Rock Chick Reckoning

by Kristen Ashley

  He rolled me to my back and was half on me, half off me, up on one elbow, his other arm across my midriff.

  “All you had to do was tell me this,” he said softly.

  I shook my head. “I never wanted you to know. Not about me losing it. I just wanted to be there for you.”

  The tips of his fingers went to my temple and, whisper-soft, they sifted into the hair there.

  “I appreciate that,” he muttered and his head bent to kiss me but I jerked my mine back and to the side. His brows drew together and he asked, “You still pissed?”

  “Um… yeah.” I answered in a tone that stated, isn’t it obvious?

  “Why?” he asked.

  “I don’t make you explain your every movement. I don’t boss you around. I trust you.”

  His head jerked. “Didn’t I just spend a week workin’ at winnin’ you back because you didn’t trust me?”

  Effing hell.

  I forgot about that.

  Cover! My brain screamed.

  “That was then, this is now,” I returned.

  He stared at me then he sighed. “All right Kitten, you wanna stay pissed, stay pissed. I’ll be here when you’re over it.”

  That, for Mace, apparently was that.

  He did a push up, exited the bed, got dressed, grabbed the lead and whistled for Juno. As he was doing this, I pulled up the sheets, laid in bed and watched. When he was gone, I got up and stomped to the bathroom. I was out of the shower and standing at the sink wearing my robe, my wet hair combed back, brushing my teeth when Mace walked into the bathroom. He came up behind me, put an arm around my waist and kissed my neck where it met my shoulder.

  His eyes came to mine in the mirror. “Done bein’ pissed at me?”

  I wasn’t.

  But as I stared into his beautiful green eyes, I noticed they were a strange mixture of wary and amused, as if he was preparing for a negative response but any response he was going to get would make him laugh.

  I kept brushing and looking at him in the mirror noticing something was missing.

  For a second, it escaped me.

  Then I realized it was the guard. The guard was not down over his eyes.

  And there were no demons.

  It was just Mace and me in the bathroom.

  My eyes moved to his throat and I saw his sister’s tiny ring resting there.

  I wanted to take a moment and mentally do a triumphant war dance of glee at my trouncing of the demons. Instead I took the toothbrush out of my mouth and answered through a mouthful of foaming toothpaste, “Yeah. I’m done.”

  Just like I thought, what I said made him laugh.

  I watched that too. Then I leaned forward and while I spit and rinsed, I allowed myself a mini-mental war dance of glee.

  Ha!

  Die demons die!

  He was still behind me when I straightened and his other arm joined the first around me.

  “That didn’t take very long,” he told me.

  “You’re infuriating and bossy but you’re hot. You’re lucky you’re hot. You weren’t, I wouldn’t put up with you,” I said it but I didn’t mean it (at least not all of it) and it didn’t sound like I meant it either.

  His mouth went back to my neck.

  “Bullshit,” he muttered there.

  I ignored that and asked, “Is your suit for the wedding here?”

  “Nope, tux is at the office. We’ll drive by there on the way to Daisy’s to pick it up.”

  “You’re wearing a tux?” I asked, surprised. It was an evening wedding but still.

  “I’m in the wedding,” he informed me and my eyes grew round.

  “You are?”

  “Yeah, standin’ up with Lee.”

  I blinked.

  “You are?” I repeated.

  “You didn’t know that?” he asked.

  “No. I didn’t know that. You didn’t tell me.”

  “Indy didn’t tell you?”

  “I’m not sleeping with Indy,” I reminded him.

  “I thought you women talked wedding shit all the time.” He sounded surprised.

  “We talk about sex and we talk about rock music and sometimes we talk clothes. Tod talks about the wedding.”

  He grinned. “You talk about sex?”

  “Yeah, Eddie likes it rough and hard and Luke and Ava fell off when they tried desk sex.”

  He winced and muttered, “Too much information.”

  I was intrigued at his reaction and turned in his arms to face him. “Don’t you guys talk about sex?”

  “Fuck no,” he said immediately.

  “No locker room talk?”

  “No.”

  “While you’re sitting surveillance?”

  “Again, Kitten, no. We don’t talk, probably because we don’t wanna know.”

  “But the Rock Chicks are sultry and sexy. I thought you all would want to brag.”

