The rec room was stil packed when May and I entered it and, again, everyone’s eyes swiveled to me.
May clapped her hands and announced, “Quiet, ya’l .
Eyes on Law. She’s got somethin’ to say. Clarice, you turn off that TV. We need your ful attention.” When Clarice, a heavyset, sixteen year old black girl that I’d pul ed from The Mal a few months ago flipped off the TV and al eyes had locked on me, May turned to me and said, “Go on, hon. Tel it like it is.”
I didn’t know how to tel it like it was but I looked at the kids staring at me and I knew I had to try.
“Al right, folks, listen up,” I started. “We hear you talking about going out, thinking to avenge Park, but I’m tel ing you right now, you’re not going to do it. I see any of you kids on the streets, getting into different kinds of trouble than you normal y find, I’l shut you down myself. Got me?” I was channeling Crowe Speak to make my point.
Nothing gets the word across like talking like a badass mother when they thought you were a badass mother.
They al just stared at me.
“Got me?” I snapped.
The door opened but I ignored it thinking that it was just more kids arriving.
“Where’s Shard?” someone cal ed to me. “He ain’t on the streets. Is Nightingale torturing him?”
“Yeah, you bring ‘em down and the Nightingale guys take
‘em in and make ‘em pay. Is that how it is?” someone else threw in.
I looked at the ceiling then I looked at May then I looked back at the room. Where did they get this shit?
“No, the Nightingale Investigation Team is not torturing Shard,” I answered.
At least, I didn’t think they were.
“Where is he then?” another kid cal ed out.
“I don’t know, maybe at church, praying for his sins,” I replied.
Some kids laughed. One kid cal ed out another question.
“You flip Jermaine like they said? Kick him in the nuts?”
“I’m not discussing what happened last night,” I said in my word-is-law voice.
“She did, it was fucking awesome,” Curtis cal ed out, ignoring my word-is-law voice.
“Yeah and she shot at Clarence, right by his foot. Swear t o God, he jumped like a spider. He was all freaked out.
Thought he’d shit in his pants,” Martin added.
“Boys, quiet. Curtis, don’t say fuck. Martin, don’t say shit.” Then I addressed the entire room. “This conversation is over.”
I was losing their attention. Something had caught it and several of the kids were looking toward the door.
I forged ahead to finish my point. “I’l say it one last time, not one of you goes on the streets looking for trouble. You do…” I hesitated, not used to badass threatening then I remembered what Vance said to me when I aimed at his Harley, “there’l be consequences.”
They weren’t paying attention at al anymore. Most of the kids were staring at the door, some with wide eyes, some with mouths hanging open.
“Sweet baby Jesus,” May breathed from beside me.
I looked at the door. Vance, Lee and Luke were al standing there.
Vance was wearing a black turtleneck, faded jeans, black cowboy boots and a black leather jacket that hung over his hips. His hair, as usual, was pul ed back in a ponytail at the base of his neck and, above al , he looked hot.
He also looked like he was about ready to burst out laughing.
Lee was standing next to him, wearing an olive drab v-necked sweater, a white t-shirt under it, jeans, boots and a clay-colored suede jacket.
Luke was next to Lee wearing head-to-toe black, a tight black t-shirt that you could see stretching across his pecs under his black motorcycle jacket, black cargo pants and black boots.
Lee and Luke also looked highly amused. It was clear they’d heard every word.
“God dammit,” I muttered under my breath.
The boys advanced into the room coming at me. The kids watched, mesmerized, their heads moving with the progress of the Nightingale Men.
“Hi boys,” I said when they arrived.
Luke half-grinned. Lee’s eyes crinkled. Vance smiled at me flat out.
“Law,” Vance said.
I rol ed my eyes at him for using my street name. If it could be believed, he looked even more amused at my eye rol .
“Hon,” May said from beside me, sounding slightly breathy. I looked to her and she was taking in the boys.
“Hon,” she repeated. “Oh my, hon. ” Now she was just looking at Crowe.
