Rock Chick 08 Revolution (30 page)

Before I could turn my attention to him, Whiney Guy caught me by my
hair. It hurt like a mother but I yanked it loose, turned on him, and aimed a
hard punch at his throat.

He also went down on his knees, hands to his throat, wheezing.

By the time I took three steps back, I saw Tex with a knee in the chest
of a big guy on his back on the floor. Brian was there, gun out aiming between
the three as he pulled his badge out of his back pocket and shoved it into his
belt.

“Police. You’re under arrest,” he announced.

We had onlookers and we also had company as Lee, Hank, Eddie, Mace,
Luke, Willie, Matt, Bobby and Jimmy Marker joined us.

My eyes went to Lee. “Ike?” I asked.

“Vest,” he answered. “He gets his breath back, he’ll be fine.”

The grip on my insides released.

“Are there more?” Tex asked.

“Only these three,” Lee answered.

“So this is it?” Tex asked, sounding peeved.

Lee just stared at him.

Tex looked at me.

“Told you, woman.
Boring.
”

Whatever.

I felt fingers wrap around my arm and saw Lee had hold of me. He propelled
me to the front door and out of it, Hank following.

We stopped on the sidewalk. He let me go and I looked up at him.

“I’m missing the fun part of cuffing and hearing them get their
Mirandas,” I complained.

“How’d you know?” Lee asked bizarrely.

“What?” I asked back confusedly.

Hank got close and reiterated Lee’s question. “How’d you know?”

I looked at Hank. “Know what?”

“You ran your hand through your hair before they sat down. Brody sent
word the situation had deteriorated about two seconds after they walked in.
Last report, which was five seconds before that, their man inside was nowhere
near you,” Lee explained, and I looked back at him. “How’d you know?”

Oh. I got it.

How did I know they were a danger.

I shrugged. “Felt it.”

“You felt it,” Hank said.

I nodded to Hank, but Lee was again talking.

“They had no witnesses outside, so I reckon they intended to do you
here or get you to a car and do you somewhere else. As long as you were inside
you were safe, and Tex had the element of surprise. You gave him the heads up.
He moved, got the drop on them. They had five seconds more, they could have got
you to a place where Tex couldn’t get to you fast enough, including outside
where they had the upper hand,” Lee said.

I knew what this meant.

I knew
exactly
what this
meant.

So I held his gaze and said quietly, “I’m good at what I do.”

Lee looked at Hank.

Hank started, “Ally—”

My eyes went to him.

“I knew they were who they were the minute I saw them, and I knew they
were not there to negotiate. I didn’t waste time. I also,” my eyes went to Lee,
“took two down. I know I had surprise on my side, but I still kept my shit
together and I didn’t fuck around and do it like a girl. I did it like I meant
it and incapacitated them both without hesitation.” My eyes moved back to Hank
and I repeated, “I’m good at what I do. And what happened in there is only part
of it.” Again I looked to Lee. “And if you’d listen to Darius and Brody
—
not like a brother, but like a colleague
—
you’d know exactly how good I can be.”

I left it at that. They were macho alphas. Drama only worked on them if
it ended in them giving and receiving an orgasm.

This was going to be my livelihood, and these two men who happened to
be my brothers were integral in me making a go of it.

So, like an alpha badass, I let my actions speak for me, moved around
Hank and walked back into Lincoln’s to give my statement to Jimmy.

Chapter Sixteen

I’m Me

I parked in front of Ren’s and I was a little freaked.

This was because I’d texted him after Operation Takedown Baddies and
told him our plans for the evening had to change. I also asked him to phone me
when he had a few minutes to talk so I could explain.

He didn’t phone, and when I phoned him he didn’t pick up.

During the Not-Really-Fuck-Buddies phase of our relationship, we didn’t
text or call to shoot the shit, be funny or flirty.

But we did text and even call to sort things like his place or mine or
tell each other we were on our way.

This had obviously intensified since our time in Carnal, but even
before Ren had never ignored a text or phone call from me. If I called, I
couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t immediately answer. Not even one. And
he might not return a text instantly, but I never had to wait more than an hour
to get a reply.

So the fact that he didn’t do any of that and hours had passed freaked
me.

I didn’t want our relationship to fall into a pattern of taking each
other for granted. This wasn’t to say that I expected him to hop to the minute
I tried to connect with him. But I also didn’t want to slide into a place where
he assumed it was cool to delay connecting with me because he knew he had me
where he wanted me and I could fit into the schedule of his day. Especially not
if something I had to say was important.

Which this was
.

I folded out of my car, threw the door to and beeped the locks,
crossing the street and making my way up to Ren’s.

I’d never asked, but looking around on my way up to his house,
distractedly I figured he had to have a gardener. Denver was arid, but that
didn’t mean yards could not be lush and green. However, for them to be so, you
had to put a shitload of effort into it. Ren’s front
and
back yards were amazing. Thick and flourishing, mostly plants
and grasses, but here and there was a hint of color that made it interesting.

And it wasn’t him slaving away to make it that way.

I put the key in the lock, turned it and walked in, kicking the door
closed behind me. Then I stopped dead.

The front of Ren’s house was one long room with two seating areas. One
was just a seating area. The other was the TV area.

