Rock Chick Revolution

by Ashley, Kristen

  Then I quit grinning so I could shove delicious linguini and shrimp into my mouth.

  * * * * *

  “I get him, you get off stage. You get the girls in the dressing room and keep them there. You keep the dressing room door closed and locked. Lenny’s gonna be outside. You keep your phone in your hand and you hear something you don’t like, you call 911. And you keep the girls calm.”

  I was giving the instructions Lee gave to me by text to Lottie.

  I was about to go on. And Lottie was going on with me.

  Double the viewing entertainment, double the distraction from what would be going on in the club.

  I’d briefed her and Lottie knew what was happening.

  All of it.

  And she was all in.

  I got closer and said quietly, “This ends for them tonight. But our jobs aren’t done tonight.”

  She nodded.

  “He get them all?” I asked something I didn’t want to know but, alas, needed to know.

  She nodded again but said, “He’s partial to JoJo. Sometimes he has a taste for Meena. But he’s tried them all.”

  I lifted my hands to the sides of her head and pulled her to me so our foreheads were touching. “We’ll see to them.”

  She nodded but said, “Smithie’s gonna unravel.”

  Smithie knew nothing about this. This was because Smithie would first commit murder.

  Then he’d unravel.

  “We’ll see to him, too,” I promised.

  She nodded again.

  “You do that onstage, I’ll give you both fifty bucks as a bonus and I’ll name my next fuckin’ kid after you,” Smithie said as he approached.

  Lottie and I broke apart and looked his way.

  “We’re already dancing a double,” I reminded him.

  “Yeah. I know. This is why you’re in my fuckin’ will,” Smithie replied as the music silenced and the girls ran off the stage.

  I drew in a deep breath and grabbed Lottie’s hand.

  Smithie went onstage and walked across it to get the microphone.

  “Remember,” I said, staring through the crack in the curtain. “When I get him, you get the girls.”

  “I remember,” Lottie replied on a hand squeeze. “And if, when you get his gun, you accidentally squeeze off a round, I’m your witness that it was accidentally.”

  Great minds think alike.

  “So put your hands together, motherfuckers!” Smithie was concluding his introduction. “’Cause the Rock Chick and Lottie Mac are teamin’ up, and it’s gonna blow your motherfucking minds!”

  It certainly would.

  In a lot of ways.

  The club went black, Smithie stumbled off and Lottie and I dashed on.

  In the dark, the opening riffs of Nickelback’s “Something in Your Mouth” hit the space. The rest of the band kicked in, the bright lights hit the stage and Lottie and I hit each other.

  It was an ingenious plan. No man in that room would look anywhere but at Lottie and I as we double teamed. Squatting down and sliding up each other’s bodies. Smacking each other’s asses. Circling a pole low while the other went high. Flicking each other’s hair. Kicking a leg over the other who was in a squat. Both of us swinging our asses out to the audience in tandem.

  And frequently, we sucked on our thumbs.

  And each other’s.

  If this wasn’t part of a mission, I would have giggled my ass off through the whole thing. It was a blast. Absolutely. And the light in Lottie’s eyes told me she felt the same.

  We were both down to sequined bras and panties and platform stripper shoes when we broke off. Lottie caught attention by catching the pole high, swinging out, rolling off and hitting her hands and knees, crawling on the stage with back arched, ass high, lips parted, hair in her face.

  She was the total shit.

  I jumped off the stage and it was during one of the rapid-fire rap parts of the song so I could make some moves on a couple men on my way to my target.

  And as the song broke down, I did a lot of gyrating, hair whipping, slow walking, dipping my ass into laps only to pull away before flesh hit flesh, and shimmying.

  I found my way in front of Gibbons just as the song kicked it up again.

  I looked into his eyes.

  He was looking at my breasts.

  Fuck yeah.

  It didn’t matter my last name was Nightingale. It didn’t matter that I might be a threat.

  I had tits.

  And that meant I had him, the asshole.

