Rock Chick Revolution

Chapter Thirty For Me

Ren

Ren Zano hiked the strap of his workout bag more firmly on his shoulder as he walked from the gym to his Jag while pulling out his ringing phone.

The display said Santo Calling.

He engaged and put it to his ear. “Santo.”

“Boss, you need to get here.”

Ren stopped at the door to his car and looked at his boots, his gut twisting.

This was because he gave Santo a job that morning. And that job was getting into Snookie Rivers’s apartment to have a look around.

“What?” Ren asked.

“You need to see,” Santo replied.

Ren clenched his teeth and beeped his locks.

Pulling open the door and folding in, he asked, “Is he out for a while?”

“Lucky’s on him. He makes to come home, Lucky’ll give me the heads up.”

“Be there in ten,” Ren stated.

He disconnected and turned on the ignition.

When he hit Ally’s old apartment complex, he saw construction had already begun on her blasted out unit. There was some structural damage; not much, mostly the windows blown out and fire damage, but they weren’t wasting any time fixing it.

He parked, got out, kept his phone in his hand and jogged to the building, in and up the stairs.

He tapped a knuckle on Rivers’s door and it was immediately opened by Santo.

Ren didn’t like the look on his face.

“Show me,” he ordered.

Santo got out of the way. Ren entered the apartment, moved aside and let Santo lead the way. Santo moved down the hall to one of the bedrooms but stopped at the door and turned to Ren.

“Boss, this is fucked up,” he warned.

Ren looked him in the eyes then moved beyond him and into the room.

Once in, he stopped dead.

Three beats later, he whispered, “Fuckin’ fuck me.”

“You want Lucky to nab him?” Santo asked.

Ren’s eyes moved around the room, his gut no longer twisting. It was tied in painful knots and it felt like something heavy was pressing on his chest.

This was because, all around the room, the walls were littered with pictures of Ally. Entering her apartment. Leaving her apartment. Walking down the hall. In the parking lot walking to her Mustang. Getting in or out of it.

And more.

Ally in Fortnum’s. Ally at Stella’s gigs. Ally bartending at Brother’s. Ally at the mall with one or more of the Rock Chicks.

And Ally entering and exiting his house. Some from months ago. Some from days ago.

The whole room was covered in Ally.

Every inch.

There were so many pictures, they were several layers deep.

“Boss? Lucky?” Santo prompted and Ren cut his eyes to the man.

“Yes, I fuckin’ want Lucky to nab him,” he growled. “And call Dom. Now.” He threw out a hand. “And take pictures of this shit. Detailed.”

After he issued his orders, he spent no more time in that space.

He walked right out.

His gut still tied up tight.

His chest now burning.

Ally

I walked into the down room at Nightingale Investigations to see the gang all there.

Every one of them.

This included Lee, Eddie, Hank, Vance, Mace, Hector, Darius, Matt, Bobby, Monty, Ike, Jack, Brody and even Luke, who just got back from his honeymoon with Ava that morning.

Jimmy Marker was also there.

This meant things were not as bad as I thought.

They were worse.

I didn’t call my welcome back, glad-you-survived-all-that-unadulterated-nookie to Luke.

I just cut my eyes through the men, got a bunch of chin lifts (seriously?), moved to a weight bench and sat my ass on it.

Lee watched me do it and turned to the team.

“Brief,” he began, his voice terse, indicating things weren’t worse, they were worse. “You all know the case Ally’s on and you all know about the payments, the players already uncovered and the note Meena gave to Ally last night.”

No one nodded. They all just kept their eyes on Lee.

After looking around, I followed suit.

“Brody found the trail,” Lee went on. “Cyrus Gibbons’s cellmate in Nebraska has links to Steiner and the crew here. This morning, Darius tailed Steiner and Bobby tailed Gibbons to a crew meet. There are five of them. Darius was able to get into position without bein’ seen to listen in. Their gig is, they got a man on each of Smithie’s women, and therefore his kids.”

