Chapter Twelve
Melissa
A week passed and Della was still the same. She hardly spoke. She never smiled or laughed. The night after we’d arrived back from her parents’, I even tried to gain a reaction from her when I showed her the texts I received from Dallas about his trip with Julian to see the houses. All I got was a nod.
I wanted to know what was going through her mind. I wanted her to open up to me, but she didn’t, or wouldn’t, couldn’t. Each and every night as the week passed, I tried to talk to her, and each and every time she replied with, “Not now.”
Worry for her consumed me. Dallas could even hear it when we talked. I was surprised when he suggested for her to speak with a professional. I thought it a good idea, only I didn’t know how I was going to suggest it to Della.
In the end, I didn’t.
When I spoke to Handle about it, he suggested getting someone to see her without telling her beforehand.
After a few calls, I found a woman by the name of Elina Panton. She sounded lovely and kind on the phone. I asked if she made home visits since Della was back to not leaving the house. She did. So I organised her to arrive Friday night.
Once I had Elina in the kitchen, I went to Della’s room and asked her to come help me with dinner. She opened her door and followed me to the kitchen silently, only to come to an abrupt halt.
“Della, this is Elina. She’s here to have a chat with you. I thought maybe it would be good if you spoke to someone you didn’t know.” I bit my bottom lip with hope in my heart she didn’t tell me to fuck off and run from the room. Then again, with Handle standing behind her, she wouldn’t have had much luck.
“Hi, Della. Honestly, I’m here to have a cup of coffee with you, and if you want to talk you can. If you don’t, that’s fine.”
I watched as Della’s whole body stiffened. My mouth opened ready to say something, but then she said, “Coffee.”
Elina smiled and nodded. “Yes.”
When Della nodded in reply, my whole body sagged in relief. She was going to try. That was all I wanted. “Um, I have to go and make a phone call. The coffee’s in the pot ready to be poured.” I exited the room with a warm touch to Della’s hand. Handle had already disappeared somewhere, so I made my way to my bedroom. For a while, I paced the room and prayed Della would be okay with what I had organised. I also prayed Elina would get Della to talk and, by doing so, it could help Della.
I hadn’t lied when I said I’d be making a phone call, so to keep my mind off what was going on in the kitchen, I grabbed my phone and pressed in the saved number.
“Hello, my cake to my cream. To what do I owe the honour of receiving your call?”
Julian had phoned me the day after his bonding time with Dallas. He told me how much he enjoyed giving him shit. He also mentioned how he felt Dallas was good for me. The house they’d suggested, I’d decided to go with. Of course Dallas said he’d have all the renovations done by the time I relocated, and I had to laugh when Julian tried to tell me he wouldn’t be surprised if the house was childproof either. Apparently, Dallas had an overprotective streak for me. Though Julian could have been exaggerating. He did tend to do that.
The main detail I asked for was to have Julian find out his date of birth, which he did. I had a month to come up with a perfect present.
However, a thought had flown into my mind earlier, and I wanted to check with Julian to see if it would be possible.
“Hey, my BFF.”
“You need something. What is it?”
“How did you know?” I asked.
“You only pull out the BFF when you really want something.”
Rolling my eyes, I smiled and admitted, “Fine. You’re right, I do want something.”
“Enlighten me, my pretty.”
“Well, with Dallas’s birthday coming up, I kept thinking about what you said, how all he’d want for a present would be me. I’m going to give it to him.”
“Oookay, as in what way? Your virgin arse?”
I gasped, “Julian!” then laughed. I loved talking with him; he always shocked me, made me laugh and smile. “No. I mean I’m going to fly in.”
“Oh, yay. When? Do you want me to come get you at the airport?”
“Yes, please. I’ll have Della with me, and I’m sure Handle will want to come back to stay home. However, I also need something else. You know how you’ve got a spare room.”
“Spit it out, girlfriend.”
“Okay. I somehow need you to get Dallas to Ballarat to your home so in case anyone, cops, reporters or anything like that is still watching me, it will look like I’m visiting you and your friend just shows up. Only you, Mattie, and my gorgeous dumpling, Aeila, can’t be home.”
“Are you telling me you want to boink your boyfriend in our spare room?”
“Um, yes.”
“Okay, just checking. I’m all down to help a sister out by her getting a bit. Now, leave all the planning to me. You just show up on his birthday. Ooh, I’ll drag some of the boys into it, get them to organise a ride down our way and somehow get him to my place where you’ll be waiting. Then I’ll sneak out without anyone seeing me. I could wear a disguise or something. I feel like I’m a superhero.”
Laughter burst out of me. My friend was crazy awesome. I knew getting Julian to help would be a good decision. “You are my hero if you can pull all of this off.”
“Oh, I will, be sure of that. Now, I must be off to start planning. We’ll talk soon.”
“We will, thanks, J-man.”
“Anything for you. Ciao.”
Hanging up, I thought of sneaking down the hall to see how things were going for Della. I hoped she hadn’t just kicked Elina out after Handle and I had left the room.
I hadn’t yet told Della about our trip to Victoria or the fact I was going to plead with her to move with me when the time came. Nothing in Sydney was holding her back. Maybe a change of scenery would help. I didn’t know, but I did wish it that way.
My belly dipped in excitement thinking of moving. I couldn’t wait to get out of Sydney since I knew there was also nothing that held me there, and Tate was more than a CEO. He ran all the businesses well, something I could never have done.
My phone dinged with a message. Glancing down, I smiled.
Mum: How’s my dove?
Me: Good. Missing her mum though.
