Rock Chick 04 Renegade (12 page)

“He gave you a classic opening and you took advantage of it. He thought you were a joke. You kept your cool and did wel but word’l get around. Somehow, with your shit, it gets around faster than most. People wil begin to take you more seriously. Maybe take you as a chal enge and look for you. You won’t get the same opening again.”

“I’l be ready for it,” I said. “That’s not my only move.” Vance’s shit-eating grin made an appearance. “So, what you’re sayin’ is, you
wanted
to lose this morning when we were wrestling in bed?” Vance asked.

I opened my mouth to speak (or probably yel ) when Luke materialized at our side.

He was smiling huge, no half-mouthed grin this time and I knew he heard what Vance said. Vance dropped his hand from my neck.

“Hate to break up this lover’s chat but we gotta take these boys in. You gonna speak for Law or you want me to do it?” he asked.

“Speak for me?” I asked.

“I’l do it,” Vance said, ignoring me.

“Speak for me?” I repeated.

“You givin’ her your protection?” Luke asked, ignoring me too.

“Speak for me?” I said again then I hesitated, my eyes narrowed and I went on. “Protection?”

“Yeah,” Vance answered Luke’s protection question.

“Um… protection?” I asked.

Mace arrived at us. “Tel them she’s got mine too,” he said.

“Excuse me… boys?” I cut in.

Vance looked at Luke. “What about you?” he asked.

Vance looked at Luke. “What about you?” he asked.

“I’m in,” Luke replied.

“Hel oooooo?” I cal ed.

“You want to cal Lee, make it official?” Mace asked.

I gave up, crossed my arms on my chest and tapped my toe.

“Yeah,” Luke answered on a short laugh. “He’s at dinner with Indy, Roxie, Hank, Al y, Tex and his parents. Welcome to Denver for Roxie. He’s probably ready to murder someone about now. He’d kil to get a high priority cal .” The guys looked at each other with amused faces.

“Um, pardon me but it
is
after midnight. I doubt they’re stil at dinner,” I informed them.

They al looked at me.

“Shit,” Mace muttered.

“Probably shouldn’t cal him then,” Luke half-grinned.

These guys.

“Does someone want to tel me what you’re talking about?” I asked.

“We’l leave that to Crowe. Later,” Luke said then he de-materialized, poof, gone.

Same with Mace.

I didn’t ask how these boys seemed to appear and disappear without apparently moving. I had more important things on my mind.

“What’s that mean, speaking for me and protection?” I asked, turning ful y to Vance.

“Jermaine and Clarence work for the same guy. Not good to have your boys in a showdown with a white woman in an al ey and they get bested. Normal y, Princess, you could expect retribution. Someone’s gotta talk to him to convince him not to send someone to put a bul et in your brain. That someone is me.”

I didn’t say anything partial y because I didn’t want to think about a bul et in my brain and partial y because he cal ed me “Princess”.

“At the same time I make this rumor of you and me bein’

partners true. I give you my protection and they’l take that into consideration before they, or anyone, thinks to move on you. It’l mean a fuck of a lot more with Mace and Luke in.

It’l mean even more if Lee throws down.”

I knew he was saying serious stuff but the only thing I could think to say was, “Princess?”

He got close, his hands went to my hips and pul ed them to his and he looked down at me. “You understand what I just said to you?” he asked softly.

I nodded but said, “Princess?”

He grinned and got closer, his shadowed face blocking out the smal amount of light.

His voice stil soft, he said, “You sleep in that big bed, wearin’ soft, lacy nightgowns, al those fancy sheets and pil ows and fancy furniture in the living room. You live like a fuckin’ princess.”

“I’m not a princess,” I whispered.

“You are to me.”

Oh my
God
.

I didn’t say anything,
couldn’t
say anything. I just stood there and stared at his shadowed face.

He kissed my forehead and said, “Get your kids home.” And then he, too, vanished into the night.

