“You don’t owe me anything. I owe you for all your help when Vida was in trouble.”
Ice nodded.
Colton cleared his throat. “Did you clear up your problems with Grace?”
“No, she took off. I don’t know where she is or when she’s coming back. If she’s coming back,” Ice said grimly, “I thought I told you I didn’t want to see your fucking face?”
Rita sat down the beer she was giving Max then made a hasty retreat from the room.
“Max told me what happened. Seems to me you’re blaming Rita for something you did.”
“She knew Grace was my old lady. The cunt should have kept her mouth closed. She betrayed me.”
“Like you did Grace?” Ice turned angrily on Colton, who held both hands up. “I’m just saying it how Grace would look at it. Believe me, I’m not throwing stones, brother. I was a stupid ass when I first met Vida.”
“You fucked around on Vida?” Ice was surprised. Any time Colton had stopped by the clubhouse, he hadn’t taken any of the women to the back rooms.
“It was before we got together. I showed her a side of me she didn’t want anything to do with. It took me a while to make her understand she was different.”
“How’d you accomplish that?”
“I quit fucking around.” Colton smiled.
“That’s not so easy with all the pussy hanging around here,”
“Had any since she left?”
“No,” Ice admitted.
“Brother, it doesn’t matter how much pussy is around if it’s not the one you want.”
“I’m finding that out.”
“She gave Vida her phone number. Want me to get her to call and find out where she is and if she’s coming back?” Colton offered.
“You do that, and we’ll be even.”
Colton called his wife while Ice sat next to him, sick to his gut. He didn’t know what his next move would be if she wasn’t coming back. Maybe he could kidnap one of her dogs. Snake had said a friend of hers had stopped by to pick up some dog food, so he had followed her back to her house. Snake had seen her taking the dogs out, but no Grace. He could ransom the one he took to make her come back and talk to him. Ice debated it while Colton waited for Vida to call him back, but ultimately, he gave the idea up.
Daisy was too fucking big to kidnap, and one of the brothers would kill the little shit when he went for their boots. He was trying to come up with another plan when Vida called back. Ice waited impatiently for Colton to find out where Grace was,
He finally ended the call. “She’s in Florida. Her parents were there, but they left.”
“Is she coming back?” Ice asked, dreading his answer.
“Yeah, next week.”
A smile, which hadn’t been on his face since Grace had left, returned. Ice smacked Colton on his back, nearly knocking Colton off his stool.
“Crush, get Colton another beer.”
Crush, with a tentative smile, hurriedly did as he said.
“You’re not out of the woods yet,” Colton told him. “She called Alec and told him not to tell her family about the fight at the benefit, but she’s still mad at you.”
Ice had wondered why her father and brother hadn’t called to threaten him bodily injury to stay away from Grace.
“She called you a bunch of names.”
“Like what?” Ice asked.
“Brother, you don’t want to know.”
Ice suspected he didn’t as he glowered at Fade and Griffin.
“She made you a birthday cake?” Colton asked.
“Yeah.”
“How was it?”
“I don’t know. The brothers ate it all before I could get back.” Ice had definitely had some shitty birthdays in his life, but that one had been the worst. He hadn’t even been able to drown his sorrow in the chocolate cake. He had knocked Max across the room when he found out he had eaten the last piece.
Colton’s shoulders shook. “You could make Rita make you one as punishment.”
“It wouldn’t taste the same.” Ice felt like a fucking pussy complaining over a fucking chocolate cake, and from Colton’s laughter, he made no attempt to hide that he thought so, too.
“Now that you know where your old lady ran off to, I’ll tell you why I stopped by. I was going to give you a present for your birthday but didn’t know what you wanted. How about another tattoo? I left my kit in the car.”
“No, thanks. I don’t have too many places left. The only place left is my neck and Grace told me she doesn’t like tats on the neck.”
“How does she like the piercing?”
“That, she loves.”
“I could give you another one,” Colton suggested.
“Fuck, no.”
“You sure?” Colton said, getting up from the barstool. “If she likes what one barbell does for her, imagine what two will do.”
“Crush, hand me that bottle of tequila.”
He threw a threatening glare at Colton. “When I wake up in the morning, I better have just two.”
Griffin sat down on the barstool next to Ice while Fade stood to his side.
“Sorry, Ice. I tried to stop Rita, but I should have tried harder,” Fade admitted. “It’s… just… Brother, she’s going to cause you a lot of grief. She’s not the kind of old lady we expected you to find. You have to admit, she’s too classy to hang out with a bunch of outlaws like us.”
Ice turned on his stool to face Fade and saw the whole club was watching and listening.
