Rock Chick Reckoning (Rock Chick #6)(30)

Vance turned his eyes to Jules. She wrapped her arms around his waist from the side.

“Fuck,” Vance muttered. “Yeah.”

“Hank?”

Hank looked down at Roxie. “You’l go to Brownsburg?” he asked.

“If you want me to,” she replied.

Hank did a slow blink and an intake of breath.

“We’l talk about it later,” he murmured to Roxie and in a louder voice, he said, “In.”

“Eddie?” Lee asked.

“In,” Eddie said instantly and Jet smiled and leaned into him.

“Mace?” Lee asked.

“Out,” Mace replied.

The air in the room went stil and Stel a went rock-solid.

They were stil standing together but Stel a’s fingers were wrapped around Mace’s forearm and he was leaned over, his chin on her shoulder.

“Sorry?” Lee asked.

“Out,” Mace repeated.

“Out? ” Hector exploded, obviously not happy and everyone’s eyes turned to him in surprise. Then al eyes went back to Stel a and Mace like at a tennis match.

This was because Stel a whipped around, Mace jerked back his head but didn’t move his arm so it was wrapped around her shoulders and she was tight against his front.

She put her hands to his waist and her fingers curled into the material of his t-shirt.

“He kil ed Linnie,” she said, her head tilted back to look at him.

“Yeah, and he’s not gonna kil you,” Mace replied.

That was when Stel a lost it.

“He murdered my friend!” Stel a shouted.

“Yeah, and he shot you!” Mace shouted back, right in her face and the room went stil again at his raising his voice to Stel a, clearly angry, super angry, super-tal -muscled-hot-guy angry but Stel a didn’t even flinch. Furthermore, Juno didn’t move except to rol to her side and stretch out, oblivious to the tension in the room.

“So?” she fired back, completely unfazed by his anger.

“That’s not gonna happen again.”

“Okay, I’m happy not to get shot again. What I’m not happy about is letting Linnie’s murderer get off scot free.”

“The cops’l assign someone else and Sid’l f**k up somewhere along the line and someone wil take him down,” Mace told Stel a.

“You sure about that?” Stel a asked.

“Not as sure as I am about the fact that you’re not gonna be running through machine gunfire again.” Even though she was stil plastered front to front with Mace, Stel a turned her heard to look at Lee.

“Do I get a vote?” she asked.

“We know your vote, honey,” Lee said softly.

“Do I get special dispensation, being shot and al , to cast Mace’s vote for him?” Stel a asked Lee.

Mace’s jaw went tight, he closed his eyes and when he opened them, they were also on Lee and it didn’t take a mind reader to see he was looking for patience and fel ow Hot Guy understanding.

I very nearly laughed. Poor Mace.

And if you told me two days ago that I’d be thinking that I would have laughed in your face about that too.

Lee shook his head and answered, though I could tel he liked Stel a’s style, “Sorry, Stel a, it doesn’t work that way.”

“In,” Mace ground out but every single person in the room knew it cost him.

Stel a’s head whipped back around to look at him.

“Real y?” she asked.

“Real y,” he said to Stel a, his deep voice scary but it was when his eyes sliced back to Lee and he said what he said next that the vibe in the room changed. And if we thought things were tense before, we didn’t know the meaning of tense.

“She gets hurt, any of them gets hurt, I go maverick. You understand me?” Mace said to Lee.

Stel a froze, hel , everyone froze. We understood him. He did it for Jet, disappeared and made it his mission to take down the man who was making Jet’s life a living hel .

Luckily, Eddie, Lee, Hank and Darius had been there when Mace caught up with him.

Bottom line, if Bad Guy Sid hurt Stel a or any of the Rock Chicks, Mace, not known for being a mel ow guy (at al , even at the best of times), was going to hunt him down and kil him.

Damn, we’d been there, done that and had the t-shirt for that too. Not only with Mace but Luke had gone gonzo when Ava got violated too.

Shit.

I looked at Stel a and she’d gone pale again.

“Mace,” Stel a whispered.

“Mace,” Hank said louder, his voice ful of meaning.

Mace moved Stel a to his side, his arm went around her waist, his thumb hooking into the side belt loop of her OP

shorts and he held her close.

“Fair warning, Hank,” Mace said.

Hank stared at Mace and seconds ticked by.

Final y Hank repeated, “Fair warning.”

Not good.

Then again, if something happened to Roxie or Al y or me or likely any of the Rock Chicks, we al knew Hank would be maverick right alongside Mace.

Shit.

“War,” Luke muttered.

“War,” Eddie agreed.

“Fuck,” Vance bit off.

Hector smiled.

Darius shook his head.

“I’l talk to Bobby, Matt and Monty. It has to be unanimous,” Lee announced.