The minute I swung into King’s the next morning I knew the night’s escapade had already made the rounds.

There were twice as many kids there than yesterday.

They al looked at me when I walked in and the room went wired.

“God dammit,” I muttered under my breath.

“Hey Law!” Curtis shouted from across the room.

I walked to him, ignoring the eyes that fol owed my progress. “How’s your head?” I asked.

“Good,” he answered, grinning at me like a fool.

“You have a headache, dizzy at al ?”

“Nope, nothin’.”

“You feel dizzy, you tel someone, yeah?”

He nodded.

I turned to Martin who was standing beside him. “You okay?” I asked.

“Definitely,” he nodded, pleased as punch to be a central character in my crusade.

I shook my head, shoved his shoulder, turned and saw May bearing down on me like a storm cloud. Without a word, she grabbed my arm, dragged me across the room and into the quiet hal .

“Thought you said you weren’t partnered with Crowe?” she asked, eyes bright again, this time her excitement was mixed with a shade of anger at not being in the loop.

“Um…” I said.

“And what’s this I hear ‘bout you two havin’ a date? You go out on a date with Crowe last night and didn’t tel me?” she kept on.

“It wasn’t a date, as such,” I hedged.

“You spend time with him last night, outside of kickin’

black boy dealer ass that is?”

“Wel … yeah,” I admitted.

“He get in your panties?” she was relentless.

“May!”

“Wel , did he?”

“No,” I answered.

“Did he try?” she went on.

My eyes slid away. This was none of her business, of course, but one didn’t real y go up against May. She might be a soft touch but she was also a mother hen and a nosy, straight-talking one at that.

“Hon,” she said and I noticed her anger was gone, “this is the best news I’ve heard al month, maybe al year.” My eyes came back to her. “What?” I asked.

“You need a man. Don’t know why the boys aren’t crawlin’ al over you, way you look. Hate to see you lonely, livin’ your life for a bunch of kids, most of ‘em won’t give you the time of day. Every girl needs to get her some and get it regular if she can. You need a life outside this place, and, what I hear of him, you settle him down a bit, Crowe might be just the boy to give it to you.”

I thought for a second about the herculean task of

“settling” Crowe down a bit. It almost made me laugh and then I looked at May’s face and decided against it.

“May, it isn’t like that.”

She just looked at me.

“May it was just one, kind of, date,” I said.

“He ask you out again?”

“Um…” I hesitated and May leaned threateningly closer.

“Yeah, tonight,” I admitted.

“Mm hmm,” she mumbled, crossing her arms and nodding at me.

I stared at her a beat.

Whatever.

Time to move on.

“I have work to do,” I said.

She stopped me as I tried to move away. “You real y flip Jermaine on his back and kick him in the bal s?” she whispered.

Slowly, I nodded.

“Girl, you’re workin’ on becomin’ famous,” she smiled and let me go.

Famous was not what I was going for but I figured infamous was more where I was headed.

I went in search of Sniff and Roam and found them in their bedroom.

I stuck my head in and said, “I want you both here al day.

Later, we’re going to talk.”

“Hey Law,” Sniff cal ed. “Fuckin’ cool what you did last night.”

I gave him a look. “Stop saying fuck,” I told him.

Sniff grinned.

I looked at Roam. He was smiling at me.

I couldn’t help myself, I smiled back.

* * * * *

I did my best to talk it down, making it sound like your normal, average, everyday drive through town in the middle of the night when you coincidental y find yourself running into two drug dealers and confronting them in an al ey with a Glock (though I didn’t mention the Glock).

Furthermore my mind kept racing forward to that night, when I was going out with, and then getting laid by, Vance Crowe. I stil hadn’t come up with a delay tactic and the flight to Nicaragua was looking more and more appealing as the day wore on.

I took two appointments with kids, cal ed a couple parents, did some paperwork and, along with the talk of my adventure last night, I heard the whisperings that the kids thought it was so cool some of them wanted to try it out for themselves. This was regardless of my warning to Martin and Curtis.

