Rock Chick 08 Revolution (71 page)

We sang
Ten Thousand Men of
Harvard.

And we did it poorly.

Luckily, Tex got into it and his booming baritone drowned the rest of
us out.

But it didn’t seem to matter.

Because through it, Liam stood there grinning.

Then again, what else did you do when you were serenaded by family at
your college graduation party?

It.

Was.

Righteous.

* * * * *

By the way, Darius lived in LA now. He worked at Mace’s security
agency.

At Mace’s request, I flew out to do jobs with them occasionally, and if
you thought the Hot Bunch was hot…

Just saying…

Seriously
.

* * * * *

Malia lived in LA with Darius.

Don’t ask, it’s a huge-ass story.

But, as you can tell, it had a happy ending.

* * * * *

Liam lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

That was, until very recently.

* * * * *

An hour later, I was standing having some alone time with Gracie, Luke
and Ava’s first little girl. I was holding her close to my front. She was
fascinated with my guitar pendant and I could see this was fascinating. I’d
worn it every day for years and I was still fascinated with it.

But right then, I was fascinated with her little girl fascination.

I felt a presence get close and looked to the side to see Darius moving
in there.

“Yo,” I greeted.

He grinned. “Ally.”

I looked across the room at Liam standing with Dorothea and Shirleen.
He and his grandmother were grinning at Shirleen. She was saying something she
really meant because her head was shaking and her afro was swaying.

I looked back to Darius to see his eyes on the same thing.

“Thanks for bringing him here so we could celebrate with him,” I said.

His gaze came to me. “Not a problem.”

I grinned at him. “So, am I still a pain in your ass?”

He grinned back and answered, “Yes.”

I frowned. “How can I still be a pain in your ass? You live hundreds of
miles away.”

“Your brand of pain in the assedness extends great lengths. It might
even span dimensions.”

I rolled my eyes, and on the roll back to Darius, declared,
“‘Assedness’ is not a word, Darius.”

“Badasses can make up words, Ally.”

This was true. They could do whatever the hell they wanted.

Darius reached in and confiscated Gracie from me. I wanted to protest,
but when she smiled up at him, put her hand to his cheek and I watched him turn
his head to kiss her palm, I decided against it.

I looked back across the room when I heard Liam and Dorothea laugh,
Liam now holding his grandma close to his side with his arm around her
shoulders.

Then I felt warmth sweep through me when I felt Darius kiss the side of
my hair.

In my ear, he whispered, “Love you, Ally.”

That?

Sheer beauty.

I turned my head, caught his eyes, mine were hot, and replied, “I
know.”

* * * * *

Ren and I were on one of Indy and Lee’s couches. Katie was crawling on
her daddy and doing it with Gus, Sadie and Hector’s youngest.

Alex and Dante, Jet and Eddie’s eldest and middle boys, were sitting
next to me, eating cake and ice cream. Or smushing it all over their faces and
getting it all over their tees.

But they were little kids. That shit happened.

So, whatever.

I was supposed to be watching Alex and Dante.

What I was doing was scanning the room.

A motley crew of cops and crooks, bounty hunters and baristas, PIs and
rock stars, hot guys and Rock Chicks.

My people.

My family.

All together, safe and happy.

I turned to look at my man just in time to see him yank his little girl
tight to his chest and set her squealing as he tickled her.

My man.

My girl.

My family.

Katie pretended to try to get away and Ren pretended to let her, going
after Gus, probably to tickle him too, when he felt my eyes on him and he
looked at me.

“What,” he asked.

“We did it,” I told him.

His head tipped to the side and his eyes grew intent, probably because
he was reading the look on my face.

And reading the look on my face, his voice went sweet when he asked
quietly, “We did what?”

“That night, after we found out Indy was carrying Callum and we made a
pact to work on being that happy for the rest of our lives?” I reminded him.

He got me.

I knew this when his face got
the
look.

“We did it,” I whispered.

He didn’t answer.

He pulled Katie and Gus close so he didn’t lose them when he leaned
into me.

His kiss wasn’t long, but it did include a touch of tongues so it
was
righteous.

Then again, they all were.

“Can I steal her?”

Ren and I broke apart and looked up to see Indy standing there, eyes to
Ren.

“Sure,” he replied.

I studied my BFF.

Then I turned to Alex and Dante and said, “Hey, buddies. Do me a favor
and scooch closer to Uncle Ren while you eat, yeah?”

They looked up at me, both with big black eyes, chocolate crumbles and
vanilla cream all over their faces, and nodded.

I turned to my husband, leaned in and touched lips, then I did the same
on my daughter’s wet mouth.

When I was done, she shoved her face in her daddy’s neck and giggled.
This was because her daddy was tickling her again.

As for me, I just smiled at her daddy.

Then I followed Indy through the room to the stairs.

