Instead he said, “She wanted to move to New York.” I nodded.

He kept talking and his voice was getting low and rough and my heart squeezed again at the sound of it. “I took her there when she was fourteen. She fel in love with the place.”

I pressed my lips together and nodded again. This was hard. I wanted to go to him, it hurt to hold my ground but I stayed away.

“You guys didn’t have the same Mom?” I asked.

Mace shook his head.

“Half sister,” I went on.

Mace just looked at me.

“You were close,” I guessed on a whisper.

“I cal ed her Tiny,” Mace shared.

Understanding the importance of that word, I felt the tears hit my eyes and thought about having a cool, tal , handsome, surfer dude brother who took me to New York, loved the way I moved my hands and cal ed me Tiny.

It was an immensely happy thought at the time it was devastatingly sad.

Softly I said, “I bet you were a good brother.”

“Not good enough,” he returned, his voice now unbearably rough and so low, it was barely a mumble.

And his eyes were haunted.

I couldn’t help it, it hurt too much to keep looking at him, I closed my eyes.

I felt a streak of wetness rol down my left cheek, opened my eyes again and whispered, “Tel me.”

I held his gaze for a beat then two then he muttered,

“Fuck, Kitten…”

He stopped speaking, his head dropped, he stared at the floor and that’s when I moved.

I went right to him, fit myself into his body, the top of my head under his face, my arms tight around him. Al the while I did this, he didn’t move, not a muscle. Didn’t even put his arms around me, just kept leaning against the counter.

I pressed my cheek into his chest.

“Tel me,” I whispered again.

I heard his cel ring and his taut body went tighter.

“Ignore it,” I said.

He didn’t.

His head came up, he pul ed the phone out of his pocket and I leaned back to look at him.

It was over.

The guard had slid down over his eyes.

I lost him.

Shitsofuckit.

Even so, he wrapped an arm loosely about my waist as he flipped open his phone with his thumb, put it to his ear and muttered, “Yeah?”

I turned to face his chest and put my forehead there so I felt his body give a smal jerk as his fingers flexed into my hip with such strength, it caused a little bit of pain.

My head snapped back. I saw his jaw was clenched and I felt a coldness start seeping through my veins.

“I’l be there in ten,” he clipped into the phone, flipped it shut and without hesitation let me go, on the move to something urgent.

I turned to watch him nab his belt and boots, the oxygen burning in my lungs.

“What’s going on?” I asked, scared shitless whatever it was was about the Rock Chicks.

He dumped his boots on the edge of the platform and started to slide his belt through the loops.

Then his eyes came to me.

“Carter branched out,” Mace’s voice was hard. “With the Rock Chicks protected, this morning he went after Shirleen.”

I took a step back as if he’d dealt me a physical blow.

Effing hel .

Chapter Eighteen

La La La

Stella

Mace took off after he put a gentle fist under my chin, tilted my face to his and brushed his mouth on mine, muttering a promise that he’d let me know as soon as he knew anything.

He cal ed twenty minutes later (a long twenty minutes) to tel me a squad car with two uniformed officers would be at my house to pick me up “in five”. He also told me I was not to let the cops in unless they said the code words. As he was talking, I heard angry, male shouting in the background but Mace disconnected without giving me an update.

When my buzzer went, I saw a uniform on the video display who showed his badge and said, “Hunky dory.” At that, Juno and I headed out.

The officers balked at Juno taking a ride in the squad car but I held my ground and since that ground was outside and exposed, Juno went with me to Nightingale Investigations.

No way in hel I was leaving my dog behind.

If Sidney Carter was branching out, how soon would it be before he went after pets?

Even if my luck had started to turn, I was taking no chances.

The not-very-informative officers didn’t update me about Shirleen either except to say they were stil sorting things out “at the scene”.

The only scenes that involved my friends that I liked were the ones we created ourselves (and, for your information, I didn’t like those much either).

The officers escorted me to the outer office door of Nightingale Investigations. We were greeted by a silent, tight-faced, angry-looking Jack (and an angry Jack scared me enough to stay silent too), who took over, walking Juno and me to the down room.

The down room was where the boys had meetings and hung out if they were on cal . It also had a variety of fitness and weight lifting equipment. There was a couch but in the few times Mace had taken me to the offices the last time we were together, I’d never seen anyone sitting on it. The boys were usual y on the treadmil or the weight bench.

In other words (if you hadn’t already figured this out), the Nightingale Men didn’t real y know the meaning of “down time”.

As Juno and I entered the room, I saw Jules, Ava and Jet had their asses planted on the couch and they were sipping coffee. Daisy was sitting in a chair, leaned back, filing her nails. Al y had lifted up the back of the weight bench and she was lounging on it, legs straddling the bench. Indy and Roxie were seated at a table, playing double solitaire, mugs of coffee beside the cards.

In case this had not been proved irrefutably, their mel ow demeanor was verification they were al effing nuts.

“Is Shirleen okay?” I asked upon entry, Juno loping toward Roxie who had leaned to the side and was snapping her fingers at my dog.

“She’s fine but she’s pissed. She has to buy a new couch,” Al y replied.

I stared at Al y.

This answer both relieved and confused me.

“Thank God. Looking at that old one gave me a migraine,” Jet muttered.

I turned to stare at Jet.

“I liked it. Al those big swirls, black against white.

Drama. It was pure Shirleen,” Indy commented.

My gaze swung to Indy.

“Maybe Luke and I should get a new couch,” Ava put in thoughtful y. “I’m not sure I’m into al that leather.” I looked to Ava.

“I like Eddie’s couch,” Jet was stil muttering. When my eyes moved to her, I saw she had a smal smile on her face and it didn’t take a mind reader to know why she liked Eddie’s couch.