TENDERFOOT

AVENGING ANGELS

BOOK 3

KRISTEN ASHLEY

CONTENTS

1. “The Prophecy”

2. “the 1”

3. “Shake It Out”

4. “Don’t Start Now”

5. “The Man”

6. “Your Best American Girl”

7. “Cranes in the Sky”

8. “Smoke Signals”

9. “Sprained Ankle”

10. “Sisters of the Moon”

11. “Love Story”

12. “Halo”

13. “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves”

14. “Walking On Sunshine”

15. “No Ordinary Love”

16. “Therefore I Am”

17. “Whatta Man”

18. “That’s the Way Love Goes”

19. “Royals”

20. “Girl on Fire”

21. “Ray of Light”

22. “Independent Women, Part 1”

23. “I’m Every Woman”

24. “Because You Loved Me”

25. “We Are Family”

26. “Quietly Yours”

27. “Bad Reputation”

28. “She”

29. “Invincible”

Cast of Characters

Acknowledgments

Newsletter

About the Author

Also by Kristen Ashley

This book is a work of fiction. Any reference to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright© 2025

by Kristen Ashley

 All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights. If you would like to use material from this book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained. Please address Rock Chick Press, 4340 East Indian School Road, Suite 21-413, Phoenix, Arizona, 85016, USA.

Cover Image: Pixel Mischief Design

ONE

“THE PROPHECY”

(TAYLOR SWIFT)

“All quiet on the Western front.”

“You were just dying to say that, weren’t you?”

“Well…duh.”

“Though, how do you know? You’re on the Eastern front.”

“Semantics.”

“Directions.”

“He’s late.”

“I’m not liking this.”

“Is this business usually this boring?”

In order, all the above was: Luna, Raye, Luna again, Jess, Luna, Jess again, Willow and Shanti.

My crew. My besties.

The Angels.

This convo sounded in my new ear thingy. One of the ones Arthur gave us.

It was fancy-dancy. It received and sent. In other words, it picked up my voice and the conversations I had. My girls could hear everything, and I didn’t have to speak into a wristwatch or something like that.

It was extra cool.

Then again, Arthur tended to spoil us, and as such, always got us the best stuff.

The ear thingies even matched our flesh tones so they’d be harder to see. Like really matched, as if they were made just for us. Mine was a peachy pink. Jess’s was an oliveish peach. Shanti’s was mocha. You get the picture.

Though, I wore my hair down, just in case.

I wasn’t taking any chances because, with this loser I was going to be dealing with that night, I was our only shot, and I couldn’t blow it. He went for girls like me (and Willow), and one could say Raye, Luna, Jessie and Shanti weren’t at all like me (or Willow). And since he was Willow’s ex, and he was giving her troubles, me and the other Angels were trying to shut him down.

It wouldn’t do for him to see my ear thingy and the jig being up.

It’d taken some doing to get to the point of this fake date, even if he didn’t know it was fake, including some reconnaissance (to others this might be considered stalking, though stalkers tended to stalk, and we were stalking as a means to an end—I liked to think that made all the difference so it didn’t feel skeevy).

It also included me signing up to a dating app (not my thing at all, when I found my guy, it’d happen like it was supposed to happen…organically) and arranging for me to be in his vicinity because the app he used to prey on women was one that binged with a possible match when someone was close.

Seriously.

Creepy, or what? (I’ll answer that…it was creepy.)

Why any woman would willingly allow strangers to know she was nearby, I had no idea.

I didn’t suspect that app was going to have a long lifespan. I’d messed around with it, and unsurprisingly, the vast majority of people on it were men.

And I suspected many of those men were what we weren’t but were forced to be under the circumstances: stalkers.

But there I was, after Kevin and I “matched.” With Willow’s guidance, the Angels created a profile for me he’d go for, and I had to admit, with no small amount of disquiet, what we wrote wasn’t far from the truth.

Me and Willow’s ex, Kevin, had been messaging each other for a week.

It was time for a meet.

Let me rewind.

My friends and I were the Avenging Angels. We were vigilantes (of a sort). We investigated crimes on our time off from being servers, baristas and bartenders at a fun, hip spot called The Surf Club.

We had a benefactor: Arthur. He was our Charlie. He seemed to have unlimited means, but none of us had met him, nor did we know who he was.

We also had a Bosley, but her name was Clarice, she was a high-powered, expensive lawyer, and she didn’t like to be referred to as Bosley.

I know this sounds crazy, and maybe to some, it was.

But surprise of surprises, even with zero training, we were really good at this investigating stuff.

It might be dumb luck, but I was an optimist, so I liked to think of it as good intuition.

Since we started doing this, we’d solved the mystery of women going missing, abducted by a human trafficking ring.

We’d then solved the mystery of people from homeless camps also going missing, kidnapped to be forced labor in drug dens.

Now, we were doing this.

It all started when Raye was triggered, because her little sister had been kidnapped and murdered when she was super young, and her entire family had fallen apart. Raye descended onto a path of wreaking justice to injustice and eventually investigating the disappearance of a little girl (who, yeah, you guessed it, Raye found with zero training).

The rest of us got roped in (by “the rest of us,” I mean Jessie, Luna and I).

Recently, we recruited Shanti and Willow, mainly because Arthur picked Shanti, and she was tight with Willow, and Willow was having man problems, so we girls pulled her in because we figured that was what Arthur got us all together to do.

Not to mention, Willow was already a loose member of our crew. She worked with us at SC, we all liked her a whole bunch, she thought our Angel business was cool, so why not?

We had several storage units filled with cars we could use to get around without the danger of discovery of using our own with their pesky traceable license plates. And one unit was all kitted out as our personal Angels Headquarters, and it was rad. In fact, when we first got it, Arthur had put Andy Warhol-like portraits in it of all of us, including Shanti and Willow, so that was how we knew our numbers were going to grow.

We had equipment, and it wasn’t only the ear thingies.

We were totally official (unofficially), and we had Tasers and a laser pointer to prove it.

So, during our surveillance, we’d found that Kevin got his jollies (and his luxury sustenance, not to mention a few stolen wallets, designer purses or cell phones) by hooking up with chicks he’d matched with on the Stung dating app. He’d ask them to dinner at a fancy restaurant, rack up a bill of hundreds of dollars on wine and food that he intimated was on him, then “nip to the bathroom,” only to disappear and leave the chick to foot the bill. Alternatively, she’d nip to the bathroom, and he’d take anything he could grab and vamoose.

In the end, she’d be trying to foot that bill or deal with getting home without her wallet, phone or car keys.

Gross, right?

Oh yeah.

Totally gross.

Listen up girls, at the very least, take all your stuff when you use the bathroom on a first date. Maybe even a second (or third) one.

That wasn’t the only reason Kevin was far from a peach. From what Willow said, he was a total dick as a boyfriend too. He wasn’t a physical abuser, he was an emotional one, and that hurt just the same.

This meant that right then I was wearing a cute date dress that was off-the-shoulder with cap sleeves (that ended in tiny ruffles) and had a twirly, short skirt, all of this in a subtle floral print. I had loose-curled hair, perfect date night makeup, and on my feet were high-heeled pink strappy sandals with poofy flowers at the backs of my ankles.

And my girls were stationed inside and outside Oceans 44 by Scottsdale Fashion Square, one of the hip, trendy, see-and-be-seen, expensive restaurants in that tony locale.

We were going to catch him in the act.

What we planned to do after that, I was a little vague on (a little, as in, I had no clue). We had no authority to detain him. But Raye and Luna had a plan, and considering Raye and Luna were a little crazy (in a good way, but still crazy), I was thinking I was glad I didn’t know what they intended to do after we caught him.

“Wait, what?” Willow said in my earpiece. “What’s Trev doing here?”

“Trev?” Raye asked.

“Trev, Kevin’s best friend,” Willow answered.

“They’re Kev and Trev?” Jessie asked while laughing.

“I know, right?” Willow said, also laughing.

“I see him because he’s incoming, Lolo. He’s heading right to you,” Luna warned.

I watched the tallish, relatively good-looking, well-dressed guy walking toward me, attention right on me, and he was smiling.

“I’m not thrilled with this,” Jessie said. “It’s obvious he’s not here to be a lookout. He’s going directly to her.”

“Keep your shit sharp, Harlow,” Raye ordered.

I fought rolling my eyes.

I loved my girls, well and truly, but just because I was girlie (okay, ultra girlie) didn’t mean I was an idiot. I mean, obviously this change in plan meant I needed to stay sharp, but honestly, with what I was doing, I would be that anyway.

Though, truth told, Raye was probably just worried about this sudden change. My crew didn’t treat me like I was a moron. I was transferring, because there were other people in my life (Hi, Mom!) who did.

But it was good advice since the guy was headed right to me like his face had been on the profile of the dude I’d been messaging for a week, when it was not.

“Missy?” he asked as he made my table.

That was the name we decided for me to use undercover. We thought it was three parts uber-girlie, and one part being a guy might underestimate a woman named Missy.

I attempted to look confused, and when his smile broadened, I figured he bought it.

“I’m Jay, Bryan’s friend.”

Yep. They were using fake names too.

“He’s going to be late, and I was in the area, so he asked me to stop by and keep you company,” Jay/Trev continued.

Ugh.

Such a lie.

What were they playing at?

I pretended to shift anxiously in my seat. “I don’t feel really comfortable with that.”

Even as I said this, he slid into the chair opposite me.

“We’ll just have a cocktail,” Jay/Trev continued. “Maybe order some oysters. I’ll clear out when Bryan shows.”

Ah.

So, since Trev was “in the area,” he thought he could tag-team this and leave me with a bill that included Trev enjoying a twenty-plus dollar cocktail and some market price oysters.

“Abort,” Raye ordered in my ear. “This is bullshit and I don’t like it. We’ll regroup at the unit and figure out next moves.”

I pushed my chair back, saying, “Bryan has a phone. He could have texted to share you were coming. This doesn’t feel right. Tell him next time he’s going to spring a stranger on me, to⁠—”

“Holy shit.” (Luna)

“What the fuck?” (Jess)

“Where’d he come from?” (Shanti)

“Woman,” I heard growled from the side of the table.

I looked that way, then up, and up, and up, right into Javier Montoya’s crystal-clear amber eyes in his drop-dead gorgeous face.

Nope.

Correction.

His angry crystal-clear amber eyes in his furious, drop-dead gorgeous face.

“Man, he’s good,” Raye breathed. “He appeared out of thin air.”

I didn’t have time to reflect on or admire Javier Montoya’s shadow-like ability to slip in under the radar of five women keeping close watch on me, especially doing this when the man was six foot six inches of hulking, defined muscle (something that earned him the nickname of Mountain).

I was too busy being peeved he’d showed up at all.

I was this for obvious reasons, and for other reasons that weren’t as obvious.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded.

“What are you doing here?” Javi returned.

“I asked first,” I retorted.

“But I’m getting an answer first,” he shot back.

“Uh…can I ask what’s going on?” Jay/Trev entered the conversation.

Javi turned his attention to Jay/Trev. It was still unhappy.

Jay/Trev understandably quailed under his golden glare backed by a mountain of muscled man.

“It looks like you’re on a date with my girlfriend,” Javi declared.

At these words coming out of Javi’s mouth, my stomach plummeted in a happy way I did not like (but I did, and I didn’t like that either), my skin tingled in an excited way I also did not like (but I did, etcetera), and my mouth wanted to form a smile (which I did not allow).

Suffice it to say, that traditional, organic meeting with my soulmate?

When I met Javi during our last big mission, I thought it was him.

In the months since, I discovered it was not.

So why was he here, out of the blue, claiming me?

“Holy shit,” Raye whispered.

“What the fuck?” Jess snapped.

“Oh my God,” Luna said.

“My pregnant girlfriend,” Javi finished on a lie.

All those earlier sensations vanished, and my mouth dropped open.

“Um…what?” Jay/Trev asked.

“Javi!” I cried.

Javi turned back to me. “You steppin’ out on me?”

Oh my goodness!

He was ruining everything!

Weeks and weeks of setting this up, wasted.

I pushed back my chair and stood, ordering, “Go away.”

“No, I think I’ll go away,” Jay/Trev said, standing as well, doing it shifting to the other side of the table so he didn’t have to get close to Javi.

Dang it!

Now what do I do?

“No, wait,” I said to Jay/Trev, hoping to buy time to figure out how not to let this whole operation come to nothing because Javi, for some reason, was sticking his big (it wasn’t big, it was perfect), fat (it wasn’t that either) nose in it.

Jay/Trev shot me a look of disdain.

He was doing terrible things to unsuspecting women, and he looked at me like that?

Me!

“I’ll let Bryan know he dodged a bullet with you,” Jay/Trev said, and then he took off, pulling out his phone.

I whirled on Javi.

“Are you insane?” I snapped.

“I’m not, but thinking you are.”

“It took weeks to set tonight up,” I informed him.

“Wasted effort,” he grunted.

“No kidding?” My voice was rising.

“I don’t understand this shit,” he stated conversationally. “You women got an issue, you just tell the men, and we’ll sort it for you.”

Was he…

Was he for real?

While I expended grave effort not to scream my frustration at the top of my lungs, Javi kept speaking, and he did this while assuming Jay/Trev’s seat.

“Now, tell me what’s up, and me and the boys’ll get on it.”

At this juncture, it was important to share that Javi was one of the Hottie Squad.

That was, he was a member of the Nightingale Investigations and Security team.

And they were all the baddest of bad-A’s.

The Angels had a loose association with the boys of NI&S that hinged mostly on Raye living with Cap, and Jessie being loved up with Eric, both of them NI&S men.

Oh, and when the Angels got to the parts of our investigations that might include blood and guns and direct run-ins with bad guys (not to mention the police), the NI&S team stepped in.

But before that, Javi had been a Shadow Soldier.

Nope.

The Shadow Soldier. He’d been the first and he recruited all the rest.

In other words, a vigilante, like the Angels, except they were all men, they had matching tattoos, and two of them sadly got dead not too long ago, so the NI&S team snapped the rest of them up and absorbed them into their operations.

As previously mentioned, Javi was also a man I had a huge crush on, and not just because he was incredible to look at, he had a deep, rough voice that did things to my heart (and other places as well), the most unusual, beautiful eyes I’d ever seen and an amazing body.

No, it was because he had a finely honed sense of right and wrong, and the drive to do something about it, he loved his mom a whole lot, and he treated his men like brothers and grieved the ones he lost like he’d lost his own blood…

And again, as mentioned, the very first time we met, sparks flew. So many of them, I was singed, and the burn felt awesome.

Since then…nothing.

He made no moves.

He made no plays.

None of either, even if he’d had ample opportunity. He was a member of our group. So I couldn’t say I saw Javi every day, but we all hung out together a lot.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe those sparks weren’t what I thought they were, firing from us both.

Maybe they only fired from me.

Or at least, all evidence was suggesting that.

But now, he was there, messing up our carefully crafted plan to put a stop to Kev’s (and now Trev’s) shenanigans, and that was not okay.

I was also not okay being in this classy, romantically lit restaurant with the most gorgeous man I’d ever laid eyes on sitting across the table from where I stood, looking like he was my guy.

My man.

My soulmate.

Therefore, I snatched up my bag and started to flounce away.

And yes, I flounced when I was angry. It came naturally. It was how I moved. I’d tried not to flounce, and it was like trying not to breathe.

I was just a girl who flounced.

I got five feet before my hand was seized in one much larger and stronger than mine, and I wasn’t flouncing anymore.

I was being dragged, discreetly, but being dragged nonetheless.

“Holy shit.” (Luna)

“Oh my God.” (Raye)

“What the fuck?” (Jessie)

“Okay, he’s being an asshole. But it’s still hot.” (Shanti)

In order not to make a scene, I decided to let Javi pull me out of the restaurant and continue to do it even as he nodded to the valet outside who tossed him a set of keys, and then Javi walked us to a big, shiny, granite Toyota Tundra that was parked close to the front doors.

But, let’s face it, I allowed this mostly because he was holding my hand.

It was the first time he’d touched me in that kind of way.

So I wanted it to be about me not making a scene, but it wasn’t.

It was because his hand felt good wrapped around mine. It was big. Warm. I could feel the callouses, so it spoke about him. It said he was a man who worked. He was a man who didn’t put on airs. He wasn’t soft. He got stuff done.

And it was so big, my hand got lost in his, and that felt so…danged…good.

Like he could shelter me. Protect me. Wrap me up in him so the hurts of the world could never get to me.

And…

Yeah.

That was mostly what was on my mind as he towed me to his truck.

He opened the passenger side, and I wished I hadn’t released the surprised squeak that came when he reached under my hair, plucked the earpiece out of my ear (how did he know it was there?!), shoved it in his jeans pocket, picked me up…

Yes, picked me up!

…and dumped me in the passenger seat.

I was stunned immobile by these moves. So much so, he’d closed my door, rounded the grill and pulled himself up beside me before I had a reaction.

But it was too late.

He’d fired up his truck, there was an incessant beep, and over it he demanded, “Belt up.”

I had no choice but to do so since we were moving.

After I accomplished that, even though my fingers were fumbling due to being both extremely ticked off and feeling something else, something deeper, scarier, the beeping went away, I turned to him and shared irately, “My car is there.”

“We’ll send Cody to get it.”

Cody was another former Shadow Soldier, current NI&S Hottie Squad member.

“Cody doesn’t have my fob.”

Javi didn’t reply.

I’d been around these men enough I translated his silence. “He doesn’t need my fob to start my car.”

“We have fobs for all you women’s cars,” Javi stated.

Although this was insane (I mean, how did they do that?), it shouldn’t surprise me. Raye with Cap, Jessie with Eric, we knew the Hottie Squad looked after us. They’d hacked into the cameras trained on the Oasis parking lot (Oasis Square was the apartment complex where we lived). They had the code to the gate to the courtyard. They also had other things to keep tabs to keep us safe.

But it surprised me.

Actual duplicate car fobs?

“You have actual car fobs?” I asked as he turned onto Goldwater.

“We have actual car fobs,” he answered. “But, just sayin’, for fifty bucks, he’ll get your fob from the valet.”

I really didn’t want to think that fifty dollars would earn the key to my car handed over to a stranger, but since my car wasn’t all that much to write home about, and cost of living wasn’t either, I suspected fifty bucks would get someone the key from the valet.

“Okay, let’s move on to you dragging me out of that restaurant and poking your nose into Angel business,” I said.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Let’s move on to that. What are you women up to this time?”

Up to?

Gah!

“We’re not up to anything,” I retorted. “We have a new mission.”

“And that’s what I’m askin’ about.”

“And me not answering should be your indication I’m not gonna answer.”

“Then it’s good I shut that shit down before you got your ass in a sling.”

Oh boy.

Did he know about Kev and Trev?

I tested the waters. “Do you know about Kev and Trev?”

“Kev and Trev?”

He didn’t know.

This time, I didn’t reply.

“Was that Kev or Trev?” he fished.

“I think, at this point, I’d like to talk about you dragging me out of the restaurant, taking my ear thingy, then picking me up and dumping me in your truck.”

“You were walking away from me, and I wasn’t done talking to you,” he explained, like doing what he did was the most natural thing in the world.

I was already staring at him, but when he said this, I stared harder.

When I could find my voice, I asked, “Did it matter that I was done talking to you?”

He glanced at me. I could see by the city lights his gaze dropped to where I was sitting next to him. He then looked back to the road.

I guessed that was his answer, and it actually was, since it obviously didn’t matter where I was in our conversation at the restaurant since I was where I was right then.

I didn’t know what to do at this juncture. I was in his truck. I didn’t know where he lived. What I did know was that we were headed in the direction of where I lived.

With my choices being yelling at him, attempting to find calm and explaining the myriads of reasons what he did was not okay, giving in and sharing what the Angels were up to, and going silent and fuming, I picked fuming.

Therefore, I turned to stare straight ahead and commenced fuming.

Flounces came naturally to me, and fuming did the same.

When I was with my girls, time taught me I could share my mind. I could be me just as I was. They made it safe. They loved me. I loved them. They were the sisters I never had.

Elsewhere in my life (Hi, Mom!), none of this was the same.

Elsewhere in my life, I did not speak my mind.

When I got angry, I flounced. I fumed. I didn’t share because it wouldn’t matter. What I thought, what I felt, had no meaning. And the only way to nurse emotion was to do it inwardly, experiencing the totality of it myself.

Therefore, our trek down Camelback then 7th was entirely silent.

Javi’s truck was so big, he wisely didn’t attempt to park in one of the allotted visitor spots in the complex’s narrow, hard-to-maneuver parking lot. He parked on the street right near the entrance.

He hadn’t even switched off the truck when I was out.

I nearly broke an ankle jumping down from the height of the truck, but I kept my feet, and more importantly my dignity, as I again flounced, this time doing it up the drive to the courtyard gate, feeling Javi follow me.

I let myself in the gate and it didn’t fall shut right behind me because Javi caught it and entered after me.

Some of my Oasis neighbors, Bill, Zach, Patsy and Sally, were in the courtyard, enjoying the somewhat cool (it was May in Phoenix, so we wouldn’t get really cool until October) evening night by the pool with some cocktails.

They all turned toward us when we appeared, and I knew they were going to call out greetings, but they saw Javi behind me, so they did not.

This wasn’t because he was huge and scary.

This was because they all knew him, and me, and I’d probably not kept my crush on him as secret as I should have, so me all dressed up in date clothes and Javi bringing me home shocked them silent.

I walked directly to my apartment and let myself in.

Javi, of course, came in right after me.

The door snicked shut and I heard him turn the lock.

I tapped my toe on the foot switch of a standing lamp that looked like a tulip—green stem, spiked leaves, white tulip-shaped shade and all.

I then turned on him and put my all into ignoring both him staring in open shock at my décor (a reminder, I was ultra girlie and everything about me reflected that, absolutely everything) and how I felt that Javi was standing in my space, somewhere he’d never been, somewhere I’d wanted him to be for six whole months.

“I’m home safe,” I pointed out the obvious. “You’re off your self-imposed duty now.”

His attention shifted from the teal-green-and-white-striped, large glass mushroom that was one of the things that adorned my white, curvy coffee table, to me.

“Props, you women want to do good things for good reasons,” he began. “But that doesn’t mean you know what you’re doin’ when you do them.”

Mm-hmm.

This announcement made me no less fume-y.

Nope.

It made me more.

A whole lot more.

I tossed my clutch to the dusty-rose velvet covered, semi-structured beanbag chair, crossed my arms on my chest, and returned, “Sorry, except for the last five months with NI&S, where did you get your formal training when you and your Shadow Soldiers were taking on the streets?”

“I got it on the streets,” he shot back. “As in, livin’ on them for most my life.”

He had me there.

“It isn’t like this is my first rodeo,” I retorted. “You knew I had the ear thingy⁠—”

“Ear thingy,” he muttered, like me calling it that proved his point.

I ignored him and carried on. “My guess is, you knew all the girls were there, taking my back. I was in no danger having dinner with a stranger at Oceans 44. Even if I knew beforehand he’s a big jerk.”

Javi appeared to be losing patience, but for the most part (and what was beginning to freak me), he was no longer angry. He didn’t seem much of anything, but he was this like he was trying to be like this.

Like there was a mask he’d put on to hide something from me.

And I hadn’t known him from birth, but since I’d met him, Javi had always been a kind of put-it-all-out-there guy.

But then, still wearing his mask, he put it all out there.

And I would wish to the bottom of my soul he hadn’t.

“Raye, she can take care of herself,” he declared. “Luna, the same. Jessie gets the life because she’s lived it. Not you. Your parents are both doctors. So is your brother. On both sides, your mother and father come from money. You grew up in a six-bedroom house with a pool and a tennis court. You went to Phoenix Country Day. You had a nanny. A woman of my culture lived in your pool house and vacuumed your floors, did your grocery shopping, your laundry and cooked your food. And you walk into uncertain situations wearing shoes you can’t run in. You got no fuckin’ business doin’ that Angel shit, and my guess is, you know it as much as I do.”

It should weird me out he knew so much about me, stuff I’d never told him, but in that moment, I couldn’t get weirded out because I was far too ticked.

“Obviously, since I’m doing it, I know nothing of the sort.”

Suddenly, he was in my space, the tip of his perfect nose brushing mine, and I was so shocked at his quick movement and unexpected nearness, I wasn’t breathing.

“You’re marking time here, Harlow,” he whispered irately. “And I know you know that.”

With his proximity, the scent of him, which was not cologne, it was all about a mountain of hot guy, and all of that doing a number on me, I had no choice but to stammer, “Wh-what are you talking about?”

“You’re slumming,” he declared, his words making what felt like a boulder block my throat. “Probably to prove a point to your parents for whatever stupid-ass reasons you got. You’re gonna hang with your girls while it’s fun. Then, when it’s not, and they all get hooked up, you’re gonna find a doctor or a lawyer or a banker or whatever the fuck and move into your own six-bedroom house with a pool and a tennis court, get a nanny, and a Latina that makes good tamales to cook your family’s dinner.”

He didn’t just say that to me.

I stared into his amber eyes.

But…he did.

And now I understood why there had been no plays, no moves.

I’d been so wrong about those sparks.

Javier Montoya not only didn’t like me.

He didn’t like me.

Having this laid out so brutally for me, I wanted to cry, I really did.

I could flounce with the best, fume even better, but I was heck on wheels crying. I had to unfollow good news accounts on Insta because I couldn’t scroll through stories of kindergartners giving kids with cancer returning to school standing ovations, or firefighters holding cats they saved from fires without losing it every time a heartwarming story came up on my feed.

I didn’t know how I found the strength, but I found the strength not to cry, and instead, in a wavering voice, I said, “You don’t know me.”

“Figure I know you better than you do yourself.”

“And how do you figure that?” I asked, even if I really didn’t want to know.

“I didn’t have money or a nanny or a maid to cushion the shit of life, Harlow. You live what I lived, you learn to read people, and you’re an open book. This Angel shit is a lark for you. It means something to Raye. To Jess. Even to Luna. To you, it’s a story to tell the new friends you’re gonna get about the days when you were single and looking for a thrill.”

“The new friends I’m going to get?” I whispered, unable to raise my voice further, because that hurt most of all.

“The boys at NI&S do well. But Mace and Stella don’t have that huge fuckin’ compound in Paradise Valley because Mace is worth a couple hundred million dollars. It’s because Stella is. You’re gonna aim for the top, and bein’ you, you’re gonna get it.”

I again asked a question I didn’t want the answer to. “Being me?”

He moved away enough to take in my tulip lamp, my glass mushroom, the baby-pink, shell-shaped toss pillow on my seafoam-green couch, then back to me.

And then he dealt his death blow.

“Everything about you is designed to land a man who’ll take care of you the way you expect him to.”

I vaguely noticed the flicker of remorse that flashed in his eyes when there was no way to hide my reaction.

That reaction being, I flinched like his words were a physical blow and I instantly stepped away from him like he was a threat.

“Harlow—” he started, the tone of his deep, gruff voice no longer irritable and matter-of fact, the mask he’d kept on his handsome face dropping, but I refused to read what it said.

I backed away to my bean bag, not taking my eyes from his as I bent to the side and nabbed my clutch.

“Babe,” he murmured, not moving but tracking my movements closely, that look on his face demanding to be let into my brain as I battened the hatches to keep it out.

I continued to keep my eyes on him as I backed down my hall to my bedroom, just as Javi continued to watch me.

I closed the door between us and locked it, not that it would keep him out if he wanted to get in.

But he didn’t try to get in.

I didn’t hear the front door close, so to make my point, I did what any self-respecting girl would do.

I dug my phone out of my clutch, opened my Sonos app to the apartment-wide speaker system that, yes, my father bought me for Christmas, and it was expensive, and I activated it.

I then played Taylor Swift’s “The Prophecy,” because everyone knew Tay-Tay could say it better than anyone.

I didn’t know if Javi got it.

I just knew, when the song was over, I heard the front door slam.

And that was when I threw myself on my bed and did what came naturally.

I let myself be weak.

Which meant I shoved my face in my comforter…

And I sobbed.

TWO

“THE 1”

(TAYLOR SWIFT)

It didn’t take long for a knock to come at my bedroom door.

I knew it wasn’t Javi.

I was proved correct when I heard Jessie call, “Harlow, are you okay?”

No.

No, I was not okay.

The most beautiful man with the biggest heart I’d ever met, a man who I could easily convince myself I was already half in love with, didn’t have a big enough heart to fit me in it and he didn’t have any compunction about sharing that with me.

So yeah.

No.

I was not okay.

I heard Jessie try the door.

Thus, I sniffled back my tears, pushed up from my bed, swiped at my eyes (coming away with a false eyelash…fabulous) and got off my bed.

I opened the door.

My bestest bestie of all my besties, Jessie, stood there, the rest of my besties at her back.

At one look at me, Shanti’s and Willow’s eyes got huge.

Jessie’s, Raye’s and Luna’s got thin.

“What happened?” Jessie rapped out.

“Can I not talk about it?” I asked.

“Javi made you cry?” Raye inquired, sounding shocked.

As she would (see the “biggest heart” note).

“Again, can I not talk about it?” I requested.

They all looked at each other.

I sucked in a very deep breath in order to pull myself together.

It didn’t work.

Per experience, I knew this was because I hadn’t had near enough time to wallow and feel sorry for myself.

So I took another big breath.

That worked (kinda).

“We need a new game plan,” I announced. “Now we have to tackle both Kev and Trev, and my cover’s been blown. Not truthfully, but I’m thinking Kev probably unmatched me.”

Everyone stared at me, and I had a feeling it wasn’t because I only had one false eyelash remaining.

“I think we can assume Trev is in on it,” I went on.

“How did Javi know you were there?” Luna asked.

Hmm.

It might have been good if I inquired about that sometime between instigating my fume and him ripping my heart out and kicking it around my super cute living room.

“I didn’t ask,” I said.

This got me weird looks, and I understood them, because if I had’ve been thinking clearly, that should have been one of my first questions.

“What did you two talk about on your way here?” Raye entered the interrogation.

“Not much, since I was fuming,” I replied.

“Uh-oh, The Fume,” Luna said under her breath.

“The Fume?” Willow asked.

“Don’t get caught in Lolo’s Fume,” Luna advised.

They knew me so well.

“Were you crying because you were angry?” Jessie asked suspiciously.

“And why was your bedroom door locked?” Luna put in.

I had to get them past this, and truthfully, if it was me on their side of my door, I’d be worried and want answers.

So I semi-shared, “I wasn’t big on him horning in and ruining our play. He wasn’t big on me making that play. When he got me home, we had words. They weren’t real nice words. I retreated to my room to wallow. I locked the door to make a point. Javi took my point and took off. The end.”

Jessie didn’t look like she was buying it.

Raye didn’t either.

“He’s into you and he’s a throwback to the Stone Age when it comes to women,” Luna wrongly assumed. “So I get that, a, he’s not a fan of you putting yourself in danger, even if you weren’t in danger. Throwbacks assess danger differently than we do in the current millennium.” Once she delivered that, she continued wrongly assuming. “And b, he wasn’t all that fired up about seeing you on a date, even if you weren’t on a real one.”

“I’m not sure he’s into me,” I continued to only semi-share.

“Oh please, not this again,” Luna replied.

This was an ongoing thing among me and my girls. They’d thought the sparks flew too when Javi and I met, and they wanted me to do something about it.

Naturally, considering Javi and my most recent past, I wasn’t going to discuss it, so I didn’t say anything.

But I was in a bad spot.

Javi was a member of our gang. He was Jessie’s brother’s best friend. He was at Mace and Stella’s Super Bowl party. He drank Guiness with us at the Dubliner on St. Patrick’s Day. He floated in Eric’s pool with a margarita at Eric and Jessie’s Memorial Day party. He regularly came into SC for coffees from Tex or one of Lucia’s fantastic lunch specials.

Specifically, Jess was pretty tight with him. He’d saved her brother. Got him back on his meds. Got him the therapy he needed.

I couldn’t tell them what he thought of me. They’d all be big-time pissed at him and it’d cause a huge thing.

I had to find a way to go back to how it used to be, with us circling each other, him avoiding me (now I knew why) and me avoiding him (now that might be easier…eventually).

They all thought he was the bee’s knees.

Because he was…to them.

“I’ve never seen you cry in the midst of a Fume,” Jessie noted.

“There’s a first time for everything,” I said.

“That must have been some convo,” Shanti observed, and now she was watching me skeptically as well.

But yeah.

Our convo was something.

“Hopefully, whatever it is will get you two to stop dancing around each other,” Luna stated. “That shit has to stop.”

“Says the pot to the kettle,” Raye replied.

Luna’s cheeks started to get pink.

“For the last time, there’s nothing going on between Knox and me,” she snapped.

“Girls, girls, let’s focus,” Shanti suggested. She looked at me. “You need more time for your snit or you wanna clean up so we can debrief?”

“I’m digging your commitment to the cause, my sister,” Luna said.

Shanti smiled at her.

“I’m over my snit,” I said. “I’ll just get rid of these falsies and heels, and I’ll be out. There’s a bottle of white in the fridge. Help yourselves.”

Jessie gave me one last, lingering look, so I shot her a fake sunny smile. Unfortunately, that made her look linger longer. Therefore, I skedaddled to the bathroom.

I took one look at my face and nearly passed out, glad I started crying after Javi left.

Sure, he clearly didn’t like me (at all), but no girl wants a man to see her with one false eyelash clinging on for dear life and rivers of mascara down her cheeks with puddles around her eyes.

I grabbed a cotton pad and my eye makeup remover and went to town on the damage.

Once I sorted that, I exited the bathroom, went to my bedroom, got rid of the dress and heels, put on a lounge outfit, nabbed my phone and walked to my living room.

Willow shoved a glass of wine in my hand before I’d cleared the galley kitchen area.

I could have kissed her.

The sight that met my eyes when I made my living area helped lighten my mood a little bit.

My girls were sprawled all over my furniture like they paid the rent.

I loved that.

I loved it that when I was in their spaces, I felt comfortable doing the same.

This was a home.

This was family.

Not worrying about finding a coaster before you put your drink down or taking your shoes off so you didn’t mess up the hardwood with your spiked heels or not curling your legs under you on the sofa so you could be comfortable because “feet don’t belong on furniture” (Hi, Mom!).

This was real.

And even though I’d scrimped and saved and sold a few designer pieces on online resale sites (presents from Mom that were worth money, but they were so not me or any girl in her 20s, or 30s, or even 40s) to afford my cute-girl décor, I loved it that Luna and Shanti had their feet curled under them on my couch.

“Okay, so we think you should reach out to Kev,” Luna launched in after I fell to my behind on a pale-pink velvet pouf on the floor. “If he hasn’t unmatched you, tell him that Javi is your ex. The breakup was messy. He isn’t big on letting you go. He was lying about the girlfriend business, and definitely the pregnant part, in order to send your date packing. See how he responds to that.”

“This might be a new in, him thinking you’re vulnerable and he can take advantage of that,” Jessie added.

“On it,” I said and looked down at my phone.

When I woke up my screen, my heart skipped a beat when I saw another first, as it came from Javi.

I had a message from him.

He’d never texted me directly. It was always in our group chat (which Jessie had named The Valley Valkyries and Vikings, that said, she changed the name all the time, it used to be The Mighty Sunburns).

Though, I was wrong.

I didn’t have a text from him.

I had three.

“What’s up?” Jess asked.

My head snapped up. “Nothing.”

“You were looking at your phone like it grew teeth,” Shanti observed.

Ugh.

They weren’t going to let this go.

“Javi texted,” I shared.

“Ooo, what’d he say?” Raye asked.

I was not going to look.

I was going to delete them without reading them.

Then I was going to text him to inform him that for both of our sakes, and for the care and love of our friends, we were going to have to figure out how to stomach each other, at the same time warning him I was going to block him.

But that would come later.

“Can we drop the Javi thing?” I requested as I engaged my phone and went to the app.

“This is weirding me out. You’re never secretive,” Luna noted.

Before I could say anything, Jess got there.

“How about we make a deal? You give Lolo some space with whatever happened between her and Javi, or you spill about whatever’s up your ass about Knox.”

God, I loved my bestest bestie.

Luna shut her mouth so fast, her teeth clacked.

I exchanged a there’s-so-totally-a-story-there look with Willow before I went back to my phone.

Kevin had unmatched me.

“I’m unmatched,” I announced.

“Shit,” Raye murmured.

“Fuck,” Jess muttered.

“Harlow was our only in,” Willow said worriedly.

We had, since learning of Willow’s situation with Kevin, extricated her from Kevin’s clutches.

Kind of, he still found ways to get in touch regularly to give it a go.

As such, he’d been instigating some pretty intense maneuvers to win her back. This was after breakup number two, which was messier than breakup number one, and from reports from Shanti, breakup number one sounded more like relationship Armageddon, so breakup number two was indescribable.

After that mess, why he thought he could get back in was anyone’s guess. And since then, over wine, or cocktails or nachos (etc.), we’d done a lot of guessing.

Bottom line, he was a mooch. He couldn’t hold down a job, but he liked the high life.

Willow made the baked goods sold at the coffee counter at The Surf Club and was a server after she stocked the case. She had a side business doing special occasion cakes. She wasn’t rolling in it.

But Kevin had sucked her dry anyway.

Twice.

And now he was eating lobster and drinking top shelf whisky on innocent women’s dimes while hocking their bags, wallets and phones, stealing their money and using their credit cards before they were cut off.

On these unhappy thoughts, I sipped wine.

Then I said to my posse, “Okay, hear me out.”

Everyone looked to me.

“Jinx is cute as a button,” I declared.

And I was right.

Sure, our friend Jinx also had a profession as a lady of the evening, but she was petite and super pretty. We’d seen her dressed in her off-duty clothes, and she might not dress like me or Willow in varying shades of Adorable!, but we could fake it until we put Kev (and I suspected, Trev) out of commission.

“I’m liking this,” Raye said.

“Get Arthur to ante up, make it worth her while,” Luna planned.

“Jinx?” Shanti asked.

“She’s one of our informants. She’s a sex worker,” Jess explained.

“Ah,” Shanti murmured.

“You gals really live on the edge,” Willow said, sounding as if she was no longer sure she wanted to hang in that space with us.

“You’ll love her when you meet her,” I told Willow. “I mean, maybe you’ll love her the third or fourth time you meet her, because she has a hard shell. But under that, she’s totally sweet.”

“Right,” Willow muttered.

“I’ll text Jinx,” Raye decided.

“I’ll put in a DoorDash order,” Jess said. “We had to take off before we could eat anything at Oceans 44. Sauce or Joyride aren’t exactly Oceans 44, but they far from suck.”

“I could always eat a burrito,” Willow put in.

Couldn’t we all?

Jessie pulled out her phone.

I continued in my efforts not to peek at Javi’s texts.

I was telling myself I didn’t care what he had to say after all he’d said. He might feel badly for finally being honest, but it was out there. It had been said. There was no taking it back.

And sure, if I let him apologize (if that was what he was doing), we could maybe settle back into the place where I avoided him and he put up with me, but right now, I wasn’t ready to give him that.

This wasn’t my usual MO.

I could flounce, fume and wallow, but I wasn’t the type of girl to hold a grudge.

I guess we live, we learn, we grow into bad behaviors.

I’d sleep on it (if I could sleep). Maybe I’d feel better tomorrow (I didn’t have high hopes for that, but ever the optimist), and then I’d deal with his texts.

Yeah.

That sounded like a plan.

Jess got all our orders and set up delivery.

Raye set up a meet with Jinx after work the next day.

The Angels were back in business.

And I was feeling pretty proud of myself.

I’d successfully done what I’d never been able to do before in my life.

Controlled my emotions in order to get on with it.

It was costing me, I knew.

But by God…

I’d done it.

* * *

The girls were gone.

My phone was silent, but even so, it was still screaming at me.

I left it on my bed and went to my closet.

Because yeah, keeping myself together had cost me.

And now it was time to pay the price.

Raye said I could start a business as a professional organizer, and since I loved doing it, maybe one day I would.

And that was what I saw in my closet.

Everything perfect and put in its place.

But for some reason, looking at it now, I wanted to mess it all up. Pull clothes from their hangers. Take shoes out of their plastic boxes with the Polaroid picture on the end and toss them in a jumble on the floor.

I didn’t do this.

I shifted some shoe boxes aside until I saw the row of books hidden behind them.

I didn’t know why I hid them.

Maybe it was because they were a reminder of what I didn’t have.

And after what happened with Javi, now, what I didn’t think I’d ever have.

Those books were the stories of the women who came before us.

We were the Avenging Angels.

They were the Rock Chicks.

Their men were the Hot Bunch.

The men in our circle where the Hottie Squad.

I knew Raye, Luna, Jessie, nor our newbies, Shanti and Willow had read them yet.

But I had.

I reached up and pulled down one of my favorites.

Rock Chick Regret.

I’d met Sadie, the real woman behind the heroine in that story.

She’d been broken. Utterly shattered.

Her man, Hector, hadn’t put her back together.

No.

He, with all the rest, had stayed close and stayed strong while she found her way to fix herself.

Along that journey, she’d pushed him away, though.

But he wouldn’t budge.

All those women pushed those men away.

But they stuck.

Thick. Thin. Kidnappings. Car chases. Explosions. Fights. Misunderstandings.

Those men were glue.

Feeling my eyes begin to water, I listed to the floor, crossing my legs under me and flipped through the book.

That was what I wanted. Not just Sadie’s story. Any of them.

Call me traditional, I did not care one whit.

I wanted my man to pursue me. To look at me and know I was the one. To pull out all the stops to win me to his side.

I wanted him to be protective, possessive, to stay close and strong while I figured out how to fix the damage of being a girl and having a Boy Mom. Of being in a family of overachievers but wanting a simple life and existing among those who just did not get me. And worse, they didn’t want to. They didn’t understand who I was, but they did think who that was was wrong in some way.

Defective.

Broken.

Truth, I didn’t go there with Javi all these months because I wanted him to make the effort.

I wanted him to be my Hot Bunch guy.

He didn’t become that, and now I knew why.

And it hurt so much more.

The tears falling, I clutched that book to my chest.

Then I got up, safe in a zone I knew all too well. Sniffling and wallowing, I put the book away. I carefully replaced my shoe boxes. I closed my closet door. I went to bed, grabbed my phone, curled up on top of the comforter, and through an extreme effort of will, I ignored Javi’s texts and went back to my Sonos system.

Yes, you guessed it, I pulled up the voice of my generation.

And played Taylor’s “the 1.”

I cried through the first time I played it.

And the second.

Also the third.

After that, I turned out the lights, didn’t bother with PJs, or (egad!) taking off the rest of my makeup.

No, I lay just as I was, in the dark, alone, tears spent, yearning for what I’d probably never have.

And I did this until I fell asleep.

THREE

“SHAKE IT OUT”

(FLORENCE + THE MACHINE)

My alarm went at the usual time.

Five o’clock a.m.

It was set to classical music, which I found soothing in the morning.

Even if it felt like I’d only had two hours of sleep, and what had occurred the night before came instantly to me with how heavy my eyes felt—not to mention my heart—I rolled from my side to my back.

I didn’t make it all the way because I ran into something.

Something solid.

Something warm.

I stilled, except for my head, which I slowly, very slowly, turned in order to look over my shoulder.

It was before dawn. There was only a shadow there.

But even if I’d never seen the man beside me in my bed in shadow (or otherwise), I knew that shadow.

Javi was lying in bed with me.

“Uncool,” he grunted.

His voice sounding in the silence kickstarted me. I scurried to jump off the bed, but didn’t make it very far before an arm hooked around my belly, I was turned to my side, facing Javi, and he clamped down on me.

And I mean clamped.

With that arm tight around me, a heavy leg thrown over both of mine, and my front pressed to his.

Okay, I’d had many a thought about how this might feel, and some of them came with a certain piece of equipment in my hand.

But not even my wildest imaginings were as good as the real thing.

“Umm…” I mumbled because he might feel great but…

What the heck!

“I texted you last night, and you blew me off,” he declared.

“You’re in my bed,” I whispered, my voice communicating the depths of my shock, which ran so deep, if you followed it, you’d end up treading water in the Indian Ocean.

“Do I have your attention?” he asked.

He so completely did.

“You can’t not have my attention,” I pointed out.

“Goal attained,” he replied.

“How long have you been here?” I asked.

“Gave you until midnight to respond. You didn’t. Took me about ten to get here, so around ten after midnight. Found you asleep, decided our shit should probably be worked out after some rest with clear heads, so I hunkered down to wait.”

I would not get stuck on the fact he lived only ten minutes away from me, something that gave me a stupid thrill.

Instead, I asked, “You broke into my house?”

“You didn’t answer my knock.”

In other words, he broke into my house!

“So you’ve been lying beside me for the last five hours?” I queried.

“Give or take ten minutes.”

Oh my God.

That was insane.

I voiced my thoughts out loud. “That’s insane.”

His response was to roll on top of me.

On top of me!

He was heavy (very), way more warm than he was just lying beside me, and he gave me a lot of his weight, which squeezed the breath out of me, all while he pulled his phone out of his back pocket.

I was nowhere near being able to process this change in position, especially considering I hadn’t yet processed my earlier position (just FYI, if I had to process on the fly, I would tell you both positions felt otherworldly good, though this one was a thousand times better).

By the time he took some of his weight from me to put it in a forearm beside me, engaged his phone and started reciting, I could barely comprehend what he was saying.

“That was fucked up. I shouldn’t have said that shit. We need to talk. Call me.”

My guess: his texts from last night.

As it was dark, I couldn’t see he was looking at me, I could only feel it.

I hated that it felt good, but there was no way around it.

It felt good.

Any time Javi’s eyes were on me, it felt good.

“So, what have you got to say?” he prompted.

As noted, I was still stuck on earlier stuff.

“You broke into my house in the middle of the night and got in bed with me.”

“I did. I’m here. It’s done, even if I might have lost an inch off my dick from sleepin’ in a room like this. Now, find your way to being with me, Harlow,” he ordered.

It was impossible not to find my way to him since he was my whole world right then.

Though, I thought there were other, more important things to go over.

“You slept beside me?”

“Your bed may be girlie, but it’s comfortable.”

Now I couldn’t process Javi actually slept at my side.

Why that was different than him just lying there, waiting for me to wake up so he could ambush me, I didn’t know.

But it was.

Significantly.

Time to move on.

“There’s nothing wrong with my room.”

“You’re right. It’s tight. If you got a vagina.”

Ugh.

How had I never noticed he was kind of a jerk?

“I’ll have you know I have male friends who think this room is everything,” I declared snootily.

“They gay?” he asked.

They were.

“That’s beside the point,” I sniffed.

“Only because it makes mine.”

I was offended for the entirety of the LGBTQ+ community. “Not every gay guy is effeminate.”

“Yeah, but most of ’em got good taste, whereas I couldn’t give a shit if my lampshades match my comforter.”

Now I was intrigued. “How did you see that in the dark?”

“You learn to see in it when bein’ in the dark might get your ass nabbed and pushed back into the foster system or other even less fun shit.”

I couldn’t argue that.

Time to move on to something else.

“Can you get off me?” I requested.

“No,” he denied.

“I’m not real sure I can have this conversation with you lying on me,” I gave him my understatement.

“Too late for that. If you wanted to do it another way, you woulda responded to my fuckin’ texts last night. Now it’s gonna be this way.”

Okay.

Wait.

Last night, he laid it out there, his truth, about me.

It was brutal and it was ugly, but I could see, now, he felt bad.

However, it was his truth, brutal and ugly. He’d foisted it on me.

And now I had to make him feel better?

At five a.m.?

“Get off me,” I demanded.

“No,” he again denied.

I pushed at his broad shoulders and was pretty certain they didn’t budge an inch.

Bah!

“Javi—”

“We’re talking shit out.”

“I’m not feeling that at this particular moment.”

“You don’t let messy shit like this fester.”

“Okay, how about making an appointment with me so we can sort this out in order to be able to carry on without any of our friends being sucked into our messy stuff. But that can’t be now. I have plans this morning.”

“At five o’clock?”

“Yes,” I snapped.

“You don’t go to work until eleven.”

“So?” I asked sharply. “I have a morning ritual. I never break my morning ritual.”

“And what’s this ritual that’s more important than working shit out?”

When he said that, he sounded a hint less bossy, but he added more than a hint of curiosity.

“I need to journal.” About you being a big meanie, I did not share. “Make a smoothie. Hit my Pilates class. Come home, have breakfast, shower and get ready to go to work.”

“None of that is important except the last part, babe.”

“To you,” I retorted. “It is to me.”

“Today, you’re making an exception.”

“I am not,” I refuted. “Rituals are important. They’re grounding. The very definition of a ritual is not making an exception to the ritual.”

He let out a big sigh, and even if it sounded, as well as felt frustrated, the feeling part of that also felt awesome.

Because everything about Javi was awesome.

Ugh!

Why me?

“I was a dick last night,” he started (okay, well, that wasn’t awesome).

You were.

“You were being real,” I amended.

“Harlow—”

“And that’s okay.”

“Babe—”

“Well, not okay, because what you said wasn’t nice. But it was honest.”

“Woman—”

“And it hurt. I didn’t like it. But it’s out there now so we just have to figure out how to be around each other without anyone else knowing how much you don’t like me.”

When I finished speaking, my stomach bottomed out because I sensed everything about him change. Get gentle. He didn’t move a muscle, but even his weight felt lighter.

All this before he whispered, “I don’t⁠—”

He was cut off at a hammering on my front door.

I sensed him tense as I saw his shadowed head turn that way before mine did.

I then felt the return of his attention and gave mine to him.

“Who’s pounding on your door at five a.m.?” he asked.

“As you well know, I don’t have much to recommend me, including clairvoyance.”

That was when I felt his body tighten, heard (and also felt, and it was way nice) his low growl, and then he rolled off me and the bed.

“Stay there, we’re not done,” he ordered, still kinda growly, and it was still way nice.

Lord, save me.

He then stalked out of my room.

I saw the light come on down the hall and it was at this moment I realized this was my house.

So why was I letting him order me around and open my front door?

I scrambled out of bed and was hustling down the hall when I heard Shanti say, “Holy shit. You sure don’t let grass grow.”

I hit the living room and saw Shanti was in a pair of killer harem pants under a long tunic, and her hair was still up in her silk sleep bonnet.

She looked like an ad for harem pants. Or tunics. Or sleeping bonnets.

“Trust you to be adorable at five in the morning,” she said to me.

“I need those harem pants,” I told her.

“I’ll hook you up,” she replied.

“Yay. Thanks,” I said.

Javi entered the conversation.

“I thought I told you to stay in bed.”

Shanti leaned back a little, her eyes got big, and she hummed, “Mm-hmm.”

My gaze sliced to Javi. “You don’t get to tell me what to do in my own house.”

“Shanti could have been anybody,” he stated.

“She wasn’t anybody. She was Shanti,” I returned.

“You didn’t know that,” he replied.

“You didn’t either.”

“Yeah, but I can break a motherfucker’s neck with one twist if they bring trouble to your door. Can you do that?” he fired back.

I could not, nor did I ever wish to try.

Stymied in this particular conversational thread, I glared at him.

“I didn’t think so,” he said.

“Our tête-à-tête is over,” I informed him.

“Our teh-tah what?” he asked.

“Tête-à-tête. It’s French for a private conversation between two people,” I educated.

“I need to teach you Spanish,” Javi muttered.

“Charla privada,” I declared.

Javi stared at me, something working behind his golden eyes I did not want to see, because even with the little I let in, it was divine, so I blocked it out.

“Okay, I don’t know what’s going on here, and I’ll go on record right now stating that I really, really wanna know,” Shanti butted into our staring contest. “But Willow got an early morning call from Kev.”

That got both Javi’s and my attention.

“Trev was murdered last night,” Shanti announced.

“Holy—” I began.

“Shit,” Javi bit off.

“I’m calling an Angels confab,” Shanti said. “Can you come to work early so we can discuss this latest development?” she asked me.

“What are you women into?” Javi demanded to know, sounding a hundred shades of unhappy, which was ninety-nine-point-nine shades too much when it came to Javi.

“Not murdered dudes,” Shanti told him. “That’s a huge-ass curveball.”

“You bitches need to pull back,” Javi decreed.

Shanti’s eyes flashed, and I suspected mine did too, because as all the world knew, we could call each other bitches because we were each other’s bitches.

Some guy couldn’t call us bitches.

(Though, I tried not to cuss on the whole. I just couldn’t pull it off like other people could. Cursing made me sound like I was trying to be a hard-A at the same time failing spectacularly.)

Javi seemed impervious to our eye flashes, demonstrating this by asking, “How’d this asshole get murdered?”

“Throat slit,” Shanti answered.

I gasped. “Oh my God!”

Even if I’d sat down briefly with the man last night and I was stunned and sickened that he was now dead, even more so since he got dead by those means, that was the only reaction I was able to have because I had to have a new reaction seeing as I was suddenly backing up double time.

I did this until I hit wall, and Javi, who’d been stalking me into that position, got deep in my space, including his face in mine.

I didn’t have good memories of his face being that close to mine, no matter how beautiful he was.

We weren’t going to make any either, I knew, when he ordered, “You are so far out of whatever this shit is, it’s not even a memory for you.”

Man, he was making me mad.

“Do I have to remind you that you can’t tell me what to do?” I asked angrily.

He ignored me, and instead told me more stuff to do, “And I’m not makin’ a fuckin’ appointment to work our shit out. We’re hooking up tonight. Get Jess to take you to work. I’ll pick you up, and we’re having dinner.”

I really wanted to tell him what he just said was kinda like making an appointment.

I did not, because I was stuck on the fact that I was absolutely not sitting with this man at a dinner, which would feel like a date, in order to make him feel better for spouting off at me and sharing in a not-nice way the kind of woman he thought I was, no matter how much he regretted doing it.

“That’s not possible. We have plans tonight with Jinx,” I told him.

His eyes glittered with golden fire.

Holy shmoly, it was fascinating.

My fascination dimmed when he declared, “You’re not doing dick with Jinx.”

I poked him in the chest and ignored the fact it was so hard, I stubbed my finger.

“She’s our only way in after you blew my cover last night.” Before he could say anything, I went on, “And by the way, I have to ask Jess to take me to work because you made me leave my car in Scottsdale last night.”

“Your car is in its spot,” he replied, dug into his jeans pocket and tossed my fob on my beanbag.

“Well then,” I muttered, staring at the fob.

“You’re welcome,” Javi said.

I went back to glaring at him. “I’m not going to thank you for anything that went on last night.”

Annnnnnnnd…

Yeah.

That was when it happened.

The look hit his face, and it got in before I could steel myself to keep it out.

Regret. Tenderness. Unease.

And something else. Something I couldn’t name. I couldn’t even define it.

But dang, it sure was pretty.

“We’ll talk tonight,” he said, his deep, rough voice going soft in a way I’d never heard, and kill me dead, that was pretty too.

I decided to stop talking.

Javi’s gaze swept over my face, then his finger, in the lightest touch imaginable, swept up the inside of my arm, from wrist to inner elbow.

Dang it.

That didn’t feel pretty.

It felt beautiful, and other things besides.

I shivered.

“Yeah,” he whispered.

I shivered again.

His perfect lips quirked, and if I was not mistaken, relief hit his gaze.

I screwed up my eyes to squint irritably at him.

He smiled.

My private parts wept in a happy way.

Fortunately, at this point, he moved out of my space and toward the door, saying to Shanti as he used it, “This convo at SC better be about you women backing off whatever this shit is.”

“Wouldn’t count on that, hoss,” she replied.

Javi gave her a look, which, if it was anyone but Shanti, who was sweet as sugar but didn’t take any stuff, might melt the flesh off their bones, then he slammed the door behind him.

“He’s a slammer,” I said.

Shanti turned to me.

“You know, I always had a feeling there was something bigger with Kev,” I remarked. “With the whole Trev thing last night, and then his sad demise, I’m thinking this proves it.”

“Really?” she asked.

“Yes. Don’t you think so?” I asked back.

“No, sis, really?” she semi-repeated. “I’m here before the crack of dawn, Javi opens the door, you wander down the hall looking like every woman who wakes up in a movie looks when they wake up, which is how nobody looks when they wake up. You two have verbal angry sex, which by the way, was hot as hell, and you do that more than once. He leaves, and you aren’t sharing what’s going down with you two?”

“Nothing is,” I replied, though her “verbal angry sex” note gave me another shiver.

She inspected me for several long seconds before she stated, “I think you’re telling yourself that, in other words, lying to yourself.”

Maybe so, but the lying-to-myself zone was a safe zone for me to be in.

And since I didn’t feel safe at all, not since Javi laid his truth on me last night and it made me feel weirdly like I was the odd woman out. Like I didn’t belong. This, a feeling I hadn’t had in a long time—unless I was with my family, where I’d lived with it my whole life—and it wasn’t much fun having it back. Therefore, the lying-to-myself zone was where I was going to stay.

“Is Willow okay with this Trev thing?” I asked to change the subject.

Another several long seconds elapsed before Shanti did what Shanti was always so cool about doing.

Giving you space when you needed it.

“She thought he was an ass.”

Well, there you go.

“But she’s tweaked,” Shanti continued.

I didn’t doubt it.

“I can come to work early,” I told her.

“Great,” she replied, turning to go.

“And by the way, you look like women look in the movies when you get up too,” I said, following her to the door.

She gave me a smile. “You’re boss, babe.”

“You’re more boss.”

“I can’t deny that.”

We laughed. I closed the door on her after I promised to see her at work. I put superhuman effort into tamping down any thought of Javi last night, this morning, or at all.

I made coffee. I made myself a smoothie. I did some Pilates moves in my living room.

And when I hit the shower, I changed gears to psych myself up for whatever was going to happen.

Therefore, I queued up Florence in order to “Shake It Out.”

Florence gave me strength.

But even so, when I selected my outfit for that day, even though I was oh so NOT going to dinner with Javi that night…

I made sure it was a cute one.

FOUR

“DON’T START NOW”

(DUA LIPA)

While I idled in the suicide lane, Dua Lipa stating my case of “Don’t Start Now” loudly from the car speakers of my pea-green Kia Soul (I didn’t really have a choice of car or color, since it was the cheapest on the lot when I went car shopping, and the only one I could afford).

Still, the speakers worked great.

I looked to The Surf Club and saw that Tex, our boss, our top barista and part owner of SC, had, as usual, used white shoe polish on the front window to communicate his coffee special of the day.

He wasn’t that great of an illustrator, so I wasn’t sure what I was seeing. It could be a coconut. It could be an orange.

I’d have to find out when I went to the coffee counter at the front of the club and ordered one.

I got an opening—and singing at the top of my lungs with Dua about not caring about me now—I turned left and found a primo parking spot under one of the paloverdes my other boss, Tito, planted in the parking lot. I shut down the Soul along with Dua, grabbed my purse and headed in.

I wasn’t on for another two hours, so I just stowed my purse in my locker in the staff room, ignored the server aprons hanging in there and wandered into The Surf Club proper.

It must be said, I loved working there. It was colorful, especially with the big mural in the back. Funky with all the different lamps, tables and chairs and plants. Lucia’s cooking was the best. Willow’s baked goods were amazing. Tips weren’t all that great because it wasn’t like a fancy steak place or something, but Tex and Tito paid well over minimum wage.

And I got to see all my friends every day.

These were my thoughts when I walked behind the bar where Luna, Raye, Willow and Shanti were hanging.

Shanti took one look at my cute blue dress that showed chest (but no cleavage) from a square neckline, had a short skirt with a ruffle, cap sleeves (with more ruffles) and a smocked waist, and she busted out laughing.

I frowned and rethought how great it was to work with my friends.

Honestly, this was the kind of thing I wore every day to work (ish). Though, this one was a little more flirty, frilly and girlie.

However, her laughter might be about my hair, which was in big bouncy curls, or my makeup, which was sheer daytime-to-evening, pink, highlighted perfection.

I usually didn’t leave the house without being totally put together.

But I had to confess, I was way more put together than I usually was.

Ulk.

“Well, you’ve bounced back from last night,” Luna noted, giving me a once-over.

I said nothing.

Fortunately, Shanti said nothing too.

Once I realized Shanti wasn’t going to spill my beans, I replied, “Thanks.” Then, “What’s Tex’s special? I’m gonna grab one before Jess gets here.” I then added, “Please tell me it’s not coconut. I don’t like coconut.”

“Sorry, sister, it’s coconut,” Raye shared.

I frowned again.

“Do not start the confab without me!” Tex’s disembodied voice boomed from around the corner where the front coffee counter was.

“We’re not starting!” Raye shouted back. “Jess isn’t here.”

“And Harlow wants a coffee, but not your special!” Luna tacked on. “She doesn’t like coconut!”

“Who doesn’t like coconut?” Tex bellowed.

“I don’t!” I yelled.

“How can you not like coconut?” Tex hollered.

“Don’t ask me, ask my taste buds!” I shouted.

I knew this sounded strange, employees yelling at each other at a place of business, and it might be relatively new, because Tex being a fixture at SC was relatively new.

But considering not a single soul at any of our tables, and there were many of them, blinked an eye, evidence suggested they’d gotten used to it quickly.

Tito, sitting at his station at the far back by the wall of windows that had a view to the parking lot, didn’t even look up from his book.

This was the power of Tex. He was a huge man with a long beard and lots of graying, blond hair. He had an enormous personality, which centered mostly around being crotchety. And he was very loud. He didn’t boom to be heard. He boomed naturally. That was how he talked.

But his coffees were so good, we’d learned people would put up with a lot to get their fix.

And we girls had learned under all that bluster and bad mood, he had a heart of pure gold.

Though, I knew it more, since I’d read the Rock Chick books, and he figured in them prominently.

“How are you doing?” I asked Willow.

“I didn’t like Trev, but I’m flipped out,” she replied.

“Understandable,” I murmured.

“Kev is totally flipped out,” she went on. “He’s the one who found him.”

Yikes.

I never thought I’d think “poor Kev,” but I was thinking, Poor Kev!

“I sense you’re starting the confab!” Tex shouted.

We all grinned at each other, and Raye, Willow and Luna took off to their tables with pitchers of water in their grips to make sure people were good so we could have our confab without pesky customers expecting us to serve because we were their servers while we had other things we were doing.

Shanti and I moved around the bar and sat at it, and we were gabbing when Jess showed.

She didn’t look happy.

“Everything okay?” I asked when she slid on a stool beside me.

“I’ve just discovered that Eric’s hunky dory with us doing our Angels gig, but he has one caveat. When people start getting their throats slit, he’s not so hip about it, and even less hip with me being anywhere near it.”

There was an age gap between Jessie and Eric, not super significant, but it was there. As such, Eric was more of a Hot Bunch, first gen guy, rather than a Hottie Squad member. He had a foot in both camps, really. He definitely seemed more evolved than most of the men did in the Rock Chick books.

Though, considering the situation, I wasn’t surprised he had his limits.

“He’s not the only one,” Shanti said under her breath, referring to Javi.

I let out a huge sigh, and thankfully, Jessie was shouting so she didn’t hear Shanti.

