Page 41 of Derick

Ruby

My brother glared at Derick.I’d only seen him give the look he now had on his face to our father or his men. The look had worked. When Toby was around, the men had been terrified of him. Our father, not so much, but his men never touched me when Toby was around. It was when he was gone that everything bad happened.

“Why the fuck have you taken my sister?” Toby snarled. I needed to calm him down and show him that Derick had been, was, good to me.

Taking a deep breath in, I let it out slowly and held my hands up. “He didn’t take me.” I reached over and grabbed my brother’s fists and uncurled his fingers. “They gave me an option to get away from the halfway, therapy house.” I held his hands and gazed up at him. “I hated it there too. Before you go getting angry at those women, they weren’t mean. It was just uncomfortable because they knew who I was, and even though they knew I had it bad too, I was still the daughter of the president of the biker’s club that took them.”

Toby squeezed my hands, and I knew that was his cue to tell me he was calm. “You should have told me that you didn’t likeit. I would have helped you get out.” He sighed. “I should have called more. I’m sorry.”

I stepped back and took Derick’s hands so they wrapped around me, threading our fingers together. He calmed my nerves, and I noticed I didn’t stutter when I was with him. “I’m happy where I am now. Hope is happy too. I don’t want to move. I like the Silvermans. They have been nothing but nice to me. I love Derick. I’m going to marry him. The Silverman family and Derick are my future.”

Derick squeezed my hands, and instead of moving out of his hold, I rested my head back against him. I was really coming to count on Derick. I enjoyed his touch and his presence. I had a feeling I was an emotional wreck and a lot to put up with. My father had told me all the time I was too much work and he should just get rid of me.

I knew I wasn’t a normal girl. I’d seen how the women around me had acted, and I knew the ones I’d known for the longest weren’t shining examples and the men had been worse, but I wasn’t what I thought was normal. I wasn’t anything like my father and the men and women I’d met. The women, and often times girls, that were being trafficked by my father’s club were always so sad, angry, or in most cases eventually lost, like they gave up on help ever coming. I’d done what I could to help, but with not many role-models to go from, I learned from TV, books, and my gut. Raising Hope was hard, but I just did the opposite of what my dad would have done.

My brother’s groan of defeat had my attention coming back to him. “Fine.” He was giving Derick the meanest look I’d ever seen, and I’d seen him give some scary looks. He threatened my father’s men a lot, and I’d even seen him go through on a threat.

I mentally shook my head to clear it as images arose that I tried never to think of. I loved Hope, and I knew I’d never feel otherwise, but it was hard when images of how Hope wasconceived and what happened when Toby found out came to the surface. I had a lot of locked doors in my head. Things I’d seen and had done to me that I didn’t want to think about.

Derick held out his hand. “I promise I will never hurt, or let harm come to, your sister and niece again. I only want the best for them both. I love them.”

Toby hesitated for a moment before he grabbed Derick’s hand and shook it. The shake lasted a long time, and I debated if I should step in when I heard what sounded like bones cracking. Neither looked like they were in pain, but I had a feeling Derick wouldn’t let go until Toby gave him the man’s man okay. I’d read about this in books and was happy to learn it wasn’t fiction. I’d always known that Toby cared, but this showed his love. I really enjoyed Derick showing his claim too.

Hope was the one who interrupted them when she came barreling in, yelling, “Dadddyy. You’ed heres.”

Derick let go, knelt, and opened his arms. Hope went past her uncle and straight to Derick. She jumped up, and he caught her in his embrace. She kissed both his cheeks before showing everyone her beaming smile, her gold gaze with green and yellow flakes, and her bright, bubbly personality shining through.

“Uncee Tobs, this bes my daddy.”

My heart skipped a beat; that was something I hadn’t told Toby about yet. We had no idea who Hope’s biological father was, but I loved that she now had Derick.

“Yes, I am, my beautiful, little princess.” Derick kissed her cheeks, and she graced him with her most devastatingly cute, beaming smile.

“Fuck me,’” my brother moaned.

My gaze snapped from my daughter to Toby, who was shaking his head and running his fingers through his long, blond locks. His headband was on his wrist, which was rare. He mostly had his hair tied into a manbun. I knew my brother kept hishair long not just because women loved it— I’d seen how they swarmed him when he had it out at the beach—but to piss off our father as he had always said Toby’s hair made him look feminine. Well, that was the nicest word he called Toby when he had it out.

“That child is dangerous,” Toby grumbled.

I felt my own smile grow wide. Toby was a sucker for his niece. Even my father knew never to mess with Hope because my brother would kill him. My brother had killed before. The men that he knew participated in my ordeal of how Hope came to be went missing, and I knew he’d killed them, and from what I’d heard from the club girls, he had tortured them for hours before he let them pass. I wasn’t worried they’d ever be found as I was one of two other people who knew where the bodies were buried, and I knew they’d never tell as they helped get rid of the bodies and had helped my brother with a secret place to keep them. My therapist thought that maybe because my brother hadn’t helped Hope and I as much as he should have, that he wasn’t so different from our father. I now knew my mother had something to do with it too.

Stepping forward, I took my brother’s hand. “I’m scared too, but I want Hope to have what we never had.” I dropped his hand. “Hell, I want this to be real, Tobs.” I rolled my shoulders and stood tall, staring my brother down. “I deserve this. I go to TAFE now too and have friends. Lots of friends. I’m living my dream. I want it all, Toby. Please be okay with this.”

Toby’s big arms grabbed me, gathering me against his chest and squeezing me tight. He kissed my head. “It’s real, Ruby rare, I promise.” I couldn’t see his face, but I just knew Derick was getting a deathly glare. “You deserve everything you want.” He kissed my forehead. “Missed you,” he whispered against me.

I felt lighter. Sighing, a weight I didn’t know I was carrying lifted.

Derick

We were now homeand sat in the games room. Hope was playing with her many toys while a Disney movie was on the TV. Ruby was snuggled against me, her feet curled up. I was relaxed, and everything felt right in my world. Content.

Toby caught my gaze. “She doesn’t stutter when she’s with you.” He ran his fingers over his head, and a hair tie appeared in his hand and he put his hair in a bun. “She didn’t much with me. Does she with her friends?”

Fuck. I darted my gaze down to Ruby as I groaned. “No shit, Sherlock, but we were trying to get her to realize it herself.”

“Derick, don’t talk to my…” Ruby trailed off as if she was just realizing that ever since meeting, accepting she was safe and could trust me, she very rarely stuttered anymore. I was so proud of her. She gazed up at me. “You didn’t say anything?” Her brow rose. “Actually, now that I think on it, you’ve never said anything about my stutter. None of your family that I’ve met have either. Why?”

Her hair was so soft, and because she was mine, I didn’t hesitate when I reached out and tucked a strand behind her ear and caressed her cheek. “Truthfully, I don’t care if you stutter or don’t, but I will say that the fact that you stopped doing it since being with me has my ego skyrocketing. It also has me falling just a little more in love with you every time you speak.”

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