Rock Chick Revolution

  “You do that.”

  Meeting done, and by the look on his face, I didn’t make a friend.

  God.

  Vito.

  Stubborn.

  I nodded and got up.

  But once up, I looked down at him and fired my parting shot.

  “I love him. He’s my world. So obviously I want him to be happy. This dissension is making him unhappy. I also want to work across the hall from him so we can carpool. He wants that, too. And I know you want him to be happy. There is no way the man who looked after Ren and his family, the man who gave a father to a fatherless son, the man who stepped up for Ava and Sadie, would hurt someone he cared about. Not that deeply. And it would be disappointing to me, devastating to the man I love, to learn that’s not true.”

  On that, I took off.

  But I’d seen his head jerk and I hoped I got in there.

  I closed the door behind me and headed to Ren’s office, wanting Lee to be gone. Not because I didn’t love my big bro, but because I didn’t want to delay in breaking in Ren’s desk.

  I didn’t stop at Ren’s door because I heard a voice in reception. It was Dom’s, and he sounded angry.

  I was Ally. Always curious. So I moved stealthily toward the mouth of the hall, but stopped when I could hear and not be seen.

  “…IT guys and they found that shit,” Dom bit out.

  “I—” Dawn started.

  “Fuck no,” Dom cut her off. “That’s your written warning. From now on, company email only. Not that bullshit you been writing to your girls. That’s fucked.”

  I grinned.

  Ren had had Dom check her emails.

  And I’d been right. She was catting with her girls on company time.

  Now she was getting a written warning.

  This was so totally a happy day.

  “And, just sayin’,” Dom continued. “That fucked up shit you been tellin’ your girls about what’s gonna go down between you and me, get that shit outta your head. I’m married. I got a wife I love and a kid I also love. I’m not gonna do jack to fuck with that. Not with you. Not with anybody. And, babe, just sayin’, take a good look at my wife the next time she comes in. I know you think your shit don’t stink, but you don’t hold a candle to her.”

  Suddenly I decided I liked Dom.

  Unfortunately done tearing Dawn a new one, he stalked into the hall and scowled at me.

  “That was righteous,” I whispered when he got close.

  “That bitch is a bitch,” he replied, not in a whisper.

  I couldn’t argue that.

  Dom continued stalking down the hall.

  For (hopefully) future reference of the lay of the land at Zano Holdings, I made note of which office he went into.

  Then I went to Ren’s, knocked and entered when he called, “Yeah?”

  “Hey,” I greeted, closing the door behind me, noting Lee wasn’t there, so no delays to nookie.

  “Hey,” he replied, getting up and making to move around the desk.

  “You don’t have to get up, babe,” I told him, moving to him.

  We met up. He lifted a hand to cup my jaw and tip my head back before he bent to give me a quick kiss.

  When he lifted his head he said, “Yeah, I do.”

  Stand up kissing with Ren. Only second best to lying down kissing with Ren.

  So I agreed, “Yeah, you do.”

  He slid his arms around me. “How’s the office?”

  “Operational come Thursday.”

  He gave me a squeeze and murmured, “Good, baby.”

  “I told Lee about Snookie Rivers,” I informed him.

  “Yeah. I got that.”

  I bet he did.

  “Any news on that?” I asked.

  “Not yet,” he answered. “But I suspect there soon will be. Both Santo and Lucky are on it. I was just about to go in and talk with Vito and Dom so they’d know Santo and Lucky have a priority mission and are unavailable. Lee and I agreed to tracking you. He’s having a device put on your car, he wants one in your bag and he’s going to get Brody to track your phone.”

  My man so loved me.

  So did my brother.

  “I’m cool with that,” I told him then asked, “Anything I can do?”

  “Although Lee’ll be keepin’ an eye on you, I still want you to let someone know where you are, or alternately where you’re gonna be, and when you expect to get there and do that at all times.”

  I could do that.

  So I replied, “Copy that.”

  He shook his head but his lips quirked.

  “Okay, so, I have to get to Smithie and check in. But first, I have to have sex with my man on his desk. Can we do that pronto so I can get a move on?”

