“I’m being serious.” I went on.

His beer came, he slid a note across the counter, took a pull and leaned into me. “This is how it works, I tell you how I feel, I’m honest about it, you do the same. A lot of the time we won’t agree but we’ll deal.”

I blinked at him.

Did he really think that was going to work?

Lee kept talking. “Obviously you heard our conversation. I know where Eddie stands, Eddie knows where I stand. If things are good between you and me, Eddie won’t be a threat. They start to go bad, Eddie’s movin’ in.”

“I got that part,” I said.

“I don’t intend for things to go bad but that doesn’t mean that Eddie isn’t gonna give you hints at what you might be missin’.”

Holy crap.

Lee continued. “So I want to be there when you’re with him because I’m the jealous-possessive type. That’s just the way it is and now you know how I feel. If you see him when I’m not there, then it’s down to you. Okay?”

“So, you aren’t telling me what to do, you’re telling me what you want.”

“If I wanted a woman who did what she was told, I wouldn’t be with you.”

I didn’t know any women who did what they were told, but I suspected they were out there. I just didn’t hang with them because that definitely wasn’t my scene.

“If it’s just you sharing your feelings, perhaps you can voice it less like an order,” I suggested.

“I’m used to giving orders and if it sounds like one then there’s always a chance you’ll obey.”

I gave him a look.

He gave me The Smile.

Marianne walked up and our conversation ended. While Marianne and I chatted and finished our drinks, Lee stood close behind me and nursed his Fat Tire. So close, I got comfy and rested my back against his front. Every once in awhile Marianne would take us both in and sigh.

When we were done, Lee and I walked Marianne to her car, I hugged her good-bye on the sidewalk and Lee and I watched her drive away. We went back to the front of The Hornet where Lee was parked, at the curb almost directly outside the front doors.

“How do you get these parking spots?” I asked when Lee opened the door for me.

“Luck,” he answered.

Bullshit. Luck. It was one of Lee’s “ways”.

We were coming away from the curb when his cell rang. He answered it as he was cutting across the four lanes of Broadway so he could make the turn right to my house.

“What?” he said into the phone and then barked out a clipped, “Details.”

Before he was done listening, he moved back into traffic. He flipped the phone shut and slid it in the console.

“I thought it’d be a quiet night. I need a quiet night,” he muttered to the windscreen, not talking to me.

“What are we doing?” I asked.

“We aren’t doin’ anything. I’ve got something to do. You’re waitin’ in the car.”

“Lee, that sounded like an order.”

“That was an order.”

Hmm.

Lee explained, “Luke was scheduled on call tonight but since he’s in the hospital, we’re a man down. I thought it’d be a quiet night, only one skip who can wait and most of the boys have been doubling up, working cases and doing stuff for you. All of your shit is either dead, behind bars or been offered employment at Fortnum’s. An informant’s called Ike whose manning the surveillance room. The skip has turned up. Bobby and Vance are on call but instead of at the office, I let them go home. Vance lives in a cabin outside Golden. I’m closest. Bobby’s comin’ as back up. He’s five minutes behind.”

“How do they know you’re closest?”

“All company vehicles have a tracking device, the Crossfire and your VW have one too.”

My VW? This was news.

“Really?” I asked.

“Really.”

“These days, my car never moves,” I told him, like he didn’t know since he took me practically everywhere.

“I know,” he said.

“Are you gonna take it off now that Rosie’s found?”

“You’re now covered by Nightingale Security.”

Er… what?

“I thought you weren’t doing security anymore.”

“Only special circumstances. The boys monitor the condo and now they monitor you.”

“I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that.”

“You will be when some nut job with a vendetta against me uses you to get to me and my boys get to you in five minutes rather than after you’ve been raped and murdered.”

Yikes.

I hit the mental control that set up Denial Zone around that subject and changed it to a new one.

“Who’s Ike?”

“Another of my men.”

“How many haven’t I met?”

“Luke, Mace, Jack and Ike.”

Mace? Who had a name like Mace? Where did these macho idiots come up with this shit?

“You got a guy named Mace?” I asked, I couldn’t help myself.

“His name’s Mason. Mason is a shit name. We call him Mace.”

That made sense.

“Oh,” I said.

