23. Char
CHAR
My leg jiggled and it felt like I was rocking the entire room with it. I picked at the food that Carlyle delivered to us, taking bite after bite before washing it down with some water.
Holy hell, it felt so good to eat.
“How long until they call?” I asked after eating through half of the food in front of me.
Abbie plucked her cell phone out of her briefcase and placed it on the table. “Here, we can watch it together. But if all goes according to plan, Nielson should call the second they have Marcie in handcuffs.”
I froze. “Handcuffs?”
She smiled as she reached over and took my hand. “We’re showing everything to Commander Hadley today. We were just waiting for all of the labs to come back. He’s about to see everything we’ve pulled, plus the video footage you and the guys brought to us.”
My leg stopped jiggling and I leaned back in my chair. Was it over? Was it really about to be over?
“Yes,” Abbie said as she released my hand as I fell back, “it’s almost over.”
I almost couldn’t believe it. We pulled it off. We had really, genuinely pulled it off. “So, I can go home today?”
Her smile grew. “Once we have her in handcuffs, you’ll be cleared to go.”
I blinked. “What about the paperwork? Is there a process?—”
She held up her hand. “You weren’t processed.”
I tilted my head. “What?”
“When I got here, it was the first thing that I did. Marcie tried to push processing you through, but I came by and reminded her that there has to be a baseline of evidence set forth before processing can be enacted. It stopped the process in its tracks.”
I swallowed hard. “You… you did?”
She nodded. “Yes, I did. So when we have her in handcuffs, there’s no paperwork. There’s nothing official that has to happen. She’ll be processed, and you’ll be free to go.”
“Free to go?”
“Yep. Free to go.”
“Free to go anywhere?”
She winked at me. “Yes, free to go anywhere.”
There was a sound in the distance that turned my head. Bikes. It was bikes. Motorcycles sounded like hell barreling toward you, and I’d know that sound anywhere. But then, Abbie’s phone lit up.
“Is that Nielson?” I asked breathlessly.
She nodded, but she didn’t put the phone to her ear. “He texted m—stand up.”
“What?”
She put down her phone and quickly stood. “I said stand up, Miss Char.”
I launched to my feet. “Why? What’s going on? What’s happening?”
The rumbling grew. My eyes widened as I turned toward the interrogation room door.
I wrung my hands against my body as I shuffled on my feet.
As the seconds ticked by, the rumbling grew.
The ground shook beneath my feet as if everyone in the fucking world jiggled their legs all at once.
But I waited for them to move away. There was no way we got away with this.
There was no way in hell this worked. However, they didn’t fade away.
The sound grew and grew until all my body knew was its rumbling.
Until all my ears knew were its harsh tones.
Engines revved before silence descended upon the precinct, and that’s when I heard it.
That’s when hope finally blossomed in my chest.
I heard three very distinct bootfalls, all with a different cadence to them. A cadence my heart beat for. A cadence my heart beat to.
“They came back,” Abbie whispered as she walked up to my side.
I froze. I didn’t know what to do as I heard laughing. Clapping. Hollering. Cheering. Tears dripped down my cheeks as my knees locked out. My muscles went into a stalemate. Everything about my body came to a grinding halt as a party seemed to grow just beyond the closed interrogation room door.
And above the cacophony, I heard the most melodious sound.
“Chaaaaar!” Gauge roared. “We did it! She’s been arresteeeeeed!”
I didn’t even get a chance to tear for the door before it flew open. Gauge’s bountiful presence and wide smile pulled me out of my zone, and I took off for him. He strode for me, his massive arms outstretched and his beautiful hazel eyes welcoming me home.
I leapt into his arms and wrapped my entire self around him.
“Oh my God,” I choked out. “Gauge. It’s you.”
He fell to his knees, burying his face into the crook of my neck. “It’s me, angel. I’m here. I’ve got you.”
My body shook as heaping sobs wracked my body. “Holy fuck, it’s really you.”
I sobbed against him as he held me close.
