It’d taken everything in me to keep from crying. Because I felt that too. Shadow makes me want to be more as well.
The only thing we hadn’t talked about in the last five weeks was the fact Shadow knew who my father was. I do admit this does alarm me, and I can’t help but question whether my stepmother knows where I am as well.
So finally, after weeks of not asking, I lift my eyes up to meet Shadow’s eyes across the table at Marshall’s, the best steakhouse in the area. “I want to talk to my dad,” I blurt.
“Come again?” he asks, putting his beer back on the table in front of him as he stares at me.
“I want to talk to my dad,” I state.
“No one’s holding you back from talking to him, Luna.” Reaching out, Shadow grasps my fingers and squeezes my hand.
“What?” I’m baffled by this.
“Kitten, the only one holding you back from talking to him or your brothers for that matter is you. Those men get weekly reports on how you’re doing, and I’ll tell you now if my brother were still here it would tear me up the way it does your brothers not being in your life.”
Oh my God. I didn’t know he had a brother. Anytime I’ve broached the subject of the past he’s changed the subject. This is the first time he’s even mentioned a hint of his past.
“H–how do they get these reports?”
“I tell them. Sometimes we add a picture of you to the report.” Shadow shrugs as he shares this.
I pull my hand from his grasp and plant my hands in my lap as I try to control my breathing. This isn’t good. If . . . if they have pictures of me then my stepmother probably knows. A–And if she knows, then she’s probably looking for ways to finish what she started the first time. Well, I’m not exactly sure it was her, but I’d put my money on her being the one to sell me to Parker and the Delancys. That or she could have given them guidance to me.
“Luna, what’s wrong?” Shadow asks, his brow furrows.
Rather than answer him, I shake my head, my mind mentally closing in on itself, protectively, in preparation of anything to come at me.
“Kitten, I won’t ask again. Tell me what’s wrong,” he demands, this time moving from his place across the table to sit next to me and cage me into his body. This is a maneuver I have learned he uses when he’s not only wanting my attention on him but also when he’s shielding me protectively.
“I–I–I think it was my stepmother who had me kidnapped,” I stammer on the verge of a panic attack.
“Luna, look at me,” he commands, gently.
Doing as he commands; I admire the transparent fury radiating from his eyes.
“First, I want you to calm down. Remember, I’m right here for you. No one and I mean no one will ever fuckin’ get to you again. You’re mine. My woman, my ol’ lady, my heart and soul. I won’t allow anyone to take you from me. Got me?” I nod in response knowing he doesn’t actually want words but wants to know I’m listening. And boy do I like what he’s saying so far.
“Now, Luna, I need you to tell me, why do you think she had a hand in your kidnapping?” he asks.
Sighing, I close my eyes.
“Eyes on me, Kitten.” The command is soft yet firm.
Taking a shuttered breath, I open my eyes back up and meet his.
“Good girl. Now talk to me,” Shadow murmurs.
I tell him everything from the time my mom died and dad cheating on her with my stepmom the entire time. How she’d pushed me to the side to make sure my brothers were before me in everything. I even told him how my dad missed my graduation from LSU because he was attending a function with Cruella along with my brothers. I explained how she hated me and did everything she could to keep me at a distance from my family. She enjoyed being the center of attention and with me in the picture she couldn’t be that. Especially considering I’d intended to move back to South Carolina in order to be near my brothers.
Then I finally do something I have never done; I tell him about the night I’d gone out with friends to a club in New Orleans. One last hurrah before we all headed out to start our new journeys. I’d been drugged that night and woke up on the floor of a dirty smelling room. I finished by telling him I’d counted every day I’d been with Parker. The way he made me feel degraded and less of a person let alone a woman. By the time I was finished talking Shadow’s eyes were burning with fury.
Oh boy, Shadow isn’t just mad on my behalf, nope he’s pissed.
“Kitten, you want to talk to your dad, you do it in person. I’ll call him to set it up. He can come here and when you two talk I’m right there with you. You need to tell him everything you just told me. I’m also going to have Nerd look into all of this. Considering we didn’t know any of this before now, we haven’t been able to track down the goose egg we needed for answers. As of now, Luna, you let that shit out of your head, it’s now on my shoulders instead and I’ll take that for you same as everything else. Remember nothing touches you,” he murmurs, leaning in to brush his lips against my own.
“Okay,” I whisper against his lips as I release a shuttered breath. Pulling away a bit, I give him a smile as I give him the words I had yet to return out loud. “I love you, David.”
“Fuck me, Kitten, love you too. But you got some shitty timing, since we’re in a restaurant and I’m not going to fuck you in the bathroom,” he rasps, gravelly.
Giggling, I lean in and press my lips against his to give him a placating peck. Only Shadow didn’t have the same thoughts. Instead he slides his fingers into my hair as he captures my mouth in a show of possession that leaves me wanting more of him.
Breaking his lips from mine, Shadow grins knowingly at me. “Eat, Kitten. We still have to get to the clubhouse. I have church and then we’ll go home, and I’ll show you exactly what you do to me,” he states before moving back to his seat across from me and digs into his steak.
Oh boy, I can’t wait.
Chapter Eight
Shadow
After hearing everything Luna said the other day at Marshall’s, I’d informed my brothers during church what she’d related to me. Nerd immediately got on his computer and started doing his thing.
Stoney did me a favor and reached out to Hammer, in order to speak with Devore. During church, they’d all agreed with me to keep any suspicions about Devore meeting with his daughter away, we’d make it seem like a meeting with the club instead. Have Hammer get him to meet him up here in order to speak about products.
Devore agreed to this and said his sons would be coming with him.
This I didn’t really want but I know Luna’s brothers love her and wouldn’t want to miss this shot at seeing their sister.
Sometimes it sends a pang of hurt through me at the thought she has her brothers she’s able to see, whereas mine is in the ground thanks to some asshole speeding down some backroad.
Sure, Daniel was drunk and stumbled backwards into the road while we’d been trying to get the truck out of the ditch but still the asshole was speeding when he’d rounded that bend. Even if he hadn’t hit my brother and we’d still been in the truck, the guy would have collided head on with us.