Freedom to Ride (Ravens MC) (20 page)

“
I . . . Let’s get you changed and take you home. Everyone’s waitin’,” he said gruffly, trying to clear his clogged throat. After a few moments he jumped to his feet to help her dress.

Arriving at the compound, Nate came round to help her out of the car when she heard cheering and whistling, and turning she saw a crowd gathered outside the clubhouse welcoming her home, making her smile broadly.

As she walked around the familiar compound memories of her assault were pushed to the back of her mind as she was gently hugged by her friends, before being wrapped in Nate’s big arms.

She held onto Holly who was hugging her tightly, afraid her mum might disappear again. When all the noise died down Nate whistled for attention.

“Alright everyone. I know you’re all here to welcome my beautiful woman home. I’ve just got somethin’ I need to say.”

He turned to Deanna with a serious expression as he bent down to rest on one knee in front of her. Deanna
’s eyes widened, wondering what he was doing.

“
Nate, what . . ,” she said confused.

“
Shush babe. I need you to know that I fell in love with you the first time I saw you. It’s strange that the first time we met is exactly how you stand before me now, beaten but still gorgeous. No matter what happens you will always be beautiful to me. I cannot live my life without you being a part of it and I ask that you become my wife so that, with Holly, we can be a proper family. Will you marry me Deanna?”

Deanna stood shocked with tears rolling down her face throughout his speech, but the growing happiness inside her had her shouting out
“Yes” and he jumped up and wrapped her in his arms, kissing her passionately as everyone clapped and cheered.

He slid onto her finger a beautiful diamond ring with a thick white gold band studded with smaller diamonds running around a larger middle stone. It was stunning.

Deanna was hugged and congratulated by all the members, Ethan welcoming his new sister into the family. Alice grasped her warmly and told her that she already thought of her as a daughter.

As she stood with a beaming smile on her face, happiness radiating from her, she looked around the clubhouse surrounded by the affection of such wonderful people. Deanna had a proper family at last.

The day had finally arrived. It had taken weeks for the court case to be set up at the High Court in Glasgow. The police, Procurator Fiscal and prosecution gathering all the evidence they needed for a guilty verdict, as well as collating all the witness statements.

It had also been delayed due to Lee and his defence team initially trying to claim insanity, so that Lee wouldn’t have to be tried in court. When the plea had been thrown out, deniability mainly due to Lee’s meticulous plans for revenge, Lee’s team of lawyers changed his statement to ‘not guilty’. Most people involved thought that it was ridiculous idea, due to the amount of overwhelming evidence against him.

All this was why Deanna was now waiting her turn in court to stand in the witness box and give her statement.

Prior to the days of her testimony she’d been updated on the proceedings of the trial. Ethan had already testified on a professional basis with the details of McKnights involvement, as well as Cameron’s testimony as the lead investigating and arresting officer. After that Gavyn had given his statement of what he remembered of his assault and even Alice had been called in to state what she witnessed on the night of Deanna’s attack.

As Deanna sat nervously outside the courtroom, Holly safe at home with Alice looking after her as she waited impatiently for news, Nate was gripping her hand tightly as he sat quietly next to her. He had refused to leave her side during the weeks following the attack, their love growing even stronger, the connection between them was nearly feral in intensity.

“You alright babe?” Nate said, breaking the silence.

“
Yeah, just nervous,” she replied, squeezing his hand.

“
Baby, just remember. You ever feel scared or nervous just look at me. Do not look at that prick and make him feel like he’s winning. You cannot show any weakness. The bastard’s defence team will try anythin’ to trip you up. Stick to your statement and keep calm.”

Deanna turned and smiled at him, leaning forward to place her forehead against his. Breathing in his scent filled her with his strength and she knew she could do anything with him by her side.

“Okay honey. How you doing?”

“
I’m just peachy,” he replied sarcastically. “I haven’t been inside the courtroom yet because I feel like jumping the stand and rippin’ the fucker’s head off,” Nate growled, knowing his emotions were running high as he was finally about to come face to face with Deanna’s tormentor.

After the attack they had both struggled, Deanna regularly waking screaming after terrifying nightmares. However as the weeks went by and knowing Lee couldn
’t hurt them again the nightmares thankfully finally stopped. She knew that Nate was tormented with what had happened, he often sought her out throughout the day just to make sure she was safe. Their sex life had become very intense, Nate often being overwhelmed by his emotions as he fought the images of her being attacked and understanding how close he had come to losing her.

Most of her injuries had healed. She had been left with a scar from the stab wound and also a thin scar from one of the deeper wounds when Lee had cut into her. Her nose had healed straight and thankfully she hadn
’t needed surgery for the cheekbone fracture. Deanna planned on getting another tattoo to cover the stab wound, turning something ugly into something beautiful.

Nate had shocked Deanna a few days after being released from hospital. He had disappeared for hours, no one telling her where he was. He suddenly showed up at the house late at night, walking straight up to Deanna and stripping off his t-shirt.

Before Deanna could ask what he was doing she caught sight of his chest and had stopped breathing. Nate had got a new tattoo covering one side of his immense chest. It was stunning. There was a huge ferocious looking raven in the centre with its wings raised, similar in design to Deanna’s, but above this and in a protective position inside the wings was a slightly smaller beautiful raven and a baby raven. As Deanna stepped closer to get a better look, tears rolled down her cheeks when she saw the names “Deanna” and “Holly” tattooed into the feather detail of the two smaller birds.

“
What . . . when . . ,” she said breathlessly.