His hand enveloped the back of my head, pulling me ever so close to him.
I wrapped my arms around his neck. I did my best to lock my legs around his waist. He was the most brutal, mountainous man I ever came across.
And when I felt his tears falling to my shoulder, I reared my head back so that I could cup his face in my hands.
“I love you,” I whispered.
His red gaze searched mine as he held me close. “You do?”
I stroked my thumbs along the stubble of his cheeks. “Oh God, do I ever.”
The instant his lips crashed to mine, I was transported.
I didn’t give a fuck who saw. I didn’t give a damn who watched.
All that I cared about was the way his tongue traced the roof of my mouth.
All I cared about was the way his arm cradled the small of my back as he knelt there, perched, with me in his lap.
I wanted to wrap myself around him and never let go.
I pressed my chest flush with his, my body begging to be ever closer to him.
It felt like an eternity since we had seen one another, and it stirred something dark within me.
Something I’d been starving for since the moment they dragged me away.
“All right, all right,” Dallas said as his voice made me gasp, “my turn now. Gimme.”
Gauge pulled back and gave my nose a little peck. “You’re coming home with us. Understood?”
I nodded without a second thought as I reached out toward Dallas. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Dallas laughed as he pulled me up to my feet. “Come here, sweet girl.”
“Oh, Dallas,” I choked out.
I flung my arms around his neck and pulled myself up to him.
He gathered me into his arms, holding me close as my legs effortlessly locked around his lean waist. My forehead fell to his as a smile crossed my face.
He swayed me softly side to side as he cupped my ass cheeks, as if we were dancing.
And as his sparkling green orbs held my watery icy stare, I couldn’t help myself.
I pressed my lips to his and that was all it took.
He growled down the back of my throat as he claimed my mouth with his. He sucked on my lower lip, pulling a soft moan from my throat, even as we stood in that interrogation room. Life flooded my veins. My heart came alive, beating heavily against my sternum as it threatened to break free.
“I love you,” I murmured down the back of his throat.
That caught his attention, and he quickly pulled his head back. “What was that?”
“She said she loves you, idiot,” Deac said from the doorway.
I smiled over Dallas’s shoulder. “Deacon.”
“I love you, too,” Dallas said.
My gaze returned to his. “Take me home? Yeah?”
I’d never forget that smile he gave me so long as I live. “Your wish is my command.”
“In a second,” Deac said once he came into the room, “when I’ve had my turn. Now put her down.”
His gaze darkened as Dallas placed me down onto my feet.
Deac’s brooding brown stare hardened on me as he stalked closer.
I rolled my shoulders back. I held my head high as the proud man cloaked me in his shadow.
The salt-and-pepper at his temples called to my fingertips.
His pouty lower lip begged to be sucked on.
I wanted nothing more than to fling myself into his arms and never let go.
But I waited for him to make the first move.
And when he did, he picked me up into his arms and swung me around.
“Deacon!” I squealed.
“Ha-ha-HAAAAH! You miraculous woman!”
He spun me around until I felt sick. “I’m gonna puke, Deac! Ah!”
He quickly stopped and held me so close that I almost couldn’t breathe. “My God, I adore you.”
I melted into his strong muscles. “Take me home, Deacon. I don’t want to be here anymore.”
He kissed the top of my head before my body levitated, cradled by his protective hold. “You heard the woman. Let’s get her home.”
“Let me go!” Marcie shrieked.
My body tightened as I curled deeper into Deac’s chest.
“This is all a big mistake!” she continued screaming. “You have no idea what they’re capable of, Commander! They can’t be allowed to leave. They turned Ryan dirty! They’re the reason he was doing what he was doing!”
“Please get me out of here,” I whispered desperately.
The commander’s voice sounded in the room. “I can’t possibly begin to apologize for what you guys have been through due to one of my own.”
Deac turned both of us toward the voice, but I didn’t look at him. I wanted to block everything out. I wanted to get as far away from Marcie as possible. However, when Deac walked toward the man, I wiggled down from his arms.