  I leaned down, putting my hands to his knees and whipping my head around. I turned around and gave him a personal, long drawn out ass sway when Chad Kroeger did the kickass drawn out “everyone.”

  I flipped around and mounted his lap.

  His hands immediately went to my hips.

  I barely controlled a lip curl at his touch and I moved on him. I put my hands on his shoulders, pulsing my hips under his hands, whipping my hair in his face, catching his eyes to see his at my crotch.

  Yeah.

  I had him.

  So I took him.

  Reaching in his jacket, I went right for his gun.

  His fingers on my hips bit in and his eyes shot from my crotch to my face.

  I felt for the snap, flipped it and yanked his gun out just as I jumped off his lap, his hands sliding clean free since I was oiled up (and good).

  I got three feet back and pointed the gun in his face.

  The music stopped and the lights went up. There was some clapping, but everyone around Gibbons and me had seen the dance change and were shuffling away, seeing as there was a stripper with a gun.

  Gibbons stared into my eyes, and I knew he was about to go for me right when he was out of his chair and being slammed face first into the floor by Mace.

  Luke came to me and took the gun out of my hand.

  “I need to find a way to erase the last three minutes,” he muttered, sounding aggrieved.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “I just watched my boy’s sister strip. There’s laws against that,” he replied, not taking his eyes off Mace who was cuffing a non-struggling Gibbons, but I had a feeling what Luke was doing was studiously avoiding seeing me in sequined undies and stripper shoes.

  “No there’s not,” I said to Luke and he finally looked at me.

  “Babe, there are. Trust me,” he stated.

  At his tone, I trusted him. Then again, he was a guy. What did I know what rules guys lived by?

  Luke moved in to help Mace jerk Gibbons to his feet. They didn’t go cautiously and his head snapped around, and not a little.

  A lot.

  I fought a smirk.

  “What’s goin’ on? What the fuck is goin’ on?” Smithie shouted, elbowing his way in.

  “Don’t know how I took him down, seein’ as I’ve gone blind,” Mace stated, ignoring Smithie.

  “I hear you, man,” Luke agreed.

  “What the fuck is goin’ on?” Smithie yelled.

  That was when Lee appeared.

  My brother. He didn’t let me know, but he was also taking my back.

  I was feeling slightly gushy and very jazzed when Lee said, “Cruiser’s outside. Haul him out. Smithie, you come with me.”

  “You gonna tell me what he fuck is goin’ on?” Smithie asked.

  “Yes,” Lee answered.

  Smithie glared at him. Then he glared at me.

  I tipped my head to the side and gave him a scrunchy face.

  Lee either didn’t see Smithie’s glare or didn’t care. His eyes went beyond Smithie and he ordered, “Clear this place out.”

  I looked that way just in time to see Lenny saying, “Gotcha.”

  Lenny moved out and I looked at Gibbons.

  He didn’t look upset.

  He looked smug.

  “Uh… just so you know, asshole dickhead of huge proportions,” I called. His eyes came to me, and I noted when they did, “Good you know your name. Your crew?” I a
sked and shook my head. “Right now, they’re taking rides in cruisers, too.”

  Gibbons stopped looking smug.

  “Funny, thinking with your dick brought you to this pass, seeing as you are a dick,” I noted.

  “Smithie,” Lee cut into my fun. “Your office.”

  On a lingering glare at all of us, Smithie moved toward his office.

  Lee moved, too.

  He moved into Gibbons space and he got nose to nose with the asshole (or kind of; Lee was three inches taller).

  “After your stay at the penitentiary, you get out, you get the fuck out of town,” he ordered. “Denver’s mine, and I don’t like your kind here. Now you think on that. You ask around. Name’s Lee Nightingale, but I suspect you know that. And I suspect you know to get your ass out of my town. You don’t and we meet again, there won’t be a cruiser.”

  “Fuck you,” Gibbons spat.

  “Good,” Lee whispered, getting closer. “I hope you’re not smart, because I’m lookin’ forward to meetin’ you again.”

  Gibbons held Lee’s eyes.

  Lee didn’t give him the honor of a staredown.

