Rock Chick Reborn (Rock Chick #9)(41)

“I see . . .” Daisy began, tapping a long, French manicured nail that had cherry blossoms painted across it on her lower lip, “date number four.”

“Grocery cart ramming, there’s no bet here. It’s totally going to be the next date,” Stella announced. “It’s actually a shocker it wasn’t the first date.”

“Teenage boy blocks,” Ava accurately surmised.

I had to stop this even if the famous Rock Chick Getting the Business Pool was started by me so I deserved this ridiculousness.

“He knows Leon beat me, sexually abused me and piled a load of shit on me. He wants me to understand he’s not Leon. So he’s dedicated to taking it slow,” I retorted.

“Sister girl,” Daisy whispered.

That was when I felt the change in the room.

And with it, I felt the gentle eyes on me.

I swallowed.

Then I announced, “I’m not sure I’m worthy of him. He’s dedicated to proving I am. It’s going to take some time. But he wants this, and I definitely want it so we’re gonna give it a shot.”

“You’re scared,” Ally noted softly.

“I’m terrified. Two dates, I never had it so good,” I replied.

“This makes me happy,” Jules put in.

I looked to her. “That’s part of the scary. It makes me happy. But most of the scary is it seems I’m making him happy, and he’s the kind of man I don’t ever want that to stop.”

“That’s pure Shirleen. More worried about giving than getting,” Indy mumbled.

I was struck.

“Say what?” I asked her.

She grinned gently at me. “You put the super-bad into badass, Shirleen. But you’re the most selfless person I know.” Her grin strengthened, but didn’t get less gentle. “Outside all these chickies in this room, of course.”

“We’re so happy for you, we could spit,” Sadie declared, a little grin on her fairy princess face.

“Look at this!” Annette cried, and I looked in the direction of her voice to see she had the massive mirror that sat on the floor opened to expose my enormous and perfectly laid out jewelry display inside. She was swinging the door open and closed. “You can, like, accessorize then check yourself out to see if it works, like, right away.”

“Annette,” Roxie called impatiently.

Annette turned from the mirror, closing it as she did, and locked eyes on me.

“And woman, if I ever hear you say you’re not worthy of anything or anyone, I’m gonna shake you until your teeth rattle. You’ve got a beautiful soul. Nothing dims that. Not one thing. It might have lived in the shadows for a while, but it surprises nobody that it broke through. So don’t you dare talk yourself down, not in front of your girls. Not in front of anyone. Are you understanding me?”

Well, oowee.

I’ll be damned.

Annette had some badass to her.

“I’m under—” I started.

I didn’t get it all out because Jet went flying from the door as it was thrown open.

Everyone turned to it to see Tod, in his flight attendant uniform, tear in.

He slammed the door, looked around and snapped, “I told you I was on my way! It isn’t easy getting from DIA into town at rush hour. And you started without me!”

“Chill, sugar. We been waiting days, you know we couldn’t wait any longer,” Daisy said.

“Not even ten minutes?” Tod asked.

All the Rock Chicks (save Annette) looked guilty.

Tod turned to me. “Is he cute?”

Tod was Indy and Lee’s neighbor. Tod was one half of Tod and Stevie. Tod (and obviously Stevie) was gay.

It wasn’t that Tod was gay that he was a Rock Chick. It was arguable seeing as they swung both ways (those ways being both Hot Bunch and Rock Chick), but Tex and Duke, both who worked at Indy’s bookstore, both not gay, were also de facto Rock Chicks.

It was just how we rolled.

I didn’t know if “hot” translated to “cute” in gay-speak.

Still, I replied, “Mm-hmm.”

He leaned back and grinned. “Well, all right.”

“Tod can buy you some rubbers,” Annette declared.

Tod’s eyes got big.

At me.

“You don’t have any condoms, honey?” he asked.

“Can we give the condoms a rest?” I requested.

“I’ll talk to Eddie,” Jet murmured.

I guessed we couldn’t.

“Don’t talk to Eddie,” Indy advised swiftly.

“Why not?” Jet asked.

“Eddie’s not a big fan of buying condoms for other dudes,” Indy told her.

“Do I want to know this story?” Jet inquired.

“Sure, it’s funny,” Ally answered, also tossing herself on my bed.

“And it reminds me I might need to stock up on Lip Smackers,” Indy muttered.

“Oh for goodness sakes, I’ll buy you some condoms,” Daisy stated. She was now at my jewelry mirror, had it open, and was draping some necklaces around her neck. She turned to me. “Can I borrow these, sugar?”

“I need a drink,” Stella announced before I could give approval, or not, to Daisy’s request.