Rock Chick 01 (39 page)

“No way,” I breathed.

Ally nodded.

“Why didn’t you tell me this?” I asked.

“You were avoiding Lee and Eddie’s hot. I
thought if I told you about Eddie you might give up on Lee and I’d
never have a niece named after me.”

I looked at the hit man who was watching us
closely and told him, “Don’t think in the crazy-ass soap opera that
is my life that I’ve forgotten about you. Or you,” I said to
Rosie.

I stared them both down and they both settled
in. Clearly I was looking like a woman who wanted to be given the
excuse to shoot someone.

“How long has Eddie had this thing?” I asked
Ally.

Ally shrugged. “According to Hank, it ran
parallel with your thing for Lee.”

Holy shit.

“How parallel?”

“Apparently, last year was not the first
fight they had over you. Remember when Lee showed up to pick us up
from that Haunted House and he had blood on his shirt and we could
tell his nose had been bleeding? We saw Eddie later at Andrea’s
party and he was shitfaced and his eye was swollen?”

I remembered, kind of. It was my senior year,
I was seventeen. Lee had blood on his shirt a lot back then and
Eddie was also a brawler. I thought they’d been in a fight against
other people (which happened a lot), not with each other.

“Me?” I asked.

“You. That wasn’t the first and obviously not
the last,” Ally answered.

I didn’t know what to do with this
information. I didn’t even want to
know
this
information.

“I think it’s time to step into Denial Zone,”
I told Ally.

“That would be my advice,” Ally replied.

I was thinking that being with Lee I was
going to spend a lot of time in Denial Zone.

Lee and Eddie came back in. Body language was
not good. Darius was gone.

Without a word to us, they both got on the
phone.

Lee called the office for a ride.

Eddie called the station.

When Eddie was done, he said to the couch at
large, “You’re under arrest.”

The hit man’s expression didn’t change.

“Me? What’d I do?” Rosie cried, clearly
forgetting he was a primo pot farmer and unfortunately that was
still an illegal substance.

Eddie stared at him and if looks could burn,
Rosie would be scalded. “I’ll think of something.”

Lee was off the phone and looking at
Ally.

“Later, we’re gonna talk,” he said to
her.

“You gonna offer me a job?” She smiled at
him.

Lee was not in a joking mood. His eyes swung
to me. “Rosie’s found. Our arrangement is over.”

I was beginning to allow the fact that I’d
just seen Scary Darius, the fact that I’d not only tasered but
flashed a hit man and the news that Eddie was attracted to me to
penetrate my Denial Zone Fortress. Regardless of that, most of the
day had been good, some of it real good, and to be honest, I kinda
liked being out on the job with Lee. It was fascinating and the
last part was a serious rush.

One look at him told me that I should
probably not push it.

“Okay,” I agreed. “I need to get to the shop
anyway and Marianne wants to meet at The Hornet for drinks
tonight.”

Lee expected me to mouth off. At my words,
his angry face cracked and a look came in his eyes that gave me the
feeling that if we didn’t have an audience, he’d be on me like a
rash.

Two Souls Separated in Heaven

“You don’t have to model, I know I want the
red,” Lee said.

We were back in the Crossfire, idling in
front of Fortnum’s, Chowleena panting on my lap.

Rosie and the hit man had both been arrested.
Eddie had the hit man’s gun which probably had been used to fire a
bullet into Pepper Rick’s brain. I’d given my billionth statement
to the police in a week. Hank had swung by and seemed to be
spending a lot of energy trying not to murder me or Ally and wasn’t
talking to Lee but seemed to be siding with Eddie in the whole Indy
Ride-Along Debate. Eddie was exuding a pissed off vibe that kept
everyone at a distance. Finally, Lee’s man Matt came to pick us up
and took us to the Crossfire.

I wasn’t following the current conversation
so I turned questioningly to Lee.

“First,” he finished his thought.

“What?” I asked.

His hand came out and hooked me around the
neck bringing me to him.

“Underwear, garters, stockings,” he murmured
against my mouth.

Of course.

I wasn’t surprised Lee chose the red. It
wasn’t only racy, red was a power color.

