Rock Chick 08 Revolution (18 page)

“Ally, your apartment just
exploded,” Hank reminded me.

This was true.

Therefore I revised, “Are we done
here? Because I have to go shopping for a kickass dress and sexy heels, and
then Ren and I have a date.”

I felt Ren’s body moving like he
was laughing, but I ignored that and raised my brows at my brothers.

“You got a room full of Rock
Chicks, plus Tex, Duke, Tod, Stevie, Ralphie, Buddy and Smithie out there
waiting to see if you’re all right, and then to get your explanation,” Lee’s
eyes slid to Ren then back to me, “about a lot of things.”

“I love them, but I’m not sure that
takes precedence over my first official date with my hot Italian American
boyfriend,” I replied, and Ren’s body now
definitely
felt like it was laughing. I ignored this and kept speaking. “However, before
we go, I’d like to know why you two were in each other’s faces at my apartment,
otherwise known as the crime scene.”

Ren’s body stopped shaking.

That didn’t bode well.

“Thinkin’ you two can talk about that
on your date,” Lee returned.

That didn’t bode much better.

This brought me to the hard part,
and I braced before asking, “Right, then now I’d like to know if anyone was
injured in the blast.”

“Blast was contained to your
apartment,” Hank answered. “One of your neighbors got knocked over and sprained
a wrist. Shit fell off walls of other units. Yours was pretty much decimated.
Other than that, nothing.”

This time when I heaved a sigh, it
was of relief.

“So now,” Lee started. “We’re done
here.” He looked at Ren. “Except to say, I think you get, we leave her in your
care, you better take that seriously.”

“Are you kidding me?” I yelled
before Ren could say a word, and Lee looked at me.

“Ally, I’m your brother. Do you
think I
wouldn’t
say anything?”

“I’m thirty-two, not sixteen,” I
retorted.

“You’ll always be sixteen to me,”
he shot back, and my body jerked as I blinked.

Oh God.

Oh shit.

Fuck!

It was coming on. My nose was
tingling. My eyes got hot and my throat had closed.

“Fuck, she’s gonna cry,” Hank muttered,
staring at me, lips twitching.

“Am not,” I forced out.

Ren shifted me so I wasn’t pressed
back to front to him but tucked into his side and he spoke. “We all know she’s
not gonna get through the gamut out there unscathed, so we’re movin’ on to that
scene in this ongoing drama so we can then move the fuck out.”

He started us toward the door, but
stopped and I looked up at him to see him looking between Hank and Lee.

“And to answer your question,” he
stated. “Yes. I get you. And I take it seriously.”

Oh God.

Oh shit.

Fuck!

I’d managed to control it and it
was coming on again!

I looked away quickly so none of
the men in my life would send me over the edge, and luckily Ren started us
again to the door.

He opened it and let me precede
him. The instant I did, I got hit by a wave of Rock Chicks.

“Christ.” I heard Ren say.

But I was being pushed backwards
down the hall and I saw him recede until he disappeared when Ava and
Shirleen—who were the ones who had hands on me, the rest of them were just
following—shoved me in the safe room.

Tex, the last one in, slammed the
door and glowered at me.

He wasn’t the only one glowering at
me.

Again.

Here we go.

Shit.

Chapter Ten

Show Me How Special

I tore my eyes from Tex and moved them
through the Rock Chicks, but stopped when I saw Indy.

She was not head of the pack. She
was at the back. This was not only not her usual place, but the look on her
face as she stared at me made my lungs start burning.

“I… I… I…” Shirleen stammered, and
I looked her way, stunned she was stammering. Shirleen didn’t stammer. Then she
stopped stammering and shouted, “I don’t even know where to begin!”

“I know where to begin,” Tex boomed
from the back, and I looked at the mammoth wild-blond-haired, wild-russet-bearded
man that stood head and shoulders over the Rock Chicks (and gay guys). “Woman,
you know, you got action,
you
give some
to me!
I mean, you women have been quiet
for fuckin’
months.
Some woman in the
mountains was buried alive and I was cut out?” His face started getting red
before he shouted, “
Unacceptable!
”

Brody.

