bent and touched her cheek to the woman’s, saying in her ear, “You too.”
She moved away and gave the woman a wink, which made Mamá Nana explode with laughter.
Sixx looked to the men.
Then she walked down the steps with them following.
Rebel
Two thirty-seven that morning . . .
I woke when the bed moved because Rush joined me in it.
It did not surprise me he shifted in right behind me. He was a spooner. He could pull off a spoon all night.
It was awesome.
His arm slid around me as I murmured a drowsy, “Hey.”
The surprise came when he turned me around to face him.
Okay, maybe he wanted to get busy.
I’d been dead asleep.
I still was totally down with that.
“Hey,” he replied.
Any sleepiness I had evaporated, and not because we were about to get busy.
Because I felt his hold and I heard his tone and I knew something had happened.
I pressed my hand against his bare chest and whispered, “Is everything okay?”
“Rebel, baby, a witness came forward.”
I held myself tense because he didn’t go on and that could mean anything.
“And the guy who gave his alibi retracted it.” His hold on me grew taut. “Wayne Benson killed Diane. They picked him up. He’s confessed.”
I lay there, in Rush’s hold, feeling his warm skin against my hand, the beat of his heart, and stared through the dark at his shadowy face I could not really see.
“A witness came forward?” I whispered.
“Don’t know much about that. But yeah.”
“Why didn’t they come forward before?”
“Sorry, sweetheart, I don’t know about that either.”
I fell silent.
“You okay?” Rush asked.
“I don’t . . .” I pulled in a breath. “Rush, I don’t know what to feel.”
“Relief?” he suggested.
“Yes, of course, but . . .” I trailed off.
“Baby,” he murmured, his other arm digging under me so he could wrap me up in both and hold me close. “Some part a’ you thought, if you knew who did it, if it was handled, it’d make it right.”
“Yeah,” I muttered.
“And it didn’t make it right.”
“No.”
He stroked my back with one hand and played with the ends of my hair with the other.
I ducked my head and rested it against his collarbone.
“They’re leavin’ it until the morning to tell her parents. If you want, I’ll take you to them so you can be with them when they hear.”
My forehead rolled against his skin when I nodded and said, “I want.”
“Done,” he replied softly.
Of course it was “done.”
That was Rush.
I was guessing, with this guy, even if he had a million irons in the fire, he’d be there for me.
“Maybe it’ll help Paul start healing,” I suggested.
“Maybe.” He didn’t sound like he held a lot of hope for that.
Truth be told, as sad as it was, I didn’t either.
“I was wrong about it being Lannigan,” I mumbled.
“Yeah,” he said.
“All that, getting into porn, putting myself in danger, and in the end, I didn’t do dick to help Diane.”
His fingers at the ends of my hair slid up and tangled in it fully. “Babe. Stop. Just stop. You did what you had to do. That’s it. No one got hurt. It’s done. Move on.”
I took in a shaky breath.
“And if you didn’t do it,” he said softly, “I wouldn’t have found you.”
I closed my eyes and melted into him.
“Yeah,” I replied.
“Things have a way of workin’ out as they should.”
I pressed even closer and whispered, “Yeah.”
“Though, again, I think it’s pertinent to add that isn’t permission to get involved in jacked-up shit,” he finished.
I opened my eyes and through a smile I said, “Permission?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Don’t tick me off when you’re being so sweet.”
“Right.”
I kept pressing close.
His arms gave me a squeeze.
We both fell silent and this lasted for some time.
Rush broke it.
“You gotta let go, babe,” he whispered, “just do it, yeah?”
“I think I’ve cried all the tears I’m gonna cry for Diane.”
“Okay, sweetheart,” he murmured, sifting his fingers through my hair, going back, doing it again.
That felt insanely nice.
I didn’t say anything more. Rush didn’t say anything more.
I didn’t fall asleep. Rush didn’t fall asleep.
I sensed even with news that was good, something wasn’t right.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He didn’t make me push for it.
“Enemy of the Club knew this guy and the man thought something was screwy with Benson. Went after him. He’s the reason they found the witness.”
“An enemy of the Club?”
“Yeah. He did something seriously fucked up. Bought some significant displeasure from the brothers. We took care of that then he took care of that.”
“He took care of what?”
“Went