“May,” I said sharply to break through the Crowe Effect.
She blinked and looked at me. “What?”
“Snap out of it,” I whispered to her.
She shook her head. “Yeah, yeah, right.”
I introduced her. “Boys, this is May. May, this is Vance Crowe, Lee Nightingale and Luke Stark.”
They al turned amused looks to her.
She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times and then said in a breathy voice, “Hi ya’l .”
I looked at Vance and shook my head. He just gave me one of his grins. This made my bel y flutter, especial y when my mind took that unfortunate moment to fast forward to what was supposed to happen later that night. It was like he read my mind and his grin turned wicked. I frowned. When I did so, I wasn’t sure, but it looked like he was again trying hard not to laugh.
“We need to talk,” Lee cut in to Vance and my bizarre nonverbal exchange but he was looking around at al the kids watching us. “You have somewhere private?” he asked when he turned to me.
May threw up a hand. “I’l go check. See if one of the counseling rooms is open. Won’t be a minute.” Then she whirled and trotted off.
I looked back at The Boys. “What’s up?” I asked.
“Private,” Luke said and at this single word I sucked in my lips thinking this was not good.
“Hey Crowe,” Sniff greeted, as if Crowe was his best friend and they hung out al the time. He came up on one side of me.
Roam silently moved in at my other side.
“Sniff,” Crowe replied then he looked at Roam who was standing between Vance and I. “Roam,” he said.
Roam nodded his greeting.
“Throw rocks at any dealers lately?” Crowe asked.
Roam’s body jerked, not sure if Crowe was fucking with him in a good way or a bad way and I watched them both closely.
“No,” Roam answered hesitantly.
“Too bad,” Luke put in, “Shard won’t forget you anytime soon.”
Roam’s eyes swung to Luke and I saw hope fil them for a second, before he hid it. “Yeah?” Roam asked, trying to be cool.
“Yeah,” Luke answered. “Not sure that’s a good thing, kid. We let him go; he may come lookin’ for you.” Roam’s body went stiff, whether from fear or what he thought was an admonishment from Stark, I couldn’t tel .
“That won’t happen,” Crowe offered casual y but there was a fierce undercurrent to his words as if he would, personal y, be looking out for Roam.
Roams eyes skidded to Vance and the hope in them lasted longer this time. I felt what was becoming a familiar warmth start to spread through me as I looked between Vance and Roam.
“You studyin’?” Vance asked him.
Roam nodded.
“You are not, Roam,” Sniff put in, ever the big mouth.
“Shut up, Sniff,” Roam hissed then looked at Crowe. “I’m gonna get my diploma. Then I’l come lookin’ for you.” Vance’s eyes moved to me. “Likely you won’t have to come lookin’,” he said.
Oh my God.
What in the hell did that mean?
I stared at him, the warmth had turned to fire and I stopped breathing.
Sniff was looking between Vance and me. “You guys gonna get married or somethin’?” Sniff asked.
My eyes unlocked from Vance’s and my head snapped around to glare at Sniff. I let out my breath in a whoosh using al my stren
gth not to strangle the life out of him.
“Sniff!” I clipped, my body burning for an entirely different reason. “Why on earth would you say such a thing?”
“What?” he asked, al innocent, looking at me. “It could happen. I could be, like, your pal bearer or something.” I heard Luke chuckle. I knew it was amusing, however, I thought it would be a lot more amusing if it was happening to someone else.
“Ring bearer, stupid. A pal bearer carries a casket,” Roam told him. “And anyway, you’re too old to be a ring bearer. You could be an usher, they seat people.”
“How you know al this shit about weddings?” Sniff asked and then didn’t wait for an answer but kept right on talking, as usual. “Just as long as I get to wear one of them fancy suits. Those are the shit.”
“Stop saying shit,” I cut in, having had enough. “Don’t you boys have an appointment with the tutor about now?” Sniff grinned at me. “Yeah.”
“Wel then, go.” I took a deep breath and turned back to the Nightingale Boys.
