Rock Chick Revenge

by Ashley, Kristen

  I shifted fully to Luke’s side and his arm curled around my neck (rather in your face possessively, if you asked me). I chanced a glance at Ren and saw he was studying his shoes, one of his hands at the back of his neck, the other one at his waist. This was a different position of masculine reflection and I figured Noah’s luck, already short, had run out.

  But it was Uncle Vito who spoke next, and his voice was Scary with a capital “S”.

  “No one fucks with family.”

  Okay, so it was actually now when Noah’s luck ran out.

  “I’m not family,” I protested.

  Ren’s head came up, his hand at his neck dropped and his eyes locked on mine.

  “You’re family.” His voice was terse.

  “I’m not,” I repeated.

  “You’re family,” Dom snapped.

  “No, really –” I started.

  “Ava, Sissy is family and since you’re Sissy’s family, like it or not, in a roundabout way, that makes you a Zano. And no one fucks with a Zano,” Uncle Vito declared.

  Hell and damnation.

  “You get him, I want him,” Luke said and I looked up at him.

  It was then I realized why he shared. It was then I knew he trusted that I could hack it if he shared. It was then I knew that he knew Ren didn’t just want to fuck me but he had feelings for me, deep ones. It was then I realized Luke knew how all the Zanos felt about me. And finally, it was then I realized Luke was using the Zanos to get what he wanted, payback on Noah.

  It was actually really clever in a manipulative and annoying way.

  “Hang on a second –” I started.

  “Done,” Uncle Vito said.

  My heart stopped beating and I looked from Uncle Vito to Luke and back again.

  “Wait –” I started again.

  Luke talked over me. “Ava’s activated the Rock Chicks,” Luke surprised me by informing my now not-so-secret plan to the Zanos (how did he know everything?). Ren, Dom and Uncle Vito looked at me and Luke went on. “I know enough to know I’m not gonna be able to control her, or any of ‘em. I want him found before they find him.”

  Uncle Vito looked to Lee. “Your brother and Chavez involved in this?”

  “Not officially,” Lee answered.

  Uncle Vito smiled a scary smile. My heart clenched an unhappy clench.

  Shit!

  “Everyone, can we just –” I started, yes again, then Luke interrupted me.

  He turned to Tex and Duke. “You keep her protected. Something happens to her, I hold you responsible.”

  “What the fuck you think we’re doin’ alignin’ ourselves with the girls rather than the hunt?” Tex boomed, clearly affronted.

  Luke ignored him and looked at Dom. “Your shit sorted?”

  “Not exactly but this takes precedence,” Dom answered.

  “Damn straight,” Duke agreed.

  “Once this is over, we need a family meeting,” Uncle Vito cut in and his eyes moved between Sissy and me. “That’s why we came here. Dominic wants to talk to Sissy. Lorenzo doesn’t agree and I’ve allowed him in on the meet. Ava, you want in and Sissy wants you there, you can be there too. I’m presiding.”

  I looked at Sissy. If anything she looked even paler. We both knew that Uncle Vito presiding meant Sissy was screwed.

  “I want Ava there,” Sissy said.

  “Ava’s there, I’m there,” Luke announced.

  Oh crap.

  “You’re not family,” Ren had clearly had enough.

  “Ava’s not anywhere near you unless I’m with her,” Luke replied.

  This made Ren smile.

  Oh fuck.

  “Boys –” I started, yes, again, to be interrupted, yes, again.

  This time, it was Uncle Vito. “All right, I’m done with this,” he declared and his eyes came back to me. “I want you with Lorenzo. Not only do you look good together, you two are a couple that means you’ll be in the family officially and I don’t lose my Thanksgiving euchre partner. Anyway, you’d make a good mama, give Lorenzo lotsa babies, you got the hips for it.”

  Luke went still beside me at the very mention of Ren and my “lotsa babies” and the thought of Ren anywhere near my hips, but I was too busy rolling my eyes to the ceiling to deal with Luke’s reaction.

  Seriously, how much could a girl take?

  Uncle Vito went on. “You got something serious going with Stark, say it now or we gotta have a different kind of family meeting.”

  My eyes went away from the ceiling and moved to Uncle Vito. Then they went to Ren and I felt my face go soft.

  “Luke and I have something serious,” I said quietly.

  “Fine. That’s done,” Uncle Vito replied and, even though he didn’t look happy, I could tell he was going to let it go.

  Ren wasn’t so prepared to let it go. “You fuck her over, you got trouble,” he said to Luke.

  Luke didn’t respond.

  “Yeah, we’re not goin’ through this Noah shit again,” Dom threw down.

  “Oh for goodness sake,” I snapped when Luke, who had again relaxed beside me, got tense and his gaze cut to Dom.

  “Shut up, Dom,” Ren said before Luke could respond.

  “I’m just sayin’ –” Dom said to Ren.

