I blinked. “What?”
“I’m investing. We can discuss distribution of your profits when you make them. Until then, it’s an investment.”
“You’re investing?”
“I’m investing.”
“In me?”
“Yes.”
I swallowed, feeling good things, really good things, but unsure.
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “What if I can’t—?”
His hand dropped mine so he could wrap it around the side of my neck and he dipped his face close, ordering, “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t doubt yourself. Not now. Until this moment, you were sure. Very sure. Be sure. Take the investment, make those offices something that anyone walking into them will trust you’ll get the job done, then be sure and get the job done.”
Well, one could say Ren was succeeding wildly in trying to be okay with me opening a private investigations agency.
Still.
“This is too much,” I whispered.
“It’s investing in your future, which is tangled with my future. How is that too much?” he asked.
I said nothing.
“If I didn’t have a plan and was at odds and you were in the position to invest in something I wanted to do, would you do it?” Ren pressed.
“Absolutely,” I answered.
“So because you’re a badass, you can’t take the same from me?” he pushed.
Seriously.
Totally.
Completely.
How awesome was my man?
To share this with him, I muttered, “Okay, okay. You’ve convinced me.”
“Good, then kiss me and go in there and tell them they got twenty-five K to blow on makin’ my woman’s space right for her.”
I stared into his beautiful eyes.
Then I whispered, “You’re totally the shit, Zano.”
“I know,” he whispered back.
I leaned in and up and kissed him.
He kissed me back, wet and deep.
When he broke the kiss, I didn’t move away, so I could say, “Though, as awesome as it is, you doing this for me and investing in our future, it was awesomer, you giving shit to Dawn.”
Ren burst out laughing.
I pressed close and watched, smiling the whole time.
When he was done, I got up on my toes, touched my lips to his, pulled back and moved away.
But I blew him a real kiss before I walked into my new kickass offices to tell the gang they had twenty-five Gs to blow in making them killer.
And it was with no doubt that Ren heard the shrieks and squeals when I did.
By the way, we decided on gray carpet, gray walls and black furniture.
And when Sadie sent a text picture of The Majestic to me and offered the Rock Chick Discount (in other words, free) with a text that said, Remember. I’m loaded, we decided on that, too.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Never Forgive
I’d found a parking spot three blocks away from the Lucy in Cherry Creek North but as I was hoofing it up to the store I saw Darius’s Silverado parked three cars down from the front door.
Lee and his boys always managed to do that. It was some kind of voodoo but they had parking magic.
It was annoying, especially after driving by Lucy (twice) to find a parking spot that Darius obviously got after me and hoofing three blocks.
Darius was sitting behind the wheel of his truck. I stopped outside Lucy, where Darius and Brody were supposed to meet me, and sent a salute his way to get his attention even though it looked like his wire-rimmed shades were aimed my way.
He lifted a hand and did a full finger curl indicating I should haul my ass to his truck.
Badasses.
Save me.
I sighed and moved to his truck, yanked open the door, climbed in and turned to him.
“I have a full day and I need to shop,” I said by way of greeting. “So if we can multi-task, that’d work in a big way for me.”
“Then it’s good this meetin’ is gonna go fast because my ass is not gonna be in that store,” Darius replied by way of his.
I knew it.
Whatever.
“Is Brody coming?” I asked. “I texted him and he hasn’t replied.”
“He’s neck deep in used energy drink cans, his eyes are bloodshot and he’s glued to the computer. He’s on a mission to find out who’s writin’ those books and he’s runnin’ up against wall after wall. He’s taken this on as a personal challenge. I think the only break he took since this all went down was to go to Luke and Ava’s thing.”
This surprised me.
“He’s made no headway?”
Darius shook his head. “None at all. He hacked the publisher’s systems and they don’t have that woman on their books. Not electronically. Whoever she is, she obviously knows about Brody and took precautions. Calls to them brought nothin’ back either. They say Kristen Ashley is a penname, the author is adamant about anonymity and they’re not at liberty to give out further information.”
Stymied.
Shit.
“Is there a legal route?” I asked.
“Lee looked into that,” Darius answered. “His attorney asked if there was anything untrue or defamatory in the book. Unfortunately, there’s not. So he’s fucked.”
“What’s Brody doing now?”
“Checkin’ blogs, reviews, anything that might give some hint or start a trail to the author. He’s also tryin’ to pick up a thread on financials since the bitch is local and she has to be gettin’ paid.”
I thought it prudent to inform him, “Just to say, Ren has mentioned he’s also looking into this. He’s not happy it’s gone down and he and I are up eventually so, no pressure on Brody, but I think it would be good if Lee found whoever she is before Ren does.”
“Zano is no way gonna find her before Brody,” Darius spoke what was very likely the truth. “But, advice. You gotta brace. This woman, whoever she is, knows this crew. She knows us well and she’s taken precautions. She’s covered her shit so deep there may be no answer to that question, even for Brody, definitely not for Zano, and all you all might just hafta suck it up.”