  He sauntered away.

  “We’ll meet again, bitch,” Gibbons promised me, and my eyes went to his.

  I clasped my hands together in front of me and cried in a shrill girlie voice, “Oh goodie! I didn’t get to use my balls-in-a-vice move tonight and I was so wanting to.”

  Mace jerked Gibbons around and started marching him to the door.

  Luke grinned at me before he followed.

  I watched for a beat then looked through the thinning crowd the bouncers were showing to the door to see Ren standing at the edge, arms crossed on his chest, eyes on me, face carefully blank but eyes burning.

  “I still have some work to do, honey,” I told him. “Can you wait for me?”

  He shook his head, but his lips quirked and he answered, “Yeah, babe.”

  I smiled at him.

  Then I hightailed my sequin-pantied ass to the dressing room.

  * * * * *

  Led by Eddie and Jimmy Marker, detectives and uniforms were in the dressing room taking statements from strippers, waitresses and the female bartender.

  After I’d changed into tee, boots and jeans, I’d talked all the girls into making statements. I would like to have been able to tell my brother my efforts at this were heroic. But once they all learned that Smithie and his family were no longer in jeopardy, they jumped at the chance.

  I was leaning against the wall with my arms crossed on my chest beside the door as I watched Jimmy with a hand light on JoJo’s arm moving toward my station. JoJo was looking at the floor. I was looking at Jimmy.

  “Me and Mizz Christensen need to chat in private,” he murmured as they passed me.

  I nodded. I knew what that meant. She had not so fun things to say. And Jimmy, a good man (the best), was going to take her someplace comfortable to say them.

  Jimmy kept moving, but he did it with eyes on me.

  I tipped my head to the side.

  He jerked up his chin.

  Then he winked.

  I smiled.

  He disappeared.

  I jumped when not a second later, Luke’s head and shoulders were where Jimmy had just been and he growled, “Ally. You’re needed.”

  What?

  I didn’t get the chance to verbalize that question. Luke disappeared.

  I shoved away from the wall and followed him.

  I heard it when I got into the main area of club. Someone was tearing something apart.

  And the noise was coming from the direction of Smithie’s office.

  That was when I started running.

  I passed Luke and hit the stairs to Smithie’s office which was up high, where he had a window out to keep his eyes on the club. I ran up the steps and ran by Ren, Mace and Lee who were standing inside, close to the door, all alert but giving space.

  When I hit the office, I saw I was right. The office was a disaster. Completely torn apart.

  And Darius was there, close to Smithie, hand out, mouth murmuring, “Calm down, brother.”

  Smithie picked up something from his desk and threw it across the room. It slammed into the wood paneling, the paneling buckling all around, and it stayed lodged there.

  Then he turned on Darius and shouted, “You been workin’ this case with Ally for days and you didn’t shut that shit down?”

  “We didn’t know how bad it was until today,” Darius replied. “Now sit down, you need a deep breath and a drink.”

  “I don’t need a fuckin’ drink!” Smithie yelled. “I need to fuck somebody up.”

  I got close to Lee, got on my toes and whispered, “Call LaTeesha.”

  He turned his eyes down to me. “Ally—”

  “Do it, bro.”

  I held his eyes. He nodded, peeled off from Ren and Mace and disappeared out the door.

  I approached Darius and Smithie.

  “Stay back, Ally,” Darius ordered.

  “Smithie,” I called, ignoring Darius, but Smithie’s eyes were already on me. “Calm down a sec. The cops are gonna need to talk to you. Then you can continue destroying your office.”

  He threw out his hands. “What am I gonna tell ‘em? That I didn’t know dick?”

  “They’ll have some questions, honey. Just tell them what you know,” I replied.

  He leaned into me threateningly, and I saw Darius get close and felt the men at my back move forward.

  “I can tell them what I know fuckin’ now. I know that motherfucker—in my own fuckin’ house—extorted fucking blowjobs from my girls.” He thumped his chest on the word “my.”

  “Smithie—”

  “Took their money.”

