Rock Chick Revolution

by Ashley, Kristen

  “You gotta keep this guy, or guys, occupied for five minutes, ten tops. Mug shots we got on them are years old so don’t rely on those pictures I showed you, and even the police in New Mexico don’t know the extent of their crew so keep alert. Brian and Tex will be casing inside, seein’ if they’re alone or if they come with sentries. My crew will be workin’ outside. You will get no go sign. If inside and outside are clear, Willie will come in and he and Brian will do the takedown. They’re not, we’ll neutralize the threat outside. You’ll see Ike, Bobby and Matt inside workin’ with Willie. You sit at a booth opposite the bar. Brody’s in the van and he’ll have eyes on that row. You have two jobs. Keep them occupied while we clock who’s in play and then gettin’ the fuck outta the way when the takedown begins. You got that?” he asked.

  “Yes, kemosabe,” I answered and his eyes narrowed.

  “This isn’t a joke, Ally,” he gritted out.

  “No shit, Lee.”

  His face got dark and after hours of planning this crap, he got down to what was really bugging him.

  “You should not have taken the meet.”

  “And wait for however long it is for this situation to be dealt with?” I asked. “Luke and Ava are getting married in two days. I don’t want to have to take the time to call the bomb squad to ask them to do a sweep. I take the meet, this is done and all I have to do is wonder with everyone else if Luke’s gonna dance with Ava at the reception.”

  His lips got tight.

  Although I knew that meant he was going to give me no further shit, which was usually an opening for me to give him some (or some more), I passed on that opportunity in order to get this done.

  “Is there anything else before we move out?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” he answered. “They give you any indication they got a weapon trained on you in a way we can’t see, like under the table, you run your hand through your hair startin’ at the top and going back. Yeah?”

  I nodded, not liking that part, but knowing, seeing as they blew up my apartment, they could come in carrying and have no problem switching from negotiation to threats—and other much less fun possibilities—to get what they wanted.

  Lee got a lot less intense and moved a few inches away from me.

  But he did this saying, “Dad wants a family meeting tonight.”

  At that, I shook my head. “Ren and I have a date.”

  His chin jerked back. “You had a date two days ago.”

  “That didn’t happen seeing as we got sidetracked,” I shared and this time, Lee shook his head.

  “Go no further,” he ordered.

  I wasn’t going to so I complied.

  “We get this done, Willie and Brian get whoever we take down to the station, they’re interrogated, processed, Hank gets briefed, he’s free, the family sits down,” Lee decreed.

  “I just said I couldn’t do it tonight because Ren and I have a date,” I reminded him of something he couldn’t have forgotten in the three seconds since I said it.

  He got close again. “Ally, it’s not gonna surprise you that Dad—and Mom, I’ll add—are upset and worried. They need a sit down with you and you need to show them the respect of givin’ them that time and listening.”

  He was right about that so I had no choice but to nod again but queried, “Can I ask why this meeting is being called through you and Hank?”

  “Because by upset and worried I meant hurt and pissed.”

  Oh man.

  That was not good.

  I loved my mom and dad. They were the shit.

  Malcolm and Kitty Sue Nightingale weren’t perfect human beings or parents.

  But they came really, really close.

  Part of me was being nonchalant about all that was happening with me and how it would affect my parents because, as crazy as I was, they not only always loved me but expected, when it got down to the important shit, I’d do the right thing. And save for some lying and underage drinking and a few other things (okay, maybe not a few but nothing that was important), I did.

  So I knew two things. The first was that whatever decision I made, if it wasn’t stupid, they’d back it (eventually). The second was that they knew they raised a woman who would not be stupid.

  But hearing what Lee said sucked. And it pained me. Because I didn’t want to hurt or piss off my parents. And I’d done both.

  So I needed to attend this meeting and see to sorting that out.

  I drew in breath.

  Then I let it out and nodded once again, mentally planning to send a text to Ren that was a lot less fun than the earlier ones to explain the change in plans for our evening.

  Now, however, I had a job to do.

  Therefore I asked Lee, “We ready?”

  He stepped to the side for me to precede him, answering, “Let’s roll.”

  I followed Lee out of the books and to the front.

  Lee went to Indy.

  I went to the door.

