Rock Chick 08 Revolution (62 page)

More chin lifts.

Jeez.

The gang broke up just as Darius’s phone rang.

But I looked to Lee. “Need a second. In private. Eddie, too.”

My eyes went to Eddie to see him watching me intently.

“Ally, got shit to do,” Lee said, sounding distracted.

“A second, Lee,” I replied quietly.

It was my quiet that got him to give me a look. He transferred his gaze
to Eddie and then he nodded to me

I avoided all eyes as he moved out of the room and I followed him,
Eddie following me.

Lee took us to his office, but stood at the door until Eddie and I made
it through. Then he closed the door and turned his back to it, not moving
further into the room.

Right. His position reiterated he was giving me only a second, he had
shit to do.

So did I, so I cut to it.

I took a deep breath and reminded him. “You know I’m worried about
Darius.”

“I do,” Lee confirmed. “But is now the time for you to get up in our
shit about it?”

“I know about Malia and Liam.”

I watched Lee’s entire body get tight, and I didn’t normally get scared
but that sure as fuck scared me.

“Zano tell you?” he fired at me, his words like bullets.

“No,” I answered, shaking my head for emphasis. “I found out like I
find out a lot of shit. I know a lot of people. I ask a lot of questions.” I
looked to Eddie. “I did it on the down low so there’s nothing for you two to
worry about.”

“You’re wrong,” Lee returned, and I looked back to him.

“I know this is privileged information and the person who told me was
not real big on me knowing it. But I got the information and I’m gonna do
something about it.”

Lee leaned toward me, his eyes narrowing. “You’re not gonna do shit.”

“I am,” I whispered. “There’s a boy growing up without his father.”

Lee leaned back. “That’s Darius’s choice.”

“It’s the wrong one,” I retorted.

“That’s not your call,” Lee clipped.

“Yes, it is. Yes, it absolutely is,” I shot back, lifted a hand and
shook my head. “Don’t worry, bro. You don’t want to be involved with whatever I
decide to do, don’t be. That’s
your
call. Though I’ll assure you, I will not make a production of this. And I won’t
drag the Rock Chicks into it. What I’m gonna do is take a big risk and point
out some important facts to a man I love and have loved since I was a kid. He
cuts me out, so be it. But there’s the slight chance he’ll listen to me, maybe
not now, maybe eventually, but then he’ll find a way back to his family. And
that’s important enough, not just for Darius but for Malia and especially Liam,
I’m willing to take that risk.”

Lee glared at me.

I looked to Eddie and the instant I did, he said, “Don’t fuck this up.”

“I can’t guarantee that,” I told him honestly. “What I can do is do my
best to make certain this is about me and Darius and it doesn’t leak to the
rest of the posse. And I’ll do that.”

But Lee was now glaring at Eddie, and after I finished speaking, he bit
out, “You cannot be cool with this.”

“I’m not. Then again,
hermano,
I haven’t been cool with this shit for seventeen fuckin’ years,” Eddie replied.

Lee again closed his mouth.

He wasn’t cool with it either.

I took in a breath and held it.

Lee looked back to me. “I’m not involved.”

This was disappointing. It was also unsurprising. There was never a
time when there wasn’t a Lee, Eddie and Darius. Even when Lee and Eddie were
fighting (which happened often) and when Darius was on the wrong side of the
law and Eddie was a cop.

They had a bond. They were brothers.

And if you love your brother, you had his back and backed his plays.

So I nodded.

Lee’s body partially relaxed when he informed me, “You don’t know this
but he takes care of them.”

“I do know that. It isn’t about money and protection, though,” I
replied. “It’s something bigger and you know it.”

“He does what he can do,” Lee stated and I totally dug it that he was
defending his best friend.

But he needed to
wake up.

“Your baby is growing in my best friend’s belly,” I reminded him and
his head jerked. “And God forbid something happens between you and Indy or to
you to change you or take you away from them in any capacity. You think on
that. You think on Indy going it alone raising your child. She’d have money, no
doubt. But you know that’s not even the half of what it takes. And, last, you
think on your child growing up without knowing all the righteousness that is
you. That would be a tragedy. So you think on that, Lee. Then you come back to
me and tell me I’m doing the wrong thing. I still won’t believe you and I’ll
still do what I intend to do. But I’ll be even more disappointed in you.” I
looked to Eddie and finished, “The both of you.”

I thought that was a good parting line so I made it one, moved forward,
shoved past Lee and walked out the door.

* * * * *

“Babe, it’s going to be cool.”

That was me, sitting with Ren at his dining room table, watching him
not eating the seafood linguini he’d made us and instead sipping wine, staring
at the table and brooding.

I’d told him everything. About what was happening at Smithie’s and
about the wheels I set in motion in regards to Darius.

I did not expect him to lay a hot and heavy celebratory kiss on me after
he shouted, “All right! My woman is going to be in the line of fire tonight!”

So I was giving him his space, but I still wanted to assure him I was
going to be all right.

I mean, Mace and Luke had my back. That was nothing to sneeze at.

At my words, he turned his head to me, sipped more wine and when he was
done, he stated, “I’m gonna be there tonight.”

I fought back a sigh but nodded.

I expected that. It was intrusive and maybe wrong. But my man had a
protective streak, and until he was entirely down with what I was doing, I
needed to give him some leeway.

He went back to brooding.

I reached out and touched his thigh. “Honey, I’m gonna be okay.”

He looked at me and declared, “Santo got into Snookie Rivers’s
apartment today. He has a room dedicated to pictures of you. He’s a stalker,
and not the tame harmless variety. The sick and twisted variety. Lucky was on
him and he must have made him, because when Lucky went to get the drop on him,
he got the drop on Lucky and got away.”

