Rock Chick Revolution

by Ashley, Kristen

  He drove in, then ground in, his mouth coming to mine. “But this is all mine.”

  It so totally was.

  “Yes,” I panted.

  Inexplicably (and tragically), he pulled out again and moved down my body. His hand went between my legs, his finger working me, his mouth went to my breast and he sucked my nipple deep.

  That was all good, way good.

  But I needed him inside.

  “Honey, please,” I begged.

  He rolled my nipple with his tongue, his finger rolled between my legs and my back left the bed.

  He blew on my nipple then whispered, “My woman kicks ass at everything.”

  Oh God.

  He moved his beautiful torture to my other nipple and after the tongue roll and blowing, I breathed, “Ren.”

  His mouth came back to mine, but his hand continued to work between my legs when he encouraged, “That’s it.”

  I slid my fingers in his hair. “Need you.”

  “You’ll get me. Gonna bury myself inside you when I make you burn.”

  I was already burning.

  “Need you,” I repeated.

  His hand between my legs moved so his fingers thrust inside and his thumb hit the spot.

  That wasn’t what I wanted, but I’d work with it. And I did, my hips moving desperately with his hand.

  “Fuckin’ fuck me, so goddamned hot.”

  “Ren.”

  “Ride that, Ally.”

  I rode it. Hell yeah, I rode it.

  “Ren,” I cried, and it hit me.

  The instant it did, his fingers disappeared and he drove inside me, swinging my calves in at his back. I closed my legs around him and dug in my heels, my hands fisting in his hair, my lips parted, my back in an arc, my hips moving to accommodate his.

  It burned through me and Ren kept thrusting powerfully, my body jerking. I moved my hands from his hair down his back to grab hold of his ass, lifting my head and breathing into his neck as he slammed into me.

  “Love this, baby,” I whispered into his skin.

  He grunted into mine.

  “Love you, Ren.”

  His thrusts became savage.

  I nipped his earlobe and moaned, “You feel so damned good, honey.”

  He powered deep, then bucked once, twice, again, again and again as he groaned into my neck. I took his weight for long moments, holding him tight to me, breathing him in, before he rolled us.

  But once to his back with me on top, he pushed me up so I was up and straddling him, Ren staying on his back and still buried deep.

  One hand curled around my hip, he lifted the other one and put it between my breasts. With me watching him, his eyes watching his hand, he moved it down to below my breast where he cupped me, lifting my breast, his thumb gliding gently over my rock-hard nipple.

  His touch at that sensitive spot scored through me. My hips jerked and I sank my teeth into my lower lip. His eyes moved to my face and he did the nipple glide again.

  And got the same reaction.

  His eyes sated but still burning, his hand moved down my ribs to my belly, then down between my legs where his fingers separated, surrounding our connection.

  He kept his hand there but his eyes moved everywhere.

  “Ren,” I whispered.

  “Quiet. Sit still,” he ordered softly. “Wanna look at you connected to me.”

  God.

  He was turning me on again.

  His hand slid from between us and moved over my skin, everywhere, belly, ribs, sides, breasts, nipples, chest.

  I studied the hot, content look on his face as he watched it go and fought squirming.

  “Knew you felt deep,” he muttered, his gaze on his hand trailing down my midriff. Then it came to mine. “Had no fuckin’ clue how deep you ran.”

  “What?” I whispered.

  “Everything you do, what you eat, what you drink, how you live, how you love, how you work, all of it runs deep. You give it everything. It means everything to you.” His hand suddenly caught mine that was resting on my thigh and he gave it a squeeze. “Come here, baby.”

  I bent to him and his hand went to the small of my back, sliding up my spine and into my hair.

  “Teach that to our kids, will you?”

  He liked what he saw that night. He got why I do what I do.

  And he trusted me.

  God.

  Beautiful.

  I closed my eyes and buried my face in his neck.

  He turned his head so his mouth was at my ear. “Will you do that for me, Ally?”

  “Yes, Ren.”

  His hand gave mine another squeeze. “Thank you for lettin’ me come tonight.”

  God.

