Rock Chick Reckoning (Rock Chick #6)(28)

Oopsie.

Okay, wel , maybe his plans that day were a tad bit more important than gossip.

We gave Stel a and Mace time to shower, have pancakes and then we al wandered into the big room.

Throughout al this I watched Stel a. Her outfit was cute. I wanted it. I loved it. It was a black OP tank with a circle of dusky blue hibiscus flowers in a band around the boobs and a pair of dusky gray OP corduroy short shorts. She looked like super-cool, rock-surfer-chick. I was a little surprised at Mace’s heretofore unknown shopping abilities and wondered what the underwear looked like.

Stel a was being quiet and avoiding al things Mace.

Mace wasn’t looking straight out pleased but he certainly wasn’t broody or pissed off, which was mostly what I knew about Mace’s inventory of emotions. He didn’t look quite happy, instead he looked energized and alert at the same time he looked mel ow, the last new to me in Mace’s emotional arsenal.

The Rock Chicks gathered around Stel a acting as buffers in case she needed us but Mace (breaking Hot Guy Courtship Tradition) wasn’t pushing it and he stayed out of her space.

By the time we walked into Daisy’s big room, we’d backed off.

That was a mistake.

Stel a sat on the arm of the couch next to Al y, Juno sitting on the floor by her side.

Mace walked right in and I watched, mouth dropping open, as he put his hands to her waist, shoved her clean off the couch to her feet, keeping his hands on her. She made an angry, surprised noise and her head whipped around to look at Mace but I couldn’t see her expression.

He sat down where she’d been sitting, slid back, put one foot into the couch and brought her down in front of him, straddling her and doing it close, his hand sliding from her hip to come to rest on the top of her thigh.

Holy shit!

Juno, by the way, took this in stride. Clearly used to this type of Mace Maneuver from days of yore.

Mace never struck me as an affectionate type of guy.

Like Luke, if you told me Mace would be affectionately demonstrative in a touchy way in public, I would have laughed. But there it was, proof positive.

My gaze shot to Al y. Al y was staring at Mace’s long leg by her side and her wide-eyed gaze shot to me. The Rock Chicks darted knowing looks at each other and then our eyes swung to Stel a.

Her back was ramrod straight, her face pissed way the hel off but I could tel she was damned if she was going to blow. Not now. He’d get it later and boy, was he going to get it.

I wanted to shout, “Atta girl,” but I kept my mouth shut.

Then Lee launched into his announcement which most everyone knew anyway.

Except Shirleen.

“It’s decided,” Lee said to Shirleen.

“I don’t believe this,” Shirleen said back.

Lee had no response.

My eyes moved from Shirleen to Stel a. Stel a didn’t look pissed off anymore. She looked pale. It would appear that Mace hadn’t told Stel a either.

“Erm, excuse me,” Stel a said, her sexy, rough voice was soft.

Stel a’s voice, by the way, was something I’d always loved about her and not only when she was singing. Her voice was, quite simply, the shit.

“You never give up,” Shirleen said to Lee, not having heard Stel a.

“Too much at stake,” Lee replied.

“Excuse me,” Stel a repeated and Al y’s eyes moved to her.

“I don’t f**kin’ believe this shit!” Shirleen exploded. “You boys were close to takin’ that jackass down!”

“Erm –” Stel a started again.

“Yo!” Al y shouted and everyone turned to her. “Stel a has something to say,” Al y finished.

Al eyes moved to Stel a.

“I just…” She stopped and looked back at Mace. She stil looked pale but not angry anymore. She turned around and I saw her back go straight again. Then she tossed her dark, glossy hair and said, her throaty voice a lot louder, “I was on a jury once.”

Stel a quit talking and we al kept watching her.

“Is she goin’ anywhere with this?” Smithie, sitting beside me on the opposite couch to Stel a, muttered to me.

“Sh,” I shushed Smithie.

“Yeah?” Luke prompted Stel a.

“A murder trial,” Stel a went on. “They had pictures of the victim. They showed them to us. It was awful, shot in the chest and the head. Blood everywhere. Effing hel , but it was awful.”

Everyone was quiet.

Stel a went on, “The prosecution had one witness, this old black lady. She’d seen the whole thing. She came in and she looked at the guy on trial and I knew she was terrified. Her fear fil ed the room. Everyone could feel it. You could almost… I swear to God, you could almost taste it.

She lived in this guy’s neighborhood. She knew him. She knew he was a bad guy. She knew he could hurt her even if he was in jail. She knew it and we knew it.” Everyone kept staring at Stel a. Everyone knew now where she was going with this. Everyone kept quiet.

Stel a kept talking.

“The defendant was leaned back in his chair, completely relaxed, staring at her. It was creepy. They asked her what she saw. She kept clutching at her hands, jumpy as a cat, but she answered. They asked her if she saw who did it.

She stil kept clutching at her hands but she answered. They asked if that person was in the room. She said yes. They asked her to point him out. Her hands were shaking, effing hel , I’l never forget it, they were total y shaking. But she looked him right in the eye and pointed at him.”