Rock Chick Reckoning (Rock Chick #6)(51)

I sucked in breath at the sight of it.

It was a hungry kiss, a hard kiss, a kiss meant to be private but instead it was very, very public. I felt the kiss stirring in my bel y even though I knew I should look away.

I didn’t look away.

I couldn’t.

The crowd started to cheer, to scream, to stomp their feet.

I didn’t want to cheer. I wanted to cry but bizarrely, I also wanted to laugh.

Before I could give into either of these emotions, I saw the little red dot dancing between Stel a and Mace’s bodies.

Someone had a laser light.

Through the music-induced stupor I felt annoyance claw at me.

Who could witness this passionate emotional display and jack around with a laser light?

Then I heard Duke’s gravel y voice shout, “Gun!” Um… gun?

It came to me that wasn’t a laser light and my body jerked. As if I wasn’t in control of my own actions, instead of running or throwing myself to the ground (both of which would have been smarter), I turned to look behind me and saw Tex throwing people out of his way as he lumbered through the crowd toward a target.

“Down!” Shirleen yel ed.

I whirled back to face the stage and saw the laser light go up sharply to a point several feet over Pong’s head then I was on the floor, Shirleen’s body on top of mine.

Then the gunshots rang out.

I heard screams, shouts, running feet; it was pandemonium at the Pal adium.

The gunshots stopped, Shirleen’s weight left me and she got up, leaned down, her fingers wrapped around my wrist and she pul ed me to my feet.

“Rendez-vous!” I heard Eddie shout and my eyes flew in the direction of his voice. I saw him, gun out, other hand pointing to me. I also saw a man on the floor, Tex over him with a knee in his back. Tex had the man’s arm twisted behind him, the crowd giving them a wide berth. Further, I saw Luke had a rifle, he tossed it to Wil ie then his eyes sliced to the Rock Chicks and focused on Ava.

That’s al I saw. Hector’s arm was around my waist and he was pul ing me away. Vance was there, so were Duke, Ike and Bobby. Al of the boys had their guns in their hands and they were herding the Rock Chicks toward the back of the club.

This was not easy. There were stil tons of people fighting, pushing and running, trying to force their way out but in the opposite direction. The Hot Bunch, big, strong and carrying guns, cleared a path, often resorting to tossing people out of the way to do it.

“Stel a and Mace!” Indy shouted and my eyes flew to the stage.

Mace was up, Stel a flung over his shoulder and he was striding to the stairs, the band on his heels.

We hit the stairs as Mace made it to the bottom; he bent and put Stel a on her feet.

Stel a looked pale and shocked (but luckily alive and not covered in blood). Her wild eyes took a sweep of Mace as if searching for bul et holes. She looked up at him, opened her mouth to speak but Mace got there before her.

“Rendez-vous,” he barked at Hector and then without hesitation he turned in the direction of Tex, Luke and Wil ie.

“Mace!” Vance clipped, his tone urgent but Mace didn’t stop.

“Fuck,” Hector snarled then his head turned and he shouted, “Lee!”

I looked to where Hector’s eyes were aimed and saw Lee jump off the stage and push through the crowd on a trajectory that would take him to Mace.

“Let’s go,” Duke said, shoving us toward the back.

“What’s he gonna do?” Al y asked her eyes on Mace.

“Move! Now!” Duke shouted and started shoving harder.

We moved. We didn’t want to, but we moved.

We knew the dril and we’d wasted enough time.

They herded us into Explorers and we went to The Castle.

* * * * *

“Chiquita, get away from the window,” Eddie ordered. I turned away from watching Stel a and Mace drive away in an Explorer and looked at Eddie.

His feet were bare, his chest was bare, his belt was undone and so were two buttons of his faded jeans.

As usual, Eddie looked f**king hot (definitely worth the f-word).

And, also, Eddie was obviously ready to go to bed.

Even after our adventurous night including rock ‘n’ rol in the face of certain danger, that danger coming at one of us in the form of gunfire and the Rock Chicks’ fast getaway in bul etproof SUVs, Eddie was already wound down.

This was because Eddie was a cop. Eddie’s job was dangerous, not to mention he’d survived five Rock Chick/Hot Bunch Courtships, including our own. This was just another night for Eddie.

“Is Mace okay?” I asked, dropping the curtain I had pul ed back from the window.

I asked because Mace could be a little intense and we hadn’t had time to debrief downstairs. Eddie came in before Mace and took me directly upstairs. He looked exhausted so I didn’t argue even though I wanted to know what happened, as in, really wanted to know.

If Mace made it to the man who shot at Stel a before someone talked him down from going berserk, Stel a and the rest of us would be visiting Mace at the local penitentiary for as long as they put people away for manslaughter.

I was taking it as a good sign that he was driving off with Stel a in an Explorer.

Though, they could be driving to Mexico as fugitives from the law for al I knew.

“Yeah. Lee control ed it before we had to lock him down,” Eddie replied, finishing with the buttons on his jeans.