Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Della
The last thing I want to be doing right now is sitting in Shadow’s room alone. Not because I’m unnerved or even frustrated about the state of desire coursing through me. It was the fact that we’d been about to have sex . . . here, where so many people could have heard us.
I’m not a prude by any means. For heaven’s sake, I had an office affair going for a while where all we did was screw behind a door that had people on the other side.
I think what bothers me is the fact I didn’t seem to care about any of this.
I wanted Shadow. I was the one who told him I wanted him, that I needed him.
We could have easily gone back out to where everyone else was gathered, but I wanted him to fuck me.
I asked and nearly pleaded, something I’ve never asked for.
The feel of his hand over my bra might as well have been on my breast. His touch seared through the fabric, burning me in a way I wanted so much more.
If the knock hadn’t come when it did, I’d been mere seconds from begging Shadow to rip my clothes off and take me. I wanted wild hot sex with him in a way I don’t know how to describe. I’d been ready to rip his clothes off and touch all of him.
Getting off Shadow’s bed, I luckily found he had an en suite bathroom. Good for me. I need to relieve myself after the large coffee he’d gotten for me.
It’s strange that I trusted him to get me coffee and knew that there was nothing wrong with it. I don’t think I’d allow anyone to do something like that for me other than my brother, and that’s saying a lot about the trust I have in a man I’m getting to know.
After last night, though, I feel I know him even if I don’t know every little thing about him. It’s the important things that I feel about what he does and how he acts around me that make it easy for me.
When it comes to men, I don’t think anything of the sort has ever been this way for me. Even before everything happened to me.
Finishing in the bathroom, I step back into his room and can hear a commotion outside the. I know Shadow told me to stay put, but curiosity draws me to the door.
I open it and step out, hearing the loud voices more clearly.
Wanting to know what’s going on, I make my way toward the main room and come to a stop just in the room, finding a deputy standing behind Shadow, his hands being cuffed.
What in the world is going on?
My heart sinks, and I want to demand to know what’s going on.
Shadow’s eyes come to mine, and he looks ready to explode.
“Della, baby, get back to the room,” he orders, drawing the attention of the sheriff deputy to me.
“What’s going on?” I demand, stepping farther in the room.
“Della, listen to Shadow, we have this handled,” Lucifer says, coming to stand close to me. Tormentor and Dread are closing in as well.
“Not until I know what’s going on. Why is Shadow being arrested?”
“Ma’am.” One deputy approaches, beady eyes looking over me. “You are?”
I straighten to my full height, not one for trusting those who wear the uniform.
It would take a miracle for me to trust them, mostly because I knew they would gladly turn the other way and pocket money to ignore the truth.
I’m sure not all law enforcement is like that, but I know deep down in my gut that this man would rather take a payout than find out the truth. It was written all over him.
“I’m Della Meadows,” I answer and point to Shadow. “His woman and your worst nightmare if you don’t tell me what the hell you’re arresting my man for.”
“Fuckin’ hell,” Tormentor grunts.
“Della, let us handle this,” Lucifer growls.
“Della, listen to them,” Shadow bites out.
“Not until I know what’s going on?”
“What’s going on is the fact your man has beaten and raped a woman,” the beady-eyed deputy states, eyes gleaming with glee. “You might want to find yourself another man.”
“When did this happen?” I demand, ignoring the look he’s giving me and his comment about me getting another man.
“Last night,” he answers, like that was answer enough.
I laugh and shake my head.
“You think it’s funny that your man raped and beat up a woman?”
“What’s your name, deputy?” I ask at the same time, looking at the tag on his uniform.
“Deputy Norton,” he answers.
“Well, Deputy Norton, I don’t find it funny. What I do find hilarious is the fact that you’re going off of assumptions without asking proper questions. Around what time did this take place?”
“Are you a lawyer or something?” Deputy Norton asks, the smugness wiped clean off his face.
“No, but if I need to, I’ll get one for Shadow, but I don’t see why that’s relevant for this matter. Now, what time did this supposedly happen?”
“Between eight and ten last night,” he answers coolly.
I shake my head and want to scream at the fact this deputy would arrest a man without asking him questions first about the ordeal. “Deputy Norton, you must not know how to do your job.”
“Excuse me?” he demands, those beady eyes, narrowing to little slits. “I should have you arrested.”
“On what charges? Asking questions? If you asked instead of jumping to conclusions about a situation you know nothing about, then you’d know Shadow couldn’t have done what you’re accusing him of.
He was with me, and I can confirm that we were out at Willow’s Bluff between those hours and well past them, in fact.
My phone’s GPS logs where I am and how long I’ve been there. ”
I had it set up that way for a reason. I didn’t want to take the chance of getting lost somewhere, and it helps.
“That doesn’t put Tyler King with you at the time of the rape,” Norton states.
“So, you’ll take the word of a woman, the victim, as you called her, and not the word of another woman who is indeed telling the truth?
” I snap accusingly. “Then go right ahead and do as you please. But I’ll be making some calls, and I will report you to your superiors.
Once I’m done with you, I’ll have your badge and gun.
I can’t stand it when people like you think because you have them that you don’t have to do things the right way. ”
“You can’t do anything to me.” Norton puffs out his chest, his face getting bright red.
“Right.” I sneer and pull my phone out of my back pocket. I find the number I’m looking for. I might have worked for a company that handles money all day long, but I’ve made connections and was owed favors from quite a few people, including who I’m calling now.
