Rock Chick Renegade (Rock Chick #4)(7)

Roam knew me, he knew what I was like and he’d heard about my antics on the street. He figured out it was me right away and he made a mistake. He told Sniff.

Sniff could never keep his mouth shut about anything and he loved Park, they both did, so Sniff and Roam thought what I was doing was the shit.

By the time I talked Sniff into keeping his mouth shut, it was too late. I was Law and that was it.

Sal took my approaching him in the greasy spoon as a challenge. Not that he wanted to “shut me down” as Crowe did, but that he wanted something else entirely from me. Something icky when you thought about doing it with Sal (way not icky when you thought about doing it with Crowe, but I didn’t go there).

So, instead of coming after me to stop me from getting up his nose, if you could believe this, Sal Cordova was actually trying to get me to go out with him.

Yes, that’s exactly how stupid he is.

All of this brought me to my current predicament.

Sal had caught up with me and made his intentions clear.

I’d told him to go f**k himself.

He got a little excited and there was a bit of a car chase.

We ended up in a guns drawn face off in the middle of a busy, one way, four lane street, right in front of a used bookstore that was the known hangout for Lee Nightingale and his boys.

The rest was history.

* * * * *

“Meow?” Boo asked, staring at me and knowing with feline instincts that my life was f**ked and probably wondering if something happened to me who would feed him.

“Yeah Boo. You called it. Meow,” I answered.

Chapter Two

Levitate

My phone rang and I got up, mentally shook away my memories, dislodged Boo on an angry “Meow!” and walked across the room to pick it up.

“Hello?”

“You’re f**kin’ loco. Loco!” Zip shouted in my ear.

I guessed word of my faceoff with Cordova had made the rounds.

“Zip –” I started.

“You’re off duty. You’re lyin’ low. Least a week, maybe a month, maybe forever,” Zip interrupted me.

“I’m not lying low,” I told him.

Zip talked over me, in full rant.

“It isn’t Cordova. You could handle Cordova, hell, a five year old could handle Cordova. We’re talkin’ Lee Nightingale now. Lee Nightingale. Do you know who was in f**kin’ Fortnum’s Bookstore watchin’ you be a hotshot, shootin’ out Cordova’s tires like you were in a goddamned Hollywood movie?”

“Um...” I said.

“No?” Zip didn’t let me answer. “First off, Lee f**kin’ Nightingale. Then Hank f**kin’ Nightingale. Make matters worse, Eddie f**kin’ Chavez. Two officers of the goddamned law.”

“Zip –” I tried to butt in.

He ignored me.

“And if you already weren’t screwed three ways ‘til Sunday, Luke f**kin’ Stark, Kai f**kin’ Mason and Vance f**kin’ Crowe.”

“Well, I knew about Crowe,” I said.

And I guessed the rest, or some of them.

It wasn’t good that I had the attention of the Nightingale brothers and Chavez, but Crowe had said he’d talk to them. Having Stark and Mace witnessing me face down Cordova was kind of embarrassing. If word was even remotely correct, Stark was one badass mother. Kai Mason, known as Mace, was also known for not being far behind Stark in the badass mother stakes (not to mention he had a reputation for having a seriously short fuse).

“Oh yeah? How’s that?” Zip asked, interrupting my moment of mortified reflection.

“He kinda caught up with me,” I told Zip.

Silence.

“Zip?”

“He there?” Zip asked.

Zip’s question confused me. “Sorry?”

“Crowe, is he with you now?”

“No. Of course not. We had a talk. He let me go.”

“He’s not there?” Zip asked, surprise evident in his tone.

“Um… no.” I drew out the “no” thinking, maybe, Zip had finally lost what marbles he had left.

“You sure he isn’t there?”

That’s when I got a chill up my spine and looked out the front window.

No Harleys in sight.

I let out a breath.

“He’s not here Zip. What are you going on about?”

“Crowe’s got a way with the ladies. You look like you do, which you do, you get in his sights, he’ll nail you faster ‘n snot.”

I rolled my eyes to the ceiling.

Pu-lease.

“I hardly think so,” I said.

“Girl, you’re loco. Pure loco. What’d Crowe say during this talk?”

“Not much,” I lied.

I was already freaked out and Zip was pissed off. I didn’t want to get Zip more pissed off which would serve only to heighten my freak out.

“He get a good look at you?” Zip asked.

I would guess the answer to that was “yes” considering his face was an inch from mine and his body was pressed against me.

My belly fluttered just thinking about it.

I ignored the belly flutter (again).

“Yeah. Zip, don’t worry about it.”

“These boys got a way about ‘em, Jules. They don’t f**k around. They see somethin’ they want, they get it. They’re f**kin’ famous for it. A woman don’t stand a chance. He seem interested?”