“In,” Duke growled.
“Fuck yeah, I’m in,” Tex boomed.
I nodded to them. Once. “All righty then, here’s my plan.”
And I told them my plan. It was kind of a shit plan but luckily Indy, Ally and Jules had ideas to share and they were better than mine. In the end, I felt all right because instead of a half-assed plan, we had a pretty decent one.
When we were done, Tod raised his hand and I nodded to him.
“Can I just ask, after we find this guy, can we talk about the Vibrator Ceremony? I’m thinking of making us all kind of choir like robes to wear but with sequins and some satin sashes as belts. Maybe in chartreuse.”
It was then I was wishing someone would shoot me.
* * * * *
The gang handed out assignments, everyone prepared to move out and I approached Jules.
“Hey,” I said.
“You hanging in there?” she asked, looking at me closely.
I nodded. “Listen, I... um...” I started but May came up to our group and I stopped.
“It’s okay. You can talk in front of May,” Jules told me.
“About anything?” I asked.
“Hon, if you mean about you freakin’ out yesterday about Luke makin’ out with Jules on her couch while Vance was watchin’ on the monitors in the surveillance room, then yeah, you can talk about anything,” May put in.
My bugged out eyes swung to Jules. “Vance was watching?” I breathed.
“Yeah, I didn’t know that, neither did Luke. Vance installed cameras in my house during my troubles and he was on duty in the surveillance room the night Luke and I... um...” Jules stopped then started again. “Ava, you have to know, it didn’t go very far.”
“Vance was watching?” I breathed again. I didn’t know Vance very well (read: hardly at all) but I figured Vance was a lot like Luke. “Did he throw any lamps?” I asked.
I saw Jules relax before she grinned. “No, but he wasn’t too happy.”
“I’ll bet,” I said, thinking she got off easy.
“Did Luke throw a lamp?” May asked.
“Yeah, after he caught me with Ren,” I told her.
May looked at Jules. “Who acts like that?”
I thought this was a good question but I didn’t share. Instead I said, “Jules, listen, I don’t want you in on this operation.”
Both Jules and May looked at me. May’s eyes narrowed. Jules looked surprised.
“Why? She’s The Law. Right now, way I see it, she’s the best thing you got goin’ for you,” May said.
I looked at Jules. “I can’t explain it now but I think Jules understands.”
I saw the light dawn on Jules. It didn’t dawn on May. Therefore I reckoned May wasn’t in on the pregnancy news.
“You can’t cut her out of the action just because she made out with your boyfriend,” May protested.
In any normal situation a girl would be obligated to cut out another girl because she made out with her boyfriend.
This, however, wasn’t a normal situation.
Still.
I ignored May, it was up to Jules if she wanted to share that I was protecting her because she was pregnant. Instead, I looked for a compromise.
“Can you be the information person? Operate a Command Central? People can check in with you, you can keep tabs on things, where people are, what they’ve learned. I don’t know, that kind of shit?” I asked.
Jules smiled. “I can do that.”
“Hang on a second, Jules can drop a guy twice her size. I don’t –” May cut in.
“I’ll explain it later,” Jules interrupted her.
“But –” May went on.
“May, I’ll explain it later,” Jules repeated.
May looked from Jules, to me, back to Jules.
“You’re keepin’ somethin’ from me,” she accused.
“I’ll explain later,” Jules said again.
“Hon, you better explain later,” May snapped, really not happy to be out of the loop but she said no more and moved away.
Jules and I watched May retreat then Jules turned to me. “It isn’t that I don’t want her to know, I just want to be further along before I tell her. I don’t want her to get all excited and then... it’s just that, I have a history of... if I lose it, I just want Vance and me...” Jules stopped and looked away.
I grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.
She looked back at me and said quietly, “Thank you for keeping it a secret. There aren’t many of those in this tribe.”
I’d noticed that.
Instead of answering, I pulled on her hand to bring her closer and I hugged her. I hugged her because I was happy for her and Vance. I hugged her because she obviously didn’t think I was a screaming dork for my freak out the day before. Lastly, I hugged her because she was proof that Luke had good taste in women and he had settled on me which said a lot about both of us.
“Is there gonna be lots of huggin’ and carryin’ on or we gonna get this shit done?” Tex boomed from somewhere close.
I sighed. So did Jules.
We broke our hug and I looked at Tex.
“Let’s get this shit done,” I said.
* * * * *
Indy Ally, Tod and Stevie went to go talk to Brody, a friend of theirs and an employee of Lee’s. Apparently he was a computer genius and Lee’s hacker. They were going to pump him for any information he had on the Noah Investigation.
Jet, Roxie, Daisy and Smithie went to get provisions including stun guns, Tasers, pepper spray and handcuffs.
May and Jules went to Jules’s house where we were all going to meet later.
Shirleen, Tex, Duke, Sissy and I went to my house so I could get my Range Rover.
We trooped in my front door, Duke first. He stopped dead barely clearing the doorway from the entrance hall to the living room.
Shirleen slammed into his back, I slammed into Shirleen’s back, Sissy slammed into me and Tex boomed, “What the fuck?” from the rear.
“What the fuck is right,” Duke growled, staring into my living room.
I looked around everyone in front of me and saw through the doorway that Uncle Vito was sitting in my armchair.
Shit.
What was Uncle Vito doing there? I did not need this.
Time to run interference.
“Hey Uncle Vito,” I called, pushing my way through even though Shirleen tried, and failed, to hold me back.
Duke was more successful. His arm wrapped around my upper chest and he hauled me back against his body.
That’s when things got worse.
