Rock Chick 06 Reckoning (66 page)

Floyd was now The Blue Moon Gypsies’ Manager, though, on occasion (or more often than “on occasion”) Stel a coaxed him onstage. Floyd wasn’t backstage during this gig, he was going to hang with the crew since it was a hometown show.

We al hadn’t seen Mace and Stel a in awhile though they kept in close touch or at least Stel a did.

At first, Mace stayed working for Lee while Stel a and the band travel ed, toured and promoted albums but they kept their home base in Denver. A few years ago, when her popularity moved outside The States and she’d have dates in Europe and Asia, Mace quit Nightingale Investigations and went with them.

This worried me. Mace was action man. I didn’t see him as a member of an entourage.

He wasn’t one for long.

Some crazed fan had broken into Stel a’s dressing room before a gig and did things that were so freaky and gross, Luke wouldn’t tel me what they were. Mace now oversaw the entire band’s security detail.

There was never a repeat of The Dressing Room Incident as it came to be known, though none of the Rock Chicks, not even Indy (and Stel a never spil ed, no matter how hard Al y pushed it) knew what happened. But also he was so good at it and such a tough guy, badass, macho man that other rock stars and movie actors heard of him and now he was in high demand. He moved Stel a and his home base to Los Angeles, started his own security business based in LA and had even more tough guy, badass, macho men in his employ than Lee did.

The crowd was getting restless, beginning to chant and stomp. The Gypsies were half an hour late taking the stage (they were probably fighting, as usual).

Al of a sudden, Luke slid his arm around my shoulders and kissed the side of my head. I looked at him and my heart jumped when I saw his face.

One could say my husband was pretty damned happy I was having his baby.

“Don’t get al squishy on me. I married a tough guy, macho man. You get squishy, I’m gonna have to find someone else,” I told him.

This was a lie. I’d seen Luke (almost) squishy a lot with Gracie and I didn’t mind it in any way, shape or form. He didn’t do baby talk or any of that crap but his soft, sweet looks for me were nothing on the way he looked at his daughter. I thought he’d be pissed he didn’t have a boy but he didn’t care at al .

Luke wasn’t fazed by my lie.

Instead, he said, “If you get those fuckin’ headaches again, I’m movin’ out of the house for three months and livin’

in the cabin in CB. I don’t even want to hear about them from Daisy or Shirleen.”

I just stopped myself from smiling. “Vance refuses to take assignments out of state when Jules is pregnant. He won’t even miss a single day of her pregnancy,” I informed Luke, pretending to sound hurt.

“I’m not Vance,” Luke informed me, not pretending anything.

This time, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. “No, you aren’t.”

He bent his head and kissed my neck. I felt the thril of it from neck to nipples.

When he lifted his head and looked at me again, I asked, “Do you want a boy this time?”

He answered immediately, “I want a healthy family. Mom, Dad, kids, whatever way they come.”

I also answered immediately, “God, I love you.” He tilted his head and rested his forehead against mine.

“Don’t get soft on me, I married a bitchy woman. You get soft, I’m gonna have to find me another bitchy woman.” I smiled at him and lied again, “Okay, I’l try to be a bitchy woman.”

He grinned at me, not halfway but ful on this time. I felt that in my nipples too.

That’s when the lights went low and the crowd went wild.

I jumped out of my seat, ran forward, and, per usual, joined the Rock Chicks at the edge of the stage.

Stel a walked out and I held my breath at the sight of her.

She looked great, didn’t even look like she’d had baby Tal ulah only six months ago. She was wearing jeans, cowboy boots, a kil er belt and a light blue, teeny little t-shirt that said “The Gypsies” in cool, electric-blue glitter script across the boobs.

“I want one of those shirts!” Roxie yel ed to no one.

“Right on, sister,” Al y yel ed back.

Stel a strapped on her guitar, walked up to her mic and she was so close, we could touch her boots.

I’d seen Stel a play a lot before she got famous and al the girls had caught every concert she did close to home after. Every time since she made it big, just like tonight, she pointed down to us, wrapped her hand around the mic and, first thing, told the crowd, “My girls are here tonight.” The crowd went wild. Indy, Al y, Jet, Roxie, Jules, Sadie, Daisy, Annette, Sissy and I jumped up and down and screamed like we were fifteen year old groupies.

“Rock Chicks, wouldn’t live without ‘em,” Stel a muttered into her mic with a smile down to us and the crowd roared again. Stel a looked away from us to the arena. “Seeing as we’re home…”

She didn’t finish, the crowd didn’t let her; they belted out a whoop that was deafening.

When they calmed, she went on, “As I was saying, seeing as we’re home…” Another deafening whoop but Stel a kept talking this time, “we’re gonna do it like we did it before. None of this new shit we’ve been doing, we’re going vintage.”

The crowd went absolutely nuts.

“Holy fuck, they’re gonna tear the place down,” Vance shouted from behind us but the Rock Chicks ignored him, mainly because we’d likely be right in on any “tearing the place down”.

“Though, not that vintage,” Stel a went on. “Just a little something I like that says it al .”

Stel a looked behind her to Pong at the drums then to her left at Leo and Hugo then to her right at Buzz and she nodded. Then Stel a, Buzz, Leo and Hugo al stepped up to their mics in a line at the front of the stage.