  “Don’t need to brag.”

  “Why not?”

  He gave me a look that said it all, his arms got tight and he replied, “Babe.”

  I grinned and decided to tease. “Indy says Lee’s great at kitchen counter sex.”

  He frowned. “Stop talking.”

  I didn’t stop talking. “And I think Vance is creative with positions. I find that interesting. Maybe you two can chat, get some ideas.”

  “Stella –”

  “Hank proposed to Roxie while he was giving her the business,” I informed him.

  “Be quiet,” he growled.

  “And Daisy and Marcus –” I didn’t finish, I squealed because he bent, put a shoulder to my belly and carried me out of the bathroom. He threw me on the bed and stalked back to the bathroom, slammed the door and I heard it lock.

  I giggled to myself.

  Juno loped over to me and nudged my calf with her nose.

  “That was fun,” I told Juno.

  Juno woofed.

  I gave her a head scratch and looked at her bowl.

  Then I shouted, “Mace, you didn’t feed Juno!”

  He shouted back, “I walked her, you feed her!”

  I heard the shower go on.

  Still smiling, I fed my dog then made coffee then I made Belgian waffles for Mace.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Something Borrowed

  Stella

  We were sitting around Daisy’s dining room table which was littered with every beauty implement known to womankind from moisturizers to makeup to false eyelashes to bronzing powder to shimmer powder to hair dryers to curling irons plus brushes, combs, teasing combs, bobby pins, hair spray, gel, mousse, pomade, finishing wax and shine elixir.

  Indy was sitting drinking a latte Tex brought her from Fortnum’s which was closed for the day then he hightailed it out of there, saying he was meeting “the boys” for lunch.

  She was calm and chatting with Lee’s mom Kitty Sue, Roxie’s mom (who was in from Indiana for the wedding) Trish, Eddie’s mom Blanca, Jet’s mom Nancy, Duke’s wife Dolores, Lana and Chloe.

  She was wearing a beautiful, pale pink, kimono-style silk robe with a huge, intricate flower embroidered on the back (a bridal gift from Roxie, Jet, Ava and Jules), her hair up in a towel, her legs crossed, leaned back and at-ease.

  In fact, everyone was calm and chatting.

  Daisy had put on a huge, gourmet, catered buffet for our lunch which was sitting on the sideboard. She’d had a half dozen bouquets delivered that were the same as Indy’s wedding flowers (pale pink and white gerbera daisies, white roses and pale pink and white peonies) and these were decorating the room. She’d not gone rock ‘n’ roll but instead a Chopin CD was playing softly in the background. She was floating around in her own robe, her hair back in a wide band, her face devoid of makeup, offering refills to those who wished to imbibe early from a champagne bottle she was holding.

  Out of nowhere, Tod rushed in wearing a beautifully tailored navy suit, a pink shirt, monochromatic tie and a harried expression. His shiny, Italian leather s
hoes clattered on Daisy’s floorboards with his frenzied approach.

  His dramatic entrance shattered the peaceful, feminine serenity.

  Stevie (also wearing a beautifully tailored suit) followed more sedately.

  Tod took in two breaths, his hands up, one clamped around a clipboard and he pressed the air down. “Okay, okay. Update. Just got back from the club. They’re about to start setting up. They have the right colored linens and the florist has already been there. I called her to give her a piece of my mind since she wasn’t supposed to deliver the flowers to the club for another hour and they might get droopy. She promised me she wouldn’t be early with your bouquets. I told her she must go back to the club and personally check that not one single petal droops before we arrive at seven.”

  When he paused to take in a breath, Ally suggested, “Tod, calm down, have a glass of champagne.”

  Tod’s head swiveled toward Ally.

  “Can’t you see I’m in the middle of a briefing!” he screeched and then he looked back to Indy, face composed and voice back to normal. “Where was I?”

  Indy was looking a little concerned with the possibility that Tod’s head might start revolving three hundred and sixty degrees, so she said softly, “Petals drooping.”