“Char?” Deac asked.
I turned and faced Hadley. “I think you owe me a promise.”
Hadley nodded. “You are owed much more than that.”
“Then if you make me a promise, we’ll call it even. Yeah?”
His forlorn look broke my heart. “Of course.”
“Marcie needs help.”
“What?” the guys asked in unison.
The commander tilted his head. “Help.”
I nodded. “Yes. She needs help, not prison. She’s got a very serious God complex that needs to be sorted out.”
“I agree with that assessment, actually,” Dr. Johnston, the psychiatrist, said as he came out of the holding cell area.
I heard Marcie shrieking and screaming up a storm until the door latched shut behind him.
“Thank you,” I said as I nodded to Dr. Johnston.
He came to stand with all of us. “Commander Hadley, I’d like to officially offer you my services, if it helps. I really do believe that Miss Dickerson needs more help than our prison reform system is going to give her. If Miss Char here is willing to give her a fighting chance, I say we take it.”
Dr. Johnston held out his hand, but Hadley simply looked at it.
“Commander?” I asked.
He looked over at me. “If she needs help, she’ll get it.”
Then he held out his hand, and he and Dr. Johnston shook on it.
“Does that mean we’re free to go?” Deac asked.
Commander Hadley looked that man square in the eyes as his voice strengthened. “We have a real mess to clean up here with everything my agent has pulled. So as far as I’m concerned? You guys are free to go. But don’t give us an excuse to be back down here. Got it?”
“Don’t have to tell us twice,” Gauge said as he shoved his way through the crowd and plucked me up from my feet.
“Gauge!” I squealed through my giggling.
“And treat that woman right!” Hadley called out after us.
“Trust us, we plan on it,” Dallas said as he followed after me and Gauge.
I kicked my happy little legs in the air as me and my boys headed out of the precinct. I heard Marcie screaming in the holding cell area, but her voice quickly faded into nothing when we got outside. Oh God. Sunlight.
“Put me down,” I said.
Gauge did as I asked, and I turned my face to the sky.
The sun was low on the horizon, painting everything gold, and a cool breeze kicked up, and dear God, it felt wonderful to be alive.
I held out my arms and closed my eyes. I soaked up the warm rays, feeling it rejuvenate and flush energy through my veins.
I drew in deep breaths, rejoicing in the fresh air and not the stale, putrid scent of my own pee.
“Whenever you’re ready, angel,” Gauge murmured.
My arms flopped to my sides. “Can we take the long way home? God, I want to be outside so badly.”
Deacon shoved his way to the front of the crew and wrapped his arm possessively around my waist. “We can take any route you’d like.”
“Wait, who says she’s riding with you?” Dallas asked.
“Good question,” Gauge said as he cocked an eyebrow.
“Ahem.”
We all turned at the sound of my lawyer clearing her throat.
My heart sank to my toes as everyone gathered around me.
She clutched her briefcase in her hand as her wild curly hair bounced in the wind.
Her pencil skirt drew the eye of just about everyone.
Well, everyone except for my boys. They were mine.
And no one could have them.
“Everything okay?” I asked hesitantly.
She smiled as she plucked the pen from the inside of her breast pocket.
She reached for my hand, turning the top of it toward her, and placed the pen to my skin.
I watched numbers appear before she wrote down her name.
I furrowed my brow as she clicked the pen and placed it back in its rightful place.
And as she brushed past us, her voice rode the coattails of the wind that kept kicking up.
“Give me a call if you ever need anything,” she said with a broad smile.
I smiled right back. “Maybe we could get you on retainer?”
“That’s not a half bad idea, actually,” Deac murmured.
Abbie patted my shoulder before she grabbed her briefcase. “I look forward to the phone call.”
Then as I watched her head toward the shiny red convertible in the parking lot, I smiled as she tossed her briefcase into the back.
Deacon swept me off my feet.
“Come on, let’s go home,” he said as he walked me over to his bike.
And my heart rejoiced when we moved away from my apartment… and toward the clubhouse.