Oh my God.

I closed my eyes.

“Gibbons is on Smithie,” Lee continued and I opened my eyes. “The girls don’t pay, givin’ their tip takes, they put the hurt on all of Smithie’s family. They talk, they put the hurt on all of them. They don’t give Gibbons what he wants during his private dances, he puts the hurt on Smithie.”

Seeing as my head was suddenly about to explode at Lee’s words, I had to let some of the pressure out.

Therefore, I couldn’t stop myself from hissing, “You’re shitting me.”

Lee looked at me. “Ally—”

“He’s raping them at Smithies?” I snapped.

“Forced blowjobs, same thing,” Lee answered, his voice tight.

I surged from my seat, shouting, “You’ve got to be shitting me!”

“Ally, cool it,” Hank said quietly.

“You cool it. You haven’t spent your nights working alongside a bunch of girls who’re being violated!” I shot back.

“This isn’t going on for another day, Ally,” Lee stated. “We’re takin’ them down tonight, all those fuckers. And you got your part in that. I get you’re pissed. I get why. We’re all pissed. But we got a job to do. You need to shift that anger to focus, ‘cause you’re a go tonight.”

I was a go?

What the hell did that mean?

“What?” I asked.

“We have to take them down simultaneously so they don’t have the opportunity to talk, see or hear the others were taken out and do something about it, namely put one of Smithie’s women or kids in danger. At the club tonight, Steiner will be Darius’s. Gibbons, yours.”

“I’m on Gibbons,” Darius stated and I knew why. He was the greater danger.

Lee looked to him.

“They’re steerin’ clear of Lottie because of her connection with Eddie and likely the rest of us. This means they know the connection, so he’ll know you. You enter when Ally’s dancin’ and Gibbons has eyes on her. Steiner will either have eyes on her or the crowd. You go for Steiner. Ally makes Gibbons part of the act and she goes for him.” Lee looked at me. “It sucks and it makes me wanna vomit sayin’ this, but you dance for him. You do it smart. You’ll have backup, Ally. Luke and Mace are on you. But you gotta disarm him and not get shot doin’ it.”

Holy shit!

Lee looked like he’d eaten something rotten when he asked, “Can you keep him occupied to do that?”

I stared at him. I looked to Hank to see a muscle jerk in his cheek. I looked through the men.

They all had eyes on me.

I looked back at Lee and sat my ass down again, saying, “Absolutely.”

Lee nodded.

“While he’s eyes to you, Darius takes Steiner out, Mace and Luke will get into position,” he went on. “You just have to get your hand on his gun. Shoulder holster. His left side. Once you got it, you get the fuck outta the way. Mace and Luke will move in.”

I nodded.

His voice dropped lower when he said, “You got the feel, Ally. You demonstrated that at Lincoln’s. If it hits you it’s goin’ bad, he looks like he’s goin’ for his gun, you get the fuck out. Mace and Luke will roll in. But I want his ass jacked by a dancer. I want him disarmed and unmanned by a woman and I want that to have an audience. You with me?”

Oh, fuck yeah.

I was with him.

When I nodded that time, I was grinning.

Lee studied me. Then he turned to the boys.

“Vance, Bobby, you’re team one. Hector and Matt, team two. Jack and Monty, team three. Brody will give you the details you need. Jimmy, Hank and Eddie will sweep up.”

Lee’s eyes were looking at the men he was addressing then he came back to me.

“After you take yours down, we’re closin’ Smithie’s and you work the girls. You get them to trust you. You get them to trust us. You get them to trust the cops. And you get them to make statements and press charges.”

“Copy that,” I replied.

Lee studied me again before he looked back to his men. “You have your assignments. This happens during Ally’s first dance. Eight fifty-five. Track your men. Find them. Report in. And the time comes, take them out.”

More chin lifts.

Jeez.

The gang broke up just as Darius’s phone rang.

But I looked to Lee. “Need a second. In private. Eddie, too.”

My eyes went to Eddie to see him watching me intently.