It had to be Brody. Darius wouldn’t
talk. How I’d kept Brody’s mouth shut as long as I did was a miracle. But that
miracle had ended.

Not surprising.

I had no idea when the news hit what
I’d get, if they knew about my activities, or Ren, or both.

I suspected both, considering the
number of phone calls I had and the news Brody received that morning about Ren
and me.

But, at the very least, a bomb
blast was hard to miss.

Before I could reply to Tex, Daisy shoved up to
the front. “And Ren was up there with you. And Ren was at your apartment with
you when it exploded. And Ren was walking out of Lee’s office two seconds ago
and he was doin’ it
with you.
”

At her last two words, her mass of
platinum blonde hair was shaking and she’d planted her hands on her hips.

In other words, I’d hit the Daisy
Danger Zone.

But Daisy wasn’t done.

“And just so you know, you take a
swing at a hot guy at a Rock Chick wedding then disappear—
completely
—we know you’re off doin’ the nasty, as in the
angry
nasty, which is some of the best
nasty you can get,” she declared.

She was not wrong. I knew this
because Ren and I had existed almost entirely on the angry nasty for going on a
year.

She was also
still
not done.

“And you
know,
when you’re doin’ the nasty, we know all about that nasty!”

She wasn’t wrong about that either.

She kept going. “But you’re zipped
tight for months, like you totally forget you make everyone else spill. Well, sugar,”
she leaned in and her eyes narrowed, “the time has come for
you
to spill. Comprende?”

I’d already comprende’d.

Before I could explain this to
Daisy, Tex
started up again.

“Don’t give a shit about that. Her
apartment exploded,” he said to Daisy then looked on me. “I’m in on whatever
that shit is. Starting now.”

I opened my mouth to say something
to Tex or Daisy or all the Rock Chicks, but I ended up looking at Indy and just
calling, “Indy?”

Everyone looked at Indy.

Indy just looked at me.

Then she opened her mouth to speak
as the door flew open.

Ren was there and he didn’t delay
in cutting a swathe through the Rock Chicks, gay guys, Tex,
Duke and Smithie.

He grabbed my hand and turned to
the group. Everyone’s eyes dropped to our hands. Some of them widened, some
mouths fell open.

They looked back at Ren when he
commenced in giving a Macho Alpha Speech.

“Ally and I have been together a
year,” he declared.

He also ignored the gasps, big eyes
and Sadie whispering, “
A year?
”, and
kept talking.

“She had her reasons for keepin’
that from you. She also had her reasons for doin’ other things and keepin’ that
from you. Now it’s all out and you want answers. But you’ll wait until she’s
ready to give them to you, which will be sometime after I take my woman out to
dinner. So you’ll hold your shit until Ally’s ready. Is that understood?”

Apparently it wasn’t, and this was
proved when Roxie asked, “Do you actually think that’s going to work?”

Ren said nothing, but he leveled
his gaze on Roxie.

Roxie pressed her lips together and
gave big eyes to Stella. Stella bit her bottom lip, but that didn’t mean both
her lips weren’t curled up in a big way.

So maybe I was wrong. It was going
to work because no one else said a word.

Maybe that macho alpha gig wasn’t
such a bad thing. At least it was good to know it had its uses.

Or it had its uses until Smithie
spoke up.

Smithie, by the way, owned a strip
club. Jet worked there as a waitress during her drama. Jet’s sister was
currently the headliner there as a stripper. He was a big black guy gone
slightly soft. And strip club owner or not, there was nothing “slightly” about
his soft heart.

He was also a nut. Then again, the
Rock Chicks, as a collection of nuts, collected their own.

“Are you sayin’ her apartment just
exploded not two hours ago and you two are goin’ on a date?” he asked, brows
raised, eyes big.

“That’s what I’m saying,” Ren
confirmed, then muttered, “We’re done here.” And he made that statement true by
dragging me through the Rock Chicks and out the door.

But as I went, I locked eyes with
Indy and mouthed,
Are we cool?

