Page 104 of Sunny Undone

Knox steps forward. “There are two completely different battles, here, and it takes two different approaches to solve them. The first, is what’s happening with Velaro buying up the land, Bennett trying to enforce it, and why the university would rather quiet you than speak out against it. The second problem, Della, is one only you can solve. You need to figure out how to fix what’s going on with the land, and we need to protect it so that you can bring it back to life. If we do that, they can’t get permits to build on it, right? If it’s thriving. So, we need to work together to share all the information we have.”

“Okay,” Della says, finally. “It’s not like I have any other work to do, right now. My calendar is clear of classes.”

“Good,” Knox says. “But you’re safe here. So, get some rest, tonight, and we’ll dig in tomorrow.”

“Done,” Della says, wiping beneath her eyes and taking a deep breath to collect herself. “Now, will you tell me why you all look quite so beaten?”

“We had a minor disagreement with Bennett’s men,” I say, leading her over to the fire pit. She must feel fucking drained after crying that hard. Her face is a little blotchy, but I don’t tell her, and none of my brothers mention it.

Instead, North pulls a handkerchief from somewhere and hands it to her.

“What kind of disagreement?” Della asks.

“The punching kind,” I reply as I hold her close and flex my knuckles where she can see the scrapes and bruises.

“Want me to kiss it better?” Steffi jokes as Ridge hands me my beer.

“You know something,” Della says. “I’m sure you think you’re being entertaining, same way whoever it was talking about me across the hallway the morning after the party thought they were entertaining too. And I’m sure you think it’s cool to ignore my feelings and flirt with someone else’s man. But here’s the thing, I have already had a shit day. And I am not in the mood to take more shit from you. You don’t have to understand what Sunny sees in me, same way I don’t need to understand why he might have slept with any of you.”

North chokes on his beer.

And I fall more and more in love with my woman. I want to step in, but kinda like in nature, when other wolves start to cower in front of an alpha, Steffi’s shoulders slump a little. She looks around for support from the others, but they’re busy looking at their own drinks and hands.

Della doesn’t need my help handling this. So, I simply keep my arm over her shoulder to reassure her that I have her back and take a swig of my beer.

“But the one thing you do have to understand,” Della continues, her voice giving zero wiggle room for misinterpretation, “is that he’s mine and I’m his, and this equation no longer includes you. If any of you were enough for him, I wouldn’t be here. So, you can either be nice to me, ignore me, or continue to say unpleasant things when you think I can’t hear. But I am not running away again just because you don’t think I belong here.”

Steffi’s lip curls. “You won’t last the month.”

Della laughs. “I have a PhD, know more about corrosive substances than you should feel comfortable with, and could, theoretically, make your bones disappear in an hour.”

Then, Della looks up to the sky. “Would it be an hour?” she mutters to herself. “No. That’s unrealistic. Too many variables. Bone density. Temperature. Surface area.” Her brows furrow as she works through whatever horrifying calculation is happening in her head. “Actually, it’s probably closer to four hours. Six, to be safe. Although, teeth would complicate it.” Della pauses. “Actually, I’d need to research it.”

I place my lips close to her ear. “You’re ruining it by being specific. Just end with the villain threat. It’s all sounding very Pulp Fiction and I approve.”

Steffi’s face has drained of color. All my brothers are now looking at Della with something between profound respect and fear.

“Oh, okay. I mean, I’m not really going to do it,” Della says with a grin.

“Of course not,” I say before kissing her tenderly. “But I bet you have a solution for the teeth before morning.”

31

DELLA

When I push my hair back off my face as the water from Sunny’s clubhouse shower pounds over me, I blow out a long breath. To say I’m at my emotional limit might be an understatement. Once I cleared the tears from my eyes, confronted Steffi, and heard about the club’s run-in with Bennett and his men, which sounded as hilarious as it did dangerous, we settled down in the clubhouse to make some calls.

The first person I spoke to was Lucy, who got in touch and apologized for taking so long to review the document as an active lawyer for the club. She’d been in court representing a prospect who’d gotten caught doing something she wasn’t allowed to speak about as part of his initiation into the club. While she didn’t tell me anything I wasn’t expecting, it was good to have a legal opinion reinforcing that the university couldn’t just throw away my old contract and remove my ability to complete my research.

Then, I called my old college roommate and two of our friends, all three of whom are now respected scientists in their own right. They agreed to independently test samples as long as I can get them to them by courier. Knox offered three prospects for the job.

And a number of times, I have replayed Sunny’s declaration that we’re just not going to let them take this from me. We’re going to fight. It’s been a battle cry in my head ever since. If I can get three independent scientists to verify my findings, it frankly won’t matter what my university does to me. Because I’ll always be able to show that my findings were in contradiction of a big donation from a construction company, and that I was not willing to sit by and be part of the bribes.

I reach for the shampoo and begin to massage it into my hair just as the shower door slides open and Sunny steps inside. “Wanna be distracted or soothed?” he asks, sliding his hands into my lathered hair.

It’s amazing how quickly my body switches online with Sunny standing naked behind me. I lean my head back and groan at the way his fingertips massage my scalp. “Both.”

He places a kiss on my shoulder and continues to massage my scalp before he lowers his soapy hands over my breasts. He alternates between cupping them, squeezing them, and pinching my nipples. Even though I consider myself a scientist, I can’t explain why my breasts seem to have a connection to my clit, which aches.