“Ally, got shit to do,” Lee said, sounding distracted.

“A second, Lee,” I replied quietly.

It was my quiet that got him to give me a look. He transferred his gaze to Eddie and then he nodded to me

I avoided all eyes as he moved out of the room and I followed him, Eddie following me.

Lee took us to his office, but stood at the door until Eddie and I made it through. Then he closed the door and turned his back to it, not moving further into the room.

Right. His position reiterated he was giving me only a second, he had shit to do.

So did I, so I cut to it.

I took a deep breath and reminded him. “You know I’m worried about Darius.”

“I do,” Lee confirmed. “But is now the time for you to get up in our shit about it?”

“I know about Malia and Liam.”

I watched Lee’s entire body get tight, and I didn’t normally get scared but that sure as fuck scared me.

“Zano tell you?” he fired at me, his words like bullets.

“No,” I answered, shaking my head for emphasis. “I found out like I find out a lot of shit. I know a lot of people. I ask a lot of questions.” I looked to Eddie. “I did it on the down low so there’s nothing for you two to worry about.”

“You’re wrong,” Lee returned, and I looked back to him.

“I know this is privileged information and the person who told me was not real big on me knowing it. But I got the information and I’m gonna do something about it.”

Lee leaned toward me, his eyes narrowing. “You’re not gonna do shit.”

“I am,” I whispered. “There’s a boy growing up without his father.”

Lee leaned back. “That’s Darius’s choice.”

“It’s the wrong one,” I retorted.

“That’s not your call,” Lee clipped.

“Yes, it is. Yes, it absolutely is,” I shot back, lifted a hand and shook my head. “Don’t worry, bro. You don’t want to be involved with whatever I decide to do, don’t be. That’s your call. Though I’ll assure you, I will not make a production of this. And I won’t drag the Rock Chicks into it. What I’m gonna do is take a big risk and point out some important facts to a man I love and have loved since I was a kid. He cuts me out, so be it. But there’s the slight chance he’ll listen to me, maybe not now, maybe eventually, but then he’ll find a way back to his family. And that’s important enough, not just for Darius but for Malia and especially Liam, I’m willing to take that risk.”

Lee glared at me.

I looked to Eddie and the instant I did, he said, “Don’t fuck this up.”

“I can’t guarantee that,” I told him honestly. “What I can do is do my best to make certain this is about me and Darius and it doesn’t leak to the rest of the posse. And I’ll do that.”

But Lee was now glaring at Eddie, and after I finished speaking, he bit out, “You cannot be cool with this.”

“I’m not. Then again, hermano, I haven’t been cool with this shit for seventeen fuckin’ years,” Eddie replied.

Lee again closed his mouth.

He wasn’t cool with it either.

I took in a breath and held it.

Lee looked back to me. “I’m not involved.”

This was disappointing. It was also unsurprising. There was never a time when there wasn’t a Lee, Eddie and Darius. Even when Lee and Eddie were fighting (which happened often) and when Darius was on the wrong side of the law and Eddie was a cop.

They had a bond. They were brothers.

And if you love your brother, you had his back and backed his plays.

So I nodded.

Lee’s body partially relaxed when he informed me, “You don’t know this but he takes care of them.”

“I do know that. It isn’t about money and protection, though,” I replied. “It’s something bigger and you know it.”

“He does what he can do,” Lee stated and I totally dug it that he was defending his best friend.

But he needed to wake up.

“Your baby is growing in my best friend’s belly,” I reminded him and his head jerked. “And God forbid something happens between you and Indy or to you to change you or take you away from them in any capacity. You think on that. You think on Indy going it alone raising your child. She’d have money, no doubt. But you know that’s not even the half of what it takes. And, last, you think on your child growing up without knowing all the righteousness that is you. That would be a tragedy. So you think on that, Lee. Then you come back to me and tell me I’m doing the wrong thing. I still won’t believe you and I’ll still do what I intend to do. But I’ll be even more disappointed in you.” I looked to Eddie and finished, “The both of you.”

