Oh my. That was interesting.
Daisy giggled and it sounded like tinkling bells. I loved Daisy’s giggle.
“And he also kind of bought her outfit for her too when they were together.” Jules’s tale of Mace’s Wardrobe Decisions Destruction seemed to never cease.
Jet clapped her hands to her on her mouth, her eyes wide and dancing and Shirleen snorted.
“And it’s cute?” Roxie asked with obvious disbelief.
“Super cute, in a Hawaiian surfer kind of way,” Jules answered.
“I can’t wait to see this,” I whispered.
“I can’t believe Mace could buy a cute outfit,” Roxie responded.
“Is she okay?” Ava asked Jules.
Jules shook her head.
“The stitches?” Shirleen’s voice was sharp; she’d been brought up to date with The Battle of Daisy’s Den.
“No, I think it’s something else. Something that made Stella look pretty pissed and pretty confused at the same time. However, Mace looked very pleased with himself when I saw him come into the hall with Juno as Stella went into the bathroom.”
“Broody Mace looked pleased?” I asked.
We all knew what that meant. Been there, done that, had the t-shirt.
Stella had been laid.
“Dear Lord,” Jet breathed.
“This soon?” Ava asked.
“That beats Hank’s record, I think,” Ally told Roxie.
“Yep,” Roxie replied, a small reminiscent smile playing about her mouth.
“Holy crap,” I said.
“Shit, I haven’t even had time to sort the pool. How am I gonna win any money back at this rate?” Shirleen looked to Ally. “It’s gonna have to wait until you get nailed.”
Ally opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted.
“You women mind finishing whatever the fuck you’re talkin’ about later?” Lee asked in a not very polite voice.
My head shot up and I glared at him. “This is important,” I snapped.
“Yeah?” he asked on an eyebrow raise.
Oopsie.
Okay, well, maybe his plans that day were a tad bit more important than gossip.
We gave Stella and Mace time to shower, have pancakes and then we all wandered into the big room.
Throughout all this I watched Stella. Her outfit was cute. I wanted it. I loved it. It was a black OP tank with a circle of dusky blue hibiscus flowers in a band around the boobs and a pair of dusky gray OP corduroy short shorts. She looked like super-cool, rock-surfer-chick. I was a little surprised at Mace’s heretofore unknown shopping abilities and wondered what the underwear looked like.
Stella was being quiet and avoiding all things Mace. Mace wasn’t looking straight out pleased but he certainly wasn’t broody or pissed off, which was mostly what I knew about Mace’s inventory of emotions. He didn’t look quite happy, instead he looked energized and alert at the same time he looked mellow, the last new to me in Mace’s emotional arsenal.
The Rock Chicks gathered around Stella acting as buffers in case she needed us but Mace (breaking Hot Guy Courtship Tradition) wasn’t pushing it and he stayed out of her space.
By the time we walked into Daisy’s big room, we’d backed off.
That was a mistake.
Stella sat on the arm of the couch next to Ally, Juno sitting on the floor by her side.
Mace walked right in and I watched, mouth dropping open, as he put his hands to her waist, shoved her clean off the couch to her feet, keeping his hands on her. She made an angry, surprised noise and her head whipped around to look at Mace but I couldn’t see her expression.
He sat down where she’d been sitting, slid back, put one foot into the couch and brought her down in front of him, straddling her and doing it close, his hand sliding from her hip to come to rest on the top of her thigh.
Holy shit!
Juno, by the way, took this in stride. Clearly used to this type of Mace Maneuver from days of yore.
Mace never struck me as an affectionate type of guy. Like Luke, if you told me Mace would be affectionately demonstrative in a touchy way in public, I would have laughed. But there it was, proof positive.
My gaze shot to Ally. Ally was staring at Mace’s long leg by her side and her wide-eyed gaze shot to me. The Rock Chicks darted knowing looks at each other and then our eyes swung to Stella.
Her back was ramrod straight, her face pissed way the hell off but I could tell she was damned if she was going to blow. Not now. He’d get it later and boy, was he going to get it.
