"I told you that you would be sorry Carter. Read them and weep, full house!" Melissa stated laying her cards down.
"Damn, you must be cheating because you have won every game we have played."
Melissa and Nick decided to play strip poker and Melissa was winning. Nick was down to boxers, while she had all her clothes on.
"How did you get so good at poker?"
"Well when I was younger, my mom and Jonathon's mom use to have game nights every week. Once Jonathon and I were old enough to understand, they taught us."
"Okay, you should have mentioned that before we started playing."
"Aww, what's the fun in that?" She smiled at him. Nick couldn't help just watching her. When she laughed, his heart soared. "What are you staring at Carter?"
"My beautiful and enchanting fiancée, that's what I'm staring at."
"There's that Carter charm I know and love. You wouldn't be trying to sweet talk your way out of removing an article of clothing, are you?"
"Maybe." He smirked at her.
"It won't work, Carter. I won and you lost, so remove those boxers!"
"How about you show some sportsmanship and remove your top."
"I don't think so; you are trying to get me naked!"
"Can't you blame me?" She laughed at him. "Is that all you think about?"
"No, I think about how beautiful you are, how incredibly sexy you are, and how much I love you."
"Good try Carter, but rules are rules."
"Fine." Nick stood up and placed his hands on the hem of the boxers, but then quickly he grabbed a pillow off the bed.
"What are you doing?"
"Breaking the rules!" He stated before hitting her with the pillow on her side.
"I can't believe you did that." He just smiled at her, holding the pillow in front of him.
"Well I did, so what are you going to do about it, Angel?" Melissa slowly stood up and reached for the other pillow."
"Fight back!" She said, hitting him with the pillow. A pillow fight erupted between them, causing feathers to fly everywhere.
"Look at the mess you made!" Nick replied once they destroyed the pillows they were holding.
"Me? You started this, not me!" She stated picking out the feathers from her hair. A memory came to him as he watched her.
Nick just stopped and looked at Melissa. She had snowflakes in her hair and her cheeks were red from the cold. "She is beautiful, amazing, and everything I ever wanted."
"I'm going to go and clean up." Melissa stated and turned to head to the bathroom, but Nick stopped her. He pulled her close and looked into her eyes. "Nick, are you okay?" He smiled sweetly at her and nodded his head.
"A memory came to me when you playing with your hair."
"Our snowballs fight in front of my house."
"Yeah, you looked so beautiful with snowflakes in your hair, your cheeks red from the cold. At that moment I knew you were the one for me. I didn't want anyone else in the world, but you, my Angel." Tears welled up in her eyes, listening to Nick's confession.
"I'm so tired of crying, that's all I have done today. I just need..."
"Anything you need Angel, just tell me and I'll do everything in my power to give it to you." Hearing his confession, made her heart soar with love for him.
"All I need is you, Nick. You have made me so happy. I feel blessed to have you in my life. Throughout everything, you have been by my side, ready to catch me if I fall. I can't thank you enough for all the support you have given me." She wiped a tear that ran down her cheek. "I'm your Angel, but you Nick, you are my guardian angel."
Nick gently grabbed her head and captured her lips in a kiss. Once they broke apart, they rested their foreheads together.
"I have another game for us to play." She glanced up at him.
"And what is that?" He asked brushing her hair behind her ear.
"Well it would involve you removing your boxers!"
"Alright, we all agree then. We will do everything and anything to keep Adam away from Mel!" Julie stated to everyone as they all sat in the living room.
"I don't know about this guys. Mel asked us to stay away from Adam." Alyssa stated.
"Mel was worried that Adam would come after us, but we all know that his target is Mel. He wants her and no one else." Jonathon added.
"We have to do this for Mel, she doesn't deserve this." Julie said looking at everyone.
"No one doubts that Mel doesn't deserve what Adam is putting her through, but this could get dangerous." Howie replied looking Julie.
"Howie, how would you feel if Alyssa's life was in jeopardy? Could you stand by and do nothing while the creep harassed her?" AJ asked him.
"That's not fair AJ! You know I would do anything to protect Alyssa. I just don't want to see anyone get hurt."
"So Mel should be the only one to get hurt?!" Jonathon asked Howie.
"Of course not Jonathon, no one wants to see Mel get hurt. What Howie is trying to say is maybe we should involve the cops, let them handle it." Alyssa stated defending her boyfriend.
"That won't stop Adam, we have tried that. He could always stay below the radar; the cops could never prove he did anything to Mel." Julie replied angrily.
"I think we all need to calm down, this isn't helping. We need to stand together and not fight with one another." Jeni stated, hoping everyone would listen.
"Jeni's right. This isn't helping anyone, especially Mel." AJ responded. "How about a compromise? We do what we can to keep Adam away from Mel, but it gets too risky, we get the cops involved."
"Fine, but no one mentioned it to Mel or Nick. It stays between us!" Julie stated, but was interrupted.
"What are you guys talking about?" Nick asked as he and Melissa entered the room.
"Oh we were debating what movie to watch." Howie said making room for Nick and Melissa to sit down. They sat down, Melissa sitting in Nick's lap.
"That reminds me, Mel we never got to see what was on that tape!" Jeni mentioned.
"What tape?" AJ asked Jeni.
"It was a tape that was in the VCR, we were going to watch it, but that was when...well you know." AJ looked over at Nick; he just took a deep breath.
"Alright what should we watch?" Howie asked everyone.
"Let's see what's on TV." Alyssa stated, turning on the television. A familiar image appeared on the screen. Nick knew instantly what they were watching.
"What is this?" Julie asked.
"Alyssa, honey hand me the remote." Howie stated reaching for the control.
"I know what this is; it's the video we were going to watch. I caught a glimpse of it before the windows got broken."
"That the mall, I recognize those stores!" Jeni added.
"Of course you do!" Alyssa laughed. "Oh my gosh, that's us!"
"What's going on? Why do you guys have a video of us at the mall?" Jeni asked looking at AJ. AJ looked over at Nick. He didn't know what to do.
"Look, it's focusing on Mel!" Julie said. Melissa stood up and walked over to the TV, just as she did, Adam's voice came over the tape.
"I can get to her whenever I want and you can't stop me. Face it Nick, she's mine and will always be. I had her first and I will have her last. You can hire ten bodyguards to protect her, but nothing will stop me. How does it feel to know you can't protect the woman you love? Don't worry Nicky boy, I'll take good care of her."
The video went fuzzy and everyone was quiet, too scared to say anything. Nick slowly got up and walked over to her.
"Mel?" He asked placing his hand on her shoulder.