I wanted to ignore it and hope it was al talk but it was beginning to become clear that I wouldn’t get that choice.

May approached me after lunch. “Hon, you’re gonna have to say somethin’. You can’t ignore this. You tel them not to do it, they won’t do it. They look up to you. They’l listen to you.”

I looked at her not certain she was right. The kids never listened to anyone. My word might be law in the Shelter; it didn’t hold the same weight when it came to the street.

Then I looked across my cubical to Andy, the other ful -

time social worker. He heard May and silently nodded his head. That’s when I knew May was right.

Damn.

I pushed back my chair.

The rec room was stil packed when May and I entered it and, again, everyone’s eyes swiveled to me.

May clapped her hands and announced, “Quiet, ya’l .

Eyes on Law. She’s got somethin’ to say. Clarice, you turn off that TV. We need your ful attention.” When Clarice, a heavyset, sixteen year old black girl that I’d pul ed from The Mal a few months ago flipped off the TV and al eyes had locked on me, May turned to me and said, “Go on, hon. Tel it like it is.”

I didn’t know how to tel it like it was but I looked at the kids staring at me and I knew I had to try.

“Al right, folks, listen up,” I started. “We hear you talking about going out, thinking to avenge Park, but I’m tel ing you right now, you’re not going to do it. I see any of you kids on the streets, getting into different kinds of trouble than you normal y find, I’l shut you down myself. Got me?” I was channeling Crowe Speak to make my point.

Nothing gets the word across like talking like a badass mother when they thought you
were
a badass mother.

They al just stared at me.

“Got me?” I snapped.

The door opened but I ignored it thinking that it was just more kids arriving.

“Where’s Shard?” someone cal ed to me. “He ain’t on the streets. Is Nightingale torturing him?”

“Yeah, you bring ‘em down and the Nightingale guys take

‘em in and make ‘em pay. Is that how it is?” someone else threw in.

I looked at the ceiling then I looked at May then I looked back at the room. Where did they get this shit?

“No, the Nightingale Investigation Team is
not
torturing Shard,” I answered.

At least, I didn’t think they were.

“Where is he then?” another kid cal ed out.

“I don’t know, maybe at church, praying for his sins,” I replied.

Some kids laughed. One kid cal ed out another question.

“You flip Jermaine like they said? Kick him in the nuts?”

“I’m not discussing what happened last night,” I said in my word-is-law voice.

“She did, it was fucking awesome,” Curtis cal ed out, ignoring my word-is-law voice.

“Yeah and she shot at Clarence, right by his foot. Swear t o
God
, he jumped like a spider. He was
all
freaked out.

Thought he’d shit in his pants,” Martin added.

“Boys, quiet. Curtis, don’t say fuck. Martin, don’t say shit.” Then I addressed the entire room. “This conversation is over.”

I was losing their attention. Something had caught it and several of the kids were looking toward the door.

I forged ahead to finish my point. “I’l say it one last time, not one of you goes on the streets looking for trouble. You do…” I hesitated, not used to badass threatening then I remembered what Vance said to me when I aimed at his Harley, “there’l be consequences.”

They weren’t paying attention at al anymore. Most of the kids were staring at the door, some with wide eyes, some with mouths hanging open.

“Sweet baby Jesus,” May breathed from beside me.

I looked at the door. Vance, Lee and Luke were al standing there.

Vance was wearing a black turtleneck, faded jeans, black cowboy boots and a black leather jacket that hung over his hips. His hair, as usual, was pul ed back in a ponytail at the base of his neck and, above al , he looked
hot
.

He also looked like he was about ready to burst out laughing.

Lee was standing next to him, wearing an olive drab v-necked sweater, a white t-shirt under it, jeans, boots and a clay-colored suede jacket.

Luke was next to Lee wearing head-to-toe black, a tight black t-shirt that you could see stretching across his pecs under his black motorcycle jacket, black cargo pants and black boots.