“I need a special, Tex!”

“It’s coconut,” I told her.

“I need something other than the special, Tex!” she amended, again in a shout.

“What are you girls’ problems with coconut?” Tex boomed.

Since we knew he didn’t really want an answer, because he didn’t really care, we didn’t answer.

Raye, Luna and Willow got done making sure their tables were cool, and like he could see through walls, Tex lumbered into view about the time they took their stations across from Shanti, Jessie and me.

He went behind the bar and plopped down two coffees, one in front of Jess, the other, me.

Silently, Tito crept up beside him.

Interesting.

That was new. Usually, Tito left us to our crazy, and left Tex to his too.

BTW: Tito was the antithesis of Tex. Where Tex was loud, Tito barely spoke at all. Where Tex was tall, imposing and mostly wore flannels and jeans (even in the Phoenician heat), Tito was short and looked like a surfer-dude Santa Claus (and he always, but always wore sunglasses, when he was inside or out). They both had beards, longish hair, more than a hint of a belly and were close to the same age. But that was where the similarities ended.

“No lip,” Tex ordered Jessie and me after he put down our mugs. “You get what you get.”

I lifted my cup to my lips, took a sip and smiled.

Delicious.

His signature, the Textual, cherry almond mocha.

My favorite.

“You’re the best,” I said to Tex.

“Shut it, Peewee,” he replied (see what I mean about the crotchety?). “What’s this I hear about some guy you had dinner with last night getting a necklace no one wants?”

Another bit of intel about our gang.

News traveled fast.

Also, Peewee was my nickname from Tex. I wasn’t actually short. I was five six. But since Tex was around six four, that made me seem small to him (I guessed).

And Javi was at least a full foot taller than me.

Hmm.

Tex snapped his fingers in my face, calling, “Hello?”

“I didn’t have dinner with him,” I shared. “I tried to have dinner with him because he and his friend are ripping off women they meet on dating apps. But Javi muscled in and blew my cover, of a sort.”

Tex’s heavy brows formed a heavier line. “You two still circling each other?”

“No, we’re done with that,” I said.

His brows darted up. “You two got together?”

“No. We’re just not ever going to get together.”

Shanti made a noise.

Luna did too.

Raye studied her fingernails.

“I thought you didn’t do girl talk,” Jess remarked to Tex.

“Just to say, I got experience with this shit too,” Tex began, then he homed in on me. “And I’ll say to you what I said to my girls in Denver. I don’t know why you women fight it. These are good men. Javier Montoya is as solid as they come.”

He so was, solid in his opinions and his ability to share them.

Yuck.

Whatever.

“Okay, today, I don’t do girl talk,” I declared.

Shanti made a noise.

Luna did too.

Raye studied her shoes.

Jessie said, “Moving on.”

“That’s it? These men are robbing their dates?” Tex asked.

“That was it, until Trev got that necklace,” Raye answered.

Tex blew out a breath, and it was so big, my hair wafted back. “Things have been chill with you girls. I haven’t had to build a bomb or pull out my grenades. Not once. That’s the sweet spot. Men turning up dead a few hours after your fake date goes south isn’t close to that sweet spot.”

He could say that again.

“Have we contacted Clarice or Arthur?” I asked.

“Yes, both,” Raye answered. “No word from either, yet.”

“Titus?” Jessie queried.

“I didn’t think about Titus,” Raye said.

Luna pulled her phone out of her apron. “I’ll drop a line to Titus.”

We met Titus on our last mission. He was the bomb. Super sweet. Very handsome. I wasn’t sure what his occupation was, but on the streets, he was known as a fixer. Not like a Quentin Tarantino one. Like the kind who got people who were shooting each other to stop shooting each other.

And he had the best man cave in history.

I hoped we got to go back.

“I hate to say this, but it’d probably be good if Willow had a meet with Kevin,” Raye said carefully. “We need to get as much information out of him as we can so we can make sure none of this leaks into Willow’s life.” Raye turned to Willow. “I know that sounds strange, asking you to meet him when we don’t want his shit screwing with you, but right now, you’re our best bet to find out what’s going on.”

“That isn’t happening unless I’m there,” Shanti decreed.

“We can make that work,” Jessie said.

“He did ask to come over tonight,” Willow told us.

Willow had recently moved into the Oasis. Since the waiting list was huge to get a unit there, and she’d only put her name on it a couple of months ago, the mysterious forces that owned the building obviously bumped her up the list (and whoever they were, they were like Arthur: awesome, but no one knew who was behind Dreamweaver, Inc., the only name we knew that was attached to ownership of the complex).

Now she lived a couple of doors from Shanti.

I couldn’t help but think that Arthur was somehow behind that, seeing as all the Angels now lived in one place.

And continuing my thoughts, I couldn’t help but think he did so in order that the Hottie Squad could keep tabs on us easier.

Which made me think Arthur had some link to the Hottie Squad.

But Cap had looked into it, and then Eric did too, and even with their estimable resources, including some computer hacker whiz they had on staff in Denver, they couldn’t figure out who Dreamweaver Inc. or Arthur were either.

“Invite him,” Raye said to Willow. “We’ll be close, without Harlow, obviously. But do it for later, so we can meet Jinx at seven thirty like planned.”

Willow nodded and got out her own phone.

“We need to cultivate some contacts in the police,” Raye noted.

“This might necessitate us hanging in cop bars,” Luna suggested.

“I’d be down,” Jess said.

“Me too,” Raye said.

“You could also, I don’t know, ask one or another of the badass motherfuckers you two girls are sleeping with every night,” Tex remarked, glancing between Raye and Jessie. “Seein’ as they know pretty much everything that goes down in this town, now that they recruited the Shadow Soldiers.”

That was probably a better idea.

“Eric isn’t feeling super helpful on this one,” Jess shared.

“Cap put his hand in front of my face when I started talking about it after I gave him the initial lowdown, kissed me, and walked out this morning, so I’m not sure he’s in to help either,” Raye said.

“We should have a cop or two to hit up anyway,” Luna declared. “It’s a missing link in our network.”

“You girls got a lot of missing links,” Tex muttered (it was still a kinda boom).

Since Tex bought us our penknives and had grenades (I hoped we never needed them, but again, I’d read the Rock Chick books, I wasn’t leaving anything to chance), we all studiously avoided replying to him so we didn’t tick him off.

But for what we were talking about, he wasn’t wrong.

“Anybody know a cop bar?” Luna asked.

“I don’t know a cop bar, but I know a cop,” Shanti put in. “He’s my cousin.”

“Awesome!” Raye cried.

“I try to stay away from him,” Shanti shared.

“Why?” I asked.

“He got married a year ago. His bitch is extra,” Shanti told me.

Shanti was hugely laid back. She didn’t let a lot bother her. So this note that his cousin’s wife was extra meant she was extra.

“I’ll hit him up,” Shanti offered. “Though, warning, he’s going to be about as happy as your men are I’m asking about some joker who got his throat slit.”

“I don’t think any of us are very thrilled with the way this one turned,” Raye replied. “But Kevin isn’t backing off Willow. She blocks him, he gets another phone or shows up at the Oasis. He’s doing fucked-up shit. His bestie got dead. And she’s still in his sights. We gotta figure out what he’s into and make sure Willow is well clear of it.”

We all nodded our agreement with this statement.

“I’ll dust off the grenades,” Tex muttered and trudged away.

Behind his ever-present shades (Tito had a style, it was a weird style that included different varieties of hats, flip-flops or kicks, Hawaiian shirts, sunglasses and shorts), Tito gazed among us all, his eyes hidden and therefore his thoughts the same, then he shuffled back to his table.

“I think Tito is about as big of a fan as all the other guys with this one,” Luna noted in a low tone.

I wasn’t that far behind them.

This just got really scary.

But I agreed with Raye.

We needed to make sure Willow was safe.

And once we did that, we could be done with Kevin and whatever he was into.

It would take some time, but I’d learn that it wasn’t going to be that easy.

Not by a long shot.

FIVE

“THE MAN”

(TAYLOR SWIFT)

Okay, so it was chicken.

But even though Shanti gave me knowing looks, I ducked out of work twenty minutes early that night in order to go out and buy our usual bribe paraphernalia for Mr. Stupidhead (the girls had other names for him, and they were better, more apt and included bad words).

He was in our network of informants.

All right, in truth, one should call him an uncooperative informant because he didn’t like us, and we didn’t like him, but he saw and heard things we might need to know.

Thus, to make him cooperate, we bought him porn.

This wasn’t my favorite thing to do, but needs must in my campaign to escape Javi picking me up to take me to dinner, and this was a good excuse that Jessie bought (though Shanti didn’t).

I also nabbed two of Willow’s birthday cake cupcakes. I did this in an effort to maybe wean Mr. Stupidhead off pornographic bribes and onto baked goods ones.

After I procured his stuff, I met the girls at the storage units, and since there were now more of us, we rolled out in two of our undercover vehicles, the Honda Accord and the Kia Sportage.

Our destination was the motel where Jinx did her business.

She’d texted Luna that her client time was going over a bit, but she’d chat with us after she was done.

So we pulled into the Sun Valley Motor Lodge, a place I wanted to say had seen better days, but even at its inception, I wasn’t sure it did.

Mr. Stupidhead worked nighttime reception.

When we angled out of our vehicles, he looked at us through the windows and did one of his usual welcomes.

This time, he pretended to fashion a noose around his neck and tug upward, whereupon his head lolled to the side, and he closed his eyes and stuck his out tongue.

So, again.

He wasn’t our biggest fan.

We entered and he straightened to say, “How are there more of you? Why are there more of you?”

Luna leaned into a forearm on the counter close to him and replied, “A good thing grows when you nourish it, my man.”

He looked to me because I was carrying the bags.

Since he gave me the willies because he usually stared at my breasts (he wasn’t now because he knew I carried porn, so he was looking at the bags), I tried not to get close as I put them on the counter and scooted them toward him.

The bag with the porn magazines was swept away and disappeared faster than I could blink.

He then nabbed the white bakery bag, opened it, and we all, including Mr. Stupidhead, let out a collective “Ahhhhhh,” when the birthday cake goodness smell wafted out of it.

It was at this juncture a miracle happened.

Mr. Stupidhead lifted his head from staring in the bag, and there was a look of sheer wonder on his face.

I could feel us all come alert, because this was so far from the way Mr. Stupidhead behaved normally, it took us off guard.

“You brought me cupcakes?” he asked.

And was I seeing things?

Did he have tears in his eyes?

Everyone looked my way because I hadn’t shared I was going to do that.

“Uh, yeah,” I confirmed what didn’t need confirmation since we could all smell them and he’d just looked at them.

“I haven’t—” He stopped abruptly and swallowed, before he carefully rolled the top of the paper bag back up, reverently set it under the counter, and asked, “What do you women need to know?”

We were so stunned by his open cooperation, no one moved or spoke.

“Well?” he pushed.

“We’re actually here to talk to Jinx. We’re just hanging with you to kill time while we wait for her to be done,” Raye told him.

“You got some time to wait,” Mr. Stupidhead replied. “She’s with her special regular.”

After that, he wagged his scraggly brows.

But we were confused.

“Her special regular?” Jessie asked.

“The accountant,” Mr. Stupidhead said.

“BMW Accountant?” Luna queried.

Mr. Stupidhead nodded. “One and the same. For months, they’re here two, three nights a week. They take their time. He brings her shit. Tonight, it was flowers.”

Holy shmoly!

Flowers?

I looked to Jess, Luna and Raye.

They were looking toward me and each other.

Because this was huge!

If it was who we were thinking, a man we’d seen leave in a BMW after a session with Jinx, he was good looking (and Jinx said he had a rather large member).

Wow!

Yay!

“What’s going on?” Willow asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m sensing love is in the air,” Raye answered.

I was beginning my first Pretty Woman fantasy for Jinx in my head when Luna turned to Mr. Stupidhead. “You hear anything about some dude who got his throat cut last night?”

Mr. Stupidhead paled. “Are you shittin’ me?”

“Not even a little bit,” Luna told him.

Now he started to look sick.

“How did you bitches go from searching for missing people to being involved with dead people?” he demanded.

“We’re not involved,” Raye said, but ended with, “as such.”

“No, I don’t know dick about anything like that,” Mr. Stupidhead said. “And normally, I wouldn’t give a shit what happens to any of you, but you brought me cupcakes, so now I’m tellin’ you, whatever this is, get your asses out of it.”

Yet another man telling us what to do.

Obviously, this meant I had to start quoting some lyrics.

When I did, Raye got into it with me, and before you knew it, all of us were singing Taylor’s “The Man,” and perhaps there was a little dancing (me and Luna), and Mr. Shithead was again banging his head against the counter.

Suddenly, he lifted up, looked out the window and said into our serenade, “BMW Accountant is leaving.”

We all jerked our heads to the window then dashed out to stand in a line outside reception, watching the tall, handsome man in attractive glasses, dark suit trousers, a well-tailored shirt, and an askew tie striding to his high-end car.

“Jeez, he looks like Clark Kent, the Christopher Reeve years,” Willow muttered.

She was right.

Oh my, I loved this.

He turned our way, and I caught his blush (so adorable!) as Jessie lifted a hand and gave him a finger wave while the rest of us either smirked at him or smiled widely at him (that last was me).

Yeah, we were way cool.

Not.

We were totally those girlies who embarrassed you in front of the guy you liked, as in, say, what we were doing right now.

He opened his car door and looked up at the second floor of the motel.

Jinx was standing out on the landing in her work apparel, without her platform heels, arms crossed on her chest.

We looked back to BMW Accountant.

He waved at her.

Oh-Em-GEEEEE!

How cute!

We returned our attention to Jinx.

Then we stared as she waved back.

“Oh my God, she’s so into him,” Luna breathed.

“Oh my gosh, you are so right,” I panted in reply.

We waited until he’d pulled out of the parking lot before we raced up the steps to get to Jinx.

We came skidding to a halt as one, even Shanti and Willow doing it, and they didn’t really know how huge this was.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Jinx said.

“You are oh so totally gonna hear it,” Jessie told her.

Jinx’s gaze moved to Shanti and Willow. “Who are these gringas?”

“We’ve expanded,” Raye said.

Jinx rolled her eyes and strutted into the motel room.

We strutted in after her.

Okay, all the rest of them did. I wasn’t able to strut. It was more like a bounce, something I was very good at.

The room smelled like spicy cologne, powdery perfume and sex.

The first two were okay, the last…?

I wrinkled my nose.

Luna flipped the comforter back on the sheets and sprawled on the bed like two people didn’t just finish copulating on it. Raye and Jessie joined her. Willow and I primly chose the chairs by the table at the window. Shanti pulled her bottom up on the wall-mounted dresser.

“Nice flowers,” Jessie drawled.

And they were nice. Deep-red roses with pink tulips shoved in. And there were a ton of roses.

That bouquet cost some cake, and I was loving this even more.

Jinx sent her a killing look, but when she turned to the flowers, her face got soft.

Oh my God!

“You like him!” I squealed.

Jinx shut down her expression. “Yeah, I like him. He’s got a big dick, and he isn’t afraid to tip.”

“You like more than his big dick,” Raye stated, and now it was her wagging her brows.

“Don’t get excited,” Jinx warned, horning her way into the reclining bodies and stretching out on the bed with her back to the headboard and her ankles crossed. “Men like him do things like that”—she jerked her head to the flowers—“to make them feel less dirty when they’re with a woman like me.”

Yuck.

I hated that Jinx looked at it that way.

“Uh, just to say,” Luna began, “that dude is hot. His body is nearly as jacked as the Hottie Squad. He might have had a hankering to walk on the wild side, but he found what he liked and he’s coming back for more, doing that when he knows he could pull a ride just about anywhere and not have to pay for it or bring flowers.”

“You need to lay off the romance novels,” Jinx snapped.

“I love me a romance novel,” Luna told her. “But I’m about as romantically inclined as you.”

“This is true,” Raye affirmed.

“We’re not talking about this,” Jinx decreed. “I got a car payment due, and it’s summer, so my electrical bill is out the roof. I gotta get back out there. What’s up?”

“First, let me introduce you to Sabina,” Raye began, and Shanti raised her hand.

Yeah, we used Charlie’s Angels names as our street names, but don’t think this was uncool when it came to Jinx. I was relatively certain Jinx wasn’t Jinx’s real name either, and we didn’t know what that name was.

“And Elena,” Raye went on.

Willow gave Jinx a shy little wave.

“Is that the latest movie?” Jinx asked Raye.

And yeah again, we weren’t fooling anyone with our street names.

“Yep,” Raye answered.

“I haven’t seen it,” Jinx said.

“Us either. We had to look it up on IMDB,” Jess told her.

“We really should get on that,” Luna noted.

“Yeah, you might learn something,” Jinx remarked.

My phone in my back pocket vibrated.

I pulled it out and looked at the screen.

A notification from Javi came up, and I felt my eyes round when the content of the text showed after my phone saw my face.

I’m in the parking lot. Finish with Jinx and get your ass down here.

Oh dear.

“What?” Jessie asked.

“Nothing,” I said, hastily shoving my phone back in my pocket, but I could feel my pulse beating in my neck at the same time I was trying not to admit that it wasn’t because I worried Javi was mad at me that I stood him up.

It was because Javi was close at all.

“Mentirosa,” Jinx whispered, watching me closely.

That meant “liar” in Spanish.

I kept my mouth shut.

“Let’s get this party started,” Shanti urged. “We’ve got to set everything up for the Kev meet at nine.”

Oh, right.

We had another appointment that night.

“Okay, this is the deal,” Luna started, and then she explained everything to Jinx. She finished with, “And then we found out this morning that the guy who showed for Kev’s date with Harlow, his name is Trev⁠—”

“Kev and Trev?” Jinx asked.

“Yeah,” Luna confirmed.

Jinx started laughing.

It was funny yesterday. It wasn’t so funny anymore.

“Well, he got murdered last night,” Luna finished.

Jinx stopped laughing.

“We need to make sure whatever his trouble is isn’t going to leak into Wi…I mean, Elena’s life,” Raye picked it up. “He goes for the cutesy girls he probably thinks are easier to fuck over. After last night, Harlow’s out. He’s unmatched her. None of the rest of us can pull off cutesy. We thought you could go in undercover, but now we’re not so sure…considering.”

“Uh, sí, gringa loca…considering,” Jinx replied.

“Elena’s going to try to pump him for information tonight. Though, we wanted to meet with you just in case we needed a backup plan,” Raye said in a petering out voice because it was clear Jinx wanted nothing to do with this, and I didn’t blame her.

“You sure you bitches shouldn’t bow outta this one?” Jinx asked.

“I’m not sure,” Willow said.

We all looked to her.

“Really?” Jessie asked.

“Maybe I can take a vacation. Go home and visit Mom and Dad,” Willow suggested. “Maybe Kevin will forget about me, and I can finally just move on with my life.”

“Like he’s forgotten about you in the last four years he’s been harassing you?” Shanti asked heatedly. She didn’t wait for Willow to answer, she announced to the room, “Whatever happens, I’m in until we know Elena’s safe. This is some shit Kev’s been pulling, and it has to stop.”

“Maybe someone will murder him too, and it will,” Jinx gave us her brand of optimism.

“We can only hope,” Shanti mumbled.

“Sabina,” I admonished, surprised she’d say that, because she sounded like she meant it a little bit, and that was not her.

“When a woman scrapes you off, it’s over,” Shanti returned. “You don’t call her from every phone you can get your hands on. You don’t show up where she lives and loiter outside the gate until you can slip in and knock on her door. You don’t show at her work and take her time.”

Just to say, he did that last too, fortunately when I wasn’t working so he didn’t see me—but he did see Raye and Luna, therefore, that was another reason they couldn’t try to be cutesy and score a date with him.

“You fuck off, the end,” Shanti continued. “He’s not fucking off. And he’s screwing with other women. We’ve seen him pull his shit, and I don’t know about you guys, but it hasn’t been fun to sit in reconnaissance, watch a woman get screwed over and do nothing about it.”

She was correct.

That had not been fun in the slightest.

“Maybe we should talk to your cousin,” Jess said. “Tell him what we’ve seen. Surely, some of these women are reporting the thefts. We could turn him in and be witnesses.”

“Her cousin?” Jinx asked.

“He’s a cop,” Jessie told her.

“Uh, no, chica.” Jinx was vehemently shaking her head. “You are not doing that,” she declared, her voice so firm, it was iron.

“Why not?” Jessie asked.

“Rule one on the street. You don’t rat when people are getting murdered…” Jinx paused for emphasis, “or at all.”

“We’re the Angels. It’s what we do,” Raye pointed out.

“You run your mouths to cops, you’ll be real angels, you get my drift,” Jinx retorted.

I liked being an Angel with my girls.

It was safe to say, I wasn’t fired up to be a real one, though.

“We are known on the streets, Jinx,” Jessie reminded her. “We aren’t flying under radar.”

“And you dealt with the last two situations with Los Guapos,” Jinx returned, referring to the Hottie Squad. “What you didn’t do was run to the police.”

“There’s a difference?” Luna asked.

“Yes,” both Jinx and Shanti answered.

“Have we heard anything from Clarice, Arthur or Titus?” I belatedly asked for an update.

“Only Titus,” Luna answered. “And his response was, ‘Steer clear of this shit, woman.’”

“Does that mean he knows something?” Shanti asked.

“I think it’s time for another trip to the greatest man cave of all time,” Raye said.

Yippee!

“You go see Titus, I go with you,” Jinx put in.

“Sure,” Raye agreed.

Jinx shifted her legs off the bed and reached for her platform heels. “Time for me to get back to work.”

My stomach dipped, because this meant we were done, and Javi was down in the parking lot waiting for me, and his text didn’t seem all that chipper.

I also hadn’t told the girls about this morning, or that I’d stood him up that night (and Shanti hadn’t either), or the fact he was downstairs for that matter.

Man, I wished I was good at cursing.

Because, shhh…

…oot.

SIX

“YOUR BEST AMERICAN GIRL”

(MITSKI)

Everyone was shuffling toward the door, and therefore, I was panicking.

In that panic, I jumped up, dashed to block their exit, my arms held out and everything.

“We can’t go down there,” I blurted.

“What?” Luna asked as they all stopped short. “Why?”

Dang it!

I had to cop to it.

This, with no choice, I did.

“Because Javi is down there, and I think he’s mad because he thought we were having dinner tonight, and me vamoosing before he could pick me up from work, some could think means I stood him up.”

There was a moment of silence before Jinx asked incredulously, “You stood Mountain up?”

I would understand her incredulity if last night hadn’t happened.

“Well…” I trailed off because in my mind, that was a no, in Javi’s mind, I was thinking it was a yes, even if it wasn’t a date date.

Or, could you stand someone up if it wasn’t actually a date date?

“Love you, babe,” Jessie stated, giving me a look I’d never seen on Jessie when it was aimed at me. She was openly disappointed. “But that isn’t cool.”

My heart sinking, I started to say something, but I didn’t get a word out before Raye added, “We’re adults and we use our words, Harlow. It’s never okay to leave someone hanging, especially someone who means something to you and your whole posse.”

Ouch.

It felt like I’d been slapped.

I mean, I wasn’t five, for goodness sakes.

Luna was watching me closely, and I could see the empathy in her eyes.

It was then her situation with Knox was confirmed.

She liked him, he liked her, but he was Cap’s best bud, and she was Raye’s. Knox had helped Cap install all the organization goodies I’d designed so Cap and Raye could scrunch all their stuff into her one-bedroom apartment when they moved in together. She’d joined in to be an Angel when Raye was out solving crimes before any of us had, because those two were sisters from different sisters.

Luna wanted to go there with Knox, but she couldn’t.

And she couldn’t because of just this.

Even if not much time had passed where our posse was our posse, we were tight. There were already unbreakable connections.

But not everyone could meet a hot guy they were attracted to, and within a couple weeks, know he was “the 1,” then have that actually pan out because he truly was “the 1.”

The rest of us had to worry. Worry if stuff wasn’t going to work out, and all the rest of the people we cared about were dragged into our mess, maybe needing to take sides, screwing up a good thing.

“Give her some space,” Luna ordered.

“Yeah, maybe the woman has a reason,” Shanti put in.

“For standing someone up?” Jessie asked. “That someone being Javi, who we all know is the shit and is totally into her? I mean, we should have known it’d start to get ugly the longer it lasted. So now, for God’s sake,”—she turned to me—“seriously, Harlow, these games have to end.”

There it was.

My bestest bestie had been getting everyone to lay off about Javi, but now, since she thought I’d done Javi wrong, she was laying into me.

“Javi is great,” I said in a small voice, and everyone focused on me.

I knew I wasn’t hiding the hurt when Raye’s eyes rounded, and Jessie, who clearly got out of her snit and clicked into my vibe, actually recoiled.

“But he said some things last night that were not at all nice,” I went on, watching all their faces morph into shock, another indication why this was so hard.

Because, except to me, Javi was that guy. That awesome, cool, with-it, solid, nice guy.

I kept at it.

“It’s not your business. It’s between Javi and me. But I didn’t agree to go to dinner with him. I can’t stand up someone who I didn’t agree to actually see. Though, bottom line, you know me, and even if you don’t agree with whatever course of action I take, I’m a grown woman, and you should respect it, not get in my face about it.” I shifted my attention to Raye. “And definitely don’t treat me like I’m a child.”

“Lolo,” Raye whispered, looking ashamed.

But I was done, because what just happened hurt…bad. What happened with Javi last night hurt badly too.

And I couldn’t take any more.

Therefore, I turned, yanked open the door and raced out (so…yeah, I could flounce, fume, bounce, and additionally, I was prone to throwing a drama).

Javi was, indeed, standing in the parking lot, or more aptly, leaning against the side of the bed of his truck, arms crossed on his mile-wide chest, frowning impatiently up at the walkway.

He came out of the lean the instant he saw me racing down to the stairs.

“Harlow! Wait!” Jessie called, and I knew she was racing after me.

An aside: for three years, Mom was angry with me because I didn’t try out for the track team. I was a good runner. Fast with great form. My gym teacher was the track coach, and he practically begged my parents to get me to try out.

The thing was, I wasn’t a jock. I had no interest in it. My view of running was the same as Val Kilmer’s in Real Genius, I’d do it…only when chased (and to add my bit, only when graded on it).

Like, with the chasing part, kinda…now.

Thus, I got to Javi fast and panted, “Let’s just go.”

He was looking between me and Jessie, asking, “Are you okay?”

I pressed a hand into his chest and begged, “Please, can we just go?”

Javi stopped looking between me and my girls, stared hard at me, then his face got kinda scary.

Jessie was there, I could feel her. I could also hear the others running up to us, including the clattering of Jinx’s platform heels, and in another scenario, I would have liked to have witnessed Jinx running in those shoes. I bet she was good at it.

Now, I was stuck between two evils, at this juncture Javi being the lesser one, and I just wanted to get out of there.

Suddenly, Javi was not messing around. He scorched Jess with a scowl, included the rest of them in it, all while he dragged me to the driver’s side door. He had it open, and I was up and in because he picked me up and shoved me in before I could let out a squeak.

I scrambled across the cab to sit in the passenger seat as I heard Javi growl, “I don’t know what the fuck is happening, but right now, all you bitches are gonna back off.”

He’d barely got that out before he hauled his big body in, slammed the door and started up his truck.

I resolutely didn’t look at my gang as he backed out, headed toward the exit and then we were away.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Don’t make me talk about it or I might cry,” I answered while valiantly trying not to cry.

“I don’t give a shit if you cry. I give a shit if you’re okay,” he returned.

Really…

Why?

Why couldn’t this awesome guy like me?

I made one of those gross sobbing hiccup noises.

“Baby,” he whispered.

Really!

Why couldn’t this awesome guy like me?

I looked out the side window and tried to pull myself together.

“Lil’ mama, talk to me,” he urged gently.

He wanted to talk?

Okay, we’d talk!

I twisted toward him. “I didn’t tell them you were mean to me last night. And before you say anything, I get it. You don’t like me. Does that hurt?”

“Harlow—”

I spoke over him. “Yes, it hurts. Because you’re a good guy. But not everyone likes everybody, and eventually, I’ll get used to it. We’re both adults. We could figure it out. Even if we share friends, we’d figure it out.”

“Har—”

“And okay, so I was chicken and wiggled out of our dinner by leaving early to buy porn.”

He sounded like he was strangling when he asked, “Porn?”

“For Mr. Stupidhead, the receptionist at the hotel. We bribe him with porn.”

I watched him grin at the windshield as he muttered, “Gotcha.”

“But I also brought some of Willow’s cupcakes, and he really liked him, so I think we can wean him off porn and get him onto baked goods.”

“I wouldn’t hold a lot of hope for that, lil’ mama,” he advised.

Whatever.

“Anyway, it’s debatable I stood you up,” I continued. “Seeing as I didn’t agree to go to dinner in the first place.”

He hesitated a beat before he replied, “No comment.”

Again.

Whatever.

“But you showed up while we were talking to Jinx, and I had to admit to them that I kinda, but not really, depending on how you look at it, stood you up. And Jessie and Raye got mad at me because they look at it the way I don’t.”

“They got mad at you?”

At his frightening tone, I clicked out of my hurt and fully into the cab.

Oh boy.

“Not that you want me,” I started cautiously, “but say you did, this is why we can’t go there. Because we’re dragging everyone along with us. So if things didn’t work out, people would pick sides and someone would get left out.”

“They got mad at you?” he repeated.

Oh dear.

“Javi—”

He was hitting buttons on his steering wheel as he declared, “What’s up with us is none of their fucking business.”

Man, I wish there could be an us.

I couldn’t focus on that.

The car started ringing and the dash said he was calling Jessie.

“Javi!” I cried.

“Dude, let me talk to Harlow,” Jessie demanded as an answer to the call.

“You aren’t fuckin’ talkin’ to her,” Javi stated irately, even if she was since she was on his dash line, and I could hear and speak to her. “And you aren’t in our shit, woman. Stay out of our shit. Or better yet, back your girl, no matter what.”

“That’s what I want to talk to her about,” Jessie said.

I opened my mouth, but Javi was speaking again.

“You did your damage. Your penance is you gotta stew on it. I got Harlow. You’re giving her some space.”

And with that, he hung up on Jess.

“Now you’re getting in on mine and Jessie’s stuff,” I accused.

“Were you about to cry two minutes ago?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Then no. Fuck no. Someone makes you cry, they answer to me.”

Um…

What was going on?

That was something a friend said.

That was something a boyfriend said.

No, no, no.

That train had left the station and was long gone.

I let that go and focused on our conversation.

“Javi, I cry all the time,” I shared. “I’m a crier. I saved that video about the little boy who waves at the cat sitting in the window every morning on his way to school, then the cat disappears, and the little boy is crushed. He keeps walking by and looking up, no cat. And he thinks the wee fur baby died. We all think the wee fur baby died. Then one day, he looks up, and the cat is back…”—I leaned toward him—“with her wee kitties. I’ve seen that video, like, fifty times, and I get choked up each time.”

Javi was dead silent after I shared this, but even in his silence, something was happening in that cab.

It felt soft, warm, cozy, intimate…miraculous.

I watched his profile as this was happening, and it was thoughtful along with its usual beautiful.

And then his rough voice came gentle when he said, “You can cry about shit like that. Your girls do not make you cry.”

“Jav—”

“Baby, no,” he whispered.

Since his voice was as sweet as the feel of the cab, and he called me baby again, I decided to shut up and stop looking at what was now his sweet, along with thoughtful and beautiful profile, and face forward.

“You eaten?” he asked.

“I had some of Lucia’s brie, ham and jalapeño croquettes a couple of hours ago.”

“Right. Better question. Are you hungry?”

I was peckish.

“Um…”

Shockingly, Javi read my “Um.”

“We’ll swing through a drive-thru, take it to your place and finally talk this shit out.”

I wasn’t sure I was up for that, but I didn’t say anything, because my hormones were beating out my emotions, and they always wanted to spend time with Javi. My stomach was assisting my hormones in this endeavor, so there was no way my emotions were going to win.

(Though, truth told, there were a goodly number of my emotions that wanted to talk stuff out with Javi too.)

“What’s your favorite fast food?” he asked.

“Culver’s,” I answered readily, then thought about it. “Also Cane’s. And Cava, though they don’t have a drive-thru. We’d have to go in. And if we go in, there’s also Thai Chili 2go. They have some really yummy, spicy chicken bites and their pad thai is super delish. I mean, for a fast-food Thai place. If you’re a Thai food aficionado, it might not suffice. Or we could share some of Café Rio’s sweet pulled pork barbacoa nachos. I’m a sucker for their sweet pulled pork barbacoa. And all of those are kind of on our way home, well, give or take a few blocks.”

“Are all of them on the table?”

“Sorry?”

“You got a taste for all of those right now?”

“Definitely.”

He hit his turn signal to get in the right lane.

“You get anything from Jinx?” he asked.

“No, except she’s not hip on going undercover on this mission.”

“No comment on that too,” he muttered.

I looked at him again. “Why no comment?”

He glanced at me before looking back at the road. “Because if I commented, I’d do it to say she’s got a brain in her head and a sharp sense of self-preservation, and you women goin’ after this shares you do not.”

I turned forward. “I’ll stick with your no comment.”

Another mutter with, “Good call.” Then, “The porn guy give you anything?”

Something hit me, so I said, “Oh my God.”

“What?” Javi asked sharply.

“I don’t know Mr. Stupidhead’s name.”

The sharp was out when he queried, “Come again?”

I turned to him. “We’ve never asked Mr. Stupidhead his name. Sure, he’s always rude to us and he stares at my breasts every time he looks at me.”

The sweet, cozy feeling in the cab dissipated immediately.

Therefore, I rushed on, “But I gave him birthday cake cupcakes tonight, and he nearly burst into tears. I don’t think he has anyone who’s ever nice to him. And it’s not nice to have an acquaintance with someone and not even know their name.”

“A man that stares at your tits doesn’t deserve you asking his name.”

“We ask him for information all the time,” I countered. “Obviously, its gross that he does that, but, I mean, you give as good as you get, and maybe we haven’t been all that nice to him either.”

“There are some people in this world who don’t deserve you bein’ nice to them, baby,” he said gently.

“I know. And I would put Mr. Stupidhead in that category before he almost started crying when I gave him cupcakes. But now I’m not so sure.”

“You say you bribe him with porn.”

“Yes, and now also cupcakes.”

“So this clown is getting before he gives. That means, you don’t owe him dick. And if you speak to a woman, you look her in the eyes, even if you don’t like her. No exceptions.”

He was right.

“You’re right,” I allowed.

“I know,” he stated.

“I still feel bad we haven’t asked his name,” I admitted.

“That’s because you’re you.”

Now what did that mean?

Last night, I was the spoiled rich girl out slumming.

Now, I’m a nice person?

I was beginning to agree with Javi.

We needed to have a conversation before I got whiplash trying to figure out what was in his head.

He took us to Thai Chili 2go, and the minute he parked, I was delighted he decided on that one, because I suddenly needed those spicy chicken bites and pad thai like I needed oxygen.

I opened my door to jump down, and my feet barely hit the asphalt before Javi was there.

He took my hand, guided me out of the door, shut it, and kept hold of my hand as we walked to the restaurant.

Oh yeah.

Holding my hand?

Serious to the seriously.

What on earth was going on?

We stood at the menu thing as Javi perused it. Since I knew what I wanted, I pulled my hand from his and ordered.

I was down by the register getting out my wallet when Javi said, “Mine’s with hers, and I’m paying.”

I looked to him to see he was addressing the register guy.

I turned to the register guy. “This isn’t a date. I’m getting mine.”

Register guy started ringing me up.

“Mine’s with hers,” Javi repeated. “And I’m paying.”

Register guy looked to Javi.

Javi pushed me out of his way, pulling out his wallet.

“I can get my own dinner,” I told him.

He looked down at me. “I know you can. That doesn’t mean you are.”

“Okay then, I don’t want you to buy my dinner,” I returned.

Javi switched his attention to register guy. “She’s full of it because we’re fighting. This is a date and I’m buying her dinner.”

Register guy nodded and started poking at the screen while I experienced heart palpitations.

“This is not a date!” I cried.

“Yes, it is,” Javi retorted.

It was?

How?

Why?

Again, how?

“You don’t like me,” I reminded him.

“We’ll talk about it when we get to your place,” Javi declared.

All right.

Enough.

I put my hands on my hips. “I can’t believe I need to remind you that I’ve had a rough couple of days, Javi. First, I’m on a mission you horn in on, meeting up with a conman loser to take him down, then you share your truth, then the conman gets his throat slit⁠—”

Register guy gurgled unhappily.

I kept ranting.

“—then my girl gang throws down, you rescue me, and although I appreciate the rescue, truly, you made yourself clear last night. I heard you. You don’t have to feel bad about it. It’s said. It’s done. And you are not buying my dinner because we are not on a date because you told me you don’t even like me!”

“I also told you we’ll talk about it when we get to your place,” Javi replied, then looked to register guy. “How much?”

Register guy stared up at him with a pale face then reached across and tapped the screen.

Javi pulled out some cash and gave it to him. Quick as a flash, register guy took it and started making change.

“Oh my God! You just paid!” I snapped irritably.

Javi turned to me. “You can stop bein’ cute, or you can get kissed. Your choice.”

I shut my mouth because really…

What on earth was happening?????

Javi dropped the change in the tip jar then guided me to a table where we could sit and wait for our food to be ready.

“I’m not talking to you,” I announced when I took my seat.

“Good,” Javi retorted when he took his. “Means, by the time I get you home, I can finally get a word or two in and clear this shit up.”

I had something to say to that, something along the lines of, he’d already said too much, but I’d hardly stopped him from speaking since he did. However, due to the fact I’d just proclaimed I wasn’t talking to him, I couldn’t say it.

“Yeah,” Javi said, his rich, deep voice even better than normal because it was now amused, “this is gonna work.”

I huffed.

He smiled.

I looked away because his smile was just that amazing. I couldn’t hack it.

Our number was called.

Javi got up to get our food, and I got up to rush to the door so he wouldn’t do something confusing again, like hold my hand.

When he came my way, I rushed out the door. I then rushed to the truck.

He beeped the locks.

I rushed to get in the truck.

He was there when I went to close my door. He handed me the food and closed it for me.

I remained silent.

I was able to sustain this on the drive home. I was even able to sustain it when he parked, we both got out, I tried the rushing thing again but failed when he caught me by the back of my dress, and I had no choice but to come to an abrupt halt and do so without say, yelling at him or something. I continued to sustain it when he took the food from me and flattened his hand against the small of my back to guide me to the gate.

Since his hands were busy, I punched the code in.

I knew we were in for it the minute I saw Martha, Linda and Patsy hanging out by the pool.

Linda and Patsy were lovely.

Martha was Martha. She wasn’t lovely, as such. She was a woman who had no filter, but when the rubber met the road, she’d be your ride or die.

Though, just like the Oasis residents that were out last night, they all took one look at us, and even though Martha’s mouth was opened to say something (per her protocol), she shut it the instant she saw Javi guiding me to my apartment.

I was me (indeed!), so I called, “Hey!”

“Uh…hey,” Linda called in return.

Patsy just started grinning madly.

Martha’s stare turned into a glare.

I hustled us to my door. I let us in. I was mildly surprised I tripped on something on the way to my tulip lamp, seeing as there was nothing in that trajectory to trip over. I hit the foot switch. Javi and I took one look at the state of my apartment.

I gasped loudly as my lungs hollowed out.

Javi growled.

He then grabbed hold of my hand and dragged me right back out of my apartment, through the courtyard, with Linda, Martha and Patsy watching, to Jacob’s apartment (Jacob was an Oasis resident first, NI&S recruited him from his contractor job to be one of their men later). Javi pounded on the door.

Jacob opened it looking like he wanted to murder somebody, which was no surprise. I’d just learned that Javi could pound on a door like no other.

But he took in Javi, me, went alert, Javi shoved me at him, Jacob caught me, and Javi ordered, “Look after her. I’ll be back.”

He dropped our bag of food in my hands then he jogged back across the courtyard.

To my ruined apartment.

SEVEN

“CRANES IN THE SKY”

(SOLANGE)

I sat on Jacob’s couch shoving spicy chicken bites into my face while Alexis, Jacob’s girlfriend, flittered around me being caring and supportive. Jacob stood off to the side with his hands on his hips and a ferocious frown on his face, and Javi talked to the two police officers that showed after Javi returned from going to inspect my wreck of an apartment.

Unsurprisingly, my adorable green and white striped glass mushroom hadn’t survived what looked like a tornado that had gone through my living room.

I bought that mushroom before I moved in. That was just months ago. I loved that thing, and I didn’t know if they had any left at the store so I could replace it.

On this despairing thought, I rammed another chicken bite into my mouth as one of the police officers said, “Alvarez is not gonna like this.”

“Alvarez can take a fuckin’ number,” Javi returned.

I knew to whom they were referring. “Alvarez” was Jorge Alvarez, Phoenix Chief of Police. We’d had occasion to cross paths with him on our last mission.

He was not the Angels’ biggest fan.

The two men shared a look that was clearly a meeting of the minds, then both the police officers stared at me like I had all my screws loose, this before they walked out.

Hang on a second.

Keeping a firm hold on my chicken bites, I stood, calling, “Hey, wait.”

They turned back to me.

“Don’t I need to make a statement or something?” I asked.

Their attention moved to Javi.

“I already made your statement,” Javi explained.

It might have been an explanation, but I was confused. More than confused. I was mad he thought he could speak for me. And I was confused about whether I should be more confused than mad, or vice versa.

Since I couldn’t come up with an answer to this dilemma, I pushed another bite into my mouth and chewed angrily.

The cops left.

The door was closing behind them, but then it didn’t, because Martha, Linda, Patsy, and worse, Jessie, Luna, Raye, Shanti and Willow were all of a sudden in Jacob’s apartment.

I loved Jacob and Alexis together (and separately). We’d all watched as they’d circled each other for-what-seemed-like-ever. Thus, it was a long time coming. Now, they were very together and cute as all heck.

But I didn’t know how she handled his pad.

There was an oversized black leather sofa, an equally oversized gray leather chair, and about fifteen guitars on stands (okay, only five, but that was a lot, wasn’t it?). The TV was humongous and totally didn’t work with the space. A fancy treadmill was scrunched in with all of this, and every surface seemed littered with mail, fliers, and what appeared to be laundry that was either clean and had yet to be folded and put away, or dirty and hadn’t made it to the hamper.

Alexis was really into Jacob, and he was really into her, as well as being nice, protective and gorgeous, so I could see maybe dealing with the massive TV that far from worked in that room. And maybe the leather furniture, which I would never say out loud, but even so, not speaking it openly didn’t negate the fact it was ugly.

But the treadmill, the mess and the laundry?

No.

They’d been together for months. They both had places at the Oasis. Alexis lived next door to Martha, who wasn’t thrilled with their sex-a-thons, which Martha shared with all and sundry could get loud, so they were usually at Jacob’s. As such, with all that time in, it was my philosophy it was high time for her to instigate a woman’s touch.

But at that moment, there were twelve people jammed in and sharing space with all this stuff.

And this was impossible.

“Why were the cops here?” Jessie demanded to know, her gaze pinging from me to Javi to Alexis to Jacob, back to me and Javi. “And why are you guys in Jacob’s apartment?”

Martha, with difficulty due to the zero space allotted her, pushed center stage.

“To hell with that!” she yelled. “I’m contacting Bill and Zach. We’re having an Oasis-wide meeting.” She jabbed a finger at me, then to Jess, Raye and Luna. “Reporters clogging the entrances to the parking lot wanting to talk to Raye, Jessie being kidnapped, Harlow having her home broken into. Once and for all, we wanna know what you girls are up to.” She homed in on me. “I looked in your door when Javi came out with the cops. Your pad is a disaster!”

“Your place is a disaster?” Willow breathed, the color draining from her face.

“It’s been tossed,” Javi grunted.

“It has? For heaven’s sake, why?” Luna asked.

“I don’t know, woman,” Javi drawled. “Maybe because she was out on a date with an asshole who got his throat slit last night?”

“Oh my goodness!” Linda cried.

“What the hell?” Martha demanded.

Patsy made the same gurgling noise the register guy did at Thai Chili 2go.

Javi ignored them and looked at me. “The boys are gonna go in and see what they can get out of the place. You’re with me.”

“What boys?” Raye asked.

“I’m with you?” I asked a far more pertinent question.

“You’re staying with me until we figure this shit out,” Javi answered my question.

My stomach dropped and it was both pleasant and terrifying.

“She can stay with me and Eric,” Jessie stated.

Javi turned on her, and when she and the others caught sight of his face, something, from their reactions, I was glad I couldn’t see, Linda’s eyes rounded, Patsy bit her lip, Martha narrowed her gaze, and Javi said in a vibrating voice, “She’s with me.”

“Okay, hermanito, I’ll back off,” Jessie muttered, exchanging glances with Raye and Luna, then sending another one that screamed I’m sorry! to me.

I knew she didn’t mean she was sorry about caving to Javi. She meant she was sorry about what happened at the motel.

She and I should have a chat about that, but at that moment I had to stay focused.

“I get to say where I’m staying,” I put in.

“No, you don’t,” Javi denied.

Before I could argue, Raye reiterated, “What boys?”

“Our boys,” Javi told her. “We just took over this case from you.”

Uh-oh.

“Did not!” Raye snapped.

“Talk to your man about it,” Javi said. “Or better, talk to Mace about it. See how he feels about you women wading into this shit, whatever this shit is.”

“It’s our case,” Raye retorted.

“Case?” Martha asked. “Case?” Martha shouted.

Needless to say, the other residents at the Oasis didn’t know about our Angels business.

“Not me you gotta convince,” Javi told Raye, ignoring Martha and going to our bag of food.

He snatched it up, then he snatched my hand up, and me and my chicken bites were being dragged through the packed-like-sardines people to the door.

I didn’t fight him. Too much was going on. I didn’t have it in me.

This meant, after I was in his truck, we were on the road for about five minutes, and my chicken bites ran out, visions of the state of my apartment started dancing in my head, and I said a shaky, “Javi.”

“Keep it tight and stay with me, baby, just a few more minutes,” Javi urged.

I really wanted to be strong and “keep it tight.”

But my cute little glass mushroom was broken!

And someone had been in my place!

And…

And…

Someone got their throat slit!

I deep breathed. I lamented the fact we didn’t get any utensils so I couldn’t dig into my pad thai right then and there. I tried to reconfigure Jacob’s space in my head so everything fit and looked nicer in it (this was a gigantic fail, the treadmill had to go…and the furniture did too).

Fortunately, this took us to a time when Javi had parked at a modern townhome complex closer to downtown than the Oasis. He got out. I jumped down. He took our food and my hand and walked me to a door. He released me to unlock it and ushered me in.

In order to continue to keep it tight, I hyper-focused on Javi’s space, considering I’d spent months hyper-obsessing on where he might live (and now I knew) and what it might look like (and I was about to find out).

He turned on the lights and I saw there wasn’t much to it.

A lot of white walls with not much on them, though he had a mounted TV that I was pleased to see was large, but it fit the space. A brown leather chesterfield that was very long and pretty much kick-butt sat against a wall, facing the TV (though, the sofa needed a chunky throw tossed artfully in a corner, seeing as chesterfields eschewed the adornment of toss pillows). A bunch of white floating shelves were mounted on a wall. Some had a single athletic shoe on them (and that was kind of cool, considering I could tell all those shoes were the important collector’s edition type).

Rounding this out, in the open plan space, there were some stools at a bar to what seemed like a completely empty kitchen, save a coffeemaker and a toaster. But, even empty, his kitchen was a decent size (which meant about twice the size of mine, though the kitchens at the Oasis were tiny, still, we could both cook in his without bumping into each other) and attractive with black hexagon tile backsplash and white cabinets.

And that was it.

I turned to him and blurted, “You don’t have much stuff.”

“Until recently, I traveled light,” he quipped, gazing down at me. He immediately dispensed with any chatter about his place and asked, “You okay?”

My shattered mushroom sprang to mind. I felt my face scrunch up when my hold on keeping it tight slipped. I heard our food bag hit the chesterfield, then my face was shoved into Javi’s chest, and his arms were tight around me.

In his arms, feeling his heat, his strength, my hold on tight obliterated, and I lost it.

I clutched at his tee as I bawled into the fabric and exclaimed, “They broke my mushroom!”

“What?”

I tipped my head (way) back to look up at him, catching his gorgeous crystalline eyes with my watery ones. “My cute mushroom. They shattered it.”

“Yeah, babe. They did. I’m sorry,” he muttered.

“Why would they do that?” I asked him a question he couldn’t possibly have an answer to.

But he did.

“They were looking for something. They couldn’t know when you’d show, so they had to work fast, and because of that, they weren’t careful.”

That made my tears stop, since he seemed really in the know about this kind of thing. “Have you searched someone’s house before?”

“Once or twice.”

Hmm.

“Did you break anything?” I asked.

“I never did it stupid. I always had a lookout.”

Interesting.

“The key is not to let them know you were looking, or if you luck out and find what you want, not to let them know right off the bat you found it,” he went on.

“Oh,” I mumbled.

“I know this won’t help much, but they didn’t do a lot of damage, outside the mushroom. Just a rush job, leaving a mess.”

“I guess that’s good,” I continued to mumble.

“We’ll get you another mushroom,” he promised.

“I’m not sure they have them anymore,” I told him despondently.

“We’ll take a look.”

God, he was being so nice.

It was time to get to the nitty-gritty. “Someone broke into my place, Javi.”

He started to stroke my back. “I know, baby.”

“At the Oasis. With Linda, Patsy and Martha in the courtyard.”

His hand slid around me, and he gave my waist a reassuring squeeze. “They were never in danger. Whoever this was got in through your window in your bedroom, so they came in from the parking lot.”

That made me shiver.

Feeling my shiver made Javi frown.

Seeing Javi frown like that was a little scary.

“This is what’s going to happen,” he declared.

I just stared up at him, so he kept talking.

“The guys are gonna go in, see if whoever this fuck was who violated your space left anything behind we can trace. They’re also, right now looking at the camera feeds to see how we missed someone breaking in when we got an angle on your back windows. We find out who it is, we locate him and let him know how we feel about him fucking with one of our women.”

One of our women.

I was about to shiver again, but Javi wasn’t done, so I decided instead to pay attention to what he was saying.

“We don’t find out, we’ll still find him and share our displeasure. It’s obvious that Trev fuck was up to something even worse than what he was doing through dating apps. He was probably being watched, they saw him with you, they’re clearly desperate about whatever this is, and they took a shot with your place. They didn’t find what they wanted, because you have nothing to do with this guy. Though, we’re gonna make sure to communicate you have nothing to do with this fuckin’ guy.”

I really wanted that communicated.

Really.

And I, for one, did not mind in the slightest that the NI&S crew were going to wade into this mess.

I will reiterate.

Someone broke my cute mushroom.

And someone else was dead.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” I announced. “I want to nuke my pad thai and eat it, and then maybe eat all your ice cream. Do you have ice cream?”

“No.”

Drat.

I tried again. “Chocolate?”

His lips twitched. “Sorry, lil’ mama, no.”

“Cookies?” I asked, maybe a tad desperately.

He smiled at me, let me go, leaned to grab the bag of food, handed it to me, and ordered, “You warm this up. I’ll order some sweet shit to be delivered.”

Oh my God!

How nice!

Still, I said, “You don’t have to. I probably shouldn’t self-soothe through food.”

Though, there wasn’t any “probably” about it. This very fact had been drilled into my brain what felt like all my life (hi, Mom!).

“You’ve had a rough night,” he stated. “So I’m gonna get you some ice cream, chocolate and cookies.”

Oh yeah.

Totally nice.

But the blazing question of the night was…

Why?

Lamentably, as this brought us full circle, it made me ask, “Why are you being so nice?”

I thought it was a pertinent question, considering all he’d said to me the night before.

What I wasn’t ready for was him leaning deep into me so his nose was not even an inch from mine, doing this framing my face with his big, calloused hands, and his deep voice dropping to a rough, heady whisper.

“I was a dick last night and spewed a bunch of shit I shouldn’t have said for reasons I’ll explain later. Things are too heavy for you now to get into the heavy of all that, and I’ll warn you, Harlow, it’s heavy. But I’ll explain. We’ll work it out. And then we’ll figure it out. Just not now. Now is about food and me getting you to a place where you feel safe after what you saw done to your apartment.”

I didn’t hesitate even a second to say, “I don’t think it’s possible not to feel safe when I’m with you.”

After I said that, the next instant, I didn’t know whether to pull away and run as fast as I could or throw myself at him and hold on as hard as I could, because the burn seared into me from a fire that raged deep in his eyes. This happened at the same time his hold on my cheeks tightened, just a little, but it was there, and it was meaningful.

Then his hands glided down to cup my jaw. In doing this, his fingers were so long, they snagged in my hair. Liking both, my nipples pebbled, then somewhere south pulsed as he dipped his head and scraped his evening scruff against my cheek so his lips were at my ear (and…yeah, another pulse and a harder pebble!).

“But we’ll clear one thing up right now,” he said softly there.

I was listening so hard, I feared my eardrums would explode.

“I like you, Harlow.”

What?

“But, why⁠—?”

I stopped speaking abruptly when his whiskers scraped back across my cheek, and now he was so close, the tip of his nose brushed mine.

I couldn’t help it, that felt so nice, and all I could see was so beautiful, I let out a little sigh.

“My head’s fucked up about something,” he whispered. “I took that out on you. It was uncool.” Another tip-of-the-nose brush, which elicited another sigh. “And you did right, baby. You reamed my ass about it, in your way. I hurt you, and it wrecked me that I did, but you didn’t let me pull that shit. Now I gotta work to fix it, and I’m gonna do that, mi pequeña Lolita. I promise.”

Mi pequeña Lolita.

Why were those the three most beautiful words I’d ever heard in my life?

Not to mention the whole “and it wrecked me that I did.”

I didn’t want him to feel that, but about this, I also did.

“Okay?” he asked.

The whole truth?

Not really.

Although what he just said was lovely, and he was being even lovelier, he’d said some really mean things.

But in that moment, with the way he was looking at me, like the only thing in the world he wanted was that I say, “Yeah, okay,” adding this to the way he was holding me, the smell of him, the feel of his hands on me, the warmth of his body suffusing mine, I decided I could wait until later for him to share.

So I said, “Yeah, okay.”

The open relief that washed through his handsome face told me I’d made the correct decision.

He gave me a squeeze, let me go and stepped away.

“Warm up the food, I’ll get your treats,” he said, pulling out his phone.

I went for the bag, replying, “Really, you don’t have to. Like I said, I shouldn’t self-soothe through food.”

His next question arrested me.

“Who told you that?”

I turned to him, and instead of sharing I learned that from my mother, I educated, “It’s not a healthy habit.”

“What’s not a healthy habit is restricting yourself from having something you dig,” he returned.

I blinked.

“The more you tell yourself you can’t have it, the more you want it, the more you’ll abuse it when you break down and allow yourself something you should have allowed in the first place,” Javi stated. “Then you feel shit that you let loose, which leads you to feeling more shit you abused it, and you’re right back where you started, wanting it, denying yourself, then taking it too far, only for that fucked-up cycle to repeat itself over and over.”

I stood still and could do nothing but stare.

“It’s not a crime to eat ice cream,” he said, and with him making that simple statement, suddenly the fact that all my life I thought it was seemed ludicrous.

“You’re right,” I said.

He studied me and I didn’t move because I was caught in his gaze as well as still in the throes of processing this epiphany he’d led me to.

In a sweet, careful voice, he declared, “You got a beautiful body, baby.”

I felt my cheeks heat, my heart soar, and my mouth move.

“I’m pudgy.”

Oh God.

Why did I say that?

Worse!

Why did I say it to a guy I liked who liked me?

And it hit me he liked me. One could say you didn’t hold a girl’s jaw and scrape your evening stubble on her cheek if you liked her just as a friend.

I didn’t get to fully enjoy this world-rocking understanding, seeing as the cautious warmth vanished from his gaze and something terrifying entered it.

“Now who told you that?” he bit out.

“I-I think we might have a bunch of heavy to go over, Javi.”

“You’re not pudgy,” he proclaimed.

“Okay,” I mumbled disbelievingly.

“It’s entirely whacked, the idea a woman shouldn’t have curves,” he said.

“Well—” I started.

“Basic biology,” he grunted.

Oh dear.

Things seemed to be straightening out between us, so I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear Javi’s take on “basic biology.”

I didn’t get a chance to share my hesitancy.

“A woman’s part in procreation is to nurture a child in her womb and when it comes out,” he carried on. “How you gonna do that if you’re skin and bones?”

“Not every woman wants a child, Javi,” I explained.

“Nothing negates basic biology,” he returned. “You wanna be trim, go for it. You don’t want a kid, your choice. But the bottom line is, women are built to carry weight so they can nourish offspring. Whether you want that offspring or not doesn’t factor, that’s the basic part of biology. So you having the body you’re biologically meant to have is completely natural. What’s not natural is this fucked-up idea that you gotta…”—he flipped out a hand—“I don’t even know what the goal is with that skinny shit.”

It was then it hit me, he was really angry that I thought I was pudgy.

It also hit me how incredibly sweet it was he told me he thought I had a beautiful body.

Which reminded me I thought he had the same, and unexpectedly—and in that moment, inopportunely—about one hundred of the thousands of fantasies I’d had about him crashed into my brain and something else hit me right between the legs.

“You over that shit?” he clipped.

I pulled myself back from my mental trajectory of deciding whether or not (and I was leaning toward whether) to jump his bones and asked, “What?”

“You over that shit about your weight?”

“I’m not sure a lifelong issue with my body can be cured in one short conversation, no matter how hot the hot guy is who tells me I need to get over it. And you’re the upper echelon of hot.”

Oh no.

Did I just speak those words out loud?

His eyes lit and lips curled up.

I did speak them out loud, and the humor and…

Lord help me…

Tenderness in his gaze made me not regret it, which was crazy.

But it was true.

“Nuke our food, babe,” he ordered, turning to his phone and murmuring, “We’ll get you over that body image bullshit later.”

He made this sound like he’d just jotted that as priority one on his to-do list.

Right, it was official. Enough was enough, I could endure no more.

For the rest of the night, I was taking it one step at a time.

Dinner. Treats. Then…whatever came next.

And one step at a time meant I was resolutely not thinking about whatever was going to come next.

So I found Javi’s built-in microwave and got to work.

EIGHT

“SMOKE SIGNALS”

(PHOEBE BRIDGERS)

My eyes opened, and the first thing I saw was Javi’s head on the pillow beside me, his body turned my way, his eyes closed because he was asleep.

I also felt his arm resting heavy on my waist, the warmth of his body, and heard his even breathing.

Confronted with all of this wonder first thing in the morning, it did not occur to me that last night I’d fallen asleep after pad thai and two scoops of Tillamook brownie batter ice cream, doing this scrunched into one side of Javi’s chesterfield while he was lounged in the other.

We were rewatching Ted Lasso episodes I’d already seen four times, doing this because Javi had proclaimed, “Only feel-good shit tonight.”

I thought this was an excellent idea, I loved it that Javi thought Ted was feel-good (because he was), and since I already knew I’d rewatch Ted Lasso a gazillion more times before I died, I was totally up for a Ted Lasso watch.

In other words, I fell in with his plans.

That was, I did before I fell asleep.

I’d woken when he was carrying me up his stairs.

I was so tired, I didn’t have it in me to marvel at this.

Instead, I’d mumbled, “I got it.”

“Yeah,” he’d replied, but he didn’t put me on my feet until I was in his bathroom.

I’d watched hazily as he dug through a drawer, found a new toothbrush and ripped off the plastic covering that always drove me crazy because it was so hard to get off, but he did it like it was made of paper. He handed it to me, dug through the drawer again and found toothpaste. He handed that to me, left, came back with a T-shirt and set it on the vanity counter.

Those things accomplished, he ran a finger along the side of my neck. I trembled at his soft touch. Then he walked out and closed the bedroom door behind him.

And that was, I’d thought at the time, the end of our first unofficial (I wasn’t ready to proclaim it as official yet, but now only due to how weird it was) date.

I felt bad about taking his bed because that was rude. Even if he didn’t have a chunky throw, I should sleep on his couch. It was long, and even with his height, I suspected Javi could fit, but there was no doubt I’d be a lot more comfortable on it than he would.

However, all that had happened and the weariness it had left in its wake overwhelmed me, and I didn’t have it in me to find Javi and protest. I barely had it in me to brush my teeth and change into his tee.

I somehow managed to accomplish these feats, turned out the bathroom lights, felt my way to his bed, fell into it…and the next bit was now.

Me learning that Javi didn’t sleep on his couch.

He slept next to me.

Again.

I was not offended by this.

Not with him right there looking so peaceful. His long, dark lashes resting on his cheeks, the weight of the life he’d lived that I didn’t know until that very moment he constantly carried having left his features. This didn’t make him appear boyish, per se, but it definitely made him a different Javi.

One I’d never seen before.

One who didn’t grow up alternating between the streets and the system.

One who didn’t have a mom he had to look after because she had serious mental health issues.

One who didn’t have a rich and famous dad who did everything in his power not to be a part of Javi’s life.

One whose every second of his existence didn’t lead him to forming the Shadow Soldiers in order to look out for people like him when he was a kid, and his mom, when she was trying to raise her son on the streets while coping with an untreated illness.

One who hadn’t lost two of those soldiers last December when they’d jumped into a situation Javi had advised them against jumping into and got themselves shot to death because of it.

Instead of all this, lying in bed beside me was a Javier Montoya who’d experienced none of that.

He’d gone to school, like most kids do.

He’d had a home, like most kids do.

He had two healthy and functioning parents, like all kids should have.

He didn’t have to worry where his next meal would come from, like all kids shouldn’t.

Though he still had this kick-butt, new townhome he was in the midst of doing up with things he liked, like displaying his growing collection of expensive kicks on the wall.

Also, he still had a job he enjoyed and friends who loved and respected him.

But he had all of these things with a mom who made awesome Thanksgiving dinners he looked forward to every year, and a dad who clapped him on the shoulder with pride every time he saw him.

Falling into this fantasy at seeing Javi sleeping so peacefully, it didn’t occur to me that we’d apparently had one weird date after a lot of dancing around each other, this ending with Javi lashing out at me, something we hadn’t yet fully processed, and now we’d slept in the same bed together…twice. And neither time had I known it was happening.

No, that didn’t occur to me.

Happily ensconced in my fantasy for Javi, I didn’t think of that.

I also didn’t hesitate to do something I’d wanted to do practically upon meeting him: reach out a hand in order to trace the perfect arch of his thick, dark brow.

But I gasped when my hand was still several inches away and Javi’s eyes shot open just as his fingers caught my wrist in a punishing grip.

It was then I watched as the weight of the life he’d led settled immediately on his features, and into my consciousness. This came from the strength of his grasp of my wrist, not to mention the speed with which he caught it, and the clear demonstration of the latent instincts that came to the fore instantaneously when he sensed something was on approach when he was vulnerable.