  It wasn’t a flowery statement or a seductive one, but on the word “sex”, his eyes heated and his body moved, backing to his desk and taking me with him. This I took as him agreeing to my plan.

  And he did. He just had additions.

  “First, you go down on me in my chair. Then I fuck you on the desk.”

  Total happy place spasm so big it sent quivers down my inner thighs.

  “You get that, then I get you returning the favor with me on your desk,” I bartered.

  Ren was an easy sell.

  I knew this when his mouth came to mine, his eyes burning, and he replied, “Done.”

  Then his arms closed tight and he kissed me.

  In the end, I really couldn’t tell you which phase of sex on (and around) Ren’s desk was the highlight.

  So I figured we had to do it again, and soon, just so I could make sure.

  Really hoped Vito would cave so my man could be close to me.

  Seriously.

  And not just so we could carpool.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Salvation

  One week later…

  I drove my Mustang into underground parking at my office.

  It was nearly noon and I was still working mornings at Fortnum’s because Indy was still in the throes of morning sickness, and according to her doctors, would be for a while.

  Although this was gross, she now had so much practice hurling, a quick, “Hang on,” dash to the bathroom, return, “I’m back” happened frequently.

  My BFF.

  Nothing fazed her.

  All was settling in Rock Chick/Hot Bunch Land, which also meant in Ren and Ally Land.

  For me, it was mornings at Fortnum’s, work my cases, evenings with Ren.

  For Ren, it was work enduring a Vito freeze-out and thus working to wrap things up in order to leave, then evenings with me where I tried to make him feel better.

  He hid it, but it was wearing on him.

  I’d done what I could do with Vito.

  The rest was up to Ren to decide.

  That was, of course, if I didn’t lose it, charge into Vito’s office and rip him a new one. Though, I suspected that wouldn’t help.

  And I had cases. Two of them. One, Shirleen (and thus Lee) had punted me. One was from a friend who had a friend who needed help.

  Surprisingly, when I shared that I didn’t accept gift cards or discounts as payment anymore; she said she’d talk to her friend and share this info. Then her friend came in and chatted with Daisy. After that, she hired me.

  Both cases were domestics and I was working them with Matt. From experience, neither case would last long. That said, it was interesting having a partner.

  Interesting in a good way.

  Matt was kind of the Unknown Hot Bunch Guy. I’d spent time around him. Partied with him. Shot the shit with him. I knew his girlfriend, Daphne. I knew he was hot in a boy next door kind of way. But other than that, not much.

  Now I knew he was good at his job.

  Oh, and since we were working the job together and this necessitated communicating, I also now knew that he’d bought Daphne a ring. I further knew that the day of the Big Ask was this coming Saturday.

  “And if you tell even a single Rock
Chick, Ally, I’ll shoot you,” he’d warned me with a not-very boy next door look on his face.

  So Matt could be badass.

  Good to know.

  I’d zipped my lips. He’d shaken his head. But I didn’t tell a single Rock Chick.

  I was one of the girls.

  But now I was also one of the guys.

  How totally fucking righteous was that?

  The one pall hanging over everything was the fact that neither Lee and his boys, nor Ren unleashing Lucky and Santo, had meant success in finding Snookie Rivers.

  I tried to tell myself that he’d realized he’d been made and he’d found someone else to stalk. When I did this I didn’t believe myself, nor did I like the idea of him stalking someone else. So this concerned me and I was keen to have that situation done.

  But Brody had a lock on my phone. I had devices in my car and purse, and they tracked me in the surveillance room at Nightingale Investigations all the time. Not to mention, I frequently saw Lucky or Santo hanging close.

  So I was covered.

  I still wished someone would find the sicko.

  As I made my way to the elevator, I texted Ren with, In the building.

  In the elevator on the way to our floor, my phone binged with, All right, honey.

  I grinned, not caring that I had to check in (and frequently), with Ren. If it made him breathe easy, I’d do it. If I could do anything to make him breathe easy, I’d do it (mostly).

