“What?”
I tipped my head back to look at him and his chin dipped so his eyes could lock with mine.
He looked great after we had sex, his eyes still intense but his expression satisfied. It was his best look ever.
“The Rock Chicks have called a powwow,” I told him. “Do you know what that is?”
He shook his head but I felt his body relax and his mouth twitched.
“I don’t either but I’ve been ordered to attend. If Ralphie’s not invited, can I call you? Will you take me there? It’s at noon.”
The intensity in his eyes faded and they went soft.
“I think I can do that.”
Pretend Sadie relaxed into him and she smiled.
Real Hector smiled back.
Real Sadie’s heart clenched so hard it hurt.
Then she memorized his smile too.
* * * * *
“You aren’t allowed here. Go!” Daisy demanded, pointing at Hector the minute he, YoYo and I walked into Fortnum’s.
“Daisy!” I snapped.
“What a cute dog!” Roxie cried.
Daisy’s ignored Roxie (and YoYo) and her glare settled on me. “This is a Rock Chick Powwow. The rules of a Rock Chick Powwow are, you gotta be a girl, a gay, Duke or Tex. No one else is allowed.”
“Why are Duke and Tex allowed?” I asked, bending over to pick up YoYo and cuddle her to my chest. This, unfortunately, gave her access to my throat and chin which she licked exuberantly as her little, chubby body wiggled happily in my arms.
Daisy, still ignoring YoYo, answered, “Who knows? Who cares? It just happened. It was organic. But now it’s Rock Chick Law.”
Rock Chick Law?
They had a phone tree and laws?
Blooming heck!
“Can I get a coffee?” Hector asked in an amused voice, the arm he had slung around my shoulders curled and he pulled me and YoYo mostly into the front of his body (this gave YoYo the added target of Hector’s throat, something to which Hector seemed totally oblivious). I looked up at him and his face was blank but his eyes were dancing like he found Daisy hilarious but dared not laugh out loud.
“Can I play with your dog?” Roxie called and my gaze slid to her for a smile before Daisy started speaking again.
“Coffee and leave,” Daisy clipped at Hector then she turned to the couches where all of the Rock Chicks plus Mace (who was sitting on the arm of the couch by Stella, her back turned to him and resting against his thigh), were lounging.
“You too,” Daisy ordered Mace. “Vamoose.”
Mace’s eyebrows went up but other than that he didn’t move a muscle.
“I’m not kidding, Mace. These talks get deep. There’s usually detailed descriptions of Hot Bunch on Rock Chick sexual activity. Do you wanna know how you compare to Hector? I don’t think so,” Daisy went on.
My eyes got huge. Not only because of what she said but because she had an audience. And that audience not only included Indy, Ally, Jet, Roxie, Jules, Ava, Stella and Shirleen but also a bunch of customers I’d never seen before in my life.
Not to mention, she was telling Mace what to do. I knew Daisy was a little bit crazy and over the top, but I suspected that was taking her life in her hands.
“Fucking hell,” Hector muttered over YoYo and my heads, clearly thinking along the same vein.
“You can say that again,” I whispered, staring at Daisy.
He caught my whisper, his eyes scanned my face and his arm gave me (and YoYo) a little squeeze.
Then Hector decided to intervene.
“You’re not talkin’ to Sadie about our sex life,” he told Daisy, my body went tense and Daisy whirled.
Then her eyes narrowed.
Oh no.
That might not have been the right thing to do.
YoYo yapped at Daisy or Hector, I didn’t know which, she was wiggling so much, she could be yapping at a random customer, how would I know?
“Hector –” I started, trying to control YoYo and the flow of conversation.
“I don’t care if you are a badass mother ex-DEA Agent hot guy,” Daisy snapped, interrupting my attempt to smooth over the situation. “You can’t control the Rock Chick Powwow. The Powwow goes where it goes. We just follow.”
“Sadie’s had a rough few weeks,” Hector reminded Daisy.
“You think I don’t know that?” Daisy shot back.