  Seriously!

  Could he get better?

  “Thanks for wanting to come.”

  “And thanks for makin’ me come just now.”

  I started laughing, lifted my head and said through it, “My pleasure.”

  He grinned. “Noticed that.”

  “Mm-hmm,” I mumbled, still chuckling.

  He slid his hand through my hair and turned his head to look at the clock. After turning back to me, he said, “Thank fuck tomorrow’s Saturday.”

  I got closer, “Sleeping in.”

  “Yeah,” he replied.

  I brushed my mouth against his, slid him out of me and rolled out of bed. I took care of business and pulled on a nightie, but not panties, before I slid back into bed beside him.

  Ren positioned us spooning.

  “Maximum contact, you doing that, not me,” I pointed out.

  “Last night you burrowed into me,” he noted.

  This was true.

  I said no more.

  I felt Ren’s soft laughter all around me.

  I wiggled into it.

  “’Night, baby,” he whispered.

  “’Night, Ren.”

  He kissed my neck.

  I closed my eyes, and within seconds was asleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Key to Her Dreams

  Hank

  The next morning, Hank Nightingale moved up the bricked front walk to Lee and Indy’s duplex.

  He hit the bell, and a minute later Lee opened the door.

  Hank lifted his chin to his brother as Lee moved out of the way. He entered hearing retching.

  He stopped in the living room, but looked to the ceiling and back to Lee. “Morning sickness?”

  “No, seein’ as it lasts until the afternoon.” Lee looked up the stairs, murmuring, “She can’t keep anything down.”

  Hank studied his brother and could see it plain. Lee was worried.

  “Women have been doin’ this awhile, man,” he said softly and Lee looked at him.

  “Know that. Doesn’t mean I gotta like it.”

  Hank nodded. He wouldn’t like it either.

  Lee jerked his head toward the kitchen. “Get yourself some coffee. I’m just gonna run upstairs to check on her.”

  Not waiting for a reply, Lee jogged up the stairs.

  Hank moved to the kitchen.

  He had a coffee mug in hand and was leaning against the counter when Lee reappeared saying, “She’s lyin’ down. She says hi. But this time of day it comes often and fast so she wants to be close to the bathroom.

  Hank nodded again. Lee got his mug, reloaded, rested his hips against the counter and gave his eyes to his brother.

  “We’re supposed to go to viewings later. Thinkin’ that’s out,” Lee remarked.

  “You’re movin’?” Hank asked.

  “Keepin’ the place. It’s Grandma Ellen’s. Indy wants it kept in the family. We’ll rent it but we need more space.”

  They absolutely did. Two bedrooms, Indy and all her crazy (not to mention clothes) and a kid?

  They needed more space.

  “Keep that on the quiet,” Lee warned. “She hasn’t told Tod and Stevie yet. Stevie’ll take it in stride. Tod’s gonna have a shit fit, not havin’ Indy or the co
ntents of her closet close. Indy’s already freaking at the thought of moving away from them, not to mention not having Chowleena around frequently. So it’s likely I’ll need to get her a dog, too, to fill the void of Chowleena.” Lee drank some coffee then finished, “Though it won’t be a fuckin’ Chow dog.”

  Hank again nodded, his mind expelling the idea of his brother owning a Chow, at the same time making a note not to be anywhere near when Indy broke the news to Tod that she and Lee were breaking up the family.

  He took a sip of his coffee, then said, “You called me for a meet, man, but I got somethin’ to go over with you first.”

  “Yeah?” Lee asked.

  “Before I left, got a call from Mace.”

  Hank watched Lee take a sip from his mug, his actions casual, his eyes intent. When he was done, he stated, “Got one too.”

  “He went out last night with Ally,” Hank told him something he already knew.

  This time, Lee nodded, but other than that, he didn’t give anything away.

  “He said she didn’t do well, she did well. She made all the right moves. Confident, not cocky. Tough when she needed to be. When the situation became uncertain, she stood down without a fight and took orders. He said she has the feel. And he said Hector thinks she’s the shit.”

