Ace of Spades by Elle Bright Read Free Book Online Page A

when he saw her.
             
Melody crossed the room, drawn to his achingly familiar smile like metal to a
magnet. It was so reminiscent of the old Jackson, before his whole life went to
hell in a tour bus, her heart tightened at the sight. He rose to his feet as
she approached, pulling out a chair for her.
             
With a smile, Melody scrutinized his appearance. He looked tired, but his blue
eyes were clear and bright, albeit a bit bloodshot. No sign of the drugs that
were in his system last she saw him. Good.
              “Hey,
Mel,” Jackson said as he rose to help her into her chair. “I’m glad you made
it.”
             
“You’re not going to offer to sleep with me again, are you?” she asked, eyeing
him warily.
             
His blue eyes sparkled as a boyish grin spread across his face. “I would never
do a thing like that… or at least not that I remember.”
             
“Well, I remember,” Melody huffed, crossing her arms over her bosom. “Vividly.”
             
Grinning shamelessly, Jackson shrugged, his shoulders straining the black
fabric of his t-shirt. “Hey, at least I have great taste, even when I’m snowed.”
             
“Yeah, Porn Star Barbie seemed like a real winner the other night,” Melody
jibed.
             
Jackson rubbed the dark stubble at his jaw. “Who, Candy?” he chuckled. “You can’t
blame me for that. There are two of her. Mmmm , Candy and Mandy, what were their parents thinking?”
             
“That they wanted their daughters to grow up to be strippers or prostitutes who
tag-team stoned rock stars?” Melody suggested sweetly.
             
Jackson grinned. “Maybe.”
             
A waiter came to fill their water glasses and opened his mouth to speak, but
Jackson waved him off.
             
“Enough, J,” Melody snapped, furious with him for getting her joking and
laughing over his trashy booty calls. “Tell me what you want.”
             
“Now, Melly -Belly, is that any way to treat the best
friend you haven’t seen in forever?”
             
“Eight years,” she said flatly. “And it wasn’t my choice not to see you. You
shut me out of your life. You refused to see me .”
             
“Well, I want to see you now,” Jackson soothed. “Doesn’t that count for
something?”
             
“Not really. You told me to grow up and move on, so I did.”
             
“Okay, so tell me about grown up Mel? What’s she like?” Jackson asked, leaning
back in his chair and linking his hands behind his head.
             
“What do you want to know?”
             
“How you ended up like this , for starters,” Jackson said, raking her
appearance with an appreciative glance. “You were always beautiful, but damn,
Mel, you got hot. What did you do to my best friend?”
             
Melody rolled her eyes, waving him off with a flippant flick of her hand. “I’m
still the same old nerd, just a little more polished on the outside.”
             
One dark brow arched high over piercing baby blues.
              “Fine. It happened in college. I thought since it was
a new place, I could get a new start. I joined the ‘cool’ sorority on campus.
They initially accepted me just to bring their grade point average up, but
ended up taking me under their collective wings.
             
“It was like one of those bad movie make-over montages… The braces had already
come off, so they took me to get my teeth whitened. They dragged me to get
waxed, buffed, and polished. I traded in my glasses for contacts, and then
eventually Lasik. They taught me how to put on makeup and how to smooth out my
frizzy hair. They took me shopping and gave me fashion advice until I could
dress myself without them sending me back to my room. Bippidy - bopiddy -boo, here I