“Whatever the fuck this is, you aren’t gonna fuck with her head. She’s got enough fucking with her head,” Hector warned.
Daisy’s eyes bugged out and her brows went to her hairline.
“We’re not gonna fuck with her head!” Daisy screeched.
“Can we not say ‘fuck’ so loud in front of the customers?” Indy threw in a request.
Jet and Ava looked at each other and let out small giggles.
“I get back and she’s shut down, I’m not gonna be fuckin’ happy,” Hector clipped out, ignoring Indy’s request to avoid the f-bomb.
“The point of the Powwow, Hector, is not to shut her down but to sort her out,” Daisy threw back.
It was time to step in before the Battle of the Badass and Southern Diva escalated any further. I put YoYo down and she immediately ran to Roxie who was bent over, clapping and making kissy noises.
“I don’t think I need to be sorted out,” I put in.
Daisy’s Mother Hen on a Rampage eyes focused on me and she snapped, “Shirleen said there were problems.”
Shirleen, sipping a latte, calm as could be, chimed in from an armchair opposite Stella, “Looks to me like it sorted itself out. The girl’s been laid, my guess, fairly recently, guessin’ again, good and proper. Next problem!”
I closed my eyes.
Someone, please tell me that Shirleen didn’t just announce to the entire store that I’d been laid “good and proper”.
I opened my eyes again, looked up at Hector and whispered, “Please, tell me Shirleen didn’t just announce to the entire store that we’ve had sex.”
Hector bit his bottom lip and again I didn’t know whether he was biting back a smile or anger.
If it was my choice, it would have been the latter.
“Hate to say it, mamita,” he said, eyes scanning the crowd, some of whom were surreptitiously watching us, others settled in and openly enjoying the show, “but it seems she did.”
“Are they always like this?”
I could tell now he was fighting back a grin. “Far’s I can tell, yeah,” he replied.
“Why is my life so difficult?” I blurted out before I could think better of it.
I watched as Hector’s eyes went gentle and he replied, “This isn’t difficult and Sadie, it isn’t bad. They don’t mean you any harm, they just care.”
I knew he was right.
But still.
Everyone in the entire store knew I’d been laid.
His hand went to my neck and slid into my hair, his thumb against my hairline.
“Looks like the Powwow is a bust. You wanna go back or you want a coffee?”
“Coffee,” I answered. “I should get one for Ralphie too.”
“I’ll get ‘em,” he told me then his face dipped and his mouth brushed mine.
Then he was off to the coffee counter, leaving me affected deeply (yes, even by his brush on my lips!) and teetering without his body to support me.
“Sit down before you fall down, child.” Shirleen called.
I decided to do as she suggested before I caused an even bigger stir and took a seat in a big, comfortable armchair amongst the crew.
“I cannot believe you have a small dog wearing a cute sweater accessory!” Ally exclaimed. “Chickie, you got it goin’ on.”
“YoYo’s not mine. Buddy, Ralphie and I are watching her for a friend,” I told Ally.
“It’s still a cute sweater,” Roxie said, rubbing YoYo’s body all over and YoYo was loving it, wiggling in Roxie’s lap, showing her belly.
“The sweater’s not YoYo’s, exactly, i
t’s Ralphie’s,” I explained.
All eyes came to me.
“Don’t ask, it’s a long story,” I went on.
All lips formed grins.
“Everything all right?” Jules asked, her eyes on me, her arms holding her new son Max.
I surprised myself by saying, “No.”
Now why did I say that?
I didn’t share.
Ever!
“No?” Ally asked quietly.
“I got bad news yesterday,” I shared again.
Yes, shared.
Yes, again!
What was happening to me?
“Your Mom,” Indy said softly and I looked at her. “Lee told me.”
“Eddie told me,” Jet put in.
“Hank told me too,” Roxie added.
“You should know, they told the rest of us,” Ava finished.
I feared I was about to hyperventilate.
“You don’t have to talk about it,” Jules said immediately, watching me closely for a second, then her eyes sliced to Ally but it was Stella that spoke with her super cool, throaty, sexy voice (no kidding, Stella’s voice was aces).
