Shadow closes his eyes and seems to absorb those words as I say them again.
“I love you, Tyler King. Always. You mean the world to me.”
“Little mouse, you are my world,” he says, raspily, and reaches up to curl a hand around my neck. “I mean it, Della, you are my world.”
“I believe you.”
I didn’t need him to repeat it. One look at his expression says it all.
His actions speak volumes for what he’s done for me.
“When they discharge you from the hospital, I want you to come home with me, not to the ranch,” Shadow demands, his thumb stroking the side of my neck where his hand is still gripped.
“You want me to move in?” I blurt out.
“Yeah, baby, I want you in my bed every damn night.” He nods.
“You know we’ve only been together . . .”
“Della, we could have been together a day, and I’d want you in my bed. Time is nothing when I know what I want, which if you haven’t figured it out, is you, baby. You in our home. At least the one we have now. Eventually, we’ll build a house on the ranch. I know you want to live there. Be close to your brother. Help where you can.”
I do want to live on the ranch. I want to be close to my brother.
“Okay.” I nod, holding Shadow’s gaze. “I’ll move in, but we’re gonna need another rocking chair on the front porch.”
Shadow chuckles and shakes his head. “Anything you want, little mouse. I’ll get you whatever you want.”
“You should know, all I want is you.”
Shadow is the only person in the world I’d ever want to hold on to. He’s the other half of me, as the light of the sun matches the darkness of night. We fit as one as day to night.
“Before you go get my brother, will you kiss me again?”
Shadow grants me with one of his smiles, the one that I know is meant just for me, and leans in. “You never have to ask me to kiss you, baby. I’ll kiss you anytime you want.”
“Then kiss me, Tyler.”
I wanted his kiss as much as I wanted my next breath. I wanted him at my side. I wanted forever with this man. I knew he’d shield me from the bad. Hold me when I was sad. Stand with me when I needed him to. When I talk to my brother about what happened and what I heard. He’d be there to help me however he had to.
EPILOGUE
Shadow
One Month Later . . .
“You good?” Tormentor asks, standing next to me, eyes straight ahead.
“More than good.” It wasn’t a lie. I couldn’t be better if I tried. Watching the scene play out in front of my brothers and me was surely satisfying. Though not as satisfying as when I get back home to Della.
Over the past weeks, with her healing from the bullshit she went through, we’ve grown closer. I hadn’t wanted to leave her yesterday, but I had business to attend to here in Tennessee.
Watching the men who’d hurt my sweet little mouse, Della, all those years ago feels damn good. Dread made sure when they went down, those who didn’t help my woman when she asked for help also went with them. I wasn’t fucking around. As they say, karma’s a bitch. The woman who helped them, well, seeing her put in cuffs was a sight to see. She fought and screamed about not knowing what was going on. The best part is that they did it in front of her husband and his family.
That man looked pissed, and I didn’t give a fuck that he didn’t know his wife was capable of something as vile as filming another woman’s rape while laughing.
“Let’s get back home,” I tell my brothers as I turn my back on the sight and straddle my bike. I was done here. As much as I wanted to kill the bastards for what they did to Della, them rotting in prison cells would be a much better punishment. I’d find out which prison they were in and make sure word got around that they were rapists. They wouldn’t be lasting long in there.
“You gonna tell, Della, about this?” Dread asks.
