Rock Chick 01 (52 page)

This didn’t last long. Even though I had the
use of my hands, he was stronger and he subdued me, humiliatingly
quickly. He yanked me, still squirming, to my feet, whipped me
around so my back was to his front and his hands held my wrists
behind me.

“Give her the shot. Now,” Wilcox ordered.

He hadn’t even bothered coming out of his
chair, the jerk. He was totally calm, eerily calm. Like he knew he
was going to get away with this.

Bad Guy Number One came at me again with the
syringe.

I felt a moment of total fear, no chill this
time. This was so much fear, I was certain I’d pee my pants.

Instead, I screamed.

It was loud, it was shrill and even though I
was the one screaming, it even freaked me out.

When I quit screaming, I started struggling,
harder this time, desperate.

But it was no use.

Holy crap.

I was going on vacation with Creepy Grandpa
Munster.

How did this happen?

I hadn’t even had a whole, complete day being
out about my love for Lee and being able to enjoy that in all the
shapes and forms that would take.

I had a sweet new t-shirt from Lucky Brand
Jeans in a bag in the backseat of Willie’s Pathfinder that I’d
never get to wear.

This meant, I might never see Lee’s cabin in
Grand Lake.

This also meant I might never have his
children and tell them bedtime stories about how there was never a
time when their Mom and Dad hadn’t been together.

This… could not… happen.

As a last resort, I screamed,
“
No!”

But no one heard me scream.

This was because, at the same time, there was
a gunshot.

Bad Guy Number One with the syringe shouted
out a cry of pain, the syringe went flying, he buckled and went
down.

When he did, I saw Eddie standing behind him,
his gun in his hand and it was smoking.

Thank… you… God.

It might seem terrible that I was thanking
the good Lord that someone got shot but if divine retribution came
in the form of Eddie Chavez and his service revolver, I was not
going to quibble.

Before I could react, or look around to see
where Lee was, I heard from behind me in a voice I knew.

“Let her go.”

It wasn’t Lee.

It was Darius.

My wrists were let go and I turned my head
and saw Darius, standing behind and partially beside Bad Guy Number
Two, a gun to his temple.

Wow.

“Step back,” Darius said and Bad Guy Number
Two and Darius moved back several steps.

Eddie came forward, gun pointed at the man on
the floor who was rolling around, hands holding his thigh, blood
seeping between his fingers.

I stared in horror. I wasn’t really good with
blood and there seemed to be a lot of it.

“Move away, Indy,” Eddie ordered and without
the ability to walk, I hopped several feet, then sat on the floor
to untie the rope from around my ankles, eyes up and watching.

Eddie moved his gun to Wilcox, who finally
had stood, and he snapped, “Sit.”

Wilcox’s gaze locked on Eddie the whole time,
slowly, he sat. He still looked strangely calm, as if he had a
secret. I didn’t like the idea of Wilcox having secrets. I also
didn’t like the fact that Lee wasn’t there.

I got to my feet and Eddie unsnapped the
cuffs on his belt and held them out to me.

“Cuff Wilcox,” Eddie said.

I didn’t want to go anywhere near Terry
Wilcox but I figured now was not the time to argue. I was still
recovering from my freak out when I thought I wasn’t going to be
saved, I didn’t have it in me to give Eddie any lip.

I took the cuffs and walked behind Wilcox’s
chair.

“Lean forward,” I said and I could hear my
voice was shaking.

In fact,
I
was shaking, full-body
shakes, head-to-toe. I didn’t want to admit it, India Savage, Rock
Chick and Scaredy Cat, but there it was.

Wilcox leaned forward obediently. I cuffed
him and then took two (big) steps back.

Darius had Bad Guy Number Two on his knees on
the floor, Darius standing over him pointing his gun to his
head.

Everyone stood around watching Bad Guy Number
One moaning on the floor and bleeding.

“What do we do now?” I asked no one in
particular. I figured that Bad Guy Number One was, of course, a bad
guy but I didn’t figure it was all right to let him bleed to death
on the rather nice rug.

“We need to call an ambulance,” Eddie said,
eyes still on the writhing sidekick.

“No ambulance,” Darius put in.

Eddie’s gaze cut to Darius and his mouth got
tight. “Darius.”

