Rock Chick 04 Renegade (10 page)

I shouldn’t have worried. This was Vance Crowe we were talking about. He climbed, bent nearly double, shoved his torso through with me around his shoulders, not even scraping the ceiling. He released me, rol ed me in and came up behind me, snagging me under my armpits and hauling me up the bed. He lay down on his back and pul ed me up over his body.

I was too shocked to move and staring at him in disbelief.

God, he was good.

“Now we can talk,” he said, his arms wrapped around my waist.

“Why do you want to talk up here?” I asked.

“I like it up here.”

I rol ed my eyes.

Whatever.

Time to get this over with so I could go out and annoy bad guys.

“How do you know my alarm code?” I asked.

He didn’t answer, just smiled.

“Crowe! I want to know.”

“You wanna know, I’l show you. Later, not tonight.” I blinked at him. “Seriously?” I asked, so wanting to learn that I completely forgot that tonight was our only night and tomorrow I was going to figure out a way to get Vance Crowe out of my life for good.

“You wanna know, I’l show you,” he repeated.

“Wow. Thanks,” I was stil forgetting.

“I like Nick,” he said conversational y.

I couldn’t help myself, I smiled. “I do too.”

“What do you cal him?” he asked what I thought was a strange question.

“I cal him Nick.” I replied.

“No, he isn’t your Dad, but he is, so what do you cal him?”

I stared at him. “How do you know that?”

“He and I talked.”

I went stil . “About what?”

“About him raisin’ you, about your family dyin’, your granddad dyin’, your aunt dyin’.”

I gasped. I did this partly because Nick had apparently shared a great deal of information about me but mainly because Nick never talked about Auntie Reba, not to anyone, but me.

“He told you about Auntie Reba?”

“Yeah.”

I didn’t know what to do with that because I felt it said something about Vance that Nick would trust him enough upon first meeting him to mention it. It freaked me way, the hel , out.

I shirked off my freak out and forged ahead. “What else did he tel you?” I asked, feeling uncomfortable with the knowledge that he knew way too much about me.

“He told me I was your first date in five years.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered, horrified. I was going to
kill
Nick.

“And he told me your birthday is Thursday.” I decided to be quiet and hoped that our talk wasn’t going to be a long one. After two minutes I was over it and wanted to shut down, move on, fil my mind with something else, anything else, but Vance.

Vance watched me. I kept silent.

“Tel me about Park,” he demanded softly.

“No,” I said instantly and pushed away. The conversation was official y over.

His arms tightened, he came up, twisting me to my back and his body rol ed into me so he was half on me, his thigh thrown over both of mine, pinning me to the bed.

He looked down at me. “You already know we investigated you,” he said.

“Yeah.”

“You’re a busy woman.”

I stared at him and kept silent.

“Even before this shit went down with Park your name is al over police records. You worked at a battered woman’s shelter, got involved in a couple of messy cases. You got mentions in a number of kids’ files, comin’ down to the station when they got into trouble, puttin’ in a word for them.

Got ‘em out and into King’s.”

I stayed silent.

“Park was different,” Vance said in a way that I knew wasn’t a question.

I sucked in my lips and stayed quiet.

“So are Roam and Sniff, aren’t they?”

I couldn’t keep it up. “They’re my boys.”

He watched me, his eyes scanning my face and something came over him, not the sexy something, something else. Something that looked an awful lot like concern.

“Jules, you know, you gotta keep a distance. You don’t, it’l destroy you.”

“I can keep a distance.”

“Yeah? Like spendin’ your nights puttin’ your ass on the line, makin’ drug dealers pay for what they did to Park?” My eyes slid to the side. “Um…” I mumbled.

“And runnin’ around lookin’ after two teenage runaways like they were your own flesh and blood?”

I brought my eyes back to him and stayed silent.

“That shit with Roam today at Fortnum’s… Jesus, Jules, you aren’t his sister, you’re his social worker.”

“I know that.”

