Page 231 of Avenging Angel

Even with all of that, eventually, it started to feel like a party.

I knew why.

The Rock Chicks.

And it took one to know one, and they were keeping it under wraps considering the circumstances.

But I knew to my bones those bitches were the good kind of crazy.

Indy was Lee’s. Jet was Eddie’s. Roxie was Hank’s.

As mentioned, I finally met the fabulous Jules, and she actuallywasmovie-star gorgeous, but more importantly, really nice. And as previously noted, she was Vance’s.

Then there was Ava, who was Luke’s. And Sadie (who looked like a fairy princess, and that was not me, but I did recognize a look embedded deep in her eyes, so I got what Cap meant when he spoke about her), and she was Hector’s.

As you could see, I now totally understood how two people belonged to each other, because Cap was mine, and that meant I was lucky enough to be Cap’s.

Two other couples that weren’t involved in the family room drama were Ally, Lee and Hank’s sister, and her man, Ren, and Daisy and Marcus, Clarice’s benefactors (and I knew why Clarice didn’t put up a fight when Daisy threw a fit, she was diminutive, and honest to God, was the spitting image of a younger Dolly Parton, including her bedazzled, stone-washed denim sundress and massive bosom, but I sensed she wasn’t a woman to cross, no way).

Last, we met Moses, Cap’s stepdad. And he was so sweet, I loved he was in Shirleen’s life…and Cap’s.

Oh, and then there was Tallulah, Mace and Stella’s spunky, hilarious daughter, and Walsh, their adorable three-year-old son.

And if this conflagration of people landing on Phoenix to take the back of Cap’s woman, who most of them hadn’t even met, didn’t prove why he was so tight and so clearly loved his family, nothing would.

Who was not there was Roam, Cap’s brother, which I found surprising, until Cap explained his absence.

“He wanted to give you privacy for this.”

There was something so profoundly beautiful about Roam offering that to me, giving me the opportunity to meet Cap’s brother, and the person he was closest to in this world, when I wasn’t mired in this emotional morass, I almost started crying again.

Fortunately, I did not.

This was a lot, but it was also Cap’s family, and they were so comfortable with him, and embracing of all of us, that “a lot” dwindled to nothing the minute Stella put out a bowl of cashews, heralding the feel of a party.

And I was kinda down with it being a party.

Because after years and years, now we knew.

We knew Macy hadn’t been touched that way.

We knew she wasn’t frightened and alone for very long.

And we were going to get her back, so we could put her to peace.

And that might be a whacked thing to want to celebrate.

But I wanted to celebrate it.

I’d stepped away from the rest to have some time to process and was out on the balcony, close to their kickass zero edge pool, staring at Stella and Mace’s view, when Cap came to me.

He slid a hand along the small of my back, curled it in at my hip, kissed my temple then pressed his front to my side.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Give the rest to me,” I demanded.

It took him only a second before he said, “It was the boys he took that put them off. When an offender has an MO like that, it doesn’t tend to deviate. He made no mention of the girls. He also didn’t bury the boys, he discarded them, which was why they were looking for him. This meant they didn’t know there were girls.”

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