Rock Chick 06 Reckoning (15 page)

Then his gaze cut back to Mace.

“So she did get hit,” Eric said to Mace.

What?

He knew I was shot?

What was going on?

“She got hit,” Mace replied.

“And you were there,” Eric went on.

Mace’s jaw got tight. “Yeah”

“
Fuck!
” Eric exploded again. “Back off, Mason. I’ve got this covered.”

I watched, stil total y confused as Mace zoomed straight from barely control ing his anger to holding onto his anger by a thread and I knew this was
not
a good thing.

“You got
what
covered, exactly?” Mace asked.

“Stel a,” Eric responded.

“Why don’t you explain that to me?” Mace’s thread was unraveling.

“How ‘bout you explain to me why you think you deserve an explanation?” Eric shot back.

This could go on al night.

“Excuse me!” I yel ed. “I
am
in the room.”

“Quiet, Stel a,” Mace said to me without looking away from Eric.

Oh no.

He was not getting bossy on me again.

“Don’t tel me to be quiet. What’s going on?” I shouted.

“He’s a Fed,” Mace answered.

My breath, which had come back, decided to go on vacation again. My guess, Las Vegas.

My eyes slid to Eric.

“A Fed?” I breathed with the last remnants of breath I had.

I
knew
something was not right about him, he told me he worked construction.

Eric’s teeth were in a clench.

“That’s right,” he said between them, his eyes reluctantly leaving Mace and coming to me.

“You work for –” I started.

“Yeah,” Eric cut me off.

“He’s on assignment,” Mace shared.

A muscle in Eric’s jaw leaped.

“Assignment?” Now I was sounding stupid but there was no other way to be.

“Sidney Carter,” Eric bit off.

Oh my God. Eric was after Bad Guy Sid too.

Then it hit me, if Eric was after Sid, then he was with me because…

Effing hel .

I started to back up.

“Stel a.” Eric turned away from Mace and started toward me.

“Don’t fuckin’ get near her,” Mace warned.

Eric stopped and turned back to Mace. “Do we gotta take this outside?”

“Works for me,” Mace replied immediately.

“No!” I shouted and Juno woofed, sensing the degradation of the atmosphere and not pleased that Eric had decided against a more thorough welcome. Juno wasn’t used to being ignored. “You two aren’t taking anything outside. You’re going to tel me what’s going on.

Starting with you.” I nodded at Eric.

Eric turned back to me, took a step, caught my look, clenched his teeth again and stopped.

“I can’t say much,” he started then I reckon he got a load of my
new
look and went on, “Stel a, sweetheart, I’m sorry. I can’t say much.”

“Okay, just tel me what it has to do with me.” Eric glanced back at Mace then to me. “I’m guessin’ you know.”

“Lindsey,” I said.

“And Mason,” Eric went on.

What?

“Mace?” I asked.

Eric continued, “We got a guy on the inside. They knew Sid was feeling the heat and was gonna retaliate. We knew who the targets were. We knew you were one of them. We knew why and we knew about the operation the other night.” I went back a few more steps, too stunned by this news to let the heat of anger sweltering off Mace to register on my brain. The backs of my legs hit the edge of one of the platforms and I sat down with no grace whatsoever.

Eric started toward me again but, quick as lightning, Mace moved and got in his way.

Eric stopped and glared at him.

I looked around Mace to Eric. “You knew?”

“Fuck,” Eric muttered.

Then, not thinking (yes, again), I jumped up, stormed forward and rounded Mace, shouting, “I got shot!” Mace’s arm tagged me around the middle and pul ed me, hard, into his body.

“I know!” Eric shouted back, deciding to ignore Mace’s arm which, I thought, my mind crazily veering in wild directions, was wise.

“You didn’t do anything about it!” I kept shouting.

“You were supposed to be with me,” Eric reminded me.

He was kind of right, I was. He’d put the pressure on, big time, for me to spend the night with him that night but I told him no.

Mace’s hard body felt somehow harder after Eric spoke.

“This is what
I
wanna talk about,” Mace said.