  “Yeah, right. You were just sayin’. Let’s talk about when you pulled me back from goin’ after Dexter after he fucked Ava over. I nailed him then this shit wouldn’t have happened and Ava wouldn’t have got hurt.”

  Ho-ly crap.

  Ren wanted to go after Noah when he fucked me over? That was huge.

  Luke, already tense, went solid and my body copied his reaction.

  “Well, I didn’t think –” Dom started.

  “You never think,” Uncle Vito threw in. “You hadn’t talked Lorenzo outta that shit months ago, he’d be the one with his arm around Ava’s neck right now and Angela would be callin’ Father Paolo about Catholic classes,” Uncle Vito looked at me. “You’re in the family officially you gotta turn Catholic. Just warnin’ you in case it don’t work out with you and Stark.”

  I could feel Luke preparing to go gonzo when I heard Shirleen say, “I would think this was fuckin’ hilarious, standin’ around chatting about fuckin’ Catholic classes, but there’s a shithead out there and we’re givin’ him plenty of time to get away after he put his hand down my girl’s pants!”

  When she stopped talking, she was shouting. One thing you could count on, that was Shirleen bringing the matter to hand.

  “Luke,” Lee said and he and Vance moved toward us.

  Thankfully, I figured this meant the latest drama was at an end.

  “Right,” Luke muttered and tore his angry gaze away from Uncle Vito and looked at me. “I came by to tell you not to do anything stupid, because I know you’re gonna do somethin’ stupid.”

  “I am so sure,” I snapped, unable to stop myself.

  He curled me so I was facing his body. “Whatever the day brings, babe, at the end of it, we’re together. Got me?”

  That took the wind out of my sails, mainly because I liked what he said. “Well then, okay,” I still sounded kinda bitchy but my heart wasn’t in it.

  “I don’t like what you’re doin’ but enough time has been wasted so there isn’t any left to argue about it,” Luke told me.

  I nodded.

  “You wanna stay at the hotel again?” Luke asked.

  I shook my head. “I think we should stay here. I don’t want to be scared of my own house.”

  It was his turn to nod, his face started to get soft and his eyes warm and I was relieved he understood. Then he bent his head and touched his mouth to mine.

  “Stay close to Tex, Duke or Jules,” he said, face still close.

  “Jules isn’t um… working in the field during this operation,” I mentioned, my eyes slid to Vance, I bit the uninjured part of my lip and looked back at Luke. “You… erm… know why. Jules and I decided she’s in charge of Command Central.”

  The
angry went out of Luke’s face and body.

  “Ava Babe,” was all he said, but he said it in The Voice and my knees wobbled.

  “Luke,” Lee pressed, still standing close and breaking the moment.

  Luke didn’t look at Lee as he said to me, “Gotta go.”

  I nodded again.

  “Stay safe,” he finished.

  Then he touched his mouth to mine and was gone.

  Vance stopped at me before he took off. I held my breath as, blank faced but eyes intense, he reached out, took a lock of my hair and tugged it.

  Then he was gone too.

  I let out my breath.

  Dom led Sissy to my side, his eyes on my closed front door.

  “You give Stark that hickey?” Dom asked me.

  Oh shit, not the hickey again.

  I turned to glare at him but he just grinned at me.

  “Nice,” he said, nodding slowly.

  That’s when Sissy pulled out from his arm and punched him in the stomach.

  “Now that’s what I call nice,” Tex boomed.

  I burst out laughing.

  “The family meeting is gonna be interesting,” Duke noted, a huge smile on his face as he looked at a doubled over Dom, Sissy standing beside him hands on hips, wearing the Sissy Glare.

  Ren ignored this, approached and pulled me into his arms and held on tight. “Been wanting to do this since you walked in,” he said quietly in my ear.

  I sighed, deep and huge, mainly because I just realized that Ren gave good hugs.

  After awhile, I told his neck in a soft voice. “You know, you shouldn’t be hugging me.”

  “I know and I don’t give a fuck,” Ren replied.

  Oh well, Luke was gone, just this once. My arms went around him and I squeezed.

  “You’re a good guy,” I whispered.

  “Yeah. Too good. I wanted to give you time after Dexter. You needed it. I shouldn’t have given it. I should have moved in.”

  He was right. He should have moved in. However, if he had I wouldn’t have had my chance with Luke. There was no way to tell if Ren and I would have been better or worse so there was no reason to dwell.

  “Could I talk you into handing Noah over to the police if you catch him?” I asked.

  Ren’s head came up. He looked me in the eyes then he shook his head.

  “You’re going to hand him over to Luke?”

  Still silent, Ren nodded.

  “Men,” I sighed.

  Ren’s hand came up and he touched the cut on my lip. His eyes got scary angry for a brief flash before he hid it.