  But as I did, I had eyes on my BFF.

  She also had eyes on me and she mouthed, Be safe.

  I mouthed back, Always.

  Then I walked out the door.

  * * * * *

  I’d chosen locations wrongly.

  This was because Lincoln’s had two rows of stationary tables down its front room, at the end there was a bar, an entrance at the front, a door to the smoking area at the back. That meant that there was no way to sit without your back to a door.

  I picked facing to the front but turning my back to the wall so I had eyes either way.

  I’d also clocked Tex sitting at the bar with a bottle of Bud in front of him. I didn’t look at him, but I clocked him. Then again, with his mass, that would be hard not to do.

  Brian, I didn’t see and I didn’t look. I knew Brian enough, if he told Lee he was in place, he was.

  I ordered a bottle of Fat Tire and waited, phone on the table by my beer, pepper spray in my back pocket.

  At three seventeen, I was getting antsy.

  It was then the front door opened and they came in.

  I knew it was them right away. I knew this not because they looked like their mug shots (they didn’t), but because there were two of them and one was slight, wiry and looked as whiney and weasely as he sounded on the phone.

  But the other one was big, brawny and I knew instantly he was not only the muscle, he was the brains.

  And he was not to be messed with.

  I also felt it. The prickle at the back of my neck and the charge of my adrenaline flowing.

  They were not here to negotiate. I had no idea what they had planned but they offered deference in an attempt to outfox me and get my ass right where it was. This meant, regardless of any connections I had that they’d put together, they did not take me seriously.

  It also meant they had something up their sleeve.

  And last, it meant it was highly unlikely I had five to ten minutes to give to Lee.

  I turned to face their way on my stool at the same time I casually ran my hand through my hair from top to back then let my hand fall to the table. I wrapped the fingers of my other hand around the beer bottle which, if broken against the side of the table, could be used as a weapon.

  And I didn’t take my eyes off them.

  They no sooner got their asses on their stools than I felt a presence at my back, close, and something that couldn’t be mistaken pressed hard to my ribs.

  They had a soldier inside, and he wasted no time moving on me and jamming the barrel of a gun into my flesh.

  Not.

  Good.

  I gave no headspace to what this might mean—this soldier free to make his move—if Brian or Tex didn’t clock him or if they did and they had some plan.

  I needed to remain clearheaded and calm.

  I also needed to remain alive so I could have my red and black Pope-approved nuptials then give Ren babies.

  In my head I whittled the length of Ren and my fuck-a-thon down to two years prior to making babies
and whispered to the men at my table, “You don’t waste any time.”

  “No woman fucks with me,” the big-guy-brains-of-the-crew growled at me.

  “Uh, just saying, I didn’t fuck with you. You fucked with me,” I pointed out.

  “Okay then, I don’t waste time fuckin’ around with women unless I’m actually fuckin’ them,” he amended.

  Well, he’d proved that.

  “Now, you’re gonna come easy. Leave your phone,” Whiney Guy ordered.

  “And if you’re thinkin’ your backup is gonna see to things,” Brawny Guy added. “The black dude with the tattoo outside is outta commission.”

  Fuck.

  Fuck!

  That was Ike, one of Lee’s men. And I did not like to think with the cold dead I saw in Brawny Guys’ eyes what his definition of “outta commission” could be.

  Fuck.

  I let go of my beer and slid off my stool.

  The presence behind me moved with me.

  Calmly, I cleared the table and headed to the door as Whiney Guy and Brawny Guy flanked me.

  Suddenly the presence behind me disappeared. I took this as what I hoped it would be, Tex or Brian instigating their plan, and I flew into action.

  As Tex pounded a fist in the face of the guy who had been behind me and he went flying into a table, losing purchase on his gun, I turned to the primary threat, Brawny Guy. I got my hand around his package. Once there, I twisted and squeezed and I did this with no mercy.

  He made a high-pitched noise that made the backs of my teeth ache before his knees buckled and he went down hard. I bent with him, let him go then came up, at the same time jerking up my knee and catching him hard under his jaw.

  He flew back and I roundhouse kicked him in the cheekbone with my boot. It was then he flew to the side, and I knew by the way his face hit floor without him trying to break his fall he was out.

  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.”