“No ambulance, Ed. Got the word from Mace.
Gino’s clean up.”

That’s when the air in the room changed.

Somehow, throughout my struggle and rescue,
everything seemed to be normal. Well, at least
kidnapping-and-rescue normal, so far as I knew it. Someone got shot
(again) but the good news was, this time, it was a bad guy and this
time there was no tear gas. I hadn’t worn any makeup that day so I
wasn’t in fear of mascara smears but still, tear gas sucked.

Now, the atmosphere of the room was anything
but normal.

“Gino?” Wilcox whispered.

The way he said it made me slide to the side
to have a look at him and I saw he was looking at Darius.

Darius didn’t answer.

Instead, Darius grinned.

Somewhere along the line, the tables had
turned. Now it was Darius who had a secret.

Wilcox surged to his feet, wrists behind his
back, body tense.

“What do you mean, Gino’s clean up?” Wilcox
screamed and I jumped back. His voice was hoarse and so terrified,
I almost felt sorry for him. Bad Guy Number One had quit writhing
and was lying, motionless and staring at Darius. Bad Guy Number Two
had dropped his head, eyes to the floor, looking defeated.

Yikes.

What on earth was going on?

Who was Gino?

And where the fuck was Lee?

Eddie raised his gun and pointed it at
Wilcox. “Sit down.”

Wilcox hesitated and Eddie’s body moved
imperceptibly. Eddie had been relaxed, cool, in control. In a blink
of an eye, he was tense, hostile and his eyes were glittering.

“Sit… the fuck… down,” Eddie commanded,
slowly and seriously pissed off and I got the impression that it
was not only Wilcox who was pissing him off but also something
else.

Even crazy Wilcox sat at the tone of Eddie’s
voice. Wilcox wasn’t calm anymore, he was scared out of what was
left of his ever-lovin’ mind.

“For God’s sake, will someone tell me, where,
in
the
hell, is Lee?” I finally asked.

“Here.”

My eyes swung to a door behind Darius.

Lee was standing there.

He stood tall and straight, no blood, no
bruises, nothing to indicate he’d seen any escalation of
hostilities. In fact, he looked great in a white long-sleeved,
torso-hugging tee, jeans, black belt and his motorcycle boots, like
he’d just jumped off the Ducati after taking a joy ride.

I wanted to run to him, throw my arms around
him, do a lot of girlie, oh-my-god-I’m-glad-you’re-all-right and
oh-my-god-I’m-glad-I’m-all-right stuff but his body language was
not inviting that. This was badass Lee and hugs and cuddles were
obviously not acceptable at this juncture. Therefore I kept my
distance.

He looked at me and did his second body scan
of the day, this time, a muscle leaping in his jaw.

“What happened?” he asked, eyes on Eddie.

Eddie walked to Lee and handed him his gun.
Lee took it and shoved it in the waistband of his jeans while I
stared. That wasn’t Eddie’s service pistol, it was a loaner. Eddie
wasn’t here in any official capacity. Any bullet that Eddie put in
another human being wasn’t going to be traced back to a weapon the
police department had given him.

Holy shit.

“Brody tell you the story?” Eddie asked and
Lee shook his head.

“He told me where to find you,” Lee
answered.

Darius and Eddie looked at each other.

Then Eddie explained, “Darius heard something
was goin’ down and headed over to watch Indy’s house. He’d barely
got there when they dropped her outside after she left the house
when the car exploded. Darius followed. Knowin’ you were busy, he
called me to do back up. I went to your office, got a gun, talked
to Brody and told him to get a message to you. Darius waited until
I got here and we came in.”

I felt a weird warmth come over me.

Man, I owed these guys
big time
.

“She okay?” Lee asked, still not addressing
me even though I was maybe six feet away.

Hmm.

The sudden warm gooey feeling of having good,
badass friends looking out for you faded. I didn’t know what to
make of Lee not addressing me, except I didn’t like it.

I figured it’d be best to talk about it
later, say, after Yay, It’s Finally Over Sex.

“Bound. Gagged. Tossed around. She’s okay.
Where’s Gino?” Darius answered Lee’s question as if I was bound and
gagged every day, which, in the past two weeks wasn’t far from the
truth (except the gagged part).