I thought that was a good parting line so I made it one, moved forward, shoved past Lee and walked out the door.

“Babe, it’s going to be cool.”

That was me, sitting with Ren at his dining room table, watching him not eating the seafood linguini he’d made us and instead sipping wine, staring at the table and brooding.

I’d told him everything. About what was happening at Smithie’s and about the wheels I set in motion in regards to Darius.

I did not expect him to lay a hot and heavy celebratory kiss on me after he shouted, “All right! My woman is going to be in the line of fire tonight!”

So I was giving him his space, but I still wanted to assure him I was going to be all right.

I mean, Mace and Luke had my back. That was nothing to sneeze at.

At my words, he turned his head to me, sipped more wine and when he was done, he stated, “I’m gonna be there tonight.”

I fought back a sigh but nodded.

I expected that. It was intrusive and maybe wrong. But my man had a protective streak, and until he was entirely down with what I was doing, I needed to give him some leeway.

He went back to brooding.

I reached out and touched his thigh. “Honey, I’m gonna be okay.”

He looked at me and declared, “Santo got into Snookie Rivers’s apartment today. He has a room dedicated to pictures of you. He’s a stalker, and not the tame harmless variety. The sick and twisted variety. Lucky was on him and he must have made him, because when Lucky went to get the drop on him, he got the drop on Lucky and got away.”

I shot back in my seat.

Holy shit!

“There’s an unknown weirdo out there taking pictures of me?” I asked.

“Yeah. Everywhere. All you. At work. At home. Both of ‘em. Your apartment and here. Just you. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them.”

Hundreds was bad.

But thousands?

“I… what…” I stammered, then pulled myself out of my shock and got it together. “What the hell?”

“I don’t know. My mind doesn’t work like that. What I do know is while I’ve been thinkin’ on this and whether or not to tell you, I didn’t think on whether or not to give Darius the heads up. So I did. And you might be pissed, but he’s at your back often so he needs to keep an eye out. I left it up to him, and now you, if you share with your brothers. But my vote, you do, and someone, I don’t give a fuck who, closes that guy down.”

This grossed me out, but still.

“I’m not sure it’s illegal to take pictures of someone, Ren.”

“The way he’s doin’ it?” he asked, but didn’t want an answer mostly because he already had one. “Fuck yeah it is. You need a restraining order. Which won’t do jack. So that means he gets a message. And I’d like it to be me that gives it to him. But if Darius, one of your brothers or one of his men get there before me, I won’t argue.”

This did not make me feel warm and fuzzy.

“It was that bad?” I asked quietly.

“Thousands of pictures, Ally,” he answered, not quietly.

Whoa.

He wasn’t being broody about my job that night.

He was being broody because I had a sicko taking photos of me.

“Do we have a picture of him so I know who I’m looking for and they will, too?” I asked.

“Darius says he’s got Brody on that. DMV. Whatever. Brody will find somethin’ and he’ll give it to me.”

I nodded.

“You watch your back. You also drive to work tonight with me.”

Oh man.

“Ren—”

“Do not fight this, Ally,” he cut me off. “It’ll get ugly, I assure you, baby, and you won’t win. I got a man fixated on my woman and you gotta let me do what I have to do. You with me?”

I thought on it, but not long enough for the Italian Hothead to wake up and decide he needed to make his point.

Then I said, “I’m with you, honey.”

He took in a deep breath and let it go.

Relief.

“Though, I’ll say, I miss our fighting,” I continued.

His chin jerked back and his brows went up before he asked, “Have you lost your mind?”

“No. Without fights there’s no angry sex.”

That got him

His lips quirked. He put down his wineglass and picked up his fork as he asked, “Am I fallin’ down on that part of the job, babe?”

“I will point out, we haven’t had sex today,” I shared, also digging back into my linguini.

I was lifting a load to my mouth when I felt his eyes on me. So I gave him mine.