She just watched me go and gave me
nothing.

* * * * *

In Ren’s bathroom, I spritzed with
perfume, set it aside and looked at myself in the mirror.

After the Rock Chick Confrontation,
I’d spoken with the police in reception at Lee’s office for five minutes,
giving them my semi-statement, which was only semi seeing as I had no
involvement in the activities, outside my apartment exploding, so I had nothing
to give them that The Kevster hadn’t already provided.

Then Ren had guided me to his Jag
and we left.

He took me straight to Cherry Creek
Mall, valet parked (total class) then dragged me to Nordstrom’s. There, he
found a comfortable chair, pulled out his credit card and handed it to me.

“You got an hour. Use it wisely,”
he ordered.

I knew what his wisely meant. I
couldn’t help but know. My apartment exploded, the only clothes I owned I was
wearing. We were going out on our first date, he considered my dresses
foreplay, and we were at a mall.

I just didn’t know what the credit
card meant.

“Zano, my purse didn’t explode with
my pad. I had it with me, and just saying,” I pointed to it on my shoulder, “I
still do.”

Ren ignored this and replied, “Text
me when you decide on something to tell me where it is. Give them the card so
they can ring it up. I’ll go and sign.”

This didn’t address my remark.

“What I’m saying is, I have my own
money,” I told him.

“Ally, we’re not arguing about
this,” he told me.

I was trying to be confused and not
pissed, though, in truth, I was both.

In order to acquire the information
needed not to be confused, or pissed, I asked, “Are you saying my emergency
provision purchases are on you?”

He looked at the card I was holding
aloft and then at me.

However, he didn’t verbalize his
answer.

That was still an answer.

So now no confusion and I was stuck
with trying not to get pissed.

I pushed the card his way. “I’ve
got it.”

“And I said we’re not arguing about
this.”

“Zano, I make my own money.”

To this, he asked strangely, “Was
it you sittin’ in that booth with me, beer, bourbon and the Bears?”

“Yes,” I answered the obvious.

“And was it you cryin’ in my arms
over Sadie?”

“Yes, Zano, but—”

“And was it you who opened my
Christmas present naked in my bed on Christmas morning?”

I narrowed my eyes on him. “Where
is this leading?”

He didn’t answer my question or
wait for an answer to his. He kept up his bizarre interrogation.

“And was it you who told me you
loved me in a motel room this morning?”

I crossed my arms on my chest. “You
know it was.”

“And who were you with all those
times?” he asked.

“Zano. You!” I snapped. “What’s the
deal?”

“And do you know me?” he pushed,
and I sucked in breath.

I knew him.

And I got him.

He knew I got him and this was why he
said, “You know what you signed on for, babe. Now take my card, buy what you
need and text me to sign for it so we can get outta this fuckin’ place.”

I had to admit, his desire to exit
the mall without delay was a surprise. Ren dressed really well. Although it
would be a hit to his alpha badass to be comfortable in a mall, the results of
said comfort couldn’t be argued.

Still, I found it interesting he
clearly had an aversion to the mall.

This made me wonder where he got
his clothes.

“Ally?” he prompted, and I focused
on him.

Seeing as we were together
together
, I loved him, he loved me, I
decided in that moment to try new conversational gambits that might result in
actually conversing and not fighting.

Therefore, quietly, I pointed out,
“You know what you signed on for, too.”

“Yeah,” he agreed instantly. “I
also know my woman’s apartment exploded. So I want to get her across from me at
a nice dinner with booze so she can relax. Then I want her at home with me in
my bed so I can make her
really
relax.”

I was down with both of those.

Ren kept going.

“And she’s facing a variety of
shit, including a lot of shopping, which is going to cost a whack and take a
lot of time. You can do that. I want no part of that. I’m doin’ this. And I
want this done quickly. But I also want you to have something nice that makes
you feel good that’s from me so that makes it special, so you can have
something special on a
very
special
day that, unfortunately, included your apartment exploding. Not something you
like that you can afford that’ll do. So, go, enjoy and,” he leaned in, “
text me
when I gotta sign something.”