I lift the phone to my ear and wait for the answer.
“Della Meadows, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?” Senator Ricks says sweetly in my ear.
“Sorry to have to bother you, Senator Ricks. I wish I were calling for other reasons, but I need to call in a favor,” I tell the other woman.
Senator Ricks was a sweet woman who was great with politics and helping those in the state, She loved this country and was someone I knew wasn’t corrupted by those around her.
She took pride in her job. I also knew she grew up here in Saddle Ridge and had known my family.
She’d even been a friend of my mother’s long ago.
“You’re not a bother at all, Della, what can I help you with?” she asks.
Staring directly at Deputy Norton, I break it down for her on what I’ve been told thus far. The room had grown quiet, all eyes on me. Even some women I hadn’t noticed before were all staring at me.
“As you can see, there’s something not right with this situation, and I was hoping you’d be able to help me with it.”
“I will most definitely help you with it,” Senator Ricks says sternly. “Hand the phone over to Deputy Norton.”
“She wants to speak to you,” I state sweetly to the deputy, holding my phone in his direction.
Deputy Norton takes it and lifts it to his ears. Not a word is spoken while he gets his ass handed to him. I have no doubt that once Senator Ricks finishes scolding him, she’ll be calling his chain of command and reading them the riot act.
I wasn’t about to let Shadow be accused or arrested for something he did not do. The circumstances are different for what happened to me, but still, corruption can stick it however it may come.
Long moments later, Deputy Norton hands me my phone back, and I look to find the call had ended. With a glare in my direction, he looks to the deputies standing by Shadow.
“Let him go.”
Within minutes, the deputies clear the clubhouse, and Shadow is in front of me.
“What the fuck, woman?” he demands, nostrils flaring, eyes narrowed to little slithers.
“I wasn’t about to let them get away with something as stupid as that.
He didn’t want to believe that I was with you.
He wanted to put you away for something you did not do.
I won’t stand for that. So, if it means calling a favor that’s owed to me, then so fucking be it.
I won’t stand for corruption, and you know why.
I’ve only ever told two people about the night I was raped.
You believed me where those who should have didn’t.
So, sue me for refusing to let them win at something they shouldn’t have even brought to your door.
I doubt they even have a rape kit on the woman. They just took her word for it.”
I know I was ranting, and I didn’t care. I had a point to make, and I was making it.
“You told Tormentor earlier you were claiming me. That I was your ol’ lady.
If that’s the case, then I get to do whatever I need to do to make sure bullshit like this doesn’t happen to you.
You wouldn’t want someone to do that to me, would you?
You lost your shit when I told you about that night.
You wanted names. Well, I wanted to keep you safe because even when I told you I knew you were doing something that would get you in trouble.
I couldn’t let that happen. Just like I won’t see something happen to you because of some skanky bitch that no doubt has a chip on her shoulder because she’s not getting her way. ”
By the time I finish venting and rambling, the tension that seemed to be thickening by the minute had ramped up so much I could slice through it.
Every man in the room had heard me, and I felt my heart pounding because I knew exactly what I said and I didn’t mean to bring it up.
I never meant for others to know what I’d been through.
“Della, baby.” Shadow grunts and pulls me into his arms, holding me, shielding me from the thoughts that wanted to swarm me. “Reason for not wanting you to handle it is ‘cause we didn’t want you in those pigs’ sights. They’ll be gunning for you now.”
“No, they won’t. Senator Ricks isn’t the only connection I have, and if he so much as breathes in my direction, I’ll call in all my favors owed to me. I won’t put up with corruption.”
“How’d you know he was dirty?” Lucifer asks, his voice soft but alert.
Without looking in his direction, I answer him, “When you deal with them once, you learn to pick them out in a lineup. I don’t have to know a thing about him to feel it in my gut that he’s on that take for some reason or another.”
“Right.” Lucifer grunts and clears his throat. “You should have let us handle it, darlin’, but we appreciate the fact you had our VP’s back. Respect is earned, not given, in this club, and you just earned mine.”
A few others say words of agreement, and I feel like what they just gave me was something of utmost importance.
These men don’t trust easily. I don’t have to know them to figure that out, and I’ve earned their respect for sticking up for Shadow.
I didn’t need their respect to do something that anyone should do.
I also won’t ignore the fact that their respect is a gift given.
“Thank you,” I whisper, not looking in anyone’s direction, keeping my face buried in Shadow’s chest and holding tight to him.
“Appreciate you, little mouse, but don’t do that again,” Shadow murmurs for my ears only.
“If I do, you can’t be mad at me. I won’t see someone innocent taken down for something they didn’t do,” I tell him just as softly, making him chuckle.
“You’re something else, Della.”
“Now that the fun is over, let’s get back to starting this barbecue.”
I ignore Lucifer and all the rest. No matter the fact that I’d done what I’d done, I was still nervous about it, but I meant what I said.
They come for me, I’ll call in every favor owed to me.
I won’t hesitate. There’s a reason Luka didn’t want to let me go from the company I worked for.
I’d been damn good at my job and helped build the clientele to what it is.
If I wanted to, I could’ve taken clients away and opened my very own firm. Only that’s not what I wanted.
Not anymore.
Simple life. That’s all I’ve ever needed and what I’ll have from now on.