  I exited the elevator, walked down the hall, opened the door to my offices and was confronted with World War III.

  Namely, Daisy and Shirleen going at it.

  “You’re makin’ me look bad!” Shirleen shouted, hands on hips, leaning across Daisy’s desk toward Daisy.

  “So do the filin’, and not the kind you do to your nails!” Daisy shouted back, also with hands on hips doing the leaning thing.

  Uh-oh.

  I moved in, making sure the door swung closed, hoping that would drown out the noise.

  “Ladies—” I began.

  Daisy looked at me. “Just so you know, sugar, I got an appointment for fills, I do it on my lunch hour.”

  “Suck up,” Shirleen snapped.

  “I’m not suckin’ up!” Daisy snapped back.

  Shirleen leaned back. “At least Shirleen don’t suck up.”

  Daisy slammed a hand on the desk, her long nails (white with green glitter tips) clicking, and she screamed, “I’m not suckin’ up!”

  Hmm.

  That would filter into the hall.

  Definitely.

  Time to end this.

  “Yo!” I shouted, and they both swung their eyes to me.

  Okay. So. I didn’t get scared.

  Shirleen and Daisy pissed with their eyes to me?

  I had to admit. I felt it.

  “Daisy isn’t a suck up. She doesn’t have to suck up. We’re a team,” I told Shirleen.

  “See,” Daisy said snottily.

  “Just like,” I put in quickly when Shirleen opened her mouth, “you’re a member of Lee’s team. You have your way of doing things over there.” I threw out an arm. “We have our way of doing things here.” I pointed to the floor.

  “You’re workin’ with the boys,” Shirleen said to me. “They’ll see Daisy in action and get ideas.”

  Was she high?

  I wasn’t certain that Lee’s boys even knew Daisy worked for me. And if they did, it was in passing and they didn’t give a shit.

  “Does Lee care if you file?” I asked.

  “The word ‘file’ isn’t even in Lee’s vocabulary,” Shirleen answered.

  This, I figured, was true.

  “Do the boys pay any attention to administration at all over at Lee’s?” I kept at it.

  “Hell no,” Shirleen replied.

  I swung an arm out again. “Then why would they here?”

  Her head cocked to the side.

  “I see your point,” she muttered.

  Jeez.

  “Okay. So are we done with this ridiculous fight?” I asked.

  “I am,” Daisy declared, sitting her ass, encased in a skintight green skirt, down in her office chair. This afforded us a view only of a white blouse that was unbuttoned way beyond professional levels that had the added attraction of being nearly see-through, so we saw the miles of lace that was her bra. Not to mention a head of hair that needed its own area code.

  Shirleen narrowed her eyes on Daisy, and I cautiously got closer to the desk.

  “What’s really on your mind?” I asked Shirleen and she looked at me.

  “Shit’s boring,” she decreed.

  Oh man.

  Tex in black woman form.

  I didn’t know which was worse, but at that moment, with Shirleen close and in a pissy mood, she was.

  “Everyone’s hooked up, you were the last, and you were boring,” she complained. “Sure, you stripped. And it was hot. La-di-da. But now, no more apartments exploding. No one’s left to get kidnapped. Nothin’. The boys, they take care of business. I answer the phone. I send invoices. I run payroll. Then I go home and watch TV. I didn’t sign up for that shit.”

  “So you came over and picked a fight with Daisy?” I asked.

  “What the hell else am I gonna do?” Shirleen asked back then leaned in. “File?”

  My answer to that would be yes.

  If I was insane enough to verbalize it.

  I wasn’t, so instead I studied her and got closer.

  My voice also dipped lower when I pressed, “Okay, Shirleen, now tell us what’s really on your mind.”

  She pulled in a breath, looked at Daisy, looked at me then declared, “Sniff’s got a girlfriend.”

  Oh shit.

  “They’re tight. He’s never home,” she went on.

  Crap.

  “I never see him,” she kept going. “And when he’s home, he’s on the phone…” she paused, “with her.”

  Hmm.