“She doesn’t, Ally, so lay off.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Ally defended herself.
“We should let Sadie control what she wants to share,” Jules replied and I decided I liked Jules, loads.
“It just felt like I lost her all over again.”
That was me too!
It just came out.
I could no longer control my own mouth, I was blurting out private thoughts willy-nilly!
“That’s understandable,” Ava told me.
“She was trying to protect me,” I went on, still unable to stop myself and they all had their eyes on me.
Normally, I wouldn’t like that.
Normally, it would make me uncomfortable.
Normally, I would call my Ice Princess.
But their faces were open and their eyes were kind. Instead of feeling uncomfortable, it felt like they were open because they wanted me to give it to them so they could take it away from me. Even though it was bad stuff, really bad stuff. But that way, I wouldn’t have to hold it inside anymore.
Now, how bizarre was that?
I put my hands in my hair, pulling it away from my head and looked at Mace’s boots.
Then my hands dropped and I whispered, “I can’t stop thinking about it. Thinking that she died scared. I hate it that I’ll never see her again, because I always thought…” I stopped then took a deep breath and started again, “But I hate it more that she probably died scared.”
Then all of a sudden, that big, hard, burning thing came back into my chest and it started choking me. I even made a choking sound out loud.
“Oh blast! I’m going to fucking cry again,” I announced then my hands went over my face and I burst into tears.
Within moments, I felt fingers curl around my wrists and strong hands pull me out of my chair. Then I was up against a rock hard body that, for a second, I thought was Hector’s. But it was bigger than Hector’s body, taller and the arms that wrapped around me were different.
I looked up and was shocked to see Mace through wet eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
His hand went to the top of my head and slid down my hair to my neck. He put pressure there until my cheek was against his chest.
“Don’t be.” His deep voice sounded over my head and rumbled in my ear.
My arms slid around his waist and I held onto him and he held onto me and I cried silently against the chest of a man I didn’t know at all, except his name. And I did it in a bookstore, full of people, some I knew, most I didn’t.
And I didn’t care, not even a little bit because, as I cried, I felt that hard, hot ball in my chest start to shrink and fade until, after awhile, it was nearly gone.
Then I was shifted, turned and Hector was there. His arm went around my shoulders and he tucked me in his side, curling me to face him. His hand went to my face, his thumb wiping at the wetness there.
“You okay?” he murmured.
“Stop asking me that,” I replied.
He grinned and his fingers formed a fist, his knuckles slid across my cheekbone gently before his hand fell away.
“You’re okay.”
I put my temple to his shoulder then saw a big mug with foamy milk on top thrust into my line of sight.
“Drink that, woman,” Tex ordered and I looked up at him as I took the mug. “Shee-it. Someone get her a Kleenex, her makeup’s runnin’.”
My hand not holding the mug shot to my face to wipe away mascara.
“Don’t bother. It’s all over the place. You need a mirror,” Tex told me with brutal honesty or, I should say, Tex boomed at me with brutal honesty so, perhaps, the one person on the other side of the room who hadn’t witnessed my meltdown could be in on the show.
I still wiped, Tex still stared, Hector still kept me tucked tight to his side.
Daisy handed me a Kleenex and then Tex spoke (or boomed) again, “Don’t know your Ma. Figure she was good people, she did what Indy says she did. Do know, she was here, she’d be fuckin’ proud. You been through what you been through and you’re still standin’. Lotsa women wouldn’t only bend, they’d break but you didn’t do either and you’re still standin’. You were my daughter, I’d be so fuckin’ proud, I’d shout it from the rooftops. I figure, so would your Ma. And you can take that to the fuckin’ bank.”
Then he was gone and I stared in the space where he was for several, speechless, open-mouthed seconds, letting his words penetrate my brain.
And then something else hit my chest, it was that weird, warm, happy glow but it was so intense, so invasive, so overwhelming that it made the painful, burning, hot ball that had been there before seem puny.