Right then and there, in his bed, staring into eyes that had not even an iota of sleep lingering in them, my heart shriveled in my chest as the wholeness of his life, and the devastation of it, settled into me.

His grip loosened, his eyes grew lazy, and he pressed my hand to his bare chest as he muttered, “Sorry, baby.”

He had nothing to be sorry for.

But me?

I couldn’t fight it anymore.

It wasn’t that I no longer had the strength.

It was that I no longer wanted to.

It was as if Javi read my mind, because as I scooched across the minimal distance his way, he tugged my arm around to his back, pulling me even closer.

Our bodies touched.

He bent his neck, I tipped my head back, he hesitated a fraction of a second, and in that fraction of a second, I pushed up, and our lips touched.

His were strong, insistent.

Mine were ready, willing.

They opened.

His tongue darted inside.

I whimpered.

And then, seconds into our very first kiss, I was on my back in his bed, Javi’s weight on me, one of his hands curled around the back of my neck, tilting my head, the fingers of his other hand finding the hem of my tee and diving under it as his mouth devoured mine.

It was a heady mix of too much way too fast and not enough after way too long.

I leaned into the latter part of that, arched into him and wrapped a calf around his thigh.

He ground into me and growled in my mouth, his fingers gliding up the skin over my ribs to my breast.

He cupped it and swiped his thumb tight over my already-hard nipple.

A delicious electric jolt bolted through me, so fabulous, I couldn’t stop myself from tearing my mouth from his in order to release a needy moan.

With that, his fingers tightened on my breast in a hold so possessive, so branding, I opened my eyes and saw him watching me with an expression that was so possessive, so branding, my sex flooded.

With no choice left to me, I unhooked my calf from his thigh, planted my foot in the bed, and with every ounce of my strength, I heaved up and rolled him over so I was on top.

“Baby,” he purred.

If I had any restraint left (I didn’t), that purr would have done me in.

But as it stood, it just did me in.

I latched onto his head with both hands and kissed him, this time with my tongue darting into his mouth to take my fill.

He tasted so…

Javi.

Perfect.

On a delectable grunt, Javi closed his arms around me, one hand going up into my hair, pulling my ponytail holder out, making all my hair tumble down around us, one hand going down to grab a cheek of my behind in that possessive/branding hold I’d already fallen head over heels for.

I kissed him harder, lifting my knees to straddle his hips, and rubbed my girl bits into his very hard boy bits.

He groaned.

I delightedly swallowed his amazing groan and added trembling in his arms.

His hand at my behind darted up, taking the tee with it, then skated down inside my panties, skin against skin.

Mm…

Yes.

So much better.

I broke the kiss to moan again, but I didn’t get far since Javi caught my lower lip with his teeth, then we were kissing again, and that was such a hot, potent move, I mewed, melted and rubbed against him harder.

I was in the middle of completely losing myself in his kiss while beginning to wantonly dry hump him (though, with the state of my panties, it was more a wet hump), when, in a dizzyingly quick move, our kiss was broken.

Javi had knifed up to sitting, still holding me astride his lap, both of his arms tight around me, but his head was turned to the door.

“Sweetheart?” I called, confused as to what was happening.

At my call, his head whipped to me, and my breath caught at the look on his face.

Staggered. Gentle. Warm. Proud. Affectionate. Content.

Happy.

All of that, not at war. It was resting in calm accord on every inch of his features.

After I called him one single endearment.

Wow.

He really liked me.

It was then I heard a pounding from far away, I knew it was his front door, and I was so ticked our moment was broken (this one and the ones before), I turned my head and glared at the door.

This before I let out a surprised mini shriek since I was suddenly flying through the air only to land on my ass.

Javi tossed the covers over my lap and angled out of bed, but he turned and leaned into a fist by my hip with his face in mine, whereupon he ordered, “Do not move. I’ll get rid of them and be back.”

I nodded, vigorously.

Him being back would be good.

Oh so good.

He stalked out in a manner I was a little worried about whoever was at the door, but mostly I was admiring the extraordinary curves of his ass highlighted by the material of his long sleep shorts.

Oh, and the sweeps and dents of the defined muscles of his bare shoulders and back.

He disappeared out the door.

I pulled the covers tighter to my lap and took a look around.

Considering I was mostly asleep last night, not to mention the lights had never been on, it was only then I noticed his bedroom was like the rest of his house that I’d seen.

A dark greenish-blue bedspread covering dark-gray sheets, and I counted four pillows at the head. There was a chocolate-brown suede headboard that was handsome. But the two nightstands and lamps, along with the single dresser across the room from the bed, looked battered, worn, and none of it matched. Even the lamps.

I knew, before NI&S, along with doing the Shadow Soldier stuff, he’d had a good job as a baggage handler at Sky Harbor Airport.

The thing that was becoming clear was, even so, it didn’t seem he’d allowed his life to start back then, because whatever that life was, he didn’t bring much of it with him to this space except some nightstands, a couple lamps and a dresser.

That life hadn’t started until now. When he got a job with Nightingale Investigation and Security, one that Jessie told me paid a lot better because her brother told her it did, and he’d been a baggage handler with Javi.

I didn’t know how old Javi was. My guess, he was around my age, which was thirty. Probably he was just a bit older.

And it was only recently, when he got hooked up with his new crew, that he believed.

Believed he could settle in.

Believed he could begin his life.

Until recently, I traveled light.

And I belatedly wondered, with that comment, before now, if he’d even settled at all.

Stuff was occurring to me. Uncomfortable stuff. Understandable stuff.

Stuff that might explain why a man like Javi said the things he’d said to me after he dragged me away from Oceans 44.

Explain it, not forgive it.

But still.

I was grasping onto these threads to weave them together when I heard Jessie yell, “You don’t want us in your shit with Harlow, you keep your shit out of ours!”

Oh boy.

I threw the covers back from the bed and raced out of the room, down a short hall that had a couple of more doors that led off it, to the staircase, which was open to the space below.

The instant I hit it, the first thing I saw was Javi, in nothing but those shorts, offering up a full-frontal, unobstructed view of his mile-wide, significantly muscled chest (and abs, and those scrumptious hip Vs).

That vision was a doozie, which would do pretty much any girl in.

But it wasn’t what did me in.

What did me in was the fact that his gaze was on me wearing his tee. It was traveling up and down my body from hair to feet, and there was such a smug, self-satisfied, possessive/branding look on his gorgeous face, I knew I’d been claimed from all the way across a room, and I was all the way down with it.

So down, I almost went down, since I stumbled on the stairs.

Javi’s big body jolted, and he made to move toward me, but I righted myself, waved at him and said, “I’m okay.”

For self-preservation, I turned my attention to who else was in the room.

Jessie was looking at me, as was Shanti.

My guess was, all the Angels would have been there, except Raye, Luna and Willow had the first shift at SC, so they couldn’t be.

Shanti smiled.

Jessie gawped.

She then explained her gawp. “You have sex hair.”

I lifted a hand to my hair.

“Babe, right here,” Javi grunted.

He was pointing to the floor by his side.

Hmm.

Conundrum.

See, on the face of it, this seemed like a man who was calling his woman like a dog.

However, I was learning, in Javi World things had a different meaning.

This particular meaning was that he wanted me right at his side so he could more easily butt into my conversation with Jessie if she said or did something that displeased him, the displeasing part of this would be if it was something that harmed me.

Which also, on the face of it, didn’t seem all that great.

But considering he thought he was protecting me and keeping me safe, it was.

It was all that great.

All of it.

So I went “right there,” this being right at his side.

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and then hauled me right into his side.

I didn’t protest.

Jessie’s gawp turned into a goggle.

“How…how…how…” she stammered. “How in the fuck were you two ‘never gonna be a thing’ one day, and the next, she’s in your tee in your house with sex hair?”

“If Harlow wants to tell you, she can tell you. Later. Now, you two are gonna leave so I can make my Lolita breakfast.”

It seemed that Lolita thing was going to stick, and I was not at all mad about it.

Shanti’s smile widened.

Jessie started blinking rapidly.

However, I was confused at the breakfast mention, considering not long ago, we were eating something up that was super delicious, but it was not food.

“She’s not answering her phone,” Jessie pointed out.

Oh yeah.

Where did that go?

I took off my crossbody sometime between nuking Thai food and settling into the sofa, but I forgot where I put it.

“Take a hint,” Javi answered Jessie.

“We have things to discuss,” Jessie kept at it, though she said this to Javi.

“And you can discuss them when Harlow’s ready to discuss them,” Javi retorted.

“I don’t know about Lolo,” Shanti entered the conversation at this juncture. “But if you two were talking about me with me being right there, not getting a word in, we can just say that wouldn’t make me all that happy.”

Shanti was right.

I should wade in.

“We’re okay, Jess,” I told her. “We can hash it out at work.”

“I was a bitch,” she replied.

I wouldn’t take it that far.

“It wasn’t cool,” I allowed.

She tossed up a hand to indicate me and Javi. “I liked the idea of you two together. It bummed me out that you weren’t going for it. Now it’s freaking me out that you were going at a pace that would make a snail look like Sha’Carri Richardson, and now you’re Mach 3.”

“You and Turner take your time with a lot of getting-to-know you shit before you decided to live together even if you both have different houses?” Javi asked.

Just my eyeballs shifted to the side, because they did not. I wasn’t sure, but it could have been only a couple of days before Eric was either sleeping in Jessie’s bed at the Oasis, or Jess was sleeping in Eric’s at his house, one or the other every night.

Both of them had doubled up on toiletries and had made room in each other’s closets before a month was out, I knew that.

“I said I was a bitch,” Jess reminded him. “Totally out of line.”

I turned and tipped my head back to look at Javi.

“She did say that, Javi,” I said softly. “Now, twice.”

He looked down at me and seemed to relax even though his arm curled tighter, bringing me closer.

“You’re cool with her, I’m cool with her,” he murmured.

“Oh my God, they’re so cute, now I’m pissed they took so long to get it together,” Shanti bitched.

Jessie was watching me closely. “Are you good?”

“I’m upset someone broke my mushroom.”

Neither Jessie nor Shanti said anything.

“The one on my coffee table,” I explained.

“Yeah, babe, we know what you’re talking about,” Jessie replied, her eyes going up to Javi, back to me, and she raised her brows.

“Well, just to repeat what I said last night, I didn’t think it was a date,” I said, and shrugged. “But it turns out it was.”

Javi chuckled.

It sounded way nice.

Shanti grinned.

Jessie blew out a huge breath.

“Can I make Harlow breakfast now?” Javi asked in a tone that meant, Get out, I’m making Harlow breakfast now.

“All right, hermanito,” Jessie returned and looked at me. “We’ll talk at work.”

“Really, we’re okay,” I assured her.

“But we’ll talk at work,” she echoed.

She was right, I had things to say, to her and Raye.

I nodded.

Then I remembered something I’d lost track of in the course of me losing my mushroom.

So I asked, “How did things go with Kev last night?”

I wasn’t fond of the expressions on their faces before Shanti shared, “He didn’t show. And he’s not answering his phone or replying to texts.”

“Eric or Cap know that shit?” Javi queried.

Jessie, unusually, shuffled her feet uncomfortably, and this was unusual because Jess wasn’t often uncomfortable. She was a woman who had it going on.

Javi didn’t know her as well as me, but he still knew her enough to know that wasn’t right, which was why he asked, “What’s the deal?”

When Jessie didn’t say anything, Shanti did.

“After you all left, we had a kind of…situation last night.”

I tensed. “What kind of situation?”

“Eric showed and he laid down the law,” Jessie shared.

I felt my mouth open in shock.

Eric was totally a mellow guy.

Javi grunted, and it wasn’t difficult to read it was a grunt of approval.

My lips turned down as I looked back up at him.

“Cap did too,” Shanti added, and my attention went to her.

That wasn’t quite as much of a shock, even if it was still kind of a shock. Raye had told us Cap had what she called an “inner caveman,” one who struggled with the Angels business.

He never let the caveman take over, though.

“So Jess threw down, then Raye threw down,” Shanti kept relating the story. “Martha’s Martha, and she was in the vicinity, so she threw down. Now Raye’s on a mission to solve this case before you Nightingale guys do.”

Javi grunted again, this one also wasn’t difficult to read, and it was not approval at all.

Shanti kept talking, “And we all got an email this morning from Bill and Zach that we’re having an Oasis-wide meeting in the courtyard tonight at seven thirty to discuss ‘this Angels business.’”

“What’s to discuss?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m supposed to craft a cocktail for it,” Jessie said. “Raye’s been ordered to bring her pudding. There’s a Google form to sign up to bring other nibbles. And Bill and Zach laid down the law that you can’t have a cocktail unless you fork over five bucks, and you can’t partake in the snacks unless you bring something.”

“So, in other words, Bill and Zach are humoring Martha’s demands, but mostly, they’re using this as an excuse to organize an Oasis party,” Shanti summed it up.

I was totally okay with that. The parties at the Oasis were fab.

“I wonder what I should bring,” I mumbled, vacillating between my brie-and-cranberry bites that were always a crowd pleaser or my butter-brushed-and-sea-salt-dusted pigs in a blanket, which not once garnered leftovers.

“Are you done?” Javi asked Jessie and Shanti, but now his tone said, Get out or I’m throwing you out.

Shanti smiled at him again.

Jessie scrunched her nose at him and looked to me. “We’re done once I get a hug.”

I started to move toward her, but Javi’s hold strengthened.

I looked up at him. “I’m good, Javi.”

His gaze moved over my face, another grunt came, this one said, Okay, but I’m watching, and he let me go.

I was dealing with how nice it felt, regardless of the fact Javi’s brand of protective clearly veered deeply into the overprotective zone, when it came to me that Jessie was not a hugger.

So, obviously, she felt really bad about jumping my stuff last night.

I knew this was true when she didn’t let me go after the initial squeeze.

“I don’t have any excuses,” she said in my ear. “I couldn’t sleep, it upset me so much me and Raye acted like your mom.”

I clenched my teeth but held her close, because now I was upset that she was upset by that.

She knew all about my mom. And my dad. And my brother. She also knew all of them.

She could put up with the former two, barely, but she struggled so much with my brother, Easton, I did my best to make sure she didn’t have to spend too much time with him.

I’d done so well with this, she only had to suffer his company on my birthday. But I knew even that couple hours a year were two hours too many.

“I don’t know what came over me,” she continued.

I still didn’t let her go even as I shifted to catch her eyes. “You have something really special. Maybe you wanted that for me.”

“And maybe you should bust my chops for acting like your bitchy, judgy big sister when I’m not. I’m your edgy, loyal best friend,” she retorted.

“I guess the fact it was based on both you and Raye wanting something special for me makes it hard for me to expend any effort on busting anyone’s chops.”

Her pretty blue eyes shone with all the love she had for me, which was a lot.

And all was forgiven.

She let me go.

I hugged Shanti.

With Javi dogging my steps, I walked them to the door.

He closed it on them and locked it.

He then turned to me and stated, “They missed the part about telling you they brought some of your stuff.”

He jerked his chin toward the couch.

I looked that way and saw my big suitcase resting on its rollers, along with my roller carryon, which didn’t say “some” of my stuff, but quite a bit of it.

Even if that was slightly alarming (I had an apartment to put to rights—I was okay with staying with Javi after the initial shock of it all, however, that was not going to continue), I had no doubt they packed my cleanser and moisturizer, which I desperately needed. I’d slept in my makeup, now two nights in a row, which was a massive no-no for me.

“You forgive easy.”

At Javi’s words, I turned back to him.

“Well—” I began.

“You’re here, in my tee, after giving me the best first kiss I’ve ever had.”

Oh my God!

I loved that it was the best first kiss he ever had, because it was the same for me.

Sadly, I didn’t have time to revel in that love. Javi continued talking.

“Instead of saying what you should have said to me yesterday. To go fuck myself. Yeah, you forgive easy, mi Lolita.”

Ulk.

This was embarrassing.

Why was this embarrassing?

I felt the heat in my cheeks even if I didn’t understand it.

Therefore, I strove to change the subject.

“You said something about breakfast?”

His beautiful lips split into a smile. “I got bagels and cream cheese, or bagels and cream cheese. Which one you want?”

A giggle escaped me, which upon hearing it, put an adoring expression on Javi’s face that I instantly cherished, and I said, “I think I’ll have a bagel and cream cheese.”

He slung an arm around my shoulders and started guiding me to the kitchen, saying, “Then that’s what you’ll get.”

We separated in the kitchen so he could man the toaster, and I could make coffee.

Something I learned about Javi.

He toasted an exceptional bagel.

And he had the perfect touch with cream cheese.

NINE

“SPRAINED ANKLE”

(JULIEN BAKER)

As I sat next to Javi in his truck while he idled in the suicide lane outside The Surf Club, I tried to decipher what the white shoe polish on the front window was depicting without reading Tex’s white slashes that formed words.

I gave up, read the words Tex’s Daily Special: Mexican Mocha and decided the curves and jags beside it were supposed to be a sombrero…with tassels.

Javi made the turn, and my mind skipped from that to what I’d been struggling with since Javi finished the bottom half of his bagel, then took a break from breakfast to carry my suitcases up the stairs.

Nerves.

See, even before I finished breakfast, I noticed we’d slept in. So, not only was I in Javi’s space, and I didn’t have the accoutrement for any of my morning rituals (which meant starting two days without grounding myself in my rituals, something that was not good), I also didn’t have the time to do any of them without accoutrement because I had to get a move on in order to get ready for work.

But, onward from that, Javi was taking my bags up to his room.

And we’d only had one very weird date I didn’t claim as a date until after it was over (and still wasn’t committed to that claim).

When Javi returned, he sat on the stool beside me and murmured, “You get the bathroom first.”

That was when the nerves kicked in big time.

Sure, I’d been sucking face and rolling around on his bed with him not half an hour ago.

But calmer heads were prevailing, which every girl knew when she learned the boy she was really into was really into her meant one thing.

It was time to panic.

This, I did.

“We should talk about that kiss,” I blurted.

He slowly turned his head to me, and when I caught the sexy-hot fire of memory burning in his eyes, I squirmed.

“What about it, baby?” he purred.

I wish he hadn’t purred, because now I wanted to suck face and grope him at his kitchen island.

Even so.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with it, I just…I don’t know. It’s important for me that you know I’m not that girl.”

He tipped his head to the side. “What girl?”

“I like for things to go a little slower.”

For a second, he didn’t move.

Then, roaring with laughter, he stood from his stool, bent low to me, grasped my head in both hands, tipped it to his, and still laughing, stated, “We go any slower, lil’ mama, we’ll connect when we’re eighty.”

I could feel my cheeks were aflame, and I had proof they were when his dancing eyes fell to them, and that was embarrassing, but I had to dig deep to my never very stocked reserves of bravery and sally forth.

“I just…just…just…”

Gah!

Get it together, Harlow! Just put it out there.

I drew in a breath and said, “Okay, full disclosure, I really like you and I just want that, when it happens, to be special.”

Mr. Hold Nothing Back didn’t hold back what my words meant to him (that helped with the nerves…a little).

He did this visibly.

He also did it audibly.

“Goin’ on record here to tell you what happened earlier is already special,” he said in a gentle voice, and it was good he had his hands on me, or I’d have swooned right off the stool. “But I hear you, mi pequeña, and I’ll have a mind.”

“O-okay,” I whispered.

His eyes got soft and smiled before his mouth did it. Both were magnificent. He dipped in, brushed his lips against mine, then went back to his stool.

One would think this would make a girl a lot less nervous. But it didn’t.

Because I really liked him.

We had things to discuss, but so far, being with Javi was everything, and now not only because of the impact it would have on our crew, but also for me, I didn’t want anything messing it up.

We finished breakfast, and Javi told me he’d clear up while I got ready for work.

I did a wee bit of snooping when I got upstairs, opening the doors to the other rooms (there were two more bedrooms, both a lot smaller than his, one with nothing in it, one with a bunch of boxes and other stuff stacked in a corner, and the last room was a bathroom).

My suitcases were in Javi’s bedroom.

So the nerves that had receded came back.

I opened both my cases and discovered the heretofore unknown power of packing Jessie and Shanti had, because they had me totally covered.

I took everything I could possibly need to get ready into the bathroom, closed the door and looked in the mirror.

Okay, good to know.

My setting spray had magical powers. I’d never tested it to this extreme, but my makeup still looked fab.

That was a relief.

I made note of this, then commenced powering through a major freakout when I was showering in Javi’s shower, seeing Javi’s shampoo and bodywash, finding this weirdly meaningful, at the same time having visions in my head of Javi showering in this shower.

His big, strong body all slick and wet and soapy.

These thoughts led me to taking the shortest shower in my life so I didn’t work myself up to breaking my own rule, very recently laid down, about taking things slow.

I did the body lotioning, hair and makeup thing, dressed fully and took everything of mine out of the bathroom into the bedroom.

I had to swallow a scream when I saw Javi lounged in bed. He was on his phone, his back to the headboard, his long legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles, the delicious acres of skin he was presenting on marvelous display.

I had to tamp down another urge to break my rule about taking things slow.

He looked at me. He looked at the stuff in my arms. He looked at my suitcases open on the floor. He looked at me again.

He then said, “You can leave your shit in the bathroom.”

Um…

“I think I should—” I began.

I didn’t get any further because, while I was speaking, he angled off the bed, sauntered to me, got very close, and he said, “No. We’re on a roll. We’ll talk about this later.”

He then ran a finger from the dent between my collarbones up my throat to the point of my chin, all while I held my breath, before he walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

I expelled that breath, put all my stuff in my suitcases, zipped them up, righted them and rolled them to stand beside the door.

I knew he wanted me to stay.

But I could barely get through a shower without losing my resolve to spend time getting to know him better, getting more comfortable with him, and definitely having the conversation we needed to have about all the hurtful things he said to me, before we got seriously busy.

I mean, I was sensing I understood what was behind all he’d said.

But he had to share it.

I went downstairs to find that he did, indeed, clear up. The coffeemaker was sparkling clean. There were no crumbs or sesame seeds from the bagels on the counter.

It was neat as a pin.

Most girls would see the guy they were interested in could clean up after himself and have to fight doing cartwheels.

Not me.

Seeing this, a chill swept up my spine.

Of course, I thought men should be capable of looking after themselves. Cleaning their own house. Doing their own laundry. Being able to navigate a grocery store with more than a small amount of expertise. Having more than a single signature dish their mom taught them to make in their cooking repertoire.

But, honest to God, it looked like the coffeemaker had just been taken out of the box.

I didn’t have time to dwell on that when I heard the shower go off upstairs.

I didn’t suspect Javi took a long time primping, and although we had plenty of time to get me to work, I hadn’t had my phone in my hand in nigh on ten hours, and I needed to catch up on my life.

I found my crossbody, pulled out my phone, and saw I had a ton of texts, mostly from the Angels, but alarmingly, there was one from my mother.

First (and yes, I was procrastinating), I went to my email in order to find the Google form so I could log in my nibbles for the Oasis meet tonight (I picked pigs in a blanket).

Then, with no small amount of trepidation, I opened Mom’s text.

As you know, your brother’s birthday is soon, so perhaps we can get together and plan?

She put a question mark at the end and included a “perhaps,” but it was still an order.

And the “as you know” intimated that it should have been me who instigated the planning.

My last birthday, they took me to Mastro’s (their favorite restaurant, it was lovely, but it wasn’t my favorite) and gave me a check for five hundred dollars, “Because we know you struggle to make ends meet considering your job.”

Easton’s last birthday, we went to Binkley’s, which was one of those one-seating a night, you-ate-what-the-chef-put-in-front-of-you, very-expensive (though, worth it) places because Easton was a foodie and had been dying to go there.

And they gave him a five-day trip to an all-inclusive on St. Thomas, “Because you work so hard, you need a break.”

Granted, when Mom handed him the envelope that included his travel details, Dad had a sour look on his face, and he avoided my eyes, because he knew I knew that all-inclusive didn’t cost five hundred dollars.

But that had been my life.

Harlow, The Disappointment.

Easton, The Golden Child.

“All good?” Javi asked, making me jump.

I looked at him.

His hair was wet and combed back but already curling around his ears. His face was clean-shaven, which was both a boon and a bummer, because he looked good with stubble and without. His jeans fit him their usual fantastic. His short-sleeved, black thermal stretched tight against his pecs and at his biceps.

And again, I was struggling with my desire to take this slow.

“My brother’s birthday is coming up,” I told him.

He stopped close to me and his brows rose in question.

“Mom wants to get together and plan,” I continued.

“Okay,” he said leadingly, since it was obvious there was more there, I had just stopped talking.

“She’s a Boy Mom,” I explained.

He appeared perplexed. “A what?”

“A boy mom,” I said.

One side of his lips tipped up. “I could guess that, since she’s your mom and you have a brother.”

“No, Javi, she’s a Boy Mom. Like, there is no love in her life that will be more special than the love she has for her son.”

He was back to perplexed. “That’s not good?”

“Well, I might be wrong, but I think there are all kinds of love. And they’re all special in their own way. The love you have for your husband. The love you have for your friends. The love you have for your children. It’s debatable, but if you have to have one that’s more special than all of them, I think it should be for your partner. You’ll share the rest of your life with him…or her. This doesn’t mean you don’t absolutely adore your children, want the world for them and would do anything for them. I’m saying, if forced to do something unnatural, say, you had to pick the most special because someone was pointing a gun at your head, I think your life partner should be your choice.”

Javi didn’t say anything.

“Boy Moms pick their sons, and everyone else…” I let that trail off as understanding dawned on Javi, and it was then I remembered, when I was with Javi, I was existing in Javier Montoya’s Overprotective Zone, where all the lights were red and there was no exit, so I should learn to be more careful. Therefore, I rushed to add, “It isn’t that big of a deal.”

“She fuck you over because her boy is more important than her girl?” he growled.

Oh dear.

He was growling.

“It really isn’t that big of a deal,” I lied.

“You’re lying,” he called me on it.

I bit my lip.

He jerked his head to my phone. “What’s her text say?”

“That we need to get together and plan.”

“And what’s that gonna mean to you?”

I tried to dodge. “Maybe we should get on the road.”

“We got time.”

We did, dang it.

“Okay, again, it’s not that big of a deal, but last year, they took me to their favorite restaurant for my birthday dinner and gave me a five-hundred-dollar check. But they took Easton to a place he’d been dying to go. A place where the meal starts at several hundred dollars a head and they did all the add-ons like foie gras and wine-pairings, and on top of that, they gave him a trip to the Caribbean.”

Javi’s eyes started glowing malevolently.

Glowing malevolently!

Eek!

“They let me bring Jessie to my dinner,” I added.

“So, you not only gotta eat that shit, she drags you in to help plan it.”

I stretched out my lips but decided not to confirm.

“Tell her you’re busy and to let you know where to be when she figures it out,” he commanded.

“It’s really just easier to go along with it.”

“Easier on who?”

His question felt like a punch to the stomach, because it was one I should have asked myself years ago.

Because the answer was…it was easier on Mom.

Not me.

Every single time, it hurt me.

He pulled me out of this revelation by sliding his fingers along my jaw in order to cup it and said, “I’m still committed to the goal of staying true to our roll, so we’re gonna let this sit until tonight when we get into the heavy.”

Oh boy.

Here we go.

I decided to start with the easy part.

“I have the Oasis meeting tonight,” I reminded him.

“We’ll talk when we get back here after.”

All right, Javi wasn’t reading into the easy part.

“I think maybe we need to get over a small bump in our roll in order to discuss the amount of stuff in my suitcases and how I think they should be unpacked at my place,” I suggested.

He grinned.

I had to fight swooning again.

He then decreed, “We’ll talk about it later.”

“Javi.”

He slid his thumb over my bottom lip.

My hoo-ha tingled.

“Later, Lolita,” he whispered.

Okay.

Shoot.

Evidence was suggesting all Javi had to do was whisper and call me Lolita and he’d get his way.

The thumb swipe was overkill. A fabulous overkill, but overkill.

And I was putty in his hands (or against his thumb).

Therefore, without another word, he took my hand, led me out of his house and into his truck, and I didn’t make that first peep.

“Hey,” he called.

I came back to him in his truck to see we were idling outside the back door to The Surf Club.

I turned to him. “Hey.”

“You good?” he asked.

I was sitting in Javi’s truck with Javi, he was really into me, he was a great kisser, he was overprotective (and I didn’t think that was at all a bad thing), and he could toast a mean bagel.

I was definitely good.

“I’m good,” I said.

The sweet look on his face told me he heard all the things I did not say, and I didn’t think that was a bad thing either.

For some reason, I wasn’t nervous anymore. Not at all.

“What’d you pick to take to this thing tonight?” he asked.

“Pigs in a blanket,” I told him.

“When you gonna make that shit if the meeting is half an hour after you get off work?”

Wow.

He really knew a lot about me and my schedule.

Then again, I’d been paying extremely close attention to him too. I didn’t know his every move, but the ones I did know, I paid a whole load of attention to.

“I was going to ask Raye or Luna to run to the store for me, and I was going to use the SC ovens.”

“Text me what you need. I’ll get it and drop it by.”

How nice!

It was then I realized it was ten to eleven, and he was not at work.

“Why aren’t you at work?”

“Because I’m with you.”

“Don’t you have to work?”

“Yes, and my work this morning includes looking after you.”

What?

“Like, as my bodyguard, or something?” I inquired.

“No, like, as the guy who wants to spend time with you, also the guy who wants to see you naked, when you’re ready for that, so obviously the guy who wants you to survive long enough for me to do both. But, yeah. Like your bodyguard.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Do all the Angels have bodyguards?”

“Raye, obviously Cap. Jessie, obviously Eric. Luna is getting Liam. Willow is getting Gabe. And Shanti is getting Brady.”

Whoa!

“You guys are going to, like⁠—?”

“Make sure your throats don’t get slit and your apartments don’t get tossed? Yeah.”

I peered beyond him to The Surf Club. “Are they in there now?”

“No. Because Tex is in there. And we have cameras in there.”

My gaze shot back to him. “You have cameras in there?”

“By the end of the day, we’re gonna have a lot of cameras everywhere.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of this.

Worse, I wasn’t sure what Raye would think about it. She was the numero uno Angel, and it wasn’t like we didn’t all take it seriously, but she seriously took it seriously, and I was sensing she didn’t want the guys to butt in.

“Do the Angels know about this?” I asked.

“Don’t know. I been with you. I haven’t had a brief. I just know Mace gave out our assignments last night, and we’re not taking any fuckin’ chances with this shit.”

All right.

So, okay, maybe it wasn’t all that Angelic to think this, but that made me feel better.

Then again, I’d read the Rock Chick books.

“Okay,” I said.

He appeared to relax.

“Though, why isn’t Knox on Luna?” I queried, mostly out of curiosity.

“Whatever that is, lil’ mama,” he said in a listen-I’m-imparting-wisdom tone, “don’t stick your nose into it.”

I thought this was very good wisdom to impart, thus, I nodded.

“So, you gonna text me what you need to make your thing for tonight?” he asked.

I nodded again.

His lips curved. He leaned toward me. I started holding my breath again (which was a good call), because he reached out with just two fingers. He put them to the soft flesh under my chin, exerted the most minimal pressure possible, but even so, I listed to him like I was on the end of a fishing line.

Our lips met. His tongue touched mine. I opened. He angled his head. I tipped mine.

And then we went at it in the cab of his truck.

I was panting and holding on to his neck when he broke our connection.

“Get to work, baby,” he murmured.

It took some effort to pry my hands from his warm skin, but I did it while nodding.

“Have a good day,” he said as I hopped down from his truck.

I turned to him and chirped, “You too.”

He got that adoring look on his face again.

I shut the door to his truck before I lost the fight with my control and crawled back into it…and onto him.

He continued to idle while I walked to the staff entrance, so I gave him a stupid wave at the door.

He jerked up his chin, a handsome smile on his face.

I ducked into the staff area at the back of SC that had a bench and our employee lockers.

I’d just stowed my bag, tied on my server’s apron, slipped my phone in the pocket and turned.

And that was when I let out a scream.

TEN

“SISTERS OF THE MOON”

(STEVIE NICKS [FLEETWOOD MAC])

Fanned out around me were Raye, Luna, Jessie, Shanti and Willow.

I was so into reliving Javi’s kiss and how sweet it was that he dropped me at work (deciding not to think about the part where he semi-kinda kidnapped me so I didn’t have my own car), I hadn’t heard them come up behind me.

“Did you have sex with Javi?” Luna demanded to know.

“If you did, was it good?” Willow asked.

“Shut up, it was obviously good,” Shanti put in, eyeing me closely. “She might have her feet on the ground but look at her. She has her head in the clouds.”

This made me pause to ponder, because if he could kiss me in his truck and put my head in the clouds (and it was), what would having sex with him do to me?

I was in the midst of another hoo-ha quiver when Raye inquired, “Are we good?”

I gave all my attention to Raye.

“We’re good,” I told her.

“I was out of line,” she copped to it. “I couldn’t sleep all night thinking about what a bitch I’d been.”

“Bombs are dropping, children are starving, women are bleeding out in hospital parking lots because they’ve been denied access to necessary healthcare. Those are things to lose sleep over,” I replied. “You wanting me to have something I want, at the same time looking out for a friend who you thought I’d wronged isn’t.”

Raye made a self-deprecating scrunchy face. “I told you to use your words when I could have picked mine more carefully.”

This was absolutely true.

“My guess, this is never going to happen again,” I remarked.

“Never, ever, ever,” she promised.

I smiled. “So we’re good.”

I was ready for a hug from Raye to cement the end of that episode, but Luna butted in.

“Are you gonna lay off about Knox now?” Luna demanded of her bestie.

Raye turned to her. “No.”

Even though I felt Luna’s pain, I smiled wider, because they were cute, at the same time I decided I’d find a moment to take Raye aside and advise her to back off about Knox.

It was no fun being in that place, and it was only Luna and Knox that could work themselves out of it (if they ever did, and we had to back that play too).

“Let’s get back to Lolo having sex with Javi,” Shanti said.

“We didn’t have sex,” I informed them.

Everyone focused on me.

“But we did have our first kiss. And our second. Also our third.” I tried counting. “All the way to, I think, our twelfth, the one that just happened in his truck, but I think there were more like three in the truck. I don’t know how to count when our lips didn’t disconnect, but the kiss took a different direction, if you get my drift.”

I got five happy nods.

They got my drift.

“And I lost track of how many times we kissed when we were rolling around on his bed this morning,” I concluded.

“Rolling around on his bed?” Jessie queried.

I nodded. “We slept together. I mean, I didn’t know we were going to, but I’m glad we did so he didn’t have to freeze on his couch. He doesn’t have a throw blanket.”

I notched asking Javi if I could buy him a throw blanket on my mental to-do list.

“Is he a good kisser?” Willow asked into my mental list making.

“I’ve been awake for two and a half hours and we’ve kissed twelve times, maybe more, so the answer to that is hell to the yeah,” I said.

Everyone smiled.

I was already smiling.

“So…” Shanti urged.

Drat it.

Oh well, I’d have eventually told them (probably). Might as well do it now.

“Okay, so, even though Javi and I haven’t fully talked it out yet,” I started, “I’m sensing I kinda get why Javi was mean to me after he dragged me out of Oceans 44.”

“You mentioned that last night. So, spill. How was he mean to you?” Luna asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t want to say because I don’t want you to think badly about him,” I answered. “Just, I thought he didn’t like me. But he cleared things up last night about that part. He likes me.”

More smiles, maybe because I was smiling like crazy.

“But I was really bummed when I thought he didn’t like me,” I carried on. “He wanted to explain himself, but that was just how bummed I was. I wasn’t giving him the shot. He wasn’t into me not giving him a shot, so he took his shot regardless, and in the interim, we found out my apartment had been searched. This stalled our full discussion. We’re going to finish tonight.”

“The street stud and the private school princess,” Shanti remarked.

Everyone turned to her.

“What?” Raye asked.

“The dude has it going on,” Shanti said. “But he grew up on the street. His mom resides in a mental institution and she’s never getting out. Lolo’s parents are doctors, her mother and brother are surgeons, and they hire people to put up their Christmas decorations instead of doing it like every good All-American family should. Together while drinking hot cocoa with the mac and cheese bubbling in the oven, which they’ll consume after the decorations are up, then somehow, they’ll descend into bickering or a full-blown fight.”

I could see comprehension rising in my crew.

And…yeah.

This was part of those threads I’d been trying to grab onto this morning.

“Dude’s gonna hesitate,” Shanti went on. “Don’t blame him. Especially if the woman he likes is brushing him off.” She focused on me as my heart squeezed. “That’s not a commentary on where you were at. I’m sure you had your reasons. I’m just sayin’, I see where he was at. I also see, he shows at a classy restaurant where you’re looking cute on a date, even a fake date, it’s gonna tweak him because he’s seeing in real time the life you lived that he didn’t. Then he sits down with you at said restaurant, you get huffy and walk away from him, well, that’s gonna tweak him too. Why he lashed out?” She shrugged. “No idea. Also not okay. But I see the triggers.”

I did too.

I so did.

“So you guys are, you know…exploring this now?” Willow asked.

I lifted a shoulder to try to be nonchalant about how excited I was about it.

I failed at being nonchalant and ended up grinning, and maybe I bounced on my toes (twice).

This got me reciprocating grins all around.

Though, I didn’t want to get too excited. It was really new, and Javi and I still had a heavy talk on the schedule.

In order not to let my excitement get out of hand, I changed the subject.

“So, okay, what did I miss while all that was happening?” I asked.

“Not much,” Raye answered. She then went forth to fill me in on stuff I already knew. “Except Cap’s lost hold on his inner caveman, and Eric’s exposed he has one too. We have bodyguards. And they think they’re taking over this case.”

“Can I, at this juncture, ask why we wouldn’t let trained private detectives with years of experience take over a case that got suddenly scary really damned quick?” Willow queried an excellent query.

“We’re not in this for fun,” Raye replied.

“I thought we were,” Shanti said under her breath to Jessie.

But it was Raye who replied. “Right. We’re in it for that too. But mostly, we’re in it for justice.”

I was all for justice.

But the only thing I wanted broken in this mess was my mushroom.

“Okay, so Javi and I are…”—I paused to count—“fourteen hours into us exploring an us, but I already know he’s overprotective.”

“Shocker,” Shanti quipped, a twinkle in her brown eyes.

“And my apartment is a mess,” I kept going.

“Willow, Raye and I are gonna get on that,” Luna told me. “After work. The boys got what they needed out of it, so they said we’re good to do a cleanup.”

I was interested to learn what the boys got out of it, but first things first.

“Aw, that’s sweet. But you don’t have to.”

“When the meeting tonight descends into a party, we’re probably looking at a late night, so when are you gonna do it?” Luna asked me.

“No rush. She’s got at least a weeks’ worth of stuff at Javi’s,” Jessie shared.

Everyone looked at me again.

“Don’t look at me, I didn’t pack it,” I said. “And I’ll be talking to Javi later about it, because I know he wants me to stay with him so he can keep me safe, but I’m not moving in with him while he does.”

“Why not?” Shanti asked.

Why not?

“We’ve had one date that I’m still on the fence about declaring official because it was so weird,” I explained. “I can’t move in with him after one date. Especially not a weird, maybe unofficial one.” I looked to Jessie. “If we need to play things safe, do you think Eric would mind if I stayed in one of his extra bedrooms?”

“No, Eric wouldn’t care,” Jessie replied readily. “What I think is, Javi would lose his goddamned mind if you tried to move into one of Eric’s bedrooms, in essence, letting Eric take over keeping you safe.”

I sensed this was true.

However…

“It’s too soon,” I declared.

“You were rolling around in his bed with him this morning,” Willow pointed out.

Raye was looking at Jessie as she said, “She’s gonna need an in-service in dealing with these guys.”

“An in-service?” I queried.

“A tutorial,” Raye said. “On how to deal with an overprotective alpha.”

This was a super good idea because I was thinking my alpha was more alpha than their alphas, and their alphas were pretty danged alpha.

“That’d be super helpful, guys,” I gushed.

We all jumped when the door behind us crashed open.

And, of course, Tex was there.

“Are you having an Angels confab without me?” he demanded.

“We haven’t gotten that far. Mostly we’re talking about Harlow and Javi—” Jessie began.

Tex lifted a beefy mitt. “I don’t care about that.” He then noted, “I thought servers served.”

“We had to check in with Lolo because her apartment got trashed,” Luna pointed out.

Tex made a puh noise and rocked back on his heels. “Went last night and looked at that shit. It wasn’t even a two on the scale of one being normal, five being the wreck made of Evie’s place, ten being Stella’s apartment getting grenaded, and twelve being Ally’s apartment turning into a fireball.”

“Evie?” Willow asked.

“One of my girls up in Denver,” Tex answered.

“Is she a Rock Chick?” Shanti queried.

“No, she’s on the Dream Team,” Tex told her.

Wait.

This was new.

“Who are the Dream Team?” I muttered to no one and everyone.

“How many girls do you have?” Raye inquired of Tex.

He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Six too many if you don’t haul your asses in there and get to work.”

He was right, there were customers that needed to be served, and tips that needed to be made.

We all trundled through the door to the kitchen with Luna grumbling in an undertone, “Tito wouldn’t boss like that.”

“I’m not Tito,” Tex said, not in an undertone.

By the time we made it through Lucia’s kitchen to The Surf Club proper, it became clear why Tex hustled us in.

First, Byron, a daily regular, was standing at the bar, looking frenzied.

Byron drank dirty chais, and Tex didn’t make tea even if that tea also had a shot of espresso in it.

Thus, Tex needed us in there to deal with Byron, when Tex could have dealt with him if he didn’t have his strange aversion to tea.

More to the point, Dream was there with her newborn, Harmony, strapped to her chest.

“Oh shit,” Shanti whispered upon spying Dream.

“Oh boy,” Willow whispered upon doing the same.

“Fuck,” Jessie didn’t whisper.

I slapped on a bright smile and called, “Hi, Dream!”

Dream looked at me and did a kind of side eye/eye roll that wasn’t very nice because it was wholly dismissive.

It was also oh-so-totally Dream.

She then fixed in on Luna because Luna was her sister, and for some reason, Dream made a habit of coming by SC to give Luna grief and be mean, even though Luna was my sister too (not of the blood, still), and she was the bomb at being a great sister.

No one understood what Dream’s damage was, but the results of it were that Raye and Jessie couldn’t stand her. Shanti was right then sticking close to Luna so she could take her back. And Willow grabbed two pitchers of water and said, “I got all the tables,” which freed up Luna to focus on the always onerous effort of dealing with Dream.

On his way back to the coffee cubby, Tex gave Dream such a wide berth, I was shocked.

It said he was either scared of her (impossible, though Dream was just that much of a pill, maybe not) or he didn’t want to get too close to her if she did something ugly to Luna so he wouldn’t feel the need to knock her into next week.

I did my bit by ignoring the side eye/eye roll and walking right up to her.

“Do you want a coffee or something?” I offered cheerily.

“I’m breastfeeding,” she snapped. “I can’t have coffee.”

She wasn’t only mean to Luna.

Just saying.

“Oh,” I mumbled.

Luna sidled up to me asking her sister, “Everything okay?”

“Can we talk privately?” Dream requested.

“No!” Tex boomed from the coffee cubby (yeesh, he had good ears). “Servers serve!”

Dream glared toward the coffee cubby then turned back to Luna. “Or, you know, can we, uh…meet after work or something?”

“Is everything okay?” Luna repeated.

“Fine, I just…” She turned to look at Tito sitting in his corner table “office.”

Tito was bent over, scribbling something in a notebook.

Dream returned her attention to Luna, leaned in and said quietly, “I’m in a bind and I was hoping maybe you could get me some shifts here so I can make some tips.”

“No!” Tex boomed again (wowzers, he really had good ears). “Servers serve and they do it nice!”

I wanted to laugh because Tex wasn’t nice to anybody, most especially the customers, but I didn’t laugh because Dream looked crushed.

I also didn’t want Dream to work there, because she had some issue no one understood with Luna, and as noted, she wasn’t very nice to anyone.

We had a good thing going, and it wasn’t that new blood would mess it up. It was that Dream messed everything up. Case in point, she had three children by three different guys, the oldest was barely three years old, and I wasn’t throwing shade. Do you. Live your life. Make your babies. Find your joy.

But she wasn’t prepared financially for any of them, and she kept having them. And in the beginning, she did that while continuing to go to her reflexology appointments and tarot card readings.

At first, she mooched all she could off her parents and Luna, but “all she could” was a lot of time and money, so they eventually got sick of it and that got nipped in the bud.

Now, she got child support and took a couple of kids in at her house for extra cash, as well as ran an Etsy store, selling hippie totes and candles she made, but with three kids at home, I suspected ends weren’t exactly meeting.

I suspected Tito suspected this too, because he was shuffling on his slides over tube-socked feet toward the coffee cubby.

I saw all the girls watch him do this in varying shades of abject horror at the thought he might be going to talk Tex into hiring Dream, because Tito was that guy. If he could help, he did. The end.

“Can you tell him I can only do weekends?” Dream requested of her sister.

Luna looked from Dream, to the coffee cubby, which was probably only twenty feet away, and a direct shot for Dream since Luna was behind the bar, then back at Dream.

“If you give me a recommendation, maybe that crazy guy up front will help me out,” Dream explained.

“That crazy guy’s name is Tex,” Luna shared. “And he’s part-owner. So if you want a job, it’s you who needs to convince him to hire you.”

“I don’t think he likes me,” Dream stated the obvious.

“I wonder why,” Byron piped up.

In surprise, I turned to him.

“Do I know you?” Dream asked Byron scathingly.

“Can’t say why you don’t, since you’re in here all the time, being bitchy, and I’m in here every time you are, sitting at the back,” Byron returned. “But I reckon, the world revolves around you like you think it does, I’m just a blur in the periphery.”

Now in shock, I stared at him.

So did Dream.

And Luna.

Also, Shanti.

I mean, he was right. He was in here all the time. And as such, he couldn’t miss some of the scenes Dream caused (she was a dab hand at that).

Still, him piping up was out of the blue.

“You know,”—he jabbed a finger at Luna—“she’s a cool chick. I don’t get why you’ve got so much attitude.”

“I don’t get why it’s your business,” Dream retorted.

“Because I’m in here every day,” Byron returned. “I don’t know how many times I’ve seen you come in here, dump your kids on her, bum money off her, all while acting like she was patient zero with Covid. It’s not fun to watch, especially since she’s like my kid sister or something.”

Aw!

“You’re just a customer,” Dream dismissed him too.

“The big guy can hear a mouse fart three blocks away, and he’s a huge grouch, but he’s made it clear he cares a lot about these women, so you think you’re winning him over right now?” Byron inquired.

Dream made a face.

“He’s right! I can!” Tex shouted. “And you’re not!”

Dream made a bigger face.

I beat back a smile.

“I’ll get your dirty chai, Byron,” I offered, moving to the espresso machine. “You can go back to your table. I’ll bring it.”

“And I’ll talk to Tex and Tito, Dream,” Luna said (man, she was such a pushover, but then again, that was part of being a fab sister). “But just so you know, Tito has all the patience in the world, though on that spectrum, Tex is the exact opposite. If they let you take some shifts, you’ve got to be cool.”

Dream assumed a wildly offended expression. “I have mouths to feed, of course I can be cool.”

“I’m not convinced!” Tex boomed.

Dream grimaced.

I shot some hot water onto the tea bags.

“Let me work on it, and maybe go out the back so Tito can do his thing out front?” Luna suggested.

Dream hesitated a beat.

We all hesitated with her, for my part, hoping she’d express some gratitude to her sister for being so nice.

But then she just said, “Whatever. I’ll go out the back. Later.”

Then she and the dozing Harmony swanned toward the doors to the kitchen.

Luna sighed.

I dumped the shot of espresso into the tea and started to steam milk.

Tito silently shuffled back to his corner “office,” but he did this looking at Luna, shaking his head, and waving his hand palm down. I didn’t know what that meant, but I assumed it meant that Tex was still a no on Dream. But Tito was going to work on him.

Since she was asking for weekends, and I didn’t work weekends, and Luna seemed unscathed by Dream’s most recent visit to The Surf Club, I finished up Byron’s dirty chai and walked it to him.

“Thanks,” he muttered, nabbed the mug from the saucer and drank a quarter of it.

I flinched in camaraderie with his mouth, which he had to have just burned to all heck.

Then he put the cup back into the saucer and declared, “You’re kind of like my little sister too.”

“Thanks, Byron, that’s sweet.”

“Do you have a bitchy older sister?” he asked.

“No, I have a golden boy older brother,” I told him. “You?”

“None to speak of,” he said evasively.

What a weird answer.

Then again, none of us knew what Byron did. Like he said, he came in every day. He drank multiple dirty chais every day as well, so I suspected he got about .425 hours of sleep a night. And he just threw down for Luna.

Other than that, we knew nothing about him.

Raye thought he was an international hacker wanted by Interpol, and he was on his computer when he wasn’t sucking back caffeine, so she might be right.

The rest of us had no clue.

“If you need anything else, just yell,” I said.

He picked his cup back up and saluted me with it, not taking his eyes from his computer.

Well then.

It was time to make some tips.

So, belatedly, I set about doing that.

ELEVEN

“LOVE STORY”

(TAYLOR SWIFT)

That evening, I was in the kitchen at SC, pulling big sheets of plastic wrap from industrial-size boxes to cover my fresh-from-the-oven pigs in a blanket, when Jessie stuck her head in from the staff room.

“Javi’s outside,” she told me.

I got happy warm all over and smiled at her.

“When you go out, can you tell him I’ll be right there?” I requested.

Eric appeared out of the shadows at her back. He was her ride that evening.

He was wearing a very un-Eric-like scowl.

Javi and I could have taken her home to the Oasis, and I offered this, but apparently, Eric didn’t want Javi’s bodyguard attention split in two, so he nixed this idea.

Inner caveman indeed.

It was gas wasted, but if he wanted to be assured his woman was covered, who was I to argue?

“Will do. See you at the Oasis,” she said and ducked out, Eric disappearing with her after giving me a chin lift.

Yeah.

Totally caveman.

I quickly finished up with the pigs, covering the plastic in foil in an effort to keep them a modicum of warm before I hurried to grab my bag from my locker, back I went to the kitchen for the platter, then I headed out.

Javi hadn’t dropped the groceries for me to make them. When I texted what I needed, he texted that he was “on something” and couldn’t get away, so Cody was going to drop the stuff.

Cody did.

He didn’t seem happy about it, but he did.

I ducked into the kitchen forty-five minutes ago to do my duty for the Oasis meet.

And now I was walking out the door, balancing my platter, watching Javi jumping down from his truck that was idling just outside.

“Hey,” I greeted when I got to him.

He took the platter from me, opened the back door to the cab, placed it on the floor, closed the back door to the cab, hooked an arm around me, hauling me flush against his body.

He dropped his head, kissed me dizzy, lifted his head and replied, “Hey.”

My toes were curled, my legs were trembling, and I was thinking maybe I was that girl who jumped into her feelings instead of being careful. That girl who lived her life doing what felt good, understanding there might be consequences, but willing to take the risk.

While I was still evaluating this, Javi asked, “Good day?”

“Dream came by today.”

Although I hadn’t noticed Javi having any direct involvement with Dream (and trust me, I would have noticed, since I noticed everything about Javi), his eyes still clouded over, such was the long arm of Dream’s bad attitude.

“On a scale of one to ten with Dream interactions, it was around a one point five, so it was okay,” I assured.

“Luna good?”

The perfect question.

I mean…

He was such a nice guy!

“Yeah, she’s good.”

He nodded, moved his arm to round my shoulders, and then he guided me to the passenger side of his truck.

He opened the door, reached in to grab a bag that was on the seat, handed it to me, then helped me up into the cab.

I juggled the bag while I put on my belt and Javi shut the door.

He was in, belted up, and we were on our way when I lifted the bag and asked, “What’s this?”

“Look,” he replied.

Did he…

…buy me a present?

Oh em gee!

I loved presents!

I dug into the bag. I shoved aside the wads of tissue.

And then I gasped.

Loudly.

I also pulled out the striped glass mushroom.

So, it wasn’t the exact same. It wasn’t green and white.

It was pink and white.

So it was even better!

“Oh my God, Javi!” I exclaimed, turning to him. “How did you find it?”

“I typed ‘striped glass mushroom local’ into Google.”

He did a Google search for me!

I didn’t even think—what he’d done was just so sweet, so incredibly thoughtful—I stretched myself to the limit in order to kiss his jaw.

“Baby,” he whispered as I moved away.

God, I loved his rough, deep voice, especially wrapped around that word when he was directing it to me.

“Thank you,” I said earnestly.

“It’s not a big deal,” he replied.

I settled happily in my seat (yes, this required a little bouncing, sue me, Javi got me a new mushroom!) and looked out the windshield.

I then proclaimed, “It is to me.”

There was a vibe humming in the cab that felt strange, so I turned back to him.

He was also staring out the windshield, obviously, since he was driving, but a muscle was dancing in his cheek.

My heart squeezed.

“Did I say something wrong?” I asked quietly.

Not taking his eyes off the road, he reached a hand to me. Making sure my mushroom was safe, I took it.

Only then did he reply, “No, Harlow.”

“I—”

I barely got that out before Javi cut me off. “I’m just glad you like it.”

I was sensing he didn’t want to dive deep into whatever was going on with him, so I said, “Okay.”

His hand gave mine a squeeze and he let me go.

“Did you have a good day?” I asked.

“Had better.”

Oh no.

Maybe the weird vibe in the cab was because something happened that day.

I tested the waters. “Everything okay?”

“Nope.” He said shortly. “Last night, Cody was in the control room, and he was supposed to be monitoring the cameras. Not sure what he was doing. Am sure he was jacking around. He missed the guy breaking into your place.”

Oh boy.

“Mace reamed his ass,” Javi continued. “Though he was a lot more cool about it than I would have been, and not just because this was about you.” He shook his head. “Cody’s skating. I’m not certain he’s committed to doing his part to be a productive member of our team.”

Hmm.

I was seeing where he was coming from.

After they lost two of their brothers, NI&S had taken on the remaining Shadow Soldiers, Javi, Jeff (Jessie’s brother) and Cody.

But back then, they were his soldiers. Javi’s.

So Cody messing up reflected on Javi.

Or it didn’t, but Javi might take it that way.

“Mace is a badass,” Javi kept on. “But he isn’t a hardass. Moses, who manages the control room, is a hardass. That’s his space. His responsibility. Cody is directly under him. The man is solid, totally cool when shit is good. Patient. Generous with wisdom. You fuck up, not so much. You fuck up when it comes to protecting a woman, seeing as he loves his wife and two daughters and he gets how big that is, he was rightfully pissed.”

I couldn’t think of what to say, so I said, “Oh man.”

“I was pissed too,” Javi told me. “Cody’s my boy. I taught him better than that.”

Ugh.

He was totally taking this as reflecting on him.

I reached out a hand and squeezed his thigh.

When I was going to take it away, Javi laid his hand on mine, so I left it where it was.

And then he kept speaking.

“He’s the youngest. We got former military guys in that crew. There are men with a lot more experience, a shit ton more skills, and to get those, they paid their dues. They’re used to ranks and earning your way up them. I ran my boys like a brotherhood. All for one, one for all kind of shit. This isn’t like that. You gotta prove yourself. Youngest, least experienced, Cody thinks he’s getting all the shit work, when he doesn’t see it’s part of his training. He’s acting out, which is fucked up.”

“Yeah,” I agreed with him.

“Piling on that, this was about you,” Javi continued. “He left you vulnerable. He should have seen that guy go in. He should have seen him go out. The man was in your place for seventeen minutes. Plenty of time to call a team to go in and catch him in the act. He knew a man got dead just the night before. He knew the stakes we’re playing against. I don’t know what was in his fuckin’ head.”

I didn’t either, and since Cody was the one of all of them I knew the least, I didn’t have an opinion (though, now his surly mood when he dropped off the groceries was explained).

The only thing I could do was give Javi’s hard thigh a squeeze and say, “I’m sorry.”

“Mace made it clear when we came onboard, he’s not a one strike and you’re out kinda guy. He knew we had our gig. He knew he’d have to wean us off the way we did things and get us straight with the way they did. He’s willing to give grace. But he also isn’t a three strikes guy. The shit we do means you can’t be a fuckup. Which means Cody fucks it again, he’s gone.”

I could imagine, one of his brothers being axed from the team was a really big thing for Javi.

“I’m so sorry, Javi. I don’t know what to say.”

“I’ll talk to him,” he grunted. “Hopefully, he’ll get his head out of his ass.”

“Hopefully,” I mumbled. Louder, I asked, “So you got the guy on tape, anything else?”

Another shake of his head. “No one knows who he is. We got Brody doing some facial recognition shit, but he walked up from the street, so we didn’t get a make on his vehicle. Only things we got was gender, male, race, white, and build, medium.”

That wasn’t much.

“Right,” I said.

“He might have made a mess, because he was in a hurry, but the break-in wasn’t one. It was professional. So we also got that.”

I wasn’t sure what to think about this news.

I guessed it was good, if I had to be broken into, it was by a professional.

His fingers curled around mine. “We’ll figure it out, babe.”

I had no doubt.

He drove the rest of the way to the Oasis holding my hand and again parked on the street.

When we hit the courtyard, we saw everyone milling around already, and someone (probably Bill or Zach) had confiscated people’s outdoor seating to create a makeshift meeting area with rows of mismatched outdoor furniture.

The tables were groaning with food, with Jessie at one, shaking a cocktail shaker.

Javi took my mushroom, handing me the platter he was carrying, and said, “I’ll drop this in your pad.”

With that, he stepped away.

I didn’t bother asking him how he’d get in without a key. These men had ways.

I put down my platter, uncovered it, and Martha was there piling three pigs on her plate.

Told you they were popular.

I went to Jessie. “What’s your cocktail of the evening?”

She quirked a smile at me. “The Fallen Angel.”

I burst out laughing, because that was so good, and then I ordered two cocktails.

Javi was not a cocktail drinker, but if he didn’t want to try it and instead grab a beer out of the cooler sitting on the ground by Jess, it wouldn’t go to waste.

I was handing over ten bucks to Bill and Zach to cover Javi’s and my drinks when Javi joined me.

He was frowning at the money.

I was offering up his cocktail.

He transferred his attention to the drink. “What’s that?”

“A Fallen Angel.”

I was relieved when I noticed my answer made his lips curl up.

I got why he was in a bad mood. What happened with Cody would put me in a bad mood too. And no one could be in a good mood all the time.

But if I could do something to help get him out of it, I would.

And I was pleased I did.

He took the cocktail, sipped it, then gave his verdict. “Not bad.”

“Jessie shook it, so of course it’s not bad.”

He did his arm-slinging-around-my-neck thing and led me to the food.

We loaded up and moved to the chairs. He sat me next to Luna, who was next to Raye, who was beside Shanti, with Willow next to her.

The dudes stood off to the side because apparently badasses didn’t sit during ad hoc apartment resident meetings.

When everyone was seated, Bill stood up at the front.

He was carrying a microphone.

“Is that from his karaoke set?” Luna asked.

It didn’t look like it, since the machine wasn’t there. Just a couple of speakers set up on a table behind him.

“Testing, testing,” Bill said into the microphone.

“We can hear you even without that thing,” Martha shouted.

“Right,” Bill muttered into the microphone. Then, he said, “Okay, first Oasis Square Residents Meeting is called to order. We have an agenda we have to get through so,”—he pinpointed Martha with his stare—“no comments from the peanut gallery. If you want to say something, wait until I open it up for commentary and raise your hand.”

Martha broke Bill’s rule instantly. “Who made you boss?”

Zach got up and took the microphone from Bill. “Excellent segue, Martha. The first item on the agenda is that we’ll now be voting on me and Bill as co-presidents of the Oasis Square Residents’ Association.” He addressed the crowd. “Who votes aye?”

Everyone raised their hands, except Martha.

“You can’t run unopposed on a ballot no one knew we were voting on!” she yelled.

“We can and just did,” Zach said. “The ayes carry it.”

Bill clapped his hands together loudly like he was a human gavel.

I heard Jessie chuckling, and I was right along with her.

Seriously, I loved this place.

“Second item on the agenda, the two-bedroom unit that’s coming up for rent since Maggie’s being permanently relocated to Seattle,” Zach announced.

I’d only met Maggie a couple of times. Her job required a lot of travel. So much so, she’d been on an extended assignment in Seattle for months.

And apparently, now, it’d be for a lot longer.

“Maggie’s leaving?” Sally cried in shock and despair.

In case you hadn’t noticed, we had a tight-knit group. This was one of the reasons why it was the best apartment complex in all of Phoenix.

“What is this?” Martha demanded. “The whole reason we’re here is to discuss the crazy shit that Raye, Luna, Harlow, Jessie, Shanti and Willow are up to their necks in.”

Bill took the microphone from Zach. “That’s item five on the agenda.”

“Item five?” Martha spluttered. “It should be item one!”

Bill ignored her and said to the crowd. “Now, we got two couples who are probably eyeing that unit, Alexis and Jacob, and Raye and Cap. Raye and Cap squeaked by Alexis and Jacob in becoming a couple by, our estimation, a couple of days. Since this is so close, we thought we’d give the floor to a member of each couple to state their case before the decision is carried on who gets that unit.”

Raye looked to Cap.

Cap was looking at his boots.

I didn’t know how to take that until he lifted his head, and I saw him smiling.

Raye stood. “I didn’t know the unit was opening, or that we’d be put on the spot to stake our claim, so I haven’t discussed this with Cap. But Harlow organized the shit out of our pad, and it’s working. So⁠—”

What she said after that was drowned out when Patsy shrieked, “What’s that?”

Everyone looked her way.

But Patsy was staring at Alexis, who was blushing so profusely, I felt the need to run and get my thermometer.

Martha stormed to where Alexis was sitting, seized her left hand, lifted it in the air, and shook it.

I gasped.

There was a huge diamond on her ring finger.

“Are you two secretly engaged?” Martha accused.

“It’s not a secret when my woman is wearing my rock,” Jacob drawled, all leaned back in his chair like he just ate the best Thanksgiving dinner ever, his arm slung around the back of Alexis’s seat.

“Jacob asked me last night, after the police left,” Alexis announced shyly. “Obviously, I totally said yes.”

That must have been why Jacob was scowlier than usual when he found out stuff was going down with the Angels. We were ruining his pop-the-question jam.

“Oh my God!” I squealed, jumping up, dumping my plate on my seat, handing Javi my drink, and dashing toward Alexis.

I heard my girls, and, well, practically everyone dashing after us.

There were a lot of exclamations, hugging, jumping up and down (me, also Willow), some tears (me, also Alexis, Willow, Patsy, Linda and Zach), and shouts of, “Oh my God, it’s so beautiful!” in regard to the ring, which was simple, but the stone was not small.

“Shit!” Jessie yelled. “My cocktail is all wrong. I should have made an appletini.”

