“You like Stella?” I screamed at Mace over the music and his eyes cut to me. His face was closed and I knew right off he wasn’t going to answer me and I was not invited to question him further.
Before I could push this (because I felt the need to be ornery as we were at a rock gig and something about Mace invited being ornery just to see if I could get a rise out of him and Mace was staring at a friend of mine like he wanted to carry her to a deserted island, build a hut out of palm fronds and never leave) when his body got tense, his eyes focused on something and he stepped close to me. Real close.
I turned and my mouth dropped open when I saw Ren had materialized out of nowhere, right in front of me. He was real close too, ultra close, but his eyes were on Mace.
I looked over my shoulder. “It’s okay Mace, I know him,” I shouted.
Mace’s eyes didn’t leave Ren nor did he move away from me but he answered in an unhappy voice. “I know.”
Ee-yikes!
I stood there, the meat in a Hot Guy Sandwich. Normally one would savor a moment like this but the bad vibes flowing weren’t conducive to savoring.
I looked back to Ren. “Hey Ren,” I said, trying to be cool.
“Where’s Sissy?” Ren replied, shattering my always tenuous hold on cool.
Uh-oh.
I stared at him. He was a Zano and Uncle Vito wanted Sissy. I didn’t want Ren to turn into a bad guy. I didn’t want Ren to be the man Vito sent after Sissy to make her “disappear”. That would mean that Ren was on the wrong side (read: not my side) and that would suck.
I decided it was best not to answer.
Mace got closer, so much closer I could feel the heat of his body at my back.
“Back away,” he warned Ren.
Ren didn’t move. Not good.
Ren ignored Mace and asked me, “Does Stark have her safe?”
I kept my mouth shut but my heart was beating double time.
I’ll be really disappointed if Ren turns out to be a bad guy, Good Ava said.
I won’t, Bad Ava returned. Bad guys are HOT.
Ren’s hand came to the side of my neck and his face came to mine. I felt Mace against my back and Mace’s hand came to my waist, his fingers pressing in.
Eek!
“Both you boys, move back,” I ordered using a tone I hoped would be obeyed without question.
Neither moved.
There you go, guess they questioned my tone.
I had visions of being crushed in a Hot Guy Sandwich, splodges of Ava squirting out the sides like too much mayo. I didn’t want to be Ava Mayo Splodge so I snapped, “Move back!”
Ren stayed in my face, his intensity scaring me but what scared me more was that he didn’t seem at all worried about Mace. Mace wasn’t as frightening a tough guy, macho man as Luke but he was no slouch and the broody was definitely scary.
Ren started talking to me. “Ava, if Stark doesn’t have Sissy safe, tell him to keep her safe. A lot of shit is going down with Dom, part of it is that he wants her back.”
I closed my eyes in despair. I was worried about that.
Ren went on when I opened my eyes again. “I’m talking to Dom and Vito. When I work it out with them, I’ll tell you. If Stark can’t keep her safe, you gotta let me know so that I can.”
I felt my heart stutter. “What?” I asked stupidly, staring him in the eyes.
“If Stark isn’t hiding her, tell him to hide her and keep her hidden. If he isn’t willing to do that then I will. I’m workin’ on Vito and I’ll talk him around.”
He got even closer, so much closer his forehead came to rest against mine and when he did this I sucked in breath.
It felt weird because it felt nice and sweet and I knew it shouldn’t. Firstly, I was supposed to be sworn off men. Secondly (yes, I knew it was contradictory to my first point but I was ignoring that fact), I was sleeping with Luke in an exclusive fuck buddies arrangement so I shouldn’t be thinking anything about Ren felt nice and sweet.
“Ava, honey,” Ren said softly, breaking into my thoughts and since he was so close I could hear him over the music. “What I’m tellin’ you is that you don’t have anything to worry about and neither does Sissy.”
My tension melted and I found myself in the position (again) to want to kiss another hot guy all over for taking care of my friend though I’d learned my lesson not to share.
When my tension left me, I felt Mace move slightly away, his fingers disappearing from my waist.
“Ren,” I said softly as my way of saying thanks and his face lost some intensity.
“Dom doesn’t deserve her,” Ren said back and at his words and the way he said them (like he really meant them) I moved into him. I couldn’t help it. I agreed with what he said, I believed he wanted to keep Sissy safe and I was happy he was a good guy. There weren’t a lot of them in this world but I was beginning to think Ren was an exception to that rule. So now, by my count, there was one, maybe two if you counted Luke (though the jury was still out on him) or maybe about a dozen if you counted the Hot Bunch, Tex and Duke.