I DO NOT OWN ANYONE OR ANYTHING IN THIS STORY BESIDES THE OC'S.

A/N: SORRY FOR THE LENGTH IN TIME BETWEEN THE LAST TIME I POSTED AND NOW, BUT IT'S FINALLY SPRING BREAK ON TOP OTHER STRESSORS IN MY LIFE BUT HOPEFULLY I CAN START UP WRITING SOME MORE TO KIND OF TAKE MY MIND OFF THINGS AND SINCE ITS SPRING BREAK MAYBE I CAN WRITE MORE AND GET THE JUICES GOING. THANK YOU FOR BARING WITH ME FOR THE TIME BEING.

Melanie's Point of View-

He parked the car outside the tattoo parlor seeing my car was parked there, which was weird because I obviously didn't drive there since I was with Corey. We walked into the shop seeing Kevin there already at the desk and he glanced up when he heard the door open.

"Why is my car here?" I asked curiously as I walked towards my desk.

"So you can drive home later, Corey can give me a lift."

"You think I would want to stay longer than I have to in order to wait for you?" Corey asked as Kevin glared up at him, "I can just drive her home if that was such a big case." Corey said as he smirked and I blushed slightly as I glanced over at him.

"I will just take it that the date went well today then…well, good because now it is professional and business time not flirty time…Corey, here is your client list for the night and Melanie you have some social media stuff to attend to." Kevin said as it was weird for him to be in such a foul mood.

"I'll be back soon…your Tattoo 101 class starts tonight." Corey said as he pointed towards me as he walked backwards a few steps, he turned around so he wouldn't run into anything as he had walked and I rolled my eyes as I walked behind the counter to sit at my desk when I saw that there was a document open on the computer with a note that Kevin had written to me in regards on how Alex had already dropped by before we had gotten there along with how he had threatened to return tonight when he knew I was going to be here. With that being read, I finished all that I could in as short of a time I could before I grabbed my things heading to the back where Corey and Kevin were.

"I'm heading out, Anita texted asking if I could come help her with something." I lied, mostly for Corey's sake.

"I'll walk you out." Corey said as he stood up walking me out to the car that Kevin drove me in and he pulled the driver's side door open. I felt horrible for bailing and knew that if Kevin did show, everything will spill out tonight as to my past and things will make sense. I tried to hold back tears of the worst case scenario when I felt Corey wrap his arms around me holding me to him, my face pressing against his chest as I felt him lips press a kiss to my head. "It's alright baby…don't cry…don't know why you are upset, but it's okay…I'm here…" He said as I nodded and stepped back wiping at my eyes.

"Just…whatever happens, I'm sorry." I said as he looked at me confused.

"About earlier? We passed that…just go home and relax, okay?" He said as I nodded, I climbed into my car driving the distance to the house hoping and praying that Alex doesn't uphold his promise, just this once. As I had reached the house, I quickly headed up to the house and into it trying not to be spotted for many reasons. I shut the door going to find Anita in the kitchen, she was already made aware that Alex had came by the tattoo parlor and I told her about how I saw him at the mall earlier and the time with Corey. She kept saying that maybe Corey was a keeper if he had acted the way he did earlier. I shrugged, after tonight who knows what Corey was going to do or say if Alex got involved right now. Anita made us a pot of coffee, she didn't want to leave me alone when I was such a worried wreck about what was going on right about now at the tattoo parlor. I sipped at the mug of coffee I had, slowly time ticked as I drunk through two cups anxiously in almost silence with Anita and it would probably been better if she had already gone to sleep because we weren't talking much but still, it was nice that she cared and was here supporting me through this. Panic began to sink in when I heard a car pull up and a car door shutting moments later, I looked over to Anita and she got up resting her hands on my shoulders as she slid past me heading towards the door. I sat on the bar stool nervously biting at my bottom lip watching her get closer and closer to the door, I watched as Anita carefully separated the blinds on the window beside the door to view outside and when she turned around with a smile, I let out a sigh of relief knowing we were in the clear. Anita opened the door before Kevin even got to the door, he stepped into the house so Anita could shut the door and he smiled.

"You're in the clear, Alex never came back to the store." Kevin said as I let out a different kind of sigh of relief then Kevin put his bag onto the couch before he walked further into the house and into the kitchen where I was still sitting. "But, you had kind of worried Corey today because he said you were acting out of character before you left and I tried to brush it off of him…you should call him, okay?" Kevin asked as I nodded and ran a hand through my hair.

"Thanks for not telling him Kev." I said as I looked at him making eye contact.

"Not my place to say…by the way, as he said anything to you about his day job?" Kevin asked, which was strange and odd.

"Uh, not really…he didn't say what he does but he spoke very little about his day job besides that he is rarely home and that if I ever wanted a day or so away from here that his house was open to me." I said with a shrug, "You know what he does?" I asked as Kevin did an 'oh' with his lips, "You do know don't you?" I asked as he nodded.

"Yeah, but that is his thing to tell you." Kevin said as he backed away from me, "But I think it could be good for you to go to his place, Alex won't know where you are so you will be safe there and you two can get more acquainted, plus I am sure you are tired of being cooped up here all the time and being the live in babysitter." Kevin said as he opened the fridge pulling out a juice bottle as I let out a sigh, he was right and those were all cons but even then at Corey's house if he was gone during the day due to his other job, I would be left in my lonesome to do what? Well, I could catch up on some drawing or something I guess. I said my good nights before heading up to my room where I changed into my pajamas and climbed into my bed. I grabbed my phone and pushed Corey's name to call him, presuming he was probably already asleep and I would just leave a voicemail but I was wrong.

"Hello?" I heard his deep voice say on the other end.

"Hey, I hope I didn't wake you." I said as I smacked myself in the forehead for even thinking this was a good idea.

"Not at all, I just got home. Is everything okay?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah….look I'm sorry for the way I was acting earlier and it was really out of character for me, just there are some things in my past you don't know about and right now I don't really want to explain them to you but maybe over time I can open up more to you and trust you." I tried to explain and hoped he would understand.

"I completely understand that." He said.

"You do?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know…" I said as I bit at my bottom lip, "I was thinking about what you said earlier…about me staying at your place…"

"Yeah…"

"Would you mind if I crashed there a couple days? Maybe that way we can get to know each other better…personally and professionally." I said nervously.

"Absolutely, I'll come by and pick you up then I'll take you out on my boat." Corey said.

"Your boat?"

"Yeah, I have a boat…it's usually down in Florida but was able to ride it on up this past time…" He explained which had my gears turning in my head.

"You've been to Florida, is it beautiful there? I bet it is."

"I love it there, I have a spare house there if you ever want to make a trip with me. Kevin, Anita and Jack have stayed there a couple times." He said.

"I'll most definitely may want to make a trip down there sometime but not right now."

"Obviously not now, but sometime soon I hope." He said as I bit at my bottom lip, "But I got to go, I have a few things I need to do before I go to bed but I'll pick you up at 8 and we'll do breakfast or coffee or something before we do our day boat trip."

"Sounds wonderful, I'll see you then." I said.

"Alright, good night…" He said.

"Good night." I said before I hung up the phone with him putting it on the charger before I laid down staring up at the ceiling thinking about all the stuff going on, maybe Corey has things he isn't telling me and I have things I'm not telling him so what kind of relationship are we going to have? I let out a sigh before I rolled over to my side and shouldn't get my hopes up on an expected relationship with him because a relationship can't be based on lies. I reached for my phone and set the alarm for the morning before putting it back, I closed my eyes and figured to let sleep win, maybe a good night of sleep will help my mind rest.