It was a rough time in her life. She had just gotten out of rehab, and while the program was really good for her it didn't give her a taste of what the real world and its depravities it had to offer. She had forgotten about the drug dealer that always sat at the corner near the family dollar, her wishful eyes watched him as if he were the water that kept her alive. She never realized how bad her partying habit was either until she did it again. She had forgotten all the sex and smells and drugs and alcohol. No wonder she partied all the time. It had everything she'd ever need.

Her friends, who Melody once thought were some of the best friends in the world, began to appear differently to her with the blind fold off.

Amber, who she noticed was on a never ending high. Melody used to think the girl was quite pretty, but after coming clean she realized Amber really did look like a crack head. Amber's eyes always had a dazed look, and she was practically skin and bones with her hair was greasy and fingernail's cracked. How Melody never noticed this before she'd never know.

David, who was one of the few Native Americans in her tribe she actually hung out with besides Sarah. Melody never noticed his temper before, not until she took a swig of his alcohol and almost tasted his fist. She had forgotten about that rule practically set in stone: never touch David's drinks. He was usually a fun drunk, but for some reason he reacted very badly when anyone tried to take his alcohol.

There were many more friends such as these, and as she fought with herself every waking second of the day to stay clean she wondered if she used to look exactly like them.

She decided she didn't want to find out, and when she told her mother to burn every last picture from the past few years her mother only gave her an odd look before doing so. If she were honest Collin wasn't the whole reason she quit. If it were only Collin she would have relapsed much more than she did.

She stopped because when she stepped back to take a look at her friends and all she saw was death.

They all had early grave markers glued to their pallor colored foreheads, condemned to seeing only the next high or drink that would make them forget everything else. She began noticing the odd things they had in common, like how all of their family situations weren't so great. Amber had eight siblings stuffed into a two bedroom tractor trailer. She hadn't had to take responsibility like her two older siblings, and ran off into the world of sex in drugs as soon as the darkness brushed against her. Ethan, one of her friends from Forks, had an abusive dad. She remembered at first he only followed them around to get away from it all. Everyone at his school were assholes to him too, and his mother never did anything to help Ethan out. She was too worried about his father's wrath and had given up years ago. We were his gateway drug, and he jumped into our world without question. After all, it was better than what he had before.

Sarah's father died when we were thirteen. A drunk driver hit him, leaving him in a coma. After two months her mother decided to pull the plug, and for a long time Melody thought she could never put the pieces together. Sarah began to stay at Melody's house, sharing the full sized bed because Sarah was lonely, and home only held memories of someone she loved and could never have again. A girl was smoking in the school bathroom one day, and she had challenged Sarah stating someone as prissy as Sarah could never do something like this.

It was all it took.

That one drag filled with anger. She liked it more than she should, she told me. After seeing how everything seemed to get better for Sarah after a few drags of Mary Jane, Melody decided to join in too. Back then Melody was lonely just like Sarah. Melody always hurt, because she knew exactly how much she measured up to her mother's boyfriends. She would always lose to them. Sarah whispered to Melody about how the pain just went away, vanished into thin air.

It sounded like the best thing she had ever heard of.

But once Melody started to clean up her act, Sarah began to follow. They did everything together, faced every challenge, and by then Sarah had forgotten why she had even started this down trek.

Of course, Sarah regretted it as soon as she entered herself in the program. Melody did too. They didn't think it would hurt so much. Their bodies trembled, and breathing fluctuated as the addiction slowly leaked out of their system. Melody could remember being a complete bitch, saying things she never imagined saying to Sarah before. Sarah took it in full stride, returning the sentiment without pause.

Sometimes when Melody saw someone smoking something that she knew simply wasn't just a cigarette, her mouth would go dry and hands begin to tremble as the wishful thoughts filled her mind. Even after three years she still had these reactions. She remembered the highs, how safe and warm it felt.

But Collin was a pretty good splash of cold air if you asked her.

She could think it was complete and utter bullshit how she had to clean her act up for some boy. She said this in her head in the beginning quite often. But now she was thankful. Collin helped her experience what it was truly like to feel warmth and give it, and began to realize even though it was an annoyance at first the guys trailing after off the reservation did make her feel safe even if they were all ass holes to her in passing conversation.

Melody could only guess at her future. She didn't know how long this would continue. Maybe one day Collin would get his shit together and realize how horrible of a person she was, but until then she would continue to live day by day.

"Are you okay Melody?" Sarah's laughing face greeted her eyes and it made her smile. "You've been stirring that latte non-stop for five minutes now with that serious look on your face. I was beginning to worry."

Melody's brows rose before answering, "Yeah, I've never been better."

Thanks to everyone for reviewing! Still not finished writing this story, but when I do I'll be sure to tell you how many chapters it is.