“You do know what hapless means,” I snapped.
“I didn’t say I was hapless now,” he corrected. “I was hapless then, while she was running me through the ringer.”
“I’m thinking Ava saw it the other way around,” I informed him.
“She’d be wrong,” Luke informed me and his eyes went to Ren. “What’ve you had? A year? And the bombs are just starting?” He shook his head, stating eloquently that Ren was fucked. However, he did this without the half-grin thing going.
He was outright smiling.
Ren said nothing.
I glared at Luke then gave up and looked to my brothers. “Are we done here? Because Ren and I have a date.”
“Ally, your apartment just exploded,” Hank reminded me.
This was true.
Therefore I revised, “Are we done here? Because I have to go shopping for a kickass dress and sexy heels, and then Ren and I have a date.”
I felt Ren’s body moving like he was laughing, but I ignored that and raised my brows at my brothers.
“You got a room full of Rock Chicks, plus Tex, Duke, Tod, Stevie, Ralphie, Buddy and Smithie out there waiting to see if you’re all right, and then to get your explanation,” Lee’s eyes slid to Ren then back to me, “about a lot of things.”
“I love them, but I’m not sure that takes precedence over my first official date with my hot Italian American boyfriend,” I replied, and Ren’s body now definitely felt like it was laughing. I ignored this and kept speaking. “However, before we go, I’d like to know why you two were in each other’s faces at my apartment, otherwise known as the crime scene.”
Ren’s body stopped shaking.
That didn’t bode well.
“Thinkin’ you two can talk about that on your date,” Lee returned.
That didn’t bode much better.
This brought me to the hard part, and I braced before asking, “Right, then now I’d like to know if anyone was injured in the blast.”
“Blast was contained to your apartment,” Hank answered. “One of your neighbors got knocked over and sprained a wrist. Shit fell off walls of other units. Yours was pretty much decimated. Other than that, nothing.”
This time when I heaved a sigh, it was of relief.
“So now,” Lee started. “We’re done here.” He looked at Ren. “Except to say, I think you get, we leave her in your care, you better take that seriously.”
“Are you kidding me?” I yelled before Ren could say a word, and Lee looked at me.
“Ally, I’m your brother. Do you think I wouldn’t say anything?”
“I’m thirty-two, not sixteen,” I retorted.
“You’ll always be sixteen to me,” he shot back, and my body jerked as I blinked.
Oh God.
Oh shit.
Fuck!
It was coming on. My nose was tingling. My eyes got hot and my throat had closed.
“Fuck, she’s gonna cry,” Hank muttered, staring at me, lips twitching.
“Am not,” I forced out.
Ren shifted me so I wasn’t pressed back to front to him but tucked into his side and he spoke. “We all know she’s not gonna get through the gamut out there unscathed, so we’re movin’ on to that scene in this ongoing drama so we can then move the fuck out.”
He started us toward the door, but stopped and I looked up at him to see him looking between Hank and Lee.
“And to answer your question,” he stated. “Yes. I get you. And I take it seriously.”
Oh God.
Oh shit.
Fuck!
I’d managed to control it and it was coming on again!
I looked away quickly so none of the men in my life would send me over the edge, and luckily Ren started us again to the door.
He opened it and let me precede him. The instant I did, I got hit by a wave of Rock Chicks.
“Christ.” I heard Ren say.
But I was being pushed backwards down the hall and I saw him recede until he disappeared when Ava and Shirleen—who were the ones who had hands on me, the rest of them were just following—shoved me in the safe room.
Tex, the last one in, slammed the door and glowered at me.
He wasn’t the only one glowering at me.
Again.
Here we go.
Shit.
Chapter Ten
Show Me How Special
I tore my eyes from Tex and moved them through the Rock Chicks, but stopped when I saw Indy.
She was not head of the pack. She was at the back. This was not only not her usual place, but the look on her face as she stared at me made my lungs start burning.
“I… I… I…” Shirleen stammered, and I looked her way, stunned she was stammering. Shirleen didn’t stammer. Then she stopped stammering and shouted, “I don’t even know where to begin!”
“I know where to begin,” Tex boomed from the back, and I looked at the mammoth wild-blond-haired, wild-russet-bearded man that stood head and shoulders over the Rock Chicks (and gay guys). “Woman, you know, you got action, you give some to me! I mean, you women have been quiet for fuckin’ months. Some woman in the mountains was buried alive and I was cut out?” His face started getting red before he shouted, “Unacceptable!”