Rock Chick 06 Reckoning (44 page)

Unfortunately, Daisy noticed.

“Hang on. You haven’t answered our questions,” Daisy cal ed after us as Hector started leading me away.

“I’l explain later,” I said over my shoulder.

“You better!” Daisy shouted and Hector kept going.

Without a word, Hector led me out to an old model, brown Bronco. We were both buckled up and heading to my place when he spoke.

“Do you women always talk like that?” he asked, referring, I knew, to the sex chat.

“Um…” I hedged, because, wel , we did.

“I don’t wanna know,” he cut in.

“Good choice,” I whispered.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

* * * * *

Juno was sleeping. I was not.

I was planning.

I rol ed when I heard the door open and the alarm start beeping. Juno lifted up and then jumped off the bed. Then I heard the code being entered and Juno’s tags jingled as she walked across the room.

I got up on an elbow, pul ed my hair out of my face and cal ed, “Mace?”

“Yeah, babe,” Mace cal ed back quietly.

I felt my heart flutter then settle. Not that I thought anyone was breaking in, just that I was glad he was home. I was glad to hear his voice say “yeah, babe” like he came home and said that to me every night. I was glad because I thought there was a possibility that he could be coming home and saying that to me every night.

“Just checking,” I told him. “Everything okay?”

“As okay as it can be.”

That wasn’t a great answer but at least no one had been shot at.

“Are you coming to bed?” I asked.

“In a minute,” he replied.

I listened to Juno’s tags jingle louder than normal knowing Mace was giving her a rubdown. Then I listened to Mace move around in the dark, listened to him taking off his clothes, listened to the soft rustle as his clothes hit furniture.

He walked into the bathroom, the light went on a second before he shut the door.

I lay back in bed and Juno jumped up and started to settle at the foot.

Then I took a deep breath, quit planning my upcoming War with Mace’s Demons Strategy and thought about my night.

Hector had walked me up to my apartment and he’d given me a cel phone to use, saying my cel and land line may be being monitored by Mace’s Dad.

I found this creepy as al get out but then again, Mace’s dad was a creep so that wasn’t a surprise.

Then, to my shock, Hector stayed. I thought this was a nice thing to do. I wasn’t a person who couldn’t be alone but at that moment I didn’t want to be alone. Normal y, I would choose a Rock Chick to be with me during this, my first, important maneuver in my War with the Demons but since I didn’t have that luxury, Hector would work.

I looked at the piece of paper Hector had given me and saw that Mace’s Mom’s name was Lana. I thought that was a beautiful name. She’d kept the last name Mason so I was guessing she never remarried. I supposed if you were screwed over by the Supreme Asshole of Al Time, you wouldn’t be keen to jump back into the game.

I dialed her number, got cold feet and hoped she wasn’t home.

I had absolutely no idea what to say.

Then I got worried she
wouldn’t
be home and I had absolutely no idea how to leave a message.

“Hel o?” I heard in my ear.

Oh shit.

Too late.

My eyes flew to Hector. He was standing beside me as I sat in my armchair.

He gave me a nod.

“Um, Ms. Mason?” I said back, dipping my chin to look at my knees and I heard Hector’s boots on the floorboards as he walked away.

“Yes?” she answered.

“This is Stel a. Stel a Gunn. You don’t know me. I’m a friend of your son’s. I’m a friend of, um… Kai’s.” Sheesh but it was weird cal ing Mace “Kai”.

Silence.

Or, I should say, loaded silence.

“Hel o?” I cal ed.

“Kai?” she asked and the way she said his name made it sound beautiful. She had a gorgeous voice, soft, feminine, melodic. I liked her just by the sound of her voice.

But I real y liked her by the way she said her son’s name, like it was magic.

“Yes, Kai,” I told her.

“Is he al right?” I heard a tremor of fear sift through her voice.

“Yes,” I said quickly then I went back on that word. “No. I mean, he’s fine but he’s not fine.”

Effing hel , this was hard.

Get on with it!
My brain shouted at me.

I don’t know how!
I shouted back.