We pulled up outside a bar off Colfax Avenue that I never knew existed, though I couldn’t say I spent much time on Colfax.

The bar looked rough.

Lee yanked the parking brake, turned off the car and twisted toward me.

“You stay here, stay down and keep the doors locked. Bobby will be here soon.”

I nodded.

He got out. I locked the doors and watched him go in. Then I leaned across the console, found the trunk release and grabbed the keys. I got out and went to the trunk. My belt was there. As far as I knew, Ally still had the pepper spray, Eddie had the taser which left me with the stun gun. I grabbed it, closed the trunk, bleeped the locks and walked toward the bar.

I did this for several reasons. Firstly, I felt more vulnerable and exposed in the car. Secondly, I’d never liked to be left out, not to mention, I was beginning to see why guys liked this shit, it was a rush. Lastly, I wanted to see Lee in action.

I walked into the bar and stood stock-still.

Even though it had been less than two minutes since Lee left me, a humongous black guy was laid out on the floor, long arms and legs sprawled, one of his wrists over his head and he was cuffed to the foot rail that ran the length of the bar.

Lee was in the middle of the room, some guy who was either drunk or not very good at what he was doing was aiming punch after punch at Lee. Lee dodged each punch with a calm jerk of his head and upper body, then out of nowhere, Lee’s fist came up and jabbed the guy in the left eye. Surprise and the power behind the jab sent the guy back three steps.

Lee was advancing on him when someone jumped Lee from behind and I could see another guy was approaching. Lee bent at the waist and flipped the guy over his shoulder. Mid-flip Lee’s torso lifted up. Using his strength and the guy’s momentum, Lee threw him, upside down, into the guy coming at them. The two guys went toppling backwards, slammed into a table and drinks flew everywhere.

This heralded the beginning of the brawl, including shouting, grunting, flying beer bottles and broken furniture. One second, Lee was the show, the next second, everyone was in on the act.

Two new guys came at Lee and he turned to one, not a small guy, not even average, though he wasn’t huge, and Lee grasped him by the collar of his t-shirt and belt of his pants, picked him up and threw him four feet across the room.

Just… like… that.

The guy that Lee jabbed was recovering and going toward Lee so I felt it was time to wade into the action. I hit the switch on the stun gun, it started to crackle and I moved forward and touched the guy with the prongs. He went still and went down.

Holy shit!

That was cool.

Lee’s eyes locked on mine, he gave a small shake of his head and then turned and dispatched another guy with a smooth uppercut. The guy went sailing.

“Hey, whitey! What the fuck you doin’?” I turned to see a black woman, hand on hip, head wobbling from side to side. “You can’t just stun gun my man… you can’t just… eek!”

I put the prongs to her, she went still then went down.

“Yo, bitch! Who you messin’ with?” The girl’s girlfriend was coming at me, all pissed off attitude, definitely in bitch smackdown mode. So I leaned forward, put the prongs to her too and she went down as well.

Regardless of the bedlam, people were giving me, and my crackling stun gun, a wide berth. Then, two hands settled on my waist. I was lifted up and my butt was planted on the bar. Lee bent, grabbed my ankles, swung my legs around to the back of the bar, then with a hand between my shoulders, he gave me a shove and I fell over to the other side.

Bobby came in and spotted Lee immediately. He fought his way to Lee, they both bent down and I couldn’t see them over the bar. The place was pandemonium and twice I had to duck, once to dodge a flying beer bottle, the second time to duck and run from a flying chair.

Bobby and Lee came up with the humongous guy, cuffed now at the back.

Bobby pushed humongous guy forward, half-walking him, half-scooting him along. The big guy was either mostly knocked-out or stunned. Bobby, who was even bigger, in fact bigger than anyone in the room, didn’t have a problem handling humongous guy or wading through the crowd.

Lee jumped the bar, lifted me up and planted me on the bar again, reverse action. He went back over the bar, snagged me around the waist and hauled me out of there.

Sirens were blaring and a cop car had already rolled up. Willie and Brian were headed into the bar as we came out and I saw another squad car approach.

Brian’s mouth dropped open when he saw me.

Willie’s eyes turned to Lee. There was some nonverbal male communication going on that I couldn’t decipher except I had a feeling that Lee was not going to win the Cop’s Daughter Boyfriend of the Year Award.