I wanted to shout, “Atta girl,” but I kept my mouth shut.
Then Lee launched into his announcement which most everyone knew anyway.
Except Shirleen.
“It’s decided,” Lee said to Shirleen.
“I don’t believe this,” Shirleen said back.
Lee had no response.
My eyes moved from Shirleen to Stella. Stella didn’t look pissed off anymore. She looked pale. It would appear that Mace hadn’t told Stella either.
“Erm, excuse me,” Stella said, her sexy, rough voice was soft.
Stella’s voice, by the way, was something I’d always loved about her and not only when she was singing. Her voice was, quite simply, the shit.
“You never give up,” Shirleen said to Lee, not having heard Stella.
“Too much at stake,” Lee replied.
“Excuse me,” Stella repeated and Ally’s eyes moved to her.
“I don’t fuckin’ believe this shit!” Shirleen exploded. “You boys were close to takin’ that jackass down!”
“Erm –” Stella started again.
“Yo!” Ally shouted and everyone turned to her. “Stella has something to say,” Ally finished.
All eyes moved to Stella.
“I just…” She stopped and looked back at Mace. She still looked pale but not angry anymore. She turned around and I saw her back go straight again. Then she tossed her dark, glossy hair and said, her throaty voice a lot louder, “I was on a jury once.”
Stella quit talking and we all kept watching her.
“Is she goin’ anywhere with this?” Smithie, sitting beside me on the opposite couch to Stella, muttered to me.
“Sh,” I shushed Smithie.
“Yeah?” Luke prompted Stella.
“A murder trial,” Stella went on. “They had pictures of the victim. They showed them to us. It was awful, shot in the chest and the head. Blood everywhere. Effing hell, but it was awful.”
Everyone was quiet.
Stella went on, “The prosecution had one witness, this old black lady. She’d seen the whole thing. She came in and she looked at the guy on trial and I knew she was terrified. Her fear filled the room. Everyone could feel it. You could almost… I swear to God, you could almost taste it. She lived in this guy’s neighborhood. She knew him. She knew he was a bad guy. She knew he could hurt her even if he was in jail. She knew it and we knew it.”
Everyone kept staring at Stella. Everyone knew now where she was going with this. Everyone kept quiet.
Stella kept talking.
“The defendant was leaned back in his chair, completely relaxed, staring at her. It was creepy. They asked her what she saw. She kept clutching at her hands, jumpy as a cat, but she answered. They asked her if she saw who did it. She still kept clutching at her hands but she answered. They asked if that person was in the room. She said yes. They asked her to point him out. Her hands were shaking, effing hell, I’ll never forget it, they were totally shaking. But she looked him right in the eye and pointed at him.”
“Good God,” Jet whispered.
Stella continued, “We found him guilty. They polled the jury. We all had to share our vote out loud, right in front of him as he looked at each one of us. I knew a little of her fear then but not the half of it. When we left the trial, the victim’s family descended on us, crying and carrying on, they made us do a prayer circle. They were so happy it was over. They were happy the man
that killed their son or brother or whatever was going to be put away.”
“Stella,” Lee said softly.
“I want a vote,” Stella said.
Mace’s arm wrapped around her waist and his head dipped so his mouth was at her ear.
“Kitten,” he murmured but we all heard it.
Um… wow.
I’d heard it yesterday, Mace calling Stella “Kitten”. Still, it shocked me. I mean, how sweet was that?
“I want a vote.” Stella’s voice was louder. “This man killed my friend. He shot me. He shot at a bunch of my other friends.” She stood and Mace stood with her, his arm moving up to lock across her chest. I didn’t know what he was trying to do, stop her from talking, give her moral support but it didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to succeed at the first and she didn’t need any of the second.
“I want a vote.” Her voice was definitely loud this time.
“It’s decided,” Luke repeated Lee’s earlier words.