  “Hector’s a wild man, and she’s not his sister,” Lee pointed out.

  “Lee,” Hank said low, “they grew up together. She isn’t, but she is.”

  Lee took a breath in through his nose. This meant he saw Hank’s point.

  Hank laid it out. “I’m gonna give her space. I’m also gonna ask you to train her.”

  “Hank—”

  “She wants this,” Hank said quietly. “And it’d make me sleep a fuckuva lot easier knowin’ you gave her the skills she needs.”

  Lee’s jaw clenched.

  Hank continued. “And she’s good at it. You’ve seen the tape. Ice cold at Lincoln’s. Like she’d been doin’ that shit for years.”

  “Easy for her to do that when she knows she’s got firepower at her back,” Lee countered.

  “Yeah. You’re right. But Darius told both of us, since he laid it down for her months ago, she never made a move without him bein’ in the know and him bein’ at her back if she needed him. She’s not gung ho and proving a point. She’s moving forward smart and doing it making all the right moves.”

  Indistinct noises of more retching floated into the room. Hank lost Lee’s attention when his brother turned his head and looked at the door.

  “You wanna go to her?” he asked, then offered, “I’ll wait.”

  Lee looked back at his brother. “She gets pissed, I get too much in her space.”

  That was Indy. Like Ally, two peas in a pod. They needed everybody, but were damned if they’d let it show.

  Hank took a sip of coffee, thinking he looked forward to making babies with Roxie. He looked forward to having a family.

  He did not, however, look forward to this shit.

  He gave his brother a second then declared, “I’m gonna have a conversation with Ally. You do what you need to do, but what I’ll ask you to do is think about it. You could teach her things she needs to know. You could also help her get licensed so she can make a better go of this.”

  “She’s not findin’ trouble gettin’ cases,” Lee noted. “She doesn’t even have an office and she’s had two fall in her lap.”

  “Could that be because she’s already established a reputation for getting the job done?” Hank suggested.

  Lee said nothing.

  “Just think about it, yeah?” Hank prompted.

  Lee gave him a nod.

  Hank took a sip of his coffee before asking, “Now, why’d you want me over here?”

  “My phone’s been busy this morning. Mace. Hector. Tex. Even fuckin’ Kumar,” Lee told him.

  “Yeah?” Hank said.

  “And also Brody,” Lee went on.

  “And?”

  “Jane wrote that Rock Chick book,” Lee announced.

  Hank went still before he whispered, “What?”

  Lee shook his head but said, “Yeah. Jane. Middle of the night last night, Brody found a trail from the person who gets reader mail to Jane.”

  “Fuck,” Hank bit out.

  “Yeah,” Lee agreed.

  “What now?” Hank asked.

  “That’s why I asked you here,” Lee answered. “I don’t know. No tellin’ what Indy’s gonna do. She thinks of Jane like family. I don’t know if she’ll lose her mind or defend her. Bein’ Indy, though, my guess is she’d defend her. But right now, her sick all the time, she doesn’t need this shit. She’s also told me about Jane. That woman loves books, always wanted to become a writer. She’s written fuckin’ dozens of them that went nowhere. Now she’s livin’ her dream.”

  “Off our lives,” Hank pointed out.

  “That’s the rub,” Lee stated. “’Cause what does it hurt when what it does is give one of our own the key to her dreams?”

  Hank stared at his brother. “Are you shitting me?”

  “Tod and Stevie have been over here cackling about that book least a dozen times since Indy and Ally found it. Fuck, Tod’s highlighted parts that he reads out loud to us. And I gotta admit, that shit is funny. Wasn’t then. My woman in my bed, wearin’ my ring, pregnant with my baby, it is now.”

  “I’m not sure I’ll get there,” Hank replied.

  “You asked me just last night, I would have said the same thing. Then when Brody told me it was Jane, Indy pukin’ in the bathroom, us having viewings to get a bigger place to prepare for our family, I didn’t have it in me to get pissed. Jane’s got nothin’ in her life except that store and us.” He paused. “And now her books.”