Oh my God.

That was really nice.

As in,
really.

“You could have explained it like
that,” I shared.

“I just did.”

He did. Though belatedly.

In order to keep conversing and not
fighting, I didn’t point out the belatedly part.

Instead, I informed him, “You’re
freaking me out.”

His brows shot together.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because you’re thoughtful, or more
thoughtful than I thought you’d be.”

“If you’d let me in a year ago, by
now you’d know intimately just how thoughtful I can be,” he replied, and that
was when
my
brows shot together.

“Just saying right now, you have
precisely two more opportunities to throw that in my face, and then you’re
done,” I snapped.

He looked at the ceiling.

Then he looked at me, his hand
snaking out, hooking around the back of my neck and his mouth came down on
mine.

In Cherry Creek, at Nordstrom’s, he
laid a hot, heavy, wet one on me.

Then he lifted his head and I
blinked, trying to remember what we were talking about, at the same time trying
to make certain my knees didn’t fail me.

“Go. Shop,” he urged softly. “And
don’t freak if you see Lucky or Santo trailing you. They’re both on you unless
I’m with you and they’re both here.”

This was news.

Lucky and Santo were Zano family
sidekicks. I’d met them both during Ava’s Rock Chick Ride. I also didn’t know
what to make of either, as in, if they were buffoons or if they concealed
crafty under a thick veneer of moron.

Since he was kind of their employer
so hopefully didn’t think they were buffoons, I didn’t ask Ren his opinion on
this.

Instead, I asked, “They are?”

Ren nodded.

“Since when and… how?”

“Since I called between you getting
corralled by the Rock Chicks, then saving you from the Rock Chicks, and I told
them to haul their asses here to watch
your
ass.”

“You know I can take care of
myself,” I told him.

“I know I’ll feel better if you got
backup,” he told me.

“I’m uncertain, since
you’re
here, why
you
aren’t my backup.”

“If I was your backup, I couldn’t
use this time to return the fifteen messages
I
got while we’ve been dealing with this shit.” His eyes started
heating and he concluded, “And if I was with you when you bought what you’re
about to buy, I wouldn’t get the surprise I suspect I’ll like later.”

This was a very good answer.

“I think it’s time for me to go
shopping,” I announced, and he smiled.

Getting his smile, I leaned into
him but lifted up to my toes.

He touched his mouth to mine before
he murmured, “Go.”

“’Kay,” I murmured back and pushed
away.

I got two steps in before he
called, “Ally?”

I turned back.

Eyes holding mine, he stated, “I
don’t need those two opportunities. That one was one too many. It was also out
of line. That’s done.”

I stared at him, knowing what I was
feeling but unable to put it into words.

Then I found the words.

“You do know I think you’re the
shit, right Zano?”

They were the right words.

I knew this when he gave me another
smile and replied, “I know.”

I tipped my head to the side and lifted
the credit card I was still holding. “Do I have any limits?”

His answer was a question. “Is
tonight special?”

I started feeling warm(er) inside.

“Yes,” I replied.

He looked beyond me, then at me,
and finally answered, “Then show me how special.”

I smiled at him. He jerked his head
so I’d get a move on.

I got a move on. I shopped, texted,
shopped more and got an LBD, fabulous shoes, equally fabulous undies, a
phenomenal nightie, a plethora of makeup, perfume, shower stuff and a few other
bits and bobs to get me through the next couple of days.

We loaded up and Ren took me to his
place.

At that point, it was well into the
afternoon so I headed to the bathroom with my bag and Ren headed to his office
upstairs with his phone.

We had the same charger. He had one
in his bedroom so I hooked my cell to it before I did my going out gig.

But now I had smoky eyes, sleek
hair and I smelled good.

And the only jewelry I was wearing
(because it was the only jewelry I now owned) was my guitar pendant. It didn’t
exactly go with my slinky dress with its tunic-style, v-neck top, empire waist,
ruched short (
short
) skirt that was
skintight and my strappy stilettos. Then again, what it was and who it was
from, it was my opinion that it would go with everything I owned.