I was actually okay with that. Truthfully, though I would never share this with my BFF and brother, I was itching to dig into their book. Though I’d likely skip the sex parts.
“Right, movin’ on to Smithie,” Darius said.
I nodded.
“Seein’ as when I asked Brody if he could take some time to run Smithie’s guy, he threw an empty can of Red Bull at me and Lee would probably get up in my shit if I tore his head off, I let him be.”
I grinned.
“So I ran him.”
“Okay,” I replied.
“Man’s thirty-three and established a career as a bouncer startin’ at twenty-one. Not much on him. He’s got one speeding ticket that he paid. He also got a DUI at nineteen that he beat. I talked with Eddie, Eddie talked with the arresting officer and that guy remembered our guy. The officer said our guy was a smooth talker, even back then. The kind who could talk his way outta anything. So much so, fourteen years have passed and he still remembers him.”
This was not good.
“What kind of clubs has he worked?” I asked.
“Normal shit, no strip clubs. Know a coupla the owners at places he worked, talked to them on the down low. Solid track record. Long tenures. Movin’ on only for more money.”
This gave us nothing.
“So I got eyes on him last night,” Darius told me.
“And?” I prompted.
“So he wouldn’t tag me, I stayed outside. Don’t know what he does backstage, but whatever business he’s doin’, he’s also doin’ it in the parking lot.”
I perked up. “What does that mean?”
“That means he has conversations with the girls he escorts to their cars. Not long ones. But not comfortable ones. Least not for the girls.”
/> My mind started working.
“We need to get one of the girls wired,” I murmured.
“Yeah. And you need a sit down with Lottie,” Darius stated.
“She’s after I drop a bundle in Lucy,” I told him.
He nodded then asked, “When you goin’ in?”
“I have my first stripper class this afternoon.”
He grinned.
I rolled my eyes.
“Tex and Nancy are getting married on Wednesday. My aim is to be in Thursday, but I have to confirm that with Smithie,” I shared.
“Want you covered,” he replied. “So you keep me in that loop. I’ll be there, but you won’t see me.”
I nodded again then told him, “You need to keep track of your hours and get in touch with Daisy to set up a contract. I’m billing them to Smithie and I’ll be paying you.”
“Unnecessary.”
Argh!
I loved my friends, but this was getting crazy.
“Totally necessary,” I returned.
“Ally, I’ll keep track of my hours. You bill him, but I do this shit for you, not money.”
God, Darius was great.
And everyone was being way cool, but enough was enough.
“Darius, this is my business now and I intend to do it right.”
“To get set up, you need capital. Bill Smithie. Invest that in your agency.”
“Darius—”
“This job,” he cut me off. “We’ll discuss what goes down with future jobs. Jump off on this one, Ally. You sort his shit, Smithie’ll talk you up and half of Denver’s male population strolls through his doors. Shirleen’s puntin’ you business. And Daisy’s got Marcus droppin’ your name. Me workin’ for free is just this job. Take it, pocket it, we talk when we got the next one.”
That I could do. I didn’t love it, but I could do it. Not to mention, agreeing meant we’d stop discussing it so I could get shopping, get to Lottie, get to Daisy’s to take my stripper class then get to my brother’s office for the meeting.
“This one job,” I agreed.
“Right, now got other shit to do,” Darius ended our meeting.
But I wasn’t done.
“We need to talk,” I declared.
“About what?” he asked.
I held his eyes and stated, “About you.”
His chin jerked back.
“Ally—”
I shook my head. “No. You. Me. Tequila. As soon as we can sit down.”
“There’s nothin’ to talk about,” he told me.
“You don’t even know what I want to talk about,” I told him.
“You said it was about me. And I know me.” He leaned in, his face got hard and his voice got kinda scary. “And when it comes to me, there’s nothin’ to talk about.”
Luckily, I didn’t scare easily.
“We’re talking, Darius,” I contradicted. “And we’re doing it soon.”
“This conversation is over,” he decreed. “Outta the truck.”
“Darius—”
He leaned in deeper. “Outta my fuckin’ truck, Ally.”
I leaned right back.
“I love you,” I hissed, and his face behind his shades blanked but I didn’t stop. “And something’s not right with you. You’re holding back and I’m gonna find out why that is and help you get things right.”
“Outta the truck.”
“You know me, honey,” I said. “You know I won’t give up.”
“How’s this?” he asked, leaning back at the same time retreating. Not physically. Emotionally. “What’s wrong with me can’t get right.”
Fuck.
I had a feeling, and my feelings usually were right.
Still, I returned, “That isn’t true.”
“You know?” he asked.
“Yeah. I know. That isn’t true. It’s never true. Anything wrong can be made right.”
“You don’t know dick,” he bit out.
“Darius—”
“Outta my truck.”
“Darius!”
He leaned back in and rumbled (definitely scarily, even to me), “Get the fuck outta my truck.”
I sucked in breath but I didn’t get out of the truck.
