“Okay.”

He looked back at me. “You’re a good kid, Ally.”

I smiled at him but warned, “Thanks. But if you make me want to cry again, I’m kicking you in the shin.”

He shook his head, mouth twitching, and sauntered away.

I was about to hightail my ass to the bar and order a tequila shooter from Willie when I was suddenly set upon by Roam and Sniff.

I looked at the two teenagers.

Roam and Sniff had been runaways that Jules talked into her shelter. She then grew close to them. So close, Roam took a bullet for her in an attempt to save her life.

After that, Shirleen took them under her wing and they’d been living with her since. And when I said “took them under her wing,” I meant she treated them like they were her own. In other words, she mothered them as only Shirleen would do. With sassy tough love.

But the operative word in that was love.

Roam was a tall African American kid who’d always been good-looking. So it wasn’t a surprise that as the months passed, he got a might taller, bulked out, the boy started leaking out of his features and they were becoming all man, and he was hitting downright handsome.

What was a surprise was that Sniff, always small, skinny with a face riddled with acne, bloomed late. With Shirleen feeding him and getting him to a dermatologist, he was no longer skinny and his face had cleared up. But he’d hit a growth spurt and shot up five inches. Not only that, his features were also maturing and doing it well. Very well. So a kid that was always clever and funny now was giving his best bud a run for his money in the looks department.

Seriously.

They still hung with Jules often, but they got their male influence by hanging with Vance as well as the Hot Bunch. They spent a lot of time at Nightingale Investigations, worked the surveillance room, did ride alongs and worked out with the guys.

They loved it, totally got off on it in a way that it was not hard to predict their future careers, and this would be proved irrevocably with what would happen next.

“Got a minute, Ally?” Roam asked as both boy-men affected a huddle with me.

“Yep,” I answered, examining them closely.

Total badasses-in-training. Their faces gave nothing away.

“We heard you’re workin’ the Smithie gig,” Sniff stated.

Oh man.

I tensed and repeated, “Yep.”

“The guys were talkin’ at the offices,” Sniff went on. “Overheard them sayin’ you’re workin’ the bouncer angle.”

I wasn’t working anything just yet. But I didn’t tell them that. I just nodded.

“So we’re lookin’ at the girls,” Roam declared.

I fought rolling my eyes. They were both seventeen, nearly eighteen. So I was not shocked that they’d take this stripper job opportunity to “look at” a bunch of strippers.

“Boys—” I started.

“Just listen, Ally, yeah?” Sniff coaxed.

I studied him a beat and nodded.

“We still got school so we can’t do much, but Sniff took some, I took others, and after school we followed them,” Roam told me.

I didn’t know if this was good or bad. I just knew they’d been around the Hot Bunch not a little but a lot, so they probably weren’t doing stupid shit.

I also wanted to know what they saw.

So I prompted, “And?”

“And, I saw one hand over an envelope to your bouncer guy,” Roam stated. “Had binoculars, saw the guy look through the envelope. Lots of bills. Ones, fives, tens.”

“Tip money,” I said quietly.

“Can’t get in the club so don’t know her take, but my guess, yeah,” Roam replied.

Why would a dancer be giving this guy her tip money?

“He’s got somethin’ on ‘em,” Sniff answered my question and I focused on him. “Don’t know what and Roam only saw that one hand over her cash, but that’s what we reckon.”

“You see these women do anything else?” I asked. “Anything that he might be making them do? Anything that he might be holding over them?”

I got two negative shakes.

Crap.

“You want us to stay on ‘em?” Sniff asked.

“Only if Shirleen knows you’re doing it and she’s cool with that,” I answered.

They looked at each other then they looked at me.

Sniff grinned.

Roam looked focused.

But I knew from their reactions that Shirleen would say it was okay. Then again, she was raising badasses who she would prefer used their badassness for good rather than evil, so she wouldn’t say no.

I lifted my hand and waved it out in a “move along” gesture. “Go forth, get permission, keep your eyes on these girls and report in to me frequently. If you don’t already have it, get my number from Shirleen.”

This got me nods.

“And keep Darius in the loop,” I added.

More nods.

“Thanks, guys,” I finished.

Another grin from Sniff. A chin jerk from Roam.

Jeez.

Roam chin jerking.

Save me.

They took off.

I hit the bar.

I’d just downed my tequila shooter when an arm wrapped around my belly from behind, a pair of lips touched my neck and my man’s voice sounded in my ear, “Havin’ fun?”

I turned in the curve of his arm, looked up at him and nodded. “Yeah. You?”

“Mm-hmm,” he mumbled and his eyes slid down to my chest. “Best part is watchin’ you in this dress.”

It was a wedding, but still, I went clingy, baring and sexy.

It was my way.

This time though, not black. Lavender

“I aim to please,” I told him.

“You do well,” he replied.

I smiled.

He bent in and touched his lips to mine.

“Herb!” we heard snapped (loudly) from across the yard.

Good news.

Trish felt the need for round two.

Leaning into Ren, I turned my attention to the Midwestern contingent of our posse just as Tex boomed, “Jesus Jones, woman, leave him be!”

“Ugh! Why am I surprised? You men stick together!” Trish shouted back.

“My people are Italian, loud and f**kin’ crazy,” Ren whispered to me. “And still, your people beat mine by a mile.”

I looked up at him. “I know. Aren’t we lucky?”

Ren shook his head.

Then he smiled.

* * * * *

Since most people had plastic cups, three hours later when Blanca wanted everyone’s attention, she held up a filled margarita pitcher and tapped it with a long thin spoon.