Rock Chick Reckoning (Rock Chick #6)(140)

“You got me, Princess,” he said.

“I’ve got Tex on my phone. He’s fine. He’s with Sniff.” I gave him al the info I had.

Vance repeated the streets in my ear, likely he did this for the benefit of whoever he was with. Then he clipped,

“Roger that, Jules. You stil got him on the line?”

“Yeah. He’s on Sniff’s phone.”

“Get off. Darius is closest. He’l cal Sniff.”

“Okay.”

“You said he blew up a building?”

“That’s what Sniff said.”

Silence for several beats then, “Christ, we got it on police band now.”

Then he started laughing.

“Crowe! There isn’t anything f**king funny about this!” I yel ed and everyone turned to listen.

“You’re right.” He was stil laughing then he said, “Out.” Disconnect.

I flipped Roam’s phone shut and went back to mine.

“Tex, you there?”

“Where the f**k else would I be?” Tex boomed and even though this was rude, it was Tex and he was alive and wel enough to be rude so I could have shouted with joy.

“Vance knows where you are. Darius is in the area.

You’l have a pick up soon. Keep the line open for Darius’s cal .”

“Gotcha.”

Disconnect.

I looked at May but it was Roam who said, “Law, you shouldn’t say f**k.”

I growled.

Then I felt it coming, ran to the bathroom and puked.

* * * * *

About an hour later, Bobby came to get me and Roam. Stel a and Ava were already in his Explorer.

We al went to Fortnum’s.

Tex was behind the espresso counter when we got there. Roxie was close by his side. Jet, Indy and Al y were al behind the counter with them. Lee, Eddie, Hank, Sniff and Darius were al standing in front of the counter. Duke and Jane were standing at the end. There were no customers, Fortnum’s was official y closed.

Tex swung a portafilter at us the minute we entered the store. It was stil ful of used coffee grounds. The grounds flew across the room and splattered next to a table.

“If you girls get near me, I swear to God, I’m gonna rip someone’s head off!” he boomed. “I’m al right. No more f**king hugging! ”

We al reared back and Ava even put her hands up.

“Al right, al right. No hugging,” Ava said and we cautiously moved into the store.

Roam went to Sniff. They didn’t hug either, just did some complicated handshake and then moved away from the complicated handshake and then moved away from the adults.

“Tex, I’m happy you’re alive and al but I kid you not, you toss a portafilter fil ed with grounds around one more time, I’m gonna rip your head off,” Indy snapped.

This made Tex lose his scowl and grin at Indy.

“What happened?” I asked when I got close to the counter.

“He hasn’t said,” Al y informed me.

“I’m gonna tel the story once. Daisy and Shirleen ain’t here. If I told it to Indy and Jet when I got here, I would have had to tel Al y when she got here and then Roxie when she got here. Now you. Then Daisy and then Shirleen. You’re gonna have to f**kin’ wait,” Tex boomed.

“He blew up a building!” Sniff shouted, deciding he liked the adult conversation better than the teenage one.

Ava and Stel a both gasped. Obviously, they hadn’t had the ful brief yet.

“You blew up a building?” Stel a stared wide-eyed at Tex.

“Morons took me to a building with chemicals,” Tex explained.

“He built a bomb!” Sniff shouted, coming to the group at the front of the counter.

Everyone’s eyes moved to Tex and he shrugged then said, “They’d locked me in. I had to get out somehow.”

“So you blew up the building?” Stel a asked.

“I just meant to blow open the door. But, like I said, the place was fil ed with chemicals,” Tex replied.

“So once you blew open the door, the entire building blew up,” Stel a said, clearly not able to take it in.

Tex shrugged again. “Shit happens.”

The bel over the door went and Al y shouted, “We’re closed!”

Everyone turned to the door as the unwitting male customer muttered, “But, it’s Friday. Everyone’s open on Friday.” He pointed at Tex. “And it says in the papers his coffee is the best in Denver. Maybe even America.”

“He just blew up a building,” Al y told the customer. “He might stil be contaminated with chemicals. Like the sign on the door says, we’re closed.”

At Al y’s words, the customer’s eyes grew round and then moved through al of us.

Final y, he breathed, “It’s true, everything they say about al of you is true.” His eyes focused on Stel a. “Oh my God.

You’re Stel a Gunn.”

“Dude. Do you n o t know what ‘closed’ means?” Al y snapped.

Lee walked toward the customer and his eyes skittered to Lee.

“Wow, I know you. Saw your picture in the paper. You scored

the

redhead

and

you

own

Nightingale