Well, think of something!
My brain wasn’t having any of it.

“I don’t understand,” Lana said in my ear. “You’re the girl in the papers, right?”

Oh hel , she’d seen the papers.

Beautiful.

I wondered what she knew.

“Yes,” I told her. “We’re kind of… erm,
special
friends.” Special friends?

I was such an idiot!

“I was getting that from the papers,” she said softly then she informed me, “You’re very pretty.”

That was a nice thing to say so I smiled at the phone.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

What now?

Bloody, effing hel .

“He doesn’t know I’m cal ing you,” I told her.

Silence again.

I took a deep breath and forged ahead. “I know about Caitlin. I just found out.”

More silence, again it was loaded.

“Ms. Mason?”

“Cal me Lana.”

That was nice too.

“Lana, do you talk to Mace?” I asked.

“Mace?” she sounded confused.

“Erm, it’s what his friends cal Kai here. Mace.” There was a pause then I heard her say quietly, “That doesn’t sound like my son. He’s not a Mace.” This made me sad. In the picture I saw that day when Mace was holding his sister, he didn’t look like a Mace. He looked like a Kai.

He was definitely a Mace now.

“Do you speak with him?” I asked.

“I haven’t heard from him in nearly seven years.” Gut kick, sure and true. In fact, it was
the
gut kick to end
all
gut kicks.

It made me hurt, for Mace and for Lana.

“Oh, Lana,” I breathed when I found my voice.

“Why are you cal ing?” she asked, her voice getting stronger.

“I…” I didn’t know what to say then I did. “I need your help.”

Then I told her about what was happening. Everything.

Sidney Carter. Linnie. Preston Mason. Even my parents.

And even Mace and my history.

I figured she had a right to know. Mace was her son. I took a chance and didn’t sugarcoat it either. I figured since Mace was her son, she had to make him who he was at least partly and I was guessing she gave him the good parts since Preston Mason didn’t have anything good to give and Mace had a lot of good parts so I was thinking her genes had to be stronger so she could hack it.

When I was done talking, immediately, Lana asked,

“What do you want me to do?”

I looked at Hector. He’d moved away and was sitting on the platform, watching me and scratching Juno’s head.

“I need you to come to Denver,” I told Lana, taking my eyes from Hector.

“Then what do you want me to do?” Lana went on.

“Nothing. Just come to Denver. I’l do the rest.”

“What’s the rest?”

I had no effing idea.

I decided not to sugarcoat that either. “I don’t know. I’m making this up as I go along.”

She laughed quietly and it sounded like a pretty song.

“That doesn’t sound like a very good plan.” I smiled at the phone again. “It isn’t.” I leaned back in the chair and put my heels up on its edge then I shared, “But I have to do something. He takes good care of me. It’s time someone took care of him. And this, al of this… with his Dad, Caitlin, wel , it has to stop.”

Silence again but I felt her warmth coming at me from the phone line.

Then she said, “Stel a, you should know, he loved Caitlin more than anything else in this world. She didn’t have a Dad, neither of them did, not real y. Kai did everything he could so she wouldn’t feel that loss, not the way he felt it.

When she was taken –”

“Lana –” I cut in.

“No, sweetie, let me finish.”

I shut up mainly because her cal ing me “sweetie” felt nice. My mother or father never cal ed me anything like that.

It was one of the reasons why I liked Mace cal ing me

“Kitten” so much.

I wondered if she cal ed Mace “sweetie”.

Lana went on, “When she was taken, I watched my son die.”

I sucked in breath, my body got tight, I felt my throat close and my eyes flew to Hector as she continued.

“Kai disappeared. This Mace person has taken his place. You need to understand that he might not want me there. Caitlin, her Mom, Chloe, Kai and I used to do holidays together. We even did vacations together. We made a family out of what Preston left behind. We al got along great, even if at first, Chloe and I…” She stopped then started again, “Kai did that. Kai built our family. Kai wanted that for Caitlin and for Chloe and for me.”

“And for himself,” I cut in.

