Rain
It’s beendays since the arrest, but the anxious feeling inside of me won’t go away. Being arrested wasn’t the problem, though.
No, it was the way that man talked to me. He thinks he is higher than the law. That he can do whatever he wants. Unfortunately, people in his position abuse their power and get away with it. The feeling of dread inside of me has me believing he will too.
I’ve been trying to hide my feelings from Ridge, though. As soon as he saw me at the station, he held me to him like he thought he’d almost lost me. Then he demanded that I tell him everything.
Seeing the anger on his face as I told him some of the things Detective Hampton said to me made me realize that if I told him he touched me, he would kill him. I cannot have Ridge go to prison, so I wisely kept that bit to myself.
The lawyer the club hired has been trying to figure out what avenues we can take to lodge formal complaints. It looks like the body cam footage from that night included every other cop, but not Hampton. He claims it malfunctioned, but we believehe never had one on. It doesn’t help that the one that would normally be inside a cop car didn’t exist, so it didn’t record our conversation either. I guess he doesn’t usually transport, so his car isn’t required to be equipped with one. They already knew the cameras were off when he interrogated Ridge. The rage I felt when I found out that he tried to strangle my husband? Yeah, I can see why Ridge would be willing to go to jail for murder.
I kept my cool, though. I went back to work and acted like everything was fine. Still, I can’t help but look over my shoulder and wonder when he will harass us next.
“That’s the third time you have looked out the window. Want to tell me what’s bothering you?” Ridge calls from the couch.
I hadn’t even realized that I kept walking to the window. All I know is that I feel restless. I cannot relax.
“No. Not really,” I mumble.
He pats the couch next to him. “Come talk to me.”
I sigh, but make my way over to him. When I sit down, he puts his arm around me, pulling me closer to him.
“Tell me what it is,” he demands.
“I feel like he is always watching us. I see strange cars on our street, and I wonder if it is him or one of his lackeys. I get a call at work, and I’m worried it’s him on the other end. When you leave, I worry that the next time I see you, it will be in a body bag because he finally finished the deed. I hate that I have let him invade my life this way, but I can’t help but worry.”
He rubs my arm. “It’s natural to feel this way. You feel powerless because he is here trying to take our power. He hasn’t taken it, though. He only thinks he has. He is a weak man. He has to feed on the fear of others to survive. He might have someone in a higher place watching out for him, but it won’t last forever. We will take him down and move on with our lives. Besides, he won’t ever kill me. I won’t let him take me from you.”
His reassurance helps ease some of my anxiety, but not all of it.
“I feel like it is all my fault. I could have given him something, and he would have never come to you. It could have been something Dad did back in the day. He’s not here for him to go after anymore. He wouldn’t have minded, but I insulted him and made things worse.” I groan, burrowing into his neck.
“Nah, you showed him why you are called Viper. That man would have gotten off on you being a weak woman. The way you stood up to him? I guarantee you got under his skin. I will never be angry at you for standing up for yourself, even if I have to take the consequences of it. In fact, I’d rather be the one to take those consequences. I will take every ounce of pain due to you in a heartbeat if I could.”
“When you say sweet things like that, it makes me feel a little bit bad that I’m always so mean to you,” I murmur.
He chuckles. “Don’t. When you are mean to me, it makes me hard.”
I shake my head but remain quiet.
After a moment, he speaks again. “I know we need to do something about him. We are working on a plan, but until we have one, we have to try to survive. Move on with our lives so he doesn’t win. He wants to be that thing we constantly think about. By giving him that power, you are letting him win.”
“I know. Is it bad that I hope he gets herpes?” I ask.
He snorts. “He probably already does. Remember, he spent years undercover with prostitutes. I don’t care what you say, there is no way he didn’t have to fuck a few to keep up his street cred. I know cops who have had to do cocaine to not blow their cover.”
“You’re probably right. Thank you for talking me down off a ledge. I really do love you. You know that, right?”
He turns his head, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “I love you too, Viper. Forever and always.”
Maybe things won’t be all right. Maybe Hampton will win and get his way, but until we know for sure, Ridge is right.
We are going to live our lives, and as long as I have him by my side, I know we will be okay.
Ridge
Last night with Rain made me realize that we need to stop waiting around for the lawyer to figure out a way to get this guy out of our lives. So I asked Panther if we could call a club meeting. Thankfully, he agreed.
