Rock Chick 06 Reckoning (12 page)

I wanted to shout, “Atta girl,” but I kept my mouth shut.

Then Lee launched into his announcement which most everyone knew anyway.

Except Shirleen.

“It’s decided,” Lee said to Shirleen.

“I don’t believe this,” Shirleen said back.

Lee had no response.

My eyes moved from Shirleen to Stel a. Stel a didn’t look pissed off anymore. She looked pale. It would appear that Mace hadn’t told Stel a either.

“Erm, excuse me,” Stel a said, her sexy, rough voice was soft.

Stel a’s voice, by the way, was something I’d always loved about her and not only when she was singing. Her voice was, quite simply, the shit.

“You never give up,” Shirleen said to Lee, not having heard Stel a.

“Too much at stake,” Lee replied.

“Excuse me,” Stel a repeated and Al y’s eyes moved to her.

“I don’t fuckin’ believe this shit!” Shirleen exploded. “You boys were close to takin’ that jackass down!”

“Erm –” Stel a started again.

“Yo!” Al y shouted and everyone turned to her. “Stel a has something to say,” Al y finished.

Al eyes moved to Stel a.

“I just…” She stopped and looked back at Mace. She stil looked pale but not angry anymore. She turned around and I saw her back go straight again. Then she tossed her dark, glossy hair and said, her throaty voice a lot louder, “I was on a jury once.”

Stel a quit talking and we al kept watching her.

“Is she goin’ anywhere with this?” Smithie, sitting beside me on the opposite couch to Stel a, muttered to me.

“Sh,” I shushed Smithie.

“Yeah?” Luke prompted Stel a.

“A murder trial,” Stel a went on. “They had pictures of the victim. They showed them to us. It was awful, shot in the chest and the head. Blood everywhere. Effing hel , but it was awful.”

Everyone was quiet.

Stel a went on, “The prosecution had one witness, this old black lady. She’d seen the whole thing. She came in and she looked at the guy on trial and I knew she was terrified. Her fear fil ed the room. Everyone could feel it. You could almost… I swear to God, you could almost
taste
it.

She lived in this guy’s neighborhood. She knew him. She knew he was a bad guy. She knew he could hurt her even if he was in jail. She knew it and we knew it.” Everyone kept staring at Stel a. Everyone knew now where she was going with this. Everyone kept quiet.

Stel a kept talking.

“The defendant was leaned back in his chair, completely relaxed, staring at her. It was creepy. They asked her what she saw. She kept clutching at her hands, jumpy as a cat, but she answered. They asked her if she saw who did it.

She stil kept clutching at her hands but she answered. They asked if that person was in the room. She said yes. They asked her to point him out. Her hands were shaking, effing hel , I’l never forget it, they were total y shaking. But she looked him right in the eye and pointed at him.”

“Good God,” Jet whispered.

Stel a continued, “We found him guilty. They pol ed the jury. We al had to share our vote out loud, right in front of him as he looked at each one of us. I knew a little of her fear then but not the half of it. When we left the trial, the victim’s family descended on us, crying and carrying on, they made us do a prayer circle. They were so happy it was over. They were happy the man that kil ed their son or brother or whatever was going to be put away.”

“Stel a,” Lee said softly.

“I want a vote,” Stel a said.

Mace’s arm wrapped around her waist and his head dipped so his mouth was at her ear.

“Kitten,” he murmured but we al heard it.

Um…
wow.

I’d heard it yesterday, Mace cal ing Stel a “Kitten”. Stil , it shocked me. I mean, how sweet was
that?

“I want a vote.” Stel a’s voice was louder. “This man killed
my friend
. He shot
me
. He shot at a bunch of my other friends.” She stood and Mace stood with her, his arm moving up to lock across her chest. I didn’t know what he was trying to do, stop her from talking, give her moral support but it didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to succeed at the first and she didn’t need any of the second.

“I want a vote.” Her voice was definitely loud this time.

“It’s decided,” Luke repeated Lee’s earlier words.

“Okay, but I want a vote,” Stel a said to Luke then her eyes scanned the tribe. “If that old lady can put her ass on the line to do the right thing then I can effing wel do it too! If you bunch of badass mothers don’t agree, okay. I’m not stupid enough to think I can do anything about this, take this guy down, I know you guys have to do it but at least I want a fucking vote!”

