Rock Chick Redemption (Rock Chick #3)(10)

“Knock yourself out.”

Uncle Tex never seemed stubborn in his letters.

“Bet Nancy has a cel ,” I tried (I could be stubborn too).

Uncle Tex didn’t answer.

“So, what were you doing with Nancy this morning?” Uncle Tex stil didn’t answer.

I looked at him. I could see his blush in the dark.

“You like her!” I shouted (in a happy way).

“Shee-it.”

“Uncle Tex and Nancy, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g…” I sang.

“How old are you?”

“Thirty one.”

“Act it.”

Hee hee.

* * * * *

We went to a duplex, the lights blazing on one side, the curtains open and there seemed to be a mil ion people, shoulder-to-shoulder, inside. It was al the folks from that morning at Fortnum’s, plus Indy’s neighbors; a g*y couple named Stevie and Tod.

There was also a very pretty lady who looked a lot, and dressed a lot, like Dol y Parton (including the bodacious ta-tas) named Daisy.

Into this mix was thrown Indy’s Dad; Tom, Hank’s parents; Malcolm and Kitty Sue and Jet’s Mom’s friends; Trixie and Ada.

Add a dash of a Harley guy with long, gray hair in a braid and a rol ed red bandana tied around his forehead named Duke (I’d heard about Duke in Tex’s letters, he worked at Fortnum’s too), a serious stoner named “The Kevster” (The Kevster didn’t work at al ), a couple of Indy and Al y’s girlfriends named Andrea and Marianne and a bunch of guys, some of them cops, some of them worked for Lee (I learned Mace, Vance and Matt al worked for Lee at his private investigation service).

Everyone (but Daisy) was wearing jeans (though Daisy was wearing a jeans skirt encrusted with rhinestones at the hem, the pockets and along the seams).

Little did I know, this was a recipe for disaster for me.

At the time, I thought this party crush was a good thing. In fact, I was having fun. Uncle Tex had good friends, they seemed to like him a lot and I felt comfortable with them immediately. This meant I could enjoy myself, maybe a bit too much and maybe a bit too crazily considering the fact that Daisy told me a story about her, Al y, Jet and Indy stun gunning some women in a bar that made me double over laughing and nearly pee my pants and Tod told me a story about Indy lip-synching with him during a drag show that made me shove him in the shoulder and shout “Shut up! ” so loud everyone turned to stare. This also meant I could easily avoid Hank at the same time, (wel , kind of, it wasn’t a big duplex, but I tried real hard).

I was doing pretty wel , for a while.

Trouble was, it was a good party, nice (albeit slightly crazy) people who enjoyed each other’s company and bowls of cashews (everyone knew, cashews equaled good party). Worse stil , Indy was at the martini shaker and she made a mean dirty martini, so good, I had three before I even realized it.

Worse than that (and my fatal mistake a couple of hours into the party), I took a bite of Jet’s chocolate caramel layer squares while Hank was in the vicinity.

I didn’t know, no one warned me.

I bit in.

I chewed.

I closed my eyes in oblivious pleasure.

Then, I moaned.

I couldn’t help myself, they were that good.

When I opened them, the Handsome Troop, including Lee, Eddie, Mace, Vance and Hank were al staring at me and Lee and Eddie had lost their scary looks.

Hank was looking at me like he wanted to take a bite out of me.

My heart skipped a beat and my head went dizzy.

I covered quickly.

“What?” I asked after I swal owed. “They’re good.” Uncle Tex’s hand went to the top of my head. “You can tel she’s family.”

Al y came up as Indy whisked empty martini glass number three out of my hand and exchanged it with ful martini glass number four, better known to al as Naughty Girl Martini.

“Heard you bought Tex a cel phone,” Al y said.

“Yeah!” I replied, maybe a bit more excitedly than a new cel phone warranted, and I pul ed it out of my pocket. “I’m getting everyone’s numbers for him. What’s your number?” I flipped it open, bent my head and hit the buttons that would add numbers to the phone book.

“I’m not gonna use it,” Uncle Tex said.

“Trust me, you’l use it,” I told him.

“Waste of good f**kin’ money,” Uncle Tex said.

I looked up and scowled at him.

“I’m tel ing you, Uncle Tex, you’l use it!” It wasn’t so much tel ing him he’d use it as ordering him to use it.

He grinned. “Darlin’ girl, you’re cute when you’re riled.”

“And you’re annoying when you’re stubborn,” I shot back and took a sip of martini (okay, maybe it was a gulp) thus catapulting myself into Naughty Girl Martini Land.

He just shook his head at me like I was funny.

My scowl darkened.

“What happens when Nancy wants to get hold of you when you’re out in the El Camino? Hunh? What then?” Uncle Tex’s face got red, and it wasn’t from anger, or maybe, I should say, it wasn’t entirely from anger.

If I’d been paying attention (which I was not, I was too drunk to pay attention), I’d have noticed that al the women in my vicinity (including Indy, Al y, Jet, Daisy and Trixie) smiled and al the men (including Hank, Lee, Vance, Mace and Eddie) tensed.