Chapter 19 Darvill and Denise
NINETEEN
DARVILL AND DENISE
Shanti bumped me, shoulder to shoulder, as we walked by Gabe’s man-mobile in the guest spot on our way to our apartments after our All Angels briefing at AAHQ.
Luna, Jess, Harlow and Gemma got in and out of Duane’s with what we figured they’d get. A note in the fridge asking for the Angels’ help and for us to leave another note to say where we thought we could meet so we wouldn’t be seen.
Since we took care of that at the motel, it was sorted.
And Luna, Jess, Harlow and Gemma were all in on Raye’s unplanned plan to screw over anyone who screwed Duane, and to extricate Jinx’s head from her ass about Noah.
In other words, we’d had a mission dry spell.
But it was all systems go now.
“I love that for you,” Shanti said, referring to Gabe’s car being here, meaning he was waiting at home for me.
I punched in the code to the security gate thinking I’d love her to try things with Liam so she’d have a hot guy to go home to, too.
I didn’t say that.
I said, “Not as much as me.”
And that was no lie.
We exchanged smiles before we called hellos to the tenants hanging in the courtyard, and Shanti headed their way.
But I went right to my door.
When I got inside, I saw Gabe lazed on my olive-green velvet couch, eating a cupcake and watching something on TV.
I gave myself a moment to drink him in.
Mm…yes.
It was good having a hot guy to come home to.
“Hey,” I said, walking in and dropping my bag (that had my Taser and holster in it, so it landed with a thump) on the armchair.
“C’mere,” he murmured after he switched off the television.
And I saw I had sweet, sexy Gabe back, and not scary, furious (still sexy) Gabe.
(Also important to note, of course he was that guy who was more interested in his woman coming home than whatever he was watching on television. Gah!)
I went there and Gabe adjusted so we’d both fit, stretched out on the couch.
My couch had deep seats, but this was accomplished because I was mostly lying on him.
Truth: I’d thought of this often when we were watching TV, how it would feel to be cuddled on my couch with Gabe.
Fact: it felt fucking amazing.
“You get done what you needed to get done?” he asked before pushing the last bite of cupcake into his mouth.
“Duane is in for setting those jerks up for a takedown, but whatever we’re going to do is going to take a lot of scheming, and I’m not sure the Angels have ever pulled off anything complicated.”
“You know you got resources if you need help planning.”
They were all just the best guys.
I didn’t confirm I knew that.
I shared, “And now we have the new mission of getting Jinx’s head out of her ass after she screwed the pooch when her accountant client, who’s in love with her, offered to take her away from the life, and she threw it in his face.”
“Well, fuck,” Gabe muttered.
“You can say that again,” I muttered in return.
“You’re wading into that?” he asked, sounding like he didn’t think it was a good idea.
“She burst into tears, Gabe, and she’s not a crying type of female. As in, oh-so-totally not one.”
“Ah,” Gabe replied.
“And Raye’s on a tear to make everything all right for everybody, and you know what that means.”
“Yeah, it was me who dropped you off at your pimped-out headquarters yesterday. I know what it means.”
Hmm.
Moving on.
“Has Liam ever mentioned anything about Shanti?”
He assumed the universal male I’m-not-gonna-lay-my-brother-out-there expression.
“He’s not into her,” I whispered, my eyes roving over his expression.
“He thinks she’s gorgeous and has it going on.”
My heart took flight.
“And his mom is a Rock Chick, and he has no intention of following in his dad’s footsteps,” he continued.
My lips turned down.
“Baby, I know his parents’ story. It’s some intense shit. I get where he’s coming from,” he finished.
Since Shanti had a type, and both of those men were her type, including their race, I asked, “What about Roam?”
“Roam’s a long story too.”
“I know about his story. He was adopted with Cap by Shirleen. They were both on the street before that.”
“Did you know he took a bullet for one of the other Rock Chicks? Jules? And she took two for him and nearly died doin’ it.”
I wasn’t sure, in all the terrifying information that filtered down about all of that, if I remembered that part.
But that seemed more terrifying than all the rest, so I figured I’d remember it if I’d heard it.
Or I didn’t remember because I blocked it out.
I made a face at Gabe.
Gabe concluded that one too with, “He’s got some shit to work out.”
Okay.
Well, that was that I guessed.
Bluh.
Time to move on.
And this wasn’t any better.
