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.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Shadow
The moment Deputy Norton looked in Della’s direction, I wanted to beat the hell out of him for it. I’d been pissed with Della for not listening and staying in my room when I asked her to.
Instead, she followed and found me cuffed in the middle of the room, about to be escorted to the station. I wasn’t going to bring her into the middle of the mess that Marcy’s put me in. Only Della waded in and surprised every damn one of my brothers and me with what she did.
Still, it pissed me off because now she’s gone and put a target on her back. I was gonna have to make sure she was safe from any backlash for what she’s done.
When Tormentor had come to my room to get me and walked away saying stupid bitch, I should have known exactly what I was walking into, only I hadn’t, and that was my fuck up.
Out of everything that happened, though, I gotta admit, no matter how much it pissed me off, I’m damn proud of Della for what she did. She didn’t have to do anything. She sure as fuck didn’t have to stand up for me against a cop, no matter whether he was dirty or not. Still, she did it and, in return, earned the respect of my brothers. The ones who weren’t here to witness it would hear about it and give her the same respect those who were have given.
Della’s accomplished something most don’t ever get unless you’re a member of this club.
As much as I want to take Della back to my room and finish what we started, it was gonna have to wait. I needed to make sure there was going to be nothing else happening here today. We don’t know what will happen now that she’s stood up to Deputy Norton.
My brothers and I knew he was one of the few at the police station who could be easily bought and corrupted. What he did today confirmed what we knew. He’d never done anything to bring attention to himself in the past but now we had his number. I wasn’t sure what was said on his end when Della handed him the phone, however, he hadn’t looked pleased by it either. I’m guessing, he wasn’t gonna have a job for long.
I figured this out after talking to Della some more about how she knew Senator Ricks. The way she spoke about her, I gathered my woman was fond of the Senator and liked working with her. I also knew she’d been reelected and held the people’s favor. She was one who was for those she served.
“Your woman is something else,” Dread grunts, coming to sit on the top of a picnic table next to me.
“Yeah, she is,” I agree, watching Della talking to Minx. The other saddle bunnies hadn’t approached and gave her a wide berth since the cops left earlier, but Minx hadn’t.The two of them seemed to hit it off. Strange as it is. I didn’t care. I never fucked Minx and had no reason to worry about the woman.