“Okay, but I want a vote,” Stella said to Luke then her eyes scanned the tribe. “If that old lady can put her ass on the line to do the right thing then I can effing well do it too! If you bunch of badass mothers don’t agree, okay. I’m not stupid enough to think I can do anything about this, take this guy down, I know you guys have to do it but at least I want a fucking vote!”
“I want one too.” Roxie stood up.
Oh shit.
My eyes went to Lee. A muscle in his cheek was working.
Bad sign.
“Roxie –” Hank was walking across the room towards Roxie but she was backing away.
“No, Hank,” Roxie said, her hand coming up to ward him off.
“Stella’s right, you know,” Ally put in.
“Ally,” Lee said in a warning tone.
“You know she’s right,” Ally said back to Lee, quietly, softly, so un-Ally it was unreal.
Oh crap.
“I do and I don’t give a fuck,” Lee shot back at Ally, losing patience. “Indy and I are getting married in two weeks and Jules is pregnant –”
“She’s right,” Jules cut in, standing too. “Stella’s right.”
“Oh fuck,” Luke muttered and looked at his boots.
“Quiet Jules,” Vance murmured.
Jules’s eyes turned to Vance. “I’ll go somewhere.”
“No,” Vance replied.
“I’ll go somewhere safe,” Jules went on.
Vance got close to Jules and put his hand on her belly. “You think I’m missin’ a minute of this, Princess, think again.”
I swallowed, hard.
“Then keep me safe,” Jules whispered.
I felt the tears hit my eyes.
Shit!
Shit, shit, shit!
I didn’t do crying.
I looked at Lee, he was looking at me, the muscle in cheek still working. I got up and went to him. His arm went around my shoulders and he curled me into him. I wrapped mine around his waist.
I put my face into his neck and right at his ear, I whispered, “You know Stella’s right.”
Lee’s body went solid.
Then he muttered, “Shit.”
“We can’t give up,” I went on.
Lee didn’t answer.
“We do this, he wins,” I told him.
Lee still didn’t answer.
“This isn’t who we are, Lee,” I finished.
“Somethin’ happens to you –” Lee started.
I pulled my head back and looked at him.
“Nothing’s gonna happen to me,” I promised.
He stared me in the eyes. His weren’t hard to read, he was angry but I could tell he was also relieved.
Like I said, Lee was not a man who gave up.
Then he bent his head and touched his lips to mine.
When he was done kissing me, he said, “Damn straight.”
I felt something unknot in me. I hadn’t even noticed it was there but it had been tying me up all day.
Lee moved me to his side.
All the Rock Chicks and their Hot Bunch Boys were in heated conversations.
“Do we need a vote?” Lee asked the group, cutting the conversations short.
Silence.
“I got things to do,” Lee reminded them.
“I’m in,” Hector said immediately, his eyes on Stella.
“Me too,” Darius put in.
“In,” Ike added.
“God damn it,” Luke snapped.
“Luke?” Lee asked.
Luke looked at Lee then turned his head and tilted it down to look at Ava. She licked her lips and shrugged. He touched his forehead to hers, closed his eyes for a brief second then pulled back.
“In,” he said.
“Vance?” Lee prompted.
Vance turned his eyes to Jules. She wrapped her arms around his waist from the side.
“Fuck,” Vance muttered. “Yeah.”
“Hank?”
Hank looked down at Roxie. “You’ll go to Brownsburg?” he asked.
“If you want me to,” she replied.
Hank did a slow blink and an intake of breath.
“We’ll talk about it later,” he murmured to Roxie and in a louder voice, he said, “In.”
“Eddie?” Lee asked.
“In,” Eddie said instantly and Jet smiled and leaned into him.
“Mace?” Lee asked.
“Out,” Mace replied.
The air in the room went still and Stella went rock-solid. They were still standing together but Stella’s fingers were wrapped around Mace’s forearm and he was leaned over, his chin on her shoulder.
“Sorry?” Lee asked.
“Out,” Mace repeated.