His mouth brushed mine and then he let me
go.

“Give me your phone,” he demanded.

I handed it to him. His hand curled around it
and he pressed buttons with his thumb.

“Let me know where you are, everywhere you
go. I want to know you get there safe. I’ve got things to do and I
don’t know where I’ll be. If you can’t get hold of me, I’m
programming your phone with the number to the surveillance room.
There’s someone there twenty-four-seven and they can always get
word to me.”

“Okay.”

“If I’m finished in time, I’ll meet you at
The Hornet. If not, I’ll meet you at your house.”

“What if you’re not finished on time but
finished in the middle of the night, like last night?”

His eyes caught mine.“I’ll meet you at your
house.”

“What if I’m sleeping?”

“I’ll use my key.”

“What key?”

“The key I had copied from Ally’s key.”

“Does Ally know you copied my key?”

He didn’t answer. This meant no.

“When did you do this?” I asked.

His eyes crinkled but there was still no
answer.

“Why did you do this?”

One of his forearms was on the steering
wheel, the other one on the back of my seat. He grabbed a lock of
hair and wrapped it around his finger.

“I figured I’d need one eventually, so when I
had the opportunity to take care of that chore, I took it.”

“You’re very cocky, have I told you
that?”

“I think you’ve mentioned it.”

He pulled my hair toward him and I had no
choice but to follow it. He kissed me, no brush on the lips this
time, this one left me a little bothered.

Okay, a lot bothered.

He waited until the door to Fortnum’s closed
behind Chowleena and I and he took off.

Duke was behind the book counter, Tex was
behind the espresso counter. There were no customers and no sign of
Jane.

“You need to go home, you were shot three
days ago,” I told Tex.

“I was waitin’ for you to get here. I wanted
to hear about your day,” Tex answered.

I threw myself full body on one of the
couches. Chowleena jumped up, sat beside me and stared at Tex.
Everyone, man, woman and dog, stared at Tex.

I ran down an abbreviated version. “I had a
tour of Lee’s Command Headquarters, nearly got into a
bitch-slapping fight with his receptionist, then I tasered a hit
man in the street just before he got the chance to shoot me. We
found Rosie and he’s been arrested and now I’m here.”

Duke put his elbow on the counter and his
forehead in his hand.

Tex stared at me and he looked
disappointed.

Then he shrugged. “The day’s still
young.”

I closed my eyes.

Tex left and I stayed where I was.

“Do you know how old that guy is?” Duke
asked.

“Old… ish?” I answered the question with a
question.

Duke didn’t reply, but instead he said, “Do
you know he’s an ex-con?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Do you know he hasn’t had a job since he got
back from ‘Nam?”

I opened my eyes and looked at Duke.
“No.”

“Totally dropped out, so dropped out that he
makes me look like a soccer mom. Even before he went to prison and
definitely after.”

Yikes.

“How do you know this?” I asked.

“Hank came by.”

I nodded and closed my eyes again.

“He makes great coffee, everyone’s talkin’
about it,” Duke said.

Finally, a
real
piece of good
news.

When Duke spoke again, his gravelly voice
sounded from right above me and my eyes popped open again.

“You’re doin’ a good thing by him. No man can
live his life surrounded by cats, never leavin’ his block.”

I nodded again and said, “Outside of the
gunshot wound, he’s fit as a fiddle. He threw me through a window
and you saw what he did on stage at BJ’s. He’s in good shape, at
least physically. Mentally is still up for debate.”

“Yeah,” Duke replied, then looked out the
window. “Ain’t none of my concern but I gotta tell you, it’s good
to see you and Lee aren’t circlin’ each other anymore. Your
grandmother used to say that you were two souls separated in
heaven. She mainly meant you were both trouble and deserved each
other.”

Great.

Duke went on. “She’d be fuckin’ thrilled if
she was still alive.”

I felt my throat close up. When it reopened,
I said quietly, “Thanks, Duke.”

“When we close, I’m walkin’ you home.”

It wasn’t a question. I did, of course, have
Chowleena with me but I didn’t think bad guys would be scared off
by a Chow with fur chaps and attitude.

“Okay,” I agreed.