“Why?” Shanti asked.

Jessie grinned. “Appletini of my eye.”

There were some happy groans at her bad pun and then suddenly the opening chords of Taylor’s “Love Story” were playing on Bill and Zach’s speakers.

“Perfection!” I screeched.

It was so much so, obviously, we all chimed in, dancing around Alexis and Jacob, singing the song, which of course meant Alexis started bawling. And that meant Jacob had to curl an arm around her and tuck her tight to his side, though he did this with a big, happy smile on his face.

God.

I just loved those two!

Naturally, during the “he knelt to the ground” part, we all knelt on the ground around them and belted out the last verse of the song.

Alexis was cry-sobbing at this point, and I was right there with her.

The song ended and my eyes flicked to where Javi, Cap and Eric were standing where we left them, in a row to the side of the chairs.

They all had their arms crossed on their chests and they all had versions of Javi’s adoring expression on their faces, but only Javi’s was aimed at me.

I grinned madly at him, so happy for Alexis and Jacob I could just die.

At this point, Jessie ordered anyone with apple schnaps or calvados, vodka and Cointreau to bring them to the cocktail table.

Folks raced to their units.

The first Oasis Square Residents Meeting agenda was tabled.

And the engagement party officially began.

TWELVE

“HALO”

(BEYONCÉ)

I pried open my eyes only to see the sea of gray sheets across Javi’s big bed.

I was sprawled on my stomach, and it felt like my mouth was stuffed with rags and my veins had been injected with lead.

There was also a hand gently rubbing circles into the small of my back.

“Baby,” I heard Javi call.

I turned my head on the pillow, my ponytail moving with me, these minor things causing major things to happen that weren’t all that great, so to be safe, I only shifted my eyeballs to look up at Javi who was sitting beside me on his bed, fully clothed, his hair still damp from a shower.

He was also grinning like a gorgeous lunatic, but when he caught my eyes, he burst out laughing.

The sound cracking through the room made me grimace in pain, and as my eyes were closed, all that had happened at Alexis and Jacob’s impromptu engagement party came crashing into my brain.

Jessie’s Fallen Angel cocktail was a little bitter, so I switched to the Appletini, which was not. They were delicious.

This was why I had a lot of them.

This led me to confessing my deep abiding love to Jessie, then to Eric, to Raye, then to Cap, to Luna, Willow, Shanti, Linda, Patsy, Bill and Zach, and even Martha.

At the time much later when I was gushing to Alexis and Jacob about how very happy I was for them, so drunk, I totally missed the social cues they were giving that they were done with the public party and wanted to start their private one, Javi came up to me. He then picked me up and tucked me under his arm like I was a human football and carried me to his truck.

This did not upset me.

Not in the slightest.

After babbling to him the entire way about how much I loved all my neighbors, I communicated how not upset I was to Javi by attacking him the minute he closed and locked the door to his townhouse.

Alternately kissing me back and stopping me from groping him as he led me up the stairs, eventually, standing by his bed, he set me at arms’ length, and considering Javi’s arms were very long, as I kept pawing at him, I missed by a good four inches.

At this point, he said, “Mi pequeña, I want this, like I really want it, but I promised you I’d slow us down, and no way in fuck am I gonna let our first time be when you’re shitfaced.”

It was like he was speaking Japanese.

Not one syllable made a lick of sense to me.

I was still attempting to cypher his words as he pulled me into the bathroom.

I stood there dumbly, like I’d never been there before and didn’t even know what a bathroom was.

This lasted so long, Javi had returned with a bunch of my toiletries and the T-shirt of his I’d worn the night before.

He closed the door on me.

By rote, I brushed my teeth, washed my face, moisturized and changed into his tee, leaving my clothes on the floor.

I then wandered into the bedroom and fell face first on the bed.

Which brought me to now, since I passed out.

Considering I was mortified beyond any measure of mortification there could be, with superhuman strength, I rolled away from him and pulled the covers over my head.

Or, I tried. But since Javi was sitting on them, it took a lot of tugging, and I eventually had to curl down in order to pull the covers over my head and hide from him.

“Babe,” he called.

Oh my God.

I could just die.

His hand returned to rub circles on my back.

“Lolita,” he said softly.

Ugh!

I loved it when he called me that.

But I’d attacked him. He’d had to push me away and close me in his bathroom.

“Harlow, baby, come here,” he urged.

“No,” I groaned under the sheets. “I wanna die. Do you have cyanide?”

I heard his chuckle and then felt him pull at the sheets. I pulled back. Thus started a tussle of both of us yanking at his bedclothes, and since they were really nice, you could tell they were expensive, and Javi probably hadn’t had all that much that was expensive in his life (if anything at all), I didn’t want us to tear them, so I gave up.

I thought this would only mean I had to meet his gaze, but I was wrong.

It meant I was hauled into Javi’s lap and his arms closed around me.

I fit so great in his lap, it was a miracle.

No matter how great it was, or how fabulous it felt, I avoided his eyes.

“You’re cute when you’re drunk,” he said.

Ulk.

“Lovey and sweet,” he murmured, like he was filing away the memory carefully so he could pull it out later and relive it. “Like Harlow times a thousand.”

“Gluh,” I groaned.

He gave me a squeeze. “Babe, it was cute.”

All right. I couldn’t hide. I had to face the music.

I stopped avoiding his eyes and looked right at him, whereupon I announced, “That was totally not right.”

He appeared confused. “What wasn’t right?”

“Me attacking you like that when we got home.”

His perfectly arched brows shot up to form another perfect arch.

“If a man did that to a woman, he’d be up on charges,” I explained.

His perfectly created face grew soft, yes, making it even more perfect.

“Babe,” he whispered.

I straightened my spine no matter how much it cost me in my hungover state.

“I’m sorry,” I stated. “I have no excuse.”

He cupped my jaw and rubbed his thumb along my cheekbone. “You ever do that with another guy?”

“Ugh! No!” I cried, even though that cost me too, sending spikes into my aching head and making my queasy stomach roil.

“Since you’re in my lap while I’m sitting on my bed, I don’t think I have to remind you that we’re sleeping together,” he said.

“But we’re not sleeping together,” I reminded him in return.

“Not yet, but we both want that,” he replied, slipping his hand down to my neck, and now his thumb was pressing gently under my chin to keep my face tipped up to him. “What you did last night was not an aggressive attack that violated my person. You were drunk, and horny…”

Oh God!

Someone kill me!

“…and you were with your guy, so you were safe to be you.” He smiled. “Trust me, after we break that seal, I won’t care how drunk you are, you jump me, I’ll field that play.” He swept his thumb along my jaw. “But you asked me to slow us down, and what we’re starting here means something to me, so as hard as it was to deny you, last night was a test of trust that I needed to pass.”

I stared at him.

I mean, could this guy be any more amazing?

“I’m sorry I tested you like that…inadvertently,” I said.

“I’m not, since I broke your trust by being a dick to you, and I think I passed that test last night, so maybe I shaved something off the huge fuckup I perpetrated.”

There it was.

The answer was yes.

It seemed impossible, but this guy could be more amazing.

I didn’t know what to do to share how much that meant to me, so I did the only thing that came to me.

I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him.

Javi hugged me back, and he was good at it, stroking my side in a sweet way with his big warm hand.

“We didn’t get to have our heavy talk,” I said in his ear.

Gently, he pulled away (just a bit) and said, “Friday night is date night and we’re gonna have a date by calling for a pizza and having our talk tonight.”

“Saturday night is date night,” I corrected him.

“We’re gonna date tomorrow night too,” he replied. “Though, I’m gonna take you someplace fancy for that one.”

See?

He totally was going to keep getting more and more amazing.

And I got to go out on a real, official date with Javi.

I couldn’t wait!

“You gonna go to work or are you gonna stay home and sleep off this hangover?” he asked.

As much as I wanted to sleep off the hangover, I couldn’t let Tito, Tex and the girls down like that, not to mention, I needed to work to pay my rent.

I looked to his side of the bed, but he didn’t have an alarm clock. He only had a charging station.

So I looked again to him. “What time is it?”

“Around nine thirty.”

Holy shmoly!

Not only was there no way to squeeze in even a small part of my morning ritual (again!), it was a hair wash day and I only had an hour and fifteen minutes to get ready.

I scrambled off his lap and raced to the bathroom, my head screaming, my stomach churning, my lips crying, “It’s a hair wash day!”

Such was my haste, I slammed the door behind me accidentally, and my headache didn’t thank me for it.

I was rinsing off my facewash when there was a knock at the door.

“Yeah?” I called.

Javi walked in carrying a glass filled with cloudy water and ice.

He set it on the bathroom vanity.

“IV hydration,” he said. “Drink it dry. It’ll help with the hangover. I’ll bring you coffee and a bagel after you shower.”

Oh my God!

Constantly getting more amazing!

He went back out, closing the door behind him.

Totally amazing.

I sucked back the drink, and it took until after my shower to realize, astoundingly, I felt a whole lot better.

After coffee and a bagel, believe it or not, I was fit as a fiddle.

Yes.

I was sensing Javier “Mountain” Montoya was so amazing…

He was downright perfect.

THIRTEEN

“SISTERS ARE DOIN’ IT FOR THEMSELVES”

(EURYTHMICS/ARETHA FRANKLIN)

I sure was glad Javi cured my hangover, because that meant we could make out in his truck before he dropped me off at work, and I wouldn’t gag or worse, throw up all over him.

I bounced inside, waving behind me the whole way, while Javi grinned at me the whole way.

I hummed through storing my bag in my locker and putting on my server apron.

Then I bounced through the kitchen, singing, “Hi, Lucia!”

She was salting something in a big pot, so, as per protocol, she ignored me.

I hit The Surf Club and immediately had five pairs of friend eyes on me.

I would understand why when Jessie begged, “Please tell me Javi didn’t take it there last night. You were totally wasted.”

And my good mood evaporated.

“We haven’t known him for very long,” I began, “but has he once given you the impression he was that guy?”

“Fuck, I fucked up again,” Jessie muttered.

“Uh…yeah,” I agreed. “And for the record, if he did take it there, I would have been okay with it because I want it, and he wants it, but he didn’t. I mean, I tried. I was all over him when we got back to his place. He shut me in his bathroom with my toiletries and his tee, and by the time I got ready for bed, I was also ready to pass out, which was what I did.”

“He had to shut you in his bathroom?” Shanti asked, her voice shaking with laughter.

I refused to be embarrassed by that and just nodded.

“How sweet,” Willow cooed.

“Totally,” I agreed, then turned squinty eyes on Jessie.

“You attacked him?” she asked.

“I tried,” I replied.

Her lips curled up in a smile.

I rolled my eyes.

“You know, I might be girlie, but that doesn’t mean I’m weak and need to be protected,” I kept at her. “And Javi might be a big guy, but that doesn’t mean he’s a predator.”

Now Jessie looked like she was getting mad. “I didn’t say he was a predator.”

“No, but you get what I mean. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re all grown up,” I retorted.

Jessie planted her hands on her hips. “Do not stand there and be mad at me for worrying about you when not too long ago, you were mad at me. And, I’ll add, you threw a fair amount of attitude when I didn’t share something with you that was mine to share when and if I wanted to share it, and you did that because you were worried about me,” Jessie returned.

Bah!

She had me there.

We did a friend face off.

This lasted all of two seconds before Raye inched up and said, “My favorite part about last night, outside of learning Alexis and Jacob are engaged, was Javi carrying you out of the courtyard like you were a football.”

Everyone laughed.

Yeah, including me, because it was funny, but also it was Javi Sweet.

“My favorite part was you telling Martha you loved her, and then spending ten minutes trying to make her tell you she loved you back,” Luna put in.

“Oh yeah, that was good too,” Raye said.

We all laughed at that as well.

By the by, Martha never caved.

I still knew she loved me.

Just…in her way.

“Women!”

At that, we all jumped and looked to see Tex just in from the coffee cubby, glowering at us.

He had to say no more. Everyone got to work, me trailing Raye behind the bar.

She was eyeing me speculatively. “Are you not hungover?”

“Javi gave me some hydration thing. It works miracles.”

“I need to find out what that is.”

“I’ll ask Javi.”

She smiled.

I noted, “No one has said anything about the Kev/Trev situation.”

She became all business and nodded. “Yeah, we need a confab about that. For once, he’s not returning Willow’s calls. After straightening up your pad, Luna, Willow and I swung by his place last night, but he wasn’t there. Cap nor Eric are sharing anything they’re learning. Titus says we’re welcome at his garage anytime, but if he knows something about this sitch, he refuses to say. And Arthur also doesn’t know anything.”

“So…no leads?” I asked.

Raye shook her head. “None.”

“Are we giving up?”

Her eyes lit. “No. We’re meeting Shanti’s cousin at some bar for wings and football tomorrow at one to see if we can pump him for any information.”

I suspected my eyes lit too, but I couldn’t be sure.

Okay, call my crazy. For sure, this was definitely our most dangerous assignment yet.

But I was into this Angels thing.

However, since I had rent to pay, it was time to let that go and get to work.

This, I did.

* * *

It happened maybe half an hour later.

It was closing in on the time Willow would be leaving, since she left a couple of hours before Raye and Luna because she came in a couple of hours earlier in order to make muffins and other stuff for the coffee cubby.

He might have known this.

He might not.

What he didn’t know was, Tex was our first line of defense, and he was just inside the front door.

So when Kev showed, no longer looking like the boy next door, sandy-haired, semi-hot guy, and instead looking manic and like he hadn’t had a shower in a millennium, he skidded sideways to a halt just beyond the coffee cubby, his crazed gaze darting through SC, until it hit on me.

“What the fuck?” he shouted.

That was when all our customers turned to look at him.

It was also when Tex came lumbering in.

Kev’s body jolted when he saw a huge man with wild hair and a long beard wearing a flannel shirt that was buttoned all the way up, even if it was ninety plus degrees outside, bearing down on him.

That was when Kevin started running.

But he’d spied Willow in those mere moments, so he ran toward her.

She ran away.

Kevin chased her.

Tex chased him.

They did this weaving in and out of the tables, basket chairs and bean bags of The Surf Club.

People were crying out, cowering in their seats, though some were raising their phones to film the action as Byron took off from his table and ran after Tex still running after Kevin, who was chasing Willow.

While turning in circles watching them, I caught sight of Tito sitting in his “office,” iPad up, finger poised to poke at it, sunglasses trailing the action, but not moving from his spot.

I suspected he thought Tex had this.

But Tex didn’t have this, mostly because Willow was a wily one. She was good at being chased and not getting caught.

However, this had to end, and we had to get our hands on Kevin and find out what was happening with this mess.

On this thought, I didn’t know what came over me, but I stepped up on an empty chair, then up again on a table, and as Willow passed and Kevin hurtled after her, I launched myself, arms out, through the air, and landed on top of him.

We both went down, both with grunts, but his was louder since he landed hard, and I landed hard on top of him.

I was pretty sure the cute flirty skirt of my cute flirty dress sailed up exposing my cute flirty panties, but I couldn’t have a mind to that because, instantly, we started scrambling.

He twisted, grabbed hold and pulled my ponytail.

I screeched, and along with the pain, some instruction Tex gave us yonks ago hit my brain, so I yanked up a knee, hitting Kev square between the legs.

He let out an agonized “Oof!”

Byron and about five male bystanders did the same in sympathy.

Kevin rolled to his back, but he did this with his knees curled up over both his hands cupping his junk, and I took this opportunity to pull myself to my feet and make sure to smooth my skirt down.

He was in this position for one point seven five seconds before Tex got hold of the back of his collar and hauled him to his feet.

Kevin didn’t seem to mind this. Even still recuperating from my blow, his gaze sought Willow, who was standing behind a wall made of Raye, Luna, Jess and Shanti.

“Babe,” he pushed out, “we gotta get outta here.”

“She’s not your babe,” Shanti snapped.

“Tex, take him to the interrogation room,” Raye bossed.

The interrogation room?

Tex had the same question, seeing as his head cocked to the side.

“The staff room,” Raye explained.

Tex grinned a scary grin and frog-marched Kevin to the staff room.

All the Angels followed.

“I’ll man the bar,” Byron called.

Aw, that would be a huge help!

Really, Byron was a mass of surprises.

Jessie tossed him a salute and we kept motoring.

We hit the staff room, Tex threw Kevin on the bench in front of the lockers and ordered, “Sit. Stay.”

Kevin pulled a face at Tex (though he sat and stayed), then he looked for Willow and again found her behind a wall of Angels.

“Seriously, baby,” he said. “We don’t have time for whatever this shit is. We gotta go.”

“First, she broke up with you. So whatever shit you’re into, she’s not a part of it,” Raye stated.

“Yeah,” Luna backed her up.

“Second, outside of that dating app scam you have going, you’re going to tell us right now why your bestie got dead, and our bestie got her apartment tossed,” Raye went on.

“Totally,” Jessie backed her up.

But Kevin turned accusing eyes to me, like I’d ratted him out on that dating app scheme.

“You’re so clueless, you don’t realize we’ve been following you for weeks and have witnessed you pull that shit repeatedly,” Shanti told him.

Kevin’s face got white as a sheet. “You’ve been following me?”

Raye leaned forward and snapped in his face.

“Let’s stay on target here,” she commanded.

Man, we’d never done an interrogation before, but so far, she seemed really good at it.

“You’re wasting valuable time,” Kevin warned.

“Explain,” Raye returned.

Kevin turned to Willow. “I was only doing that until I could land a real gig. You know, like a job.”

“She knows, like, what a job is, asshole,” Shanti said. “Since she has two of them and more than once she worked them covering your ass.”

“Butt out of this, Shanti,” Kevin hurled. “It’s none of your business, and newsflash, it never was.”

“Newsflash, motherfucker,” Shanti returned, “a mister screws over a sister, it’s always the sister’s business.”

“Mm-hmm,” Luna backed her up.

“She’s got that right,” I stated.

“For freakin’ sure,” Jessie underlined it.

“We’re not focused,” Raye bit out, then got in Kevin’s face. “What are you into?”

“Fuck you,” he spat.

She caught him by his collar and shook him. “What are you into!”

Kevin seemed to be making a move to push Raye off, but all the girls shifted, and not incidentally, Tex shifted too, so he stopped making that move.

“Kevin,” Willow said quietly, and the room stilled at her tone, though before Raye did, she let Kev go and stepped away. “Trevor’s dead and Harlow’s space was violated. What did you bring into our lives?”

“I didn’t do it, babe,” Kevin said.

“Do what?” Willow asked.

“It’s gonna get sorted,” he lied.

“How will it do that if you are what you obviously are, intent to run away?” Willow returned.

“I just need time,” Kevin declared.

“Time for what?” Willow kept at him.

“Time to get some shit straight,” Kevin said, still avoiding responding to a direct question with a direct friggin’ answer.

“What shit?” Willow asked.

Kevin suddenly shot to his feet, Tex closed in, Raye closed in, the rest of us closed ranks in front of Willow, and Kevin shouted, “I just need time!”

Everyone was silent.

Raye let this go on for a few beats before she asked calmly, “Time for what, Kevin?”

Kevin shook his head in frustration, but said, “It was Trevor’s idea.”

Raye expelled an impatient breath that this guy was being such a pain, and I was right there with her.

“And Trevor’s a lunatic,” Kevin added, though that didn’t give us anything. He looked toward Willow. “You know that, Will.”

Willow nodded. “I know that. And I know that you’re a user. And a loser. I know that I wasted years on you. Years. And I know that me,”—she threw a hand out—“and all my girls need bodyguards now because of something you brought into our lives.”

Kevin sneered at me. “It wasn’t my idea to set me up with one of your undercover friends.”

Raye cut in. “These are your choices. You can either tell us what’s going on or we can hand you over to the police so they’ll know who stole all those wallets and purses and phones from their dates, and you can face that music. Your choice. You’ve got five seconds to decide.”

Kevin scowled at her, but alas, that five seconds was three seconds too many because suddenly, Mace, Javi, Gabe and Jacob were there.

Strolling through us like he owned the joint, Mace announced, “We’ll take it from here.”

“You will not!” Raye exclaimed. “We’re in the middle of an interrogation.”

You had to hand it to him, when Raye said this, Mace didn’t even crack a smile. He simply commandeered Kevin, who was shouting, “Who are you fuckin’ guys?” (to no one answering). Mace handed him off to Jacob.

Jacob pushed Kevin out the back door with Mace and Gabe following, though Gabe tossed a look over his broad shoulder toward Willow that had my sister senses sparking.

What was that?

Raye and Luna followed them out the door, probably to continue protesting they were stealing the suspect we’d subdued. Tex followed, probably not to protest but instead make sure Kevin stayed subdued.

Javi came to me.

“You okay?” he asked.

I nodded.

A smile split his face the likes I’d never witnessed before.

He then said a deep, amused, “Babe.”

I liked his deep amusement, also his smile, but I was confused.

“What?” I asked.

“That table dive was legend.”

Oh no!

They had cameras in The Surf Club.

I forgot!

I felt heat in my cheeks, and Javi’s smile brightened to approximately the light of the sun.

“We get there, we can play chaser and the chased, and you can dive on me like that whenever you want.”

Oh God.

I needed someone to murder me again.

“Though, without the hit to the gonads at the end,” he went on. “I’ll need those.”

No, I didn’t need someone to murder me.

I was going to die of mortification.

For sure.

He got super close, and I was so deep in wallowing in my embarrassment, I didn’t even twitch.

He then dipped his head down super low so his face was in mine.

“Fucked up last night,” he whispered.

“What?” I whispered back, surprised at his words, and, let’s face it, more than a little affected by his nearness.

“Baby, those panties?”

My inner thighs quivered at his tone.

“Damn,” he half-whispered, half-groaned.

Something else quivered.

Cataclysmically.

In fact, I was relatively certain right there in the staff room, standing up and fully dressed, I had my first Javi-induced orgasm.

“Shoulda let you succeed in attacking me,” he concluded.

“Shut up, Javi.”

He grinned. It was another new one. Roguish and sultry.

Thus, my whole body quivered.

“Bro,” Jacob called from the door.

Javi looked over his shoulder then came back to me. “I’ll be waiting outside at seven.”

“Will you tell me what you learn from Kevin?” I requested hopefully.

He smiled at me like I was cute, bent closer to press his lips hard to mine, then he turned and was gone.

Raye and Luna huffed back in, and we all huddled around Willow.

“You okay?” Shanti asked her.

Willow was looking at no one while addressing everyone. “How could I be so stupid as to waste so much⁠—?”

“Nunh-unh, nope,” Luna cut her off. “Sometimes our hearts lead us astray. We don’t kick ourselves in the asses for it. We just learn from it and move on.”

“Even I have to admit he’s a serious charmer when he wants to be,” Shanti said.

“Yeah,” I put in. “I knew I was messaging a skeeve, but some of the stuff he said while we were doing that, if I didn’t know what kind of guy he was, I’d totally fall for it.”

Willow latched on to that. “Really?”

I nodded fervently. “Totally.”

Willow seemed relieved.

“Let me guess, the boys confiscated our only lead,” Jessie deduced.

“They had him zip-tied and shoved in the back of a Denali before we could say boo,” Luna confirmed.

I wished I’d seen that.

Even so.

“Excuse me, I am so sorry,” I snapped. “But none of them took him down from a table dive.”

I mean, I didn’t show my panties, no matter how cute and flirty or how much Javi liked them (yeah, and another quiver), to everyone in my place of work for nothing!

And we’d gotten nothing from Kevin.

“That should have bought us at least ten more minutes of interrogation time,” I kept snapping.

“Agreed,” Raye snapped with me.

We all stood there, silently grousing at the strongarm antics of the Hottie Squad, until Tex ambled in.

“You could have stopped them,” Jessie accused Tex.

“Why would I do that?” Tex asked. “When they’ll be busy questioning him, at the same time doing shit that actually earns an invoice, and that means we’re free to break into that Kevin moron’s apartment and search it.”

Oo!

Great idea!

Raye immediately went into command mode.

“Tex, Luna and me are on that after work.” She looked to Willow. “You need to keep a low profile.”

“I’ll say,” Shanti mumbled.

Willow only nodded her agreement.

“We’ll meet at Angels Headquarters at noon tomorrow to do a debrief on anything we find and then head out for wings and beer with Shanti’s cousin. And maybe, after that, swing by Titus’s garage,” Raye finished.

She put a hand out in front of her.

Jessie put hers on top, I put mine in, Luna, Willow, Shanti (at this point, Tex blew out a breath and walked out of the staff room).

“One, two, three…” Raye said while bouncing our hands.

“Angels unite!” we all said while breaking.

And after that, we got back to work.

FOURTEEN

“WALKING ON SUNSHINE”

(KATRINA AND THE WAVES)

At seven oh three that night, I pulled myself up into the passenger side of Javi’s truck.

I barely got my behind in the seat when he ordered, “Mouth.”

Bossy.

Hot.

Weirdly sweet.

I turned to him to see he was turned to me so I could lean right into his demand.

I should have told him how bossy he was being, but I didn’t, since it was also hot and weirdly sweet.

So I just leaned right into his demand.

We didn’t make out, but there was a delicious touch of tongues before Javi broke the kiss and said softly, “Buckle up, lil’ mama. Let’s get home and eat. I’m fuckin’ starved.”

I did as told and Javi put the truck in gear.

“Good day?” I asked as he set us to rolling.

“Had a word with Cody,” he replied readily. “He feels shit he screwed the pooch with lookin’ after you. He promised to get his head in the game.”

“That’s good,” I said. “Anything from Kevin?”

“Babe.”

He said no more.

I turned back to him.

“I took him down,” I reminded him.

I marveled that his sun-bright smile didn’t melt the windshield. “You did that.”

“Javi—”

“Listen, baby,” he began, “I know you women aren’t backing off. All the men know that. We also don’t like it, and you know that. So you cannot be pissed I’m not gonna feed into your play.”

I flounced (yes, I could do this even seated) to face forward and crossed my arms on my chest.

It was at this juncture (and in this mood) I decided to tackle something else.

“I know we have a date tonight, but after pizza and our talk, you’re going to take me home.”

“The hell I am,” he replied.

I turned to him, telling the straight truth, since I knew he didn’t miss me attacking him last night, and he definitely didn’t miss us rolling around in his bed yesterday morning.

“Javi, it’s hardly going to work, this taking it slow thing, if we’re living together.”

“I don’t have any problem with you setting the scene.”

He actually didn’t, which stymied me, and therefore, I had no retort.

Which gave Javi the opening to lay down an ultimatum.

“Right, your choices are, you stay with me, or I stay with you. I don’t give a shit where we stay. But you are not going to be unprotected.”

“I take it whatever you got from Kevin, if you got anything, means that situation isn’t sorted.”

“It is not.” He enunciated each word irritably, giving me a hint at how he felt about the fact that they, too, came up with zilch from Kevin.

“You guys didn’t get anything out of your interrogation?” I asked to confirm.

“Oh, he sang.”

Hmm.

“It’s just this is his bud’s thing, and it’s oozing everywhere,” Javi went on.

“What’s his bud’s thing?”

Javi didn’t reply.

Ugh!

I changed tactics. “Where is Kevin now?”

“Someplace safe.”

He said no more.

Gah!

I tried again. “Since this is happening to me and my girls, don’t you think we have the right to know what’s going on?”

“Nothing more is going to happen to you or your girls.”

That would be good.

Still, we could help. Many hands make light work and all that jazz. Not to mention, we had an uncannily dab hand with this stuff. Sure, most of it was dumb luck, but still.

On that thought, I wondered how I was going to get away from him to go to our Angels meeting, then have beer and wings, then hang with Titus for a while.

“We done talking about that?” Javi asked.

“For now,” I told him.

“We sleeping at yours or mine?” Javi asked.

I hadn’t stepped foot in my place in two days. I needed to get my mail. I needed to see how my mushroom looked with my décor (though, I already knew it’d be fab, I still wanted to see it in all its pink and white glory). I needed to make sure nothing in my fridge was spoiling.

But Javi had a bigger bed, his sheets were better, and I didn’t have any bagels.

What was I thinking?

“With Cody back on board, I’m sure I’ll be safe,” I remarked.

“With me sleeping right next to you, yeah, you’re right.”

He was annoying me, and I didn’t want to be annoyed.

I wanted to eat pizza, get our heavy discussion behind us, and then I’d recommence the discussion of sleeping in different places like any newly dating couple should do (if I was in that couple).

So I pulled out my phone and asked, “What kind of pizza do you like? I’ll order it so we don’t have to wait too long for it to show.”

“I already ordered it and scheduled a time for it to deliver, which is about ten minutes from now.”

How thoughtful!

Since I had my phone out, I disseminated the minimal information I had to the Angels text group, saying, Javi isn’t giving much, but he did say Kev talked, and whatever this is, it’s all about Trev.

As I was hitting go on that, my phone rang.

When I saw who was calling, my heart sank.

It was my mom.

Oh no.

In all that was going on, I forgot to reply to her text.

I worried my lip, trying to dredge up the courage to let the call go to voicemail.

“Who’s that?” Javi asked.

“My mom,” I told him.

“Ignore it.”

“That’s hard, Javi,” I admitted.

“You got a life. You’re with your man. You’re gonna be eating pizza with him in ten minutes. She can wait and talk to you when you’re ready.”

“She doesn’t know I have a man,” I pointed out.

And…

Was Javi my man?

Things in favor of this idea: he was sweet, protective, a great kisser, knew how to cure a hangover, we’d slept together three nights in a row, I was showering in his shower, and he was taking me to and from work.

Things that negated this idea: we hadn’t yet had an official date, or at least one that wasn’t weird, we hadn’t had sex, and, well…that was kind of it.

Oh my God.

He was kinda-sorta my man.

My phone stopped ringing.

“I’m gonna pay for that,” I muttered.

“You’ll be okay,” he replied.

He didn’t know my mother.

Five minutes later, we swung into his townhome complex.

One minute after that, we were in his townhome.

He moved around, turning on the few lamps he had (another mental note: along with the throw blanket, I needed to ask Javi if he was okay with me buying him some lamps—there was a standing one at West Elm that overarched and had an acrylic balloon shade that would look killer—I also needed to discuss an armchair with him, since every man needed an armchair).

Thinking these thoughts, I threw my bag on the kitchen island.

“Got beer,” Javi said, moving to the kitchen. “Got you some wine. Which one you want?”

“You bought me wine?” I asked, touched yet again by Javi being thoughtful.

“Noticed you liked it,” he muttered.

I was still mildly annoyed at him about our conversation in the truck, and now I was more annoyed with him because he made it so hard to retain hold on annoyed.

“Wine,” I said.

He went to the bottle of red I now noted was sitting on the counter by the fridge, marring his pristine, no-one-lives-here-nor-ever-has vision of his kitchen.

Man, we really needed to get down to our talk.

However, it was Friday, and on Fridays (as with most evenings), after work, I usually liked to take a quick shower, lotion up with my lavender-scented lotion and put a comfy lounge outfit on.

Conundrum.

Jess and Shanti had packed a couple of lounge outfits for me.

But Javi said this was our Friday night date, and even if it, too, was weird, since it was pizza at his place where he thought I was platonically spending the night (though, I hoped we made out a little), it was definitely a date this time. And you didn’t wear a lounge outfit on a date.

You also didn’t shower and put on a lounge outfit if you wanted to convince your date to let you pack your stuff and move home after it.

But my lounge outfits were super comfy.

You see my dilemma.

I hadn’t come up with an answer before the doorbell rang.

Javi was pulling out the cork on the bottle, and his attention went to the door. Mine did too.

I heard the cork pop before I heard the bottle hit the counter and turned back to Javi as he said, “Pizza’s here,” while moving to the door.

I rounded the island into the kitchen to find a wineglass (if he had one, just a glass-glass if he didn’t) and open a beer for him when I heard him state angrily, “How many fucking times do I have to tell you, this is not gonna happen.”

My gaze raced that way, and at my angle, I could see a man standing outside Javi’s door.

He was huge, like Javi, though older and blond.

But I knew instantly it was Javi’s ex-NFL dad.

The dad who had created a new definition of deadbeat, leaving his son and ex-lover to go it alone on the streets.

I saw the direct lineage through the clean, square, perfect cut of the man’s strong jaw, the straight, exquisite line of his handsome nose, the high faultless angle of his cheekbones, the strong flawless ridge of his brow, all of this he gave to Javi.

Javi’s coloring came from his Latina mom.

The rest was all his dad.

All of it.

Including his tall, muscular body.

Whoa.

“Son, I have—” the man began.

“I’m not your fuckin’ son,” Javi interrupted him with such venom, I felt his fangs sink into me all the way across his townhouse.

And that poison was so potent, it instantly turned my blood ice cold.

“You have a brother and two sisters,” the man said.

“You had one of those kids on the way when you cheated on your wife with my ma and left her and me swinging in the breeze.”

“I made a mistake.”

Wait.

Hang on.

What?

Oh no, he did not.

A mistake?

He characterized what he did as a mistake?

Suddenly, my blood was boiling.

“Fuck yeah, you did,” Javi returned.

“I’d like a chance to make amends.”

“Yeah, you’ve said that. And I’ve told you to go fuck yourself.”

“Javi—”

That was when Javi lost it.

“Do you have any fuckin’ clue what our lives were like?” he roared.

The man winced.

I moved.

Fast.

“It kills me—” the man started but cut himself off when he caught sight of my approach.

“It kills you?” Javi asked. He then drawled sarcastically, “I feel bad for you, man, since I get you, seeing as we barely survived day-to-day.”

Javi’s body jerked when I made it to him and put my hand on his back, and I knew then how mad he was, because no way did anyone approach Javier Montoya and take him by surprise.

His head tipped down to look at me.

“I’m intruding,” the man muttered.

I turned my attention to Javi’s dad.

“Yes,” I replied. “You are.”

“I’m his father,” the man told me.

“I got that,” I returned. “I also read loud and clear Javi doesn’t wish to speak to you.”

“We have things—” Javi’s father began.

I didn’t let him get further.

“If Javi wishes to discuss them with you, I sense he knows how to get hold of you, and he’ll do that. Right now, this isn’t happening.”

This dude was not getting it, I knew, when he asserted, “A man should have his father.”

“A boy should too,” I retorted, muscling in front of Javi and pushing him back with my body (or trying to, he didn’t budge much). “But Javi didn’t. And now I see you’ve realized the error of your ways, considering he’s grown up to be all he’s become, without your help. But it isn’t on Javi to make you feel better about it. If he makes that decision, he’ll contact you. Until then, you wait. And if he never calls, you deal.”

With that, I put all my weight into pushing Javi back and I slammed the door in his dad’s face.

I then locked it.

“The pizza guy was standing behind him,” Javi said.

Dang!

Okay, my (kinda?) man was hungry so I needed to feed him, but his father might still be out there.

I had to deal with this, so I pointed across the room.

“Go. Over there,” I ordered.

“Babe—”

“Go!” I snapped.

He pressed his lips together, though I didn’t miss his eyes lit with humor, and he went to stand where whoever was at the door couldn’t see him.

I braced to go up against his father again and opened the door to the pizza guy.

Fortunately, Javi’s father was gone.

“Just a sec, I don’t have any tip money on me,” I told him.

“I was tipped on the app,” he replied, handing me a massive pizza box that weighed a ton, because the pizza in it had to be huge, and there was a big bag on top filled with other stuff.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Don’t mention it,” he replied then hurried down the walk to his car at the curb, probably so he could pick up another order and bust his hump for a five-dollar tip in order to be able to afford a box of Cap’n Crunch.

Alternatively, maybe it was because he watched that scene and wanted to get out of there.

Javi took the box from me.

I closed the door, locked it and trailed him to the kitchen.

I wasn’t sure what to do in this situation because what I just witnessed wasn’t mine to have unless he gave it to me, even if I’d witnessed it.

So I stood opposite the island as Javi poured my wine (he didn’t have wineglasses), popped open a beer then threw open the box to the pizza, a Styrofoam container filled with mozzarella sticks, another one with boneless wings, the last one had two slices of chocolate cake, and we could not forget the plethora of containers of ranch dressing and marinara sauce.

He pulled down some plates, put one in front of me, one in front of him, and then he looked right at me.

“There were times when I was so fucking hungry, it felt like I had rats living in my gut, gnawing at it.”

Across the embarrassment of food in front of us, my body swayed from this unexpected blow.

“If we had food, if she was with it, Ma and me would fight about who would eat it. She wanted me to. I wanted her to. But it was never enough for the both of us.”

“Javi,” I whispered.

“More than once, I nearly caved and gave a guy a blowjob so I’d have the money to get us something to eat.”

Such was the weight of this, I closed my eyes and dropped my head.

“I didn’t, only because if Ma ever knew, it’d kill her,” he shared.

I didn’t know what to say.

“That’s who I am, Harlow.”

I opened my eyes and lifted my head.

“And you…” He didn’t finish that.

“Me, what?” I prompted softly.

Javi sidestepped by jabbing a finger at the door and saying, “That guy’s a fuckin’ millionaire. And he thinks he can show up when I got a life, a crew, a home, Ma’s safe, and play dad?”

“You get to decide that, sweetheart,” I pointed out.

His head jerked at the endearment, and my heart spasmed because he seemed in pain.

“You went to school with my two little sisters.”

Annnnnnnnnnnd…

There it was.

I didn’t know about his sisters, but Javi had a good deal of pent up (and justified) hostility about the life he was forced to lead versus what his siblings had.

And maybe some of that leaked out on me.

I continued to talk softly when I asked, “What are their names?”

“Julia and Catherine Atherton.”

Julia and Cath were both younger than me. We weren’t friends, but I knew them, and they were sweet.

I didn’t tell Javi that, and not only because he was still speaking.

“His wife left him seeing as he cheated on her when she was in the third trimester of her pregnancy with my older brother. Real catch, that fuckin’ guy.”

He was.

Not.

Javi kept going.

“But she took him back and they kept on building their family. By the way, that bitch didn’t encourage her husband to look after his by-blow kid either.”

I kinda remembered Julia and Cath’s mom thinking her poo smelled of roses. I also kinda remembered it was weird they were so sweet when their mom waltzed around like someone should be rolling a red carpet out for every step.

Though, I’d never seen his/their dad.

“They’ve finally divorced,” Javi shared. “So it’s no surprise, now that she doesn’t have his balls in a vise and she’s not holding his infidelity over him to get her way, he’s blowing up my phone and ambushing me on my doorstep.”

“I hate he’s putting you through this, Javi.”

“I hate it too.”

“Um…how’s your mom now?” I asked hesitantly.

There was no hesitancy in his answer.

“Medicated. Void. Not there. She lives in her head, Harlow. Eventually, it took over. She was manic. She had hallucinations. She’d harm herself. The ma I’d sometimes have when I was a kid was all gone. The best they can do for her is fill her with pills and keep her peaceful. Honest to fuck, I don’t know, when she wakes up, if she even understands she lived the day before.”

Good God, that was so awful.

And seriously, I couldn’t hack this, not having to do it so far away.

“Can I come to you?” I requested.

“Do you wanna?” he asked like a dare.

His question had my head jerking.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Babe, I considered whoring myself so my ma could eat.”

“I—”

“There were weeks, sometimes months, I didn’t take a fuckin’ shower.”

“Javi—”

“Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, freaked because I was sleeping too soundly, and I was pissed at myself because, you go that deep, you take the chance of not waking up in the morning.”

“Because it’s cold in the winter?” I queried.

“No. Because someone else off their head doesn’t mind sticking you full of holes so he can have your blanket.”

God.

Javi.

“That stuff you said to me, the other night, was it about your sisters?” I guessed.

He jerked up his chin. “Yeah. Some of it. Most of it was me trying to make sure you kept well clear of me. That didn’t fuckin’ work. The minute I saw I hurt you, I couldn’t stand it.”

God.

Javi.

I totally couldn’t hack this, not all the way across the island.

“Please let me come to you,” I whispered.

“I’m not that boy anymore,” he said.

“I know you aren’t, honey,” I replied.

“But he’s always in me.”

“Okay.”

His gaze grew intent on me, so much so, I felt like I’d suddenly been engulfed in an inferno.

“I want you so fucking much,” he growled.

I went solid.

“Not because you’re that pretty rich girl who wouldn’t ever look at me because I’ve got about two years of schooling and not much else,” he declared. “Because when you walk, your ponytail flips side to side.”

“Wh-what?” I stammered, taken back by what he said, which not even in my wildest imaginings was something I ever thought he’d say.

“You’re just like”—he threw his hand up in front of him to indicate me—“walking sunshine. My life was dark, Harlow, in a way you will never get. And you’re sunshine.”

Dang, dang, dang.

The tears hit and there was no hope for it.

I started crying.

A muscle in his jaw worked watching me do it, even as he said, “I struggled, being so fuckin’ into you. I can’t bring dark into your life.”

I huffed out a humorless laugh and, still crying, said, “Obviously, I didn’t have it as bad as you. Nowhere near. But it wasn’t always strawberries and cream at the O’Neill residence.” He opened his mouth, but I said, “What I’m telling you, Javi, is that I’m not scared of the dark.”

“So why’d you put me off?”

God, I was such a dork.

And I’d totally messed this up.

I should have known he’d need at least a sign.

“I didn’t. You didn’t go for it,” I said lamely, dashing at my tears.

“Man like me, Harlow, woman like you, it has to be you.”

I saw that.

He was still wrong, of a sort.

“I wanted you to pursue me.”

Yep.

Again lame.

“I’m kind of…traditional…in some ways,” I admitted. “Like, I can open my own doors, but I really like it when you open them for me. Also like, if a guy likes me, he’s the one who needs to ask me out.”

He rested his weight into his hands spread wide at the edge of the island, muttering, “Shit.”

“It’s not something I could tell you, but maybe I could have given you a hint,” I said morosely, and finished, “Though, I don’t know how I’d do that, at the same time I thought you knew.”

“C’mere, Lolita,” he called.

With no hesitation, I rounded the island and went there.

He curved one arm around my waist and tucked one hand around the side of my neck.

“It sounds fucked, but I thought I was doing right by you, spewing that shit I said,” he told me.

I didn’t have to confirm he did not at all do right by me, he already knew it.

“The thing is, this is happening,” he carried on.

Oh yes, it was.

I nodded avidly.

His eyes warmed, but he warned, “And you’re gonna meet my mom.”

“I’m not judgy,” I stated immediately. “There are all kinds of health issues, including mental ones. I get that. And you shared how she is now, so I won’t be surprised.”

“And I’m gonna meet your mom.”

I shut my mouth with a clack.

“Yeah,” he whispered, his eyes dropping to my lips.

Visions of my mother being judgy (and she totally would be, so would Easton) about Javi danced malevolently in my head.

Worse, visions of my mother being judgy about me (and she totally would be, again, so would Easton), and how Javi would react to that scared the absolute dickens out of me.

“So that’s the heavy,” Javi bottom lined it.

“You’re not going to like my mom, Javi,” I warned.

“I’m already sensing that.”

“But I’m not that pretty rich girl.”

“Wrong.”

“I’m not.”

“Babe, you are.”

“I—”

He curled his whole big hand over my mouth.

“You’re that pretty rich girl,” he stated. “You just are. You can’t escape it. But you’re also the girl who gets excited about a fifteen-dollar glass mushroom like I gave her a Tiffany’s diamond.”

I nodded enthusiastically to confirm this, taking his hand with me.

He smiled and took his hand away.

“I’m not like them,” I shared.

“I knew that before I shot my mouth off, babe, I was just searching for shit to set you against me. Definitely knew it after giving you that mushroom.”

I would treasure that mushroom until my dying day.

“Our pizza is getting cold,” I informed him.

“You gonna sleep beside me in my bed without giving me any lip?” he asked, and a surprised giggle erupted out of me.

“Are you going to use your tragic growing up years to get things you want out of me?” I teased.

He pulled me closer and dipped his face to mine. “Every chance I get.”

Another giggle slipped out of me.

“Has to be worth something,” he said through a grin.

He’d gutted me, totally and absolutely, with the little he gave me of his life story.

But since he was grinning, I was going to go with it.

“Totally,” I agreed.

His grin faded. “So, you gonna sleep beside me?”

I took in a breath before I gave in and nodded again.

“Good, baby,” he murmured, warmth and relief and a smidge of smug victory (I’d give him that last because of the first two) glowing in his golden eyes.

He dipped even further, pressed a hard kiss on my mouth, lifted nary an inch, and said, “Now, let’s eat.”

I pushed up, negating that nary an inch, and pressed my own hard kiss to his lips.

And then we ate.

FIFTEEN

“NO ORDINARY LOVE”

(SADE)

The next morning, my eyes opened, and I saw gray sheets, beyond which there was Javi’s handsome face, turned my way, asleep on the pillow beside mine.

I didn’t move as I gazed at his extreme male beauty right there, so close.

All mine.

Freaked because I was sleeping too soundly…

His words crashed into me, and I wanted to touch him. I wanted to hold him. I wanted to erase everything he’d had to live through and make it all sunshine. Make it so he felt safe to sleep deeply. Make it so he understood he’d made it to the other side and none of that would ever touch him again.

I also wanted to find his dad and punch him in the throat.

Okay, no, I wasn’t violent.

So I wanted to find his dad and say a few choice words (or more than a few).

But in the now, what I wanted was to let Javi sleep.

I’d noticed that Jessie and Shanti had packed my journal and the purple pen I used to write in it, and even though that was all I had available to me of my morning ritual, I decided to hit it so I could let out some of the emotion I had surrounding all that had happened and all Javi had shared with me.

I could probably do some yoga or Pilates exercises, but I didn’t want Javi to wake up and catch me doing it. I’d been practicing both for years, but I still knew I looked like a dork doing it. It was way too early in our relationship for him to see that.

Therefore, I took pains to slip out of the bed so I wouldn’t wake Javi. I hit the bathroom, did my thing, and when I came out, I moved right to my suitcases opened on the floor.

Jessie and Shanti had also packed some cute nighties, but I was in another of Javi’s tees because it was big and oft washed and cuddly, but mostly because he gave it to me to wear to bed. So I wasn’t about to change.

I grabbed my journal, the pen and was about to head to the door when I heard Javi’s gruff, sexy, drowsy, “Here, lil’ mama.”

I looked to him to see he hadn’t moved since I left him, except his golden eyes were open and on me.

Like they were tied to me and could reel me in, I went to him.

I put a hip to the bed and twisted to him so I was on my elbows and my face was close to his.

“You gonna do your morning thing?” he asked.

I nodded.

“’Kay, baby,” he murmured. “I’m gonna laze for a bit, be down after a while.”

I loved he was going to do that.

I could be the guard at the gate for once.

I nodded again.

“Kiss,” he commanded.

I didn’t hesitate. I pushed in to put my lips to his.

He lifted a hand to cup the back of my head, sifting his fingers through my ponytail as he did, and he took the kiss deeper.

He broke it and I whispered, “See you after a while.”

“Yeah, you will.”

I smiled at him.

He watched my mouth do it like he was witnessing a miracle.

God.

What was I going to do with this man?

I moved in and kissed his jaw, then I took off, forcing myself not to look back, because if I did, I’d break my going-slow rule, and Javi would not get to laze.

Javier Montoya needed to laze. He needed chill time. He needed bright lights to shine into the dark of his life and cool breezes to make it perfect.

And it did not freak me in the slightest that I understood deep to the depths of me that I was gearing up to make it my mission in life to give this to him.

I hit downstairs, made coffee, poured myself a mug, and took it to his chesterfield where I curled up in a corner and poured everything onto the pages.

I was deep into this when I sensed motion at the top of the stairs, and my attention moved there.

Javi was walking down wearing faded jeans and a black, short-sleeved Henley.

I knew in that moment, in life where everything was uncertain, one thing was.

I would never get tired of looking at him.

He came right to me.

He gave me a quick kiss.

Then he said, “Getting us breakfast. I’ll be right back.”

With that, not even pouring himself a cup of coffee, he walked out the door.

I didn’t know what breakfast was, and he didn’t ask me what I wanted.

But I was a girl who adored surprises.

So I didn’t bother myself with it and went back to journaling.

I was finishing up when he returned with a big box from Randy’s Donuts.

See?

Surprises were awesome.

He set the box on his coffee table, flipped open the top, and donut goodness wafted out. He commandeered my mug on his way to the kitchen.

I finished my journal entry, set the book aside, Javi came back and handed me a fresh cup. He sat close to me in my corner, looked at the box, then to me, and asked, “Which one you want?”

“I’m going to pick mine after you grab yours.”

“Which one you want, Harlow?”

I held his gaze steady. “I’m going to pick mine after you grab yours, and you’re going to let me do that because you understand I need to do that.”

Something came over his face then.

Something wondrous and awful, miraculous and terrible, spiritual and damned.

It pummeled me with blows that stung and coasted over me like the softest silk.

Javi let that happen because we both knew he needed to.

Then he turned to the box of donuts and made his pick (not incidentally, it was a cinnamon crumb cake).

Obviously, I picked the pink iced with pink sprinkles, and I loved that Javi ordered a pink iced and sprinkled donut for me.

Sure, there was probably no way Javi would have picked that, and it was obvious he bought it for me, so I could have gone first, but who knew? Maybe he was into sprinkles.

“You sleep okay?” he asked after he munched.

“Like a baby,” I told him after I munched. “You?”

“Yeah,” he said, and he munched again. Then, his glance moving from my journal to me, he remarked, “Not sure we’re set up for your full morning gig, babe.”

This was true.

We needed smoothie ingredients and other, healthy-living options for breakfast. And since I figured he wasn’t going to be okay with me hitting one of my classes, I needed my yoga mat and exercise accoutrements. I could set them up in one of his empty bedrooms and do my thing with the door closed.

Oh yes, this was a turnabout in the whole “we’re newly dating so I need to sleep at home” thing.

I didn’t care about that either.

Not after last night.

After all I’d seen and all he’d shared.

After we’d had pizza, then cuddled on the couch to watch a movie.

After we necked for a long time and Javi put a stop to it because he knew that’s what I wanted.

After we slept beside each other in his bed yet again, and I did not lie, last night and all the ones before, when I slept next to him, I did it like a baby.

I wasn’t fighting it anymore.

The best love story in the world was not Romeo and Juliet (because that mess was whacked).

It wasn’t Rhett and Scarlett (because, let’s face it, as fabulous as she was, Scarlett was a lot).

It sure wasn’t Antony and Cleopatra (I mean, who picked this stuff? None of them had a happy ending).

It was the pretty rich girl who was the outcast in her family, and the beautiful poor boy from the streets who never thought he’d catch her eye.

And by damn, they were going to have a happy ending.

On this thought, I finished my donut, took a sip of coffee and asked, “Can I set up my yoga mat in your empty bedroom?”

That got me a look that made my breasts swell before he tamed it and replied, “Sure.”

“Do you have a blender?”

“No.”

“A Bullet?”

He grinned at me. “I have a bunch of those.”

I slapped his arm and said, “No. The kind that mixes smoothies.”

“Then…no.”

“We need to go by my place and pick up some stuff.”

“Or we could just shift this to your place.”

This was a good suggestion.

But so far, none of his neighbors had come to his door to ask for a cup of sugar, to borrow a screwdriver, or request he help them solve a crime.

“It might be quieter here.”

His lips were quirking as he selected another donut (a bear claw this time, how could this man eat like this and have that body?), saying, “Whatever you want, Lolita.”

While I sipped coffee, I let him demolish his bear claw.

Once he’d washed it back with a swig of joe, I swung into action, doing this actually swinging in, straddling his lap, my knees in the sofa on either side of him.

He tipped his head back and rested his free hand on my hip.

“Babe,” he murmured.

I took that opportunity to do what I’d wanted to do since I first saw him.

I smoothed a finger over his perfect dark eyebrow.

“Harlow,” he whispered.

I ignored him, watching my hand move, then I switched to the other brow.

He wrapped his arm around my waist and leaned forward to set his coffee cup on the table.

He then sat back and wrapped both arms around me.

I looked into his eyes and requested quietly, “Can I buy you a throw blanket?”

“A what?”

“A throw blanket. A little blanket that’s comfy and snuggly, but attractive, so you can leave it out all the time by throwing it over the side of the couch.”

His brows knit. “Were you cold when you were writing in your book?”

But of course, he would think of me.

“No, but a throw blanket makes a house a home.”

Instantly after I spoke my words, he groaned, slouched deeper on the couch and put pressure on my back so I was plastered to him.

“We’ll go shopping,” he said throatily.

“You shop?”

“I’ll shop with you.”

He’d shop with me.

Official!

He was perfect.

Since this seemed to be going so well, I kept at it.

“I’ve seen this great lamp that would go fab over your couch.”

“Okay.”

“And you need an armchair, because every man needs an armchair. One that looks good but it’s really comfortable so he can watch games sitting in it.”

“I hear you,” he said.

“So you’re down to look at armchairs?”

“Pink and green and velvet with mushrooms and shells,” he murmured, like he was talking to himself.

But I was lost.

“What?”

“All soft and sweet.” He was still talking the same way. “My lil’ mama, shouldering in between two big men so she could see to her guy.”

At that, I shut right the heck up.

“Make a house a home,” he whispered, his eyes moving over my face.

“Yeah,” I whispered in return, my heart bleeding with understanding he had no idea how to do that, not because he was a man, but because he’d never had it. Then I took a chance. “No shade, sweetheart, but it doesn’t look like anyone lives here.”

He smoothed both his hands over my back. “Like I said, Lolita, I hear you. And just sayin’, I used to have some shit. But it was shit. I wasn’t used to having space that was mine. I couldn’t settle into the idea of being settled. I couldn’t wrap my head around spending money on stuff when I was used to having not much, and what I had sometimes I had to let go. It was like Tom Hanks in Castaway, when he got rescued and couldn’t sleep on a bed because he’d spent years sleeping rough.”

I smoothed my hands over his face, his jaw, his hair, and I did all of that as I held back tears.

“I got the job with Mace, pay was a lot more, bought this place, I got rid of the big stuff, socked everything else away in one of the bedrooms,” he shared. “Only big things I kept were the nightstands and my dresser because I couldn’t afford to dump a load on new shit, and I needed those. They’re gonna get tossed when I can replace them. But other than that, told myself, nothing but the good stuff in this place.”

“No,” I agreed huskily. “Nothing but the good stuff.”

“No,” he whispered, his hands ceasing their movements so he could curve his arms around me. “Nothin’ but the good stuff.”

Oh my God.

Did he just…?

He did.

I couldn’t stop myself, though I didn’t know why I would.

I kissed him.

When I did, a rumble started in his chest that I felt, and then it sounded in my mouth, which I also felt (and both were stellar), and he kissed me back.

I buried my hands in his hair and kissed him harder.

He yanked the ponytail out of my hair, it tumbled all around us, this before he cupped a cheek of my behind and surged up, taking me with him, twisting, then we were down, with me on my back, and Javi on top.

God, it was just so amazing (and hot) that Javi could do things like that.

We kissed. We touched. He claimed my breast with his hand, my nipple with his thumb. Not long later, he got his other hand in my cute, flirty panties.

For my part, I got my hands up his Henley and did a thorough exploration of the acres of warm skin and firm muscle I found there.

It was the best trip I’d ever taken.

Bar none.

It was when I pushed both my hands in the waistband of his jeans and got two handfuls of his round, hard bottom, Javi reciprocated the gesture, at the same time burrowing with his strong hips so he was between my legs. He then pulled me up and ground his very hard boy parts into my very soft (and wet) lady parts.

I gasped into his mouth because that felt so good.

And then I was flying through the air, my hair flying with me (naturally), only to land straddling his lap again because he was seated on the couch. My fingers were curled on his shoulders to hold on. His fingers were still curled on my behind inside my panties.

And yes, that felt so good too, I just didn’t understand this change in position.

“Give me a minute,” he requested thickly.

Oh no.

Was he going to stop?

“Javi—” I started.

“That isn’t slow, baby,” he said.

“I think—” I began to walk back my rule of going slow, a rule I suddenly decided was stupid and should be broken at all costs.

He kissed me quiet, and he did it quick before backing his head away.

“We’re gonna do it like you want it done,” he declared.

“I think I’ve changed my mind on how I want it done,” I replied.

His smile was reminiscent of the one he’d given me the night before, though there was no relief, just warmth and a whole lot of smugness (and I hated that I loved it), before he said, “Waited so long, you bein’ so sweet this morning, you got your hands on my ass, I knew it wasn’t gonna be how we need it to be. It’d be me fuckin’ you hard on my couch. My first time with my Lolita is not gonna be fuckin’ her hard on my couch. You with me?”

No.

I was not with him.

Although his sentiment was lovely, I wanted him to fuck me hard on his couch.

Therefore, I bit my lip.

He burst out laughing.

I stopped biting my lip and frowned.

He extricated his hands from my panties.

I frowned harder.

He stopped laughing but he didn’t stop grinning.

And he commenced planning our day. “First, we’re gonna swing by your place to grab the shit you need so you can do you here.”

“It’s good you have a truck then, because I have nighttime rituals too.”

He kept grinning and spoke on like I didn’t.

“You’re also going to grab a pretty dress and heels for our date tonight.”

Within milliseconds, I catalogued my wardrobe and decided what I was going to wear.

Man, I hoped he liked it.

“Then I’m gonna drop you at your storage unit so you can do your thing with your girls,” he said.

I blinked. “You know about that?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you know about that?”

“Guys talk too, lil’ mama.”

This was something to make note of, which was something I did.

“You okay with it?” I asked dubiously.

“Can I stop you?”

He probably could, but it wouldn’t go well for him.

“No,” I replied.

“Then, no. Cap called this morning. He and Gabe are gonna be on you.”

Ah, so it was Cap who told him.

I started to say something, but Javi shook his head.

“They’ll give you space, but they’re gonna be on you women, Harlow. It’s how it’s gonna be.”

Here was the bossy again, and I probably shouldn’t let him get away with it, but since their goal was to keep us safe, I didn’t know why I felt I should fight it in the first place.

“All right,” I agreed.

Javi relaxed underneath me and concluded, “When you’re done, one of the men will either drop you here or I’ll come and get you.”

“They can follow me here in my car so I can have my car.”

“Or I’ll meet you at the Oasis and follow you home in your car.”

That was easy.

Since it was, I wasn’t going to question it, I was just going to go with it.

“Do we have a reservation for tonight?” I asked.

“Affirmative,” he answered.

“What time?”

“Seven.”

“Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

Hmm.

Nice!

Since I didn’t want him to change his mind about our earlier discussion, I decided it was time to lock him in.

“When are we shopping for your throw blanket?”

He shrugged. “Tomorrow, if you’re not wrapped up in some Angels business.”

Excellent!

“We can do brunch in the morning then hit West Elm,” I planned.

“Whatever,” he muttered.

So, not totally down with shopping, though maybe totally down with doing whatever so he could be with me.

I’d take it.

Oh yes.

I’d so totally take it.

Absolutely.

SIXTEEN

“THEREFORE I AM”

(BILLIE EILISH)

When Javi drove us up to the storage units, I saw Cap’s Porsche Panamera was there, Gabe’s Jeep was there, and Luna’s Prius was there.

Cap and Gabe were leaning against Gabe’s Jeep, but none of the women were visible, which I read as them being behind the closed door to the unit that was Angels Headquarters.

I also read this as Raye being pissed at Cap for horning in on our investigation action.

Javi stopped his truck, and we both got out.

After he dropped a kiss on my lips, he moved toward Cap and Gabe, I moved to the door.

I hefted it up and the awesomeness of our Headquarters confronted me.

Thick, white carpeting. A curved red couch with black piping, which faced a big black desk that had an old-fashioned speaker in the center of it. Panels over the cinderblock walls covered in swirly red, orange, pink and black on a white background. On these were portraits of all the Angels done in Warhol style. Behind the desk, a large screen. And a recent edition, a beverage fridge stocked with waters and sodas (Arthur, we’d found, liked to surprise us with fun, new goodies).

There was more, and obviously the rest of it was as awesome as described.

And yes, I know what you’re thinking.

A kick-butt headquarters in a storage unit in Phoenix? Wasn’t it two hundred degrees in there?

No.

Arthur didn’t scrimp.

He never scrimped.

So even the units that just held the cars were temperature controlled.

I heard Javi whistle low, and I turned to him.

“And I thought NI&S had it going on,” he remarked.

I shot him a sunny smile.

Luna glared at him and tugged down the door so its edge hit the cement with a crash.

I heard Javi’s roar of laughter through the steel door.

“We’re mad at the guys,” Luna announced when I looked to her.

“I’m not mad at Javi,” I returned.

“The collective guys,” she amended. “Not one in particular.”

“Except Cap,” Raye put in. “I’m particularly mad at him.”

I wanted to know what was going on, but while Javi and I were essentially moving me into his townhome, I’d made some decisions.

Okay, so, backing up a bit, I was minorly freaking that Javi encouraged me to unpack at his place, giving me closet and drawer space and everything.

But I did.

At my place, I then repacked both cases and a workout duffle, all of the perishable food in my kitchen, some of the non-perishable stuff, my yoga mat and all my exercise stuff, my nutribullet and my blender. We’d lugged all that to his place (more full disclosure, Javi did most of the lugging, I’d been ordered to unpack, so I did).

And…yeah.

I was minorly freaking about this.

Again, I wanted to know what was going on with Raye and Cap, etc.

But I had bigger fish to fry.

Therefore, moving away from the door so Javi couldn’t overhear, I stated, “I want all the updates, but first, Javi’s dad showed last night.”

There were shocked sounds all around because everyone knew Javi’s dad was a rich deadbeat loser.

“You are joking,” Jessie said angrily.

“I am not,” I confirmed. “Apparently, he’s divorced his wife so she can no longer bust his hump about cheating on her when she was pregnant, doing it making another woman pregnant, and now he wants to, as Javi puts it, ‘play dad.’”

“Oh my God!” Jessie snapped. “What a colossal dick.”

“I know!” I cried and collapsed on our red sofa as all the girls gathered around. “So obviously, we have to do something about this.”

They all recoiled.

I got this. Sticking your nose in family business was rarely a smart thing go do. Sticking your nose into two alphas clashing about something important was courting a death wish.

But this was Javi.

This was my guy (yeah, I’d made that official in my head too).

So we had to do something.

“What are we gonna do about it?” Luna asked cautiously.

“Track him down and make him promise to lay off Javi,” I answered. “I told him last night, he needs to let Javi reach out when…and if…he wants to. But Javi says he’s blowing up his phone, so even though his dad left, I’m not sure he was listening to me.”

“You talked to the guy?” Raye inquired.

I nodded. “Javi was losing it, so I got between them. And by the way, Javi looks just like his dad, except his dad is blond.”

“I can’t envision it,” Shanti said.

“I can. I Googled him,” Luna said. “He was a heartbreaker back in the day, no pun intended. He married an up-and-coming actress who supposedly quit her dream to be a wife and mother. Though, I looked at her filmography and it’s probably more she quit because she’s a shit actress and she found her meal ticket. Case in point, a few years ago, she tried to get a Real Housewives of the Valley of the Sun thing going, but it didn’t take off.”