“Didn’t look like it to me.”

“Don’t tel me how to do my job,” I clipped.

“I’m tryin’ to talk some sense into you.”

“You don’t know these boys.”

“Yes I do. I grew up with kids like them.” This shut me up because that night I learned he had. It was somewhere I didn’t al ow my mind to go because I hated the thought of someone as magnificent as Vance Crowe living on the street but now he said it straight out, it forced my mind to go there.

I felt my discomfort edge away and I just stopped myself from touching him.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

He shook his head and his eyes got hard. “Jules, listen to me closely. I’m not another one of your causes. I survived. It was shit and I nearly didn’t but I came out the other side. What I went through, it made me who I am. You do your job, only your job, those boys’l come out the other side too.”

Then I whispered, don’t ask me why, but I did, “I love them.”

He watched me a beat then his eyes changed again, not to the concerned look, or the sexy look, but the look he’d given me that day at Fortnum’s.

It touched me somewhere deep; somewhere I’d forgotten I had.

“They’re good kids, they make me laugh,” I went on, unable to stop myself. “They’re smart, sharp as tacks and not just street smart. Al that and they’ve had no love, Vance, no love in their lives at al . Only abuse. They didn’t leave home because of teenage rebel ion or family misunderstanding or minds not meeting. They left home because they had to, to survive or they’d go crazy or get hurt. The only people in their lives they can trust, ever could trust, are each other… and me. Now Park’s gone, it’s just the three of us. Park was their leader. He was the best of them, keeping them safe and straight even as he searched for release for himself. Without him, I don’t know if I can save them.”

Vance watched me while I talked but at my last words, he broke in. “They gotta save themselves.”

“They’re kids!” I protested.

“They’ve learned enough to know their lives are in their hands.”

“They’re kids, Vance.”

“Jules.”

“No,” I shook my head. “No. They’re special and if I don’t do anything else in my life, I’m gonna make sure
they
have one.”

“Jules.”

“No!” I shouted.

Vance stared at me then I could tel he came to a decision. “I’m not gonna change your mind, am I?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“Then you gotta stop what you’re doin’ at night so you can be around to take care of them.”

I went back to silence.

Vance stared at me again. Then he muttered, “Shit.” I couldn’t help myself. I knew he was giving up so I grinned.

He caught the grin and his eyes flashed. I stopped grinning.

“You go out, I’m your shadow,” he said. “Someone has to keep you safe.”

Um… no
. I thought.

“No,” I said out loud.

“Yes.”

“No!” I yel ed. “I know what I’m doing.”

“You don’t have a fuckin’ clue.”

I frowned at him. “Leave it alone, Vance. I know what I’m doing. I know you and al the boys think that I’m some kind of idiot female but I’m not. I know what I’m doing.” He dropped to his side, taking me with him so we were face-to-face. “I’m keepin’ you alive,” he said.

“Vance –”

“You’re gonna stay alive. At least until we have a second date.”

I rol ed my eyes.

It was my turn to give up. It was his turn to grin.

Okay, then I was going to get something out of it. “I want a favor,” I said.

His grin deepened and the change happened, this time it
was
the sexy change. “Yeah?”

“You’l get a second date if you come into King’s tomorrow and talk to Roam.”

The change vanished. “I’m not takin’ him in.” I shook my head. “No. I don’t want you teaching him. I just want you to walk up to him, talk to him in front of the other kids like you know him, like you respect him. Roam
and
Sniff. Al the kids know about you, they respect you. You act like Roam’s your boy, it’l enhance his reputation. It’l mean something to the other kids. It’l give him confidence.” It would do more than that. It would give him just a tiny smidgen of what he wanted. It would be the first time he got even a taste of a life’s desire.

To Vance, it was taking thirty minutes and talking to a kid.

To Roam, it could change his life.

Vance didn’t answer, he just looked at me.

I leaned in, a bit, not much and then I whispered, so low you almost couldn’t hear it, “Please.”

