Chapter 19
Delayni
I wanted to say I never turned on the TV and saw a picture of myself glaring back at me underneath the words wanted, but that would be a lie.
My name and face were plastered all over ever local news channel and I figured they would haul my ass back to prison.
Every day I wake up and it is almost the first thing to enter my mind—Is today the day I go to back to prison.
Eventually, I got tired of seeing my face on there and quit turning it on—that was about a week back.
It could have been two weeks, I honestly lost count.
“I have a present for you.” North bounds on the bed and my body lifts off the mattress for a second from the force of his bounce. I nervously chew on the inside of my jaw and eye him.
“I didn’t get you anything, North. I have no way to get you anything in return right now.”
“You are all I need, Delayni, honestly. I swear I don’t want another thing out of this life from you except for you.
I can die a happy man as long as you are here with me.
I love you more than life itself and I don’t need you to buy me anything.
I swear.” My eyes roll over his face to gage his reaction.
I know he is serious, but I need reassurance for myself.
I don’t know why. It just makes me feel better, I guess.
“Ok, but as soon as I get some money, I am buying you a present in return,” I promise more to myself than to him.
I have been staying with him at the clubhouse over a month, not able to contribute much at all.
When I see things need picked up or cleaned, I do it as soon as I notice.
If something is out of place, I put it back where it goes, or at least where I think it goes.
Shit might end up in the wrong place, but I’m trying to help out.
That counts for something, right? I hope it does, because right now I have no other way to pay these guys back for what they did for me, especially North.
I know we shouldn’t feel like we owe the other anything, that’s not how a relationship works, but until I can pull my weight, I will continue to feel this way.
It’s how I have always been. I don’t like sitting around waiting for someone else to do things that I am fully capable of doing.
I could never be someone who had someone else wait on them hand and foot. Ick! Not my style.
“Whatever. Do what you think you need to do, because we both know you’re going to do it anyway,” he smiles briefly and gives me a knowing look.
We both know how stubborn I am, so there’s no point for me to try and deny it.
“Anyway, like I said, I have you a present. Close your eyes and don’t open them before I get back. ”
I do as he asks, keeping my eyes closed and listen to every tiny sound, just in case it is him coming back into the room. His boots lift and fall across the floor and his door creaks when he opens it wider to enter. “Now?” I ask, lifting my left eyelid open a smidge.
“NO!” he barks, and I close my eye as fast as I can. “Wait until I say you can open them.
“Now see, those are new rules. You told me I could open them when you came back and now, I have to wait for you to tell me to open them.” He huffs and I laugh.
“Put your hands in front of your body.”
I hold my hands out and flip my palms upward, expecting him to drop something into them. Something does fall into them, but it feels like paper. “Can I open my eyes?”
“Go ahead,” he beams, and I look at his face first. A gigantic grin is spread across his lips and he’s so excited he is practically bouncing from foot to foot.
Over paper? “Look at it.” My eyes drop to the stack of papers and I’m not exactly sure what it is that I’m holding, if I’m being honest. I think I know what it is, but I’m not going to assume anything anymore.
“What am I looking at, North?” My fingers flip through a few of the pages skimming the words, I see the words “not guilty” and a bunch of other legal jargon that is way over my head.
“Fallout is handling getting you fully exonerated.”
“So, Two Face and Jekyll found something?”
“They did. Enough to prove your innocence and now it’s up to Fallout’s expertise to expedite the process.”
Tears climb up my throat and fall from my eyes. I am overwhelmed with a mixture of joy and relief. “Not trying to look a gifted horse in the mouth or whatever that saying is, but how can Fallout make things go faster?”
North lifts his finger and taps his forehead, “He has a strong mind and persuade almost anyone to agree to anything he wants.” Right. Fallout can control people’s minds to the point the never know that the thought he plants in their brain came from anywhere other than within their brain.
“I could kiss Fallout, I swear,” I absentmindedly say, not really meaning it at all.
“The fuck you say. Those lips are mine.” My cheeks burn with embarrassment, and I peer at North through my lashes.
“It was a figure of speech. Ya know, a joke? Ever heard one of those?” I poke my finger between two of his ribs and he jerks backward. The man is actually the tiniest bit ticklish, but he will not admit it. Doesn’t matter, if he acknowledges it or not. He is.
“Yes, Delayni. I know what a joke is,” he smirks. “I just kind of thought you would be happier. Is this not what. You wanted? To be able to walk on the streets without constantly looking over your shoulder?”
“No. I mean yes, this is exactly what I want, North. I just. It is just so surreal to think that I might be able to walk around as a free woman after spending so much time in lock up. I think after a person is in a prison for so long, they learn to get used to being let down. I did anyway. I know you said the Kings would help and I believed you whole-heartedly. Really, I did. I promise. I just didn’t want to get my hopes and be let down again.
It’s not that I did not believe in you or your brothers coming through on your word.
It is because I didn’t have it in. myself to believe I deserved good things anymore, It’s not a you thing, it’s a me thing.
” I sigh, letting my shoulders slump and stare at the red sheet I am sitting on to keep from looking North directly in the eyes.
There’s no hiding anything from him, he is a literal telepath, but he does try to give people their privacy.
According to him some people have louder thoughts than others, and apparently mine are pretty dang hard to ignore.
So, not looking at him really is pointless.
“Delayni, you deserve the world do you hear me? You. Deserve. Everything. Get those other thoughts out of your head. I want you to remember who you belong to. Who do you belong to, Delayni?” I point at him. “No. I want to hear you say it. Who do you belong to, Delayni?”
“I belong to you, North.” A small smile creeps onto om lips. The man might have a career as a cheerleader if being a biker and a telepath does not work out for him.
“That’s right you fucking do and I’m the best,” he cackles with laughter, kissing the tip of my nose, pulling me into his arms. “It’ll all be over soon, little fox, and then you can come out of your burrow.
But I’ve kind of enjoyed keeping you to myself in our little love nest.” North pulls my body against his and then he kisses the top of my head.
Other than having the sinking feeling that I was going to get hauled away at any moment, I have loved being here with North.
Never in my wildest dreams could I ever imagined two months ago that I would see anything more than prison walls and cages.
“You are, North. You’re the best. I really mean it. I love you with all of my heart and soul.”
“I love you more than that.”
“Is that even possible to love someone more than that? I don’t know that it is. Is it?”
“Sure. I love you with every inch of my fucking body, too,” he announces, and I want to one-up him, but don’t have it in me to take this one away from him.
We press each other’s buttons and push each other to our limits, but isn’t that what any relationship does?
If it doesn’t, then it isn’t for me. I can tell you that much.
I guess it does not matter how anybody else handles their relationships, because I don’t want one with anyone else except for North.
“Fine. You win. Now get over here and love me with every inch of your fucking body, will you?” I tug at his shirt, pulling him on top of me and extending my neck to reach his lips. He rolls on top of me and smiles against my mouth.
“Yes, ma’am.”