My lip curled. “Gross.”

“Mm-hmm,” Luna agreed.

“I am so down with finding this guy and laying some truth on him,” Jessie said.

“I’m in,” Shanti said.

“Me too,” Willow said.

“It’s agreed,” Raye put in. “We’ll add that to our caseload. I’ll ask Arthur for his deets and we’ll plan.”

Excellent.

“Okay, before we get into Raye sharing why she’s mad at Cap, I have another dilemma,” I said.

“And this would be?” Willow prompted.

“I told Javi I wanted to take the physical part of our relationship slow, and now every time it gets really good, he stops it so we can take it slow.”

No one said anything, they just stared at me.

“It should be said,” I added, “that every time he kisses me, it’s good. Actually, it’s great. But I mean, this morning, we were all over each other, and then, with no warning, I no longer had my hands in Javi’s jeans, and he wasn’t grinding between my legs.”

Still, no one said anything, but now Luna and Shanti had faraway looks in their eyes, probably because they were wondering what it would feel like to have their hands in Javi’s jeans.

I didn’t mind this, because they’d never know, and I already did.

And it felt awesome!

But we had a time limit on our briefing so we could go meet Shanti’s cousin, so they needed to snap out of it.

“Hello!” I called. “I mean, stupid me for saying I wanted to take it slow, I see I made a woeful mistake, but now I want to speed it up, and it’s not like I’m being quiet about it, but Javi refuses to take us there.”

“Has it occurred to you that he wants to take it slow?” Jessie asked.

“No. This did not occur to me,” I replied. “Seeing as he was grinding between my legs, and I felt how ready he was for me.”

“Oh my God, I haven’t been laid in a while and this is torture,” Luna groaned.

“I hear that, sis,” Shanti muttered.

“You know you could—” Raye started, aiming this at Luna, but I knew she was going to mention Knox, so I cut in.

“And he even said he wanted to ef me hard on the couch.”

“Babe,” Jessie said, but spoke no more.

“What?” I asked.

“It can be special for guys too,” she said.

I went statue still.

Because…

Oh.

My.

God.

It wasn’t just because I told Javi I wanted to take it slow.

It was because he wanted me so bad, he wanted our first time to be special.

“I think I’m going cry,” I whispered.

“I think I am too,” Willow whispered with me.

“I think she’s so over putting him off,” Luna said.

“I think she is too,” Jessie agreed.

“I think I’m going to let Javi set the pace,’ I said.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Raye affirmed.

Well, one thing to say about all of that, my minor freakout at kinda-sorta moving in with Javi was a whole lot more minor because more evidence had just been laid out for me about him being more amazing.

“Okay, fill me in,” I urged. “What’s going on with you and Cap?” I asked Raye.

She threw a hand toward the steel door. “What more do you need to know with him standing out there, ready to horn in on our action?”

I knew it was that.

“They just want to keep us safe,” I explained.

“That’s what I said,” Willow put in.

“We have tasers. We have brains,” Raye returned. “The last two cases we worked, did we go barreling in guns a’blazin’ to take down the bad guys?” She asked this but didn’t let any of us answer. “No! We called them in, and they took care of it.”

“You confronted that pedophile who had Elsie Fay,” Luna pointed out.

“I had no choice. He was walking to the room where he was holding her,” Raye retorted.

“She really did have no choice,” Jessie put in her vote.

“I probably would have confronted him too,” I said.

“I totally would have,” Shanti added.

“No one could walk away from that.” Willow brought up the rear.

Luna huffed.

“And that’s not gonna happen here,” Raye went on. “We’re just looking into things.”

“Can’t we do that with a couple of guys following us?” Willow asked.

Before Raye could say anything, Shanti said, “Listen, I hear you. It’s invasive, and it comes off as them thinking we don’t know what we’re doing. But take Cap for example. He’s been training with these guys since he was a teenager. This is Willow and my first rodeo. And none of us has any formal training. Maybe our first few cases, we have backup just in case?”

“I’ve read the Rock Chick books,” I announced.

Everyone looked at me.

“And, just saying, we want backup,” I concluded.

“It isn’t the backup,” Raye said. “It’s Cap telling me we were going to have backup, rather than asking me if we wanted backup. The answer to which would have been yes.”

“Ahhhhhh,” we all said in unison.

“Yeah, that wasn’t the way to go,” Jessie mumbled.

“And yeah, that’s why we’re collectively mad at the guys, because between that and Mace et al coming in and confiscating Kev, this isn’t cool,” Luna explained.

I had to agree with that.

“Well, we have no choice. They’re going to trail us. So did you guys find anything at Kev’s place yesterday?” I asked.

Luna shook her head. “Negatory. But then we went to Trev’s place.”

Oh boy, I thought.

“Oh boy,” Willow said.

“What’d you find there?” Shanti asked.

“Well, first, seeing as he was murdered there, we found crime scene tape and a big sticker sealing the door, so even if someone could tear down the crime scene tape, they couldn’t get in without the cops knowing,” Raye shared.

“So you didn’t get in?” Willow asked.

“No, we got in, because Tex is a wild-ass motherfucker,” Luna stated. “He just opened his army knife, slit that bitch, then popped the lock and we went in.”

Although I feared this might be all kinds of illegal, I couldn’t help but giggle.

Tex was such a stitch.

“The place was a wreck,” Raye told us.

“Trev was never all that much of a homemaker,” Willow put in.

“No, Willow,” Raye said. “Tex was right about how easy they took it on Harlow’s digs. His place was torn apart.”

That gave me a little shiver and put me in the confusing position of feeling gratitude to whoever broke into my home that they didn’t do more damage.

“Did you see…?” Willow let that trail but communicated by stretching out her lips.

“Yeah,” Luna said quietly. “A body bleeds a lot when an artery is cut.”

“Like…a lot,’ Raye added.

We all sat with that, and the vibe was not sunshiny goodness.

Jessie snapped us out of it. “Did you find anything else?”

“If there was something to find, whoever was looking for it didn’t find it,” Luna said. “Our guess is, they tried there first, then went to Harlow’s. But even if they didn’t find it, the cops would have. There was fingerprint powder everywhere. They went through it pretty thoroughly.”

“Obviously, this boils down to someone looking for something,” I noted. “We just don’t know what.”

“Well, while on house arrest yesterday, I did some calling around,” Willow told us. “A few of Trev’s exes. A couple of Kev and Trev’s buds.”

“Anything?” Shanti asked.

She shook her head but said, “It won’t shock you to learn, with the exes, Trev was a burn-his-bridges type of guy. None of them had heard from him since they scraped him off, and they weren’t sad about it.”

We all nodded at this intel, completely unshocked.

Willow kept going.

“With the friends, all of them were cagey, probably mostly because I was calling, and they know I’m out of the loop. Only one of them would say Trev was into something hinky, but he didn’t know what it was. Though he did say he wasn’t surprised it came to that. He’d cut ties with both Trev and Kev because, his words, ‘assholes made an art of calling us all to the bar and conveniently forgetting their wallets.’ Something else I’m sure you’re not shocked to learn.”

No, again, we weren’t shocked at all.

“You know, men should journal more, so when they do stupid stuff and get their throats slit, we could just find their journal and it’d tell us all we need to know,” I groused.

“That would be optimal, but Trev wasn’t a journal guy,” Raye said. “I’m not even sure how his body remained functioning with what was strewn all over his kitchen. We can just say, the dude was not about sticking to lean proteins. We didn’t make more mess than was already there, but Tex is good at a search, and we were all over that place. Nada.”

“Unless the cops got something,” Jessie remarked.

“Unless the cops got something,” Raye agreed.

“Time to have a chat with Jayden,” Shanti said.

“Time to recruit a cop informant,” Luna decreed.

“Me, Shanti, Willow and Harlow in the Merc. Luna and Jess in the Kia,” Raye ordered.

“Only if we switch around so Jess and I get the Merc on our next ride,” Luna stated.

“Obviously,” Raye replied.

That sorted, we all walked to the door.

After Luna tugged it open, I saw Javi’s truck was gone.

Cap and Gabe came alert, then got in Gabe’s Jeep.

And we headed out.

SEVENTEEN

“WHATTA MAN”

(SALT-N-PEPA/EN VOGUE)

At Zipps Sports Grill, we didn’t even make it to Jayden’s table before our dreams of cultivating a cop informant went up in flames.

First, Shanti’s cousin was gorgeous. Tall, lean, his skin a couple of shades darker than hers, beautiful bone structure. And we knew who he was immediately, because when he first laid eyes on her, he smiled, and he had two (two!) dimples.

Then he spied the rest of us, the smile died a fiery death, he shot straight in his chair, shook his head and bellowed, “No fuckin’ way!”

We all stopped dead.

Everyone in the bar looked at him.

He paid them no mind as he jumped out of his chair and stormed to Shanti, which meant he stormed to us all.

“Are you serious with this shit?” he demanded of Shanti.

“What shit?” Shanti asked innocently, and I could tell she was perplexed at his volatile response, as were we all.

Then we weren’t when he eyed Raye, Luna, Jessie and me.

“We got a bulletin on you,” he stated.

Uh-oh.

“The entire Phoenix Police Department got it,” he continued.

Uh-oh!

“With pictures,” he went on.

Eek!

“And you are not dragging my cousin into your shit,” he concluded.

“Listen, Jayden—” Luna tried to play it cool.

“Fuck no,” Jayden cut her off. “Are you high?” His eyes went over her head. “Are you high?” he asked again.

We all turned around.

Cap and Gabe were standing there.

They’d followed, but they hadn’t followed close. My guess was, they were close now because we had a tall, angry, fit man in our faces.

“No,” Cap drawled as an answer to his question.

“You know better than to let your woman do this kind of shit,” Jayden declared, aiming this at Cap.

Uh-oh!

Raye’s face went hard, and we all tensed.

But it was Shanti to look out for.

Her voice got soft. “Excuse me?”

Jayden looked down at her. He was married, he had a mother, he obviously had female cousins. I didn’t know what other females were in his orbit as he was growing up until now. What I did know was that he heard Shanti’s tone, took one look at her face and realized he’d just messed up huge.

Thus, he was a whole lot calmer when he said, “Do you know what these women are into?”

“I know they found fourteen missing women when your department wasn’t even looking for them,” Shanti retorted.

Woo.

Zinger!

“I also know they made it so a crew that was rustling up about three gang wars on top of abducting homeless people to use them as forced labor in their drug operation was shut down, and I don’t know if you all were even doing anything about that,” Shanti kept at him.

We’d just met Jayden (kinda), but still, at the expression on his face after she delivered that, we all scooted back a step.

Shanti, however, did not.

“So, you were saying?” she asked.

“They got lucky,” Jayden bit off.

“Do I have to bring up Elsie Fay?” Shanti retorted.

A muscle in his jaw bulged.

“You can get lucky once. Even twice.” Shanti didn’t let up. “But three times? Brother, you’re a cop. You know that isn’t right.”

Jayden didn’t speak.

He knew that wasn’t right.

“Now, a man got dead. Trevor Clampitt,” Shanti continued.

“His last name was Clampitt?” I whispered to Willow.

She nodded.

That seemed to fit him somehow.

“And you remember Kev.” She gestured to Willow.

Willow gave him a short, awkward wave and said a short, awkward, “Hey, Jayden.”

Jayden jerked up his chin to her and muttered, “Yeah, I remember that guy.”

Well, it seemed Willow had been invited to Shanti’s family’s shindigs, and she’d taken Kevin along.

“We’re broken up,” Willow blurted.

“That’s good,” Jayden stated firmly.

She’d definitely taken Kevin along.

Willow bugged her eyes out at Shanti.

“Trev was Kev’s best friend,” Shanti shared with Jayden.

“And you think you can get what out of me…exactly?” Jayden asked his cousin.

“It’d help if you could tell me if the cops found anything when they searched Trev’s apartment, or if they knew what they were looking for or what Trev was into, considering, after whoever killed Trev did him, he went to Harlow’s place.”

Now she was gesturing at me. When Jayden turned to me, I also did the short, awkward wave.

Shanti kept going.

“And they tossed that because she’d had a kind of fake date with Trev that night, although she didn’t, she was supposed to be having a fake date with Kev.”

“A fake date?’ Jayden asked.

“That isn’t important,” Shanti said.

Jayden’s lovely brown eyes narrowed, making them still lovely, but also scary. “So you want info from me, but you aren’t offering full disclosure in return?”

I could see this wasn’t quite fair.

Shanti could too.

“Okay, so Kev was stealing stuff from women he met on dating apps,” Shanti said.

Bad idea.

Jayden looked mad again.

Or madder.

We all scooted back another step.

This time, when we did, Willow made a strange noise, so I looked to her to see her cheeks aflame.

I then looked beyond her to see she’d bumped into Gabe and was now butted up against his tall, built frame. It was then I saw Gabe’s rugged, gorgeous face seemed carved from stone, but he had a hand curled around her waist.

Interesting.

Jayden brought my attention back to him by demanding of Shanti, “And you didn’t tell me?”

“We were in the midst of catching him in the act when Trev showed,” Shanti explained.

Jayden stared at Shanti.

Shanti stared at Jayden.

They kept doing this.

We all waited.

Finally, Jayden said, “I’m not your guy. I do not like you’re doing whatever it is you’re doing. I want that on the record.” His gaze went through all of us. “And in case you don’t get this, you try to bring another officer into your fold as your man on the inside, let me save you the trouble. No one is gonna help you because we all think you’re lunatics.”

“Well, that isn’t very nice,” Luna mumbled.

Jayden raised a single brow Luna’s way.

After I got over thinking that was ridiculously hot, I had to admit maybe we were a little crazy.

But we weren’t lunatics.

I mean, now that Javi was in my life, and his mom had mental health issues, was it even okay to call anyone a lunatic anymore?

I’d have to ask.

Luna’s parents dealt with a lot of disenfranchised people in their work with the homeless, not to mention, they were proud progressive liberals. They’d know all about what was politically correct.

I’d ask them.

“And I’m telling Aunt Tandi you’re into this shit,” Jayden threated.

“Go ahead,” Shanti said breezily. “Mom already knows.”

Jayden scowled at her.

“Thanks for being such a great help with us solving a murder or something,” Shanti said as she turned and hustled us toward the door.

Cap and Gabe fell in behind us.

Willow asked Shanti under her breath (but she still did it incredulously), “Does Miss Tandi know you’re an Angel?”

“Hell no. Mom would lose her ever-lovin’ mind,” Shanti replied. “But maybe Jayden won’t say anything if he thinks she already knows.”

“Yikes,” Willow said.

“Uh, yeah,” Shanti agreed.

This made me want to meet, at the same time afraid to meet, Shanti’s mom.

We all piled into our cars with Raye saying, “I texted Jinx. She’s meeting us at Titus’s.”

I hoped we were going to get an update about her accountant.

Cap and Gabe got into the Jeep, and we all rolled out.

We were well under way when it happened.

“What the…” Raye, who was driving the Sportage, started, her eyes to the rearview mirror, then she finished, “Hell!”

She slammed on the brakes.

My seatbelt bit into my chest as my head thrashed forward and back.

Cars around us swerved and honked.

“What’s going on?” I asked as she whipped us into the left lane.

“Call Luna. Tell her to circle back.” Then suddenly she was screaming, “Circle back! Circle back! Someone just forced Gabe into a right turn!”

I got out my phone and then nearly dropped it when Raye swung a uey in the middle of the street, more cars swerved and honked at her, regardless of the fact that, in Phoenix, a city that refused to shirk off the mantle of the Wild West, this maneuver was pretty standard.

She raced back the way we came.

Jess answered Luna’s phone, and I put it on speaker.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

“Some—”

I stopped talking because I had to lean with the car and try not to scream, because Raye cut a left turn at high speed right through traffic.

More tires screeching, more horns blowing, but by some miracle, we made it through.

“What the fuck is going on!” Jess shouted.

She’d seen us.

“Someone cut off Gabe and Cap. Forced them into a right turn,” I explained. “We’re following them.”

Willow’s hand went between our seats from the back, her finger pointing.

“There they are!” she cried. “They took another right.”

“Circle back,” I said to Jess as Raye’s phone started ringing.

She dug it out and tossed it to me.

I caught it, looked at it, and it said Caveman Calling.

Okay, that took it to another level. Seriously, she was really pissed about that caveman stuff.

I took the call, again on speaker, and said a shaky, “Hey, Cap. You’re on speaker.”

“Do not follow us,” he ordered. “Go straight to Titus’s.”

“Fuck that!” Raye yelled.

“Honey, listen to me,” Cap said. “We’re closest to his place. Titus knows we’re coming. He’s preparing. We’re gonna lead whoever this is there and do a takedown. Go to Titus’s.”

“Are you fucking with me?” Raye asked.

“Would I do that?’ Cap asked back.

“If you thought it would get me safe, yes!” she shouted.

“I’m not doing that. Go to Titus’s,” Cap said in a brook-no-argument tone.

“Why are they after you guys?” Raye demanded.

“I’ll ask them that when I have them hogtied on the floor in Titus’s garage. Now go to Titus’s, get your tasers out, but stay out of the fuckin’ way when this shit goes down.”

He didn’t let Raye respond. He disconnected.

“Shit, shit, fuck!” Raye screamed, punctuating each word by slamming the heel of her palm on steering wheel.

“Calm down, girl,” Luna cooed through the speaker on my phone. “You got precious cargo.”

Raye took a second, then ordered, “Head to Titus’s.”

“Roger that,” Jessie replied. “See you there.”

She disconnected.

I held both phones in my hands and said to Raye, “Remember, Gabe and Cap know what they’re doing. The bad guys might have cut them off, but we know our guys have a plan and the upper hand. Okay?”

“They know the Nightingale guys have Kev, and they want Kev,’ Raye replied.

Oh yeah.

Whoever this was knew the guys had Kev, and they wanted him.

“They think they can get their hands on one or more of the Nightingale boys and use them as leverage to deliver Kevin,” Raye continued.

Oh yeah.

They were totally thinking they could do that.

I was sensing Kev knew more than he was telling anybody.

I was sensing with what was right then happening, the Nightingale guys would figure that out.

So last, I was sensing Kev was going to be in a load of hurt sometime very soon.

No, what was last was, I hoped Cap and Gabe figured this out (but they would) and called it in (though, I knew they would) so the rest of the guys (most importantly to me, Javi) knew to keep an eye out for these kinds of shenanigans.

The Merc came up on our tail about three blocks from Titus’s.

We had our tasers out and were ready to rumble after we parked outside Titus’s and rolled out of our vehicles.

Titus appeared from the shadows beside his man-cave garage, and he was making hand motions, though it wasn’t to us.

“Get inside!” he ordered.

Now that was to us.

“Cap is—” Raye began.

“Baby girl, love the love and concern,” Titus cut her off. “But get your ass inside my garage.”

I grabbed Raye’s hand and started to tug her to the garage.

As I did this, I saw two cars down the way pull in at angles, cutting off traffic on Titus’s street.

At that point, I heard car noises coming from the other direction.

Thinking they might be Gabe, Cap and their pursuer, I turned that way.

But it wasn’t. Instead, I saw two more cars stop, then expertly, and quickly, back into two driveways right across from each other.

We’d just got to the shade at the side of the garage when it went down.

Gabe’s Jeep raced down the road, a shiny BMW in hot pursuit.

We all hugged the side of the garage and watched, because, at the last minute, on a screech of tires, Gabe braked, then swung into Titus’s driveway and came to an abrupt halt.

After the BMW passed them, the two cars pulled out of the driveways down the street, boxing the BMW in from behind.

Both Gabe and Cap were out of the Jeep faster than you could blink, each with guns in their hands.

But Titus was on the sidewalk.

And he had a gun too.

He took aim.

BLAM!

We jumped.

The back tire of BMW exploded.

BLAM! BLAM!

We jumped again.

Cap and Gabe were also on the sidewalk, guns up, eyes to the sights, and the front tire was out.

The car careened, hit the bumper of one of the cars blocking the street, jumped the curb, smashed into a tree and stopped.

Cap, Gabe, Titus, and Titus’s four guys who’d exited their vehicles sprinted toward the car.

“Oh God,” Raye whispered.

I still had hold of her hand, and I kept hold.

But the two guys in the car didn’t have time to do anything tragic.

First, their airbags had deployed, so they were fighting those.

Second, Cap went to one side, and at an angle that would cause no bodily harm, he shot out the window at the same time his shot deflated the airbag. Gabe went to the other side, and he did the same thing.

Then they reached in the windows and one-armed dragged the men out of the car and onto their bellies. And in such a blur I didn’t know where they even got the zip ties, both of the men were hogtied on their stomachs on Titus’s neighbor-two-doors-down’s lawn.

More men showed out of what seemed like thin air while the first wave jogged back to the cars in the street.

Those cars drove away.

A huge Ram truck appeared and backed up to the BMW. A guy waiting there made short work of hooking the BMW to the back jack on the Ram.

The Ram drove off, towing the BMW.

And Cap and Gabe, with Titus’s men helping, picked up the dudes they’d just nabbed and carried them to Titus’s man cave, walking right by us, and I wasn’t the only one who watched with my mouth hanging open.

Oh, and by the way, Titus winked at us as he passed.

The door closed behind them when they got the men into Titus’s garage.

And Titus’s street looked like a perfectly executed takedown didn’t just happen.

I thought I even heard a bird tweeting.

All of this took, at most, five minutes.

Maybe half a minute later, as we stood in stupefied silence, Jinx rolled up in her older model BMW, parked on the curb, got out, and called, “Hola, bitches!”

No one greeted her.

But Willow whispered, “Did I just see what I think I just saw?”

“I think we all saw it,” Jessie replied.

We hesitated two more seconds.

Then we raced into Titus’s garage.

* * *

We were sitting on Titus’s couches in his man cave: Luna, Raye and Shanti on one, me, Jess and Willow across from them.

Titus was sitting on his throne up on the dais at our sides, Jinx lounged at his feet, her back to his chair, her short legs stretched out in front of her, angled down the steps, ankles crossed.

We were sipping delicious palomas Titus made for us from his fab wet bar (they had a sugar rim and everything).

Don’t get the wrong idea about Titus’s throne, or the killer portrait of himself behind it, or the gold Camaro that was parked in that garage (though it was more like an art showpiece). The wet bar. The floor-to-ceiling wine rack.

Yeah, it was all way cool, but it wasn’t affectatious.

This had to be as it was because serious stuff happened in this room.

Like, lives being saved.

We did not, as we’d all hoped we would, get to witness a Nightingale interrogation.

Within minutes, Roam, Liam, Brady and Jacob showed. They cut the zip ties that connected wrists to ankles, yanked the bad guys to their feet, loaded them up in their Denalis, and they took off. Cap and Gabe went with them, leaving us with Titus to look after us, and promises we’d stay with Titus until someone returned to play bodyguard.

Roam, by the way, lived on the streets with Cap when they were kids. They were both adopted by the same lady, Shirleen (who I knew, because she’d moved down to Phoenix—she was amazing, and not just because she did that). So they were like brothers (or even more like brothers than actual brothers).

But also, Roam, along with Cap and Eric, were Mace’s seconds in command because they all had the most experience and had been working with Nightingale or at Mace’s security company (which had merged with Nightingale Investigation) for years.

As they took their new suspects (prisoners?), Titus made us cocktails.

All of Titus’s guys were long gone.

One thing that was good about all of this (outside the cocktail and getting to hang with Titus), Roam had assured us the team had been made privy to what was happening and would be on more than their regular high alert.

Nevertheless, for the most part, none of us had been able to process all we’d witnessed outside in the ensuing time.

I knew we were going to process when Jinx groused, “I’m ticked I missed all the action.”

That was when Raye looked to Titus and remarked, “Methinks you’re not a one-man band.”

Methought so too.

Big time.

Titus smiled largely and replied, “Would love to have that kind of pull with the people, darlin’, but as it’s been throughout the millennia, the only way to keep the peace is to raise an army.”

Hmm.

I’d sensed there was way more to Titus than we knew.

Now that was certain.

Like this was any other day, hanging out with Titus in his pimped-out space, Jinx set aside her drink, dug in her bag, pulled out a nail file and started filing her nails.

This reminded me to ask, “How’s your accountant?”

Jinx stopped filing her nails and shot a sour face at me.

I wasn’t sure how to take that, but I wasn’t a fan.

Neither was Luna, because she asked, “Has he stopped seeing you?”

Jinx rolled her eyes.

I smiled.

He hadn’t stopped seeing her.

“What’s this?” Titus asked.

“Jinx has a client who brings her flowers,” Luna spilled.

Jinx turned her sour face to Luna.

“What’s this, baby?” Titus repeated on a murmur.

“It’s nothing, Titus,” Jinx said. “It just makes him feel better about fucking a whore.”

Titus’s lips thinned before he admonished, “You know my rule about runnin’ yourself down in my space, girl.”

Jinx shut her mouth but gave us the stink eye.

“You girls met this guy?” Titus asked us.

“Met? No,” Jessie answered. “But we’ve seen him and he’s cute. They wave at each other when he leaves.”

Now Jinx was giving the homicidal eye to Jessie.

“You bein’ courted, Jinx?” Titus asked.

“It’s not that,” Jinx lied.

“It is. It’s—” Raye started.

“Leave it,” Titus ordered quietly. “She’ll clue in. And if she doesn’t, she’ll pay the price.”

Wise words.

At this juncture, Shanti queried, “Um…is anyone still reeling about how badass all of that was?”

Oh yeah.

We all were.

“I’m reeling about how I’m going to manage sustaining still being mad at Cap, which he deserves, at the same time jumping his bones and fucking him stupid, which he also deserves, because that was all kinds of hot,” Raye replied.

She was so right.

“It’s big,” Willow said.

Since this didn’t make sense in the current convo, we all looked to her, but only Luna asked, “Sorry?”

“Whatever Kevin is hiding,” she answered. “Whatever he knew Trevor was into.” She turned to me. “You said Javi said he talked yesterday?”

I nodded.

She shook her head.

“If he did, if he told them everything, then they’d know what’s going on, they’d put a stop to it, and someone wouldn’t have come after Cap and Gabe today,” she replied.

I harked back to what I saw pass between her and Gabe earlier, and that she might have been freaking right alongside Raye when stuff started going down with Cap and Gabe in their vehicle tussle and chase, but I couldn’t get a lock on it before she spoke again.

“Kevin’s weak. Those guys put even minor pressure on him, he’d spill his guts. The fact that he didn’t means this is big. He’s scared. And he’s not scared of the Nightingale guys, so that means he’s scared of something even scarier than the Nightingale guys.”

We all sipped our palomas pensively on this thought because it was difficult to conjure up something scarier than the Nightingale guys. Especially after what we’d just seen. You know, with pulling into a driveway, stopping on a dime, hauling butt out of it armed, taking out tires with one shot, sprinting toward a vehicle with two men in it you knew meant you harm, extricating those men and subduing them in ten seconds flat, then disappearing them from the premises about five minutes later.

Yeah.

That was all kinda scary.

Kick butt and hot AF.

But scary.

We all took another contemplative sip of our palomas.

Jessie snapped out of it first. “You got anything on this for us, Titus?”

“Baby girl, you know I champion you women’s mission,” Titus said. “What you also need to know is, you get into this shit, you take baby steps. You don’t jump from feelin’ your way on the streets, developing a network, laying the foundation of a reputation, to wading in when a man gets his throat cut.”

More wise words.

But this time they were also scary.

“That said,” Titus carried on, “since it’s obvious I can’t stop you, if I knew something, I’d help you. But I got no lock on this. I’ve asked around, no one knows this guy who got whacked. No one knows dick. And before you ask, those two men who came in and out of my garage, I’ve never seen them either.”

Well, it was sweet he’d be in to help, but that wasn’t helpful.

We all took another sip of our palomas.

“Bitches!” Jinx snapped.

We all looked to her.

“He just gave you a clue,” she stated.

He did? I thought.

“He did?” Willow asked.

“If Titus doesn’t know the players,” Jinx explained, “this isn’t street.”

“Mm-hmm,” Titus agreed.

Oh boy.

We all looked at each other and not one of us did it easy.

Because, if this wasn’t street, we were wading into something else that was new, not just a guy who got dead in an ugly way.

And I could tell, even though we had no idea what we’d waded into, none of us had a good feeling about it.

EIGHTEEN

“THAT’S THE WAY LOVE GOES”

(JANET JACKSON)

That evening, standing in Javi’s bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror, I flicked at some of my bouncy curls before I leaned in and checked my shocking red lipstick.

Exceptional liner placement, flawless fill.

Okay.

Good.

I took one long last look and decided I was ready for my date with Javi.

I headed out, and halfway down the stairs, I turned to see my guy standing by his kitchen island, phone to his ear.

I almost tripped on my high-heeled gold sandals.

Javi was wearing a crisp, light-blue button-down and navy-blue trousers, and both looked cut to fit him personally. These with fantastic brown oxfords, though I could see that hot-guy sliver of skin between hem and shoe.

I didn’t know he could look more beautiful.

But dang, all cleaned up, he could look more beautiful.

It was then I almost tripped again when I saw the expression on his face as his eyes devoured me from across the space.

Total proof I’d done good with my dress. Bright red. Spaghetti straps. Deep cut at the bodice with loose ruffles hanging from the V. Another diagonal ruffle across the front of the short, flippy skirt and around the hem. I did gold hoops, a gold bangle, and the gold heels with a gold bag, and that was it with accessories.

I was using the plethora of skin and cleavage as my zingers.

And those zingers hit their target if the expression of wanton hunger on Javi’s face was anything to go by.

This made my shoulders straighten, and the rest of my descent of the stairs was slow and sure, my journey to him across the room as he hastily ended whatever call he was on was confident and assured.

I felt something I’d never, ever felt before.

I felt beautiful.

I felt powerful.

And I felt both because Javi gave them to me.

For some reason, this didn’t do what it would normally do—make me cry.

No, that was how powerful I felt, how sure.

In that moment, I knew all my life I’d been trying too hard, like I was frantically attempting to mold myself into what I was supposed to be, at the same time desperately trying to convince myself who I was, was just fine.

But in that moment, I’d never felt more right.

No, more real.

Thus, when I made it to him, I simply put my hand on his chest.

He put his to my waist.

“Jesus, baby,” he whispered, his eyes aimed at my chest.

Oh yes.

I’d never felt beautiful or confident in my life.

I’d never felt present, there, me.

But I did right then.

Because Javi gave that to me.

I tipped my head to the side.

“Ready?” I asked.

His gaze came up to my face, and I sucked in a breath at the proud possession shining stark in his eyes.

“Fuck yeah,” he replied.

* * *

I floated through Javi’s door, going to one lamp to turn it on then tossing my bag on his couch.

He went to another lamp.

We were home from our date.

No, we were home from the best date I’d ever had.

He took me to Geordie’s at Wrigley Mansion, maybe the single most romantic restaurant in all of Phoenix.

They’d seated us at a two-top by a window.

We’d watched the sun set over the Valley as we ate delicious, expensive food, Javi teased, I flirted, we talked and laughed.

He told me how things were hilariously not going all that well between Shirleen (not only Roam and Cap’s mom, but also Nightingale Investigation & Security’s Operations Manager) and Marjorie (the Phoenix branch’s Office Manager and Mace’s PA) settling in at the office.

I told him about Jinx’s accountant.

He told me he was thirty-three, and that his grandfather had been deported when his mom was just a kid. Things were tough for a not-single-but-going-it-alone woman with a young daughter. On top of that, she missed her husband like crazy.

So Javi’s grandmother had followed him back to Nicaragua when she thought Javi’s mom was settled and could look out for herself. This being when Ximena, Javi’s mom, was twenty-two.

Since his mother’s illness didn’t start manifesting until after she had Javi, they didn’t know leaving her on her own would lead to such tragedy. They couldn’t get back to help, and considering Ximena and Javi regularly dropped off the face of the earth, sometimes they went years not knowing what was happening with their girl and their grandson.

In fact, although Javi talked to them on the phone frequently, he’d never met them.

Taking us out of the heavy, he also told me, since he’d obviously never had a pet, but he’d always wanted one, he’d planned to get a dog when he got his townhome more together. But after meeting Henny, Jessie and Eric’s cat, he changed his plans because cats “got it going on.”

Back to the heavy, I told him a little about my mom, dad and brother, and how I fit in the family.

Seeing as this made Javi visibly angry, and we were in such a romantic place, I didn’t go on about that too much.

He seemed matter of fact about what happened in his life, to his mom and his grandparents, and I understood that. I thought it was healthy. It happened and there was nothing he could do about it. Everyone was in a safe place now, so there was no longer anything to do.

But I was still in the thick of being the pariah of the O’Neill clan, I couldn’t hide it hurt me, and for a protective alpha, that wasn’t something he could easily abide.

Though I didn’t like that it made Javi mad, I couldn’t deny it felt really freaking good he got so mad on my behalf.

Mostly I talked about how I really enjoyed organizing Raye and Cap’s space, and I was thinking I wanted to consider finding more clients, give them a go and see if that would be a fun career change, to be my own boss and organize people’s lives.

Though, I told him, if it wasn’t fun, if the clients were jerks or whatever, I was out.

“The Surf Club is no stress, and I work every day with the part of my family I love, no-holds-barred. So whatever takes me from that has to be something awesome, not just something that makes me more money.”

When I said that, the tender approval written all over Javi’s amazing face told me what he thought about it.

And the depths it dug into my heart told me it meant a lot to me that Javi didn’t expect me to wring miracles in the career space, he just wanted me to be happy doing whatever I was happy doing.

We both avoided discussing Trevor or Kevin or what happened that day, and we did this without talking about the fact we were going to avoid it.

Without words, we agreed this night was about us.

Before we left for the restaurant, we’d begun, for sure.

But this was our official beginning, and we knew it.

I knew this from the moment Javi, with his big hand light on the small of my back, escorted me through the restaurant to our seats, to the moment he escorted me back out, because I didn’t ever think I’d felt so proud in my entire life.

Proud to be at the side, at the table, with this sweet, protective, handsome man who teased me, laughed with me, listened to me, looked at me like I walked on sunshine.

I wasn’t the underachiever when I was with Javi.

I was the woman who could catch the eye, the interest, the emotion of the remarkable man I was with. The woman who earned all of that. The woman who deserved it.

I was someone special when I was with Javi.

“Want another glass of wine?” Javi asked, moving to the kitchen and taking me out of my reverie.

I didn’t answer.

I also didn’t follow him to the kitchen.

I went to stand at the foot of the stairs.

I put my hand to the banister, and I let my eyes fall on him.

And I let my position tell him what I wanted.

He could accept, or decline. If he had other ideas on what would make it special between us when we finally connected in that way, I’d go with him.

But I wanted him to know where I was at.

He turned from grabbing the opened bottle of red on the counter to me, and his big body stilled.

“Lolita,” he said gently, the word like a soft caress that reached clear across the space.

“Your choice,” I replied. “But just know, I’m ready.”

I needed to say no more.

Javi put the wine down, and unhurried but not slow, he walked across his great room. With slowly escalating excitement, I marveled at his male grace as he came to me.

And when he got to me, he didn’t take my hand. He didn’t kiss me.

He bent and lifted me, like a groom carried his bride, and he started up the steps.

This move was so poignant, so exquisite, I rounded his neck with my arms and shoved my face in the side, breathing in his spicy cologne, breathing in Javi, grounding myself in him so I wouldn’t ruin the moment by bursting into tears.

We made his bedroom, and beside the bed, I felt him shift as he flicked off his shoes.

Then he hit his bed with a knee, placed me in it, his body landed on mine, but he reached out a long arm to turn on the light.

He looked down at me, smoothing my curls away from my face with both of his hands, and that proud, possessive look was again on his.

“You should know, that was the best date I ever had, Javier Montoya,” I whispered, running my hands up the material covering his back. “Thank you.”

Golden flames lit in his eyes right before he kissed me.

This kiss was not hungry or decadent.

It was soft and sweet, like he was sharing his gratitude in reply.

Oh man, if he didn’t stop being so…Javi, I wasn’t going to be able to do this without bawling.

Fortunately, he stopped being that brand of Javi and became the hot brand of Javi as the kissed changed, grew deeper, greedy.

I matched it, yanking his shirt from his trousers and diving in at the back.

He slid his lips down the line of my neck, down my chest, along the material at the bodice, which meant over the inside of the swell of my breast.

I pulled one of my hands out of his shirt so I could slide my fingers into his thick, soft hair to encourage him to keep going.

He didn’t.

He trailed his lips up my throat, over my chin, and back to mine.

We necked. We touched. It was leisurely. It was exploratory.

Javi’s lips were back on my chest when he suddenly veered left, taking the material with him, and then his mouth closed around my nipple.

Unexpected fire bolted through my lady parts.

Oh God.

“Javi,” I breathed.

He worked it with the tip of his tongue.

I already knew he had a strong tongue, but, dang.

He nipped it gently with his teeth.

God!

My body jolted, that felt so good.

“Javi,” I gasped.

He rolled to his back, taking me with him, his fingers moving to the zip at the side of my dress.

It came down at the same time he flicked the hook and eye.

When I felt my dress release, I sat up and tugged it off.

Eyes to my body, Javi’s expression grew ravenous as he sat up, tearing at the buttons of his cuffs.

Thankfully, he got them undone in short order, and didn’t bother with the buttons at the front. He just put his hands behind his neck and wrenched up with such force, I feared he’d tear that fantastic shirt.

Then his miles of beautiful brown skin, the bulges and indents of his muscles hit my vision, and I didn’t think any more about his shirt.

I went in with mouth and tongue and hands.

He did the same.

This was no longer leisurely, exploratory.

This was I want it all and I want it NOW.

Therefore, I took all I could get as fast as I could get it, and Javi did the same.

He was again on his back, I was trailing my mouth down the ridges of his belly, I got to the waistband of his trousers, when he pulled me up and rolled me to my back.

“I wasn’t done with my descent,” I informed him.

“Baby,” he said, shifting his hips to the side so he could whip off my panties.

That move was so sure, so swift, I quivered.

He tossed them away and rolled back on top of me. “You take my dick in your mouth right now, this is gonna be all over.”

Oo.

Nice.

I smiled a preening smile.

With a look of determination that set my lady parts to clenching, Javi kissed it off my face and dove a claiming hand between my legs.

Oo.

Brilliant!

He slid one long finger inside and I gasped as he growled against my lips, “Tight. So wet. Fuck.”

He slid that finger out and returned with two, and I instinctively started riding them.

“Christ,” he bit out, finger-fucking me, and I was no longer instinctively riding them, I was shamelessly doing it.

He tweaked my clit with his thumb.

I bucked against him and sank my nails in his back.

“Fuck,” he repeated, gently gliding his fingers out and then he was working at his fly.

Yes!

Finally!

He got it open. I felt him tug his trousers over his behind, and he reached toward the nightstand.

Um.

No.

I caught his wrist.

He looked down at me.

“I’m on the Pill,” I whispered.

“Babe,” he groaned.

He so got me.

I told him anyway, “I don’t want anything between us.”

“I don’t either, but you trust me like that?”

“Are you…?”

He jerked up his chin. “Had a physical before I joined NI&S. Clean. And no one since I met you.”

Wait…

Wait.

Oh my God.

Oh man.

There it was again.

I was going to start crying.

“No one?” I pushed out.

“Lolita, seriously? Do you not know how totally into you I am?”

Oh my God.

Oh man.

Yes, I was going to cry.

To stop myself from doing that, I rounded him with my legs.

His hips fell through, and I felt his hard cock resting hot against my wet softness.

Javi felt it too, I knew with the way his eyes went hooded.

He took hold and I shivered.

He rubbed the tip against me, and I shivered harder.

“Ready?” he asked.

Was I ever.

I nodded eagerly.

He cupped the side of my head in his hand and came closer.

“No, Harlow. Are you ready?”

I looked in his eyes. I saw how much he wanted me. I felt how hard he was for me.

But I also witnessed how intent he was being.

I knew it.

I knew it from the minute I walked down the stairs before our date.

This was big.

This was mammoth.

This was so colossal, it might mean forever.

“I’m ready,” I replied.

His gaze grew even more hooded, his face got soft, he swooped in and kissed me as he caught between my legs and started to inch in.

I knew immediately that Javi was big all over.

He gave me more; I expanded to fit him.

More, I adjusted, my legs tightened around him, and I got wetter and hotter feeling the material of the trousers he still wore against my calves. There was something both sweet and dirty about that, me being naked wearing only my heels, Javi only having pulled his pants over his behind to get inside me.

More, I whimpered, he groaned, I clutched at him inside and out (and he groaned again).

More, and he had me, I had him.

We were complete.

Yes.

Complete.

I knew Javi felt the same when he ran his nose along my cheek until his lips were at my ear.

And there he said only, “Yeah.”

He was correct.

Yeah.

He started moving.

He’d done it.

We’d done it.

It was exactly what we both wanted.

It was special.

It was perfect.

It was unforgettable.

* * *

The early morning sun shining down on my guy lying on his back in his bed, his hands gripping the cheeks of my behind, my lady parts filled full of his boy part, I did what I did best.

I bounced.

I bounced some more.

I did it harder.

I did it faster.

And I kept doing it.

“Fuckin’ fuck. Get there, baby,” Javi growled, his amber eyes roving insatiably all over me (though, truth told, they spent a lot of time at my breasts).

“You get there,” I gasped.

He squeezed my cheeks hard, taking control, and I was bouncing even harder and faster.

God, I loved he was so strong.

God, I loved he was so beautiful, lying there in his bed, his dark hair tousled, his eyelids heavy, his full lips wet from his tongue tracing them.

“You need me at your clit?” he offered.

Suffice it to say, we didn’t sleep much. This was our fifth time since we started. We took breaks. We dozed. He ate me out (and I will remind you about his strong tongue…scrumptious). I went down on him (talk about feeling powerful, having Javi at my whim with my mouth full of his thick, long, yummy cock?…delectable).

I believe we got about three hours of sleep before I woke him up to ride him.

Which brought us to now.

So at this juncture, I knew I needed his strong thumb at my clit.

Thus, I started, “Ye—” but didn’t finish the word when he pounded me full of him, I arched back and came hard.

Still coming, he whipped me to my back and thrust in harder, so I kept coming.

And continued.

And it went on.

I was still doing it when I felt him buck into me, pour into me, and groan deeply.

There it was again.

Making my guy come that hard?

I felt powerful.

I felt confident.

I felt like I’d finally been introduced to the real me.

After we both came down, I did it with Javi’s mouth working my neck, and I was loving the feel.

Eventually, he lifted his head and teased, “You even bounce on a man’s dick like a cheerleader.”

I frowned.

He grinned and dipped closer. “Every boy dreams of fucking the prettiest cheerleader on the squad. And I just did that. Or…she fucked me. And that’s even better.”

As a boy, he probably didn’t dream about much, if anything.

Except maybe that (because boys were always boys).

My frown turned upside down.

He busted out laughing (which felt awesome), and rolled us, disconnecting (which sucked), but we ended up with me sprawled on top of his mountain of warm muscle, so I wasn’t complaining.

“You want me to clean you up?” he asked quietly, and this was now our thing too.

Every single time, he cleaned me up, once carrying me to the bathroom to set me on his vanity while he did it.

It was sweet and hot and completely Javi.

Although I didn’t want to move, I had one addiction (outside of my new one, that new one being Javi), and it was demanding a fix.

“I want coffee,” I told him.

He sifted his fingers into my hair, pulled my mouth down to his, kissed me quickly and let me lift away.

“I’m on coffee. You clean up,” he said.

“’Kay,” I replied.

He pulled me down to him for another kiss, which wasn’t quick, before he broke it and tugged us both out of bed.

I went to the bathroom.

He hauled on his trousers from the night before (commando! delicious!) and went to the door.

While in the bathroom, I took the opportunity to brush my teeth, floss, wash my face (again with sleeping in makeup, though I didn’t sleep much so I forgave myself), and moisturize.

But I was in Javi’s tee in his bed before he returned juggling two mugs, his phone and my gold bag.

When he made it to me, I pushed up to help him with his load.

He then climbed over me to settle at my side, but he twisted at the waist to set his phone on his charge pad.

I took a sip of coffee, set it on my nightstand and opened my bag to dig out my phone so I could do the same, saying, “I can’t get a lock on it.”

“A lock on what?”

I had my phone out, but I turned to him. “Are you a boob man or a butt man?”

Now with no small amount of experience, he seemed pretty dedicated to both.

His lips twitched and his brows rose. “Do I have to pick just one?”

“I guess not, but I thought you guys did.”

He shot me a lusty smile. “Before I saw your ass in those panties during your takedown at SC, I was a tits man. Now I’m a tits and ass man.”

I laughed and leaned into him to press my lips to his.

He accepted this and only took a sip of his coffee when I sat back.

I looked at my phone so I could aim it to my charge pad, which I’d set up in my semi-move-in the day before, but I stopped when I saw what was on the display.

I touched it.

My stomach clutched.

Three missed calls from my mother, and one voicemail.

She’d left a voicemail the other night when she’d phoned, but things had been so busy, I hadn’t listened to it yet.

Oh boy.

“What?” Javi asked.

I lifted my cell and tipped it side to side. “Mom called three times.”

His brows formed an ominous V. “This morning?”

I turned to my phone and back to him. “This morning.”

“It’s barely nine.”

It was.

“On a Sunday,” he continued.

And it was Sunday.

I bit my lip.

“Listen to it,” he ordered.

I went again to my phone.

But I looked back at Javi when he finished, “On speaker.”

I wasn’t sure that was a good idea.

“Javi, this is our special time,” I reminded him.

“Every minute with you is my special time,” he stated, making me blink and making my heart swell so huge, I thought my chest would burst open Alien-style (not that I’d seen Alien, I didn’t do scary movies or scary anything (except vigilantism), but I’d heard about that chest bursting thing). “But she’s gonna have to be dealt with, and when there’s shit to be dealt with that’s probably going to be shit, it’s better to deal with it sooner rather than later.”

I hated that was wise.

But it was.

I activated the phone, went to voicemail, and played the most recent one that had been left an hour and a half ago, which meant well before eight o’clock.

On a Sunday.

My mother’s voice filled the room and just hearing it, something I’d never noticed because it happened so much, something I for sure noticed right then, this being, deep down inside, I felt something deflate.

“I’m sure you’re incredibly busy with all the important business you have to see to in your career as a server…”

Not a good start, I knew, because her words hurt me, and worse, Javi released an infuriated growl that was more than a tad bit terrifying.

“…so I’ve managed to make a booking at Le Amé next Saturday at seven thirty to celebrate your brother’s birthday. They’re aware it’s a special occasion and their pastry chef will be crafting a special dessert for Easton. If you could free up your hectic schedule, it’d be lovely if you could join your family for this celebration. It’d also be lovely if you would deign to contact your mother to confirm your attendance.” She ended this with a stiff, “Have a good day, Harlow.”

I barely swiped out of the voicemail screen when Javi was talking.

Or, more aptly, laying down the law.

“Two choices. First, you call her back and tell her to change that reservation to five people because you’re bringing your man to dinner. Or second, you call her back and tell her she can go fuck herself until she can communicate with her adult child and do it with some fuckin’ respect.”

Mm-hmm.

That infuriated growl meant Javi was infuriated.

“Javi—”

He caught my chin in a firm grip. It didn’t hurt, but it definitely got my full attention.

And when I saw the look in his eyes, even if he had my full attention, I found more attention to give him.

“Those are your two choices, baby. You get me?” he asked quietly and very, very dangerously.

Time to notch Raye and Jessie’s How to Deal with An Alpha tutorial higher up on my schedule.

For the now, I knew my safest bet was to say, “I get you.”

He let my chin go but dipped his to my phone.

“Now?” I asked, and the word came out two octaves higher than my normal voice.

He took a sip of his coffee, his gaze never leaving mine, and after he swallowed, he said low, “Now.”

Oh man.

Again, I went with what I suspected was my safest bet.

I bent to my phone.

And Javi grunted, “Speaker.”

Oh man!

This was invasive, totally.

But he’d asked me if I was ready last night, and we both knew he wasn’t asking if I was ready to take our relationship to the next level, that being a physical one. He couldn’t miss I was ready for that.

He asked if I was ready because we both knew, when we took our relationship to that level, that was it.

Sure, life was life, and anything could happen.

But I had not missed he’d introduced me to the real me last night.

Nor had I missed that I could be the real me because being with Javi made me free to be that me.

Nor had I missed the tone of his voice the night before when he’d said, “I want you so fucking much.”

For him, this wasn’t about living the dream of having the pretty cheerleader bounce on your dick.

For him, this was about living the dream he’d never allowed himself to dream. Full stop.

And for me, it was about doing the same, except I’d never known there was something as wonderful as Javier Montoya to find.

He did not carry me up the stairs like a groom carried his bride because it was most expedient.

He was making a point.

And not only did I not miss his point, I loved and adored the point he made.

Shoot.

I made the call, put it on speaker, and my mom picked up probably on the very last ring before it would have gone to voicemail. And it was not probably that she did this deliberately. I was well-acquainted with this weapon in her arsenal.

“Harlow,” she answered coldly.

I felt the chill. I again felt that usual shriveling up happening deep inside. I felt the familiar feeling of becoming smaller.

Mostly, I realized how much I hated to feel so damned small.

And then I felt Javi’s attention scorching into me.

My gaze lifted to him.

He was still in his trousers, no shirt, bare feet, disheveled hair, eyes burning gilded fire on my behalf, mug of coffee held in his strong hand, one of his long, attractive fingers hooked through the handle.

And I was in his tee, in his bed, no panties, my shampoo and conditioner in his shower, the moisturizer I’d just used sitting by the sink that had become mine in his bathroom.

I’d won this beautiful man. He was so into me, as beautiful as he was, he hadn’t slept with another woman since he met me months and months ago.

Since he’d met me.

I had friends who were the best friends a girl could have. I had a job that was zero stress. It didn’t allow me to jet off to Aspen for a weekend of skiing, and I had to save for things I wanted if they cost too much. But I didn’t bring my work home with me. It might get physically exhausting, but it was never mentally so.

And that was my choice.

Because I was an adult.

Sure, one day I might want to consider starting my own company where I organized people’s space, because I liked doing that and I was good at it.

Or I might be a server until I died, and who cared?

My life.

My choice.

And I was her daughter.

Truth, even if I, too, became a surgeon, or a researcher who found the cure to cancer, it wouldn’t matter.

Easton was her end all, be all. She treated him better than her own husband.

I was never going to win with her no matter what, and I knew that to the point I’d often wondered, in my darkest times, in the deepest entries I scribbled in my journal, why she’d even birthed me.

“I won’t be at Easton’s dinner,” I said, watching Javi’s face shift to surprise, before it lit with pride.

Yes.

This was hard.

But it was good.

(I thought.)

“Excuse me?” Mom asked.

I turned away from Javi to focus on Mom. “I won’t be joining you and Dad and Easton at Le Amé on Saturday.”

“Can I ask why not?”

“Because you don’t actually want me there.”

At that, I heard Javi set his coffee aside before he claimed me, pulling me in his arms.

That felt better.

“Why on earth would you think we don’t want you there?” Mom demanded.

“I don’t know, Mom, because you treat me like shit?” I asked, deciding cursing in this instance was okay, because it was apropos.

“Please, Harlow,” Mom said dismissively.

“You don’t approve of my job, and I know, because you mention it all the time. You’re disappointed in me because I’m not working to get on the property ladder, and I know you are, because you mention it all the time. I could spend the next three hours listing all the times you made it very clear I was an extreme disappointment to you, and six more hours listing all the times you made it very clear Easton was your favorite.”

She cut in to scoff, “Hardly.”

“Shall we compare Easton’s and my birthday gifts last year?” I asked.

“Your father and I are not going to reward you for making irresponsible decisions in your life, not even on your birthday.”

And there it was.

How she couldn’t see it was beyond me.

“Do you hear yourself?” I asked.

“When you have a child and you want the absolute best for that child, and you work hard to give them every opportunity you can, opportunities the vast majority of other children are not offered, so they can be the absolute best they can be, and they decide to do the very least they can with what you offered, then you may speak to me this way, Harlow Nicole,” she snapped.

“Do I seem unhappy to you?” I retorted.

She said nothing.

“I don’t. Because I’m not,” I stated. “What’s most important in life? That you can brag to your friends that I graduated from Stanford, or you can rest in the knowledge I’m healthy, I’m happy, I have good friends, a job I love, an apartment I dig,”—I looked straight at Javi—“and I landed the man of my dreams?”

His chin jammed back in his neck, and he grunted.

“You’re seeing someone?” Mom asked.

No longer able to withstand staring into the light shining from his eyes, I looked away from Javi and said to Mom, “No, I’ve met the one. And he’s protective of me. So this conversation is partly about the fact I can’t put myself in the position of you harming me emotionally, because he won’t abide it. Mostly, it’s just high time you knew how much you hurt me every time you behave like such a bitch to me.”

“I don’t need this from my own daughter,” she bit out.

“Join the club, because for thirty years, I didn’t need my mother to act like I was at best, a nuisance, at worst, an utter failure, when in truth, I’m neither. I’m just me. And I prefer to spend my time with people who not only don’t treat me like that but think I’m pretty awesome.”

“I think you’re right,” she sniffed. “It’s best you don’t come to Easton’s dinner.”

That hurt too. It hurt a lot, but I powered through it.

“Agreed, Mom. Have a great Sunday.”

“Harlow—”

I disconnected. Then I silenced my phone.

After that, I reached out and put it on its charger.

That accomplished, I turned to Javi and ordered, “Take your pants off.”

“Mi pequeña, come here,” he said gently, trying to gather me closer.

“Javi, take your trousers off,” I commanded.

He studied me for long moments before, slowly, he got out of bed, and at the side of it, he took off his trousers.

I moved quickly, getting to my knees on the floor in front of him.

“Baby,” he whispered.

He was soft.

I took him in my hand, and then I took him in my mouth, and he got hard real fast.

“Babe,” he grunted, sifting his fingers in my hair.

I worked him with both hand and mouth (and tongue, and carefully, teeth), my eyes tipped up, his chin tucked in his throat, and our gazes locked. It took some doing. My jaw hurt, but by damn, I went at him with everything in my arsenal until his head jerked back, the veins in his neck stood out, and he shot into my throat.

I did not swallow.

Until Javi.

For Javi, I swallowed.

He couldn’t have recovered before I had his hands under my arms, I was going up, then I was down, on top of Javi, our legs entwined, his arms tight round me, and he gritted, “You got that out of your system?”

“Yes.”

“Get the rest out,” he ordered.

“Honey.”

He slid a hand up my spine into my hair and then he tucked my face in his throat.

With no other choice, I got the rest out, crying softly into his skin.

I did this for a while.

Javi let it happen without trying to silence me, but all the while soothing me.

I mean, wasn’t he the best?

When it started petering out, he stroked my hair and whispered, “We got plans for brunch and a blanket to buy. You up for that?”

I nodded against his throat.

“That had to suck, Lolita, but it was the right thing to do.”

I hiccoughed a little sob, because it did suck, it totally sucked, but I did this nodding again.

His arm around me gave a squeeze. “Proud a’ you.”

That meant everything.

I burrowed into him.

He gave it time before he said, “Also important to note, you get so deep in your feelings, you can’t figure out what to do with them, my dick is always available for you to suck off.”

That forced a shocked giggle out of me, but even so, I slapped his chest and snapped a weak, “Javi.”

His tone was warm and eased as he murmured, “Just so you know.”

I tipped my head back to look at him. “You can stop talking now.”

He smiled at me. “Not sure which is better. The pretty cheerleader bouncing on my cock, or on her knees, jacking it and sucking it like I’m gonna grade her on that shit. I’m gonna need you to do both again so I can decide. Though, just to say, you earned yourself an A plus with extra credit.”

The snap was a lot stronger when I said, “Javi!”

“I’ll decide later. Now, I need to recover. You give great head just normal, but when you’re deep in your feelings, babe, fuck. Rocked my fuckin’ world. Think you drained me so dry, I’ll need at least an hour to be ready for you again.”

Ugh!

Men!

I pushed off him, but of course, landed on my back with him on me.

“Shower first,” he stated. “Then food. Then the blanket.”

“Whatever,” I said to his ear.

“Harlow,” he called.

I looked at him.

He spoke.

“You said it, which is good, because if I witnessed that in person, I would have said it, and it would have gone really fuckin’ bad.”

“Stop being protective and awesome when you’ve just been a complete and total man,” I warned.

“Not sure I can be anything but a complete and total man,” he replied, his eyes dancing. “Also not sure you want me to be.”

This was true.

Ugh!

“I need to spend money,” I declared.

The last word was not fully out of my mouth before we were out of bed and on our way to the bathroom.

Honestly?

I was not at one with all I’d just said to my mother.

Then again, I never would be. The time would never be right.

I had no idea what would come of this. If we’d struggle forward as a family, but for me, I’d have built the boundaries I needed so I wouldn’t be forced “deep into my feelings” by her casual cruelty. Or if I’d just lost a parent, or two, or my whole family.

I just knew I’d done what I’d done. I couldn’t change it. It had to be said. It was long past time. It was said.

And it was time to pick the perfect throw blanket for Javi.

NINETEEN

“ROYALS”

(LORDE)

The next day, after our before-work make out session in his truck, I wandered dazedly to the back door of The Surf Club, waving hazily at Javi.

He watched me, smirking supremely smugly.

God, he was hot.

I got inside, did my stowing-purse, putting-on-my-apron thing, and wandered into the kitchen, saying to Lucia, “Hey, Lucia.”

She was arranging some greens fastidiously on a plate, so, as per protocol, she ignored me.

I hit The Surf Club proper.

When I did, Willow, behind the bar, gasped.

Standing at the bar, Byron’s eyes got big when they landed on me.

“Holy shit.” I heard Raye say.

I rounded my front in a huge wave and called, “Hey, everybody.”

I then went to the espresso machine because I needed my own dirty chai, STAT.

I’d barely packed the portafilter when I was in an Angels huddle.

I gazed around and repeated, “Hey.”

“You have sex hair,” Jessie said.

“And sex eyes,” Raye said.

“And sex face,” Luna added.

“That’s because Javi and I had sex.” I leaned into them and said dreamily, “Lots and lots and lots of really, really, really phenomenal sex.”

“Buzz off, Byron,” Shanti ordered. “It’s time for girl talk.”

“Happy for you, Harlow,” Byron called as he made his way to his table.

I watched him, mumbling, “He’s so sweet.”

“Earth to sex kitten Harlow, come in sex kitten Harlow,” Jessie called.

She sounded like she was trying not to laugh.

This was good, everyone should be laughing!

I tried to focus on her, failed, but even so, shared, “He took me to Geordie’s. We had a window table. We watched the sun set. And he made me laugh a lot.”

“Oh my God, I love that,” Willow breathed.

I looked to her. “He carried me up his stairs when we got home, like a groom carries a bride.”

Willow gasped.

I wasn’t sure, but I thought Raye and Luna did too.

“We’ve had sex…” I lifted my hand and tried to count, failed at counting, dropped my hand, and said, “Umpteen times. Including twice this morning.”

“You don’t say,” Jessie drawled, but she sounded happy.

She should be happy.

The whole world should be happy!

“I didn’t have time to do much with my hair and makeup,” I shared.

“Yeah, we can see,” Shanti replied (she sounded happy too).

“Though, we took a break from having sex yesterday to have brunch and go shopping,” I told them. “Javi now has a killer lamp and a fabulous throw blanket, and in six to eight weeks, he’ll have the perfect armchair. And get this!”

They all leaned closer.

“He bought stemmed wineglasses and stemless ones for me to drink wine because, as he said, ‘My Lolita isn’t gonna drink her wine from a regular-ass glass.’ Isn’t he amazing?”

I sighed.

“He calls you Lolita?” Raye asked.

I nodded exuberantly. “He does. Isn’t that the best?”

“It’s adorable,” Luna muttered, but she sounded happy too.

“And he held me the whole time I cried after I told Mom I wasn’t going to Easton’s birthday dinner on Saturday because she treats me like dirt.”

There were gasps all around at that one.

“Wait. Hold up. Seriously?” Jessie queried.

I nodded, my lips turning down. “It was unfun.”

“Babe,” she said softly, taking my hand. “Did you really finally lay it out for her?”

Another nod from me.

“I had no choice,” I admitted. “Javi told me either he was going to dinner with us, and then he’d rip them a new A-hole when they acted like A-holes to me, or I could tell them to kiss off until they could treat me with respect. I chose door number two.”

The haze was clearing, so I focused more fully on Jessie and Raye.

“I need my How to Deal with An Alpha training, because, even though Javi and I discussed it further when I wasn’t in danger of losing it, and we both agree that no time would be right but the law needed to be laid down, since then, Dad has called about ten times, Easton has called four. So I think I’m facing O’Neill Family Armageddon, and it was me who hit the red button.”

And yes, Javi and I did discuss this, after we returned home from brunch and shopping (and after we had sex again).

“Well, you weren’t there when Dad sprung Debbie on me at Lon’s,” Raye said. “Cap totally lost his shit. It was Inner Caveman time ten thousand. I was lucky he led me out rather than dragging me by my hair. So I think you picked the right way to go with that one.”

I’d sensed this, but it was good to know I was correct.

“What are you going to do about your dad and Easton?” Willow asked.

I grimaced, all this talk about my family was killing my Javi buzz. “I don’t know. I don’t want to think about it. I don’t want to deal with it.” I was fully focused now, as dealing with my family mess made me wont to be. “Although I feel like I picked the lesser of two evils, I wish this wasn’t happening now, because I’m happy.” I looked between all of them. “Like, really, really happy. And you know why I’m happy?”

“Because you and Javi are together and have had lots of phenomenal sex?” Willow guessed.

“Yes, that, but mostly because I can tell Javi is really, really happy.” I put my hand to my chest. “Because I make him that way. Can you believe that?”

“Of course we can,” Jessie said tartly.

She was just the greatest.

I looked at my bestie. “I’m the real me when I’m with him, Jess.”

“I’m glad about that, even if I’m not sure I understand it,” she replied.

“I’m pretty,” I said.

“Uh…yeah. You’ve seen yourself in the mirror,” Raye said.

“No. I mean,”—I leaned into them again—“I’m pretty.”

They didn’t appear to understand.

I leaned back. “I’m okay. No. I’m great. Being a server, or say I decided to study rocket science, and then I was a rocket scientist. Either way, I’m great just as I am.”

“Your fucking mother,” Jessie groused, hitting the nail on the head.

“I should have known, because of the way you guys are with me,” I noted. “But I don’t know…walking into Geordie’s with Javi…no, before that, just the way he looked at me when I came down the stairs at his place and he saw me all done up. It just…clicked. I was good, just me.”

“Right or wrong, good or bad, a man who looks like a Greek god squires you into the most romantic restaurant in Phoenix, it’s gonna put a pep in your step,” Luna remarked.

Totally.

“He fucks you so senseless you go to work with sex hair, stamped official,” Raye added.

She was so right.

Willow grabbed my other hand. “I love that you and Javi had all that this weekend.”