“I want one too.” Roxie stood up.

Oh shit.

My eyes went to Lee. A muscle in his cheek was working.

Bad sign.

“Roxie –” Hank was walking across the room towards Roxie but she was backing away.

“No, Hank,” Roxie said, her hand coming up to ward him off.

“Stel a’s right, you know,” Al y put in.

“Stel a’s right, you know,” Al y put in.

“Al y,” Lee said in a warning tone.

“You know she’s right,” Al y said back to Lee, quietly, softly, so un-Al y it was unreal.

Oh crap.

“I do and I don’t give a fuck,” Lee shot back at Al y, losing patience. “Indy and I are getting married in two weeks and Jules is pregnant –”

“She’s right,” Jules cut in, standing too. “Stel a’s right.”

“Oh fuck,” Luke muttered and looked at his boots.

“Quiet Jules,” Vance murmured.

Jules’s eyes turned to Vance. “I’l go somewhere.”

“No,” Vance replied.

“I’l go somewhere safe,” Jules went on.

Vance got close to Jules and put his hand on her bel y.

“You think I’m missin’ a minute of this, Princess, think again.”

I swal owed, hard.

“Then keep me safe,” Jules whispered.

I felt the tears hit my eyes.

Shit!

Shit, shit, shit!

I didn’t
do
crying.

I looked at Lee, he was looking at me, the muscle in cheek stil working. I got up and went to him. His arm went around my shoulders and he curled me into him. I wrapped mine around his waist.

I put my face into his neck and right at his ear, I whispered, “You know Stel a’s right.”

Lee’s body went solid.

Then he muttered, “Shit.”

“We can’t give up,” I went on.

Lee didn’t answer.

“We do this, he wins,” I told him.

Lee stil didn’t answer.

“This isn’t who we are, Lee,” I finished.

“Somethin’ happens to you –” Lee started.

I pul ed my head back and looked at him.

“Nothing’s gonna happen to me,” I promised.

He stared me in the eyes. His weren’t hard to read, he was angry but I could tel he was also relieved.

Like I said, Lee was not a man who gave up.

Then he bent his head and touched his lips to mine.

When he was done kissing me, he said, “Damn straight.” I felt something unknot in me. I hadn’t even noticed it was there but it had been tying me up al day.

Lee moved me to his side.

Al the Rock Chicks and their Hot Bunch Boys were in heated conversations.

“Do we need a vote?” Lee asked the group, cutting the conversations short.

Silence.

“I got things to do,” Lee reminded them.

“I’m in,” Hector said immediately, his eyes on Stel a.

“Me too,” Darius put in.

“In,” Ike added.

“God damn it,” Luke snapped.

“Luke?” Lee asked.

Luke looked at Lee then turned his head and tilted it down to look at Ava. She licked her lips and shrugged. He touched his forehead to hers, closed his eyes for a brief second then pul ed back.

“In,” he said.

“Vance?” Lee prompted.

Vance turned his eyes to Jules. She wrapped her arms around his waist from the side.

“Fuck,” Vance muttered. “Yeah.”

“Hank?”

Hank looked down at Roxie. “You’l go to Brownsburg?” he asked.

“If you want me to,” she replied.

Hank did a slow blink and an intake of breath.

“We’l talk about it later,” he murmured to Roxie and in a louder voice, he said, “In.”

“Eddie?” Lee asked.

“In,” Eddie said instantly and Jet smiled and leaned into him.

“Mace?” Lee asked.

“Out,” Mace replied.

The air in the room went stil and Stel a went rock-solid.

They were stil standing together but Stel a’s fingers were wrapped around Mace’s forearm and he was leaned over, his chin on her shoulder.

“Sorry?” Lee asked.

“Out,” Mace repeated.

“
Out?
” Hector exploded, obviously not happy and everyone’s eyes turned to him in surprise. Then al eyes went back to Stel a and Mace like at a tennis match.

This was because Stel a whipped around, Mace jerked back his head but didn’t move his arm so it was wrapped around her shoulders and she was tight against his front.