“And for himself,” she agreed softly. “But that’s gone now. He wants it gone. And he might not want it back. Not without Caitlin.”

“You’re his mother,” I told her.

“I am but –”

“And Chloe is al that’s left of Caitlin.”

“Stel a, sweetie –”

“I need to cal her too,” I said, a half-baked plan forming in my head.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Lana replied quickly.

“He can’t go on like this.”

“My son’s a pretty strong guy. He always was. He can do whatever he wants. He’s always done that too,” Lana told me and she sounded resigned to that.

I wasn’t resigned.

“That’s true. But now, he has to do whatever Caitlin wants. And I don’t know Caitlin but I can’t imagine that she would want this. Not for Mace, not for you and not for Chloe.

You need to be a family again.”

Lana was silent.

“Can you give me Chloe’s number?” I asked into the silence.

There was a pause, I heard a deep breath and then, hesitantly, “I’l phone her.”

My eyes came up and I smiled at Hector. “That’d be good,” I said into the phone.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” I heard Lana say.

“I don’t,” I admitted then, since I was admitting things, I went for the gusto. “But I love him and I have to try.” Another pause then with warmth, “I’m looking forward to meeting you, Stel a Gunn.”

I smiled again. “Me too.”

I asked Hector for the cel number, gave it to Lana, we said our good-byes and then we disconnected.

My eyes found Hector’s were stil on me.

“Am I doing the right thing?” I asked him.

“Absolutely,” he replied immediately, sounding certain.

“You’re sure?” I wasn’t so certain.

He got up and walked to me. I sat in silent surprise as he bent down, wrapped his hand around the back of my head, kissed the top of it and when I tilted my face to look at him, his gaze locked on mine.

“I’m sure,” he whispered.

“I hope you’re right,” I whispered back.

He let me go and straightened. “Mace is a lucky guy.” I felt a weird, happy warmth flow through me at his approval.

I smiled up at Hector. “Thanks.”

Hector smiled back and my breath took a hike through the trails of the Rocky Mountain National Forest.

Hector Chavez had a fucking great smile.

Shortly after, Hector took off, leaving me the cel . I used it to phone Floyd and make sure he and Buzz were okay.

Linnie’s funeral was the next morning (and I was cheesed off I couldn’t go but, for obvious reasons, I couldn’t) then they were coming back so they could make the gig on Thursday.

I shared a few things with Floyd while we talked. He strangely sounded both worried and relieved.

Then he passed the phone to Buzz and I shared a few things with him.

“Linnie would be so happy,” Buzz told me.

I knew she would and that made me happy but it also made me sad. I wished that she could be around to see it al unfold and believe in it and maybe believe in herself again.

But my luck hadn’t changed that much.

Once I hung up, I made the set list for Thursday’s gig and it was going to be a humdinger, designed both for Dixon Jones and Kai Mason and then I played guitar. Then Juno and I went to bed and I planned.

The bathroom door opened and I heard Mace moving through the room. I saw his shadow at the side of the bed, the covers went back and then he was in, stretching out beside me and pul ing the covers up to his waist.

For some reason, I stayed where I was, waiting for him to reach out to me.

He didn’t. He was on his back, he put his hands behind his head and I saw his profile facing the ceiling. I was on my side, facing him.

“Lee told me about the fight in the head shop,” he said.

Oh dear.

“Pong and Leo got a little out-of-control,” I replied.

Mace didn’t respond. There was nothing to say. Pong and Leo had a habit of getting out-of-control on a routine basis.

“Daisy and Hector have set a meeting on Thursday with the A&R guy from Black Fat Records,” I told him.

“You gonna take the meet?”

I took in a breath then said, “Yeah.”

He took his hands from behind his head, turned to his side to face me and murmured, “Good.”

“I’m scared,” I shared.

“I know,” he returned.

Wel , there you go. Nothing else to say on that subject.

“I swung by to see Monk today,” Mace told me. “Got your money, it’s on the kitchen counter. I’l give Floyd, Hugo, Pong and Leo their take tomorrow.”