I shot back in my seat.

Holy shit!

“There’s an unknown weirdo out there taking pictures of me?” I asked.

“Yeah. Everywhere. All you. At work. At home. Both of ‘em. Your
apartment and here. Just you. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them.”

Hundreds was bad.

But
thousands?

“I… what…” I stammered, then pulled myself out of my shock and got it
together. “What the hell?”

“I don’t know. My mind doesn’t work like that. What I do know is while
I’ve been thinkin’ on this and whether or not to tell you, I didn’t think on
whether or not to give Darius the heads up. So I did. And you might be pissed,
but he’s at your back often so he needs to keep an eye out. I left it up to
him, and now you, if you share with your brothers. But my vote, you do, and
someone, I don’t give a fuck who, closes that guy down.”

This grossed me out, but still.

“I’m not sure it’s illegal to take pictures of someone, Ren.”

“The way he’s doin’ it?” he asked, but didn’t want an answer mostly
because he already had one. “Fuck yeah it is. You need a restraining order.
Which won’t do jack. So that means he gets a message. And I’d like it to be me
that gives it to him. But if Darius, one of your brothers or one of his men get
there before me, I won’t argue.”

This did not make me feel warm and fuzzy.

“It was that bad?” I asked quietly.

“Thousands of pictures, Ally,” he answered, not quietly.

Whoa.

He wasn’t being broody about my job that night.

He was being broody because I had a sicko taking photos of me.

“Do we have a picture of him so I know who I’m looking for and they
will, too?” I asked.

“Darius says he’s got Brody on that. DMV. Whatever. Brody will find
somethin’ and he’ll give it to me.”

I nodded.

“You watch your back. You also drive to work tonight with me.”

Oh man.

“Ren—”

“Do not fight this, Ally,” he cut me off. “It’ll get ugly, I assure
you, baby, and you won’t win. I got a man fixated on my woman and you gotta let
me do what I have to do. You with me?”

I thought on it, but not long enough for the Italian Hothead to wake up
and decide he needed to make his point.

Then I said, “I’m with you, honey.”

He took in a deep breath and let it go.

Relief.

“Though, I’ll say, I miss our fighting,” I continued.

His chin jerked back and his brows went up before he asked, “Have you
lost your mind?”

“No. Without fights there’s no angry sex.”

That got him

His lips quirked. He put down his wineglass and picked up his fork as
he asked, “Am I fallin’ down on that part of the job, babe?”

“I will point out, we haven’t had sex today,” I shared, also digging
back into my linguini.

I was lifting a load to my mouth when I felt his eyes on me. So I gave
him mine.

“The day isn’t done,” he replied.

I grinned.

Then I quit grinning so I could shove delicious linguini and shrimp
into my mouth.

* * * * *

 
“I get him, you get off stage.
You get the girls in the dressing room and keep them there. You keep the
dressing room door closed and locked. Lenny’s gonna be outside. You keep your
phone in your hand and you hear something you don’t like, you call 911. And you
keep the girls calm.”

I was giving the instructions Lee gave to me by text to Lottie.

I was about to go on. And Lottie was going on with me.

Double the viewing entertainment, double the distraction from what
would be going on in the club.

I’d briefed her and Lottie knew what was happening.

All of it.

And she was all in.

I got closer and said quietly, “This ends for them tonight. But our
jobs aren’t done tonight.”

She nodded.

“He get them all?” I asked something I didn’t want to know but, alas, needed
to know.

She nodded again but said, “He’s partial to JoJo. Sometimes he has a
taste for Meena. But he’s tried them all.”

I lifted my hands to the sides of her head and pulled her to me so our
foreheads were touching. “We’ll see to them.”

She nodded but said, “Smithie’s gonna unravel.”

Smithie knew nothing about this. This was because Smithie would first
commit murder.

Then he’d unravel.

“We’ll see to him, too,” I promised.

She nodded again.

“You do that onstage, I’ll give you both fifty bucks as a bonus and
I’ll name my next fuckin’ kid after you,” Smithie said as he approached.

Lottie and I broke apart and looked his way.

“We’re already dancing a double,” I reminded him.

“Yeah. I know. This is why you’re in my fuckin’ will,” Smithie replied
as the music silenced and the girls ran off the stage.

I drew in a deep breath and grabbed Lottie’s hand.

Smithie went onstage and walked across it to get the microphone.

“Remember,” I said, staring through the crack in the curtain. “When I
get him, you get the girls.”

“I remember,” Lottie replied on a hand squeeze. “And if, when you get
his gun, you accidentally squeeze off a round, I’m your witness that it was
accidentally.”

Great minds think alike.

“So put your hands together, motherfuckers!” Smithie was concluding his
introduction. “’Cause the Rock Chick and Lottie Mac are teamin’ up, and it’s
gonna blow your
motherfucking minds!
”

It certainly would.

In a lot of ways.

The club went black, Smithie stumbled off and Lottie and I dashed on.

In the dark, the opening riffs of Nickelback’s “Something in Your
Mouth” hit the space. The rest of the band kicked in, the bright lights hit the
stage and Lottie and I hit each other.

It was an ingenious plan. No man in that room would look anywhere but
at Lottie and I as we double teamed. Squatting down and sliding up each other’s
bodies. Smacking each other’s asses. Circling a pole low while the other went
high. Flicking each other’s hair. Kicking a leg over the other who was in a
squat. Both of us swinging our asses out to the audience in tandem.