As I guessed, they were al looking at me with their amused faces.
Whatever.
I looked to Roam to tel him to go to the tutor but he was looking at Crowe.
“See you around?” Roam asked, not quite able to hide the craving in his voice and I sucked in a breath.
Crowe just looked at him and I felt my heart begin to pound. Then Crowe lifted his hand, and, palm-out, he shoved Roam’s head to the side in one of those macho-man to mini-macho-man head-cuffs.
Crowe’s hand dropped and he murmured, “Yeah.” Roam’s face split into a huge smile, his glance skidded along Luke and Lee and he turned. His smile hit me and he walked away but before he did he purposeful y bumped me with his shoulder in a teenage-boy shoulder bump that was meant to show affection without real y showing it. Then he moved away, throwing an arm around Sniff’s neck, putting him in a headlock and taking Sniff with him before Sniff could say anything (else) stupid.
I looked at Vance and felt the clouds that fol owed my life around crack open for once and gorgeous sunlight beamed down on me.
I’d asked him to be nice to the kid, show him some attention. He had, but he went way beyond the cal of duty.
I could have kissed him. Of course, I did not.
May jogged up to us. “Blue room’s free,” she announced.
“Thanks May,” I said, pushing down my thoughts of kissing Crowe, thinking maybe simply thanking him was a better way to go, and leading the Nightingale Boys to the blue room.
I opened the door to the blue room and let them precede me. I caught Crowe by the arm before he went inside and whispered, “After this, I want to talk to you.” He looked at me closely for a beat trying to read me but I kept my face as blank as I could. Then he nodded. Crowe and I went in and I closed the door behind us.
There was a couch and a table with some chairs around it. No one sat so I didn’t either.
“What’s going on?” I asked Lee.
“Darius wants a meet,” Lee told me, not leading into it, just saying it straight out.
My mouth dropped open. Then I snapped it shut because I figured a badass mother wouldn’t stare with her mouth open.
“With me?” I asked stupidly. They hadn’t come al the way to the Shelter to tel me Darius wanted to meet with the Queen of England.
“Yeah. It’l be you and Vance, Darius and me. Tomorrow night. Can you fit that into your ass-kicking schedule?” Lee inquired.
Luke chuckled again. I frowned at Luke and he quit chuckling but he gave me one of his sexy half-grins. I turned back to Lee.
“What’s this meet about?” I asked.
Vance was standing at my side, close to my side, not close-close as in loverly close, but close enough.
“He’s got an offer he wants to make you,” Lee answered.
“What kind of offer?”
“Don’t know; he hasn’t shared. He wants you off the street and he’s wil ing to negotiate,” Lee told me.
I stared at him. This was an interesting turn of events.
“What does that mean, negotiate? Is he going to offer me money?” I pressed.
“Likely,” Luke said and my eyes cut to him. Then they went back to Lee.
“Forget it. I’m not taking money,” I declared and I felt Vance get tense beside me, in fact, the entire room got tense.
“Law –” Lee started.
“No way. Forget it,” I stated in my word-is-law voice.
“Take the meet. Listen to what he has to say,” Lee advised.
“I’m not going to sit down with a drug dealer and listen to him offering me money he’s made by destroying people’s lives. No. That is not going to happen,” I said.
“Law, this is a game,” Lee informed me. “You entered the game, now you have to play it. You don’t take the meet; it’s disrespect. Darius won’t like that.”
“Do I care?” I asked.
Vance came closer and turned his body into mine, cutting Lee off from sight.
“Take the meet, Jules,” he said.
I looked up at him and opened my mouth to speak but he got there before me.
“Take the meet; listen to what he has to say. You can say no. Then you can tel him what you want. Maybe we can come to a compromise, maybe not. You don’t take the meet, everyone wil lose,” Vance went on.
“What do I have to lose?” I asked.