“It’s none of your fuckin’ business,” Eric bit out.

“I’m of a different opinion,” Mace bit back.

“And why’s that?” Eric returned.

“Stel a and I are back together,” Mace informed him.

Again, not thinking, I twisted my head to look at Mace and cried, “We are not!”

“Stel a –” Mace started.

My eyes moved back to Eric. “I want to know why you let me get shot.”

“I didn’t
let
you get shot. I sat outside, I saw you leave. I fol owed you to Lindsey’s. I saw that Stark and Mason were there, not to mention the cops, and I expected Sid wouldn’t be crazy enough to make a move with that kind of coverage. That’s when I got a cal . Jet McAlister was supposed to be with India Savage and her gang. She wasn’t and Chavez had been cal ed out. I was sent to her house. The drive-by happened before I got there and you were shot while I was in transit.”

Wel , that made me feel a
little
bit better.

“Now,” Eric’s eyes narrowed on Mace, “you wanna take your hands off her?”

“No,” Mace answered instantly.

“I’m thinkin’ that’s not the right answer. She was yel ing at you earlier, I heard her through the door and she says you aren’t back together,” Eric returned.

“Yeah, she says that. Then again, I’m pretty sure it was Stel a I was fuckin’ this morning, it was me she asked to fuck her harder and it was me she was holdin’ onto while she purred into my throat after I made her come. That’s contradictory information from her and me but considerin’ I intend to be in her bed for the foreseeable future, I figure you understand where the fuck I’m comin’ from just about now,” Mace shared, his voice utterly lethal.

I stil ed and Eric’s eyes hit me.

Oh my God, did Mace really just say that?
My brain asked me.

“You fucked him?” Eric asked me.

Yep, Mace real y just said that.

Oh man, I was gonna
kill
Mace.

“Eric,” I whispered. I didn’t know why I found this upsetting outside of what Mace just shared and how he shared it. First, I’d been holding back from Eric. And, second, I wasn’t his girlfriend, I was his assignment (I didn’t know the Feds went
that
far but there you go).

But I did find this upsetting mainly because he looked like I slapped him across the face.

Eric closed his eyes and looked to the side; the teeth clench was evident again.

“You need to find another assignment.” Mace wasn’t in the mood to go with the vibe which would warn just about anyone (except Mace) to back right the fuck off.

anyone (except Mace) to back right the fuck off.

Eric opened his eyes and they were scorching hot with anger, not just at Mace, but at me.

“Eric, this is complicated,” I told him quietly.

“I know it is. I know a lot about you, Stel a. I know you fel for him and he fel for you. I also know he walked out on you.

I also know that there’s been no one since him. No one, but me. Lastly, I know you were holding back from me but I didn’t think it was because you’d fuck him the minute you got your chance. I thought it was because you figured you’d get fucked over again if you opened up to anyone,” Eric explained, not nicely but it was an explanation.

“Careful with your words.” Mace decided to focus on the

“not nice” part.

“You didn’t open up to me!” I defended myself, ignoring Mace and focusing on the “explanation” part.

“I got a job to do. Opening up to you wasn’t part of my directive,” he lashed out.

A different kind of imaginary gut kick, this delivered by Eric.

“Thanks a lot,” I snapped.

“Fal ing for you wasn’t either,” Eric returned.

There it went again, my breath taking off, this time, to Wyoming.

Mace’s body tensed.

Shitsofuckit!

I opened my mouth to speak but it was too late, Eric turned, opened the door and started to walk out.

He stopped and looked back at Mace. “Take better fuckin’ care of her this time.”

fuckin’ care of her this time.”

Then he slammed the door and was gone.

Stella

I stared at the door not sure how I felt about what just happened; only sure it was unhappy and unpleasant and maybe a little sad.

Mace held onto me.

“Get out,” I said quietly, stil staring at the door.

“Tel me you didn’t fuck him,” Mace replied.

I closed my eyes, hard, and swal owed. This was to obtain a measure of control in order not to scream at the top of my lungs.

