“I’ll consider it done when I hand that money to Fury,” Knight replied.
Another head spasm before Valenzuela jerked around, stalked to the door, opened it with more force than was necessary, and they heard Daisy call, “But, Benito. I haven’t popped the popcorn yet for movie time.”
Rush had to hand one thing to the man.
He didn’t miss a step as he disappeared out the door.
Daisy’s distinct laughter that sounded like bells was not drowned out even if the glass door to Ally’s conference room had swung shut.
“Well, that was short, but fun,” Rhash remarked.
Rush shot him a grin.
Tack turned to his son.
“Rebel feelin’ continuing her career in porn?” he asked.
“No,” Rush answered. “But she’s got a script she wants to make. She also wants me to approach the brothers about a documentary she wants to do about the Club.”
Tack’s expression didn’t change on that, except to look faintly curious.
“And she likes her crew,” Rush continued. “I think if she’s got the facilities, she can put them to work. I also think it’s obvious Sixx maneuvered that for her.”
“Need capital to make movies, Rush.”
“Chaos can shut down Bang, sell that space, the equipment and invest, Dad.”
“I’d watch a documentary about Chaos,” Rhash commented as he straightened his big body out of his chair.
“I would too,” Knight said, already up.
Rush and Tack followed suit. More handshakes. Farewells. Then Knight and Rhash took off.
When the outer door closed on them, Hop opened it back up and came in.
Tack gave him a chin jerk and turned again to Rush.
“A documentary about the Club?”
“She’s gonna hang on Chaos while this all goes down so I know she’s safe, but we don’t have to have a man on her to make that so. Her brothers need to get home to their jobs and their woman. And Rebel wants to be up here with me so she doesn’t want to go with them. She’ll film shit when she’s hanging around.”
“Safer down there,” Tack muttered as Hop walked into the room.
“Nowhere is safer than Chaos,” Rush replied.
“That didn’t take long,” Hop butted in.
“Brief when we get back,” Tack told him.
Hop nodded.
Daisy stuck her head in.
“Anyone wanna watch a movie?” she asked.
“Hell no,” Rush answered.
“Fuck no,” Tack answered.
“What movie?” Hop asked as answer.
Daisy let out another of her ringing-bells laughs.
Eight thirty that night . . .
“Come back, bring your man, hit a hog roast,” Rush invited Sixx as they all stood outside the security area at DIA, Rush saying goodbye to Sixx, giving Rebel time to say her goodbyes to Diesel and Maddox.
“Seems I’ll have an active social agenda when I’m back in the Mile High City,” Sixx replied with an amused smile.
“Club’s indebted to you, Sixx,” Rush said in all seriousness. “Way he’s used women to get fat and sassy over the years, poetic justice he got taken out of the game by two of them. Only way it doesn’t hurt, Chaos didn’t get that honor. Still, it’s a relief it’s done, so anything you need we can get you, you call on us.”
“I’m mostly out of the game, Rush. Only take on special jobs like this one. But I’ll bear that in mind.”
“Good.”
Sixx moved closer. “You get to tell her.”
“Sorry?” Rush asked.
“The gift the boys wanted her to have. They haven’t shared. They want you to tell her.”
Slowly, Rush smiled.
Sixx smiled back.
They shook hands.
Then Sixx moved to Rebel as Maddox and Diesel moved to him.
More hand shaking, this time with some shoulder pounding, though through it Diesel growled, “We’re trusting you, bro.”
“I take that serious,” Rush replied. “Only thing I take more serious is lookin’ after her.”
D stared in his eyes and gave him another shoulder blow that almost took Rush a step to the side. Then he let him go for Maddox to move in.
“This gets done, come down,” Maddox said, his hand holding Rush’s in a monster grip. “Molly’s put out, she hasn’t met you. Don’t make our woman wait long.”
“Do my best, man,” Rush promised.
They let go, Rebel came in for one more hug from her brothers before Rush claimed her and they moved into the chute for premier passengers.
“This part always sucks,” Rebel muttered.
He held her tight and did it awhile, lifting his chin after they’d fully moved through security and the men looked back before they lost sight of them on the escalators down to the train.