“The day isn’t done,” he replied.

I grinned.

Then I quit grinning so I could shove delicious linguini and shrimp into my mouth.

“I get him, you get off stage. You get the girls in the dressing room and keep them there. You keep the dressing room door closed and locked. Lenny’s gonna be outside. You keep your phone in your hand and you hear something you don’t like, you call 911. And you keep the girls calm.”

I was giving the instructions Lee gave to me by text to Lottie.

I was about to go on. And Lottie was going on with me.

Double the viewing entertainment, double the distraction from what would be going on in the club.

I’d briefed her and Lottie knew what was happening.

All of it.

And she was all in.

I got closer and said quietly, “This ends for them tonight. But our jobs aren’t done tonight.”

She nodded.

“He get them all?” I asked something I didn’t want to know but, alas, needed to know.

She nodded again but said, “He’s partial to JoJo. Sometimes he has a taste for Meena. But he’s tried them all.”

I lifted my hands to the sides of her head and pulled her to me so our foreheads were touching. “We’ll see to them.”

She nodded but said, “Smithie’s gonna unravel.”

Smithie knew nothing about this. This was because Smithie would first commit murder.

Then he’d unravel.

“We’ll see to him, too,” I promised.

She nodded again.

“You do that onstage, I’ll give you both fifty bucks as a bonus and I’ll name my next fuckin’ kid after you,” Smithie said as he approached.

Lottie and I broke apart and looked his way.

“We’re already dancing a double,” I reminded him.

“Yeah. I know. This is why you’re in my fuckin’ will,” Smithie replied as the music silenced and the girls ran off the stage.

I drew in a deep breath and grabbed Lottie’s hand.

Smithie went onstage and walked across it to get the microphone.

“Remember,” I said, staring through the crack in the curtain. “When I get him, you get the girls.”

“I remember,” Lottie replied on a hand squeeze. “And if, when you get his gun, you accidentally squeeze off a round, I’m your witness that it was accidentally.”

Great minds think alike.

“So put your hands together, motherfuckers!” Smithie was concluding his introduction. “’Cause the Rock Chick and Lottie Mac are teamin’ up, and it’s gonna blow your motherfucking minds!”

It certainly would.

In a lot of ways.

The club went black, Smithie stumbled off and Lottie and I dashed on.

In the dark, the opening riffs of Nickelback’s “Something in Your Mouth” hit the space. The rest of the band kicked in, the bright lights hit the stage and Lottie and I hit each other.

It was an ingenious plan. No man in that room would look anywhere but at Lottie and I as we double teamed. Squatting down and sliding up each other’s bodies. Smacking each other’s asses. Circling a pole low while the other went high. Flicking each other’s hair. Kicking a leg over the other who was in a squat. Both of us swinging our asses out to the audience in tandem.

And frequently, we sucked on our thumbs.

And each other’s.

If this wasn’t part of a mission, I would have giggled my ass off through the whole thing. It was a blast. Absolutely. And the light in Lottie’s eyes told me she felt the same.

We were both down to sequined bras and panties and platform stripper shoes when we broke off. Lottie caught attention by catching the pole high, swinging out, rolling off and hitting her hands and knees, crawling on the stage with back arched, ass high, lips parted, hair in her face.

She was the total shit.

I jumped off the stage and it was during one of the rapid-fire rap parts of the song so I could make some moves on a couple men on my way to my target.

And as the song broke down, I did a lot of gyrating, hair whipping, slow walking, dipping my ass into laps only to pull away before flesh hit flesh, and shimmying.

I found my way in front of Gibbons just as the song kicked it up again.

I looked into his eyes.

He was looking at my breasts.

Fuck yeah.

It didn’t matter my last name was Nightingale. It didn’t matter that I might be a threat.

I had tits.

And that meant I had him, the asshole.

I leaned down, putting my hands to his knees and whipping my head around. I turned around and gave him a personal, long drawn out ass sway when Chad Kroeger did the kickass drawn out “everyone.”