* * * * *

When I got home, I called Marianne and set up
a time to meet at The Hornet. Then I called Lee to tell him I was
home. He was at the hospital checking on Luke. I was glad I didn’t
have a ride-along on that one or my Denial Zone would be
obliterated.

I gave Chowleena some kibbles and water. She
put her nose up at the kibbles so I gave her a doggie biscuit. Then
she gave me her pathetic look so I gave her another one. Then she
pranced into the living room, curly tail swaying in the air, jumped
up on my new couch, circled about twenty times, flopped down and
settled in.

I jumped into the shower and did my Indy Out
for the Night Preparations complete with leg shave. I didn’t really
feel up to it, I was tired and hadn’t had a Disco Nap. However,
there was a possibility Lee was going to meet us at The Hornet and
his receptionist looked like she stepped out of the pages of a
fashion magazine. I thought it best to put some effort into it.

I grabbed my dress that was just a thick band
of stretchy black from which fell a swath of olive green gauzy
material swirled through with cream and black. The band fit above
my breasts, the gauze fell in a scarf-like hem to above the knee. I
put on a droopy black belt with a big circular silver buckle and
bloused the dress over it, making it mini. I fluffed out my hair,
pawed through the dregs at the back of my makeup drawer and slapped
on some makeup, put on a pair of big silver hoop earrings, a bunch
of bangles on my wrist, a bunch of silver rings on my fingers and
pulled on my black cowboy boots. I shoved some stuff into a black
purse and headed out the door.

I walked to The Hornet, which was only four
blocks away. I didn’t waste any time, Rosie was found, Pepper Rick
and Sandy Pete were out of the picture and the hit man was behind
bars. I was likely relatively safe but I wasn’t going to take any
chances.

Marianne was there when I got there, sitting
on a stool at the bar. I’d asked Ally to join us but she had a
shift at Brother’s. I’d braved the pissed off brute and asked Eddie
if he wanted to come but he was going to be bogged down in
paperwork.

“I wish I could wear a dress like that,”
Marianne told me when I slid on the booth next to her.

Marianne used to be a size four. Her hair
changed color with her mood, so much so that I didn’t remember what
it was when it started out. Now it was brunette. She had big gray
eyes. She was always pretty and regardless of the weight, she still
was a looker. She’d been popular, being so dainty and cute, boys
flocked to her. Her divorce had taken its toll, it was ugly, she
still wasn’t over it and she was eating through the pain.

I had no response for her and ordered a
spiced rum and diet and excused myself and called Lee, again, to
tell him I was at The Hornet. Marianne didn’t question this, she’d
been an innocent bystander in one of my shootouts and anyway, Lee
was hot.

“Well?” Marianne asked when I flipped my
phone shut.

I sighed.

“Lee doesn’t take the bows from bras or
panties, at least not anymore,” I said.

Marianne’s eyes lit up.

“Is he good?”

The way she asked it wasn’t gossipy or
voyeuristic, it was a friend asking a friend about her sex life,
which in my circle of friends was a natural thing. We weren’t
exactly
Sex in the City
but we shared. It also meant our
conversation wasn’t going to be e-mailed to half of the greater
Denver Metropolitan Area by midnight.

So I answered her. “He’s good.”

“How good?” she asked.

My eyes slid to her. “
Real
good.”

Her face spread in a smile and I returned
it.

“I’m so happy for you,” she whispered.

I was beginning to be happy for me too.

My drink came and I ordered a buffalo chicken
salad with extra bleu cheese dressing. Marianne announced she was
going on a diet and she ordered one too, without the bleu cheese
dressing.

We ate at the bar, the plates were whisked
away, I was on my third rum and diet and Marianne had gone to the
bathroom when my hair was brushed to the side, a hand gliding
across my bare shoulders. I looked around, then up, and saw Lee
standing over me.

He’d showered and changed and he looked good.
He was wearing jeans that were worn in but still newish, brown
cowboy boots and forest-green collared shirt.

I smiled at him.

He frowned at me.

“Where’re the rest of your clothes?”

I looked down at my dress then back up at
him.

“These
are
my clothes,” I said. “You
don’t like it?”