He guided Rebel out to the truck and held her silence but kept alert to their surroundings as he did it.
Rush and Rebel had followed their rental cars in, did that whole rigmarole for the drop off, loading their bags in the back of his truck, Rebel and Sixx in the back of his cab, crunched in with Maddox, D riding shotgun as he drove them up to DIA.
There’d been a lot of chatter and ribbing on the way there.
Right then, he felt Rebel’s gloom that the energy in his cab wasn’t as animated as the last time they were in it.
“Gonna be okay?” he asked, guiding them to a kiosk to pay for parking.
“Glad I got to introduce Sixx to Las Delicias before they left town, still pissed I couldn’t make you dinner.”
She wasn’t pissed she couldn’t make him dinner.
She was upset all the family she had left was about to get on a plane and fly eight hundred miles away.
He paid for parking and they were on Pe?a Boulevard when he shared, “They left you something.”
He knew she was looking at him when she asked, “What?”
“And the brothers had a sit down this afternoon. Talk about the state of play with Valenzuela out of the game. I brought it up and they’re cool with you filming if you don’t open any closed doors. And don’t even knock, babe. And if one of them sees you comin’ and warns you off, you don’t get close. Yeah?”
“You’re kidding me,” she breathed.
He glanced at her before putting his eyes back to the road.
She was fucking beside herself.
He liked that.
He liked he gave her that.
“No,” he answered.
“Seriously?” she cried. “Ohmigod, Rush! That’s amazing!”
He grinned at the windshield, advising, “Buckle up, babe. It gets better.”
“What?” she asked.
“Sixx, D and Maddox maneuvered Valenzuela into deeding Bang and Luxe to Chaos. We’ll have title on the premises and all the equipment and property in them. The brothers voted to liquidate Bang. They wanna chat with you about what you wanna do with Luxe.”
He got nothing from that.
He skimmed his gaze her way, saw she was looking out the side window, which he thought was weird, so he called, “Babe.”
Nothing.
“Rebel.”
Nothing.
He opened his mouth to call her again when he heard a hushed sob.
He closed his mouth.
Gave her time.
She took it.
When they were on I-25, nearing his exit, she said softly, “I wanna finish the film I’m doing as Tallulah Monroe. Then close down the porn part and use the proceeds to fund the Chaos documentary and my indie.”
“We’ll need a plan, budgets, info on royalties,” he replied in her tone. “And we’ll need your script.”
“I’ll take my laptop into Ride tomorrow and draft something.”
“Okay, sweetheart,” he muttered.
He pulled off and negotiated the city streets toward her cottage.
Rebel broke the silence.
“You did that,” she whispered.
“Sixx and D—”
“Chaos would liquidate it all. They want the Club clean. It was you that engineered that.”
He didn’t confirm.
But he had.
“For me,” she finished.
He reached out to claim her thigh, but he didn’t get there.
She claimed his hand in both of hers and held tight.
“Thank you, Rush.”
“Make good movies, baby.”
Her hands tensed around his.
Then she said, “I will, honey. Promise.”
Rush figured that was a promise she’d keep.
But he also figured, with Rebel, she didn’t make any that she wouldn’t.
Fifteen minutes later, they pulled in Essence’s back drive, and it didn’t strike Rush as a good thing that he hadn’t even gotten the truck stopped when Essence was flying out the back door, her face set to panic.
Or maybe it was ticked.
One quiet night.
That was it.
Now they had . . .
What?
“No,” Rebel breathed, and her fucking door opened.
“Rebel!” he shouted, his heart jumping, his mood rocketing instantly to pissed as fuck when her seatbelt slammed back, and she was out before he got to a full stop.
She slammed the door and was racing to Essence when Rush cut the ignition, threw open his door and angled out, seeing Speck had followed Essence.
Well there was that.
And Speck looked ticked.
But he didn’t look bloody.
Rush prowled to Essence and Rebel, his focus on Speck.
Speck just shook his head.
“What?” Rebel shrieked.
He barely made it to her before she was flying toward Essence’s back door.