After I gave myself a once over and
walked out of the bathroom, I didn’t go to Ren.

I’d given it time, and not just the
time my cell needed to charge.

So I went to the phone.

I scrolled down and dialed Indy.

I got voicemail.

I took in a deep breath and disconnected.
It wasn’t unheard of I’d get voicemail. If Lee had Indy’s attention or she was
neck deep in coffee, she wouldn’t answer her phone.

The thing was, her BFF had her
apartment bombed. This was not a time when she wouldn’t take a call from me.

I hit go on her contact again.

I got voicemail again.

This time I didn’t disconnect.

Instead, after her message, I left
one.

“Hey. I figure you’re pissed and
just to say, you have a right. I kept a lot from you, but I had a lot going
through my head. I kept that from you, too. But if you’ll let me, I’ll explain
everything. I had my reasons, chickie. And hopefully, when you hear them,
you’ll understand.” I paused, then whispered, “Love you.”

Then I hung up.

I was unplugging my phone from the
charger and pushing thoughts of Indy being pissed at me to the back of my head
by lamenting the fact I hadn’t bought a bag to go with my slinky dress when I
heard Ren mutter, “Christ.”

I straightened and turned.

While I was in the bathroom, he’d
changed into dark blue trousers and a light blue shirt with dark blue and gray
stripes.

Nice.

“Hey,” I greeted.

He said nothing, but his eyes were
glued to the vicinity of my hips where my dress was
very
tight and didn’t leave a lot to the imagination, even through
material.

I took this as indication he liked
the dress.

I smiled big inside, but my lips
only tipped up slightly on the outside.

His gaze drifted to my shoes and
locked there.

“Zano, I’m hungry.”

He looked at my face.

“If I tell you to get your ass over
here, are you gonna give me shit?” he asked.

“Yes,” I answered. “Though, I will
warn you, you unwrap this package now, you spoil the surprise I have planned
for later, and I’ll note that whatever you might make up in your head from now
until then, the reality is better.”

His eyes heated but his lips
quirked.

“Baby, just to say, I’m likin’ how
special you’re showin’ me this night’s gonna be.”

My tipped lips tipped up higher.

Then his head cocked to the side
and the heat went out of his gaze, but it stayed fastened on me and changed to
probing. He studied me a moment before walking to me, lifting both hands to
either side of my neck and dipping his face close.

“You have insurance?” he asked
gently.

I wasn’t following from our sexual
banter to that question, so I asked back, “What?”

“Insurance, personal property. You
covered?”

“I don’t know
how
covered I am, but I do have a policy,” I answered. “Why?”

“You’ve got something on your mind.
Not surprising since your apartment exploded. And maybe we should talk about
that.”

Oh. That.

I blew it off. “It’ll be okay.”

His scrutiny, already acute, got
more so right before his thumbs moved to stroke my throat.

Both of them.

He’d never done that before.

It felt delicious.

So delicious, I wondered if I threw
a tizzy about my apartment, what that would get me.

“You haven’t talked about that
hardly at all, honey,” he noted.

“What’s there to talk about?” I
asked, genuinely curious, and his thumbs stopped.

“Ally, baby, you lost everything,”
he said quietly and carefully.

“Yeah,” I replied and he blinked.

“Yeah?” he repeated after me, but
his was a question.

I shrugged. “It’s just stuff. I had
my phone and my laptop on me and the backups of both were at my pad so it was
good I had them. Clothes, furniture and kitchen implements can be replaced,” I
told him, but finished on a mutter, “though I’m gonna miss my towels and
sheets.”

When he said nothing and this
lasted awhile, I focused on him, not my incinerated sheets.

“That’s it?” he pushed. “You’re
gonna miss your towels and sheets?”

I shrugged again. “Sure.”

Then I stopped being an idiot and
realized he was concerned for me. And it was sweet, as Ren could be.

Therefore I leaned into him and
lifted both my hands to wrap my fingers around his wrists.