“Out?” Hector exploded, obviously not happy and everyone’s eyes turned to him in surprise. Then all eyes went back to Stella and Mace like at a tennis match.
This was because Stella whipped around, Mace jerked back his head but didn’t move his arm so it was wrapped around her shoulders and she was tight against his front. She put her hands to his waist and her fingers curled into the material of his t-shirt.
“He killed Linnie,” she said, her head tilted back to look at him.
“Yeah, and he’s not gonna kill you,” Mace replied.
That was when Stella lost it.
“He murdered my friend!” Stella shouted.
“Yeah, and he shot you!” Mace shouted back, right in her face and the room went still again at his raising his voice to Stella, clearly angry, super angry, super-tall-muscled-hot-guy angry but Stella didn’t even flinch. Furthermore, Juno didn’t move except to roll to her side and stretch out, oblivious to the tension in the room.
“So?” she fired back, completely unfazed by his anger.
“That’s not gonna happen again.”
“Okay, I’m happy not to get shot again. What I’m not happy about is letting Linnie’s murderer get off scot free.”
“The cops’ll assign someone else and Sid’ll fuck up somewhere along the line and someone will take him down,” Mace told Stella.
“You sure about that?” Stella asked.
“Not as sure as I am about the fact that you’re not gonna be running through machine gunfire again.”
Even though she was still plastered front to front with Mace, Stella turned her heard to look at Lee.
“Do I get a vote?” she asked.
“We know your vote, honey,” Lee said softly.
“Do I get special dispensation, being shot and all, to cast Mace’s vote for him?” Stella asked Lee.
Mace’s jaw went tight, he closed his eyes and when he opened them, they were also on Lee and it didn’t take a mind reader to see he was looking for patience and fellow Hot Guy understanding.
I very nearly laughed. Poor Mace.
And if you told me two days ago that I’d be thinking that I would have laughed in your face about that too.
Lee shook his head and answered, though I could tell he liked Stella’s style, “So
rry, Stella, it doesn’t work that way.”
“In,” Mace ground out but every single person in the room knew it cost him.
Stella’s head whipped back around to look at him.
“Really?” she asked.
“Really,” he said to Stella, his deep voice scary but it was when his eyes sliced back to Lee and he said what he said next that the vibe in the room changed. And if we thought things were tense before, we didn’t know the meaning of tense.
“She gets hurt, any of them gets hurt, I go maverick. You understand me?” Mace said to Lee.
Stella froze, hell, everyone froze. We understood him. He did it for Jet, disappeared and made it his mission to take down the man who was making Jet’s life a living hell. Luckily, Eddie, Lee, Hank and Darius had been there when Mace caught up with him.
Bottom line, if Bad Guy Sid hurt Stella or any of the Rock Chicks, Mace, not known for being a mellow guy (at all, even at the best of times), was going to hunt him down and kill him.
Damn, we’d been there, done that and had the t-shirt for that too. Not only with Mace but Luke had gone gonzo when Ava got violated too.
Shit.
I looked at Stella and she’d gone pale again.
“Mace,” Stella whispered.
“Mace,” Hank said louder, his voice full of meaning.
Mace moved Stella to his side, his arm went around her waist, his thumb hooking into the side belt loop of her OP shorts and he held her close.
“Fair warning, Hank,” Mace said.
Hank stared at Mace and seconds ticked by.
Finally Hank repeated, “Fair warning.”
Not good.
Then again, if something happened to Roxie or Ally or me or likely any of the Rock Chicks, we all knew Hank would be maverick right alongside Mace.
Shit.
“War,” Luke muttered.
“War,” Eddie agreed.
“Fuck,” Vance bit off.
Hector smiled.
Darius shook his head.
“I’ll talk to Bobby, Matt and Monty. It has to be unanimous,” Lee announced.
I looked up at Lee. Lee looked down at me.
“I love you,” I whispered for the second time that day.
Lee’s eyes didn’t go melty nor did their sides crinkle. He looked very serious.
Yikes.
“Good,” was Lee’s response.
Chapter Six