She put her hands to his waist and her fingers curled into the material of his t-shirt.

“He kil ed Linnie,” she said, her head tilted back to look at him.

“Yeah, and he’s not gonna kil you,” Mace replied.

That was when Stel a lost it.

“He murdered my friend!” Stel a shouted.

“Yeah, and he shot you!” Mace shouted back, right in her face and the room went stil again at his raising his voice to Stel a, clearly angry, super angry, super-tal -muscled-hot-guy angry but Stel a didn’t even flinch. Furthermore, Juno didn’t move except to rol to her side and stretch out, oblivious to the tension in the room.

“So?” she fired back, completely unfazed by his anger.

“That’s not gonna happen again.”

“Okay, I’m happy not to get shot again. What I’m not happy about is letting Linnie’s murderer get off scot free.”

“The cops’l assign someone else and Sid’l fuck up somewhere along the line and someone wil take him down,” Mace told Stel a.

“You sure about that?” Stel a asked.

“Not as sure as I am about the fact that you’re not gonna be running through machine gunfire again.” Even though she was stil plastered front to front with Mace, Stel a turned her heard to look at Lee.

“Do I get a vote?” she asked.

“We know your vote, honey,” Lee said softly.

“Do I get special dispensation, being shot and al , to cast Mace’s vote for him?” Stel a asked Lee.

Mace’s jaw went tight, he closed his eyes and when he opened them, they were also on Lee and it didn’t take a mind reader to see he was looking for patience
and
fel ow Hot Guy understanding.

I very nearly laughed. Poor Mace.

And if you told me two days ago that I’d be thinking
that
I would have laughed in your face about that too.

Lee shook his head and answered, though I could tel he liked Stel a’s style, “Sorry, Stel a, it doesn’t work that way.”

“In,” Mace ground out but every single person in the room knew it cost him.

Stel a’s head whipped back around to look at him.

“Real y?” she asked.

“Real y,” he said to Stel a, his deep voice scary but it was when his eyes sliced back to Lee and he said what he said next that the vibe in the room changed. And if we thought things were tense before, we didn’t know the meaning of tense.

“She gets hurt, any of them gets hurt, I go maverick. You understand me?” Mace said to Lee.

Stel a froze, hel , everyone froze. We understood him. He did it for Jet, disappeared and made it his mission to take down the man who was making Jet’s life a living hel .

Luckily, Eddie, Lee, Hank and Darius had been there when Mace caught up with him.

Bottom line, if Bad Guy Sid hurt Stel a or any of the Rock Chicks, Mace, not known for being a mel ow guy (at al , even at the best of times), was going to hunt him down and kil him.

Damn, we’d been there, done that and had the t-shirt for that too. Not only with Mace but Luke had gone gonzo when Ava got violated too.

Shit.

I looked at Stel a and she’d gone pale again.

“Mace,” Stel a whispered.

“Mace,” Hank said louder, his voice ful of meaning.

Mace moved Stel a to his side, his arm went around her waist, his thumb hooking into the side belt loop of her OP

shorts and he held her close.

“Fair warning, Hank,” Mace said.

Hank stared at Mace and seconds ticked by.

Final y Hank repeated, “Fair warning.”

Not good.

Then again, if something happened to Roxie or Al y or me or likely any of the Rock Chicks, we al knew Hank would be maverick right alongside Mace.

Shit.

“War,” Luke muttered.

“War,” Eddie agreed.

“Fuck,” Vance bit off.

Hector smiled.

Darius shook his head.

“I’l talk to Bobby, Matt and Monty. It has to be unanimous,” Lee announced.

I looked up at Lee. Lee looked down at me.

“I love you,” I whispered for the second time that day.

Lee’s eyes didn’t go melty nor did their sides crinkle. He looked very serious.

Yikes.

“Good,” was Lee’s response.

Stella

I’d fucked up.

Big time.

In my bid to save humanity from whoever this Sid guy was, I put al the Rock Chicks on the line.

I didn’t think.

I just acted.

That was happening to me a lot lately and I was going to have to find a way to stop doing it or I’d get laid again (which, I had to admit (only deep down inside), wouldn’t suck) or kil ed (which would total y suck).