“Stuff is stuff, Ren,” I told him
softly. “If someone wiped my memory clean of the Whitesnake concert Indy and I
got in shitloads of trouble sneaking off to Vegas to go see but was totally
freaking awesome, that would be bad. Or if someone wiped away me standing in a
bridesmaid dress watching one brother, then another, take the women that were
made for them as their wives, that would be bad.”

I leaned in closer, gave his wrists
a squeeze and kept going.

“Or if I hadn’t watched an Italian
American hothead in action in a parking lot brawl and sensed he was the one for
me,
that
would be bad. Losing my
sheets sucks. They were awesome. But they don’t mean anything. People mean
something. Memories mean something. Things mean nothing.”

Ren stared down at me, but his
thumbs were sweeping my throat again and his gaze was unwavering.

When this lasted some time, I
asked, “What?”

“You do know I think you’re the
shit, don’t you, Ally?” he asked back.

I got to feeling warmer and leaned
even closer, which was to say, I pressed my body to his and replied, “I know.”

He moved in and brushed his lips to
mine, but he didn’t move away or take it further.

He stayed close and stayed on
target.

“So what’s on your mind?”

“Dinner,” I answered, and that was
partially true.

“Baby,” he whispered, said no more
and didn’t move.

I sighed.

I knew what he wanted.

Okay, this was us now and I figured
it was time I started sharing.

The problem with that was, I didn’t
share. Not with anybody. Not even sometimes Indy. That just wasn’t me.

But I had seen the way my mom was
with my dad, and Marcus with Daisy, and any of the Rock Chicks with their Hot
Bunch boys and learned that give and take was key.

If I wanted this to work with Ren,
who had indeed busted his ass to get
in
there
, then I needed to let him
in
there.

Starting now.

And anyway, he was being all kinds
of sweet.

Shit.

“I think Indy’s pissed at me.”

His hands left my neck so he could
wrap his arms around me. When he did, my hands left his wrists so I could rest them
on his chest.

Through this, he spoke.

“You two have been through more
thick and thin than anybody. She’s gonna bust your chops, babe. She’s also
gonna get over it. And you know that.”

Okay, that required more sharing.

Shit!

I pulled in a breath and whispered,
‘I don’t like her mad at me.”

He nodded and his face got soft.
“Sucks when anyone you love is mad at you. But if they love you, they get over
it. And Ally,” he gave me a squeeze, “that woman
loves you
. She’ll get over it. You just need to suck it up and let
her bust your chops.”

He was right.

And he was definitely all kinds of
sweet.

Because of that, I slid my hands up
his chest to wrap my arms around his neck and I pressed in, saying, “I’m
suddenly not hungry.”

“Anticipation,” was his reply.

I rocked back on my heels, but kept
hold of him as I asked, “What?”

“Honey, the next two hours I get to
sit opposite you wondering what’s under that fuckin’ phenomenal dress. Then I
get to peel that fucking phenomenal dress off and find out. Anticipation. Makes
something sweet all the more sweet. You gonna take that away from me?”

“I’m thinking that would be
selfish,” I answered.

“It would,” he replied on a smile.

“The problem is, I’m in the mood to
be selfish,” I shared, then I got to watch and feel as he burst out laughing.

Both his hands also slipped down to
my ass so I thought I was going to get my selfish way.

I didn’t.

He bent his neck, kissed mine then
pulled away, as in,
entirely
, letting
me go and ordering, “Get your bag. The sooner I get food and champagne down
you, the sooner we can see just how special this night’s gonna be.”

Champagne?

I liked my tequila. Definitely.

But Ren in a suit
I
got to peel off later, good food, just
us, our first date, and champagne?

I was all for that.

Ren tagged his suit jacket from the
bed and shrugged it on.

I grabbed my bag.

Ren grabbed my hand.

We were out on the landing, Ren one
step down the stairs, when I tugged on his hand. He stopped and looked up at
me.

It was time for more sharing.

“Thanks for making this easy, honey.”

Instantly, his eyes got so hot,
they burned through me. He pushed back on my hand so I took a step back and he
took the step back up. Then his hands were at my ass, his mouth was on mine,
and he was shuffling me backwards.