Rock Chick Reborn (Rock Chick #9)(11)

None of them were slouches on that front, but Vance was also best with a B&E.

“Do it,” Lee obliged.

“You do the house, I’ll do the follow,” Mace said.

“We gotta pass off on the follow, seein’ as we’re all famous now. This guy, he might tag a tail,” Hector reminded them. “So we gotta pass off, especially if he tags one of us.”

“You get made, you share. Means we all gotta back off,” Lee ordered. “Thanks to those fuckin’ newspaper articles and books, one and one will make two, he sees more than one Hot Bunch guy.”

There were a variety of lip curls to share how they all felt about that, none of them amused in the least.

Hector nodded.

Lee looked to Monty. “He cheat on his wife? She cheat on him? What went down?”

“Court records stated irreconcilable differences. No claims of infidelity recorded. He fought for more visitation with his girls, she fought against it. I can’t know why she did that, but he got it and both girls went closed chambers with the judge in order to ask for more time with their dad. That shit hit him hard financially, lotta time in court, lotta legal fees, but he didn’t back down. By the time he won split visitation, the girls were eight and ten. So they’d been battling it out for four years.”

“Thought dual visitation was the standard now,” Vance remarked.

Monty shook his head. “She played the cop and corrections officer card. How he’s never home. How his job was dangerous. How they needed limited exposure to that. She had a good attorney. Chewed him up. He got smart. Switched firms. Got himself a shark. He also got in debt.” Monty turned back to Lee. “Worked his ass off, but he got outta that debt and managed to keep up his court ordered deposits into the girls’ college accounts, not to mention child support, through it all. But he lived tight, way tight, through the fight and after it. Just not when he had those girls.”

“Solid guy,” Lee whispered.

“On file, solid as they get,” Monty agreed.

“I wanna know what went down with that divorce and why she went all out to keep his girls from him,” Lee told the room at large.

“I’ll get Brody on that,” Luke told him. “We might have to get creative.”

“Do it.”

Luke nodded.

Monty lifted up a hand and scratched the back of his neck as he asked, “Any of us got a problem with this dude rammin’ into her grocery cart?”

Monty had been briefed.

“No,” Hector said immediately.

“No,” Vance said with him.

“No,” Luke said half a second after them.

Mace paused and grinned at Lee before he said, “No.”

Lee looked right at Monty.

“No.”

“I’d worry about this modern-day Neanderthal crap if your women weren’t as totally devoted to you as they are,” Monty muttered, dropping his hand.

“A woman is worth it—” Luke started.

“You gotta be willing to go all in,” Mace went on.

“And Shirleen’s worth it,” Lee finished.

It took a beat.

But after that beat . . .

Monty smiled.





Slice of Heaven

Lee Nightingale

Seventy-two hours later . . .

LEE WAS LEANING against his company Explorer, boots crossed at the ankles, arms crossed on his chest, head turned to the side, watching the man walk across the parking lot toward him.

Also noting he was more impressive in person.

For his part, Moses Richardson had not missed he had company waiting for him at the SUV parked next to his truck. The man didn’t take his eyes off Lee the entire journey from front door to vehicles.

When he arrived, he also didn’t keep his distance.

He got close before he stopped between the two cars, planted his legs and crossed his own arms on his chest.

Richardson started it.

And he did it with a grin on his lips.

“Gotta admit, didn’t expect this visit. But I’m thinkin’ it means good things.”

In other words, introductions were unnecessary.

“If you’re thinking Shirleen set us on you to make sure you’re good enough for her, you’d be wrong. She has no idea,” Lee replied.

The grin vanished.

“So obviously we gotta sort that shit,” Lee continued. “But seein’ as I got no idea how to do that, I’m afraid I gotta tell you it’s gonna be necessary to get my wife involved, which probably means all the Rock Chicks, so this meeting is multi-purpose, and the one I’m talkin’ about now means you best brace.”

“Outside of tellin’ my daughters they can’t read those books until they’re forty-five, even though they both really want to, I know who you’re talking about. I just don’t know what you’re talking about with any of this, man.”

“Shirleen is never going to call you,” Lee announced.

Richardson didn’t hide looking disappointed, but he nodded, not taking his eyes from Lee. “So she’s not gonna do that, why are you here? And I’ll repeat, what are you talking about?”

“I’m making a reservation at Barolo Grill,” Lee told him. “She’ll think she’s having dinner with the Rock Chicks. But she’ll be having dinner with you.”