I flipped around and mounted his lap.

His hands immediately went to my hips.

I barely controlled a lip curl at his touch and I moved on him. I put my hands on his shoulders, pulsing my hips under his hands, whipping my hair in his face, catching his eyes to see his at my crotch.

Yeah.

I had him.

So I took him.

Reaching in his jacket, I went right for his gun.

His fingers on my hips bit in and his eyes shot from my crotch to my face.

I felt for the snap, flipped it and yanked his gun out just as I jumped off his lap, his hands sliding clean free since I was oiled up (and good).

I got three feet back and pointed the gun in his face.

The music stopped and the lights went up. There was some clapping, but everyone around Gibbons and me had seen the dance change and were shuffling away, seeing as there was a stripper with a gun.

Gibbons stared into my eyes, and I knew he was about to go for me right when he was out of his chair and being slammed face first into the floor by Mace.

Luke came to me and took the gun out of my hand.

“I need to find a way to erase the last three minutes,” he muttered, sounding aggrieved.

“Why?” I asked.

“I just watched my boy’s sister strip. There’s laws against that,” he replied, not taking his eyes off Mace who was cuffing a non-struggling Gibbons, but I had a feeling what Luke was doing was studiously avoiding seeing me in sequined undies and stripper shoes.

“No there’s not,” I said to Luke and he finally looked at me.

“Babe, there are. Trust me,” he stated.

At his tone, I trusted him. Then again, he was a guy. What did I know what rules guys lived by?

Luke moved in to help Mace jerk Gibbons to his feet. They didn’t go cautiously and his head snapped around, and not a little.

A lot.

I fought a smirk.

“What’s goin’ on? What the fuck is goin’ on?” Smithie shouted, elbowing his way in.

“Don’t know how I took him down, seein’ as I’ve gone blind,” Mace stated, ignoring Smithie.

“I hear you, man,” Luke agreed.

“What the fuck is goin’ on?” Smithie yelled.

That was when Lee appeared.

My brother. He didn’t let me know, but he was also taking my back.

I was feeling slightly gushy and very jazzed when Lee said, “Cruiser’s outside. Haul him out. Smithie, you come with me.”

“You gonna tell me what he fuck is goin’ on?” Smithie asked.

“Yes,” Lee answered.

Smithie glared at him. Then he glared at me.

I tipped my head to the side and gave him a scrunchy face.

Lee either didn’t see Smithie’s glare or didn’t care. His eyes went beyond Smithie and he ordered, “Clear this place out.”

I looked that way just in time to see Lenny saying, “Gotcha.”

Lenny moved out and I looked at Gibbons.

He didn’t look upset.

He looked smug.

“Uh… just so you know, asshole dickhead of huge proportions,” I called. His eyes came to me, and I noted when they did, “Good you know your name. Your crew?” I asked and shook my head. “Right now, they’re taking rides in cruisers, too.”

Gibbons stopped looking smug.

“Funny, thinking with your dick brought you to this pass, seeing as you are a dick,” I noted.

“Smithie,” Lee cut into my fun. “Your office.”

On a lingering glare at all of us, Smithie moved toward his office.

Lee moved, too.

He moved into Gibbons space and he got nose to nose with the asshole (or kind of; Lee was three inches taller).

“After your stay at the penitentiary, you get out, you get the fuck out of town,” he ordered. “Denver’s mine, and I don’t like your kind here. Now you think on that. You ask around. Name’s Lee Nightingale, but I suspect you know that. And I suspect you know to get your ass out of my town. You don’t and we meet again, there won’t be a cruiser.”

“Fuck you,” Gibbons spat.

“Good,” Lee whispered, getting closer. “I hope you’re not smart, because I’m lookin’ forward to meetin’ you again.”

Gibbons held Lee’s eyes.

Lee didn’t give him the honor of a staredown.

He sauntered away.

“We’ll meet again, bitch,” Gibbons promised me, and my eyes went to his.