“I love it too,” I whispered.

We all sat with that for long moments, all of us loving it (though none of them more than me).

However, since it wasn’t all about me, I looked to Raye. “Are you and Cap okay?”

“Well, I did manage to retain my snit while fucking him stupid because he’s such a kickass badass, but I couldn’t sustain it after he made me Nutella and toasted almond crepes for breakfast and brought them to me in bed yesterday morning. So, yeah, we’re good.”

“Awesome play on his part,” Shanti remarked.

“Word,” Raye agreed.

“Javi and I decided to avoid any talk around Trev, Kev and what happened on Saturday,” I informed them. “It’d kill the vibe. So does anyone know if anything is happening with that?”

“Well, first, a bit of SC news,” Jessie declared.

I looked at her, but Raye spoke.

“Tito took Luna aside this morning and told her they hired Dream.”

Uh-oh.

I turned my attention to Luna. “You okay with that?”

She shrugged. “Tito said she’s going to do half shifts both Saturday and Sunday. He also said Tex only agreed to this if she had a probation period.”

I wasn’t sure what I was getting from her, but whatever it was, I was more confused by it than just not knowing what it was.

“That doesn’t seem out of hand,” I noted carefully.

“Her probation period lasts four hours, on Saturday,” Luna explained. “Tex is coming in, and if she doesn’t pass muster in those four hours, she’s gone.”

I gawked, because, I mean, even Dream couldn’t learn the ropes in four hours.

“Everyone needs a training period,” I said. “Even Dream.”

“Tex says that no one needs to be trained in how to be nice,” Jessie shared through a snicker.

“Not sure how he’d know, since he’s such a grump,” Willow mumbled.

That was the truth.

“Okay, so if you’re okay with that,” I aimed this at Luna, who gave me a reassuring nod, and then to the rest at the whole group, I asked, “What about the bad guys the boys took in on Saturday, or word about Kev?”

“Unsurprisingly, nothing from the guys. They’re zipped up tight. Though, they haven’t stopped the bodyguard thing, so we figure that means they haven’t solved the case. And Luna got an interesting text from Ally yesterday,” Jessie said.

Ally?

“Ally Nightingale?” I asked.

Ally was book eight of the Rock Chicks. The name Nightingale gives part of it away, but she didn’t work for NI&S, the firm her brother started that eventually expanded to Phoenix. She had her own private investigation firm in Denver.

“One in the same,” Luna confirmed.

“What’d she text?” I inquired.

Luna fished out her phone, found the text, and read it verbatim. “If you can, find his phone, or his laptop. Better, both. Also, look at bank records. When you run out of leads, you have to find them, and as much as it’s a pain in the ass, you can usually find them by immersing yourself in data.”

Oh my God!

She was helping us!

And oh my God.

That was impossible.

“Any chance we can get our hands on either Kev or Trev’s phones or laptops?” I asked.

Raye shook her head. “Probably no chance. We would have grabbed them if they were left at their places, but they weren’t. Though, we do have a request in to Arthur to see what he can do about either of those, if he can possibly get his hands on any police reports, and if he can give us any bank stuff.”

“You’re in your first blush with Javi, and we need to give Arthur time to work, so we’re not gonna get together tonight. But tomorrow night, after you three get off of work,”—Luna bounced her head to Shanti, Jess and me—“we’ll meet at headquarters.” Her gaze came to rest on me. “It’s not a lot of time, I love it that you two are so loved up, you should have some space to settle in, but the show must go on.”

I agreed.

As much as I’d like to hole up and cuddle and watch movies and snooze with and pounce on Javi for two or three weeks (or months), the show had to go on.

“And we also asked Arthur for intel on Javi’s dad. So, if he can get anything, we can talk about that tomorrow too,” Luna concluded.

That, I needed ASAP. Because if my mom could make me feel small and meaningless by just hearing her voice say my name, I couldn’t imagine how Javi’s dad made him feel when he blew up his phone, demanding Javi give him something he one hundred percent did not earn.

And as Javi did with me (in his way), I was going to put a stop to it.

“Works for me,” I said.

“Great, we have a plan,” Luna said, and she put her hand in.

The rest of us were putting our hands in to do our Angel huddle break, when Tex boomed from the coffee cubby, “I don’t hear servers serving!”

Which meant we all smiled at each other before we said, “One, two, three, Angels unite.”

* * *

I decided to do it when Javi wasn’t around, but Jess and Shanti were.

That was, Javi was around, since he was sitting outside right then, waiting for me in his truck, because our shift was over, but he wasn’t right there.

And what I’d decided to do was listen to the three voicemails my dad left, and the one from Easton.

I wanted to get it out of the way so I could have a chill night with my guy.

But I didn’t want to do it alone. I needed bestie backup. And there was no time during the day, because we were consistently busy.

I started with Easton, because I knew whatever he said wouldn’t be a surprise.

And it wasn’t.

This being him biting at me, “Fucking uncool, Harlow. You should be ashamed of yourself. Didn’t hear you complaining when Mom gave you a Mustang to drive when you were in high school. Get over yourself. Apologize to our mother. Unless you do, I don’t want you at my birthday dinner or to see you at all.”

He had conveniently forgotten that Mom and Dad gave him that Mustang. Since he’d gone to Columbia, and didn’t need it due to it being easier to get around New York taking advantage of their mass transit system, he’d left it behind. And since he wasn’t in Phoenix, he didn’t know I only got to use it when Mom allowed me to, which frankly, wasn’t that often.

Though, every time she did, she reminded me to, “Be extra careful with that car, Harlow. It’s your brother’s pride and joy. It would devastate him if something happened to it,” which made me so nervous to borrow it, in the end, I didn’t even bother to ask. Instead, I bummed rides from friends or borrowed Dad’s car.

Everything that was me wanted to call Easton and explain this, take time to make him understand, give my brother one more shot at being a brother.

Everything that was me, though, was the old me.

The new me, the real me, knew he’d never understand, no matter what I said, no matter the pains I took to explain.

This made me get mad he was being such a dick, not to mention, sticking his nose into something that really didn’t concern him. It was between Mom and me.

Therefore, I opened my texts to Jessie muttering an alarmed, cautionary, “Babe.”

I ignored her and texted, That Mustang was yours. You still own it. I didn’t get a new car at age sixteen. So it isn’t me who has to get over myself. You never gave the barest effort to get to know me. If you never see me again, no skin off your nose, you’re not losing a sister, you never had one. And the same goes for me, since I never had a brother. You were too busy enjoying Mom kissing your ass.

I heard Shanti’s shocked hiss, but I sent the text, then I blocked my brother.

After that, I went again to voicemail.

“Maybe you should take a break,” Jessie suggested.

In for a penny…

I hit go and listened to Dad’s first.

“Harlow, honey, your mother is very upset. We need to talk. I’m not sure what got into you, but I think there are some wounds your mother inadvertently inflicted that we need to discuss. Call me.”

Inadvertently?

Maybe at the time.

After I shared my truth?

The woman needed to self-reflect.

Second voicemail: “Your mother says you’re dating someone. Is it serious? She made it sound serious. I hope you understand how she and I would both be upset that our daughter hasn’t shared she has someone in her life to the point this relationship sounds serious before we heard that first word about him. Please phone me.”

The last voicemail was playing when the back door opened, and Javi and Eric stepped in.

My dad being stern.

“Harlow Nicole, it’s unconscionable that you would speak to your mother the way you did, and your brother and I have been trying to reach out to you, and you’re ignoring us. This is not the daughter I raised. I expect to receive your call the minute you listen to this.”

I was seeing the error of my ways with the rage on Javi’s face.

We should have listened to these when we were on a break.

Or maybe, never at all.

“Javi, brother,” Eric said in the same alarmed, cautionary tone Jessie had used moments earlier.

And just like me, Javi ignored him.

He walked to me, took my phone from my hand and stared into my eyes.

“Gonna stop me?” he asked.

“I want a chill night with you,” I replied. “I want to make dinner and eat it with you and watch TV with you then take a bubble bath and then have sex and go to sleep. I shouldn’t have listened. I should have known they’d take her side. I should have known I was imploding my place in our family simply by telling them I would no longer accept them treating me like garbage. I did, and it hurts. But only because I now know that whatever I hoped would be, will never be. So now I have to do the work to get used to knowing that and decide whether it’s healthier for me to go no contact totally, or put in the work to have something surface, even if it’ll never be meaningful.”

Javi handed back my phone then hooked me around my neck and yanked me into his chest.

“I’m okay, Javi,” I said with my face smushed against his shirt.

And weirdly, I was.

It felt good to tell Easton off. I’d been wanting to do that for forever.

And although it didn’t feel the same to understand where I stood with my family was always where I stood, and always would be, now I understood it totally and completely. I understood in a way I could make an informed decision. I understood I could stop putting effort into something that was never going to give me what I needed in return.

Maybe I’d react later.

But for now, I was okay.

Javi didn’t let me go, but he did let me turn my head so my face wasn’t smushed into his chest, and, obviously, Javi holding me was part of why I could be okay.

Shanti rubbed my back and murmured, “They suck. You don’t. Looks like Javi has this covered. If you need reinforcements, though, you know where to find me.”

And more reason why I could be okay.

Still held close to Javi, I looked at her and said, “Thanks, babe.”

Jessie did much the same, but she did it pulling a lock of my hair playfully and saying, “You feel like TPing their house, I’m all in.”

And yet more reason why I was okay.

Also, that sounded fun.

But instead of taking her up on it, I just smiled and semi-repeated, “Thanks, Jess.”

She gave me a smile back, it was a little off because she was worried about me, but that was what besties did.

Eric came into my vision, and he winked at me.

It was hot.

Man, I just loved he was my bestie’s guy, he was the greatest.

They all left.

Javi let me go only to catch me on both sides of my neck.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked.

“Are we going to make dinner, eat it, watch TV, chill out and have sex before we go to sleep?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’m okay.”

Javi’s face got soft before he tucked me to his side and headed us toward the door.

He did this asking, “What’s this about a bubble bath?”

I looked up at him. “Do you take baths?”

“No.”

“I could delete that from my schedule,” I offered.

“Or you can show me how fun bubble baths are.”

“They aren’t fun, they’re relaxing,” I educated.

He grinned wolfishly at me, and my nipples responded accordingly.

“Okay, we’ll do a fun one,” I whispered.

He dropped a kiss on me, loaded me in his truck and took me home so we could make dinner, unwind and chill out.

And yeah.

We had a bubble bath together.

On first glance, Javi and I didn’t fit real great in his tub.

But we made it work.

Oh yeah.

Boy, did we.

TWENTY

“GIRL ON FIRE”

(ALICIA KEYS)

A throat was cleared loudly.

Javi and I kept making out, standing by the side of his truck.

A throat was cleared even more loudly.

Javi and I didn’t break our clinch.

What sounded like three throats were cleared loudly along with more than one male chuckling deeply.

Then came Jessie’s, “For shit’s sake!”

We broke our clinch.

But Javi didn’t move too far away.

“Be right out here, lil’ mama,” he said quietly.

“Okay,” I replied, also quietly.

He touched his nose to mine (that was new, and so sweet!), let me go, and with a hand on my back, pushed me toward the opened door to Angels Headquarters.

It was the next night.

We’d had a quiet day.

No calls from my mom (and there wouldn’t be, she’d be alternately sulking and playing the victim). No calls from Easton (and there wouldn’t be, because I blocked him). No calls from my dad (this, I had to admit, kinda freaked me, but I’d pressed play on this situation, I had to let the tape run as it would).

Now we were going to have our Angel meeting and Javi was going to hang out, playing bodyguard along with, I saw as I walked the short way to the Headquarters’ door, Cap, Liam, Gabe, Eric and Brady.

They had a couple of six packs and a massive bag from Cane’s.

They’d also come prepared, and they had some fancy camp chairs.

I smelled the chicken goodness wafting from the Headquarters and realized whoever the mastermind was who thought to provide dinner also took care of the Angels.

I stepped over the threshold, and Raye tugged the door down.

“You guys are so cute,” Willow sighed.

We so were.

I smiled at her as I wandered across the space and threw myself on the red sofa.

Shanti shoved a Styrofoam box of Cane’s in my hands.

Yum!

“Let’s get this party started, because I don’t think any of us, particularly those who have getting banged on their schedule for the evening, want to be here all night,” Luna called from her place at the pretty desk close to the door that had a computer and a bunch of monitors on it.

By the way, she was so right about the getting-banged thing.

“Luna and I spent the last couple of hours going through everything Arthur sent, so we have a presentation,” Raye announced, handing me a Black Cherry Fresca and sitting beside me with her own Styrofoam container of chicken tenders, crinkle-cut fries and Texas toast.

Indeed, all the Angels, save Luna, were on the couch, and there was plenty of room, with some to spare.

Seriously. It was a big couch.

“We’re gonna start with Javi’s dad, Lolo. Cool?” Luna called.

I nodded and braced.

The big screen behind the large desk in front of us lit up with a picture of a passably good-looking man who was definitely another product of the loins of Javi’s father.

“Patrick Atherton,” Raye said. “Austin Atherton’s oldest son.”

The image on the screen changed to the same guy with bloodshot eyes, messy hair, and a belligerent expression his face.

Oh, and it was a mug shot.

“Also, total fuckup,” Raye continued. “Drunk and disorderly. DUI, time two. Misdemeanor assault.”

The picture changed to one of Javi’s father, nothing passable about his handsome, drat it.

Raye carried on, “Probably not a surprise, with his looks, though, since we watched some footage, admittedly we learned the guy also has tons of personality and he’s funny as well, Austin got a multi-million-dollar contract as a commentator for the HustleSports station. Even though he’s been retired from the game for a while, he’s still a big deal. He has some endorsements, also does a load of speaking engagements, and his fee is astronomical.”

The screen changed, and it was bodycam footage of Patrick struggling while being arrested, shouting, “Do you know who my dad is?”

“Needless to say,” Raye kept at it when Luna muted the action, “this footage, and more, has made the rounds of social media, and Austin is not a big fan of his son being an entitled asshole. He’s had to apologize publicly…four times…for Patrick’s bullshit.”

Luna cycled through some old pictures of the family of five out and about in the world, and I recognized Julia and Cath immediately, as well as their mom, who wore a lot of makeup, and on her body, along with her bag, it was all designer.

I knew it wasn’t sisterly to think so, but although she was pretty, it was passably, like her son. She was no knockout, like her husband, his son by another woman, and her two daughters.

Patrick got more of his mom, Julia and Cath got what Javi did.

A lot from the genes of their dad.

As these people got older when the pictures clicked along, eventually the woman was gone, as was Patrick, but it looked like Austin had a great relationship with his girls.

As I watched these images cycle through, I felt something happening to me.

“So it isn’t about the divorce,” I said. “It’s man stuff. It’s about the fact he raised a jerk of a son, thus he’s writing him off and thinking he’s got a second shot at creating a decent legacy by finally claiming Javi.”

“Uncertain,” Raye replied softly. “But that would track.”

“Do you think Javi knows about this crap with his brother?” I asked.

“Definitely,” Jessie said glumly.

The screen changed again, and it was the picture of a massive house, and beside it, the address.

“Austin Atherton’s home,” Luna said.

And oh yeah, my blood was boiling.

Javi didn’t even have an armchair (yet), he was thirty-three and only allowed himself to buy new stuff very recently, and this man lived in that house?

Luna went on, “The soon-to-be ex, her name is Tiffany…” Of course it was. No shade to the cool Tiffanys out there, but…ugh. “…now lives in a luxury high-rise. Unsurprisingly, Patrick, who’s thirty-four, is unemployed and lives with his mom. But when you’re ready, we know where Austin lives, Arthur says he can tap into his security system so he’ll know when he’s home, and we can plan our intervention.”

I nodded, picked up a tender, shoved it in Cane’s awesome special sauce, then shoved it in my mouth and chewed angrily.

Once I swallowed, I said, “Let’s get into the other stuff so we know when that will fit into the schedule.”

The screen went blank and then a picture of what looked like a bank statement came up. This clicked to another one. Onward to a third.

On each, one line item was highlighted.

It was a deposit of ten thousand dollars.

“Trevor Clampitt’s bank statements,” Raye said.

A new image, and it was an enlargement of the highlighted line.

The place where the deposit came from was called Sun Dial LLC.

“Shell company,” Raye informed us. “Arthur’s digging into it, but he reports that wherever this leads, they did a good job in covering their tracks. It’s going to take him some time.”

This was a surprise. Arthur seemed to be able to get his hands on stuff pretty quickly, case in point, the bank statements.

“At the time of his death, Trevor had been unemployed for three months,” Luna called from behind us.

“Thirty thousand dollars is a lot of money,” Shanti noted.

“Smacks of payouts to me,” Jessie put in. “Blackmail?”

“Unknown,” Raye answered, and the image changed. “Police log of evidence taken from Trev’s. They did not get either a laptop or a cellphone.”

And again, Arthur could get his hands on anything.

But…

Interesting.

“So whoever did him and wrecked his place took both,” Shanti shared my thoughts.

“More than likely,” Luna said. “Which means, if they did, they either can’t get into them, or they didn’t get what they want out of them.”

As I bit into my toast, a picture came on screen of Trevor.

“We keep forgetting the basics of an investigation,” Raye began. “That is, learn all you can about the victim first. So, twenty-nine years old at the time of his death. Second oldest son. Older brother, younger sister. Parents divorced when he was in middle school. Washed out of Arizona State in the middle of the first semester of his junior year. Longest he held down a job was for thirteen months. He sold solar panels. He was good at it but was fired after the second woman he worked with filed a sexual harassment complaint against him.”

“And again, that tracks,” Willow mumbled.

The image on the screen changed, it was obviously a police report, and Luna started talking.

“According to notes from police interviews, not only had that one friend distanced himself from Trev, pretty much all of them thought he was a mooch. He’d made a play on one of his friends’ fiancées, and the friend didn’t like it, the fiancée liked it a lot less. Quite a few of them shared Trev had pretty much run through them all. The only one he remained tight with is Kevin.”

“Shot in the dark since it’s obvious this seems bigger, but did any of them dislike him so much they’d kill him?” Shanti asked.

“That’s kinda extreme, but the police have been thorough, and they’ve cleared them all,” Raye said.

“What about his family?” Jessie asked.

“Prodigal son,” Luna answered. “Mom and dad, brother and sister were wrecked he was murdered, but they shared with the cops that they worried about him and the life he was leading. He didn’t seem to have any direction. And when you don’t have any direction, you end up heading down the wrong path.”

Somehow, we just didn’t know how, outside the dating app scam, he definitely did that.

“None of them know about those deposits,” Raye said. “Except the dad reported Trevor told him he’d landed a good job that paid ‘five figures a month,’ and he seemed flush. But the dad also reported Trevor was cagey about where he worked and what he was doing.”

“I don’t think you can accept a gift of more than ten K before the IRS wants their cut,” Shanti remarked. “So maybe this Sun Dial deposit was payroll.”

“At exactly ten K each month?” Raye asked.

“It’s thin, but the payroll thing could be a cover so he could deposit it in order to pay bills and escape paying taxes,” Shanti replied.

“Alternatively, he could just be so stupid he doesn’t know he shouldn’t extort money and then deposit it in his bank,” Willow put in.

For sure a possibility when it came to Trev.

The screen changed to a slide that Raye or Luna crafted, which was a breakdown of what we had so far.

It had a different picture of Trev and said:

Trevor Lawrence Clampitt – 29

Employment: Unknown/Possibly Unemployed

Status: Very Dead, Murdered, Severed Carotid

Favorite Pastime: Being a Skeeve

Three Months, Sun Dial LLC Payment, $10,000 (??)

Cellphone: Missing (taken by killer?)

Laptop: Missing (taken by killer?)

If above taken by killer, what are they looking for now?

Friends and Family: Cleared of Involvement

Possible Witness/Partner: Kevin Johanssen

KJ Status: Held by NI&S?

The “favorite pastime” was a little on the nose, but not wrong.

“This is gonna get gross, so if gross stuff will ruin your chicken tenders, look away,” Luna warned.

I was not into gross stuff.

What I was into was getting this situation sorted so I could focus on telling Javi’s dad to back off, and spending time with Javi without this hanging over our heads, so I forced myself to keep my eyes on the screen.

Luna didn’t belabor it. The pictures were up for a very short time before she clicked through to the next one.

Trev, on his stomach, lying in a pool of blood, photographed at different angles.

Then more of Trev on his back on an autopsy table, again, from different angles.

Then the screen went black.

“He’d been worked over,” Jessie whispered.

Uh, yeah, he had.

“Big time,” Raye agreed.

“Torture?” I asked.

“ME report says cause of death was definitely the severed carotid,” Luna reported. “She also reported he’d been beaten pretty badly. However, her estimation was, the blows were sustained in the midst of a fight.”

The screen filled with the picture of a man’s hand, definitely Trev’s as it was lying in a puddle of blood. There was minor bruising and new splits on the knuckles.

“He fought back,” Willow said.

She sounded relieved, but that was Willow. Obviously, Trev was a douche, but at least he didn’t go down without a fight, and that made Willow feel a little better.

“Yeah. But there were no ligature marks on his wrists or ankles,” Luna said. “Police report states that they believe Trevor’s apartment was searched, but some of the mess in the living room and kitchen hinted at a struggle.”

“Ready for the doozie?” Raye asked when Luna finished reporting her bit.

We all nodded.

“In the awesomeness of what went down on Saturday, I managed to catch a partial on the plate of the BMW,” Luna told us. “I reported it to Arthur, along with asking for this.”

The screen filled with some semi-grainy footage that was obviously outside Oceans 44. Precisely, the camera was aimed at the valet station.

And the footage showed Trev coming out and giving his ticket to the valet. A few minutes later, the valet drove up in a rather nice Mazda SUV. Trev got in and drove off.

But moments later, a flash BMW exactly like the one that had chased Cap and Gabe followed it.

“Holy shit,” Jessie breathed.

“Arthur tracked that partial with make and model and found a BMW registered to…anyone wanna guess?” Luna asked.

“Sun Dial LLC,” Shanti said.

“Bingo,” Luna confirmed.

“We can assume the Nightingale boys have all of this,” Jessie noted.

“We can for sure,” Raye told her. “And probably more, since the cops think their shit doesn’t stink and practically roll out the red carpet any time they show at a station. So, if they have any leads or theories, they’d definitely feed them to the Hottie Squad.”

I munched a fry, considering all of this.

“We asked Arthur if he could get anything from Trev’s or Kev’s phones without us having Trev’s or Kev’s phones,” Raye said. “Same with anything from their laptops or any clouds they have. He’s working on it. The phone thing might not happen. The cloud thing is a better bet.”

“So, boiling this down,” Willow started. “The boys have Kevin and the bad guys, so we can’t get anything out of them. And we have no way of knowing who has Trev’s or Kev’s phone or laptops. Either the bad guys have them, or the Nightingale boys have them, at least Kev’s. So, unless we can cultivate some cop informant in about twenty-four hours to get some info not in the report that will give us some kind of lead, which would be impossible, we’re dead in the water.”

“That’s pretty much the gist of it, unless Arthur can get us anything from the phones or a cloud,” Raye affirmed.

“Okay, I have an idea,” I said.

Everyone looked to me.

I laid it out. “Odds are, Jinx or one of the other girls has a cop client, or two.”

Everyone’s eyes lit.

“Now, they might not be comfortable pumping them for information, but they might be into it. We should ask,” I concluded.

“On that,” Raye said, pulling out her phone and setting aside her Cane’s to get up and move away from the couch.

“Right, so, at this point, even though we don’t have a lot, aren’t we supposed to throw around theories?” Shanti asked.

“If you got something, go for it, sister,” Jessie invited.

Shanti nodded.

“Sexual harassment at work. Dating app scam. Making a play for his friend’s fiancée, like she’d be into that shit,” Shanti outlined it. “His exes hate him. This guy is an all-around asshole, but it seems a lot of his assholery has a target. And that’s women.”

“Mm-hmm,” Luna hummed, coming to rest one butt cheek on the back of the couch by Willow.

“And someone is pretty damned determined to find something, what with the state of Trev’s place, Harlow’s place getting hit, and whoever this is thinking they can butt up against the Nightingale men and force a play,” Shanti went on. “So that either means they got someone big backing them, or whatever they’re looking for, they’re desperate to find.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered as what she was leading to dawned on me.

“He’s getting regular payments of a lot of money,” Shanti didn’t quit. “Which could be blackmail, because this guy isn’t on anyone’s books as having a job.”

“He’s got something incriminating on someone who got tired of making payments,” Jessie guessed.

“No, with Trev, it’s something embarrassing,” I put in.

“Yup,” Shanti agreed. “Do you have any crime scene photos of his bedroom?”

Luna moved back to the computer.

The photos came up and she cycled through them.

It just looked like a mess, though, it was obvious even to my inexperienced eye, the mess was a mess made on top of the mess that Trev lived in.

This meant someone searched that room…thoroughly.

“How about the evidence logs?” Shanti inquired. “Did they log any cameras or recording equipment in his bedroom?”

“No,” Luna told her. “Though, they might not have found it.”

“We need to go back to Trev’s place,” Shanti said.

“We need to go back to Trev’s place,” Jessie and I parroted.

Luna came back and rested a butt cheek on the side of the desk. “Right, I’m gonna call Tex and see if he’s up for another search. Willow needs to stay safe, so not out on this operation. Raye, Jessie and Lolo have dudes, so they need to go home and get themselves some. That means you and me, Shanti, will go tonight and hit Trev’s again.”

“What about our bodyguards?” Shanti asked.

“They can come with,” Luna said breezily. “They don’t like it, they can lump it.”

“The guys may have found this already,” Willow pointed out.

“Maybe, maybe not. I have nothing on tonight,” Luna replied. “So why not check it out?”

Shanti bit into a fry, chewed, swallowed, smiled and said, “Why not?”

Raye returned. “Jinx says she doesn’t do cops. Occupational hazard. But some of the other girls do. She’s going to ask.”

“Right, so we have a theory. I’ll fill you in, Raye,” Luna said. “And we have a plan.” She looked to me. “When do you want to hit Austin?”

“We’ll talk about it at work tomorrow, after you see what you get from Trev’s,’ I said.

“Okay then, anyone have anything else?” Raye asked.

We all shook our heads.

“Righty ho, then let’s finish dinner so I can get laid,” Jessie said.

I loved that plan a whole lot.

So I munched into my Texas toast.

TWENTY-ONE

“RAY OF LIGHT”

(MADONNA)

I was almost there.

Oh so almost there.

I looked down between my legs, saw my thighs thrown over Javi’s wide shoulders, Javi’s dark head there, his mouth working me, but his eyes were aimed up my body at me.

Gah!

The look in his gorgeous eyes!

Oh.

So.

Almost there.

“Honey,” I moaned.

He sucked hard at my clit and then ran his teeth over it.

Yup.

I was there!

My back arched, I gasped and whimpered, then I gasped again because I was flying up, and I landed straddling Javi’s lap.

His big dick slid inside me, then, on his knees, using his hips and thighs to thrust up, arms around me powering me down, he fucked me.

Hard.

Still coming, I dazedly sought purchase, wrapping my arms and legs around him and digging my heels in.

“Want you to go again, Lolita,” Javi growled.

“Okay,” I breathed.

One of his hands went up into my hair, tugging it back. At the delicious pull at my scalp, the walls of my sex squeezed him, then I felt his mouth close around my nipple and draw deep.

Another whimper from me and I bounced with his thrusts.

He released my nipple, and with hand still in my hair, brought my mouth to his.

“Fuck me harder, Javi,” I begged.

He did, muttering, “My sweet little good girl, but when she’s full of my dick, she’s my slutty, hot piece of ass.”

FYI, Javi could get in the mood to talk dirty.

I frigging loved it.

“Yeah,” I agreed on a pant, bouncing and squeezing, squeezing and bouncing.

“Come,” he grunted.

I didn’t think I was back there yet, but the instant he told me to, I exploded, tightening all my limbs around him and crying out his name.

He rammed me down on him and groaned into my chest.

After a few lovely moments, he fell forward, and I let out an “Oof!” when he landed on me. But no matter how big he was, I adored taking his weight.

Then again, he never made me bear it for very long before he took some of it from me.

Like now.

Thus commenced our stroking, nuzzling and cuddling portion of the morning, which was almost (but not quite) as good as the sex.

Eventually, he lifted his head.

“Clean up and coffee,” he said.

I nodded.

As was Javi’s way, he carried me to the bathroom, and after he set me on the edge of the vanity, with kisses on my lips and neck, he cleaned between my legs.

When he was done, he rinsed and smoothed the cloth on the edge of his sink (it still troubled me a little how careful he was with everything he owned, but on the other hand, it was great to have a guy who cared about that kind of thing) and said, “Be back with coffee.”

I nodded again.

Even though I could do it on my own, he helped me hop off the counter then went to the bedroom.

I followed him, seeing him pull on a pair of loose shorts before he headed out.

I tugged on one of his tees and went back to the bathroom to do my morning gig.

Suffice it to say, I was developing another morning ritual, and I liked this one a whole lot better than my other one.

I was in bed with my brush, brushing my hair, when Javi came back with the coffee.

Another part of our morning ritual was him setting mine on my nightstand before he crawled over me to his side of the bed.

I always enjoyed the show.

And I loved that he didn’t bother to walk to his side of the bed, instead, he crawled over me so he could give me the show up close and personal.

All around, I was just falling in love with this guy.

Think that might freak me?

Oh no.

Because I knew he was doing the same with me.

Not a doubt in my mind.

Not that first one.

Now, do you think that’s crazy?

Remember…

Groom carrying his bride.

Enough said.

He stretched out his long legs and sipped while he went for his phone.

I put my brush away and sipped then went for mine.

“See you women figured out Clampitt’s bullshit,” Javi remarked.

I looked his way to see he was thumbing the screen on his phone.

“Sorry?”

He turned to me. “Liam texted. Said Luna, Shanti and Tex did another pass through of Clampitt’s apartment. Primary focus, bedroom. Just a note, the cops know you’ve been there too, the split seal was a dead giveaway, and you have Mace to thank for them not tagging you about it.”

I’d thank Mace later.

Now, I asked, “You know what he’s been up to?”

“That he’d fuck chicks and film it and make their life a living hell until they forked over whatever they could afford for him to delete the videos? Yeah.”

Oh my God!

We were right!

And Javi was sharing!

Also, evidence was pointing to the fact Trev was more of a jerk than we guessed, and we already thought he was a big fat jerk.

I turned more fully to him. “Did Kevin tell you that?”

He nodded, then took a sip of coffee.

“Did Trevor delete the footage?” I asked.

“As far as Johanssen knew. Yeah.”

“But he landed a big one,” I went on.

Javi shook his head. “Johanssen didn’t give us that. All he’s saying is that was the play, and he figured someone got ticked at Trev, maybe thought he didn’t delete, when he swore he did.”

“You don’t buy it.”

Javi held my gaze as he took another sip, but he didn’t say anything.

They didn’t buy it.

“Did Kevin do that kind of stuff?” I asked.

“Another no from him, and since we got his phone and laptop and had a good look through both, we’re inclined to believe him.”

At least Kevin wasn’t that level of A-hole.

And now we knew (or once I told all the girls that would be a we) who had Kevin’s phone and laptop.

“The two bad dudes Cap and Gabe got on Saturday?” I pushed.

“Sorry, baby,” he murmured. “As your prize for being my hot, slutty cheerleader and making her man come hard, you got confirmation you women are on the right track. But that’s all you get.”

I…

He…

What?!

“You-you confirmed that be-because I…we…because of what just happened?” I spluttered.

His beautiful face split into a huge grin. “No. I woulda done it anyway. But now that my good girl is back, I like reminding her how bad she can be. She gets all uptight. It’s cute.”

Ugh!

I rolled my eyes, and while taking a sip of my coffee, I grabbed my phone.

I then choked on my coffee when I saw I had two missed calls from Dad already that morning.

“What?” Javi asked sharply.

“Dad phoned,” I told him.

“He leave a voicemail?”

There wasn’t a notification for it, but I opened my phone and checked, just in case.

I shook my head.

“Where you at with that?” Javi asked.

This was an excellent question.

“I…well, I kinda would like to know what he has to say,” I told him.

“You ready for that right now?”

I bit my lip because I wasn’t sure.

“Babe,” he called.

I focused on him.

“Brody called me yesterday,” he said.

“Brody?” I asked.

“Our computer genius in Denver.”

I didn’t know why he was telling me this, so I nodded for him to go on.

“He gets alerts about certain things to do with cases, or just to keep the men covered.”

I still didn’t know why he was sharing this, but it was interesting.

“Okay.”

“He knows someone looked into my dad and brother.”

Oh no.

I decided not to say anything.

“That you and your girls?” he asked.

“Would you be mad if it was?” I asked in return.

“I’d be mad if you didn’t cop to it being you and your girls when I asked that direct,” he returned.

“It was us,” I said softly.

Javi didn’t seem angry, even though he still didn’t take his eyes from me as he took another sip of coffee.

Then he asked, “You wanna tell me why you’re lookin’ into that shit?”

“Mostly, I just wanted your father’s address so I could tell him to leave you alone,” I admitted.

Javi seemed surprised. “You think he’s gonna listen to you?”

“I think I intend to be very convincing.”

His face got soft, his eyes warmed, and he bent toward me.

“I know where I’m at with him, Lolita,” he said. “I don’t gotta dig deep. And I’m not gonna change my mind. He can call and he can show at my door, and he can do it for the next ten years, it’s not gonna get him anywhere. Years ago, I threatened to expose what he did to us, and that’s what got my mom in the hospital where she stays. He still pays for it. I think of it as his penance, but it doesn’t buy him my time or anything from me.”

“Okay, sweetheart,” I whispered. “Though, I’ll point out it’s less penance and more what he owes you monetarily for not looking after you. He should have been providing for you all your life. He didn’t. I would suspect he owes thousands in back child support. And since that was how you’d use the money if you had it, taking care of your mom, it’s you who’s taking care of her financially. He’s just footing the bill.”

It took a moment before Javi responded gruffly, “I like looking at it that way better.”

“Good,” I said, and instead of jumping out of bed and doing something totally cheerleader, like a jump split, in order to celebrate the fact I’d helped him see that as it should be, I sipped my coffee.

Javi returned to the topic at hand.

“He’s got a son who’s a privileged piece of shit. That guy started making the news, my father started making his approach to me. Doesn’t take a genius to put that together. I’m not gonna fall in with his plans to have a boy he can be proud of. Maybe he fucked it in raising his kids. That’s not on me either.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“You might think I’m bein’ harsh. He’s the only dad I’m gonna have. But you didn’t live my life, baby.”

Although I’d given him no indication I felt that way, clearly, he needed to explain himself just in case.

Therefore, I shook my head vehemently. “I don’t think you’re being harsh. It’s your decision, honey. No one can make it but you. No one can judge it either.”

He reached out and trailed a finger along my jaw, murmuring, “Gratitude.”

“You don’t need to offer that. This isn’t about me. I’m just here to listen if you need me.”

He nodded and shifted back, saying, “Obviously, my brother isn’t worth dick. My sisters,”—he blew out a sigh—“that’s harder.”

It took a lot, but I didn’t say anything.

Javi, being Javi, noticed.

“What?” he asked.

“This is just information. It’s yours to do with as you wish. And again, I won’t judge. Also, it must be said, I didn’t know them very well. But from what I knew, they were nice girls.”

“Yeah,” he murmured, looking to his long legs. “That’s what I got on them too.”

I kept my mouth shut.

“I don’t think I can do it,” he told his legs.

Oh, my Javi.

I knew what he was saying.

“They’ll probably put pressure on me to let him in,” he said.

“Probably,” I agreed.

He looked at me. “And that’s not gonna happen. It just isn’t. They won’t get why, because they didn’t live my life. You can hear it. You can empathize with it. But unless you lived it, you will never get it.”

I fought tears while I nodded.

“So I don’t need that shit,” Javi continued. “And they don’t either.”

“No,” I said huskily.

Hearing my tone, he bent toward me again, this time getting closer.

“Better I save us all the hassle,” he said. “They never had me, I never had them, we’re not missing anything.”

I could disagree.

But I didn’t.

“Another part of it, mi pequeña, is my life will always be something I lived, and they didn’t. They lived something really fuckin’ different. And the gulf between what they had and what I didn’t is too massive to navigate.”

At that, I gulped, because I lived what they lived.

“This isn’t about you, baby. You aren’t my sister,”—his lips twitched—“thank fuck.”

“Thank eff,” I agreed.

He bent even closer and gave me a quick kiss before muttering against my lips, “My good girl.”

Whatever.

He pulled back a couple of inches. “So, to end, you do not have to confront that guy. I’m good.”

I still wanted to tell Austin Atherton to lay off.

But for now, I nodded.

“Seriously, Harlow, let it go,” he ordered.

Shoot!

“Okay, Javi,” I caved (maybe).

He also read the maybe, I knew when he stated, “The decision is made, and you met him, he saw you. He’s retreated for now, but no man alive would look at you and not know where I’m at with you. Especially after, no hesitation, you got between us and sent his ass packing. You go barreling in, stating my case, trying to get him to back off, it’s just gonna solidify what he already knows. I got something serious with a good woman. You think he’s not gonna wanna be a part of that? Get to know you? His son’s woman. The mother of his future grandkids.”

I gulped a lot harder that time.

Which meant I had to force out, “The mother of his future grandkids?”

His brows drew down ominously. “Are we not on the same page?”

He wanted me to have his children!

I definitely wanted a lot more time with just me and Javi (a lot more), but it had to be said, I wanted to bear his children.

We were totally on the same page.

Still.

“We haven’t talked kids, Javi.”

“How many you want?”

“No more than three.”

“Agreed,” he grunted. “So we just talked kids.”

I burst out laughing.

Javi wrapped an arm around my hips and pulled me close as I did, so he was all I could see when I stopped.

“You show up,” he said gently, “takin’ your man’s back…again…it’s gonna light an even bigger fire under him. More of his penance. He knows I got through it to a good life, a good woman, building a family, and he had no part in that and will continue to have no part in it.”

This was what he needed. This was what he decided. And he didn’t want me involved.

So I wasn’t going to get involved.

I dropped my phone to the bed so I could stroke his cheek. “Okay, Javi.”

“I’m telling you this because that’s my decision about my father, my family. I don’t have any doubts about it. I can’t tell the future. What I can say now is, it would shock the shit out of me some future me made a different decision.”

“Right,” I said when he stopped talking.

“And I’m not losing sleep over it,” he went on.

“Okay.”

“So if you don’t call your dad, or you decide you’re done with them, that the way they treated you is something you can’t get over, something you don’t want to put the energy into living with, you’re within your rights to scrape them off and be with the people you feel safe with.”

Ah.

Now I was with him on his arc.

“I’m not as far along as you are in figuring out where I’m at, honey,” I told him.

“And that’s okay too. For once in your life with that family of yours, this is gonna be about you, on your timeline, what you want, and it’s gonna go down how you want it.”

I was so totally having this man’s babies.

He let me go and sat back, before he declared, “So I’m gonna find your dad, have a word, and tell him to back the fuck off.”

I stared.

Then I hummed, “Ummm…”

He sipped and said casually, “No debate, babe. You’re callin’ the shots with this. And I’m making sure he knows you are.”

“Can I call the shots and ask you not to go confront my dad?” I requested.

“No,” he denied.

“Javi!” I snapped.

Suddenly, his coffee was down, my coffee was down, and I was astride his hips, my chest pressed to his, and his face was in mine.

Oh boy.

“I get you,” he growled. “I’m not letting you do what I’m gonna do. But my decision about my father is made. There’s nothing he can do about it. Yours isn’t. You need space. You need time to think. And you’re gonna get it without getting into some text shit or taking some phone call and having them wiggle into your head, fucking it up.”

“Jav—”

He cut me off. “So it’s gotta be me who shares they wait. If they can’t, that helps you make your decision. But until you’re ready to do whatever you’re gonna do, they are gonna lay the fuck off. I’m starting with your dad. He can tell the other two.”

“I could just block him until I’m ready to talk to him.”

“He know where you live?”

“I’m not living there at the moment.”

“He know where you work?”

Bluh.

I said nothing.

“Yeah,” Javi grunted. “Your fruit is in my fridge. Your yoga mat is in my other bedroom. Your ass is in my bed. I’m your guy. And I’m not only gonna do this, I gotta do this.”

This was definitely Alpha Man Territory (with capital letters), and since I as yet had not had my training, I had to tread cautiously.

“I can take care of myself, sweetheart,” I said carefully.

“I know. And you been doin’ that with them for thirty years,” he returned. “But you’re not alone now.”

“You’re not either,” I pointed out.

“I know,” he replied.

“So…you take care of me, what quid pro quo do I get with that?”

He stared at me.

Hard.

“And don’t you mention slutty cheerleaders,” I warned.

“Babe,” he whispered, and his tone made me go on high alert.

“What?” I whispered back.

“This is why my sisters will never get it, but it’s something”—he gave me a powerful squeeze—“you’ve gotta get.”

“What?” I said a lot more tremulously this time.

He didn’t hesitate to rock my world.

“I wake up to sunshine every day. We could live in fucking Russia, and if I woke up beside you, I’d wake up to sunshine. Don’t get pissed, but it’s the truth. You can’t say fuck, but you suck my cock like it’s your favorite thing to do and your mouth can get dirty when I’m inside you. You wave at me when you walk away from me to go to work. You bounce around my kitchen when you make your smoothies in the morning. You got nighties with you, but you wear my tees to bed every night. You look at me like I can command a flood and bring the rain. And from the time I was six to the time I was twenty-two, I didn’t have a home. I also didn’t have the luxury of my sole focus being my survival. I’m six and I’m lookin’ after me and my ma, so all that time, I had to focus on both of us making it through.”

His arms got tighter, and his voice got rougher. The first was good, because all he was saying was threatening to break me apart, and he was holding me together.

“And I got your perfume, which smells like flowers and sunshine too, on my sheets and a fancy blanket on my couch.”

His new blanket was nice, but it wasn’t fancy.

Even so, he’d definitely think it was.

“You give quid pro quo by breathing,” he finished.

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

Oh my God, God, God.

I was sooooooooooo having Javi’s babies.

My voice was a mess because I was struggling against crying when I said, “I’ll do my best to keep doing that for a really long time.”

“Obliged,” he muttered, his hold on me loosening, but he didn’t let go.

“And I won’t go see your dad,” I confirmed what I’d said earlier.

“Good,” he replied.

“I think if you really tried, you could command a flood and bring the rain,” I whispered, then watched as he closed his eyes very slowly, and that pain I saw the other night when I’d called him an endearment settled on his features.

But I was wrong.

It wasn’t pain.

Or maybe it was, but it was pain that felt really, really good.

I lightly ran my fingernails over his morning stubble, and he opened his eyes. “I really screwed up not giving you the clue I was into you a whole lot earlier, didn’t I?”

That got me his arms squeezing me again. “No regrets.”

“Okay,” I wheezed.

He loosened his hold. “You got anything else you wanna say about me goin’ to see your dad?”

God.

He was just…life.

He was giving me a shot to further state my case.

But I had no case.

If he had to do it, if he, being alpha, or just being Javi and having lived his whole life looking after a woman in it making this something he was driven to do, Dad was probably going to flip when he had a big man in his face about his daughter.

But Javi had to do it.

So I wasn’t going to say another word.

I shook my head.

“You need your smoothie?” he asked.

I nodded my head.

He cupped it and brought it to his for a quick kiss.

When he let me move back, he said, “Okay, babe, let’s face the day.”

Another part of my (our) new ritual, once I got back into bed after Javi went to get our coffees, as usual, I didn’t get myself out of it.

Javi got us both out.

Javi had also taken a shine to my smoothies.

And that morning, there might have been a bouncier bounce to my step when I made them.

But I didn’t think anyone would blame me.

TWENTY-TWO

“INDEPENDENT WOMEN, PART 1”

(DESTINY’S CHILD)

It was Friday and I was rushing out the door to jump into Javi’s truck so he could take me to work.

Let me catch you up on the last few days.

Sadly, Javi wasn’t able to hang with me in the mornings for forever because he had a job, and he couldn’t start that job at 11:30 until the end of time.

Therefore, our new fun morning ritual had to change.

I again reconfigured mine to add sex (still fun) and making a to-go smoothie for Javi (also fun, just not nearly as much). But even though Javi wanted me to hang at his until he could come pick me up and take me to work (so I couldn’t go to any of my classes), I was able to get back to my yoga mat and spend some time journaling about how awesome my new boyfriend was (among other things).

Dad was still calling (a lot) and had left three voicemails.

Since I hadn’t figured out what I was going to do about him, I hadn’t listened to the voicemails yet.

Not a word from Mom.

I had no idea if Javi had found the time to have a chat with my dad, and I didn’t ask. He said he would do it. I didn’t figure he’d waste time. But, call me chicken, I didn’t want to know how it went.

Though, my guess was, he did not or Dad wouldn’t be calling me.

I’d interrogated Raye and Jessie about this, and they yet again shared my instincts were correct and to “just let him do what he has to do.”

“With them, the protective instincts are strong, they are. At your peril, stop them, you will,” Jessie Yoda’ed me.

Truth told, way down deep inside (not to mention on the pages of my journal), I admitted that I liked the idea of Javi inserting himself between me and the toxicity of my family. It gave him something, it shielded me from something bigger, and it felt good, for the first time in my life I had someone on my side.

And I loved the idea of Dad seeing big, strong, handsome, together, protective, loving Javi taking my back.

Onward from all of that, our investigation was at a standstill.

Luna, Shanti and Tex had not found anything that would indicate Trev had a video setup in his bedroom, even if we knew from what Javi told me, at some point he did. So either the killer, the cops or the Nightingale team had taken it, or prior to his demise, Trev had dismantled it.

No word on Trev’s cell or laptop.

Arthur had not been able to crack the Sun Dial LLC web o’ shell company lies.

This gave us something to think about since it seemed Arthur could do just about anything, and for him not to be able to crack that was a little troubling.

Javi gave me further intel that they were holding Kev at a “safe house,” because they were concerned if they let him loose, he’d be as dead as Trev.

What he didn’t share was double-fold: what happened to the dudes they picked up outside Titus’s and if they’d learned anything more than we had.

Though, considering the bodyguard situation was continuing, we didn’t think so.

Last, Persia and Lotus, two of our ladies-of-the-evening crew, had cop clients, and they did their best. However, from their best we learned the extent of how far our reputation had reached in the Phoenix Police since both the gals only started to do some digging, and the cops shut them down immediately. They were more worried about what would happen if an Angels’ informant got info from them to pass on than they were about being officers of the law and paying for sex from a sex worker.

Though, it was super nice Persia and Lotus gave it a go.

It was appearing more and more like the guys could stop their bodyguarding duties because no one’d had their house tossed or been chased by a BMW in days.

Actually, it was appearing like this was going to be the first case we couldn’t crack.

I was upset about this.

I mean, first, I’d only met Trev briefly, and even if all evidence was suggesting he was a massive douche canoe, no murder should go unsolved.

And second, although I didn’t want the Hottie Squad to have to adjust their lives around keeping us safe for months on end, if everything went back to normal, then I didn’t get to ride to and from work with Javi. And I wouldn’t “have to” stay in his house anymore.

Make no mistake, I loved my apartment at the Oasis. I missed it. I’d had a blast making it just as I wanted it.

Though, it went without saying, I preferred making dinner, eating it, then going to bed with Javi, and waking up next to him too.

“Lolita,” Javi called.

I’d gotten into his truck, given him a quick kiss, and he’d set us on our way while I thought on all of that, so his calling my nickname took me out of my reverie.

“What?” I asked, turning to him.

“Got something on your mind?”

I narrowed it down to, “Our case is going nowhere.”

“Mm,” he hummed.

“Yours?”

“We don’t have a lot more than you,” he surprisingly admitted.

“Which means the cops don’t either,” I surmised.

He grunted.

I took that as a yes.

I sat to face forward and harrumphed.

“Sometimes, mysteries go unsolved, babe,” Javi shared his wisdom.

“I’m not sure the Angels are all fired up to have one of our cases go bust,” I told him. “I mean, we were helping innocent people on the others, and one could say Trev is far from innocent, but the dude got his throat slit.”

“Sorry, lil’ mama,” he murmured, and I felt a little better after he said it, though mostly because, at the same time he did, he ran his finger down my thigh.

He then changed the subject.

“Weekend’s nearly here. You in for us hauling all your shit back to your pad—” Oh God! He was moving me out already! “—and me hauling some of my shit too so we can give your pink bedroom a go for a while?”

I bounced in my seat this time when I looked at him.

“Are we gonna be like Eric and Jessie?” I asked excitedly.

He shot me a grin, knowing exactly what I was saying, before looking at the road. “They’re playing it smart, as far as I can see. They got deep fast, but made no major decisions, no one giving anything up they can’t get back easily. He’s got shit at hers. She’s got shit at his. The cat doesn’t mind travel. They lay down their heads every night, maybe in a different bed, but it’s still together. They’re giving themselves time to feel things out and make sure it’s what it is. They fit. So, yeah, I think we should do this like Turner and Jess.”

I got my awesome pad, and I got his too!

And we were laying our heads down together every night!

Perfect!

I stretched across the cab to give him a loud smack on the cheek.

He chuckled as I sat back.

“A belated yes to we’re hauling some of my stuff and your stuff to my pad,” I confirmed.

“Got that,” he replied, even his voice smiling.

Man, I so loved us.

We were totally adorable!

When we made it to the suicide lane in front of The Surf Club, I saw from Tex’s shoe polish that he didn’t feel like being original today. It was a drawing of a hairy, angry man’s face and the words, Today’s Tex Special, The Textual.

It might not be original, but it was popular, considering there was a line out the door.

Though, there usually was.

I was so getting one of Tex’s coffees that morning.

Javi parked around the back. After a quick make-out session, I bopped out of the truck and then bounced into SC, waving at him the entire way.

I did the bag-stowing, apron-tying thing and called, “Hey, Lucia” to her as she had a face full of steam coming up from a pot she was sniffing (again, she ignored me).

I hit the main part of the Club, called greetings, braved the grumpy Tex Groupies by jumping the queue to get myself a Textual and got to work.

It took half an hour before stuff started to kick off.

That being Tex booming, “Do you women have phones? What? You show in town and don’t tell me you’re gonna show?”

I looked toward the coffee cubby only to gasp, because Indy (Rock Chick book one), Ally (book eight), Roxie (book three) and Roxie’s bestie, Annette (no book, but she featured hilariously through most of the others) came strolling in.

We’d intermingled, not copiously, but we all went up to Denver for New Year’s.

It had been a total blast.

Nothing pulled a long-distance girl gang together better than cocktail attire, cocktails and lots of lip syncing.

Annette took a look around then shouted, “Oh my fucking God.” She then did a Molly Shannon, vintage SNL Superstar lunge with arms up and concluded, “This place is so phat.”

“We need to put plants in Fortnum’s,” Indy decreed, also looking around.

“You also need a mural,” Roxie said. “That is kick-freaking-ass.”

“Yo, bitches,” Ally said in the general direction of the Angels.

“Oh my God,” Raye replied as we all made our way to them. “What are you guys doing here?”

We did the whole hug thing then we did the whole huddle thing.

“Tex and Nancy have decided on a house,” Roxie shared. “Their offer was accepted. They move in in twenty days.”

“And we’re nosy, so we’re here to see what it looks like,” Indy put in.

“I can’t believe the pics they sent,” Ally added.

“Tex and Nancy have decided on a house?” Luna asked.

“Tex! Dude!” Jessie shouted. “You picked a house and didn’t tell us?”

“Didn’t tell the Rock Chicks either!” Tex bellowed back.

“He didn’t. Nancy told Jet,” Indy confirmed. “Jet would be here too, but the boys have something going on and she couldn’t get away.”

Jet, another Rock Chick (book two), had three boys. In other words, for the most part, her hands were full.

“Did you bring your men?” Luna inquired.

Annette slung an arm around Roxie and Ally’s shoulders. “Girls’ trip, bitch.”

We all got that, considering how big we were smiling at each other.

“This calls for a cocktail,” Jessie decreed.

“Not here for five minutes, and day drinking is on offer,” Annette declared. “This might make me open another store. Head South.”

Annette, by the way, owned a head shop in Denver (Head West), also one in Chicago (Head East). Annette was kind of a pot-and-hippie paraphernalia mogul.

“If you leave us too, I’ll be pissed,” Indy snapped. Then, loudly so Tex could hear, “No more deserters!”

“You girls stop being boring, I’ll go back to Denver,” Tex boomed back.

“Please, sir, don’t do that,” a customer’s voice could be heard begging.

“I am where I am,” Tex again boomed his retort.

“Then I’m moving to Denver,” another customer said.

Told you Tex had groupies.

“Can we see the pics of Tex’s house?” Shanti requested.

Roxie whipped out her phone and we all huddled closer as she pulled up the photos.

“Well…uh…” Jessie didn’t quite comment.

I understood her inability to voice her opinion.

The place was one-story, L-shaped, blockish, had zero personality, and it looked like no one had lived there for two decades.

There was a massive front drive that was a sea of light-colored gravel. There was practically no vegetation, unless you counted the very dead tree and a meandering cactus at one side. And there was a concrete half wall in front that looked like someone was trying to do something architecturally interesting, but considering the overall “An Axe Murderer Lives Here” vibe, they failed.

The pool was oval, it appeared to have its original liner, and I knew that because, except for some sludge at the bottom, I could see all of it.

The interior rooms were boxy and small, though they all had floor-to-ceiling windows, which would be cool, if there was a better view out of them than just scrub and a scary pool. Not to mention, this was Phoenix. Floor-to-ceiling windows in the summer would be killer on the AC bill if you didn’t have really good shades.

And the kitchen had mustard-colored cabinets and appliances.

On the plus side, it was clear the bones were mid-century modern, and if someone gave enough of a crap to roll up their sleeves and give it some TLC, it could be fabulous.

On the minus side, well…everything else.

“Uncle Tex kinda hasn’t exited the seventies when it comes to his home owning and décor choices,” Roxie said.

“It has a catio!” Tex bellowed.

Well, there you go. I was wondering what that big screened-in porch-like thing was off from the pool.

And one could say, since he had a bajillion of them, Tex liked cats.

“I can’t believe that hasn’t been scraped,” Luna said as Roxie put her phone away.

“It’s some famous architect’s design. People have tried to buy it and put something else there. When that happens, other people in the ’hood throw down to put a stop to it,” Roxie informed us. “They might have put a stop to it, but none of them wanted to pour the dosh into it that would fix it up.”

There were some super-famous architects who were responsible for a few fabulous, mid-mod Phoenician gems.

Therefore, I blinked in shock. “Frank Lloyd Wright?”

Roxie shook her head.

“Ralph Haver?” Jessie asked.

Roxie shook her head again.

“Al Beadle?”’ I tried.

Roxie snapped and pointed at me. “That’s the dude.”

“We’re all gonna take turns hauling our asses down here to zhuzh it up,” Annette announced.

“You are not!” Tex hollered.

“We so are, big man!” Annette hollered back. “I’m on garden duty!” She came back to us. “I can’t wait to xeriscape that mofo.”

“I’m doing the kitchen,” Roxie yelled so Tex could hear.

“Me and Indy are on crafting a great room!” Ally shouted.

“Jet has called the bathrooms,” Ally added.

“Can the Angels get in on this action?” I asked, excited about the opportunity to help Nancy settle in her new home that hopefully would eventually not have mustard-colored appliances.

I could organize all their stuff!

“We’re having a meet with Nancy tomorrow,” Indy told us. “I’m sure she’d love it if you girls came. She’s going to need all the help she can get.”

“It’s perfect as is,” Tex boomed.

“It needs some TLC!” Roxie yelled in return.

Tex lumbered in, ignored the Rock Chicks and scowled at the Angels.

“Am I the only one who’s gonna make some bread around here? Or do I have to fire half my staff so me and Otis and Lucia aren’t the only ones who are working?” he demanded.

“Aw, Uncle Tex, you’re cute when you’re trying to be a boss,” Roxie cooed.

“I am their boss,” Tex retorted.

“Pfft. Like you’d ever fire them,” Ally returned.

Before Tex could reply, we heard, “Uh…Jessie?”

We all turned to see Lucia standing there holding a laptop.

“Your homeless friend came to the back door, knocked, and when I answered, he dropped this off,” Lucia told us.

We all went wired and Jessie asked, “Homer?”

Lucia nodded.

“Holy fuck,” Raye breathed.

That was when we all raced through the kitchen to and through the back door.

“You go that way!” Jessie yelled when we saw no one outside.

She was pointing right as she went left.

Raye and Luna followed her. As did Ally.

Roxie, Indy and Annette followed me.

“Who’s Homer?” Roxie panted as she sprinted beside me.

“He’s Jessie’s special friend she met during our last mission. He’s the one who got kidnapped,” I panted back.

“Gotcha,” Indy wheezed out.

We raced around the side, and everyone met at the front.

No Homer.

So we all turned around and raced back.

Jessie and Ally zoomed to the back alley, while the rest of us checked the parking lots of the businesses to the sides of The Surf Club.

Still no Homer.

We all returned to gather under the minimal shade of a paloverde tree.

All of us were breathing heavily (except Ally).

But Annette was leaning over, one hand pressed hard to her side, and huffing, along with grumbling, “You bitches nearly killed me.”

Jessie ignored her to snap, “How can he disappear into thin air?”

No one had an answer to that. Though we all felt her pain.

Homer had disappeared not long after he was rescued from the bad guys. Since then, Jessie had been worried sick, but she forbade the Hottie Squad to look for him. She didn’t want him to feel hunted.

But Luna had a question.

“What was he doing with a laptop? And why’s he giving it to you?”

We all stared at each other incredulously as light dawned, and then we all tore back to The Surf Club.

“Oh my God!” Annette yelled, even though our latest dash was maybe fifty feet. “You’re killing me!”

“One word. Gummies!” Roxie shouted. “Four words. Give up the bong.”

“I’m never giving up my baby!” Annette screeched (so she wasn’t that deprived of oxygen), still at the paloverde tree.

We hustled in the back door only to see Shanti, Willow, Lucia and Tex all standing by the bench in front of the lockers, staring down at the laptop sitting there.

Willow looked to us. “That’s Trev’s.”

We all gathered around as Jessie asked, “You know Trev’s laptop?”

Willow pointed.

We looked at the laptop.

It had a sticker on it over the Apple logo that was the outline of a woman’s behind, from waist down to butt, down to upper thighs. She was wearing a thong. The top of the thong said Fuck Me.

Yup.

It was Trev’s laptop.

“How did Homer get Trev’s laptop?” Raye asked Jessie.

It was Lucia who answered.

“He said to give it to you. He said he heard word on the street you were looking for it.”

“Oh my God, that’s so crazy and also so cool!” I cried.

“Totally righteous,” Ally agreed.

“This doesn’t answer the question of how he had it,” Raye remarked.

“Gift horse looks you in the mouth, you don’t spit in his eye,” Tex boomed.

Good advice.

“Should we call the police?” Willow asked.

“Heck no,” Luna said. “Lucia, do we have any latex gloves?”

Luna looked at her like she was crazy because, yeah, she worked in a kitchen. She often wore latex gloves.

“I’ll get them,” Shanti offered, and dashed to the kitchen.

Lucia wandered after her, and there it was. That was all the excitement Lucia felt like putting up with in a day.

Shanti came back and handed the gloves to Luna.

She snapped them on then squatted by the laptop, and we all held our breath as she opened it and hit the on button.

“Nothing happened,” Annette, who, in the meantime, had returned.

“It’s probably out of juice,” Luna said while straightening.

“Anyone have a charge cord?” Ally asked.

“Not me,” Raye said.

“Not here,” Shanti said.

A bunch more nopes, and then Raye mentioned, “Even if we could turn it on, it’s not like the offending videos are gonna start playing. It’s probably password protected.”

This was true.

All the Angels’ shoulders drooped.

“If I can get it juiced up and plug that baby up to a modem, I bet Brody could work some magic,” Ally noted.

“A modem?” Willow asked.

“Aw, isn’t the next gen so cute?” Roxie joked.

“I’d have no idea where to even buy a non-wireless modem, but I bet Clarice has something we could use at her office,” Raye pointed out.

“You can buy a modem practically anywhere that sells shit with plugs,” Ally said. “But get on the line with Clarice. Let’s get this to her. I’ll get in touch with Brody. See if he can pull off a long-distance miracle.”

“Me, Willow and Raye aren’t off for a few hours,” Luna told her.

“Well, then it’s good we got a rental car,” Indy replied. “We can head out and get started.”

At that, there were smiles all around.

Avenging Angels and Rock Chicks on the move!

“Wait, before I go, I wanna know what’s got the greater probability of being blown up? This phat coffee place that sells booze? Or this Clarice lady’s digs?” Annette demanded.

“My guess, wherever the laptop is,” Shanti told her.

“Then I’m staying here,” Annette decided. She then looked to Jessie. “You were talkin’ cocktails?”

Ally, Indy and Roxie went to their car with the laptop.

Annette went to the bar.

Tex went to the coffee cubby.

The Angels had a quick confab.

“We need a computer guru,” Raye pointed out the obvious.

“Cody’s supposed to be good with computers,” Jessie said.

“He’s on the wrong team,” Luna replied.

She was so competitive.

“Now, he is,” Raye said. “But Ally can get us Brody for this case. We gotta figure out how to butter Cody up should we need him in the future.”

“He’s a little young for my butter,” Luna noted.

She was right. Cody was in his early twenties.

“I’m never buttering anyone again,” Willow announced.

“Aw, Will, don’t say that,” Shanti murmured. Then she noticed we were all looking at her. That was when she stated, “I don’t butter white bread.”

Hmm.

“Maybe you can butter Liam’s bread and then he can get Cody to be our computer guru,” Raye suggested.

Shanti got squinty-eyed at the mention of Liam.

Hmm!

“Fuck me! Are you women gonna work ever?” Tex boomed.

After we all giggled (well, they laughed, I giggled), we finally got to work.

TWENTY-THREE

“I’M EVERY WOMAN”

(CHAKA KHAN)

It was late the next morning and Javi and I were having our first fight (well, the first one after we officially got together).

And it was stupid.

But he was being stubborn.

Which was more stupid!

“We’re taking this back to my place and getting you a new one when we shop for doubled-up stuff,” I said for, like, the millionth time.

I said this while I set my nutribullet in the box we were putting my stuff into for the move back to my place.

The instant I took my hands from it, Javi pulled it out and retorted inflexibly, “New one’s gonna be at your place.”

This was the fifth time this happened.

My yoga mat and all my exercise stuff was still upstairs, because Javi decreed he didn’t want me dragging it back and forth, so I was getting new for my place, something we were going to see to after we took all his and my stuff there. The same with my moisturizer, night cream (really, all my toiletries), bubble bath and salts, and sonic toothbrush.

I’d caved on all of those.

But Javi didn’t use any of those, not to mention, they were replaced regularly when I ran out.

