Rock Chick Reckoning (Rock Chick #6)(13)

“No we aren’t,” I interrupted him.

He ignored me. “You and Juno are movin’ in with me.” Uh… what?

“No we aren’t!” I shouted

“Okay,” Mace said amicably. “Then I’m movin’ in with you and Juno.”

“No you aren’t!” I screeched.

He kept ignoring my outbursts. “You don’t go anywhere unless I’m with you or I know where you’re goin’ and I got a man on you. Got me?”

I decided to extricate myself from the current conversation and start my own.

“You’re a jerk.”

“I’l tel Pong, Leo, Buzz and Hugo that you’re out of commission as their twenty-four-seven babysitter.” What he said pissed me off but I ignored it in order to stay with my own theme. “You’re not a jerk, you’re an ass**le.”

“I’l cal Floyd and tel him what’s goin’ down and he’l back me with the band.”

Effing hel , he was pul ing out the big guns.

My eyes narrowed again and I hissed, “Don’t you dare.”

“Floyd knows I can keep you safe and Floyd won’t take any shit from the band.”

“Don’t you dare!” I shouted.

“And when this is al over, you and me gotta talk.” I did not like the sound of that.

“This is al over. I’m not your woman, just let it be known to Sid’s boys that you don’t give a f**k about me and I can go about my life –”

“You and I both know that’s bul shit and, obviously, so does Sid.”

“It isn’t bul shit.”

“We’re over but that doesn’t mean you weren’t once my woman.”

“I’m not now.”

“No, you aren’t, but that doesn’t stop the fact that I’d care, a great f**kin’ deal, if you got fil ed with bul ets.” I had nothing to say to that. Nothing at al . I was trying not even to think of that.

“You fight me, Kitten, then I’l take you and them on at the same time. I don’t give a f**k and I always win. Always.” He wasn’t wrong. He always won. He’d once been a professional surfer, the best. He’d moved on to become a professional snowboarder and he was the best at that too.

Now he was a PI and, from what I could tel by the respect he got from the tough guys around him, he was pretty damn good at that too.

I decided it was high time to give up and battle on when Mace and I were not in bed and Mace’s body was not on mine.

My eyes slid away from his face.

“Please get off me,” I asked, softly, quietly, politely.

“Kitten,” he cal ed and my eyes slid back. “Something else you should know.”

“What?”

“This is a serious situation. You gettin’ soft and sweet isn’t gonna work on me, not like it used to.” I decided it was the perfect time to battle on. “Thanks for sharing. Now, get off! ”

I bucked. Mace slid off.

I rol ed off the bed then rounded it, Juno at my heels ready for her morning bathroom break. I grabbed Daisy’s track bottoms and tugged them on. I chanced a glance at Mace and he was on his side, elbow in the pil ows, head in hand, watching me.

I felt the gut kick. He’d done that before, lots when we were together. Lying in bed, on his side, head in hand, watching me put on clothes, watching me feed Juno, watching me play guitar, the way he looked at me making me feel warm, pretty and interesting.

What I did for a living meant people were always watching me. I was onstage in front of a crowd a lot, singing watching me. I was onstage in front of a crowd a lot, singing and playing. I loved it, fed off it, especial y when the crowd found the groove and came along for the ride.

But not even our best groove felt as good as Mace watching me, his eyes lazy, his face soft, his thoughts, I knew, al about me.

Inexplicably, even though we were over, even though I was not his woman, even though he admitted that, I knew the way he was looking at me now was no different than al the times before.

What was going on?

“I don’t like this,” I told him.

He moved, fast, lithe, graceful and he was out of bed, standing in front of me wearing nothing but a pair of white boxers. I hated to admit it but his body was even more delicious than I remembered and I’d touched it, tasted it, almost every inch of it and I thought I’d never forget how good it looked… or tasted.

But I forgot.

Effing hel .

His hand came to my hip and his long fingers bit in gently.

“First up for you, this Eric guy gets a cal .” I clenched my teeth.

Mace must have seen the clench or just knew it was there. Whatever, for some reason, it made him smile.

Chapter Three

Spill

Stella

“Spil ,” Al y said to me.

“Maybe she doesn’t want to spil ,” Stevie put in. “You ever thought of that? You know, keeping things to yourself, as in private? ”

“Listen, Stel a and me have been friends for ages,” Al y said to Stevie. “She dated one of my brother’s boys for months and didn’t say a word. Now she’s getting shot at like the rest of us. You aren’t getting shot at because of the Hot Bunch boys; you can have your privacy. You are you official y become a member of the club. Therefore, it’s time to spil .”