She led us to her bedroom. In it were Jet, Roxie, Jules, Ava, Stella,
Sadie, Daisy and Shirleen.

Oh man.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Don’t know,” Ava answered.

“Oh God, please tell me no one’s pregnant. I can’t keep the birthdays
straight already,” Roxie moaned.

Daisy gave me a look.

I ignored it.

Indy went into her walk-in closet saying, “Be right back.”

“Does anybody know what’s happening?” Sadie asked.

“Not me,” Stella answered.

All eyes came to me.

I shrugged.

All eyes grew dubious.

I threw up my hands. “Seriously,” I snapped. “I don’t know.”

Luckily, at this juncture, Indy came out of the bathroom carrying a
bubble envelope.

“I hope that isn’t a secret mission we all have to go on because I’m
kind of liking this kidnapping-free, stun-gun-free, car-explosion-free
lifestyle,” Jules said. “And for a while now, we’ve had a good roll going.”

“That’s because you don’t live in LA,” Stella muttered.

We all looked to Stella and nodded.

We got her.

Suffice it to say, Mace’s men in LA had much the same taste in women as
the men in Denver.

But in LA, you could get up to
all
kinds
of crazy.

“Um… just to say, I kinda miss stun gunning,” Jet admitted

That was when we all looked to
her
and nodded.

We got her.

Though, I didn’t share that I’d stun-gunned someone just last week.

“It’s not a mission,” Indy told Jules and handed the envelope to me,
her eyes coming to mine. “It’s from Jane.” She looked through the girls. “She
wanted us all together and she wanted Ally to open it.”

I had a feeling I knew what was coming.

Because after pink and through green, lilac, blue, peach, salmon and
ice blue, Jane had asked us to do the same thing.

I didn’t know why Jane didn’t participate in the festivities, but I did
know that was her way.

With all eyes again on me, I slit open the envelope and slid out what
was inside.

It was a berry colored book with a film strip and a white title.

Rock Chick.

Up the side in black, there was a strip that said
Revolution.

It was my turn.

Righteous.

One thing I knew.

That book was going to be interesting.

And another thing I knew.

An Italian hothead was not going to be very happy.

I wasn’t worried. He’d get over it.

Because by then, he was used to it.

But mostly because he’d do it like all the men did it.

In his case: for me.

(And he didn’t fool me. I’d seen him grinning when he was reading the
other ones.)

I scanned the cover and saw on the bottom, stuck to the side, was a
sticky note. On it was an arrow pointing to the name, “Kristen Ashley” that
said under it,
New York Times Bestselling
Author.

And next to that was written:

See?

Told
you.

Fairytales
come true.

I couldn’t help it and didn’t try.

I burst into tears.

At the same time I burst out laughing.

Then I flipped the book around for all to see.

That meant all the Rock Chicks gathered around me did the exact same
thing.

Through my laughter and tears I lifted my hand straight up in the air,
index finger and pinkie extended in devil’s horns.

The Rock Chicks did the same as me.

And because we were Rock Chicks, at the same time, we shouted two
words.

We did it loud.

And we did it proud.

“Rock on!
”

Except Shirleen.

She shook her head, looked around and muttered, “White women.”

Which of course meant we quit crying.

But we kept laughing.

Stay tuned.

We’re gonna follow Mace and Stella to Los Angeles.

‘Cause you can get up to all kinds of crazy there.

####

About the Author

Kristen Ashley grew up in
Brownsburg, Indiana but has lived in Denver, Colorado and the West Country of
England. Thus she has been blessed to have friends and family around the globe.
Her posse is loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.

Kristen was raised in a house
with a large and multi-generational family. They lived on a very small farm in
a small town in the heartland and existed amongst the strains of Glenn Miller,
The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon and Whitesnake (and the wardrobes that
matched).

Needless to say, growing up in a
house full of music, clothes and love was a good way to grow up.

And as she keeps growing up, it
keeps getting better.

*****

Discover other titles by Kristen Ashley:

Rock Chick Series:

Rock Chick

Rock Chick Rescue

Rock Chick Redemption

Rock Chick Renegade

Rock Chick Revenge

Rock Chick Reckoning

Rock Chick Regret

The ‘Burg Series:

For You

At Peace

Golden Trail

Games of the Heart

The Chaos Series:

Own the Wind

Fire Inside

The Colorado Mountain Series:

The Gamble

Sweet Dreams

Lady Luck

Breathe

Dream Man Series:

Mystery Man

Wild Man

Law Man

Motorcycle Man

The Fantasyland Series:

Wildest Dreams

The Golden Dynasty

Fantastical

The Three Series:

Until the Sun Falls from the Sky

With Everything I Am

The Unfinished Hero Series:

Knight

Creed

Raid

Other Titles by Kristen Ashley:

Fairytale Come Alive

Heaven and Hell

Lacybourne Manor

Lucky Stars

Mathilda, SuperWitch

Penmort Castle