do it alone. We will be there with them, offering strength in the courtroom and support every step of the way.” Preacher looked across the room at Justin and Chloe and held up his glass. “Here’s to supporting these incredibly strong women and doing our best to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again.”
The crowd cheered “Hear, hear!” and whooped.
Chloe turned in Justin’s arms and said, “I love your family so much.”
“They love you, too, baby.” He pressed his lips to hers as Preacher made an announcement reminding everyone to continue spreading the word about the suicide-awareness rally.
Behind Madigan, an army of females stared back at them, bringing a smile to Chloe’s beautiful face.
Serena grabbed Chloe’s hand and said, “We need to borrow her.”
“You just had her,” Justin teased.
Evie put her arm around Chloe’s shoulder and said, “You’re going to have her forever. What’s another half hour?”
As the girls dragged Chloe toward the dance floor, Justin turned to Tank and Mike and said, “Guess it’s just the three of us.”
“Two of you,” Mike said. “See that pretty lady at the end of the bar? I’m hoping she has something sweet to share.”
Justin and Tank looked over and saw Sidney eating an ice cream sundae. Tank laughed. As Mike walked away, Justin said, “Dirty old man.”
Justin and Tank joined their brothers at the table and got caught up in a conversation with Conroy. When Justin glanced at the dance floor to check on Chloe, she wasn’t there. He pushed to his feet, scanning the room as he made his way to the dance floor. “Where’s Chloe?” he asked the girls who were still dancing.
“She went to the ladies’ room,” Evie said.
Justin headed there and found Chloe at the end of the hall, standing with her back to him and her phone pressed to her ear. She turned, and his gut pitched at the tears glistening in her eyes. “What’s wrong?” he said as he closed the distance between them.
Chloe held up a shaky finger and said, “Okay, thank you again. I’ll see you a week from Monday.”
As she ended the call, Justin said, “What happened?”
“That was Darren.”
“Shit.” He gritted his teeth, hands fisted. If he was trying to get Chloe to back off the charges, Justin would kill him.
“No, it’s okay.” She touched his arm and said, “He wanted to apologize.”
“Apologize?” he asked warily.
“Yes. I was floored, too. He said he would have liked to do it in person but that nobody knew if I was coming back to work or not. Justin, he didn’t have any idea about what Alan had been doing. He said he’s horrified that his son would do the things he’s accused of and that he was truly sorry for all I’d gone through. You should have heard him. He was sincere, and he sounded as broken as I’ve been feeling. He said he would understand if I never wanted to come back to LOCAL, but he hoped I would because the company and the residents would suffer greatly if I didn’t.”
Justin released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Thank God. When I saw your tears…” He drew her into his arms, overwhelmed with relief. “I love you, babe.”
“I love you, too.”
“I’ll still apologize to him. Don’t worry.”
“You don’t have to.” She drew back, her eyes clearer than they were just moments before. “Darren said if he were you, he would have done the same thing.”
“Wow, that’s unexpected.”
“I know. I told you he was a gentleman.”
“You did. This is great news, babe. How do you feel about it?”
“I feel good.” She lifted her chin, and in a voice far more confident than he’d heard all week, she said, “I’m getting out of my own way, Justin. I’m going back to work. You were right. Alan shouldn’t have the power to take away all the things I worked so hard for.”
“Aw, baby. That makes me so happy.” He lifted her into his arms and kissed her as he twirled her around.
Two of the Dark Knights’ wives came out of the ladies’ room and said, “Excuse us.”
Justin set Chloe down, keeping his arms around her, and inched them forward until her back met the wall, making room for the women to walk by.
Desire rose in Chloe’s eyes. “This feels like déjà vu.”
“It sure does, sweet cheeks. I will never forget the last time I propositioned you by a bathroom in a bar. It was the night