Indeed, it was a lot worse.
But after that afternoon, it had to be done.
“His name was Christian Darvill,” I whispered.
Gabe’s body grew taut.
He knew it was worse as well, probably because Brody already gave Gabe his name, and me bringing up the reason why Gabe was so pissed earlier would definitely be a worse topic of discussion.
“I was a sophomore. He was a junior,” I continued.
“He wanted to have sex with me. I wasn’t ready.
He pushed it. I pushed back. He took offense to that and decided to lash out.
And rearranging my clothes after I fell asleep watching TV with him at his parents’ house, taking pictures of me, lying to his buds that he did me, and sharing those pictures was how he did it. ”
None of this made Gabe any less tense.
In fact, the opposite.
Times a million.
But we were there.
We had to share this stuff.
So might as well get it all out.
“Those pictures made the rounds,” I went on.
“Life got really awful for a long time. Mom flipped her shit. Went to the principal, who told her, since the event that started it didn’t happen on school grounds or during any school activities, there was nothing he could do.
She went to Christian’s parents, who refused to believe Christian was behind it, even if the picture showed me on their couch, and it was clear I was dead asleep.
She then went to the school board, who told her there was nothing they could do, using the same excuses as the principal.
So she finally took me to visit the cops, where I told them I’d been sexually assaulted in my sleep, and I had the pictures to prove it. Things went a lot faster from there.”
Gabe didn’t say anything, he just stared at me, the rage back in his eyes.
I couldn’t help him with that until he had it all, so I set about giving him the last of it.
“In the end, Christian was so humiliated, after he explained things to a judge, who wasn’t super thrilled by his shit, and he paid his consequences, which included a stint in juvie, his parents had to move him to another school.
My friends made sure everyone at that school knew he was bad news, so he didn’t have much fun there, either. ”
Gabe remained silent.
“Jen was the ringleader of that,” I said sadly. “She really had my back when all of that went down. I still appreciate it, and her being so strong for me is part of why I’m so incredibly bummed she was weak for Sheldon, and she ended up where she did.”
Somehow (I knew how, because Gabe was that guy), he managed to remain incensed and still tuck my hair behind my ear affectionately.
I kept going in order to be done with it.
“Mom encouraged me to push the sexual assault thing, so I didn’t back down.
I don’t know what the different definitions of sexual assault are, but the cops said that exposing a woman without her consent, photographing her and disseminating those photos is a version of it.
At my age, it was also producing and distributing child pornography.
Christian was also underage. He was still pretty fucked. ”
“Good,” Gabe grunted.
Yes, it was good.
“In the end, his parents had no choice but to come to terms with what he did, and they made him write me an apology. He did. I read it. It read like someone was making him write it. But he did it.”
“You know all of this is only making me want to be certain he isn’t still pulling this kind of shit, right?”
I sighed.
Then I nodded.
“Denise,” he said.
Oh God.
He was going to tell me.
My stomach clenched.
“Denise?” I whispered.
When I said her name, everything about him changed, and it was not a good change.
Not in the slightest.
“Sweet, fuck, so sweet,” he whispered back.
My stomach twisted.
“Your first love?” I guessed.
He nodded. “I was twenty-four, out of college, out of the academy, already a couple of years on patrol. She wasn’t a knockout, like you, but she was really fuckin’ pretty.”
He thought I was a knockout?
“The guy before me, her boyfriend, he was no good.”
Oh no.
It didn’t take a genius to put together how he woke up that morning, and his reaction to Christian’s antics, that this was going to be extreme.
Therefore, slowly, I closed my eyes to prepare for what I was about to get.
“Lots of manipulation, lots of control,” Gabe said, and I opened my eyes.
“Said shit about her body, what she’d eat, what she’d wear, wore her down.
Made her question herself. Then made her feel small.
Forced distance between her and her friends, even her family.
He did this so he had her on her own with no one there to tell her he was bad news, and she needed to get shot of him.
No one there to contradict all the shit he was planting in her head. ”
“What happened then?” I asked when he said no more.
“When he hit her the first time, she felt she’d burned her bridges because they had his number and they’d all told her she should get shot of him.
She thought she had no one to go to, but it still tweaked her enough, she left him.
He sweet-talked her back. It happened again, and he sweet-talked her back again. ”
I knew all about that, even if my story wasn’t nearly as dire.
“She was in the cycle,” I deduced morosely.