Mum: Well, get your tush to QLD.
Reading the message again, I rubbed my thumb over it. The day after Jimmy had died, I’d called my mum to let her know I was alive. She knew nothing of Jimmy, not until she saw a picture of me on the news. Of course, that phone call didn’t go down well. I ended up coming clean about the whole situation. She cried and yelled, while I bawled. In the end, she understood I wanted to help Della out. It was amazing to be in contact all the time with her once again. She knew nothing about the Hawks man, from their charter in Queensland, watching her under Dodge’s orders in case what Jimmy had said was true.
Me: Soon I will and I’d like to bring someone with me.
Mum: WHO????
Me: Someone I met through the Jimmy situation. He helped me, Mum. He protected me.
Mum: I would love to meet him then. What’s his name?
Me: Dallas.
Mum: Nice strong name. Are you happy?
She always asked me this in every phone call or text.
Me: Yes. Very!
Mum: Then I’m happy. But I have to go. I’m heading to the movies with some friends.
Me: Love you, Mum.
Mum: Love you, my dove, always.
Even though I still worried for Della, my heart was warm and full for the first time in a long time. Not only have I let my mum know my life was better than it had ever been, but it was also because of the relationship I had with a certain man. Who would have thought through phone calls and messages I would get to know who Dallas Gan was and like him more each day? Of course he had his days where he was an arse. I would also have mine where I was a bitch, but it was what we had in between that counted.
Was one month enough to just about love someone?
I wasn’t sure, but I knew my feelings for Dallas were strong.
As I pressed in his number, I placed the phone against my ear and smiled. If he wasn’t busy, I knew he’d take my mind off Della in the kitchen. I wouldn’t venture out there until I knew for sure Elina was gone, and as I walked over to my window, I saw her car still in the drive. I sighed in relief, just as a gruff voice answered with, “Tiny.”
“Hey, Viking man. What are you up to?”
“Just sittin’ in the compound at the bar. What you doin’?”
“Just waiting on Della to finish talking with Elina.”
“Darlin’, you got someone?”
“Yeah, thank you for suggesting it. I think, no, I hope it will help her.”
“Fuck, I do too. Hate seein’ you worry.”
“You can be sweet, you know.”
“From the looks my brothers are givin’ me, they’re thinkin’ that, which means I’m gonna have to beat one of them.”
I threw my head back and laughed. “So who’s with you there?”
“Pick, Billy, Dodge, Dive, and a few others.”
“Women?”
“Maybe.”
Irritation stirred in me. He’d told me a few club women had tried shit with him, but he said he was with someone. “Dallas,” I bit out.
His chuckle was sweet to hear, but it annoyed me right then. “My woman jealous?”
“Fuck yes. I’m not there to give you what you want.”
“Relax, Tiny. They’re over the other side of the room while Low, Mena, and Josie are havin’ some make-up shit party.”
“Okay, well, good.”
“Enjoy hearin’ you get riled though.”
“Be better if I was there so you could screw it out of me.”
“Woman,” he growled in the back of his throat. “Now’s not the time to get cute with me. Fuck, they’re givin’ me looks. I—” A loud crash came through the phone. “The fuck?” Dallas clipped. “Shit, gotta go, Tiny, talk soon.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, darlin’, but whoever’s pissed Beast off may not be. We’re gonna see if we can calm him.”
“Take care.”
“You too,” he said and then hung up. Beast was a silent, mountain of a biker, as big as Dallas. He was also sweet and I was sure shy. I hoped he was okay.
It was sometime later, while I was watching Vikings on Netflix, there was a hesitant knock on my door. Sitting up, I called, “Come in.”
When it came open, Della stood there. I couldn’t read her expression before she said, “I’ve made some soup, would you like some?”
With a small smile, I nodded and stood. Following her down the hall, I stepped into the kitchen to see Handle already sitting at the table and no Elina.
I took a seat at the table as Della brought over two bowls. “It’s nothing special, but I thought you both may be hungry.”
Handle grunted. Rolling my eyes at him, I grinned up at Della and said, “Thanks, smells great.”
She grabbed her own bowl and sat at the end of the table. Handle was on one side of her and me on the other. I picked up my spoon and dug in. I hadn’t realised just how hungry I was. The room felt awkward. I wanted to know, as I was sure Handle did also, how things went with Elina or if we stepped too far by organising it. However, I kept quiet and ate my soup.
It was obvious Handle had other ideas when he said, “You shitty with us organising Elina here?” I was surprised he added himself in there. Maybe he didn’t want me to take the full fallout if it hadn’t been the best idea, which I found sweet.
Della placed her spoon in the bowl and templed her fingers under her chin, elbows resting on the table. “At first, I hated you both, and Elina.”
Shit.
“But then”—I sat straighter and placed my own spoon down, ready to hear more—“I found Elina easy to talk to.” She shrugged, and it was then I noticed her eyes were more alive. My body gave off a jolt of optimism. Della placed her hands down to her lap and looked at her bowl. “To start with, we talked about random things. Well, she did. I sat there drinking my coffee and fuming over the whole situation you both put me in.”
Double shit.
She looked up to us. “Until she told me about something she’d been through. I was shocked because she seemed so put together.” She smiled for the first time in a week. “Thank you. Both of you. I-I still have a way to go, but what you did for me, bringing Elina here, it helped.” Her next words were on a whisper. “It doesn’t hurt so much to breathe, to live anymore.”
Which told me she was still in pain, but to know it had eased inside of her, even a little bit, brought tears to my eyes. It also meant, with Elina’s help, she could find herself once again.