“You don’t want to go up against Darius. You do, since we made our positions clear last night, that puts us against him. That means war with you caught in the middle and the middle is an uncomfortable place,” he got closer and his voice dropped, “Jules, we’re talkin’ war between Lee and Darius. You don’t want to be the cause of that.” Again I opened my mouth to speak but he kept going, voice even lower, eyes intense. I’d never seen him so intense (wel , he was normal y always a trifle intense but this was something else). I stared at him.
“It’d be like Sniff goin’ bad and Roam chal engin’ him to a death match. In that situation, nobody wins. Do you understand what I’m sayin’ to you?”
I kept staring at him and it came to me. Eddie Chavez, Lee Nightingale and Darius Tucker, al friends, al close, just like Park, Roam and Sniff. I guessed that somewhere along the line, Darius turned, went bad. Regardless, Eddie and Lee stayed close to him, such was their bond. It was precarious, something would eventual y test it, something just like this was bound to happen. You couldn’t have a cop, a PI and a drug dealer remain friends without it going sour somewhere along the line.
But I didn’t want it to be me that made it go sour.
I nodded to Vance. “I’l take the meet,” I said.
He lips turned up at the ends and I knew he approved. I got that warm feeling again but kept my face blank and he moved away from me.
Lee and Luke were watching me, not amused anymore.
“Is everything okay with Jermaine and Clarence?” I asked.
“Vance took care of you,” Luke said. “You need to be safe, though.”
“You get in a situation like last night, you cal backup before going in,” Lee added.
“Backup?” I asked.
“Vance wil give you the number,” Lee said but didn’t answer my question.
I turned to Vance. “Backup?”
“You cal the Nightingale control room,” Vance said. “One of us wil take your back.”
Oh my God.
Were they serious?
“That isn’t necessary,” I announced.
Lee was making a move to go. “You’ve been smart so far, don’t be stupid now,” he warned then our talk was over.
He jerked his head to Luke and Vance and Luke made a move.
“In a minute,” Vance said.
They glanced at him. Lee nodded. Luke grinned. They closed the door when they left.
Vance turned and with his eyes on me and us being alone I total y forgot why I asked to talk to him in the first place.
“Jules?”
With effort,
I cleared my head. “Um, I just wanted to say…” I lost it then got it back again, “thanks. You didn’t have to go that far with Roam and I appreciate it.” The air changed. Vance’s macho man forcefield clicked on and, I could swear, my body leaned into him a bit.
Then his eyes got soft and sexy. My bel y fluttered.
His voice came at me, smooth as silk. “You want to thank me, you ever want to thank me, you don’t say it to me.
You show me.”
I stared. “Sorry?”
He didn’t explain, he just said, “Come here.” Without hesitation, I went to him such was the power of the forcefield.
When I made it to him, one of his arms went around my waist, his other hand twisted around and around in my ponytail, fisted and he pul ed my head back gently.
Then he said, “Kiss me.”
My bel y plummeted.
“Sorry?” I repeated, this time in a whisper.
His face came so close I could feel his lips against mine.
“Kiss me,” he said there.
Oh crap.
I wasn’t sure I even knew how to kiss someone.
“Vance –” I breathed.
“Kiss me. Now,” he ordered.
I kissed him. I had no idea what I was doing but I just went for it. I figured it was better to get it over with because I was learning fast that Vance wouldn’t let it go.
I put my arms around his neck, grasping my right wrist in my left hand; I lifted up on my toes a bit, just as I put pressure on his neck. I opened my mouth under his, going for the gusto, but in the back of my head wondering if I should start smal .
Apparently I made the right choice. His mouth opened immediately, my tongue slid inside and that was al I had to do. That was the extent of “my” kiss.
He walked me back quickly. I slammed against the wal , his fist tightened at my hair and his other hand slid down over my bottom and pressed me against him. He forced my tongue out of his mouth and slid his in mine.
It felt so damned good, I fit my body to his, pressing in close, one hand curling around his neck and the other hand pushing inside his jacket, my arm wrapped around his waist then it went tight.
It got a little hot and heavy after that. There was some groping (on Vance’s part) and maybe a few throat moans (on my part) and then his mouth tore free.
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