“This is for Kai,” she told the crowd and, since everyone knew Mace, being hot as he was and being famous in his past and being famous for what went down with Stel a in Denver and being famous because those books came out and, wel , again being hot, the crowd descended into bedlam.

The minute she finished saying Mace’s name, the guitars and drums started. They started
hard
and they started
loud
and I felt the thril of them in my toes, straight up my body to the very ends of my hair.

Stel a lifted her mouth to the microphone and started to sing Blink-182’s total y kickass, rockin’ love song, “Al the Smal Things”.

The Rock Chicks banged our heads and jacked our hands in tandem with the beat, arms lifted high in the air and when the boys in the band took to their microphones and sang,
Na na, na na, na na, na na na-na, na na, na na,
na na, na na, na-na,
we sang it with them.

Stel a had stepped back from her mic to jam, her own head banging with the “na na’s”. Then she riffed, dancing graceful y, swaying her body, so cool it was unreal.

Then she stepped back to her mic to sing as everyone in the entire stadium sang with her.

Leo, Buzz, Hugo and Pong went into the “na-na’s” again and we al danced and sang with them as Stel a went off, working the stage, working the crowd, nodding and smiling to her fans.

“Jesus,” Luke muttered behind me. I turned to him and his eyes were locked on Stel a.

He’d never been to one of her gigs except the ones where he was protecting her and al the Rock Chicks and he’d been kind of busy during those.

“She’s the shit,” I shouted at him and his eyes moved to me.

Luke was about to speak when something caught his eye and he looked up again.

I turned back around and saw Stel a at the mic. The music had slowed in order to own the crescendo and her eyes were looking to her right, not to Buzz but offstage.

“Get out here, babe, I wanna kiss you,” she said into the mic but she most definitely wasn’t talking to the crowd.

She stepped back from the mic, once, twice, her body facing forward, her head twisted to the side, al the while she played her guitar and then, al of a sudden, the smile on her mouth went radiant.

I looked to my left and saw Mace was walking out onstage. His eyes were on Stel a, a smal smile on his face and he was shaking his head, walking slow, looking good (as usual).

Al the Rock Chicks and Hot Bunch stopped dead and stared as Stel a swung her guitar behind her back, ran the rest of the distance between her and Mace and launched herself at him.

He caught her, hands at her ass, her arms wrapped themselves around his neck, her legs wrapped around his hips, he tilted his head back, she tilted hers down and she kissed him.

The crowd shouted, screamed, whistled, they were nearly louder than the music as Buzz, Pong and Hugo kept singing “na-na’s” and Leo took over the lyrics.

One of Mace’s hands left Stel a’s ass and went up her back and into her hair to cup her head.

Then he broke the kiss and, with a huge smile on his face, he leaned over at the waist like he was going to drop her. Stel a held on tight, threw her head back and let out a piercing, laughing scream that we could hear, even over the crowd, her hair swept the stage and her guitar hung off her back.

They stood there like that, both laughing into each other’s faces, oblivious to the tens of thousands of people watching them, total y into each other.

My heart went into my throat. I leaned back against Luke, his arm moved to wrap around my chest and we watched two people we both cared a lot about.

They were in love, they were healed and most of al , they were outrageously happy.

I thought, for the rest of my life, I’d never forget seeing them horsing around and laughing onstage in front of a hometown crowd.

I never
wanted
to forget.

I didn’t have to worry.

Someone caught them with a camera. Mace bent over holding Stel a and laughing. Stel a wrapped around him, her magnificent hair fanned on the stage, her guitar hanging off her back, her head thrown back, her neck arched…

Her smile lighting up an arena.

The picture was on page fifty of the next edition of
Rolling Stone
.

####

The Rock Chick Series will continue with the story of
Sadie and Hector…

Rock on!

####

About the Author

Kristen Ashley lives in the beautiful West Country of England with her husband and her cat. She came to England by way of Denver, where she lived for twelve years, but she grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana. Her family and friends are loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.

Kristen’s Mom moved her and her brother and sister in with their grandparents when she was six. Her grandparents had a daughter much younger than her Mom so they al lived together on a very smal farm in a smal farm town in the heartland. She grew up with Glenn Mil er, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon and Whitesnake (and the wardrobes that matched). Needless to say, growing up in a house ful of music, clothes and love was a good way to grow up.

And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.

Discover other Titles by Kristen Ashley
Rock Chick Series:

Rock Chick

Rock Chick Rescue

Rock Chick Redemption

Rock Chick Renegade

Rock Chick Revenge

The ‘Burg Series:

For You

At Peace

Golden Trail

The Colorado Mountain Series:

The Gamble

Sweet Dreams

Lady Luck

Dream Man Series:

Mystery Man

Wild Man

The Fairytale Series:

Wildest Dreams

The Golden Dynasty

Fantastical

Other Titles by Kristen Ashley:

Lacybourne Manor

Mathilda, SuperWitch

Penmort Castle

Sommersgate House

Three Wishes

Connect with Kristen Online:

Official Website: www.kristenashley.net

Kristen’s Blog: www.kristenashley.net/menu/blog.html Kristen’s Facebook Page

Fol ow Kristen on Twitter: KristenAshley68

Cover Art by Maxine Hayes [email protected]