Then, again quietly, I repeated, “Mace, get out.” Mace didn’t let go. Mace didn’t move. Mace didn’t speak.

We stood that way, his arm stil around me, me stil pressed back to his front, both of us staring at the door, both silent, for what seemed like a long time.

Then his head came to my shoulder and he moved my hair away with his chin.

At my ear, he said (now
his
voice was quiet), “First night I was with you, you came hard and you came fast. The night I got back from Hawaii, you did the same. This morning, the same. Every time in between, it took a little more effort to get you to purr for me, Kitten.”

I held my breath. His words shook me. Simply what he said but also how much he remembered. I didn’t even think guys remembered shit like that.

“You didn’t let him fuck you,” he finished softly and he sounded relieved.

“Keep going, Mace, this is great. Pretty soon, I might hate you.”

Entirely unaffected by my words, he kissed my neck, let me go and whistled between his teeth for Juno. I heard Juno trundle off the bed and her claws on the wood floors as she approached us.

I watched him take the leash from the workout bag.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Juno needs out. We’re goin’ for a walk. We’l be back.”

“No you won’t. I just kicked you out,” I reminded him.

Mace stopped a foot in front of me. Juno was there so he bent, clicked on Juno’s leash and straightened. He leaned into me, kissed my disbelieving mouth lightly then he and Juno were gone.

I found myself staring at the door again.

Then I found myself wanting to cry.

My boyfriend I didn’t want just broke up with me (I was pretty sure that was what just happened) and I was thinking maybe now I was wrong about not wanting him. My ex-boyfriend that I wanted back thought we were back together and now I was thinking I was wrong about wanting him back (I wasn’t sure at al about that). And someone I didn’t even know wanted me dead.

Total y Queen of Super Shitty Luck.

I shook my thoughts clear, cleaned Juno’s water bowl, gave her new water, refreshed her food bowl and unpacked
my
stuff from the workout bag (leaving Mace’s stuff in as a statement). Then I retreated to the bathroom. I was going to take a long, hot, lavender-scented bath and give myself a pedicure.

I was soaking in the bath, a wet washcloth over my eyes, when Juno and Mace got back.

I heard them moving around.

I heard the bathroom door open.

I prayed to al that was holy that the bubbles were holding up.

“You didn’t lock the deadbolt.” I heard Mace say.

I was silent.

“You didn’t set the alarm,” Mace continued, sounding closer, indeed
a lot
closer.

“Sorry, I get an ‘F’ for the day in security,” I replied sarcastical y.

The washcloth was taken from my eyes. My hair was up in a knot on top of my head and I had a wide, pale yel ow headband holding it back from my face for good measure.

I turned my head which was resting on a bath pil ow on the back of the tub and looked at Mace. He was crouched down and close, he didn’t look angry but he didn’t look happy either.

“Babe, those particular grades end in ‘D’ which means

“Babe, those particular grades end in ‘D’ which means

‘dead’,” he said quietly and in al seriousness.

Shit.

He handed the washcloth back, I took it and put it back over my eyes.

Then I heard his voice come at me.

“By the way, babe, not a good idea to soak with that wound.”

Great. He was right.

Obviously, considering he was right, I made no response.

When I heard the door click behind him, I pul ed the washcloth off my eyes again and checked the bubbles.

Total body coverage.

Wel , thank God for one smal stroke of luck.

Hastily exiting the bath trying not to sound through the door like I was hastily exiting the bath, I toweled off, put on my robe and decided on a self-spa evening. After my pedicure (I went for a deep, violet purple), a nail file and buff and a mini-facial I threw in just because, I was no more clearheaded or relaxed. I was just as confused and just as scared and, additional y, my wound hurt.

I needed my music.

I’d been in the bathroom a long time. By the time I got out, even the summer evening light outside was dimming. I could see it around the blinds.

There was a faint light glowing by my mauve chair. Mace was in bed, surprising me by looking asleep. He didn’t move as I walked into the room. Juno gave a soft woof confirming this. Juno was good at being careful when her confirming this. Juno was good at being careful when her humans needed rest. It was weird for a dog to do but it was true.