“Do you really even need to ask that?” I opened the door and motioned her to go forward, but her cheeks turned red, and she shook her head at me.
“Like we haven’t had sex in worse places before,” I murmured into her ear, before pushing on the small of her back and guiding her down the hallway of the precinct.
I loved working here. I thought that I liked my job working as a police officer, but being a detective was even better. I moved up the ranks relatively quickly and once I got wind of this job, I put my name in and somehow ended up with it. I was afraid Della wouldn’t want to move away from her family, even though it wasn’t too far, but she said yes immediately. After everything we had been through, I was glad that a job relocation hadn’t caused any more drama in our relationship.
I still remember the way it felt when I thought things were over for good between us. Seeing that jackass’s hands on her, my mind went numb and all I could see was red. I didn’t even give her a chance to explain, letting my anger get the best of me. I overreacted and felt guilty about it for months afterwards.
Nothing had happened. I knew that now. Shit, I knew that in the back of my mind the whole time, but right there in that moment, I couldn’t see that. Della showed up on my doorstep within minutes of me getting home. And she was a mess. I had halfway shut the door in her face, before she screamed out that her mother was dead. That right there froze me in my tracks. I knew how it felt to lose a parent so suddenly, like your whole world changed in a split second. So, I guess in a weird way her mom had a hand in saving our relationship. The heartbreaking news helped me clear my head, focus on comforting Della, and give her a chance to explain herself.
I didn’t even bother letting her leave my house that time after we talked everything out. Apparently, having heard the news about Lillian, Chris unexpectedly showed up to “comfort” Della. Being a guy, I know exactly what kind of “comforting” he was there to do, but I guess in a way, I owed him a thank you. Even though he would never hear that out of me, especially since he was doing his comforting while Della was in nothing but a towel. She admitted that had been stupid on her part, but her mind had been elsewhere, thinking about her mom being gone, and Chris was someone she had known for a long time. At least we never heard from him again.
“So, guess who I heard from this morning?” She reached across the console of the SUV that I now drove, and laced her fingers through mine. Yeah, I had finally broken down and gotten rid of that piece of shit even though it had been like a baby to me. Della insisted, and what the princess wanted, the princess got.
I scratched my head, turning sideways to look at her. “I have no fucking clue. And you know I hate that guessing shit, so just tell me.”
She rolled her eyes, leaning over to pinch my side with her free hand. “Nash.” She licked her lips, waiting for my response, but frankly, I had no idea what to say to that. I hadn’t heard the name uttered from her mouth for a couple of years. I really had no clue if she missed having him as a friend, and I really didn’t care, even if that made me sound like an asshole. Della was better off without him in her life.
“And since I’m guessing you’re not even going to ask what he had to say, I’ll just tell you anyway. I guess he’s getting married. He met some girl out there in California. Can you believe that?” She shook her head and I did a mental fist pump, though I doubted even marriage would keep Nash away from Della if he ever moved back to the area. California could keep him for all the fuck I cared.
Nash moved out that way just a few months after Della ditched his ass. I think at first he was expecting her to give in to him. He never directly tried to contact her after I showed up on his doorstep to give him a much-needed punch in the face. Instead he tried to weasel his way back in through Grams. Luckily, Grams could see that Della didn’t need him in her life right then and told him where he could shove his apology. I loved that woman. Soon after that, Della heard through her grandpa that Nash had dropped out of school and headed out to California, needing a change in his life, which was more than fine by me.
“Well, hopefully he stays there.”
“Yeah, well I did invite him to the wedding, so we’ll see him then.”
I snapped my head toward her, relaxing a little when I saw the evil grin covering her face, her whole body shaking with laughter that hadn’t escaped her lips yet. “You’re so funny, princess.”
“I try.”
We took turns switching the stations as we continued the short drive, both of us taking our seat belts off as soon as we hit the driveway. Della had a jump on me though since she didn’t have to put the damn car in park and was halfway up the sidewalk before I even got out. Still, I worked out. A lot. So, she couldn’t beat me at anything, ever.