So I was totally putting my foot down about the nutribullet.

“It doesn’t really matter. It’ll be the same thing at both places,” I pointed out.

“If it doesn’t matter, then you should have no problem leavin’ this here,” he returned.

Bah!

“I want new stuff at your place. You want new stuff too. You said it yourself. Only good stuff here,” I retorted, then added, “Especially anything you might use, like the nutribullet.”

“I want the good stuff at your place more,” he shot back.

“I make the smoothies,” I replied heatedly. “So I should be able to pick where my equipment is.”

“Babe, you pack a bunch a’ healthy shit in the plastic thing and whiz it. You want me to take my turn making ’em? They don’t look that tough. I’ll make ’em.”

I was offended.

“I’d just like to see you try to make my Apple Cinnamon Oat Extravaganza Smoothie,” I snapped.

“Not drinking that shit again if that’s what you call it,” Javi muttered.

Ugh!

That one was his favorite!

“As you know,”—I flung an arm toward his kick-A chesterfield—“you’re allowed to have nice things,” I stated snottily.

“Yeah?” he asked.

But at his new tone, all of a sudden, my chest started hurting.

I powered through it and whispered, “Yeah.”

“Fuck it, who cares,” he said and dumped my nutribullet in the box. “We’ll get new for here. I’m gonna start packing shit in the truck.”

“Javi,” I called as he began to move away.

He turned to me.

“What just happened?” I asked.

“Nothin’, Harlow. Let’s just get this fuckin’ show on the road so we can get your shit in, go out and buy what we need to buy, and then maybe relax for an hour before I gotta cart your ass to Mace and Stella’s so you women can do your sit-down with Nancy.”

Before, he seemed annoyed.

Now he seemed angry.

I moved to him and put my hand on his chest. “This should be fun, doubling up on our stuff.”

“It would be, if you didn’t fight me every fuckin’ inch about shit that doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me,” I told him.

“For shit’s sake, why?” he demanded.

“Because you should have nice, new stuff,” I said.

“I hear you. But for every single thing, I don’t need nice, new stuff.”

“Okay, then I need you to let me let you have nice, new stuff for every single thing, because I need you to have nice, new stuff.”

“Then what happens?” he asked.

“Sorry?” I asked back, not understanding him.

“Babe, life kicks you in the teeth.”

Oh man.

“That happens to you, you’ll land on your feet,” he went on. “You just will. Because your crew will look after you and because you’re you. You work hard to make shit work. And even when shit isn’t working, you bounce around making smoothies and get on with it. That isn’t how it happens for everybody.”

Oh man!

“You have a crew too,” I noted.

“I know.”

“And a nice house. And a good job,” I continued.

“Harlow—”

The uber-clean kitchen. The care with the washcloth. Only a few fabulous kicks displayed on his wall.

This wasn’t about his new, more financially rewarding career, his townhouse and his taking it slow to make it into a home.

He’d had a good job before, and he hadn’t settled.

“You don’t trust it,” I whispered, eyeing him closely.

“Can we not get into this now?” he requested tersely.

Oh, I so, so wanted to get into this now.

No, I needed to get into this now.

What I didn’t need to do was push it if Javi didn’t feel like getting into it now.

I shifted closer to him. “Yes, we can not get into this now. That said, I think we need to get into it eventually because it worries me.”

“What worries you?”

“You smoothing your washcloth out like it’s the finest silk.”

His brows shot down. “Say again?”

I shook my head. “Not now. You don’t want to get into it now. I just want it agreed that we’ll get into it later.”

Javi sighed.

Heavily.

“I want my crib to be comfortable and the shit I buy to last, but I don’t really give a shit about new stuff, babe,” he asserted.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

A man who smoothed out his fluffy, thick, probably expensive washcloths, though, totally did.

And he did because he was a man who didn’t have a washcloth for nearly two decades.

Javi, as was Javi’s way, read my mind. “You can’t fix what I lost with new shit, Harlow.”

“No, I know,” I agreed. “But you’re getting the new stuff, Javi.”

He opened his mouth, but I put my hand over it.

“First, that nutribullet is pink and I’m not leaving a pink nutribullet at your house. It’s a wonder it works with the level of your testosterone floating around. Right or wrong, pink is a girl color so that’s a girl nutribullet, which means, the longer it’s here, the longer I live in fear its motor is going to burn out from trying to chug through your male hormones.” I saw his eyes light with humor, and I felt relief, but I kept blabbing. “I’m buying a black one. Or a silver one. They have some matte ones, I need to look online. Or⁠—”

“Babe,” he grunted under my hand to keep me on target.

I took my hand away. “Second, I know I’ll never truly understand all you did without for so long, but what you need to understand is, I know you did without it so I feel a driving need for you not to do that ever, ever again. As such, you are not going to have an old, pink nutribullet in your fab new townhouse. You’re going to have a new, black or silver, or some matte color nutribullet in your fab new townhouse. You with me?”

“Lolita—” he started, and although his tone was a lot warmer, a lot lighter, he didn’t say anymore because the doorbell was ringing.

“Hold that thought,” I ordered as he walked to the door.

He dropped his head while shaking it, but still, I could see on his profile he was smiling.

Well, thank goodness. Our fight was over, and it looked like I won.

When he looked out the peephole, though, his smile vanished.

Whoosh!

That smile was a memory.

And again, my chest felt funny.

“Who is it?” I asked tentatively.

“No one,” he answered, turning from the door without answering it, and there was a funny look on his face. One I did not like. “I’m gonna go grab my bag from upstairs.”

The doorbell rang again.

Javi was moving to the stairs.

I moved to the door.

“Lolita,” he called.

I kept moving to the door.

“Harlow, leave it,” he bit off.

I looked out the peephole.

And my head exploded.

Austin Atherton was standing out there.

And he wasn’t alone.

Julia and Catherine were with him.

“Harlow!” Javi clipped as I unlocked and threw open the door.

“You are joking, right?” I demanded of Javi’s dad.

“Ohmigod,” Julia breathed. “Harlow?”

I felt Javi at my back.

“Oh my God,” Cath whispered, her eyes going up to her brother.

And, dang it, tears filled them.

Please tell me this wasn’t happening.

Javi grunted, and it was in pain as he looked at his two sisters.

It was happening.

Ever wanted to know if heads exploding could strike twice?

Let me tell you, it could.

I whirled and pointed in Javi’s face. “You. Upstairs. Pronto.”

“Baby,” he said softly, but he didn’t move, and his attention was glued out the door.

Going back and forth.

Between his sisters.

“I thought—” Austin started.

I whirled again. “I know what you thought, you asshole.”

I heard Javi’s swift intake of breath at me cursing. Julia’s mouth dropped open. Cath’s tears disappeared, and she looked instantly angry.

“We’re just trying—” Cath started.

“I know what you’re trying too,” I cut her off, then I turned my attention to her father. “Do you honestly believe you could leave him to fend for himself, and when I say that, in this context, it’s literally, and then just waltz into his life when he no longer has to fight for it every…damned…day?”

“Maybe we could come in and talk?” Julia suggested softly.

“And maybe you can’t,” I snapped at her.

“He’s our brother and we just first clapped eyes on him two seconds ago while you yelled at our dad,” Cath snapped back.

“He lived on the streets for sixteen years, Cath, courtesy of your dad,” I retorted, and good on her, she had the grace to flinch, but still. Fuck that noise. I jabbed a finger in her direction. “You have no clue.” I jabbed it at Julia. “And you have no clue.” I finally jabbed it at Austin. “But you do, don’t you, Mr. Atherton? You know precisely what you put your son, your own flesh and blood, through. It’s just that, for those sixteen years and then some, you didn’t give that first shit.”

“That’s unfair,” Julia whispered.

“Yeah? It is?” I asked harshly. “Your father is a multimillionaire, and he couldn’t find his son and put him in a decent home, get him into school, put food in his belly, clothes on his back?”

“Things with Mom were difficult,” Cath explained.

But even if I could tell she knew that was totally lame, I lost it.

“I don’t give that first fuck about your mother,” I hissed so hostilely, my upper body spiking her way, Javi wrapped an arm around my middle and pulled me back.

“We’re done here,” Javi stated.

“Javier—” Austin started beseechingly.

But as Javi started shutting the door, Cath threw her hand out to catch it, crying, “We just want to figure out how to make amends. Dad wants to figure it out.”

Javi stopped trying to close the door and looked to Austin. “Yeah?”

“You’re a member of our family, Javier,” Austin replied quickly.

“Wish you felt that when I was born,” Javi returned. “Or when I was two. Or when I was five and Ma was just starting to wig out and lost her job. Or when I was seven and had an ear infection, and the woman at the homeless shelter we were staying at reported me to CPS, and they took me away from Ma. And by the time I escaped and got back to her, she was so fucking skinny, her hair so matted, it was painful, so I had to shave that shit off her scalp with a dull knife.”

Julia recoiled in shock and despair.

The tears returned to Cath’s eyes.

Austin’s face was getting red, and his eyes weren’t dry either.

But Javi wasn’t done.

“Or maybe when Marlene, who used to be a teacher, would teach me how to read and add two plus two while we were sitting out in a hundred-and-fifteen-degree weather by her shopping cart. Or when I picked the maggots out of the refried beans I found, but Ma and I shared them anyway.”

“Oh God,” Cath groaned.

I closed my eyes and leaned back into my guy.

And Javi still wasn’t done.

“I just got in a fight with my woman because she wants me to have shiny new things, because she gets I’m fucking thirty-three and I’m only now letting myself have them. But, see, they terrify me because what if shit gets real?” he asked. “What if it all falls apart like it always does and I gotta walk away from my expensive smoothie maker? And then I’ll kick myself in the ass for spending stupid money on a fucking smoothie maker instead of spending smart on shit like food or my mortgage or laundry detergent to clean my clothes.”

My voice was strangled when I implored, “You guys need to leave.”

“No,” Javi disagreed. “He wants this so bad, he should know. I am damaged. You can’t fix me.”

“I don’t want to fix you,” Austin said gruffly. “I just want you in our lives.”

“But you’d be the only one who could fix me, man, because it’s you who broke me.”

Julia whimpered. Cath didn’t even try to silence her sob.

Austin, though?

He looked destroyed.

I turned and pressed my cheek to Javi’s chest and wrapped my arms tight around him.

“And now you bring them to my door?” Javi asked. “Shoving right in my face another two precious things I never had because you kept them from me?”

I burrowed closer.

“I see that was a mistake, Javier,” Austin replied.

“Why? Because you just gutted me? Or because you gutted them?” Javi demanded.

“All three,” Austin said, and now he sounded like a dying man.

“Congratulations. You’re batting a thousand on this dad shit,” Javi said while shuffling me back and then slamming the door.

I heard the lock go.

I heard another sob from Cath on the other side of the door.

I tipped my head back and looked up at my man.

“Sweetheart,” I whispered.

“What else does my place need?” he asked.

“Wh-what?” I asked back, perplexed at his question.

“I need a rug. Under the couch. It gets cold in winter. I’m not gonna have my woman running to get socks to keep her feet warm on my floors.”

He did need a rug under his couch. Everybody knew from The Dude that a rug brings a room together.

And sometimes (rarely) it did get cold in winter.

“Nightstands. A new dresser,” Javi continued. “More lamps. Good knives, so you can cut your fruit.”

I thought I was following him, and where he was leading was killing me.

I took my arms from around him so I could cradle his face. “Honey.”

“What else do I need?” he pushed.

“You have time,” I whispered.

“Fuck it, fuck it…fuck!” he exploded, pulling away from me and prowling into his living room.

I turned with him and took a couple of steps toward him but let him have his space.

He yanked a hand through his hair then dropped it, and his head.

As much as I detested his pose of defeat, I kept my silence and let him work through it.

He turned to me. “You didn’t tell me how pretty they are.”

Oh God.

It lasted all of two seconds, but I was done letting him work through it.

I raced to him and threw my arms around him.

He drew me closer and shoved his face in the side of my neck.

“I’m not gonna be able to not see them again,” he said into my skin.

I figured.

I was just going to kill Austin Atherton.

Metaphorically, of course.

I was so totally hijacking our sit-down with Nancy.

Me and the Angels were going to take a side trip to Millionaire Town for me to lay down the gol’ darned law.

I tipped my head back to catch his eyes. “Since I’m barely taking anything home, we need to grab your stuff and take it there so we can go shopping. No rugs. No lamps. Just a big Sephora haul so I can keep my skin healthy.”

“Babe—”

I pushed close. “You don’t have to prove anything to anybody. And you don’t have to go faster than you’re ready. You’re a smart guy. Eventually, you’ll get it. You’ll know you made it. You’ll see you’re on the other side. But you can’t rush it. It has to be at your comfort level.”

His lips quirked, thank God.

“Except a new nutribullet,” he remarked.

“I’m buying that.”

He frowned.

I pushed up on my toes to kiss it off his face.

When I rolled back, I ordered, “Go get your bag. Let’s get this show on the road.”

“All right, lil’ mama,” he muttered, bent, pressed his lips to mine then moved to the stairs.

I went to get the nutribullet.

“Babe,” he called.

I turned to see him halfway up the stairs.

“Yeah?”

“I got guilt,” he said.

Dang it.

“Honey, it isn’t on you that⁠—”

“You’re not her.”

I shut up because I didn’t get what he was saying.

He explained.

“When she’d weave back into the real world in those days where that still happened, she was sweet, she loved her boy, and she was ravaged, because we were so fucked up and she didn’t know how to unfuck us.”

Oh.

He was talking about his mom.

“It wasn’t her fault,” I said.

“I know. But you’re not her. You bounce around and don’t say bad words, unless you’re seriously fuckin’ pissed, and you smile easy, but you got spine, you got grit, you don’t back down, you look after those who are yours. You go right to the mat for them.”

I loved it he got that from me.

“She’d do the same thing if she could, I’m sure,” I asserted.

“She would. But she couldn’t.”

This was tragically true.

“A boy, he’s supposed to look for a woman as good as his mom,” Javi said. “But I didn’t. She was dark. Not her fault. But she was dark. I searched for sunshine.”

Wet hit my eyes immediately. “That makes you feel guilty?”

“I need sunshine, Lolita.”

Even though tears were still in my eyes, I shot him the biggest smile I could muster. “Well, it’s good you found me.”

“Don’t ever mention quid pro quo again, Harlow,” he stated and pointed at the door. “You give me more than I could ever give you.”

Oh no he didn’t.

“That’s not true,” I returned.

“So I’m buying the smoothie thing,” he declared.

Oh no he didn’t!

“Javier Montoya, don’t you use your tragic past to pull stuff over on me.”

He grinned, wide and white. “Get used to it, lil’ mama.”

“Javi,” I snapped. “Javi!” I yelled as he jogged up the rest of the stairs, taking them two at a time. “I’m buying the nutribullet!” I shouted at the ceiling.

Javi didn’t reply.

Two hours later, I gave up arguing at the checkout counter and let Javi buy the nutribullet.

We got the top-of-the-line one that did both personal smoothies and acted as a blender, because of course we did.

And it was black.

TWENTY-FOUR

“BECAUSE YOU LOVED ME”

(CÉLINE DION)

“Why am I having déjà vu?” Roxie whispered.

“Because eleven women are huddling around a couple cars in a ritzy neighborhood, and probably five people have already called 911 on us. So the cops are gonna be here in approximately four minutes. All because a woman in love is doing something her man expressly asked her not to do,” Ally answered.

All true.

Eek!

Ally kept going.

“We’re gonna get arrested for trespassing, at worst, or escorted out of this development, we can hope. Somehow, because it always does, this is going to get back to her man. He’s gonna lose his mind. Drama is going to ensue. There’ll be a kidnapping and perhaps a car bomb thrown in here and there for shits and grins. And then someone is gonna get married or pregnant and they’re all gonna think it’s over, but it won’t be. And I know this because a version of it has happened about ten times in Denver. To us. Including me. And you.”

“Oh yeah, that’s why I’m having déjà vu,” Roxie replied through a smile.

You guessed it.

The Rock Chicks horned in on our action.

There we were, sitting in Mace and Stella’s fantastic casita, where Tex and his wife Nancy were staying, innocently scrolling through mid-century modern home renovations and décor ideas. We were sipping cocktails Jessie made. We were eating cashews (I’d noted the Rock Chicks had a thing about cashews). All of this while alternately stroking or playing with a bevy of cats.

And then, after I’d given Nancy plenty of time to get a good number of ideas in her head about her new house, I ranted about Javi’s dad. Jessie threw a fit. The Angels threw down with me. The Rock Chicks joined in camaraderie.

And now we were all here. In a ritzy development. Standing in a huddle on the street outside Austin Atherton’s sprawling house.

I had a feeling Indy, Roxie, Stella and Annette were there for kicks.

And Ally was there to make sure we didn’t get arrested.

But I was stuck on Ally saying, “Woman in love.”

Was I in love with Javi?

Oh em gee!

I was!

Or, at least, I was falling. And fast.

Okay, so did this freak me out considering it was so soon?

Hmm.

No.

No, I was not in the slightest freaking out. Even if Javi strong-armed his way to buying the nutribullet, I knew down deep in my soul he was the guy for me.

Hark back to the groom carrying the bride thing.

Do you feel me?

“Lolo,” Raye called.

I stopped smiling moonily at no one and focused on my friend.

“This is your rodeo. You gonna get in the saddle?” she asked.

Oh.

Right.

Time to mount up.

I straightened my shoulders. “Let’s go.”

I’d practiced in my head on the way there what I intended to say, so I was ready.

We’d just made it to Javi’s dad’s impressive front door, the girls fanning out behind me, when my plan went awry.

This was because, materializing from the shadows, were Cap, Roam, Knox, Brady, Liam, Gabe, Jacob, Jeff, Cody and Eric.

They fanned out behind the Angels and Rock Chicks.

I looked to Jessie.

Accusingly.

She shrugged. “Okay, I got pissed on Javi’s behalf and rant-texted my man, and during that, I might have shared what we were up to.”

I kept looking at Jessie.

“And maybe I did the same with my brother,” she finished.

Jeff being that brother, who was also Javi’s closest friend, so naturally he’d rally Javi’s crew to get his dad to back off once and for all.

“Did you also rant-text the Terminator?” I inquired.

Another shadow formed, it pushed through the men to stand slightly in front of them, and we had Mace.

So now we had the Terminator.

“I didn’t rant-text him,” Stella shared. “I ranted face-to-face.”

I didn’t know what to make of this in my current situation.

What I did know was that I wished Javi was here to see it.

Speaking of my guy.

“Where’s Javi?” I asked, seeing as we left him, Cap and Eric having beers with Mace at Stella’s and Mace’s place, and now Cap, Eric and Mace were here.

“Left” was a nice way to say it.

“Snuck away hoping they wouldn’t notice we were gone” was more apt.

“He’s looking after the kids,” Mace said.

Javi was…

Babysitting?

“How’d you pull that off?” I asked.

“Wasn’t hard. Javi loves kids,’ Mace answered.

Oh my.

Now I felt super melty.

“Told him we had a callout, minor case, Cap and Eric and I could take care of it,” Mace explained further. “He thinks you and the women are still in the casita with Nancy, and I asked if he could look after the kids so my woman could have some time with her friends from out of town.”

Well, Javi would jump all over that.

Mace was done with our conversation, clearly, because he jutted his strong chin at the door.

And then he said one word, “Go.”

It was now or never.

I turned and was about to hit the doorbell, but since we’d all huddled on the street, then semi-huddled under the portico, it wasn’t surprising the door opened before my finger connected with the button.

And Austin Atherton was there, Julia clinging to his arm.

She looked terrified to see me.

He looked braced.

They both looked wrecked.

What happened that morning had visibly affected them, just as much, if not more, than it had Javi. And in the ensuing time, it hadn’t let go.

Austin’s eyes flicked beyond me, and yeah, okay, my ambush was a bit more in-your-face than his (right, more than a bit, thanks to the Hottie Squad), but whatever.

I decided it was time to get this done, even for Austin and Julia.

“I’d like to introduce you to Javi’s family,” I said.

Austin flinched and Julia’s lip quivered.

“Now,” I went on softly, “I don’t want to be cruel. We’ll make this quick.” I looked to Julia. “He’s going to contact you.”

She brightened immediately.

Austin grunted in surprise.

“And when you agree to meet him,” I continued, “and as your relationship grows with your brother, no matter how much you’ll want to coax him to let your dad in, you are going to tamp down that instinct.”

Julia went pale(r).

“If you can’t do that,” I carried on, “you will find reasons not to see him. The same goes for Cath.”

“I—” she began.

“I’ll warn you now, this isn’t a negotiation,” I stated.

Oh my God!

Look at me!

I could be a bad-A!

She shut her mouth.

See?

Bad-A!

“She’ll do it,” Austin said.

Julia looked up at him. “Dad.”

He peered down at her. “You’ll do it, honey.”

I did not want to witness how much love he openly shared with his daughter, this mingled with how determined he was to give her—and Javi—something he’d denied them both for decades.

Unfortunately, I witnessed it.

I tucked that somewhere safe so I could share it with Javi if some future him ever considered letting his dad in. For now, though, it would remain where it was and stay there if my guy never got to that place.

“As for you—” I began, my attention on Austin.

“I’ll leave him alone,” Austin promised.

Julia turned her head and pressed her forehead against her dad’s arm, which she was still clutching.

“However, I would like to see that he’s…financially secure,” Austin said hoarsely.

“Continue to pay his mom’s hospital bills,” I replied.

“I will, but if something happens to me—” Austin started, making Julia’s head jerk back.

“Nothing’s going to happen to you, Dad,” she said quickly.

Wait.

Was there something we didn’t know?

“You, Patrick and Catherine have trusts,” Austin told his daughter. “You have since you were born. I rest easy knowing, if something happens to me, at least you won’t suffer in that manner.”

I tried not to get pissed that Javi had none of that.

On the flipside, it was good there wasn’t some dread news underlying Austin’s desire to get to know his son.

Austin turned back to me, his gaze moving behind me for a moment before coming back to mine. “I understand he’s got a good job with excellent pay, but even so, it would cripple him to take on his mother’s care if I wasn’t around to pay for it. He’d have to move her to a facility that is not nearly as good, it would cause her confusion, and that would cause Javier distress. I want to ensure her care, and that he can rest in the knowledge he can provide it.” Heavy pause. “At least.”

Mace spoke up. “You can do that without dragging Javi into it. He’s a proud man, but he isn’t a stupid one. He also loves his mother. If you set that up and something happened to you, he’d take what was given so she wouldn’t suffer.”

In other words, don’t use this as your in with our boy. Do what you gotta do and leave him alone.

Austin got the unspoken message and nodded to Mace.

“So,” I began to sum it up. “The girls will wait for Javi to make his approach. Neither of them will attempt to push him into a relationship with his father. And you’ll back off. Do we have a deal?”

“We have a deal,” Austin said, sounding like he was choking on his words.

Dang it all, that cost him. A lot. Maybe too much. I saw the pain in his eyes.

But this wasn’t my call.

I did what I came to do.

“Thank you,” I said.

Austin swallowed and drew his daughter back, starting to close the door.

We were to the driveway, Willow holding my hand, Jessie at my other side, whispering I done good, when Ally grunted, “Hup.”

At this strange noise, I turned to see the men were (unnecessarily, this was a super good neighborhood) escorting us back to our cars, and Julia was dashing toward me.

Up at the house, Austin stood in his door, obviously not about to approach but keeping an eye on his daughter.

She rocked to a halt in front of me. “I just want you to know⁠—”

“Don’t,” Jessie clipped.

Julia ignored her. “Mom threatened to take us all from him if he had anything to do with Javier.”

“Goddammit,” Jessie bit under her breath.

“She can be…nasty,” Julia told me. “She would make it…” She again struggled for words. “A mess and drag it out forever. For Dad, it was lose one child, or lose three.”

“He still could have—” I tried.

“He came from a broken home,” she said fast. “His folks…” She shook her head. “It was bad. He didn’t want his children to grow up shuffled from one bitter parent to the other. After he did, erm…what he did, he tried with her. Mom, I mean. She put him through the wringer. She never let him forget it, she never forgave him for it, and she never stopped punishing him for it. But he stuck it out until we were all through college and starting our own lives because he didn’t want us to live in a broken home.”

“Let me guess, you aren’t close to your mom,” Shanti drawled.

Julia glanced at her but didn’t answer her question.

She said, “He messed up, he really did. I’m not going to defend him for cheating or any of what came after.” Her attention returned to me. “But the punishment, in her case, did not fit the crime. Like, on a day-to-day basis, she made him choose. Ximena’s son, or her children.”

Whoa.

She knew Javi’s mom’s name?

And whoa again.

Austin’s ex seemed like a total bee-yotch.

“Sometimes, I think, and I really wish I didn’t, but I do, she had me and Cath just to have more to hold over him,” Julia admitted in a small voice.

Oof.

Total bee-yotch.

“It tore him up,” Julia continued. “It got to the point we knew if Dad lost track of where Javier was because he was…you know.”

Oh, we knew.

Javi was living on the streets and doing that didn’t come with a forwarding address.

Julia kept going, “We knew because Dad would be…he’d be really upset.” You could tell that was a vast understatement. “And then Mom would turn the thumbscrews.”

Mm-hmm.

She wasn’t close to her mom.

And Tiffany Atherton was a complete and total bee-yotch.

“Then he should have grown a pair and saved his three kids from living with that, and his other kid from living his own hell,” Luna stated the straight-up truth.

“That’s easy for you or even me to say,” Julia replied. “When we’re not living it. When we don’t have his history. When we weren’t the ones who messed things up in the first place by stepping out on our spouse. When we didn’t vow to ourselves that we’d give better to our kids than we had growing up and we screwed that up from the jump.”

Again, she turned to me.

“He didn’t make the right decisions, but at the time, he thought he was doing the best he could. Then Patrick went off the rails. Cath doesn’t speak to Mom. I do my best to avoid her. And Javier…”

She let that trail, but we all knew what happened to Javi.

Another thing I did not want that I had to pocket for now (or forever) until Javi needed it?

It was clear Julia and Cath were dedicated to their dad.

He was the one who created this situation, and they were female, but they were still devoted to him. At the expense of their mother, who, in the beginning, was the wronged partner.

So, first, what Tiffany put them through must have been super bad.

And second, evidence was suggesting Austin was a really loving dad who’d earned that devotion.

I tucked that away and got into something else.

“You know Ximena’s name?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said quietly. “Dad talks about her. He says she was really beautiful. He wonders, if he could have intervened, if she’d have gotten as bad as she did.” Her expression changed to earnest as she went on, “I’m honestly not saying this to bullshit you. But truly, I think, the way he talks about her, he loved her. Or at least he cared about her a lot. What I do know is, it wasn’t a one-night stand at all.”

Dang it!

This I really didn’t need.

“He just couldn’t…” she continued, “with Mom…Patrick on the way…things just got really complicated.”

“You can say that again,” Luna spat.

Julia ignored Luna and picked up her earlier trail. “Even though Mom and Dad split a while ago, it took him forever to get up the courage to approach Javier. He knew this would happen. He just…he just…”—her shoulders slumped—“wanted to keep at him so Javier would know he wasn’t going to give up. That he cared. That this wasn’t a lark or something. That he was going to put the work in.”

“And this matters now, how?” Jessie demanded. “Javi’s made his decision and anything else from your dad is only adding insult to injury.”

“He knows that now, I guess,” Julia mumbled.

“So you think Harlow should share this tale of woe with Javi?” Raye asked.

And, man, the girls were giving no quarter. They totally had Javi’s back.

Gah!

I loved them so much!

“I just…I just…” Julia drew in a breath and released it. “I guess I just wanted someone to know.”

“Now she knows,” Ally stated. “Are you done?”

Julia nodded.

“Let’s roll,” Stella said.

“Wait, are you…? Holy cow. You’re Stella Gunn,” Julia breathed, staring wide-eyed at Stella.

And there it was. Such was the darkness of the vibe, it took that long for her to notice she was keeping company with Rock ’n’ Roll Royalty.

“In the flesh,” Stella replied, and then she jerked her head at the Angels and the Rock Chicks.

We moved to our cars.

And we rolled.

* * *

“I’m getting your concern with the pink nutribullet. All this pink I’m sure is making my dick shrink.”

Late that night, lying crashed out, naked, post sex, on Javi’s big, strong body on my bed at the Oasis, I lifted up only enough to smack his pectoral.

“It is not. Trust me, I’d notice,” I replied.

He grinned roguishly.

I rolled my eyes.

His grin died and he threaded his fingers into the side of my hair.

“You good?”

I smiled brightly at him. “Did you not hear me mention your boy parts are healthy and functioning, something I very recently tested out?”

His lips twitched but his voice lowered. “They’re celebrating your brother’s birthday right now.”

Ugh.

I did a face plant in his chest.

As I did, he allowed his fingers to sift through my hair to cup the back of my head.

“You’re not good,” he muttered.

I turned so my cheek was to his chest and said, “I’d be lying if I told you I haven’t been thinking about it all evening.” I switched positions again to rest my chin on the back of my stacked hands so I could catch his eyes. “But I made my decision. If cutting the toxicity out of your life was easy, people would do it without thinking about it. The thing is, it’s not. You just have to stay the course.”

“Yeah, you do,” he said softly, then he did fabulous things to my girl parts (and my heart) when his deep voice veritably crooned, “My good girl with a spine of steel, staying the course.”

“Stop making me want to cry,” I demanded. Or orgasm, I did not say.

“Okay, then, how’d it go when you, your girls and my boys went to confront my father?”

I couldn’t stop my eyes from going really, really big.

But of course, he’d figure it out.

I was in the midst of trying to decide if I should lie to him (for now) or come clean (I had to schedule my How to Deal with an Alpha classes, tout de suite), when he wrapped his arms around me and rolled us so I was on my back and he was mostly on me, just down my side.

“I knew it was going to happen the minute I lost it after I shut the door on them this morning,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I know I promised not to do it, but I just…you were just…”

“Babe, I had a word with your dad yesterday. I get what you were just.”

So, he did do it.

Yikes.

And.

Yay!

He was so totally falling for me too!

“How’d that go?” I asked.

“You first,” he countered.

Ugh again.

“Julia was there,” I started.

I said no more.

Javi stared at me.

Gosh, he was so incredibly gorgeous.

I mean, really, my big, muscular, handsome, very manly man in my pink and green and velvet bedroom?

Seriously a turn on.

“Harlow,” he growled.

Ugh!

With no choice, I ran it down for him.

The worst part about doing that?

Javi listened with such intensity, it was like my words were feeding him. Like his dad and sister wanting him in their life was nourishment to him.

I skipped the part about how Austin looked at his daughter and how determined he was for his son to have a relationship with his girls. I also skipped a lot of what Julia said about Austin’s growing-up years, though I did tell him Tiffany gave Austin an unthinkable ultimatum, and I left it at that.

When I finished talking, Javi didn’t start.

So I smoothed my hand over his hair, ending it at his neck so I could stroke his jaw with my thumb.

“You okay?” I asked.

“I never knew.”

“Never knew what?”

“When she’d talk about him. Ma. Sometimes, she’d say he was the love of her life. Sometimes she’d say he was an assclown. When I was a kid, I’d have trouble knowing if she was lucid or not. So I never knew which way it really was. And then the illness took her, she stopped talking about him and barely made sense at all.”

“It can be both, you know,” I said carefully.

“Yeah,” he muttered.

“I told Julia they had to wait for you to approach,” I said.

“Thanks, baby,” he whispered.

I caught him by the back of the neck to bring him closer before I shared, “So maybe there’s some evidence he’s a nice guy. Maybe he didn’t have any good choices and still made the wrong ones. You were not conflicted by how you felt about him before. This doesn’t have to change anything.”

“What if now, I don’t have any good choices and still make the wrong ones?”

Oh, my guy.

“Don’t let them get under your skin, sweetheart,” I advised. “You don’t have to look out for your mom anymore. You don’t have to look out for anyone, but yourself. Do what gives you peace of mind.”

“And you.”

“In this, I don’t factor. It’s all about you.”

“No, I mean, now I got you to look after.”

Oh boy.

As sweet as that was, I wasn’t sure about it.

I was a grown woman. I paid my bills. I could look after myself and had been doing so for some time.

“No, Lolita.” Javi yet again read my mind. “Like you had my back today. We look after each other.”

Oh.

Well, that I could do.

I smiled at him.

He shook his head even while dipping in to kiss me.

When he pulled away, he said, “Gotta admit, in the beginning, after meeting you, then losing Jamal and Joaquim, I kept clear because I was holding a lot of guilt and grief about how they went out, and I didn’t want to lay that on you.”

I went back to smoothing his thick, soft hair, but I used both hands this time. “I hope you’ve learned you can lay anything on me.”

“Yeah,” he said softly, and that might have been the prettiest syllable I’d ever heard uttered.

“And what happened to your soldiers isn’t your fault,” I stressed.

“I know that logically. But that isn’t always how your mind works.”

I got that, so I nodded.

“Your dad was an arrogant ass,” Javi announced.

I stared.

“He wasn’t a fan of his daughter’s boyfriend demanding to see him.”

Well, there was that.

Javi kept going.

“He was all about bluster, and that bluster hid his guilt. He knows his wife and son treat you like dirt. He just doesn’t have big enough balls to put a stop to it.”

I had suspected this for quite some time.

“If that’s true, it kinda makes it worse,” I said forlornly, because Javi saying what I suspected made it seem real. And the realness of it hurt. “It wasn’t, you know, just neglect. It was deliberate neglect.”

“Agreed,” Javi grunted.

“Is he gonna stay away?” I asked.

“Is he still calling?”

“I haven’t had a call in a while.” Definitely not yesterday or today.

“Then…maybe.”

Or, maybe not.

One thing I knew, if he did, I had Javi, I had my girls, I had the Hottie Squad, Tito and Tex.

I’d be okay.

“If he shows, and you need me, no matter what I’m doing, call me. I’ll find my way to you,” Javi declared.

I’ll find my way to you.

Should I tell him I was falling in love with him?

“Baby,” he whispered, his face the picture of warmth, his glamorous golden eyes soft and doting.

He read my mind again.

And I was right.

He was falling too.

“You’re the best boyfriend ever, Javier Montoya,” I stated.

He smiled and rolled us so I was on top again, then he sat up so I was straddling him.

“And you give as good as you get, Harlow O’Neill,” he replied.

I dazzled him with a smile.

And then Javi kissed me, and he dazzled me with something altogether different.

TWENTY-FIVE

“WE ARE FAMILY”

(SISTER SLEDGE)

Learn this from me.

When it rains, it pours.

No, really, it’s not just a saying. It’s the God’s honest truth.

I learned this the next day, after the Javi’s Dad Drama when we all decided to go to The Surf Club to make sure Dream would continue to be employed after the weekend. Reports were, her first day under Tex’s critical stare and Tito’s quiet support was a little rocky.

Truth told, I didn’t go for that reason. I didn’t think any of us did. Only Luna did, because she was a good sister even if that was far from reciprocated.

And Raye, Cap, Jessie, Eric, Shanti, Willow, Brady, Roam, Indy, Ally, Annette, Roxie, Mace, Stella and Javi didn’t go for that reason either.

The dudes, my guess: it was for the food (Lucia’s weekend replacement was given strict written instructions from Lucia so the food always maintained Lucia’s level of quality).

The chicks, no need to guess: it was for Luna.

We’d amassed a bunch of tables and were sitting in the middle of SC. Every once in a while, one of us would get up to show Dream the ropes about something, but it seemed she was getting the hang of it pretty fast.

Well, the work part of it.

The customer service part…uh, not so much.

Even if it might make me a bad person, I had to admit that I got a charge out of watching Dream try to be nice.

Maybe she didn’t have a problem with Luna.

Maybe she was just mean to everybody.

Sure, this often came Luna’s way, but I honestly hadn’t even seen her be nice to her parents, not really. Mostly with them, she was needy and whiny.

Maybe some people were just not nice people, and sadly for Luna, Louise and Scott, Dream was one of them.

It was also weird being at SC and not working (oh, also weird? Byron wasn’t there on Sundays—maybe he did have a life outside of SC).

In fact, I didn’t know if I’d ever been there when I wasn’t or I didn’t have an Angels confab to attend.

We knew the weekend crew, Joey and Gemma.

Joey did nails part time out of her mom’s garage, à la Steel Magnolias. Gemma did part-time home healthcare work during the week. We knew them because they sometimes filled in for us or picked up extra hours during the morning and evening busy times.

They were great. They were also peripherally in our posse (for instance, they often came to Oasis shindigs and were both on the waiting list to get units), and it was a huge bummer our schedules didn’t often align so we couldn’t hang out with them more.

And neither of them seemed to be Dream’s biggest fans.

I felt bad they’d been saddled with her, because they also had to help train her, and if you knew Dream, you could tell she was trying, but she still wasn’t very gracious about it.

Then again, they clearly needed help. The Surf Club on the weekends was a crush.

We were also killing time because Trev’s laptop had been hooked up since Friday, Arthur had been working on it, and he reported through Clarice that he might be getting somewhere soon.

So the Angels were poised to dash out at any minute.

And the Hottie Squad was poised to horn into our lead the minute we learned we had one.

I was watching Dream peel her lips back from her teeth in what I was suspecting she thought was a smile when Javi, sitting next to me, murmured, “Jesus.”

He wasn’t wrong. That grimace on her face was frightening.

“I think I’m gonna have nightmares about that,” Cap muttered.

“How did she manage to get knocked up three times?” Brady asked.

“Like dudes need a girl to be nice to get themselves some. Yeesh,” Jessie replied.

Brady and Roam shared a telling glance and a lip twitch before Brady said, “I would prefer they were nice.”

“It’s not a dealbreaker though, is it?” Luna inquired.

“I’d advise you not to answer that.” Eric, the oldest and wisest of us all, gave Brady some of that wisdom.

Brady just winked at Luna.

Luna rolled her eyes.

It was cute. And Brady was hot.

But I thought it was interesting Knox wasn’t there. When we had a hang, he usually showed.

Samesies with Gabe.

Hmm.

I was leaning into Javi to share this thought when we heard yelled, “I have a bone to pick with you! And you!”

We turned to see Shirleen storming in, with her husband, Moses following.

She was expected to join us considering she was a Rock Chick, and it was only her hunkering down at the NI&S offices to stake her territory with Marjorie that she wasn’t around on Friday. As for Saturday, Roam had also had an offer accepted on a house, he’d moved in a few weeks ago, and Shirleen was intent to stake more territory and stamp her claim on her son’s place by meddling with his interior decorating.

I would have loved to have a mom who went out with me looking for fab things to put in my cute pad. That would be the best.

I didn’t know if men were into that, though I did notice that Cap and Roam pretty much let Shirleen be all that was Shirleen.

I got this, all that was Shirleen was pretty fabulous. But also, in this world we all picked our battles.

Then again, Shirleen being all that was Shirleen, they didn’t have much of a choice.

Javi had opinions about his blanket, and definitely his chair, and he’d picked out his wineglasses himself (and he chose well). Not to mention, he was the one to put his foot down about the top-of-the-line nutribullet.

So maybe guys were into that kind of thing too.

“It’s about time you got here,” Ally complained to Shirleen.

Shirleen barely glanced at her.

She was all about Raye. “How many times have I remarked on how fabulous your organization system is in your apartment?”

“Uh-oh,” Raye mumbled, getting big eyes and darting them to me.

“And how many times have you told me Harlow did it for you?” Shirleen kept at her.

“Shir—” Raye started.

“And how many times have you said you’d talk to her about coming over and sorting me and my Moses out?” Shirleen demanded.

I sat straight in my chair, a trill of excitement going through me.

“I’m sorry, I keep forgetting to mention it,” Raye said to Shirleen. Then to me she repeated, “I’m sorry.”

“And you.” Shirleen turned on me. “Nancy isn’t even in her house, and you’re at the casita, offering to Marie Kondo the shit out of her new place. Where were you when me and Moses were moving in?” She didn’t let me answer. “Here. But you didn’t offer that to me.”

“Well—”

I didn’t get any further either.

Shirleen started looking all around the ceiling, asking, “When’s the time you most need someone to come in and toss out your junk and get you situated? Oh, I don’t know.” Her laser stare abruptly landed on me. “When you move in!”

“Strictly speaking, you should throw out the junk before you make the move,” I educated her.

Her eyes narrowed.

Yikes.

Roam made a noise deep in his throat that sounded like half-laughter, half-something very different.

“I’m neck deep in Louboutins,” she outlined her very first-world problem. “Something has to give. And it’s not like I’m asking for a freebie. I’d pay you.”

Oh my God!

That was when Javi made a noise, also deep in his throat, but it was all happy.

“You will?” I chirped.

She pointed a perfectly manicured finger in my face. “Next Saturday. First, you come over and look at the mountain you gotta climb. Then we go to the Container Store.”

Outside of spending all day having sex with Javi, that was my favorite thing to do.

And I was seeing how she could be the operations manager for a bunch of bad-A’s and totally why Roam and Cap let her have her way (most of the time).

She could really lay down the law.

“You’re on!” I cried.

Javi, who had his arm resting along the back of my chair, started stroking the nape of my neck with a finger.

I shivered and got happier.

Suddenly, Dream was there, standing close to Shirleen.

Shirleen turned to her and instantly reared back, probably because that nightmare smile was on Dream’s face again.

“Anything I can get you?” Dream asked through clenched teeth.

Shirleen looked to the table, saw we’d broken the seal, and then she went back to Dream. “An appletini.”

“Any particular vodka you’d like in that?” Dream pushed out.

“Dazzle me,” Shirleen said.

“Sir?” Dream was addressing Moses.

“Just a beer,” Moses told her.

“Any preferences?” she pushed out.

“You got 405?” he asked.

“We do,” she gritted.

“That’d be great.”

Moses commandeered some chairs for him and his wife to sit down, and they joined us.

While he did this, I thought Dream was about to have a seizure, but then she controlled whatever was going on internally, nodded and walked away.

“I’m uncertain about the weekend crew,” Shirleen leaned in and whispered to the table.

Proving he had bionic hearing, Tex bellowed from the coffee cubby, “Me too!”

I turned to look at Tito.

He was concentrating very closely on his iPad, which he was poking at with a finger, so I suspected he was playing some game.

By the time I turned back, I jumped, because out of nowhere, Martha was there.

She was carrying one of Tex’s coffees.

“Good to see you’re alive,” she grouched at me. “You been gone so long, what with all the recent shenanigans, it’s a real unknown with you girls if you’re lying dead in a ditch or off on an impromptu joyride to Vegas.”

Sadly, and scarily, this was kinda true.

“I’m fine, Martha. I was just hanging with Javi,” I told her.

Her eyes bounced between me and Javi, regrettably landing on Javi.

“See you pulled your finger out,” she remarked.

Javi didn’t take any of that bait, but he did smile a smile I felt in my girl parts, and I knew he did because he very much liked to push his finger in, but he also enjoyed pulling it out.

“Boys,” Martha huffed then addressed the whole table, or specifically a certain subsect of the women at it. “So, officially, Jacob and Alexis are moving into the two-bedroom. Does this mean we’ll be getting another girl who’s mixed up in whatever crazy you girls have gotten yourself into?”

“No, all the crazy is already resident at the Oasis,” Jessie didn’t quite assure her.

Martha blew out an annoyed breath.

And that was when it happened.

After the storm of yesterday, our brief sojourn under the sun of good friends (even ones who were getting in your face), good food and lunchtime cocktails went behind the clouds and the rain started pouring.

“There you are.”

I knew that voice, and it made my skin turn cold.

I turned to see my brother there.

Considering Easton was cocky, spoiled, a mama’s boy and had the personality of a bro podcaster, it was really too bad he was so good-looking.

He got Dad’s blond hair and blue eyes, he wasn’t super tall, but he wasn’t short by any means. He worked hard at his body, so he was lean and fit. And when he wasn’t in surgery or in his office, he liked to be outside, so he had a nice tan and looked what he was: healthy and active.

I felt Javi straighten beside me.

“Easton,” was all I could force out.

“Since you’re not responding to texts or voicemails, thought I’d find you personally to thank you for fucking up my birthday,” he announced.

I felt Javi get super, double, crazy pissed beside me.

Easton didn’t miss it, and even if Javi was about two of Easton, that didn’t mean Easton hesitated even a second to look at him and ask, “You the caveman that hijacked Dad at work?”

Ummmmmmmm…

Unh-unh.

No way.

I stood. “Maybe we should talk somewhere else.”

“Why?” Easton returned. “Your caveman waltzed right up to Dad’s receptionist and demanded to see him. Tit for tat, Harlow.” He threw out an arm. “You don’t want this going down at your work, you should have brought your boy to heel.”

I didn’t need How to Handle Alpha classes to know you didn’t say stuff like that about an alpha with that alpha right there.

I knew I was correct in this when I heard a growl, some other scary noises, chairs scraping, I sensed people shifting.

But, because it was more urgent even than all of that, I was focused on what was happening inside me.

Something was dying.

No, something had been dying for a really long time, and now it was just…

Dead.

My brother didn’t even allow me to introduce him to my boyfriend. The man I was falling in love with. The man I’d talked kids with. The man I was doubling up on life stuff to share houses with.

My brother probably spent the last hour tracking me down just to be crappy to me. He made great money and could be doing practically anything on a sunny Sunday in Phoenix, but what he chose to do was find me just to be mean to me and bring rain to darken my bright day.

God, that thing was so dead.

I knew it was something I wouldn’t mourn, because it had never been mine in the first place.

It was the fact I wouldn’t mourn it that was so very sad.

Easton, being Easton, didn’t know that he’d delivered the death blow to something crucial in me.

He just kept talking.

“Mom was a mess. It was clear she and Dad had a fight before they showed at the restaurant. For your information, they’ve been fighting a lot lately. He’s been up in her face about contacting you to work things out, when it should be you reaching out to apologize. It was tense. Not one of us enjoyed the evening. All thanks to you.”

“Baby,” Javi whispered sinisterly in my ear.

A warning.

Shut Easton down, or he would.

I turned to him and looked him right in the eye.

He blinked at what he saw.

“It’s okay,” I assured.

He looked hard at me like he needed to believe what he was seeing.

Then, in a much different whisper, he said, “Spine of steel.”

Jessie, however, didn’t hear us.

“You’re a real piece of work, you know that?” she asked Easton.

“Are you in this conversation?” Easton drawled sarcastically.

“I’m aware you think the world revolves around you, jackass,” Jessie retorted, earning Eric putting his hand on the small of her back, probably to tell her to butt out, but I knew no way my bestie was going to stand for Easton being a dick to me. On the best of days, she could barely stomach him. Easton hunting me down to be mean was a no-go. “But there are, like, twenty people sitting here having lunch and cocktails, and you walked right up and got in her shit, with her real family sitting right here. So what did you expect?”

“Her real family?” Easton snarled.

“She didn’t hesitate to meet us for lunch when we made plans just about two hours ago, but she sure was nowhere near Le Amé last night,” Luna pointed out.

Easton scowled at Luna.

I sat down and reached for my paloma.

“Harlow, I’m talking to you,” Easton dismissed the others and snapped at me.

I looked up at him and said calmly, “The reason I didn’t reply to your texts or voicemails is because I’ve blocked you. Before the day is through, I’ll block Mom and Dad too. Please don’t worry about Javi visiting you at work or home or anywhere. It’s done with us. He doesn’t need to.”

Easton’s brows hit his hairline, which I just then noticed was receding. “It’s done with us?”

I took a sip of my paloma and said, “Yep.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Easton demanded.

“Funny how much educatin’ these doctors get, but they get their big degrees and still don’t know English,” Shanti quipped as she and the rest of the troop, feeling my vibe, also took their seats.

Easton stepped closer to me, probably to get my attention, but now I was dipping my Mexican eggroll in green chili.

“I won’t be trackin’ you down to have a word,” Javi said dangerously. “But you get one step closer to my woman right now, I’ll be hauling your ass out the door.”

“Did you just threaten me?” Easton asked, sounding shocked and repulsed.

I bit into my eggroll.

Ooooooooo.

So good!

Lucia did fusion like nobody’s business, even when she wasn’t there!

“I look like a man who makes threats?” Javi asked.

“Actually, Javi will have to fight us off, since we’ll be hauling your ass out of here, you don’t get the hint and leave,” Jessie put in.

Easton turned his attention back to me. “What does ‘done with us’ mean?”

I dipped my eggroll and took another bite of it.

“Harlow!” he bit.

And then the most surprising voice in the universe for that moment in time and what was happening entered the conversation.

Dream.

“What it means is that Harlow has no contacted you,” she stated primly, like she was a teacher and Easton was a very slow student. “It means she will not be accepting communications from you, and she will not be offering the same. It means she will not be spending time with you for any reason, including birthdays and family holidays. It means, for whatever her reasons, she’s at the end of her tether with you.”

And then, blowing me (and everyone) away, Dream delivered a doozie.

“She’s the kindest, most cheerful woman I’ve ever met. You walked in, she saw you, and it was the first time since I met her, which was years ago, that I saw her face fall. I don’t know what you did to her, but I can guess with your behavior since you arrived how you’ve treated her. So, to end, as Harlow has declared her intention to separate herself from you and the rest of her family, it is your only recourse to respect her decision and leave her alone.”

I was staring up at Dream, blinking rapidly, and I was pretty sure my mouth was hanging open.

I didn’t have to look to know all the other Avenging Angels were doing the same.

I felt Javi’s surprise, and this was reciprocated by anyone who knew Dream at the table.

“The ‘leaving her alone’ part of that should start right now,” Dream warned.

“Who the fuck are you?” Easton asked irately.

Dream straightened her shoulders and shook her part braided, part ratted hippie hair (that looked cute, she totally worked the hippie-dippy thing, probably one of the reasons why she got knocked up three times).

“I work at this establishment, and we reserve the right to refuse service for appropriate reasons. And my appropriate reason for kicking you out is that you’re a huge dick and a major downer.”

I heard Willow titter, Ally snort, Annette hoot and Shirleen whisper, “Oowee.”

Easton looked down at me. “This isn’t done.”

“It’s done,” Javi stated.

“I don’t even know your name,” Easton sneered at Javi.

“You don’t need to know my name to understand this…” Javi stood (oh boy). “Is…” Javi stepped around my chair and closer to Easton (oh shoot!), and Cap, Brady and Roam took his back (yikes!). “Done.”

Easton was finally clueing into a few things about the Hottie Squad, albeit tardily, if the pallor of his skin was anything to go by.

“You with me?” Javi asked deceptively quietly.

Easton’s gaze was pinging to all the boys, but he mostly kept an eye on the biggest, and the most pissed.

My guy.

Easton stepped away but tried to fire one more shot at me. “You’re going to break Mom and Dad’s hearts.”

I tried not to let that make my heart clench, but it was unavoidable.

My heart clenched.

Hard.

But just the night before, I advised Javi that he needed to look after himself. Do what needed to be done to protect his peace of mind.

And as much as I hated it (and man, did I hate it), I needed to do this to protect my peace of mind.

“I know how much that hurts, and it isn’t what I want, but to protect myself from constantly feeling the same, this is my decision,” I replied.

Easton started to get pissy again. I had so much experience with it, I noticed right away.

“I don’t get—” he began.

But Javi stepped in front of me, cutting off Easton’s eyeline.

“I’m thinking you’re not with me,” Javi noted.

“Back off, asshole. I’m with you. And fuck it, it’s not like she’s a loss,” Easton returned.

There were lots of angry noises at that, including Shirleen asking, “Am I needing to take off my earrings?”

But Javi said softly, “Oh yeah, she is. And you know she is. That’s why you’re here. Because your father is sick of playing second fiddle to his son and maybe even thinks its sick how up your ass his wife is. He feels guilt, as he should, that he let Harlow swing in the breeze. And he’s wondering why he wasted so much of his life with an elitist bitch who spoiled his boy and abused his girl. Your mom convinces herself she’s perfect by making Harlow feel small. And since you didn’t get anyone kissing your ass last night because they were all up in their own heads, you realized that Harlow is the one that keeps the balance in your family. She’s your mother’s punching bag. The only joy your father has. And your opportunity to convince yourself you’re something special when you’re just another average white guy with a good education paid for by his rich parents and nothing more.”

Oh.

Wow.

We hadn’t talked about it all that much, but Javi sure had a lock on my family dynamic.

“Are you done?” Easton asked stiffly.

“That answer has been relayed to you repeatedly,” Javi responded.

I couldn’t see what was going on, but there was a very long, weighty pause where I figured my brother was trying to win a staring contest with Javi.

Unsurprisingly, he lost and stormed out.

I finished my eggroll.

The boys sat down.

Martha, who, in the meantime, had found herself a chair and pulled it to our table (so very Martha), slurped her coffee, leaned toward Shirleen and said, “I kinda don’t mind they get kidnapped, and their apartments broken into, as long as no one is hurt, seeing as, with these girls, nothing is ever boring.”

“Welcome to our world, sister,” Shirleen bragged smugly. Then she took a sip of the appletini Dream brought her.

Dream was also hanging around, so Luna said, “Dream, that was really cool of you.”

I tensed for Dream to go back to being Dream, but today was going to be full of surprises, I knew, when she replied, “I know I got this job only because Tito and Tex like you.” There was a very long moment of silence before she forced out, “Thanks.”

Luna was staring at her, shocked.

We were all smiling at each other, hopeful.

Tex walked into the room and boomed at Dream, “Probation over. You’re officially hired.”

And then he walked right out.

I glanced over at Tito.

He was still poking at his iPad.

But he was smiling.

TWENTY-SIX

“QUIETLY YOURS”

(BIRDY)

After we got back from SC, Javi and my quick afternoon nookie session turned into something entirely different.

I knew this by the way one of his big hands was wrapped around my wrists, holding them over my head so I couldn’t touch him.

I knew this by the slow, steady rhythm of the way he was finger fucking me (clearly, Martha had given him ideas).

But mostly, I knew it with the way his eyes watched my face as he touched me.

He was lavishing me with his affection because he was worried I was not as okay as I’d acted like I was—and I actually truly was—with the confrontation with my brother.

More…

He was falling in love with me.

He was beautiful. The way he was watching me was beautiful. What he was doing to me was beautiful (worth a repeat, he had very long, strong fingers). Even him being worried about me was beautiful.

But I needed more of him.

“Honey,” I whispered.

Being Javi, he didn’t make me wait. He didn’t make me beg.

Though he didn’t let my hands go. He slowly slid his finger out, rolled between legs I spread wider to accommodate him, took his cock in hand and fed it to me. Then he slid inside as he captured my lips in a deep kiss.

Not having the use of my hands, I circled him with my legs and rocked with his thrusts, our tongues dancing.

He broke the kiss only to run his tongue along the line of my neck.

And I knew it was time.

Time to make it official.

Time to say the unspoken words out loud.

So I turned my head and whispered, “I’m falling for you.”

He slid in deep, lifted his head, the expression on his face one I knew I’d never forget, not in my whole life, as he stared down at me, saying, “Thank fuck I’m not alone in that.”

Oh no.

I was going to cry.

I did not cry.

Instead, Javi’s fingers tightened around my wrists, his slow rhythm got a lot faster, the thrust of his hips a lot stronger, and the kiss he laid on me was a whole lot deeper.

Eventually, we couldn’t kiss anymore because we were panting (and I was moaning), our lips brushing. His hold on my wrists was so strong, it had a mite bite of pain, but I loved it. I loved Javi being all about me. I loved how strong he was. I loved that his one hand could hold down both of mine.

I just loved everything about my guy.

He’d cupped my breast, his calloused thumb rubbing circles around my nipple, and he was fucking me so hard, he grunted with each stroke.

This was when I found it.

Arching into him and digging my heels into his thighs, I closed my eyes and experienced yet another exquisite orgasm as delivered by my Javi.

He let my wrists go so he could grasp my hips, and I rounded him with one arm, clenched his hair with the other hand, and nibbled at his collarbone as he rode me until his finish.

I loved how loud he groaned when he came inside me.

Yep.

I just loved everything about my guy.

He stroked inside through his aftermath, before he pulled out and rolled to his back, but as he did so, he curled me around so I was tucked to his side.

I threw a leg over his thighs and an arm over his flat stomach.

“Good?” he asked.

“Great,” I answered.

“Kiss, mi pequeña,” he ordered.

I stretched up to press my lips against his.

I stayed stretched up when he tucked my hair behind my ear.

His gaze was sated, but still alert as it moved over my face.

“Stop worrying,” I assured. “I’m fine.”

“Your brother is a massive dick.”

I could not deny that, so I didn’t.

Instead, I said, “That wasn’t fun, and I’m sure some part of me will miss them, but day-to-day?” I tipped my head to the side. “Peace of mind.”

“Yeah,” he murmured.

“Again, stop worrying about me, sweetheart,” I urged.

“Okay, baby,” he gave in.

I decided to take us out of this and asked, “You know where Gabe and Knox were today? Oh, and Jeff and Cody?”

“Jeff and Cody are in the control room, seeing to business,” Javi explained. “Gabe and Knox were probably at a gym, working out. Or in a cold shower, sorting their shit.”

That was telling.

Just not telling enough.

Thus, I wanted more.

“Say what?” I asked.

“Think you know, Knox has it bad for Luna.”

I did know that, so I nodded and asked, “Why isn’t he going for it?”

“You gotta ask that?”

As I suspected.

They didn’t want to upset the AA/HS applecart.

“Is that it?” I pushed.

“Knox has some…shit he has to deal with.”

Hmm.

I didn’t press further with that. Although I was dying to know, it wasn’t cool for me to push Javi to share personal stuff about his friend.

This made me switch gears. “And Gabe with Willow?”

“That’s new,” he said. “Don’t got a lock on that. Though, do know, when we were questioning Kev, Roam and Brady had to lock him down and get him out of the room.”

Ooooo!

Interesting!

“He lost it?” I breathed excitedly.

“Totally. This gets sorted, don’t think that clown is going to get anywhere near Willow. Gabe scared the fuck out of him.”

Although it probably wasn’t appropriate, this made me smile a happy smile.

Which made Javi smile an I-love-it-when-Harlow-is-happy smile.

Of course, that made me smile bigger.

His phone went on my (yes, pink) nightstand.

He turned to it, looked at it, then said, “My grandparents are FaceTiming.”

Oh no!

We were naked in bed after sex!

Immediately, I flew into a flurry of motion, and Javi didn’t mess around pulling on his jeans and T-shirt.

He also didn’t miss the call.

I was dashing to the bathroom with my clothes in my arms when I heard him say, “Hola, Abuelita.”

For our lunch out, I’d chosen a cute dress made of creamy white lace with a high halter top, spaghetti straps and a swing skirt. I had it on and had semi tamed my sex hair when Javi called from the living room, “Babe?”

Okay, as I suspected, I was just about to meet the beloved grandparents on a FaceTime.

Oh God.

I took one last look at my hair in the mirror and moved to the living room.

Javi was lounged on my seafoam-green couch (hot). He did the crooking finger thing at me (also hot). And after I nervously ran my hands down the front of my skirt, I went to sit beside him.

There were two older Latino people with their heads shoved together on his screen. They both wore expressions of extreme interest.

They were cute.

“Esta es Harlow. Mi novia,” Javi said.

An explosion of Spanish came from his screen from two people wreathed in smiles.

“Hola,” I said. “Es un placer conocerlos.”

Another explosion of Spanish backed by even bigger smiles.

I caught about a sixteenth of what they were saying, none of it I could be sure I actually understood, so I just smiled back and nodded a lot.

Though, I figured it was all good considering Javi chuckled often, and since he’d wrapped his arm around me, the longer we chattered (or they did), the tighter his hold got.

I sensed I’d passed inspection.

Phew!

This went on for a while, and I adored that it did. It said, even if these people had never met, they were close. They were a family. And they didn’t hide how much they practically idolized Javi.

Obviously, I loved that last part most of all.

There was a knock on the door.

Javi gave me a squeeze and a nod to let me know I could leave our three-sided, four-person conversation and go answer it.

“Me gustó hablar con ustedes,” I said to his grandparents.

“Nosotros tambien, Harlow,” they replied in unison, and man, my name sounded pretty with a Nicaraguan accent.

I went to the door, looked out the peephole and saw Luna standing there.

I opened it. “Hey.”

“Arthur got in,” she said as greeting.

She was talking about the laptop.

Yippee!

“Oh my goodness,” I replied.

She looked at Javi still talking to his grandparents on the couch, then to me. “Come to my place for a briefing?”

I nodded, turned to Javi and made hand motions to explain what I was doing. He studied me while I did so, alert and wary, and before he could say anything, I ducked out of my apartment and walked with Luna to hers.

“Raye isn’t answering her door and Jess is at Eric’s and isn’t answering her phone,” Luna explained. “So it’s just Willow, Shanti, you and me.”

This meant afternoon nookie was on the table all around for the girls who had guys.

Gosh, I hoped Knox and Gabe figured themselves out really soon and we could find someone fab for Shanti (like Liam). I wanted all my besties to have their brand of this goodness.

“Did Arthur find anything on Trev’s laptop?” I asked.

“He found lots. And none of it good,” Luna answered in a dire tone.

Unfun, but not unexpected.

We hit Luna’s boho-chic pad, and I saw immediately that Shanti was pissed, and unusually, so was Willow.

“I swear to God if I find out Kev’s done any of this kind of shit, I’m going to cut off his balls!” Willow all but shouted.

Well…

Dang.

“Is it worse than we thought?” I asked.

Shanti just leaned forward in order to shunt Luna’s laptop so it was facing me.

“We can just say, he didn’t delete the videos,” Luna said.

“And he’d been able to be unemployed for a while and still live because he did this shit a lot,” Willow said and emphasized, “A whole lot.”

I sat on Luna’s armchair and looked at the screen.

“Arthur dropped all the video files on a cloud,” Shanti shared. “You don’t have to watch. We only watched a couple and that was more than enough. It’s just the sheer magnitude of them.”

I reached out a hand to touch the mousepad and wake Luna’s laptop, then stared at the screen and gasped because I saw an open directory with medium icons selected, and there was a whole slew of video files on it. They filled up the screen.

And even with those tiny icons, you could see what was in those videos.

Gross.

“I am so glad I never app dated,” Shanti declared. “I mean, you got a load of chaff to wade through at the clubs and bars and gyms and coffee shops. But the weasels come out on those apps like crazy.”

I’d never app dated, outside of Kev, who didn’t count, but I knew a few people who met decent guys or gals on apps.

But they were in the minority.

There was so much you could hide behind text banter. And by the time you’d convinced someone you were a decent person, and they finally met you, you already had your in. You could hide the skeeve a lot better when you’d established a preconceived notion about who you were when you were not that at all.

“He’s numbered them, so there are no names,” Luna shared. “We’d have to go through them one by one to see if we know any of them, or if any names were spoken during the, erm…”—Luna cleared her throat—“activities. But Phoenix is a big place. The chances we’ll know any of them are small.”

“But we need to find the one who would have the resources to shut Trev down so thoroughly,” Shanti added. “So maybe we can find the killer.”