  “Be safe, Ava,” he said softly and finished. “Be happy.” Then he pulled away and nodded to Dom. “Let’s go.”

  “Sissy –” Dom started.

  “Save it for the family meeting,” Sissy snapped.

  “Sis, baby,” Dom tried again.

  “Save it!” Sissy repeated, this time on a hiss.

  “Save it, Dominic. Yeesh, you give me heartburn,” Uncle Vito broke in, patting his heart with his hand. “Been givin’ me heartburn for years. Lorenzo, when you’re head of this family beware, it comes with heartburn. Now, let’s go.”

  Eek.

  Ren’s future included Head of the Zano Family. Thoughts of me in pressed slacks and flouncy blouses doing lunch with the ladies in between Botox injections paraded through my head. I had to admit, I was pretty glad I had dodged that bullet.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Ren muttered, close and bent low to my ear. “I become head of the family, first order of business is have Dom whacked so no heartburn. Second, buy a house on St. John where we would live for half the year, drinking rum for breakfast and fucking under the stars.”

  His head came up. I blinked at him. He smiled at me and it was an ultra sexy smile.

  My heart started racing.

  Uncle Vito led the way and then they were gone.

  “Now, can we get to the business of findin’ this jerk off?” Tex asked impatiently, looking like he was about ready to come out of his skin.

  “You okay?” Sissy asked, voice filled with concern.

  No, I wasn’t okay. All of a sudden, my mind was filled with having sex with Ren under a warm, balmy, tropical, starry night and they were happy thoughts.

  If Luke knew, he’d have a shit fit.

  “Yeah,” I lied, taking in her pale face. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” she lied back.

  We looked at each other a beat then, even though there was nothing funny and definitely nothing happy about our situation just because we’d survived yet again, we grinned.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Barlow Bitches from Hell

  “Shee-it, Kumar, you had the left bower? Why didn’t you take the second trick with that motherfucker?” Tex boomed across my dining room table at poor Mr. Kumar who was not getting the hang of euchre.

  Uncle Vito, who was sitting across from me, chuckled and winked. We had won five games in a row as partners.

  “I don’t understand this bower business,” Mr. Kumar complained. “How can a jack be higher than an ace? How can only one card of a different suit be the same as another suit? Then jacks are just jacks when they are another color? Then it all changes on the next deal of the cards. This game is too confusing.”

  Shirleen walked into the dining room from my kitchen carrying a fresh iced tea. “Of course it’s confusing. First off, you’re only playing with half a deck. Any card game that you play with half a deck has to be half-assed.”

  Uncle Vito and Tex cut their eyes to Shirleen.

  Uh-oh.

  “Euchre is the only card game worth a shit. It ain’t half-assed,” Tex said.

  “Give me poker any time,” Shirleen retorted.

  “I know poker,” Mr. Kumar put in hopefully.

  “Poker is a common game,” Uncle Vito threw down.

  Shirleen’s eyes narrowed.

  Hell and damnation.

  “I’m going to bed,” I announced, getting up from the table.

  “You can’t go to bed, it’s best out of eleven,” Tex protested.

  I stared at Tex. “In the beginning, it was best out of three then it was five then it was seven then nine, now eleven?”

  “We have to win one,” Tex told me.

  I looked at the ceiling.

  “Girl, get outta my way. I’m gonna kick the shit outta this euchre business. Kumar, you be Vito’s partner. Tex and I are gonna whup some euchre ass,” Shirleen shoved me out of the way and pulled Mr. Kumar out of his chair.

  I took my opportunity and headed toward the stairs. “Don’t be too loud. I can’t sleep with noise,” I said over my shoulder.

  “Only sound you’ll be hearin’ is Vito goin’ down,” Shirleen informed my back.

  I just stopped myself from laughing before I walked up the stairs.

  No way Uncle Vito was going down in euchre. Tex might be from Indiana, in his words “the spiritual home of euchre”, but nobody beat Uncle Vito.

  Nobody.

  Even if he was saddled with Mr. Kumar as his partner.

  I got ready for bed.

  Well, today wasn’t as fun as I thought it would be, Bad Ava groused.

  Are we giving up? Good Ava asked hopefully.

  “No,” I told the mirror as I slathered on moisturizer.

  Oh poo, Good Ava snapped.

  Yippee! Bad Ava yelled.

  Needless to say, the Rock Chicks operation was a bust.

  Lee had gotten to Brody first, therefore when the Rock Chicks interrogated him, Brody hadn’t talked under threat of certain torture from Lee (read: losing his “bodacious” job).

  So we started by going to Noah’s old apartment but he was long gone. We spread out, “canvassing the neighborhood” (as Indy called it), knocked on some doors but only one person was home and they didn’t know anything.

  Jules at the Command Central made some calls and found out who the landlord of the property was. She called him and asked about Noah b
ut there was no forwarding address.