I pulled away, but not too far, and told Hank, “I’ll call him. Set it up.”
“He won’t want Zano there,” Hank told me.
“That might not be his choice,” I stated.
“Ally, you want this, you gotta play it smart,” he warned.
“Hank,” I leaned in and said quietly, “I want this and I don’t have to play at anything. You would no sooner ask for approval of the woman you chose to be in your bed than Lee would. Or Dad would. And I will not be happy if that’s expected of me. I get your concerns. Totally. What I will not get is if you make a decision before you give Ren a chance.”
“We know this guy, Ally, we know his family,” Hank replied.
“You don’t know how he is with me,” I returned. “And you all knew Darius and Shirleen. And when they turned to the dark side, not one of you turned your back on them. Deep down, you got exactly who they were and you accepted how they had to be. You didn’t like it. I know it, Hank. Especially you. But you didn’t wash your hands of people who mattered because you cast judgment on them. You may know Ren, but you don’t know him, and all I’ll ask of you and everyone is to give him the chance to get to know him. If that doesn’t swing my way, so be it. It’ll be then I’ll ask you to trust in the fact that I know him better than you and I know he matters.”
Hank held my gaze before he gave in (in a macho alpha way) by jerking up his chin.
Then he declared, “There’s more to talk about.”
“There is,” I agreed.
“We’re worried,” he stated.
He was talking about my soon-to-be legit business.
“You’ve no need to be,” I assured him.
“Ally—”
I leaned in further and got up on my toes to get (kind of) eye to eye (my brother was seriously tall; then again, so was everyone in our family). “Hank, babe, love you, you know it. And I love it that you’re worried. Says a lot. But we’ll talk about it later. Okay?”
Another macho alpha chin jerk, which meant okay.
Jeez. These guys.
“Now,” I continued, deciding to let that go and rocking back to my heels. “Tell me what’s happening with Rosie.”
This got me a clenched jaw, complete with muscle jumping in his cheek.
Not good.
“Hank?” I prompted.
“By the time Mace got to Kevin’s, Rosie had bailed,” Hank shared.
I felt my gut get tight.
Not again.
“You’re shitting me,” I snapped.
“We got a BOLO on him, and Ally,” he got close, “you lay low. We also called down to New Mexico. These guys who want his action, they’re not good guys.”
“I kinda put that together, bro,” I replied.
“No, I mean, these guys are not your garden variety ass**les,” Hank returned.
“Wiring a bomb to a detonator to take out a woman who’s an undetermined threat told me that already.”
Hank nodded, then informed me, “Darius is on that. And you let him work that without your help. You deal with all the other shit that’s going down.”
Bossy.
Gack.
It was all around me.
Before I could call him on it, we saw movement and turned to watch a stony-faced Lee approach and yank open the door. The bell over it rang and I knew attention came to us, but I didn’t take my eyes off Lee.
“You okay?” I asked, and he tore his gaze from where it was pointed in the store, and without turning to see if I was accurate I knew he was looking at Indy, before he looked down at me.
“Fuck no.”
Well, that didn’t leave any room for interpretation.
“So I’m not in the mood for you to piss me off,” he went on then finished, “More.”
I lifted my hands, palms out. “Dude, I’m just standing here.”
He scowled at me. Then he looked at Hank.
Then he prowled into the store.
Hank and I watched him, and then I called Hank’s attention back to me.
“You know you and Roxie are volume three.”
“I know. Brody found the website and sent the word out.”
“Is he looking into a hack of the feeds?” I asked.
“As we speak,” Hank answered.
I studied him. He didn’t look happy. I didn’t like my brothers unhappy so I leaned into him, bumping his arm with my shoulder and staying close.
“You know,” I said softly. “It might be a good idea to adopt Tod’s attitude. He thinks it’s hilarious.”
“Not sure I can get there, honey,” Hank said softly back.
I nodded. I was with him.
“Oh my God!” Tod yelled and Hank and I both looked his way. “Cherry and the Chinese restaurant!” He kept yelling, his book open in front of him, his face lit up with humor, his lips smiling and his eyes on Indy. “Your outfit that night, girlie… lush. Too bad it got covered in hot and sour soup and fried rice.”
My eyes slid to Lee, who was not smiling. Then to Indy, who was glaring at Tod.
But my mind went to Girls Night Out two years ago when Indy got in a catfight with Lee’s ex, Cherry.
Her outfit was lush (Indy’s, not Cherry’s; I hated Cherry, she was a lying, bitchy skank, though it was kinda harsh she nearly exploded in a car bomb—karma, totally a bitch).
Indy’s outfit did get covered in soup.
That had been a good night.
The best.
Or, as it was with the Rock Chicks, one of many bests.
And now it was laid out on pages for all the world to read.
And I couldn’t stop that small part of me thinking that wasn’t such a bad thing.
Because it wasn’t perfect, none of it.
But it was a fairytale.
And people needed to believe in fairytales. Even flawed ones.
Maybe especially flawed ones.
And they needed to believe always.
Chapter Thirteen
Lotus, Cowgirl, Scissor and Doggie
I put the plates on the dining room table and adjusted the cutlery.
I’d called Ren ten minutes earlier and lied to him that I was heading home with food. This was a lie since I called when I was already at his place.
It’s important to point out it was a little white lie. One I forgave myself for because I needed time to do all I needed to do (not that I didn’t forgive myself for all of them). And all I needed to do was get the champagne and the chocolate candles I bought from Pasquini’s in the fridge, set the table and arrange the bouquet of flowers and candles there and wash the champagne flutes I also bought.