I clasped my hands together in front of me and cried in a shrill girlie voice, “Oh goodie! I didn’t get to use my balls-in-a-vice move tonight and I was so wanting to.”

Mace jerked Gibbons around and started marching him to the door.

Luke grinned at me before he followed.

I watched for a beat then looked through the thinning crowd the bouncers were showing to the door to see Ren standing at the edge, arms crossed on his chest, eyes on me, face carefully blank but eyes burning.

“I still have some work to do, honey,” I told him. “Can you wait for me?”

He shook his head, but his lips quirked and he answered, “Yeah, babe.”

I smiled at him.

Then I hightailed my sequin-pantied ass to the dressing room.

Led by Eddie and Jimmy Marker, detectives and uniforms were in the dressing room taking statements from strippers, waitresses and the female bartender.

After I’d changed into tee, boots and jeans, I’d talked all the girls into making statements. I would like to have been able to tell my brother my efforts at this were heroic. But once they all learned that Smithie and his family were no longer in jeopardy, they jumped at the chance.

I was leaning against the wall with my arms crossed on my chest beside the door as I watched Jimmy with a hand light on JoJo’s arm moving toward my station. JoJo was looking at the floor. I was looking at Jimmy.

“Me and Mizz Christensen need to chat in private,” he murmured as they passed me.

I nodded. I knew what that meant. She had not so fun things to say. And Jimmy, a good man (the best), was going to take her someplace comfortable to say them.

Jimmy kept moving, but he did it with eyes on me.

I tipped my head to the side.

He jerked up his chin.

Then he winked.

I smiled.

He disappeared.

I jumped when not a second later, Luke’s head and shoulders were where Jimmy had just been and he growled, “Ally. You’re needed.”

What?

I didn’t get the chance to verbalize that question. Luke disappeared.

I shoved away from the wall and followed him.

I heard it when I got into the main area of club. Someone was tearing something apart.

And the noise was coming from the direction of Smithie’s office.

That was when I started running.

I passed Luke and hit the stairs to Smithie’s office which was up high, where he had a window out to keep his eyes on the club. I ran up the steps and ran by Ren, Mace and Lee who were standing inside, close to the door, all alert but giving space.

When I hit the office, I saw I was right. The office was a disaster. Completely torn apart.

And Darius was there, close to Smithie, hand out, mouth murmuring, “Calm down, brother.”

Smithie picked up something from his desk and threw it across the room. It slammed into the wood paneling, the paneling buckling all around, and it stayed lodged there.

Then he turned on Darius and shouted, “You been workin’ this case with Ally for days and you didn’t shut that shit down?”

“We didn’t know how bad it was until today,” Darius replied. “Now sit down, you need a deep breath and a drink.”

“I don’t need a fuckin’ drink!” Smithie yelled. “I need to fuck somebody up.”

I got close to Lee, got on my toes and whispered, “Call LaTeesha.”

He turned his eyes down to me. “Ally—”

“Do it, bro.”

I held his eyes. He nodded, peeled off from Ren and Mace and disappeared out the door.

I approached Darius and Smithie.

“Stay back, Ally,” Darius ordered.

“Smithie,” I called, ignoring Darius, but Smithie’s eyes were already on me. “Calm down a sec. The cops are gonna need to talk to you. Then you can continue destroying your office.”

He threw out his hands. “What am I gonna tell ‘em? That I didn’t know dick?”

“They’ll have some questions, honey. Just tell them what you know,” I replied.

He leaned into me threateningly, and I saw Darius get close and felt the men at my back move forward.

“I can tell them what I know fuckin’ now. I know that motherfucker—in my own fuckin’ house—extorted fucking blowjobs from my girls.” He thumped his chest on the word “my.”

“Smithie—”

“Took their money.”

“Smithie, please, listen for a—”

“And they gave all that shit up, for me.” Another whack to his chest.

“I know, but—”

“For me!” he roared in a way that the entire room stilled.