Then I burst into fresh tears, these loud and wailing.
Smooth Move Hector divested me of my coffee cup, handed it to the waiting Daisy and pulled me into his arms.
I shoved my face into his chest, wrapped my arms around his waist and bawled like a baby.
And I didn’t care who saw that either.
Finally, I said into his chest between sobs, “After this, if I cry again, shoot me.”
“No fuckin’ way,” was Hector’s (unhelpful, in my personal opinion) response.
I looked up at him. “Seriously, Hector, shoot me! My mascara’s ruined! It’s going to take me hours to unpuff my eyes enough to put makeup on again!”
Through my watery, mascara-clogged eyes, I watched his brows draw together. “You want me to shoot you because your mascara’s ruined?”
“Yes!” I cried.
He burst out laughing.
“I’m not being funny!” I wailed, smacking him on the shoulder.
Hector’s head descended and he gave me a light kiss on my quivering lips.
His mouth moved away half an inch and he said, “Mi cielo, you’re hilarious.”
“Holy crap, we need a party,” Ally announced behind my back before I could retort and I turned in Hector’s arms.
“You’re partying at my gig tonight. Bring Sadie,” Stella put in.
“We’ll all put on sparkles!” Daisy shouted.
“Oh shit, white man rock ‘n’ roll and sparkles. Fuck,” Shirleen muttered.
“Pre-gig margaritas and girlie dress up at the loft!” Ava declared.
“I’ll get Nick to babysit,” Jules threw in.
“I’ll bring my guac and chips,” Jet offered.
“Rock on!” Indy shouted.
“You got that right, sister,” Roxie added and, for some bizarre reason, they all burst into fits of giggles.
Hector stopped laughing and murmured, “Fucking hell.”
I looked up at him, not crying anymore, and whispered (with a small tremor in my voice), “I think I’m in trouble.”
At that, Hector’s head bent to look at me and, slowly, he smiled.
Chapter Eighteen
&nb
sp; Eighties Rock Video Bimbo
Sadie
“Yeah?” Luke’s voice sounded over the security speaker by the elevator to his and Ava’s loft.
“It’s Hector and Sadie,” Hector replied.
My heart clenched at those words.
He said, Hector and Sadie.
Hector and Sadie!
Oh my God.
We were Hector… and… Sadie!
“Elevator’s on its way,” Luke said through my freak out, clearly not seeing anything wrong with a “Hector and Sadie’.
Then a different panic seized me and, without a word, I turned and started toward the door.
I got three steps when an arm sliced around my waist, Smooth Move Hector caught me and turned me into his body.
“Where you goin’?” he asked, his brows drawn, his eyes scanning my face.
“I can’t do this,” I blurted, Pretend Sadie gone, Ice Princess Sadie enjoying a cocktail by an imaginary pool, Take Charge Sadie getting a facial, it was just me and I couldn’t do this.
No way.
I was no Rock Chick; I’d never been to a rock concert in my life.
My favorite recording artist was Madonna, for goodness sake!
“Why?” Hector asked.
“I like Madonna,” I told him, unable to stop myself.
Hector stared at me like I’d just announced my devotion to Engelbert Humperdinck.
“What?”
“Madonna!” I cried as the elevator doors opened. “Like a Virgin? Confessions on a Dance Floor? You know, Madonna!”
His face cleared and he started grinning. “I know Madonna.”
“Well then, there you go. I’m not a Rock Chick, I’m a Pop Chick. Pop Chicks aren’t cool, they don’t go to gigs. They don’t rock out! They go to clubs and dance! And I didn’t ever do that either!”
He ignored my rant, turned us, arm firm around my shoulders and guided us toward the elevator.
I struggled.
With little effort, Hector controlled the struggle and got me in the elevator.
“Hector!” I snapped. “Didn’t you hear me?”
“You’ll be fine,” he said as he leaned to the side, taking me with him and tagged the button.
“I won’t be fine.”
“You will.”
“I won’t!
The doors closed and Hector curled my solid body into his arms.
Rock Chick Regret Page 31