He was sitting on a couch to my left in the TV area. The TV, however,
was not on. His suit jacket was off, but he had not changed out of his shirt or
trousers. The cuffs of his shirt were rolled back, though. He had one arm slung
across the back of the couch. The other hand was upending and touching his cell
on his knee.

Upend, slide, touch it to his knee and repeat.

This was weird.

His eyes were on me.

They were angry.

I felt the air in the room was heavy and I knew I was in trouble.

“You have a good afternoon?” Ren asked quietly, but not in his sweet.
Not even close.

It was then, belatedly, it hit me.

Shit, shit,
fuck.

I had not told him about Operation Takedown Baddies, and Lucky was on
me so he’d know and report that to Ren.

I hadn’t really thought about that, what with having a gun jammed into
my ribs and being given the opportunity to end this crap in plenty of time to
fully enjoy Ava and Luke’s wedding without it hanging over anyone’s head.

It was good Lucky didn’t get involved because that could have been bad.

But even though he was currently angry, I thought it was going to be
okay that I did not share this with Ren. Evidence was suggesting that if I kept
calm and explained things, this was taken positively.

I also had an explanation, so I hoped once I gave it to him, he would
take it positively. Or, at least, with a minimal amount of yelling.

“I texted and phoned,” I reminded him carefully.

“Yeah,” he returned immediately. “
After
you got a .38 shoved in your ribs.”

Oh man.

“Ren, honey, I’m so sorry,” I said, taking a step to him. “I didn’t
think. I’ve been on my own awhile, doing this gig awhile, and I’ve never had to
report in to anybody but Darius or Brody. In fact, even when I was with Carl, I
never really reported in to anybody about anything. But what happened this
afternoon went down as a surprise and I had to stay focused. But I should have
called and next time I will.”

He hadn’t moved in the entire time I spoke, but when I was done, he
asked, “Next time you will?”

Okay, it was time to get down to this.

That was to say, it wasn’t an
optimal
time seeing as he was pissed. But it was time.

I took another step toward him. “Yeah, babe,” I said softly. “Next time
I will.”

He said nothing and kept staring at me.

I took a further step toward him.

“I should have explained my decision earlier, but things between us had
changed in a really good way. A way I liked. We weren’t fighting. We were
working things out, getting to know each other better, understanding what was
in our future. I didn’t want to mess it up because I knew you wouldn’t be happy
with the decision, but the decision I made was important to me.”

“And that decision would be?” he prompted, brows up, when I stopped
talking.

I took in a deep breath, and on the exhale, I announced. “I’m
officially going into the family business.”

Again he was silent.

I took yet another step toward him and explained, “I decided it when I
got fired from Brother’s. I don’t have it all planned out, but things are
falling into place. After Luke and Ava’s wedding, I’m going to get down to
doing that.”

“Two days ago, we had a discussion about you making decisions about
your life and how those decisions affected me,” Ren reminded me.

“And we’re having that discussion now,” I told him quietly.

“It’s not a discussion, Ally, when you’re telling me it’s a decision
already made and that you’re making plans to carry it forward.”

This was true.

Time to take this in another direction.

“This is important to me,” I whispered.

“And it’s important to me to be with the woman I love, the woman with
whom I intend to have a family, and do that without the possibility of her
getting riddled with bullets or comin’ back from getting ice cream with the
kids and finding our home has been leveled.”

“Those things aren’t going to happen, Ren. It’s not—”

Ren cut me off.

“Jules was shot twice, stickin’ her nose into shit that was not her
business. You’re all livin’ the relief that she’s breathing so you don’t let
your minds go there. But the truth is, she got it in the gut and chest, and the
fact she still exists on this earth is a fuckin’ miracle. And both Stark and
Crowe have taken bullets during jobs your brother contracted to do. And both
those men have years of experience and training. It’s not going to happen?”

“I’ll be careful with the cases I chose to take on,” I assured him.

“In that line of business, you can’t
be
that careful,” he shot back. “It’s an impossibility. Your
brother knows every risk he and his men face when he takes a case. They plan
every move they make and every operation they undertake considering all the
variables. And they’ve got enough time in on the job, they know every fuckin’
variable they gotta consider. And the one they always plan for, the most
important, is they always know it’s a possibility in every job they take that
there’s one variable they won’t have covered.”

“I’ve been doing this for a while, Ren. I’ve been watching my brothers,
both of them, and Lee’s guys. You learn from doing and seeing, and I have. And
I’m good at it. But the bottom line is, I love doing it. It’s in my blood. It’s
me.
”

“You’ve said that before, but I see you aren’t takin’ into
consideration that it’s important
to me
that you do not do this shit. You do not put yourself out there. You do not get
into a situation—or
situations
,
repeatedly—that might take you away from me or, later, our family.”

Okay, maybe another tactic was in order.

“So what do you propose I do?” I asked.

“Find something you like, or enjoy your time at Fortnum’s then turn
your focus to raising our kids.”

I studied him closely, hoping he was joking.

It appeared he wasn’t joking.

Nevertheless, I thought it important to seek clarification.

“You want me to be a barista and then a stay-at-home mom?” I asked.

“Honestly?” he asked back, and I nodded. “Yeah. I got my wish, that’s
what you’d be. But if that isn’t what you want, we can discuss it and you can
find something to do that doesn’t include maybe pissing off husbands you caught
cheating or putting you on radar with pimps and dealers.”

I stared at him and said nothing. Not that I didn’t have things to say.
Lots of them.