  “Right. Okay.” He looked down at his clipboard and as he talked, he made checkmarks on whatever was on the board. “The cake has been delivered and they’re putting it together now. It looks beautiful. Perfect. The Lana-slash-Chloe update has been noted by the caterers and staff.” He looked at them, pointed to them with the end of his pen and bounced it back and forth between them as he spoke. “You’re sitting with the out-of-towner Rock Chick people. Trish and Herb’ll take care of you but I moved Stella to your table just in case.” Then back to his clipboard, he checked something off and kept talking.

  He gave updates on absolutely everything, including the state of the asphalt of the drive up to Cherry Hills Country Club (a location that Daisy and Marcus, as members of the club, arranged for the reception) saying, “They sealed that crack I noticed last week, thank God.”

  “Tod, darlin’, did you just say they sealed a crack in the asphalt?” Trish called out.

  “Yes, thank God,” Tod repeated.

  Trish shook her head. “Son, as Roxie used to say to her Dad when she was growing up, you need to take a chill pill.”

  Tod’s eyes narrowed on Trish and everyone sucked in breath.

  “I want this to be perfect,” Tod retorted.

  “And it will be, you been working hard on it for months. Now enjoy the fruits of your labors.” She pointed at the buffet. “Have some of that cold, sliced chicken. Kid you not. Melt in your mouth.”

  “Trish, there’s a million things to do!” Tod shot back.

  “Nothing you haven’t already checked and double-checked, I’m sure,” Trish returned.

  “Yes, but –” Tod started but Trish leaned forward.

  “Tod, won’t say it again, sit yourself down, take a load off and do what your friend here really wants you to do.” She indicated Indy with a jerk of her head. “Which is enjoy her day with her, not running around like a chicken with its head chopped off.” She looked at Nancy and said, “Yeesh, young people these days.”

  Everyone stared at Tod and Trish, wondering what might happen next.

  Then Stevie sat at the table and called, “Daisy, I’ll take some of that champagne.”

  “Sure thing, sugar,” Daisy scooted around toward Stevie.

  “Get Tod some too,” Indy put in.

  “You betcha,” Daisy said.

  Indy put down her latte, got up and moved to Tod. When she arrived at him, she put her arms around him and whispered in his ear. His face got flushed and his eyes started to fill with tears.

  Indy’s back was to me but I could see Tod’s face, though he wasn’t close enough to hear.

  But it didn’t take a lip reader to see he said, “Love you too.”

  * * * * *

  The Hot Bunch

  “‘Nother round for you boys?” the waitress asked on a flyby. Lee’s head came up and he did a chin lift indicating a positive response. The waitress stopped, hitched a hip, smiled and said, “Lee, honey, I hear today you are oh-fficially off the market.”

  “Been off for awhile, Betty,” Lee replied.

  “My heart’s breakin’,” she told him and looked around. “You boys’re droppin’ like flies.” Her eyes moved from Hector to Darius to Willie to Mace. “Least there’s four of you left.”

  “Three,” Mace said.

  “Oh, honey, now you just went and ruined my day.” She grinned. “Saw the papers. ‘Bout time you got your head out of your ass about Stella.”

  The Nightingale Men, Hank, Eddie, Malcolm, Tom, Roxie’s Dad Herb, Jules’s Uncle Nick, Willie and Duke were at Lincoln’s Road House waiting for their lunch to be served. Tex had not yet arrived.

  At Betty’s comment, some heads dropped to look at the table, a few eyes slid to the side and there were a couple of chuckles.

  Mace made no reply. Betty had been serving Mace food and beer for years and didn’t expect one. She winked at Mace and went to get their beer.

  “You comfortable with the arrangements?” Malcolm asked Lee.

  Lee’s eyes moved to his father. “Yeah, Dad. I’m pretty comfortable with personal security in the form of half the Denver fuckin’ Police Department off-duty, eatin’ Indy’s catering and carryin’ concealed.”

  “Indy isn’t payin’ for that catering, I am,” Tom cut in. “And what it costs, you boys better eat it and enjoy every scrap.”

  “Please tell me its steak and potatoes,” Bobby muttered.

  “Not even close,” Tom told him. “Don’t remember much but something’s wrapped in filo pastry.”

  “What in the sam hill is that?” Herb exploded.

  Tom shrugged.

  Herb looked at Lee. “You have a hand in the menu?”

  Lee shook his head.

  “You have a hand in anything?” Herb asked.