“Five minutes behind,” Lee said, then it was
clear he was done with this particular conversation and his eyes
locked on me. “Get in the car.”

I didn’t like that either, it was bossy. Way
too bossy.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Wilcox moved, Lee’s eyes sliced to him and he
didn’t answer me.

“If you’re waitin’ for the cavalry to arrive,
then you should know your boys outside are neutralized,” Lee said
and I felt my breath catch.

So
that
was Wilcox’s secret.

And
that
was where Lee had been.

I wondered what neutralized meant, for, like,
a second. Then I decided I didn’t want to know.

“Relax Coxy,” Lee went on, “Gino will be here
soon. He’s had an earful from Marcus. But I’m sure, since you’re
blood, he’ll give you the chance to explain.”

Uh-oh.

Gino was Wilcox’s blood. And Gino’s name was
“Gino” which was a mob boss name if I ever heard one.

That meant the mafia was descending to do
“clean up”.

Okay, time for me to leave.

“I’ll just wait in the car,” I said

Lee looked back to me. “Good idea.”

I started walking to the door at a loss for
what to say. I felt a parting line was called for but I didn’t have
one.

I stopped at the door and looked at
Darius.

“See you later?” I asked.

He stared at me a beat, maybe attempting to
determine my sanity. Then he grinned while shaking his head, but he
didn’t answer.

“Get to the car Indy,” Lee ordered.

I ignored Lee and turned to Eddie.

“Later, Eddie,” I said.

Eddie was smiling flat out but also shaking
his head.

“Later,
chica
.”

“Indy, get to the fucking car,” Lee
repeated.

“All right, jeez. I’m going,” I muttered and
turned to the door then mumbled under my breath, “So damn
bossy.”

* * * * *

Lee drove us home in his Crossfire.

He was silent.

I was silent.

I was feeling a good deal of relief. There
was the distinct possibility that my life was going to go back to
normal. I’d never been a fan of normal, in fact, I avoided it at
all costs, but now it sounded really good to me.

I kind of wanted to ask Lee if it was truly
all over but I could tell Lee didn’t feel in the mood to talk. I
could tell this because there were scary “not now” vibes bouncing
around inside the car so I figured later would be better.

He parked behind my, now
our
duplex
and I didn’t see any flashing lights or hear anyone running around
or shouting so I figured the whole exploding car thing had been
cleaned up and life was back to normal on Bayaud Avenue.

We walked in, Lee locking the door behind us,
me flipping on the kitchen light.

I turned to him.

“You want a beer?” I asked.

He tossed his car keys on the kitchen counter
and looked at me.

“What did you just say?” he asked quietly,
face a little scary.

Um.

Uh-oh.

“Um… I asked if you wanted a beer.”

“That’s what I thought you said.”

I decided maybe it was time to go back to
silence.

He watched me for awhile.

Then he said, “You left the house, where you
were safe, and got yourself kidnapped. Again.”

I gave a little wince. “Yeah… well –”

He interrupted me. “My boys were busy, you’re
fucking lucky Darius came to watch the house or who knows what the
fuck would have happened.”

“I realize it was kind of an idiotic thing to
do,” I admitted.

“Kind of?”

Jeez.

“Okay, it was a really idiotic thing to do…
but –”

“Indy, for Christ’s sake!” Lee exploded, body
tight, face beyond a little scary straight to semi-demented.

I did the only thing I could do.

I ran to him, one step, two, three, then I
threw myself at him bodily. Jumping up, my arms went around his
neck, my legs went around his hips, I bent my head, put my mouth to
his and I kissed him.

I took him off guard, which was good. He went
back on a foot, his hands went to my ass holding me to him. He
resisted for, like, a second, then he kissed me back, hot, deep,
lots of tongue, full of relief and something else.

Something that felt like promise.

It was the best kiss I’d ever had.

So Damned Cocky

Two mornings after my third (and hopefully
last) kidnapping, I slid back into bed, pulled the covers up to my
chin and stared at the ceiling.

After a couple of minutes, Lee walked in
carrying two cups of coffee. He put one on the nightstand and then
stood beside the bed, looking down at me, sipping from his cup.