“So what do we do?” I asked.

“We’ve asked Arthur if he has any face recognition software,” Willow said.

“He does,” Luna said. “And he has already started, but with the sheer number of files on there⁠—”

“There are fifty-seven videos,” Shanti cut in to say.

“He’s got his work cut out for him,” Luna finished.

I looked down at the screen and mumbled, “This is crazy.”

“It’s diabolical,” Willow snapped. “Can you imagine, you meet a guy you think you like. You let him in that way. You give him that. You share that intimacy. You offer that gift to him. And he videotapes you without you knowing and threatens to humiliate you if you don’t give him money?”

No, I couldn’t imagine.

“Internet lasts forever too,” Shanti put in. “You could lose jobs for that kind of shit. I know, if my mother saw anything like that, she’d have a stroke. My father…” She shivered.

Another indication I’d done the right thing to cut my family out of my life.

If this happened to me, I knew my father would be silent. My mother would rave at me about being so stupid. And the whole time, Easton would smirk his superior smirk and file my little peccadillo away so he could bring it up at a later date when it might cause the most pain.

Yeah.

I wasn’t going to mourn them.

Or at least, I wouldn’t do it for long.

There was a knock on the door at that point, so I quickly reached out and slapped the laptop shut.

Shanti shot me a raised-brow look, while Willow’s brow lowered.

But I knew it was Javi at the door, and I did not expect him to take this news well. He was not that guy who would ever consider doing this to a girl.

I mean, I knew they knew this was the blackmail gambit, but having the depth and breadth of it exposed in a cloud folder might make him lose his mind.

Though, I kinda wanted Gabe to see it, just to, you know, test the waters there.

Luna went to answer the door, and I was right. Javi filled it.

Luna tried to play it cool. “Hey, big man. Want a beer?”

Javi’s gaze went to me, the laptop, me again, then Luna. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, nothing,” she said breezily.

“We thought we’d change into our bathing suits and take a dip,” Willow lied.

“Maybe we could get an Oasis Sunday night barbeque going?” Shanti suggested.

“Okay, no.” I stood.

Luna knew what I was thinking and surprisingly didn’t hesitate to get out of the way.

Javi entered.

Luna closed the door.

I took a big breath and laid it out. “Enough with the competition. This has been real for a while but now we know how real it is, and sure, Trev is now very out of commission. But we have to figure this stuff out.” I pointed to the laptop. “We have to find out who those girls are. We have to find out who killed Trev. And we have to find a way to contact those girls and tell them they’re off the hook. Tell them the videos have been deleted forevermore. And tell them they’re free.”

“What girls?” Javi asked, and although his tone was sexy low, it was freakishly scary low too.

“I’m not going to show you because you might lose your mind,” I replied.

“What girls?” Javi repeated.

“Again, I’m not going to show you. I’m just going to say, there are a lot,” I told him.

“Harlow.”

“Javi.”

“Harlow.”

“Javi.”

He came my way, got toe to toe with me and only tipped his chin down to look at me so he was towering over me when he said, “Baby, not gonna ask again. What girls?”

“Just show him,” Luna sighed.

Bah!

I reached around him, opened the laptop and jiggled my finger on the touchpad.

This time, Luna’s password page came up. She bent down to show the screen her face, and then the folder appeared.

Javi’s breath whistled, he sucked it in so fast when he saw the video file icons.

“I take it Kev didn’t share what a massive racket this shit was,” Willow stated angrily.

“No,” Javi said slowly, his attention glued to the laptop screen. “He did not.”

Oh boy.

“We have Arthur running facial recognition on the files,” Shanti informed him.

“Good,” Javi grunted at the screen and looked at her. “I’m out on the barbeque.”

Oh boy!

He turned to me. “Gotta go to the office.” He then turned to Luna. “You’ll get an email of where to copy that shit so we can get Brody’s assistance with tracking down those women.”

Luna nodded.

Javi again looked at the screen.

He did this so long, expressions chasing themselves over his face that shared explicitly he wished he was the one who slit Trev’s throat, so I reached out and caught his jaw in my hand to turn his face my way.

“Honey,” I said.

“That motherfucker,” he said.

“You got that right,” Willow said.

“You do a barbeque, save me some food,” Javi ordered.

I nodded.

He kissed me quickly.

Then he prowled out.

“I’m with you, Lolo,” Willow declared. “The sooner we find out who killed Kev, and the sooner we can tell those women they don’t have to live in fear of their life crashing down around them, the better. I don’t care who wins this anymore. I just want it done.”

I just wanted it done too.

Especially for all those ladies.

What an ordeal.

“Agreed, and Luna, you gotta agree too. I’m so over this shit, it isn’t funny,” Shanti said.

“Oh, I agree,” Luna replied. “We can race the guys on another case. This one needs to be in our rearview. I’m just trying to decide if we should do hamburgers or hotdogs for the spur-of-the-moment Sunday Evening Oasis barbeque.”

“Both,” I said.

“I want barbeque chicken,” Willow said.

Oh yeah.

Barbeque chicken sounded yummy.

“All,” I amended.

“Set up an Instacart, bitch, I’m activating the Oasis phone tree,” Luna replied, while moving to her phone.

I pulled up Word on her computer, instead of Instacart, because I couldn’t do buying groceries without a grocery list.

Willow helped me.

Shanti got on the phone to do her phone tree bit.

And as it went at the Oasis, within fifteen minutes, we had the makings of a party.

TWENTY-SEVEN

“BAD REPUTATION”

(JOAN JETT)

The next morning, while Javi and I were repeatedly bumping into each other in my tiny kitchen while he handled coffee and I made our smoothies (my famous Creamsicle one! Javi’s second favorite), I decided I liked his kitchen better.

It was a whole lot bigger. Plenty of room for Javi’s big, tall body along with mine to move around and do our thing without getting in each other’s way.

I was going to the fridge to put away the almond milk and yogurt, he was coming from the fridge with the creamer, when we slammed into each other, front to front.

Fortunately, this didn’t cause us to be covered in milk and yogurt.

I made a shift to round him but was foiled in this effort when Javi’s arm curved around me, and he hauled me closer.

This almost caused us to be covered in milk and yogurt, but luckily, my reflexes were quick.

I tipped my head back to look at him to see him grinning down at me.

“I can handle all the pink if I get to brush up against you every day makin’ coffee,” he murmured.

Oo.

I liked his way of looking at my tiny kitchen a whole lot better.

I gave him a smile.

He kissed it off my face.

Then he let me go and sorted our coffees.

I put the stuff away in the fridge.

And for the first time, shuffling around it with Javi, I fell in love with my tiny kitchen.

* * *

It happened in the early afternoon.

What we knew at this juncture was, both Brody and Arthur were trying to pull images they could use off the videos in order to attempt facial recognition. I didn’t know all the ins and outs of it, but Javi explained they needed a relatively high resolution, full-face image. They then were going to start with narrowing the search area to Phoenix and its surroundings. After that, the software would run through all sorts of images on the Internet, particularly social media, to see if it could find matches.

This could, we’d been warned, take days.

Or even weeks.

Maybe even months.

No way around it, we had a long wait, and with no other leads, we were hunkered down to find one or start receiving the names of the women we could contact to let them know Trev was out of the picture and the videos were gone. Or, if we lucked out, find the one who could hire people to handle Trev (and alas fail) in an attempt to make her nightmare go away.

Javi still swung by to take me to work that day, because the NI&S bodyguard assignments were still in effect. I loved riding with him, but my guess was, it would begin to be a drag to cut out of what he was doing just to take me to work. Not to mention, we all figured, with the amount of time that had passed since anything happened, the danger was over, so he probably didn’t have to.

However, when it finally happened, we knew it wasn’t.

You see, Willow came in early to bake, so she left early.

And she was leaving.

She was in the staff room, grabbing her stuff from her locker.

Gabe was in the coffee cubby, getting a coffee from Tex.

I was in the kitchen, dumping some spent plates in a busser tub.

That was when I heard Willow scream.

I looked up and saw two besuited men had her and they were struggling with her on a trajectory toward the back door.

“Gabe! Tex! Willow!” I shrieked, dropping the plates with a clatter and racing to the staff room.

Once I got there, I saw they had her out the door.

Therefore, I raced out the door.

One of them was stuffing her terrifyingly lax body in the back of a Mercedes. The other one was getting into the driver’s seat.

So of course, in what was becoming my signature move, I ran and jumped on the back of the one shoving Willow in the Mercedes.

I jerked him away from the door, and the driver shouted, “Just tase her ass!”

Within maybe a second, I was flipped to my back on the asphalt. My breath gushed out of me, and I had exactly a nanosecond to hope the short, flirty skirt of my girlie dress covered my cute panties along with doing a quick scan of my body because I landed hard, before my entire frame sizzled vastly unpleasantly…

I didn’t really know what happened after that because I was out.

* * *

“Can you explain why I have two women in my garage instead of one?” a man asked.

He was about my dad’s age, but still very attractive in a millionaire daddy kind of way. He was also a man I semi-kinda recognized but couldn’t put my finger on it seeing as I’d been abducted, I was zip-tied, achy from landing on my back on the asphalt and sitting in a millionaire daddy’s garage.

Last, he was speaking to the two goons who kidnapped me and Willow.

Yes, I would confirm yet again, we were in a garage.

Yes, the garage was very nice, at least three-car, and it was the cleanest garage I’d ever seen.

No, this didn’t make me want to be there.

Yes, the dude who tased me shoved me in the back of the Mercedes with Willow.

Yes, sometime after they took off with us but before we got ourselves together from being tased, they zip-tied our wrists behind our backs and our ankles together.

No, I didn’t remember much of anything from the start of our abduction, except I heard a couple of gunshots (these being from our car, shots I expected were aimed at Gabe and/or Tex).

No, I didn’t know if those bullets connected with anybody.

Yes, I was totally freaked out about that.

Yes, in a weird way, I was glad Willow wasn’t alone with whatever was going on here.

No, it still totally sucked we’d both been kidnapped.

“She jumped on my back. Aaron told me to tase her,” Goon One said.

Goon Two (or Driver Goon) smacked him upside the head and bit, “Don’t say my name, you moron.”

Goon One didn’t like getting smacked in the head and reared on Goon Two.

Goon Two dodged and kept biting. “I told you to tase her, not shove her in the car.”

Mastermind, or the guy I didn’t know but semi-kinda recognized, sighed loudly and snapped, “Stop it.”

The Two Goons glowered at each other, and this lasted a good long while.

“Stop it!” Mastermind clipped.

The Two Goons kept glowering, just not at each other.

Mastermind looked to me. “I’m sorry they involved you.”

Did he expect me to shrug and say, “Hey, that’s okay”?

I did not.

I glared at him.

“I think you might understand why I’ve gone to these extreme measures,” he said.

“Uh, we don’t even know who you are,” I replied.

He seemed surprised by that. He then seemed annoyed by that. He then seemed to ponder his options regarding that.

And then he came to a decision.

“This is how this is going to go,” he began.

I glanced at Willow.

I didn’t know what I expected to see. Her cowering or crying, maybe. Her looking as terrified as I felt, possibly.

Her looking pissed enough to tear someone’s head off?

No.

“I apologize it’s gotten to this point, but rest assured, I’ll make it worth your while,” Mastermind went on.

“Make what worth our while?” Willow asked, or more like, whipped out at him like a lash.

Dang.

She was so totally an Angel, and more the Raye-Angel variety, and not the Harlow-Angel variety, like I thought.

“This”—he swung a hand out in front of him to indicate us sitting zip-tied on chairs in his garage—“unfortunate turn of events.”

“We’re listening,” I said.

Mastermind nodded. “Trevor Clampitt met my daughter on the Stung dating app about four months ago.”

Well…

There you go.

“When she shared with me what was happening, at first, I tried to handle it in a civilized manner. That, I assure you,” he said.

And we were looking at whoever put together Sun Dial LLC.

Onward from that, considering he was a millionaire daddy, this explained why he could bury that shell company so deep Arthur couldn’t find out who was behind it.

“I’m afraid Mr. Clampitt felt he’d discovered his whale and made acting civilized extremely difficult,” Mastermind continued.

No doubt.

Stupid Trev.

“I sent some associates to try to reason with him,” Mastermind carried on. “Lamentably, this had an unforeseen conclusion.”

“In other words, Trev was thinking ten grand a month wasn’t enough, he should get a raise, and he communicated this to you,” I deduced, and kept right on deducing. “You weren’t feeling that and sent some henchmen to put an end to his shakedown. They got into a physical fight that somehow ended with Trev face down in a pool of his own blood. But somewhere along the line, Trev dumped his laptop and phone so they not only left a dead body, they left empty-handed.”

Mastermind appeared surprised at how much I knew, but he powered through it.

“The final result of that meeting was an accident,” Mastermind asserted. “That was absolutely not what I intended. And we did get his phone. Alas, we didn’t get his laptop.”

So, there was the intel on the location of Trev’s phone.

I suddenly had a theory about that laptop.

That being, the Hottie Squad weren’t only keeping Kev to keep him safe, they were keeping him because they felt he hadn’t told them everything.

And he hadn’t.

Like, when he found out his best bud was very dead, he’d gone to where his best bud had shared he hid the golden goose of his laptop, something that needed to be kept very secure because it was paying Trev’s bills and putting him in a nice Mazda.

Kev, for some braindead reason (or perhaps he thought he’d pick up where Trev’s blackmailing ended), decided that the laptop needed to be taken out of the equation (or put in the hands of someone who could profit from it, namely his), instead of handing it over to the police so maybe they could use it to help them find Trev’s killer.

As such, he grabbed said laptop, then panicked when things got too hot because Mastermind sent his goons after him, so Kev dumped it. Perhaps somewhere he thought he could retrieve it later. But, more’s the pity, Kev being far from a brainiac, if this was the case, he didn’t choose his hidey-hole very well. It was discovered by a homeless person. Somehow, word got ’round about that homeless person’s score, and the Angels looking for a laptop, so Homer got his hands on it and delivered it to Jessie.

The rest, we knew.

I didn’t share my theory.

Though, I didn’t bet, but I’d lay down money it was accurate.

“I think you can guess it’s morally imperative I get my hands on that laptop,” Mastermind remarked.

Did he know we had it?

Or was he just sharing?

Willow and I remained silent.

“Kevin Johanssen, who I believe knows what his friend was up to, might very well know where that laptop is,” Mastermind stated.

So they didn’t know we had the laptop.

I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.

“Did you get into Trev’s phone?” Willow asked.

“I was able to do so, yes,” Mastermind confirmed.

“And how are you going to make kidnapping us worthwhile, Congressman?” Willow asked.

I should have played it cooler, but when she used his title, my head whipped her way.

I then looked at Mastermind.

And holy shmoly!

Yes!

He didn’t represent my district, but I’d seen his face on those hideous campaign signs that choked the metropolitan landscape during the election cycle.

What was his name?

My mind chugged then found it.

Congressman Kieran Mahoney.

Rumor had it, he was looking to jump up to a senate seat. Or possibly eyeing the governor’s mansion.

So, first, he was a father who didn’t want his daughter being blackmailed and living in fear of some jerk-hole making her life a misery.

Second, he was a politically ambitious man who might have his career and future prospects besmirched by his daughter’s sex tape going live.

Third, putting those two together, because he was who he was, that sex tape would spread farther and wider than some average Jane who simply met the wrong dude on a dating app, which would make her life more than a misery.

Fourth, the fact he was who he was, was why we couldn’t get a lock on him, because he didn’t occupy the spaces that the Hottie Squad, Titus or Jinx and her crew normally did.

And last, he could absolutely not have a man’s murder tied to him in any way. Not that anyone could, but this dude had the means and the motive to make sure that didn’t happen.

I felt bad for him, but more for his daughter.

I was also beginning to feel bad for Willow and me, considering the fact we’d been kidnapped by him, and I was guessing a dude who wanted to be governor, and what might come after that, didn’t want two chicks he’d kidnapped strolling around Phoenix wearing cute dresses and drinking cocktails.

Shit.

And yes, this occasion totally demanded cursing.

“I don’t wish for this to get any messier,” Congressman Mahoney said.

Well, that was promising.

“Therefore, I’ll be offering you both thirty thousand dollars in cash in return for that laptop and you both signing an NDA regarding anything that has anything to do with me or this situation. About which, if it ever came to light, I would not only sue you for everything you own, and I’d win, I would vehemently deny it and be forced to share things about you that would expose you both as frauds.”

“What things?” Willow asked.

“There need be no things,” Congressman Mahoney replied. “There are people who would create things you would never, ever live down, but the public would believe them like they were gospel.”

I’d seen Scandal. As such, I so totally believed he could do that.

The good news, what was left of our dead bodies being discovered in a ravine in five years was not on the menu.

Crazy enough, there didn’t seem to be any bad news.

“Alternate deal,” Willow said.

Hang on.

What was she doing?

My mind wasn’t keeping up enough to throw out an “alternate deal.”

Of course, I didn’t think it was right that Trev’s killer didn’t find justice, but I didn’t want this man’s daughter to suffer. The deal he was offering, especially considering it didn’t include what was left of my body, or Willow’s, being discovered in a ravine, seemed like a good deal, even if this was a moral conundrum.

Willow didn’t seem conundrummed.

“I’m listening,” Congressman Mahoney said.

“First, the person who killed Trev, where is he?” Willow demanded.

Congressman Mahoney seemed visibly uncomfortable and at a loss for words.

Being a politician and all, he found his words.

“He’s been neutralized.”

That gave me a little shiver, even if I wasn’t entirely certain what it meant. Though, I suspected it was very bad for the dude who effed up and killed Trevor.

My surprisingly, and awesomely, cool and collected Willow simply nodded and kept at him.

“I want you to go get that phone. I want to watch as you delete all the videos of all the other girls that are on that phone. I will then deliver the laptop to you. The only video on it will be of your daughter so you’ll know you have all that’s to be had. We’ll sign the NDA, because I don’t care about anyone knowing any of this. I only want to assure those women know they no longer live under that cloud. We’ll then go our separate ways. And done.”

Wow!

Go Willow!

That was a much better deal.

I was so glad she wasn’t conundrummed!

Like my girl, I didn’t want his payoff money. I mean, thirty K was a lot. With thirty K, I could maybe get a logo designed and start a website and put in place a whole bunch of other stuff regarding an organizing business. But I didn’t want to get it off the backs of fifty-seven chicks going through hell courtesy of Trev.

And this would mean this whole mess was all over.

Sure, the killer wouldn’t be brought to justice, but my guess was, he already had, just not the lawful kind.

The videos would be dead, because NI&S had them only to find the women, and then they’d be deleted.

We’d find the women, share the videos were deleted…

And like Willow said…

Done.

Congressman Mahoney’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t want money?”

“Listen, you could have just walked right up and talked to me,” Willow said, and the congressman’s eyes got wide. “I hate what Trev did to your daughter. That shit is fucked up. I wouldn’t pick slitting his throat⁠—”

“It wasn’t a slit. It was an accidental puncture,” Mahoney cut in.

“Whatever,” the heretofore unknown bad-A Willow snapped. “Bottom line, there’s nothing we can do about that now. Trev isn’t preying on women anymore. All the videos will be deleted. His victims will be safe and out from under that cloud of worry. Including your daughter. The end.”

Congressman Mahoney took a long pause to consider this.

He then said, “You Avenging Angels are full of surprises.”

Oh my God!

Our reputation had reached the hallowed halls of Congress!

Willow and I exchanged a smug look.

“Cut them loose,” Mahoney ordered.

Goodie!

Let me tell you, zip-ties dug deep.

Goon One came to me and Goon Two went to Willow.

They started with our feet, then our wrists, and we both immediately shook out our arms and rubbed at our skin.

As for me, I took this opportunity to do the body scan I hadn’t been able to accomplish earlier. With some shifting and flexing, I found being thrown over a guy’s shoulder onto the tarmac hurt like a mother at the time, but even if my body shared that it was still coping with the fact that had happened, I was okay.

“Watch them, I’ll get the phone,” Mahoney relayed another order.

The goons kept an eye on us while Mahoney slipped into the house.

Willow and I both decided to stay silent as he did.

When he returned, I said, “One additional thing.”

Mahoney looked suspicious.

“When this is all said and done,” I went on, “you owe the Angels a favor.”

“Good one,” Willow said under her breath.

I fought my smile and assured the congressman, “Just one and done. It might be big. It might be small. But you can’t deny it, whatever it is.”

Mahoney didn’t even hesitate. “Agreed.”

Yay!

I would have high-fived Willow, but I didn’t think that would be good for the Angels’ rep, so I played it cool.

Mahoney brought the phone to Willow and I. We counted the videos as we deleted them from Trev’s phone. Mahoney didn’t tell us which one was his daughter’s, but obviously, he didn’t mind us deleting it, whichever one it was. NDAs were magically produced (not exactly magically, a non-goon-esque dude I assumed was some sort of aide shoved them through the door). We read and signed them.

“I can expect the laptop delivered…?” Mahoney asked leadingly.

“You tell us. It doesn’t matter,” Willow replied.

“We’re just ships passing in the night,” I asserted.

“Until the Angels need that marker paid,” Willow added.

“You haven’t copied those videos anywhere?” Mahoney asked dubiously.

We had, just not anywhere dangerous.

“We’re in the midst of determining who the other women are so we can locate them and assure them those videos no longer exist,” Willow said. “We have the images we need for that, those images are of faces, so they’re not compromising, and once this is done, it’s over. And no,” she lied, “we haven’t copied them anywhere.”

Mahoney looked to me.

I tried to appear innocent, and I knew I nailed it just simply because I was girlie Harlow O’Neill, wearing a cute, flirty dress.

“You can deliver that laptop to me before the end of business hours at my offices on Camelback,” Mahoney said.

“Gotcha,” Willow said. “Now, are you gonna order us an Uber, or what?”

In the end, the goons took us to a Mexican restaurant and dropped us off outside.

But Mahoney did order who was waiting for us there, even if I had my phone in my server apron, and they hadn’t taken it from me (Willow told me hers was on the floor of the staff room at SC).

And Mahoney might have chosen poorly with his henchmen, but he was still a sort of class act.

We knew this because the Uber was a black car SUV, fancy and roomy.

So it was nice to be delivered back to SC after Willow’s and my first kidnappings in luxury.

TWENTY-EIGHT

“SHE”

(HAYLEY KIYOKO)

Obviously, because I knew a ton of people would be worried after our abduction, on the Uber ride back, I texted Javi first, then our group text, to let them know we were good and returning to The Surf Club, and more importantly, to ascertain no one got shot.

Jessie assured me no one did.

I should have suspected what would happen when we arrived, but it still surprised me.

This being all the Angels, the entire Hottie Squad, the Rock Chicks, Tex and Tito in a massive huddle next to Lucia’s herb garden in the back parking lot.

The NI&S’s black Denalis were everywhere, each one of them pointed in a way it’d be easy to roll out.

Oh, and when Javi turned in our direction, I noted immediately he looked homicidal, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t share that Gabe wore the exact same expression.

I couldn’t jump out of the Uber because Javi’s big body was in my way. He was standing in the open door before I could even put my hand on the handle.

In fact, I didn’t jump out of the Uber at all.

I’d undone my seatbelt, so Javi just lifted me out even as the Uber guy shouted an alarmed, “Hey! What are you doing?”

I was deposited in the back of a Denali.

Willow, carried by a granite-faced Gabe, also like she’d lost the ability to ambulate, was set beside me.

Um.

What was going on?

Javi angled into the driver’s seat, Gabe in the passenger seat, it appeared like Mace was calming the Uber driver down (he was out of his car making a fuss), and Javi took off with us.

“Where are we going?” I asked as I belted up.

“Offices,” Javi grunted.

“Why—?” I started.

“Baby, please, I beg you, don’t talk right now,” Javi said in a low rumble.

I went silent because, okay, I’d give him that.

If he was kidnapped, and someone in the mess we were in got his throat slit (or punctured, whatever), and I didn’t know where he was for a couple of hours, I would also be struggling with controlling my emotions, even when he came back safe.

Willow and I exchanged a glance and stayed quiet all the way to the Nightingale Investigations and Security offices downtown.

We also stayed quiet after the guys let us out of the car in their underground parking and led us up to the offices.

The minute Javi escorted us through the door, we didn’t even get a chance to look around. We were set upon by two women.

One was Shirleen.

The other was a slight, petite, older woman with a helmet head of dyed russet-red hair and cat’s-eye eyeglasses on her nose that looked like they came from the actual fifties (as such, not to be the fashion police while still being the fashion police, they were not at all retro cool). She was wearing unflattering women’s business clothes, including a navy A-lined skirt that hit her just below her knee, a matching boxy blazer, an uninspired shell in the equally uninspired shade of cream and a string of pearls.

Alternatively, Shirleen was in an ivory sleeveless dress that had a wraparound skirt with interesting detailing at the side of her waist and a semi-flirty-but-still-appropriate-for-the-office slit. She’d paired this with a beautiful gold cuff at her wrist, and on her feet, four-inch patent leather pumps in a color reminiscent of the finest milk chocolate that had a kick-A, burnished gold snake on the toe.

In other words, two more polar opposites there never were.

“I got them,” the woman said.

Shirleen shouldered her out of the way. “No, I got ’em.”

The older woman planted her hands on her hips and stated snootily, “Witness relations in this branch are under my job description.”

Shirleen pointed at me. “Is she organizing your closet this weekend?”

“No,” the woman hmphed.

“So these are my girls,” Shirleen returned. “That means I got them.” She started herding us. “Come with me, ladies.”

With the forebodingly silent Javi and Gabe exuding very bad vibes following us, we were taken into what had to be the inner sanctuary.

This was behind a keypad locked door that was nearly invisible in the posh wood paneling. Once in the back hallway that had more posh wood paneling and a ton of doorways off it, many with their own keypads, we were escorted to a swish conference room. This room had lots of gleaming wood (walls and furniture), attractive wall art done up in Arizona desert style, and fancy, comfortable-looking swivel chairs sporting super attractive cognac leather.

“This is rad,” Willow whispered. “But I still like our Headquarters better.”

“Samesies,” I replied.

Shirleen set us both in chairs and asked, “You want coffee?”

“Or tea?” the other woman butted in, and it didn’t take a genius to deduce this woman was Marjorie.

I also knew from what Javi told me that the guys lived with this battle in some way or another every day in the office.

I sensed they gave it a wide berth because it was getting on their nerves.

But I thought it was kind of cute.

“Water?” Shirleen went on.

“Or Perrier?” Marjorie offered.

“Vodka?” Shirleen continued.

“It is against protocol to offer alcoholic beverages to witnesses,” Marjorie snapped.

Shirleen glared at her. “They aren’t witnesses. They’re victims.”

“We aren’t victims. We solved the case,” Willow said.

Everyone looked at us.

“Hold,” Javi grunted.

“Until the others get here,” Gabe rumbled.

Good plan. We didn’t want to have to repeat our story to everyone.

“Actually, I could use a Perrier,” I said.

“I’ll get it!” Marjorie almost shouted.

Shirleen didn’t horn in on that.

Marjorie bustled out of the room.

I looked to Javi. “I’m fine, honey.”

He appeared no less homicidal.

“Really,” I asserted.

And…

Nope.

He still looked like he wanted to murder somebody.

I fell silent.

Marjorie showed with our Perriers. The sparkling water was in a tall, thin, blemishless glass that had cool glass straws and a slice of lime in them.

Total class, NI&S was.

We were sipping when the others arrived.

The others being everybody.

NI&S had a big conference room, but with everyone there, we were packed in like sardines.

Mace, being the Big Kahuna, started it.

“First, are you both all right?” he asked.

Aw.

He was so sweet.

“We’re fine,” I said again, and then looked among the Angels. “And we kind of got kidnapped into solving the case.”

All the women’s faces brightened, even the Rock Chicks.

This news didn’t alter the expressions of the men in the slightest, though I didn’t think that was about us winning and solving the case. It was about Willow and me being kidnapped and they were clearly amassing to send a team out to come and get us.

Mace sat in a swivel chair, put a forearm to the table, leaned back, radiated total bad-A hotness and ordered, “Share.”

We’d signed NDAs.

Still, we shared.

Everything.

“To end,” Willow said after we tag-teamed the rundown, “I have to deliver the laptop to Congressman Mahoney’s office by the end of the day.”

“You will not be doing that,” Mace returned.

“Uh, we signed an NDA,” I pointed out. “If someone else does it, he might sue us for all we’re worth. I’m not worth much, but I’d like to keep what I have.”

“You. Are not. Delivering. That laptop. To the congressman,” Mace stated ominously.

I pressed my lips together.

“I will personally explain to Congressman Mahoney that he can be assured of our discretion,” Mace continued.

I had no doubt he’d communicate just that.

And probably more.

Like, say, sharing with Congressman Mahoney that if he or any of his henchmen got anywhere near an Angel again, they’d be dealing with the Hottie Squad.

I reckoned this message coming from Mace would be read loud and clear, even by a United States Congressman.

I was okay with them delivering the laptop. I’d had enough excitement for one day.

Mace looked over his shoulder at Raye. “Who has the laptop?”

“I do,” Luna replied.

“I’ll take her to get it,” Knox said immediately.

Awesome!

Luna shot him a filthy look.

It pinged off Knox entirely.

“Let’s go,” he said.

Luna looked like she’d argue, then she trudged out like she was being led to the plank she was going to be forced to walk.

Knox followed her, scowling at the back of her head (so maybe her filthy look did land, though, that scowl on his handsome face, um…someone give me a fan).

I totally got why they didn’t go there (boy, did I).

It still made me sad.

“Who’s looking after SC?” Willow asked.

“Tito called Joey and Gemma in,” Shanti answered. “Dream’s coming in later after the kids she’s watching get picked up and she drops the kids at Scott and Louise’s.”

Weird.

I never thought I’d think this, but it seemed having Dream on the team was going to be useful.

“But for now, Byron’s helping,” Raye added.

Hmm.

It also seemed like, when you spent every weekday at a killer coffee and cocktail emporium, you soaked in the lay of the land.

I hoped that meant they could finish out my shift. I always needed the tips. Now more than ever with this doubling up business between Javi and my pads. But being tased and kidnapped took it out of a girl.

Not to mention, I was wrong earlier. Now that the drama was over, the aches and pains of being flipped over some dude’s shoulder and landing hard were making themselves known. My body was kind of achy, so I needed a bubble bath ASAP.

“Their kidnappings are a lot less dramatic than ours were,” Roxie noted.

“I know,” Indy replied. “I’m kind of jealous.”

Annette took a seat at the conference table and declared, “I’m totally opening Head South.” She looked at me. “Can I be an Angel?”

I liked Annette. She was funny and sweet and all in for a good time.

However…

“We don’t pick the Angels, Arthur does,” Raye told her.

“Bummer,” Annette muttered. She turned to Roxie and pouted, “I never got kidnapped.”

Roxie patted her shoulder like she was consoling her.

I sipped Perrier and turned to Javi. “I don’t want to break up the party, but after all of that, I kinda need a bubble bath.”

I barely finished my last word before my Perrier was on the lustrous conference table (without a coaster!), my hand was in Javi’s, and he was dragging me to the door.

“Bye Angels!” I waved behind me. “And Rock Chicks! And Hottie Squad! And Tito and Tex!”

The last ones I had to shout from the hall.

I waited to speak all the way until Javi started to bend to pick me up to put me in the front seat of a Denali.

“Honey, stop,” I urged, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He straightened and scowled down at me.

I got up on tiptoe and cupped his face in my hands.

“I can climb into a car. I can climb out of it. Was what happened fun? No. Did it have a good ending? Yes.” I pressed against him. “I’m fine. Willow’s fine. The case is solved. It’s all good. You can stop being pissed and worried.”

“We have cameras outside SC,” he stated.

Oh boy.

“I saw the footage,” he continued.

Oh no.

“I saw him flip you. I saw you land hard. I saw him tase you. And I saw him shove you in the back of a car,” Javi carried on.

Yikes.

“Honey,”—I stroked his cheek—“I’m fine. Yes, I could use a bubble bath and some Tylenol. But I promise you, I’m good.”

“Life turns to shit,” he growled.

Oh, my poor guy.

“That was before.” I smiled brightly. “Now, even though there might be clouds to darken some days, you have to remember, you live in sunshine.”

He growled again, this time there were no words. He did this before his arms closed around me, and he kissed me.

It was a good one. Then again, they all were.

And when he was done, my man seemed in a much better mood.

“Let’s go home,” I requested.

Javi bent and nuzzled my earlobe with his nose (another new thing, and…nice!).

And his lips quirked as he picked me up and put me in the Denali.

Okay, so, if he wanted to cart me around, it made me feel delicate and pretty, I wasn’t going to argue.

Javi got in beside me.

And we went home.

TWENTY-NINE

“INVINCIBLE”

(KELLY CLARKSON)

Four Months Later…

It was a Saturday.

We were at Angels Headquarters, all lazed in our curved couch.

And Raye’s burner phone was on the desk in front of us, the speaker enabled, and Raye was talking.

“So, I can’t tell you who I am, or how I know,” she was saying. “What I can tell you is that video has been deleted. It doesn’t exist. It’s gone. I can assure you of that.” Raye paused and then said, “You’re free.”

There was a moment of silence, then a hiccoughing sob.

This was the last woman who Brody found. Between him and Arthur, they’d been at it for months, but they didn’t give up. Not until the very last woman had been found.

It took longer for this last one because they had to widen the search. She’d apparently run into Trev during a vacation to Phoenix from her home in Toronto.

We’d heard a lot of hiccoughing sobs (and other verbal responses) over the months.

Precisely fifty-six of them.

I was glad this was the last one.

Allow me to sum up:

Let’s hark back to the Sunday after I got to work on my first paid organization gig (and yes, the organization of Shirleen and Moses’s condo was a massive mountain I had to climb, one could say Shirleen really liked shoes…and handbags…and fingernail polish…and fancy Tupperware, I could go on—but I was there for it).

Javi and I drove up to Flagstaff.

We did this to visit his mom.

I was nervous for the first hour of the drive, until Javi took my hand, squeezed it and said, “Babe, she’s so doped up, she isn’t even going to remember me. You don’t have to be worried about making a good impression.”

This gutted me.

Though, it made me less nervous.

It turned out, he was right.

When we got to the facility, and were shown to a social room, Javi led me to a beautiful woman who was vaguely shifting pieces of a puzzle around on the table. When we arrived at her side, she looked up at him like she didn’t know who he was.

It was absolutely heartbreaking.

Since she looked like she also didn’t know where she was or that anything was happening around her so it stood to reason she wouldn’t recognize her own son, that made it a little less heartbreaking.

But only a very little.

I marveled at how easily Javi took a seat close to her, held her hand, introduced me as his girlfriend, said, “It’s very serious, Ma,” (gah! he was the best!) and generally filled her in on his life, our lives together and other chitchat like she could comprehend what he was saying.

I mean, honestly.

If I didn’t completely and totally love him before (who was I kidding about “falling,” I was head over heels for the guy), that did it.

She smiled at him benignly, like she was humoring him, all while he talked.

He obviously had practice with this and acted just like a son would when catching his mom up on his life.

I was me (and it was actually a shock it took as long as it did to happen, but I managed to hold it together), and it wasn’t until Javi closed his door after helping me in, then angling into the truck himself, before I lost it and burst into tears.

Javi pulled me across the console and into his lap to hold me while I did it.

“I-I’m s-sorry!” I blubbered. “This isn’t about m-me.”

“It’s rough, baby,” he murmured. “Especially at first. But you get used to it.”

I didn’t want to get used to it.

I wanted a miracle to happen and for Javi’s mom to be a mom to Javi and a woman in her own right, living her life to its fullest.

But that was a miracle that would never happen.

I nodded, sniffled and pulled myself together.

Once I accomplished this, I said, “She’s really beautiful.”

His smile was soft. “Yeah, she is.”

“And she seems peaceful,” I noted.

“That’s how you learn to get used to it,” he explained.

With all he’d said about their lives on the street, I knew that was all he wanted for her. Therefore, I could rest in the knowledge he finally had that, and so did she, and maybe I wouldn’t be such a crybaby the next time we came to see her (by the by, Javi drove up pretty often, and I vowed right then and there, sitting in his lap, he’d never do it alone again—and he didn’t).

“Wait for me here,” he said. “Just gotta do something real quick.”

I nodded again.

He put me back in my seat, got out and jogged back into the hospital.

He wasn’t gone for long.

He set us on our way, saying, “We’ll hit a drive-thru on the way home for dinner.”

Flagstaff wasn’t a million miles away, only a two-and-a-half-hour drive. But going there and back in one day was a lot.

Even with that, I could see why he wouldn’t want to hang around Flag for a sit-down dinner just to experience the cool vibe of the town, and instead, get out of there and head home. And I was oh-so-totally leaning into that play.

I suggested Freddy’s, which was neck and neck with Culver’s for me—they both had frozen custard, but Freddy’s had better fries (shoestring!), and Culver’s had cheese curds (you could see why it was a tossup).

Then I asked, “What did you go back in for? Did you forget something?”

Javi didn’t immediately answer.

I took this for the sign it was and turned to him, concerned.

“Javi?”

“I asked if Ma had more visitors.”

Oh dear.

“Does she?” I whispered.

“Atherton comes up every two weeks.”

Oh God.

“Let me guess, it’s not to be absolutely certain the bill is paid,” I said hesitantly.

“No,” Javi grunted.

Eek.

“They told me he sits with her, sometimes for hours,” Javi said.

Oh God!

“That isn’t about me,” he stated.

“It isn’t,” I carefully agreed.

It seemed the man did love her, or at the very least cared for her deeply.

Whether it was because she was his son’s mother, or just because she was Ximena, we might never know.

Whatever it was, it was sweet.

I wondered if Julia and Cath knew about this. Though, I wondered, unless they shared they did, we wouldn’t know, since that was definitely Atherton’s to give them if he wished to.

“Fuck me,” Javi muttered.

“Your decision. Your peace of mind,” I reminded him.

“Yeah, baby,” he agreed.

I pushed across the cab to kiss his jaw.

When I sat back, he was looking at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Proudest day of my life, introducing my ma to you.”

Oh em gee!

He was the greatest!

I pushed forward that time to kiss his jaw a lot harder, I added a touch of my tongue and my hand squeezing really high up on his hard thigh.

This commenced Javi pulling over so we could make out.

Sadly, that had to end.

Not sadly, when it did, Javi guided us to Freddy’s.

Javi reported the NI&S boys cut Kev loose a few days after Trev’s case was solved.

He also shared that they’d had a few more words with him in those few days, and I was correct with where my deductive powers led me.

Kevin not only knew what was on that laptop, Kevin knew where Trevor hid the laptop.

Kevin had then hid it. However, he hadn’t expected anyone to find where he did. This was because he intended to go back and get it.

Kevin had lied about saying he thought Trev deleted the videos, he knew he did not.

And Kevin had guarded this intel carefully, even under interrogation by the Hottie Squad, because he was such a lamebrain, his bestest bestie gets dead in all that crazy, he didn’t take this as the cautionary note it was. Instead, he saw his opening for an easy life filled with new Mazdas and his rent paid without actually having to hold down a job or exerting any effort in conning chicks on dating apps so he could filch their wallets or designer bags.

Yeah.

He was going to pick up the blackmailing scheme where Trevor left off.

Thank God my bestest besties were a whole heckuva lot better than Kevin Johanssen was to Trevor Clampitt.

Seriously.

Kevin also was, as Javi told me, on Congressman Mahoney’s radar, considering Mace had made his own deal with Mahoney.

Therefore, once Kevin was released by the Hottie Squad, he disappeared.

He wasn’t missed.

Sometimes I wondered what became of him.

But, although it might make me a bad person, at the end of the day, I didn’t really care.

Willow did.

Not that she wanted him back or even wanted to see him or anything.

She was just pretty messed up about the whole Kev/Trev thing.

I totally got that.

That was what every shyster counted on. That you’d feel like a fool because he duped you. That you would somehow think it was your fault. That you would question again and again how you could be so stupid, when you weren’t. You were just a person who believed another person, not having any idea that other person was hiding the asshole within (again, totally worth the curse word).

And man, she felt like a fool.

The Angels were all over trying to help her move on from that.

Who was not, was Gabe.

This pissed me off, since it was clear he was totally into her.

But I was already pissed off because Knox was dating someone.

And that someone was not Luna.

Luna tried to hide it, but she wasn’t handling Knox’s new girlfriend very well.

After I ranted about both Gabe and Knox being two big doo-doo heads one morning during our smoothie/coffee dance at my place, Javi grabbed hold of me and held me close.

“First, ‘doo-doo heads’?” he asked, sounding like he was trying really hard not to lose it laughing.

“Big jerks isn’t enough,” I snapped. “Neither is colossal cretins, outlandish oafs or insane idiots.”

“How about moronic motherfuckers?” Javi suggested, still sounding like he was about to bust a gut laughing.

“Javi,” I warned.

He gave me a gentle shake and reminded me, “Neither of those women were giving them an in.”

This was disappointingly true.

Gah!

“And I don’t think they’re like you, lil’ mama,” he continued. “They’re not hanging around waiting for the guy to make the first move.”

They weren’t.

Well, maybe Willow a little, but she could lay down a good come-hither stare. I’d seen her.

That did not happen with Gabe.

In fact, she acted like he had some plague, which obviously didn’t sit well with Gabe (or any of us, if I was being honest—though, at least the Angels understood her once-bitten, twelve-thousand-times shy attitude to guys now).

On the other hand, I’d seen Luna walk right up to a dude and ask for his phone number before she even asked his name.

“What you’re saying is, it takes two to tango,” I said to Javi.

“Yeah. If there aren’t two who are up for the dance, no one gets to tango,” Javi replied.

My shoulders drooped.

He pressed a hard kiss on my lips and said, “One thing I know, shit shakes out like it should.”

I saw the look in his eye. That look said we shook out like we should.

And it made me feel totally better (for then, what could I say? I wanted all my girls to have it as good as I did).

So I grinned at him.

He kissed that too.

The goons who Cap, Gabe, Titus and Titus’s “army” subdued?

Javi didn’t share what became of them.

The Angels spent a lot of time conjecturing, and in the end guessed they were bargaining chips Mace used to make sure we didn’t have trouble with the Congressman.

But since Cap nor Eric shared with Raye or Jess either, in the end, we’d never know exactly what happened with them.

It was kind of hot that our men were a hint of a mystery.

Especially mine.

Plans were in full swing for Jacob and Alexis’s wedding.

They’d moved into the two-bedroom unit.

And get this, Joey and Gemma had moved into the two units that had opened up.

At first, since this same thing had happened with Luna, Jessie and me, we all braced for new Angels to be added to our ranks.

But nothing came of it.

So maybe they were just the next ones up on the waiting list.

Though, it was really nice having them a lot closer and getting to know them better, because they were awesome.

And we knew Joey and Gemma weren’t going to be added to the ranks because we had a couple of cases since solving Trev’s blackmail/murder situation.

One was tracking down some numbskull who kept stealing money from ladies of the evening.

Obviously, this wasn’t something that those girls could report to the cops.

But Jinx reported it to us.

It took us a couple of weeks of very late nights and some undercover work that Javi, Cap and Eric put their feet down that me, Raye and Jessie were not going to do (so we were surveillance while Luna and Shanti did it).

I was glad I didn’t have to pretend to be a sex worker.

Not that the Angels went “all the way” or anything, because we had a description of the guy, and they just waved any potential customers who didn’t look like him on their way.

Just that their outfits weren’t very cute.

In the end, we found him and it was Luna who got the gross dick pic that led to us convincing him it was in his best interests to repay what he stole (and then some).

I wouldn’t call it extortion, as such.

I preferred to call it justice.

The other one was dealing with some bully at work that was making life hell for some chick that Titus knew.

This was trickier.

And a bit skeevier because we had to do surveillance that felt a tad like stalking.

But since this woman was a total pain in the butt to pretty much anyone she encountered, once we got some video footage of her being an absolute bitch to the staff at an In and Out Burger, and we approached to share it’d be all over TikTok, and until the uproar died down, she’d understand the full meaning of bullied and might even lose her job, that situation was sorted.

Other than that, we just hung at the Headquarters because it was cool.

Not to mention, Arthur kept the beverage fridge stocked, and at our request, had added killer glasses and fun pink glass straws.

The couch was super comfy to watch movies in when our boys were off doing something else.

Just sayin’.

There was nothing to report regarding Jinx and her accountant.

He was still visiting her. He was still bringing her gifts. She still thought he was doing it to make him feel less dirty about being with a sex worker.

But we knew better.

At Javi’s request, it was me who set up his first meeting with Julia and Cath.

And at his further request, I went with.

They held up their part of the bargain and didn’t mention Austin or even allude to him.

And I was not surprised in the slightest that Javi had them eating out of his hand within fifteen minutes.

What was surprising was, when we were in his truck and leaving, Javi saying, “I’m gonna have a sit-down with Atherton.”

I had no words to say to argue.

It was his choice.

I wasn’t sure it was the right one, then again, Javi didn’t have any right ones (and that was Austin’s fault too).

Though I did say, “You’re not doing it without me there.”

“Babe—”

I crossed my arms on my chest and told the windshield. “Not gonna happen.”

He chuckled.

In the ensuing time, even though Javi had several meets with his sisters, sometimes both of them, or one or the other, and sometimes even without me (one could say Javi was digging on having siblings), and they texted each other often, he didn’t mention his dad again.

He even met Patrick, and I was definitely there then.

But Patrick was what we were expecting him to be—a complete jerk—though this was heightened when he took in all that was Javi, his insecurity came to the fore, and so did his douchebaggery.

In other words, there wasn’t a repeat of that, and we weren’t the only ones who decreed this. Julie and Cath laid down that law too by laying into Patrick right in front of Javi and me.

I knew extending an olive branch to his dad was on Javi’s mind.

I knew he’d share or talk with me if he needed to, because that was what we did, that was who we were (and it was awesome).

But I also knew Javi had made a decision, and so it was going to happen.

I was just glad he was taking his time and deciding when it was right for him.

And that was all I needed to know.

On the other hand, my family situation was surprisingly a lot messier.

Easton had shared about my no contact thing, and neither Mom nor Dad took it very well.

Since I’d blocked them both, Javi and I got an early Saturday morning buzz at the gate when we were at my place the weekend after I started my organizing thing with Shirleen and we visited Javi’s mom.

Javi answered the buzzer.

When Javi heard who was there, he told them to go fuck themselves.

I, on the other hand, went to the gate to finish things.

Javi dogged my heels.

Mom was a bitch.

Dad was a wreck.

I reiterated my stance.

Mom pitched a fit.

Dad looked like he was going to cry.

Javi slammed the gate on them as he guided me away.

Bottom line?

I unblocked Dad, and about once a month I had a stilted, uncomfortable brunch or lunch with him that Javi insisted on attending with me.

Mom and Easton, though, were out.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, at our last lunch, Dad shared he and Mom were getting a divorce.

I could tell it was bothering him.

But I was glad he, too, would soon be free.

Just like me.

I couldn’t block Easton from my email, and he sent me one, sharing his sentiments that I was solely to blame for our parents’ breakup, adding that Mom agreed.

Although this annoyed me, since this kind of thing was standard practice in the O’Neill family, that was only mildly.

It didn’t mildly annoy Javi.

He went to visit Easton at his office.

I didn’t get any more emails after that.

Just in case you were wondering, although Javi and Dad didn’t have the best first meeting-of-the-new-boyfriend in history, Dad liked Javi.

Then again, who wouldn’t like that their daughter found themselves a protective, doting, smart, financially-secure man to fall in love with?

Dad sure didn’t.

So that about summed things up.

Except to say…

Javi and I worked our two-place thing just as well as Eric and Jessie did.

His armchair arrived, and it was rad.

He bought a rug (with my input, but he totally had opinions, and in the end, it was his pick), and it perfectly pulled the room together.

His kitchen not only had the blender, the toaster, and the coffeemaker, it also had a sleek black pot filled with utensils (because we liked to cook together, and even though his kitchen was bigger, Javi found ways to bump up against me when we did). And he spent more money on a block of knives (times two, since he wanted the same at my place) than I ever knew you could spend on knives.

And his new dresser and nightstands were arriving in a week.

We had a slight hiccup when we went shopping for my new yoga mat and exercise paraphernalia, and Javi thought he could pay. I had to take him aside so the lady at the register didn’t have to listen to us bickering, it got so bad.

But in the end, this time, I won.

It seemed I didn’t have to have my How to Deal with An Alpha lessons.

Javi and I were doing just fine.

Most importantly, the Big Thing happened like this:

“You’re the best!”

“No, you’re the best!”

“No, you are!”

“No, you are!”

“Neither of you are!” Martha entered this shouting match Alexis and I were drunkenly having across the courtyard after we’d had a foursome date during which Alexis and I had imbibed copiously. “Now, shaddup!”

At this juncture, Jacob threw Alexis over his shoulder and walked her into their new pad.

And since I was standing just outside our door, Javi picked me up under my arms, pivoted, deposited me in the apartment, turned, closed and locked the door.

When he turned back, I attacked the fly on his jeans.

“Baby,” he rumbled, his voice shaking with laughter.

I tucked the tip of my tongue into the side of my mouth as I concentrated.

“Baby.” This time, that word was swallowed up by his laughter.

Ugh!

His zipper was being so difficult!

I gave up on his fly and threw myself at him.

He caught me by picking me up with two hands on my ass (therefore I wrapped four limbs around his body), and he carried me to the bedroom as I rained kisses all over his face, neck and throat.

We went down on the bed, me on my back, Javi on me.

So I rolled him and pulled at his T-shirt.

Javi took over with his tee so I switched targets to attempt to wrangle his fly again.

“Mi pequeña, you can slow down. I’m not going anywhere,” Javi said.

I sat up straight and stared down at my guy and his gorgeous face and his magnificent chest on my pink velvet comforter, thinking about how he was a man who could be cool with my dad and who could consider a sit-down with his dad. Thinking about how he handled the burgeoning relationships with his sisters with such natural care. About how he had the strength, compassion and love to act like his mom was any normal mom, when she tragically was not. About how he treated his non-blood-but-still-bonded brothers and how he was great with my non-blood-but-still-bonded sisters.

Last, I thought about how he was so incredibly beautiful to me. How he was the key to unlock the door I would walk through to leave the angst and self-doubt behind and be safe to be just me.

So of course I blurted, “I stopped falling for you a while ago, Javier Montoya. It’s official. I’m in love with you.”

When I said these words, his face changed.

His demeanor changed.

Our positions changed.

And approximately five seconds later, my hands held over my head in both of his, the flirty skirt of my cutesy dress bunched at my waist, my panties definitely a write off since Javi ripped them off me (literally) and Javi’s jeans pulled over his ass, he was fucking me hard when he demanded, “Again.”

“I’m in love with you,” I panted.

Javi fucked me harder.

God!

I came with a loud cry of his name.

Javi came with a long groan.

It was after, when he was still hard inside me, my breath had not regulated, neither had his, with his lips against the skin of my neck, he said, “I love you too, lil’ mama.”

My eyes fell closed as that washed over me.

So, you see, in the end, I got my Rock Chick story, it was just that it was an Avenging Angels story.

And like all the rest of them, it was epic.

The final tidbits:

Javi and I were planning a vacation to Nicaragua so he could finally meet his grandparents.

Joey and Gemma were in their units, their moves helped by the Angels and the Hottie Squad.

The only big news was, since NI&S was going great guns in Phoenix, the Hottie Squad had two new Hotties.

One was named Shaw Drake, the other Landon Cage, and they were both former-military buds of Cap and Knox.

And yes, they too put the hot in hottie.

It was kind of unfair since I’d gotten used to looking at them all without my retinas being in danger of burning out due to their hotness.

Now, with two additions, I was back to square one.

But since the hottest of the hot lay his head down on the pillow beside mine every night, and woke up beside me every day, I was oh-so-completely-and-totally good.

Summer was blazing in the Valley of the Sun, as usual.

The Oasis swung with the weather punches, also as usual, and we didn’t let the heat beat us down (in other words, lots and lots of pool parties).

But now, we were hitting autumn, so the temperatures were cooling.

We’d still have lots of parties.

Bottom line?

Life was awesome!

And now it was even better, the last girl in Trev’s web o’ treachery being off the hook.

We could draw a line under that.

It was a relief.

I sipped my Fresca through my pink straw on this happy thought.

The speaker on the desk sounded with Morgan Freeman’s voice, making us all jump.

“Well done, Angels,” he said.

Arthur was a total mystery.

But I loved it when he shared he was proud of us.

“One more thing,” the speaker said.

Uh-oh.

We all looked at each other.

Nothing came from the speaker.

“Delivery?” someone called from the open door to the unit.

We turned around to see a man in a familiar brown delivery driver’s uniform, his van parked beyond him.

He was balancing two very specifically-shaped wooden crates on their sides.

“Can someone sign for these?” he asked.

We all got up and headed his way.

Raye signed for them.

Jessie, Shanti, Willow and I dragged them in.

Luna went to the desk to get something to pry open the crates.

The delivery driver took off.

We pried open the crates and pulled away all the protective packing.

And there were two new Andy Warhol-esque paintings to add to our walls.

One was of Joey.

The other was Gemma.

“Oh my God, Arthur is totally Dreamweaver,” Luna stated.

After Luna, Jessie, me and Willow (Shanti already lived there) had all scored units at the Oasis once this Angels business started, this new thing with Joey and Gemma meant it would be beyond a coincidence if he was not also our landlord.

The burner phone we left on the desk at the front trilled.

Raye went to it while we all moved the paintings to lean them against the walls and tidied up all the packing stuff to throw away at the Oasis.

“Uh, Angels?” Raye called.

We looked her way.

I knew that look on her face.

I hadn’t seen it often, but I knew it.

I grinned.

Luna grinned.

Jessie grinned.

Shanti grinned.

Willow sighed.

Then she grinned.

And Raye made it official.

“We have a case.”

The End

The Angels Will Return in…

Avenging Angels: Bad Medicine

CAST OF CHARACTERS

AVENGING ANGELS SERIES

Avenging Angels

Rachel “Raye” Armstrong

Willow Knightley

Luna Nelson

Harlow O’Neill

Shanti Winston

Jessica “Jessie” “Jess” Wylde

Soon-to-Be Angels:

Gemma

Joey

Clarice Davis

“Arthur”

Hottie Squad

Phoenix Branch: Nightingale Investigations & Security

Knox Chambers

Brady Houston

Julien “Cap” Jackson

Roman “Roam” Jackson

Gabriel “Gabe” Stark

Liam Clark Tucker

Eric Turner

Jeff “Easy” Wylde (also Jessie’s brother)

Cody

New Members of the Team:

Landon Cage

Shaw Drake

OG Rock Chicks

(In order of Rock Chick books)

India “Indy” Savage Nightingale – owner, Fortnum’s bookstore (Denver)

Jet McAlister Chavez – barista, Fortnum’s bookstore

Roxanne “Roxie” Logan Nightingale – self-employed website designer

Juliet “Jules” “Law” Lawler Crowe – social worker, King’s Shelter (Denver)

Ava Barlow Stark – self-employed graphics designer

Stella Gunn – world-renowned rock star

Sadie Townsend Chavez – owner, “Art,” a gallery

Alison “Ally” Nightingale Zano – Owner/Partner, Private Investigator - Rock Chick Investigations

Daisy Sloan – Owner/Partner, Office Manager - Rock Chick Investigations

Shirleen Richardson – Partner, Nightingale Investigations & Security, ex-Office Manager Denver Branch (by end of Avenging Angel)

Malia Clark Tucker – Paralegal

OG Hot Bunch

(In order of Rock Chick books)

Liam “Lee” Nightingale – Partner, Nightingale Investigations & Security, Managing Partner Denver Branch

Eddie Chavez – Denver Police Detective

Hank Nightingale – Denver Police Detective

Vance Crowe – Partner, Nightingale Investigations & Security

Luke Stark – Partner, Nightingale Investigations & Security

Kai “Mace” Mason – Partner, Nightingale Investigations & Security, Managing Partner Phoenix Branch

Hector Chavez – Partner, Nightingale Investigations & Security

Lorenzo “Ren” Zano - Businessman

Marcus Sloan – Businessman

Moses Richardson – Corrections Officer, Juvenile Detention (Denver)

Darius Tucker – Partner, Nightingale Investigations & Security, Managing Partner Los Angeles Branch

Luna’s Family

Dream Nelson

children: Dusk, Feather and Harmony

Louise Nelson

Scott Nelson

Javi’s Family

Ximena Montoya

Austin Atherton

Ex-wife - Tiffany

Catherine Atherton

Julia Atherton

Patrick Atherton

Informants

Betsy and Cristina “Bambi” Markovic

Cameo

Divinity

Genesis

Jinx

Lotus

Persia

Mr. Shithead (Mr. Stupidhead)

Skyla

Titus

Oasis Square Residents

Alexis

Bill and Zach

Jacob Brewer

Jenn

Linda

Martha

Patsy

Rhea

Sally

Phoenix Police Chief

Jorge Alvarez

Jayden

The Surf Club

Tito – Owner

Byron – Regular

Hunter – Staff/Barista

Lucia – Head Chef – husband: Mario

Otis – Staff/Barista

Tex MacMillan – Guest Barista, wife: Nancy

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As you can see, we’re expanding the AA/HS universe with Shaw and Landon (if you know, you know), Joey and Gemma.

In order to insure I had kickass names for two heroines in this series, I turned to my Chicklets on Facebook.

So I need to shout out Hillary Jarman, who came up with the name Joey, and Gemma Coleman who unsurprisingly suggested Gemma. HA!

Thank you, chickies!

And as ever, I’ll extend my gratitude and love to the following who work so hard behind the scenes to make my books all they can be and go as far as they can go.

Kelly Brown

Kimberly Callahan

Marybarb Galeziewski

Tanaka Kangara

Amanda Simpson

Emily Sylvan Kim

Stacey Tardif

Grace Wenk

NEWSLETTER

Would you like advanced notification about Upcoming Releases? Access to exclusive content? Access to exclusive giveaways? The first to see a new cover reveal? Sign up for my newsletter to keep up-to-date with the latest from Kristen Ashley!

NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kristen Ashley is the New York Times bestselling author of over eighty romance novels including the Rock Chick, Colorado Mountain, Dream Man, Chaos, Unfinished Heroes, The ’Burg, Magdalene, Fantasyland, The Three, Ghost and Reincarnation, The Rising, Dream Team, Moonlight and Motor Oil, River Rain, Wild West MC, Misted Pines and Honey series along with several standalone novels. She’s a hybrid author, publishing titles both independently and traditionally, her books have been translated in fourteen languages and she’s sold over five million books.

Kristen’s novel, Law Man, won the RT Book Reviews Reviewer’s Choice Award for best Romantic Suspense, her independently published title Hold On was nominated for RT Book Reviews best Independent Contemporary Romance and her traditionally published title Breathe was nominated for best Contemporary Romance. Kristen’s titles Motorcycle Man, The Will, and Ride Steady (which won the Reader’s Choice award from Romance Reviews) all made the final rounds for Goodreads Choice Awards in the Romance category.

Kristen, born in Gary and raised in Brownsburg, Indiana, is a fourth-generation graduate of Purdue University. Since, she’s lived in Denver, the West Country of England, and she now resides in Phoenix. She worked as a charity executive for eighteen years prior to beginning her independent publishing career. She now writes full-time.

Although romance is her genre, the prevailing themes running through all of Kristen’s novels are friendship, family and a strong sisterhood. To this end, and as a way to thank her readers for their support, Kristen has created the Rock Chick Nation, a series of programs that are designed to give back to her readers and promote a strong female community.

The mission of the Rock Chick Nation is to live your best life, be true to your true self, recognize your beauty, and take your sister’s back whether they’re at your side as friends and family or if they’re thousands of miles away and you don’t know who they are.

The programs of the RC Nation include Rock Chick Rendezvous, weekends Kristen organizes full of parties and get-togethers to bring the sisterhood together, Rock Chick Recharges, evenings Kristen arranges for women who have been nominated to receive a special night, and Rock Chick Rewards, an ongoing program that raises funds for nonprofit women’s organizations Kristen’s readers nominate. Kristen’s Rock Chick Rewards have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity and this number continues to rise.

You can read more about Kristen, her titles and the Rock Chick Nation at KristenAshley.net.

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ALSO BY KRISTEN ASHLEY

Rock Chick Series:

Rock Chick

Rock Chick Rescue

Rock Chick Redemption

Rock Chick Renegade

Rock Chick Revenge

Rock Chick Reckoning

Rock Chick Regret

Rock Chick Revolution

Rock Chick Reawakening

Rock Chick Reborn

Rock Chick Rematch

Rock Chick Bonus Tracks

Avenging Angels Series

Avenging Angel

Avenging Angels: Back in the Saddle

Avenging Angels: Tenderfoot

The ’Burg Series:

For You

At Peace

Golden Trail

Games of the Heart

The Promise

Hold On

The Chaos Series:

Own the Wind

Fire Inside

Ride Steady

Walk Through Fire

A Christmas to Remember

Rough Ride

Wild Like the Wind

Free

Wild Fire

Wild Wind

The Colorado Mountain Series:

The Gamble

Sweet Dreams

Lady Luck

Breathe

Jagged

Kaleidoscope

Bounty 

Dream Man Series:

Mystery Man

Wild Man

Law Man

Motorcycle Man

Quiet Man

Dream Team Series:

Dream Maker

Dream Chaser

Dream Bites Cookbook

Dream Spinner

Dream Keeper

The Fantasyland Series:

Wildest Dreams

The Golden Dynasty

Fantastical

Broken Dove

Midnight Soul

Gossamer in the Darkness 

Ghosts and Reincarnation Series:

Sommersgate House

Lacybourne Manor

Penmort Castle

Fairytale Come Alive

Lucky Stars

The Honey Series:

The Deep End

The Farthest Edge

The Greatest Risk

The Magdalene Series:

The Will

Soaring

The Time in Between

Mathilda, SuperWitch:

Mathilda’s Book of Shadows

Mathilda The Rise of the Dark Lord

Misted Pines Series

The Girl in the Mist

The Girl in the Woods

The Woman by the Lake

The Woman Left Behind

Moonlight and Motor Oil Series:

The Hookup

The Slow Burn

The Rising Series:

The Beginning of Everything

The Plan Commences

The Dawn of the End

The Rising

The River Rain Series:

After the Climb

After the Climb Special Edition

Chasing Serenity

Taking the Leap

Making the Match

Fighting the Pull

Sharing the Miracle

Embracing the Change

The Three Series:

Until the Sun Falls from the Sky

With Everything I Am

Wild and Free 

The Unfinished Hero Series:

Knight

Creed

Raid

Deacon

Sebring

Wild West MC Series:

Still Standing

Smoke and Steel

Smooth Sailing

Other Titles by Kristen Ashley:

Heaven and Hell

Play It Safe

Three Wishes

Complicated

Loose Ends

Fast Lane

Perfect Together

Too Good To Be True