Rock Chick (Rock Chick #1)(8)

“Ow! You’re hurting me!” I pulled my arm free.

“I should turn you over my knee,” he snapped.

My mouth dropped open for a moment then my eyes narrowed. “What did you just say?”

“He has a bag of diamonds and I cannot believe you’re caught up in this disaster.”

I gasped. “How did you know?”

He didn’t answer.

“How did you know?” I said it a lot louder this time.

“You get into bed. I’ll go talk to your friend. Tomorrow, I’ll take care of the diamonds.”

“You can’t tell me what to do.” Now my voice was a lot louder.

I mean, who did he think he was?

He took a step forward and dipped his face to mine so we were nose-to-nose. “You’ve ignored me for years and now you lay this shit on my doorstep. This is not a good situation, Indy. This is a total f**k up. You’d do well to do exactly what I tell you, keep your mouth shut and pray that the man who wants those diamonds back is patient enough to wait through the night.”

“I haven’t been ignoring you for years!” Now I was shouting (and lying).

Lee decided nose-to-nose wasn’t good enough and took the last step forward so I could feel his body heat.

Which, by the way, was immense.

“Bullshit.”

Okay, so I’d been trying to ignore him for years but I didn’t actually succeed. I mean, didn’t he remember all those Christmases and Thanksgivings?

“I bought you Christmas presents!”

“That doesn’t count.”

I made a choked sound. “So you’re saying you didn’t like the Billie Holiday boxed set?”

“I’m sayin’ it doesn’t count.”

“I thought you liked blues!”

He edged in closer, predatory and angry. “Indy, this isn’t something you can cute your way out of.”

Okay, so, maybe in the past I’d used my girlie status to cute my way out of things. Numerous things. Most especially using it with Lee, Hank and Malcolm. Dad always saw through it.

“Fine!” I stalked to the bed, giving in mainly to get away from him. He was too overpowering at close range. Then I whipped around when I reached the foot of the bed. “What are you gonna do?”

“I’m gonna calm down your friend, make a call that should set some minds at ease and tomorrow, I’ll take him to get the diamonds and make the delivery.”

“Well then,” I said snottily, the wind out of my sails, “thank you.”

Lee started to turn, stopped, dropped his head back and looked at the ceiling and then turned around and came back to me. Again, he was so close I could feel his heat.

“Normally, I charge five hundred dollars an hour for this.”

I sucked in breath.

“For what?” I asked.

“This go-between shit,” Lee answered.

My eyes rounded in shock.

Wow.

No wonder he could afford this condo with a view and an office in LoDo. Not to mention his car, he had a great car. And he still had a bike.

“You do? Why?”

He came closer, so close he was all I could see.

“Because, I make the call tonight that puts me in the middle of this mess, and, if tomorrow I don’t have the diamonds, then it’ll be me they shoot at. I don’t like getting shot at.”

I shook my head, bit my lip and agreed wholeheartedly, “Me either, it’s not very fun.”

He didn’t move and I realized he expected a different response.

“I don’t think Rosie has that kind of money,” I noted. “You wouldn’t consider doing this on, say, family discount?”

He shook his head. “We’re not family.”

“I meant you and me”

“We’re not family either.”

“Yes we are, ten years ago you told me I was like your little sister.”

He waited a beat.

Something dawned on him. I could see the flicker in his eyes as it registered. I didn’t understand it but he did and whatever it was made his face soften a little from the seriously pissed off angry look he’d been wearing all night. In fact, he looked almost… pleased.

“That was then, this is now.” Even his voice was quieter and less hacked off.

“Well, how many hours will this take? It could be thousands of dollars. Rosie doesn’t have that kind of money, even with his side business.”

“It’s not Rosie who’s gonna pay.”

My head did an involuntary little jerk when I understood what he meant.

“I don’t have that kind of money.”

“You aren’t gonna pay me in cash.”

My stomach clenched and my heart stopped for a couple of beats.

“How am I gonna pay you?”

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

“We’ll talk about it now!”

“Get in bed, go to sleep.”

“Quit bossing me around!”

He came closer and I let out a little peep. I couldn’t help it, he was pressed up against me, I had nowhere to go and the backs of my knees were up against the footboard. And I’ve already told you Lee’s a seriously scary, badass individual.