  Momma wasn’t liking her cubs shifting away from the den.

  Shirleen wasn’t done, and she saved the scariest for last.

  “And we gotta have the talk, and not only do I not wanna have the talk, I don’t know how to have the talk.”

  I was thinking, with Roam and Sniff (mostly Roam, but it also could be with Sniff) it was a little late for the talk as in, the sex talk. Both had been serial daters for a while, with Roam going for the world record.

  I didn’t share that either.

  But Daisy (as always) was in the mood to share.

  She flicked a wrist and advised, “Just buy him a pack of condoms and put it on his pillow.”

  “Say what?” Shirleen asked, eyes huge.

  “That says it all,” Daisy answered.

  “What it says is I’m down with him havin’ sex, which I am not,” Shirleen fired back.

  “He’s a boy. He’s seventeen. It’s gonna happen, if it already hasn’t, sugar,” Daisy pointed out.

  “He’s my boy and it’s not gonna happen until he gets what it means,” Shirleen retorted and finished, “And it has not already happened.”

  Hmm.

  Maternal denial.

  I moved to switch subjects by asking, “What does it mean?”

  She swung her gaze to me, and I successfully stopped myself from taking a step back.

  “You don’t know?”

  “I know what it means to me. I just don’t know what you want Sniff to know what it means,” I replied.

  “You do the business with Zano. What’s that mean?” she returned.

  “I said I knew what it meant to me,” I repeated, trying for patience. “I want to know what you want to share with Sniff.”

  “That he should find a girl that means something to him so it will mean what it means when you do the deed with Zano. Or Indy with Lee. Mace with Stella—”

  Daisy interrupted Shirleen with, “We get it.”

  Shirleen looked at her. “You with Marcus.”

  “Oh darlin’,” Daisy
waved a hand, palm out, “to get to a Marcus, he’s gotta get in the saddle before he finds The One. And do it a lot. Comprende?”

  “And maybe along the way get some silly white girl knocked up?” Shirleen shook her head. “No fuckin’ way.”

  Daisy leaned toward Shirleen and put her hand to the desk, reiterating with strained patience, “That’s why you buy him a pack of condoms and put them on his goddamned pillow.”

  “Uh… just saying,” I butted in, and both of them looked to me. “You don’t want to do the talk. You don’t know how to do the talk. But you know about eight guys you can call on who are tight with Sniff and found a woman where sex means what you want it to mean to Sniff who can talk to him.”

  Shirleen’s eyebrows nearly hit the edge of her enormous afro. “Lordy, are you sayin’ you think one of the Hot Bunch should give my boy the sex talk?”

  “That’s what I’m saying,” I confirmed.

  “Are you crazy?” she asked.

  “No,” I answered.

  “Well, just sayin’ right back at cha, all ‘a those boys have been in the saddle so often before they got their Rock Chick, it’s a wonder none of them are bow-legged,” Shirleen remarked.

  “Doin’ the business doesn’t require the man to have his legs open,” Daisy muttered, and Shirleen swung her glare to her.

  “It’s been a while for Shirleen, but I remember that part,” she snapped.

  Seemed it was time we hooked Shirleen up.

  “Personally, I think we should ask one of the Hot Bunch,” Daisy stated, her hand reaching to the phone on her desk. “And tape it. That I would love to see.”

  Holy shit!

  I would, too.

  Totally.

  “Call Mace,” I ordered, immediately losing interest in our earlier subject. “That would be awesome.”

  Daisy nodded, her hair nodding with her, and she started jabbing buttons on the phone with the tip of a nail.

  “Daisy girl, put that phone down,” Shirleen demanded.

  Daisy held the receiver aside and lifted her eyes to me. “I’m changin’ my mind. Luke.”

  I shook my head and grinned. “Hector. Totally Hector.”

  Shirleen’s hand darted out, pulled the receiver out of Daisy’s and slammed it in its base while Daisy’s head snapped back and she yelled, “Hey!”

  “Fuck it,” Shirleen muttered, stomping to the door. “I’ll do it.”

  “Shirleen,” I called.