  “Smithie, please, listen for a—”

  “And they gave all that shit up, for me.” Another whack to his chest.

  “I know, but—”

  “For me!” he roared in a way that the entire room stilled.

  He stood there, staring at me, breathing heavily, and I knew it was going to happen before it happened.

  So I ordered quickly, “Everybody out.”

  Then it happened.

  His arms went to cover his face and head and his legs went out from under him.

  I rushed to him, looking at Darius and mouthing, “Out.”

  Darius nodded and moved.

  I got down on my knees by Smithie and pulled his big quaking body in my arms.

  “For me,” he whispered, his voice breaking.

  “They love you,” I whispered back.

  “For me,” he repeated.

  I said nothing. Just held him in my arms.

  This lasted a long time before, not looking at me, still curled into himself in my arms, he started to ask, “How do I—?”

  “I don’t know,” I interrupted. “I just know you will.” I pulled him closer. “I’ll help.”

  He dropped his arms and turned his head to look at me. My breath caught and my heart squeezed at the ravaged look on his face, his bloodshot eyes, the wet on his cheeks.

  “They did that shit for me,” he said, and it sounded like he was pleading. Like I could take his words and make them and the fact that all this happened go away.

  “They love you,” I repeated and lifted my hands to his cheeks, moving my face closer. “And that, Smithie, is a beautiful thing. You take care of them. They took care of you. It was awful how they had to do it. But every single one of them did it. That’s how much they love you.”

  He shook his head, taking my hands with it. “I can’t fix this,” he told me.

  “Everything can be fixed,” I returned.

  “Not this,” he whispered.

  “Daisy? Ava? Sadie?” I gave him examples of women who lived on, valiantly and magnificently, after being violated. I shook my head before I lifted up, kissed his forehead then looked back into his eyes. “Everything can be fixed. Everything.”

  He held my eyes.

  Then
he nodded.

  “Baby.” We heard, and I let Smithie go in order to turn around.

  I saw LaTeesha rushing in.

  I got out of her way, and as she helped Smithie off the floor, I gave them their privacy.

  Mace was at the top of the stairs.

  When I looked at him, for once, he wasn’t looking broody. His eyes were warm and his face was soft.

  It was a good look for him. Then again, for Mace, they all were.

  “Good job,” he murmured.

  “Thanks,” I murmured back and turned to the steps.

  I was halfway down when he called quietly, “No, Ally.”

  I turned back and looked up at him.

  “All of it,” he said. He pointed at the office. “In there.” He pointed toward the club. “And out there.”

  Fuck, but that felt great.

  I didn’t say that.

  I nodded and repeated, “Thanks, Mace.”

  He nodded back.

  I went back to descending the stairs.

  At the bottom were Darius, Lee and Ren.

  I looked at Lee. “Am I done?”

  “Yeah, Ally,” Lee answered softly.

  His eyes were warm and his face was soft, too.

  I gave him a chin lift. He gave Ren a look.

  I didn’t try to decipher that look. I just turned to my man and he didn’t make me say a word.

  He just grabbed my hand and led me out the door.

  * * * * *

  We were in bed.

  I had my face in Ren’s neck, my legs tangled with his.

  He had an arm wrapped around me and he’d pulled up my nightie. He was drawing lazy patterns on the skin above my ass. The fingers of his other hand were laced with mine and he was holding them over his heart.

  He hadn’t made a move on me. I didn’t make one on him. We just both got ready for bed silently and then he drew me into him and held me close.

  I suspected he did this because he knew it would happen.

  And it did.

  Dragging his hand with mine up to my face, I pressed them against my lips as the sob ripped its path up my throat and out and my body bucked violently.

  Ren let my hand go and turned into me, both his arms closing around me and holding tight.

  I cried into his throat and I did it a long time.

  When my sobbing started to die out, Ren pulled me even closer, giving me a squeeze and whispering, “Love you, baby.”

  That was it. No coddling. No offers to talk it out. No pressure. Nothing. He let me be at the same time he gave me exactly what I needed.