“
This is me,” Nate said pointing to the largest raven. “I will always protect you and Holly with everything I have and by any means possible. What happened to you haunts me every day and this is a reminder to everyone that it’ll never happen again. I’ve also left space for the rest of the children we’re gonna have.” Nate ended, cupping Deanna’s cheeks as tears slid down her face.

“
It’s absolutely beautiful. I love you so much,” she said throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him passionately, pouring all of her feelings of love and gratitude into the kiss.

“Deanna Grace,” Deanna was pulled from her memories when she heard a man announce her name. Standing, she followed the court attendant towards the court room. Stopping outside the doors she breathed in deeply as she hugged Nate one last time. Reluctantly releasing him she followed the attendant, knowing that Nate was going to go and sit in the stands and watch the proceedings with the others already inside.

Deanna had been left till last to testify, her statement being the most damning against Lee and she wasn
’t allowed in court until then. Nate had refused to watch the proceedings until after Deanna’s testimony, but a Court Officer, Ethan and Cameron had kept them fully informed.  

Deanna finally entered and glancing around she spotted her friends sitting at the back of the courtroom including Ethan, Cameron, Logan, Megan, Fraser and now Nate entering through the main door and going to sit next to his brother. The rest of the men were working in the garage but had wanted to be there for her. She also noticed quite a few
“old ladies”, MC bike regular’s and people from the local media. She knew the case had hit the local headlines, detailing the brutal attack and because the victim was closely linked to a famous motorcycle club.

Deanna nervously settled in her seat as the Advocate Depute for the prosecution asked her to recount her statement in detail. They then asked questions sympathetically and showed various photos of her injuries to the judge and the fifteen members of the jury and courtroom. She was also asked to speak in detail of her past involvement with the accused, including all the details as to why she ran away with her daughter.

Deanna remained strong throughout, her steady voice echoing throughout the packed courtroom. Regularly she looked to Nate and each time he either nodded or smiled, his support pushing her forward.

However she felt apprehensive when the prosecution finally rested and Lee
’s defence team preened themselves. Deanna readied for their questions, knowing they would try to unsettle her.

At first the questions were quite sympathetic, even bordering on making her feel like a weak female victim, but the sleazy lawyer soon changed his questioning. He had the nerve to suggest that she
’d driven Lee mad, even accusing her of having constant affairs that broke Lee’s heart. She got angry at this but managed to fight back by pointing out that she would not have been able to have affairs as she and her daughter were locked in the house on a daily basis by Lee, forced to live like prisoners.

His defence team quickly changed tactics by claiming that due to a traumatic childhood, Lee
’s dearly beloved mother committing suicide had left him heartbroken, making out that Lee was the victim and not her. She replied calmly that if that was true then it gave Lee motive for revenge against her family, as Lee blamed Deanna’s dad for the suicide. His lawyer talked over her speech as he continued, portraying her as a nagging girlfriend who drove her boyfriend to madness, claiming that as Lee was already broken from his childhood and with her constant cheating all of it drove him to extremes.

When she paused to control her emotions she spotted movement out the corner of her eye and looked to the back of the courtroom. She saw Nate with a murderous expression, overwhelming anger consuming him at the things these men were saying about her. Both Ethan and Cameron were restraining him, Cameron whispering desperately in his ear trying to calm him down. Obviously Nate wanted to get to Lee because of the lies he had his lawyers spouting against Deanna. She looked back to the lawyer and saw Lee smirking in glee at Nate
’s reaction, wanting him to cause problems for her. Deanna looked to Nate with pleading in her eyes to show him that she could do this. Nate finally got himself under control as Deanna calmly answered the lawyers’ accusations, asking why, when she had a small child, would she have run and hidden from a man if she wasn’t scared of him. She also made the point against the lawyer that no one was justified to beat, stalk and make anyone else’s life a misery just because they’d had a traumatic past. Backing up her statement Deanna went on to explain details of her own childhood, the disappearance of her dad and death of her mum, pointing out none of her equally traumatic childhood had made her a violent thug like Lee.

As she finished with Lee admitting to her that he had killed her dad in a jealous rage, his lawyer quickly defended him stating that it had never been proven. The video of Cameron interviewing Lee regarding Deanna
’s father’s disappearance was played in court, where Lee had smugly answered as he sneered at the camera, “even if I did kill that bitch’s father, you can’t prove it.”

Finally seeing that they couldn
’t sway her from her testimony the defence lawyers had to admit defeat and let their questions rest.

Deanna felt numb as she left the courtroom, Nate meeting her outside the doors as he engulfed her in his arms.

“I’m sorry babe. I lost it. That fucker making you out to be a slag who cheated on him which then drove him to beat you. What a load of shite,” he said loudly, catching the attention of a few people standing close by.

“
It’s fine Nate. I know all this is hard on you, but we know the truth,” she said cupping his cheeks as she smiled gratefully up at him, appreciative of his fierce protectiveness of her.

“
You did brilliantly baby. I’m so proud of you. Come on, let’s go back inside,” he said after he’d finally calmed down.

Deanna was thankful that her part was over and she could now watch the rest of the trial from the back of the courtroom. She walked through the main door and slid across to sit next to Megan, who grabbed her into a hug, mumbling curses about Lee and his slimy team, her comments making Deanna laugh.

Nate came and sat by her, pulling her into him and she relaxed into his chest as she listened to both sides complete the proceedings with their closing speeches. The jury then left to consider their judgement, Lee being led out a side door in handcuffs. The prosecution team came to speak to Deanna and the others, thanking them and explaining they would be contacted once the verdict was in.

The wait was excruciating but eventually Cameron contacted them to tell them to return to court as a verdict had been reached.