  “I have to be in a tux and at Red Rocks at five and get Indy to Cherry Hills Country Club by seven. Indy put her foot down that we have to stay until eleven before we can get the fuck out of there and we got a suite at the Brown Palace,” Lee responded. “That’s all I know about today. That’s all I want to know about today.”

  Herb’s eyes moved to Hank. “Listen to me now, son, you better get involved. You asked Roxie to marry you, you gotta remember, she’s draggin’ us all along with her. I ain’t payin’ for no fuckin’ pastry. Good old roast beef carved right on the spot, potatoes, maybe some of them fancy green beans and fuckin’ weddin’ cake. Got me?”

  “Roxie told me Tod’s already started her wedding book,” Hank replied.

  “What’s a wedding book?” Eddie asked.

  Hank shrugged. “Hell if I know but Roxie says Tod’s got one for Jet too,” Eddie closed his eyes and Hank’s gaze moved to Herb. “If Tod’s involved, I’m out. Roxie knows that and she’s good with it.”

  “Sounds like you did the right thing,” Luke said to Vance.

  “What’d you do?” Herb asked Vance.

  “Justice of the Peace.” Vance replied.

  Herb nodded. “Problem is, you knocked up your girl. That’s the only way women’ll allow you to get away with a Justice of the Peace.” Herb looked back to Hank as many of the men coughed to hide their laughter. “That’s the ticket, son, only way to save us all. Start workin’ on makin’ a baby.”

  Hank was taking a drag off his beer. He choked on it and his eyes slid to Herb.

  Herb kept talking. “Don’t worry. You have my permission.”

  Hank looked at Lee and muttered, “Fucking hell.”

  Lee was too busy laughing to reply.

  So was everyone else.

  Tex arrived at the table and boomed, “What’d I miss?”

  * * * * *

  Stella

  The Rock Chicks, Tod, Stevie and Kitty Sue were all in Daisy’s
massive master suite.

  The stylists and makeup artists had come and gone. Indy’s bridesmaids, Ally, Roxie, Ava, Jet, Daisy, Jules and two of her other friends, Marianne and Andrea were all done up in subtle rosy-cheeked makeup, shimmer powder and beautiful, pale pink, wispy, chiffon dresses with short trains and graceful drapes of material at their arms that looked like they’d slid down from their shoulders but actually were meant to be like that. Their hair was all in soft updos with tendrils hanging down. They all had brand new pearl studs with a single diamond at the bottom in their ears, bridesmaids gifts from Indy.

  Their dresses and hair made them look like they were drifting around caught in a romantic modern day fairytale.

  Who would have thought India Savage, Rock Chick, would be into romantic weddings?

  Then again, Indy hooking up with Lee after loving him since he held her hand during her mother’s memorial service when she was five years old was a modern day fairytale.

  So there you go.

  I’d done my hair and makeup at the dining room table while the stylists were seeing to the wedding party and changed into my dress in the room Mace and I shared what seemed like years ago.

  I’d bought my dress well before all the drama started (and the day after a really good take at the Palladium). I’d curled my hair and left it long at the back but pulled it away from my face in some soft twists secured by hidden pins at the top and sides. My dress was deep burgundy satin, strapless, skintight with a slit up the front. I was wearing a pair of pointed-toed, pencil-heeled satin slingback pumps that had been dyed to match the dress. I had a long necklace of garnets but I’d wrapped it around my wrist and I had some teardrop, chandelier garnet earrings at my ears.

  I was sitting on the bed between Jules and Jet when Indy’s head emerged through the top of the dress Kitty Sue and Ally were putting on her. The dress slid down her body and settled.

  Unlike the romantic visions her bridesmaids were, Indy’s dress wasn’t wispy chiffon and romantic.

  It was angelic.

  Ivory satin, v-necked, another deeper V in the back, the front of the dress and the back of the dress held together by loops of thin ivory cords at her shoulders which were stitched through gathered material. The dress fit her like a glove and had a wide skirt, a huge slit up the front and a long train. There was no diamante, stitched pearls, lace or sequins in sight. The only jewelry she wore was her engagement ring, a triple-tiered pearl bracelet that was Ally and Kitty Sue’s present to her and her mother’s pearls at her ears.