Vance’s eyes changed again, they went soft and sexy and I felt my breath catch.

“I’l do it.”

I didn’t realize my body was so tense but when he agreed I relaxed into him. His arms got tight and his hands drifted up my back, pressing me to his body.

“One condition,” he said.

Oh crap.

“What?” I asked.

“This second date is tomorrow night, you’l be here and you won’t stand me up.”

“Okay,” I agreed instantly.

“That’s not the condition.”

Fuck.

“What?” I repeated.

“I take you out, after, I spend the night here. You don’t go out huntin’ drug dealers. You stay in, al night, with me, in this bed, naked and when I make you come you say my name.”

My stomach plummeted again, it felt good again but stil , I just stared at him.

I couldn’t promise that. “Crowe –” I started.

“Take it or leave it.”

I could just not believe this.

“I’m asking you to do something nice for a kid and you’re asking… you’re… I don’t
believe
you.”

“Maybe I should tel you somethin’ about me. I learned early you don’t do somethin’ for nothin’ and you get the best deal out of your end as you can. I want you. I want to taste you. I want to fuck you. I want to make you come and I want to hear you moan my name when you do so I know that you know it’s me who made you come. You don’t agree, I don’t see Roam.”

I frowned at him. “I think you might just be a bastard,” I snapped.

“Get over it,” he returned.

I stayed silent trying hard not to scratch his eyes out or knee him in the bal s.

“Jules, you want it too,” he told me and even though he was right, it stil pissed me off.

“Al right, fine,” I clipped. “Tomorrow night.” God, the things I did for my boys.

He rol ed into me again, pushing me to my back and I glared at him.

“Is our talk over?” I asked irritably.

“Yeah,” he said but the change was over him and he was smiling at me. It was a smal smile but a satisfied one.

“Good, then you can go.”

“In a minute.” His face was coming toward mine.

“No. Now,” I ordered.

“Not until I’ve had another sample.”

“Crowe!” I got out before he kissed me.

I pushed against him and tried to pul away but he rol ed ful y on top of me, pressing me into the bed and insisting with his tongue that I open my mouth. I resisted, trying to twist my head away but he didn’t stop. His hands were moving on my body when his head final y came up.

“Tomorrow night,” I said.

He didn’t say anything just looked at me with his eyes soft and sexy. His hand went under my shirt, sliding up the skin of my midriff and my body froze. It did this mainly because the tingles had started and the warmth of his hand felt nice but I was stil trying to resist.

His head came back down again and his lips hit mine at about the time his hand cupped my breast.

My mouth opened in a gasp, his tongue slid in, my body melted, the tingles took over and Vance got his sample.

After Vance got his sample, he kissed my mouth lightly a few times then lifted up and kissed my forehead then he was gone.

I lay in bed for awhile, recovering.

Then I lay in bed for awhile wondering how in
the hell
I was going to get out of tomorrow night.

I couldn’t sleep with Vance. Not only would he find out I was a virgin, I had no idea what I was doing (mainly because I was a virgin).

He was obviously good at it. I even knew a few women who knew firsthand he was good at it. How embarrassing would it be when I was
not
good at it?

I decided to think about it later, much later, after I’d jumped a plane to Nicaragua tomorrow afternoon and disappeared off Vance Crowe radar.

I jumped down off the bed, scattering and ticking off Boo who thought we were in for the night. I put on a chocolate brown turtleneck (as in,
dark
chocolate, almost black), matching cords, a deep brown belt and matching boots.

The boots had low heels, they were comfortable and I could run in them. The best thing about the boots though, even with al that, they stil looked kil er (you couldn’t be a badass mother without kil er boots, it was a rule).

I pul ed back my hair in a ponytail and I was ready to rol .

Then I turned out the lights and I waited.

I didn’t put it past Vance to watch the house and then fol ow me.

After I figured he’d given up (if he was out there at al ), I gathered my weapons, went out to Hazel and I took on the night.