See, first I forgot for a second (don’t ask me how), about my face. Second, I didn’t know that Ren was standing by the fireplace nor did I know that Dom was lounging full out on my couch.
The Zano Family took one look at me and the air in the room went electric.
“Get her outta here,” Duke rumbled, feeling the air and pushing me backwards.
Uncle Vito slowly stood and Dom came out of his lounge as Shirleen yanked me back. Unfortunately, Sissy was pushing forward. There was general confusion as we were bumped and shoved but the confusion got sorted out quickly when Ren and Dom entered the equation.
Ren caught my arm and pulled me out of the fray and fully into the living room. Dom caught Sissy and pulled her in.
I was more worried about Dom getting to Sissy. I was even more worried when the electricity ratcheted up to radioactivity when Dom got a look at the fading purple marks under Sissy’s eyes.
“Dominic,” Uncle Vito said in a low, warning tone as Dom prepared to go berserk.
“Look at me,” I heard Ren order.
Oops.
I forgot Ren had hold of me. I looked at him, just had a chance to notice we had nearly identical cut lips (for some reason his looked sexier which I found pretty fucking unfair) when the radioactivity in the room became highly unstable.
“I’m gonna fuckin’ kill him,” Ren whispered.
“Lorenzo.” Now Uncle Vito was saying Ren’s name in a low, warning tone.
“We been at this half an hour and already things are out-of-control,” Duke grumbled.
I ignored Duke and focused on Ren. “It’s okay, Ren. Everything’s fine.”
Ren’s hands came to either side of my neck and his thumb gently pressed into the underside of my chin. His eyes were on the tear on my lip and his face was tight.
“I’m gonna fuckin’ kill him,” he repeated.
“Really, it’s okay,” I said. “Luke’s looking for Noah. We’re looking for Noah –”
Oops again.
Clearly I’d made an incorrect assumption because Ren’s head gave a jerk, his eyes came to mine and they narrowed. I’d surprised him.
“Stark didn’t do that to you?” Ren asked.
It was my turn to have my head jerk.
“Of course not,” I snapped, sounding exasperated.
“Dexter did that to you?” Ren’s voice was trembling with fury.
“What in the fuck?” Dom said from somewhere else but I knew he was talking about me. I didn’t know what was worse than unstable radioactivity, perhaps it was the sun exploding which had to be the power of what it felt like the room was preparing to do.
“You wanna step back?” All of a sudden Tex was at our side and he wasn’t asking a question. Ren’s body didn’t move but his head turned. He didn’t step back and his hands didn’t move from me.
“No,” was all he said but you could tell he meant it.
“Fair warnin’, you step back or I’ll fuckin’ make you step back,” Tex boomed.
“Please, don’t –” I started.
“Lorenzo, son, step back,” Uncle Vito said from behind Ren.
Ren and Tex continued their staring contest.
“Lorenzo, I want to hear what Ava has to say. I’m askin’ you, step back,” Uncle Vito pressed.
Ren’s eyes came back to mine then they dropped to my mouth again. One of his hands moved so his thumb could gently touch the cut on my lip.
His gaze shifted to mine. His eyes were troubled, anger warring with something else, something softer and quietly he said, “Honey.”
This cut through me because I realized, right then, Ren didn’t just want to fuck me. Ren liked me. Ren didn’t just like me, he liked me.
“Ren,” I said softly and I sounded sad, sad enough for him to understand without me saying it that he didn’t have a chance in the world.
He closed his eyes. This cut through me too, deeper this time, because he was a good guy and he deserved to be happy. He had just picked the wrong girl (not that I could make him happy, I was kind of crazy, I had a bad temper and I fibbed a lot, luckily, Luke “enjoyed” that kind of thing). Regardless, I lifted my hand to his cheek.
“Oh fuck,” Shirleen said from somewhere behind me.
That was when the room exploded.
Mainly because, with his usual perfect timing, Luke walked in.
Worse!
Behind him came Lee and Vance.
And no one looked happy.
In a flash, Tex stepped back. Lee and Vance took positions, the heat of the exploding air pressed in and Luke came at us, eyes on Ren. Ren went still, preparing for attack.
Worse than parking lot fistfights mayhem was about to ensue, I knew it, I felt it and I had to stop it.
I pulled away from Ren and got between him and Luke.
“Luke –” I put my hands up, Luke collided with them and halted, his eyes flashed to me and they were scorching.
“Get outta my way, babe.”
I scrambled for something, anything, to make Luke to calm down.
“He just found out about Noah,” I said.
Luke went solid and his brows snapped together. “You told him he touched you?”
Oh fuck.
Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Touched her?” Ren said low from behind my back.
Oh fuck.
Fuckity, fuck, fuck, FUCK.
Luke’s eyes moved to Ren for a beat then they came back to me. He searched my face then his gaze dropped to my hands on his chest and then, for some reason, I felt his body relax.
I had a moment of relief before it was swept away. Because, for some ungodly reason, Luke shared, totally open and brutally honest.
Luke looked at Ren as his arm slid around my waist, pulling me to his side. “Yeah, he touched her. He beat the shit out of her. Duct taped her to a steel support in her basement. Put his fuckin’ hand down her pants and dry humped her. Then he left her in the dark for hours before we found her.”
Ee-yikes.
“You have got to be shittin’ me,” Dom said and I peeked around Luke to look at Dom. His arm was around Sissy’s neck and his face was red. Sissy’s face was pale, as, I suspected, so was mine.
Apparently Dom had forgotten that, days earlier, he’d stun-gunned me and tried it on with me in the back of his BMW.
However, even I had to admit that wasn’t as bad as what Noah did.
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 ey
es 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.
Rock Chick Revenge Page 40