He stood there, staring at me, breathing heavily, and I knew it was going to happen before it happened.

So I ordered quickly, “Everybody out.”

Then it happened.

His arms went to cover his face and head and his legs went out from under him.

I rushed to him, looking at Darius and mouthing, “Out.”

Darius nodded and moved.

I got down on my knees by Smithie and pulled his big quaking body in my arms.

“For me,” he whispered, his voice breaking.

“They love you,” I whispered back.

“For me,” he repeated.

I said nothing. Just held him in my arms.

This lasted a long time before, not looking at me, still curled into himself in my arms, he started to ask, “How do I—?”

“I don’t know,” I interrupted. “I just know you will.” I pulled him closer. “I’ll help.”

He dropped his arms and turned his head to look at me. My breath caught and my heart squeezed at the ravaged look on his face, his bloodshot eyes, the wet on his cheeks.

“They did that shit for me,” he said, and it sounded like he was pleading. Like I could take his words and make them and the fact that all this happened go away.

“They love you,” I repeated and lifted my hands to his cheeks, moving my face closer. “And that, Smithie, is a beautiful thing. You take care of them. They took care of you. It was awful how they had to do it. But every single one of them did it. That’s how much they love you.”

He shook his head, taking my hands with it. “I can’t fix this,” he told me.

“Everything can be fixed,” I returned.

“Not this,” he whispered.

“Daisy? Ava? Sadie?” I gave him examples of women who lived on, valiantly and magnificently, after being violated. I shook my head before I lifted up, kissed his forehead then looked back into his eyes. “Everything can be fixed. Everything.”

He held my eyes.

Then he nodded.

“Baby.” We heard, and I let Smithie go in order to turn around.

I saw LaTeesha rushing in.

I got out of her way, and as she helped Smithie off the floor, I gave them their privacy.

Mace was at the top of the stairs.

When I looked at him, for once, he wasn’t looking broody. His eyes were warm and his face was soft.

It was a good look for him. Then again, for Mace, they all were.

“Good job,” he murmured.

“Thanks,” I murmured back and turned to the steps.

I was halfway down when he called quietly, “No, Ally.”

I turned back and looked up at him.

“All of it,” he said. He pointed at the office. “In there.” He pointed toward the club. “And out there.”

Fuck, but that felt great.

I didn’t say that.

I nodded and repeated, “Thanks, Mace.”

He nodded back.

I went back to descending the stairs.

At the bottom were Darius, Lee and Ren.

I looked at Lee. “Am I done?”

“Yeah, Ally,” Lee answered softly.

His eyes were warm and his face was soft, too.

I gave him a chin lift. He gave Ren a look.

I didn’t try to decipher that look. I just turned to my man and he didn’t make me say a word.

He just grabbed my hand and led me out the door.

We were in bed.

I had my face in Ren’s neck, my legs tangled with his.

He had an arm wrapped around me and he’d pulled up my nightie. He was drawing lazy patterns on the skin above my ass. The fingers of his other hand were laced with mine and he was holding them over his heart.

He hadn’t made a move on me. I didn’t make one on him. We just both got ready for bed silently and then he drew me into him and held me close.

I suspected he did this because he knew it would happen.

And it did.

Dragging his hand with mine up to my face, I pressed them against my lips as the sob ripped its path up my throat and out and my body bucked violently.

Ren let my hand go and turned into me, both his arms closing around me and holding tight.

I cried into his throat and I did it a long time.

When my sobbing started to die out, Ren pulled me even closer, giving me a squeeze and whispering, “Love you, baby.”

That was it. No coddling. No offers to talk it out. No pressure. Nothing. He let me be at the same time he gave me exactly what I needed.

“Love you too, Ren,” I whispered back.

And I did.

More and more every day.

And right there in that bed with Ren was the reason.

Precisely.

Because when I had to be a badass all day and cases got tough and I came home, or when life just sucked, or when life was awesome and going along fine, I knew this was what Ren Zano would give me.

Always.

Exactly what I needed.