Page 9 of Rock Chick Bonus Tracks

Absolutely at the top of his list.

Even so.

“You’re not responsible,” he replied firmly.

“Her car exploded, Lee.”

“You’re still not responsible.”

“I know, but?—”

“I get it. Wilcox isn’t available for her to be mad at, but that doesn’t mean she gets to take her shit out on you. You didn’t plant that bomb. You also didn’t walk up to her while she was enjoying a night out with her girls and say nasty shit to her or in front of her mother. Honest to God, if that car bomb hadn’t happened, and she walked into LD and saw us, what do you think she’d do?”

“Come over to visit and spread her brand of bitchy cheer all over our burritos.”

“Exactly.”

“No one should mess with an LD burrito,” she mumbled.

“Gorgeous,” he called tersely to get her complete attention.

“What?”

“It sucks that happened to her. But if you don’t learn your lesson not to be a total asshole after rollin’ around in hot and sour soup, when your car explodes, you learn. If you don’t, it’s fair game how those lessons are taught. I don’t suspect today’s gonna turn her into Mother Theresa, but maybe it’ll have penetrated, even a little bit.”

“I’m not sure. Cherry has pretty fortified bitch defenses.”

Lee started chuckling, even if that was true.

“I mean, what she did to you,” she continued. “It was pretty ballsy she went on the offensive at all, considering your history.”

“Agreed.”

“Are you…over that?”

“I didn’t knock her up, fortunately, so I was over it after I finished things with her. But I don’t want to have to buy an industrial washing machine to clean your clothes should there be a next go ’round with you and her. Denver is a big city. But it isn’t big enough for the two of you if she doesn’t back off.”

“It wasn’t me who threw the soup,” she informed him.

“Whatever,” he muttered.

“It wasn’t.” That was more heated.

Lee sighed. “Honey, can this be the last time Cherry is in our bed?”

She gave that a second to mull over, then agreed. “Absolutely.”

He kissed her quick then pulled them both out of bed so they could do the sex clean up and hit it to actually sleep.

He had her pinned mostly under him in bed, the soft drone of traffic on Broadway one block away acting as their white noise, and he was close to drifting off. He already thought she had, when she mumbled sleepily, “I forgot to tell you. Ally texted while I was talking to Marianne. She scored some tickets to RHCP.”

Well…

Shit.

At least whatever he was in for wouldn’t be boring.

And fuck him, he’d never admit it, not out loud, but whatever it was, he was looking forward to it.

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