  Hank thought about Jane. Quiet. Always working. Most of the time there, but always on the cusp. He’d known her since he was a kid and she’d always been the same. It wasn’t that she kept herself removed. Hank reckoned it had more to do with the fact she didn’t quite know how to get involved.

  And Roxie had read the book. Hank had heard her laughing through the whole fucking thing. She knew Hank was pissed about it and didn’t say anything to him, but he also knew, if she found out it was Jane, she wouldn’t give a single shit.

  “My thought is,” Lee carried on and Hank focused on him. “I tell the men. They tell their women. I’m not gonna say shit about how they react, seein’ as they can react however the fuck they want. I’ll wait ‘til Indy’s in a good spot and tell her, and same goes for her. Jane did what she did, the chips will fall as they fall.”

  “Not thinkin’ any of the women will have an issue with it,” Hank noted.

  “Seems the case,” Lee agreed.

  “But even one of those guys loses it and gets in Jane’s face, how’s that gonna go down?” Hank asked.

  The look on Lee’s face said precisely how it was going to go down. Jane barely had the courage to live her life. One of the men got in her shit about those books, she could break. Which could mean she’d leave the store. Which would mean Indy would lose her.

  Which would not be good.

  Just like her grandmother, Indy regarded everyone who walked in that store on a regular basis like blood family. Grandma Ellen had looked after Jane. Indy did in her way, too.

  She’d lose her mind if one of the men lost it with Jane.

  “My guess,” Lee started, “is that those men will also think about how that’d go down. And if they do confront her, they’ll have a mind to that.”

  That, fortunately, was true.

  “They also have a right to know,” Lee continued.

  Hank nodded and sipped more coffee.

  “You gonna tell Roxie?” Lee asked.

  Hank’s brows went up. “The Rock Chicks knowin’ something she doesn’t know? And then her knowin’ I knew and didn’t tell her?” Hank shook his head. “She’d have a fuckin’ conniption. She rode my ass half our honeymoon about Ally and Zano.”

  Lee grinned, but
Hank didn’t find it funny. Ally making a scene with Zano at their wedding reception, clueing the Rock Chicks in to something the men already knew, was not taken kindly by his then-brand new wife.

  Luckily, he was able to be creative in getting her to shut up about it.

  “Darius says Zano is lookin’ into those books, too. You have a sit down with Ally, will you give her that heads up?” Lee asked.

  “Yeah,” Hank answered. “And since I’m out, that’s up next.”

  He took his last sip of coffee, rinsed the mug and put in the dishwasher.

  Lee walked with him to the door.

  At the door, Hank brought up their earlier conversation. “You’ll think about Ally?”

  “Said I would,” Lee replied.

  “She’s got what it takes, Lee,” Hank pointed out.

  “She’s also got no fear,” Lee returned. “Never has. And sometimes that’s not a good thing.”

  “You get scared before you do a job or do you just know you can get it done?” Hank asked.

  Lee again said nothing.

  “You’re measuring her by another yardstick, brother,” Hank noted quietly. “Careful of doing that. It’s not only not fair, she’ll cotton on and the results of that will not be pretty. But, I’ll point out, you’re holdin’ the key to her dreams. Our sister is the kind of girl who’ll bust the door down anyway. And she’s doin’ that. But it’d make it easier, you just hand her that key.”

  For long moments, Hank withstood his brother’s intense stare before Lee lifted his chin.

  Again, point taken.

  There was no more he could do, so Hank opened the door.

  “You leaving, Hank?” he heard Indy call from upstairs.

  “Yeah, Indy. Got shit to do,” Hank called back.

  “Sorry I couldn’t come down,” she yelled.

  “Understandable. Another time,” Hank yelled back.

  “Later,” she kept at it.

  “Later,” Hank replied.

  When he was done, he caught Lee smiling.

  His smile died when they both heard more retching.

  “Seven months, man, and you’re a dad,” Hank pointed out.

  That did it.

  And what it did was get him another smile.

  * * * * *

  Ally

  “Babe.”

  I snuggled into the pillows.

  “Ally.”

  I batted around my head like an annoying gnat was there.