Rock Chick Revolution (Rock Chick #8)(181)

Ren and I, if you’re curious, had the Pope’s blessing (I hoped) because I’d converted.

But I still got my red and black wedding. Tod did it up sah-weet. It was awesome.

I also got a three week honeymoon that started in Vegas and ended in the Bahamas.

Everything I ever wanted.

Especially the husband.

“You wanted to talk, sugar?” she asked, reaching for some cashews and not bothering to do it stealthily.

“A little later, they’re almost here,” I told her.

She looked up at me. “Is everything good?”

I smiled at her. “Yeah, totally.”

She screwed up her face and studied me for two seconds before her eyes went wide, her face got bright and she opened her mouth.

She figured it out.

I moved fast and covered her mouth with my hand. Not to be left out, Leah leaned over and covered my hand on Daisy’s mouth. Tallulah, thinking it was a game, did the same, but she did it slapping and giggling.

“Don’t say anything,” I whispered. “Indy doesn’t know.”

A drowned-out tinkly bell giggle escaped the three hands (two of them tiny, but still) and Daisy, eyes now dancing, nodded.

I took away my hand, taking the girls’ with me.

“After the big thing, we’ll share Ren and my big thing, but quietly,” I told her.

Daisy, through more tinkling giggles, nodded.

I tipped my head, studied her and guessed, “You can’t talk because if you open your mouth, you’ll shriek. Right?”

She nodded again.

I shook my head, but did it grinning and bumping into her with my shoulder.

Tallulah put her hand over Daisy’s mouth again.

Daisy gave it a raspberry.

I spied a runaway toddler, followed by another one, both females. These two were followed by a lumbering black man nearly bent double.

He caught up, scooped both up with arms at their bellies, and straightened

Smithie with Suki in one arm, Lola, Sadie and Hector’s firstborn, in the other.

The girls were giggling and squirming.

Smithie was scowling.

“Jesus. You bitches breed like rabbits,” he bitched then totally gave it all away by bending in while lifting up Lola and shoving his face in her neck.

She squealed in glee as Smithie turned and strolled away.

“Smithie,” Jet murmured as she passed us, putting something on the food table and finishing, “Total softie.”

That was the damned truth.

My eyes slid through the crowd and I saw Amalea now had Katie. This was because Mom was chasing after Callum.

Jeez.

We did.

We bred like rabbits.

I kept looking through the throng and stopped when I saw Ren, Dom and Sissy standing with Vito and Angela.

We’ll just say that after I was kidnapped and we nearly lost Darius, I was right. Vito had had a wakeup call. His “excommunication” of Ren lasted about eight hours. Then it was back to family.

I knew he wouldn’t be able to keep it up.

And I loved being right.

Especially this time.

This wasn’t to say that Ren went back to him. He’d made a commitment to Marcus. He’d followed through with his resignation and we had our two weeks at the beach where we did nothing but drink rum and f**k on the beach under the stars (and elsewhere). When we came back, Ren went into partnership with Marcus.

Dom went with him.

Vito decided to retire early, turning over the reins of the Zano criminal empire to Santo and Lucky.

Word on the street, they were doing well which was both good news (because I liked them) and bad news (because they were running a criminal empire).

This meant Dawn lost her job (the first order of business for Santo and Lucky was canning her; and luckily they let me watch, it was awesome). I’d done a check on her just because I was nosy. I found out she was living in Alabama. Still single. Still a receptionist.

But doing it far, far away.

Which worked for me.

It also meant Marcus and Ren took over the Zano Holdings offices.

So, when we could, my man and I carpooled.

“Their car’s coming up to the curb,” Stella’s throaty voice could be heard calling from the front of the house.

Everyone moved that way.

Once in positions, we waited.

The door opened and Darius walked through, holding to his hip a gorgeous little girl with cute little pompom pigtails sticking out at the top sides of her head.

He was followed by Dorothea.

And Dorothea was followed by Malia.

Coming up the rear was Liam.

“Now!” Shirleen shouted and we all started doing what she’d been browbeating us to practice for the last week.

We sang Ten Thousand Men of Harvard.

And we did it poorly.

Luckily, Tex got into it and his booming baritone drowned the rest of us out.

But it didn’t seem to matter.

Because through it, Liam stood there grinning.

Then again, what else did you do when you were serenaded by family at your college graduation party?

It.

Was.

Righteous.

* * * * *

By the way, Darius lived in LA now. He worked at Mace’s security agency.

At Mace’s request, I flew out to do jobs with them occasionally, and if you thought the Hot Bunch was hot…