I leaned in deep so we were nose to nose, shades to shades, and I declared, “I won’t give up on you. I’ll never give up on you. What I’ll do right now is get outta your truck. But I’ll do it with you knowing me doing it does not mean I’m giving up on you.” My voice dropped to a whisper. “Brace, brother. Because I’m gonna knock myself out to heal what’s broken in you. And I won’t quit until I’ve done it.”
On that, I didn’t give him a chance to reply.
I got out of his truck and sashayed into Lucy.
But I did it not thinking about the kickass running gear I was going to buy that would make my man lose control and give me orgasms in his kitchen (or elsewhere).
I did it worried.
* * * * *
I drove into the underground parking lot of Lee’s offices, my mind on a number of things.
One was trying to figure out what dress I was going to wear out to dinner that night with Ren. I hadn’t had a chance to try any of the four on that Roxie, Tod and Stevie bought me, but I knew just looking at them they were all on par in hotness so there wasn’t an obvious frontrunner.
This meant I needed time to try them all on and make a decision.
Another was the fact that my sit down with Lottie got me nothing. Whatever this guy was doing, he was not doing to her.
She did tell me she felt the vibe and had talked with some of the girls even before Smithie approached her to talk to the girls. They were closed up tight.
Even as the headliner, she didn’t have her own dressing room, although Smithie offered it. But she was social; she felt they were sisters and didn’t want to foster that kind of thing with the girls so she was in with them. Though she was, she hadn’t seen this dude do anything or heard him say anything.
Nothing there.
But she was also worried.
She came with me to Daisy’s house to help with my stripper classes. Once at The Castle, I discovered that Daisy had one of her many rooms set up with a stage that had a couple of poles.
“Gotta keep up my skills, sugar,” she said after she led us there and I stopped and stared at the set up. “Anyway, how do you think I keep this killer body?”
I had actually never asked how she kept her killer body, though I knew she power-walked regularly.
Thus commenced my stripper instruction, and even with two women I cared about the only ones in attendance, I felt awkward and danced stiffly.
After both of them showed me some moves, however, Daisy put on some music.
That did it.
Then again, music always did it for me.
Thus, three hours later when I finally hopped off the stage, Lottie gave me a huge-ass grin and declared, “You’re a natural. You’re even gonna give me a run for my money.”
I had no idea why that compliment made me feel warm inside. It just did. So I went with it.
After hugs and setting up my next class the next day, I headed out to my car but before I took off, I sat in it and called Smithie to tell him we were on the case, were amassing a file and I would be making my debut on Thursday.
He was ecstatic. Not about the file, about me dancing.
I ignored that and the not-so-great flutter that it sent shifting through my stomach, hung up and called Duke.
He wasn’t at Fortnum’s, so I phoned his house.
Duke had always been the kind of guy that, if you wanted to connect with him, you did that on his terms. In other words, face to face. Therefore, until Indy bought him and Dolores an answering machine last Christmas, there was no way to get a message to him.
Thanks to Indy’s intervention, I was able to leave a message at his place. That said, it was a crapshoot if he actually listened to it.
What I said was, “Hey Duke. Please don’t era
se this without listening. I know you’re pissed at me and we need to talk about that. You know you mean a lot to me so you gotta know I don’t like that you’re pissed at me. But more, something’s up with Darius. I need to sit down with you about that and get your wisdom. So please, stop avoiding me so we can talk things out.” I paused then finished, “Hey Dolores.” Then I hung up.
It was slightly manipulative to drop the Darius thing, because Duke might be rough and gruff but he looked out for the crew. He probably already had his eye on Darius and was worried. So sucking him into that was totally making a play.
But I told Darius I would stop at nothing.
So I was going to stop at nothing.
I parked in Lee’s garage, got out of my car and made my way into the building and to the elevators. After running, shopping and stripping, I couldn’t face the stairs.
Truth be told, I didn’t know how I was going to face my getting ready preparations and a late dinner with Ren. I really wanted our date, as in, really. But I’d been running around all day, was facing what would likely not be a happy conversation with my family, and would rather go home, eat Ren’s delicious food and curl up on the couch and watch Nathan Fillion (and, of course, the rest of the cast of Castle).
The elevator expelled me on Lee’s floor. I made my way down the hall and into his office.
Shirleen was not behind the reception desk, but Vance was standing beside it, tossing a file on the top.
When I entered, he turned to me.
“Hey,” I greeted.
“Ally,” he replied.
“What’s shakin’?” I asked.
He grinned his shit-eating grin and seriously—he was Jules’s; I loved Jules and I had Ren who I loved—but I had to admit that it wasn’t just once in the time I knew Vance that I wondered what it would be like to be horizontal and have him aim that shit-hot grin at me.
“Everything,” he replied. His grin faded and he said weirdly, “Tomorrow night.”
I stopped advancing to the door that led to the nerve center of my brother’s operations and turned to Vance. “What?”
“Tomorrow night. You’re ride along with me.”
My mouth dropped open, but the rest of my body jolted with pure, unadulterated glee.
“Got a security system I wanna show you how to bypass,” he went on.
That feeling stole through me, that one I liked, but I still didn’t move.
Rock Chick Revolution Page 34