“Not only that, but her entire family keeps a media circus around them. What if a nosy reporter decides to investigate her love interest?” Fade’s face grimaced at his own words. “Brother, women like that pussy-whip you before you know it. Shit, she probably wouldn’t marry you if you begged her. Women like her use men like us to fuck with then settle down with a loser who doesn’t even know how to find her pussy in the dark.”
Ice surveyed the brothers all nodding their heads in agreement.
“If and when I ever become pussy-whipped, you have my permission to beat the shit out of me. Fade, you and Jackal were in the solitary cells across from mine when Jackson and his men worked me over. Did I seem weak to you?”
“Hell, no, Ice. I would have been crying like a baby when they used that stick on my head, much less my… No, Ice, you weren’t weak. It drove them crazy that you didn’t beg for them to stop.” Fade and the rest of his brothers stared at him with pride.
Ice nodded. “I’m aware Grace isn’t like the usual women who hang out here, begging for dick, and I’m not blind to the fact that her family connections could cause us some trouble. We’ve always been smart enough to hide what we’re involved in, and now, we’ll be even smarter.”
Ice stared down all the brothers. “If someone does try to cause me or the club grief, I’ll let them dig their own grave before I bury them in it.” Ice opened the tequila bottle Crush had set down in front of him and took a long drink.
The bikers backed away from their lethal leader.
“Colton, you going to go get your needles?”
Colton gave a grin. “I’ll be right back.”
“Good, I’m thinking a few of these fuckers need to get a new piercing, too.”
Chapter 24
“Whose car is that?” CeCe asked, parking beside the shiny white Lexus sitting in her driveway.
“I don’t know.”
CeCe had picked her up at the airport after she had stayed two weeks with her parents in Florida. She had spent that time at the beach and Miami nightclubs, trying to forget Ice. It hadn’t worked, although she had gained a stunning tan and lost ten pounds. For a woman with a broken heart, she looked fantastic.
Grace got out of the car and saw a note on the windshield, addressed to her. Opening it, she read it and then crumpled it in her hand.
Opening CeCe’s car door, she leaned inside. “I hate to bother you, but could I ask another favor?”
* * *
While I
ce stood at the pool table, setting up a shot he knew he was going to make, Jackal leaned against the table, waiting to take his turn. The room was filled with the brothers, all drinking, and having a good time.
Ice heard the door open as he was taking his shot. As the ball went into the left corner pocket, Ice gave Jackal a smug smile, yelling out, “Crush, bring me a beer!”
“Heads up, brother,” Jackal warned just as Ice felt a fist hit him in the back. He spun around to see a furious Grace standing with her hand on her hips.
“You bastard, I don’t want anything from you! Take that car and give it to Brandy.” She threw the set of keys at Ice’s face. “And get your own fucking beer.” The hellion turned on her heel and stormed back across the clubhouse, calling him names along the way.
He caught her before she had made it to the door, taking her arm and tugging her toward his bedroom.
“Let me go, you cheating ass-wipe.” Ice ignored her, having no choice other than to go inside his room. She managed to jerk free as he was closing the door. She tried to push him out of the way, but Ice stood in front of the door with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Get out of my way.” She kept trying to push at him while Ice just let her wear herself out.
“Where have you been?” She was supposed to be home days ago, according to what she had told Vida. When he had pestered Colton to get Vida to call again, she hadn’t answered her call.
“None of your damn business.”
“I came by to see you, and you were gone. What did you do while you were away?”
She didn’t answer him.
Ice’s eyes went over her body. “That’s a sexy dress you’re wearing. And heels, too. I haven’t seen you wear heels before. You’re all tan, and your hair is lighter.”
“You want to know where I’ve been, Ice? Are you sure you want to know?” she taunted.
“Yes.” His expression was impassive, but his eyes were flashing blue fire.
“I went to Miami to spend some time with my parents. They left after the weekend while I stayed on at their villa and went nightclubbing. The first night, I picked up Juan, and we fucked all night. The second night, I let Terrance pick me up, and I fucked him a couple of times, but he wasn’t as good as Juan, so I left him in the middle of the night. The third night, I picked up Cord. Now, he really knew how to fuck, so I stayed with him for two nights. After that, I don’t remember their names, but I can tell you how good they fucked. Then I got bored again, so I decided to go on a mini-cruise. I always fantasized about having a Latin lover.”
“Stop, Grace,” Ice warned her.
“What, you don’t want to hear about them? You don’t want to know how I fucked Juan on the table in my cabin? I can describe it if—” Ice grabbed Grace and pinned her to the door with his weight. His fist hit the wall beside her head. “Does it hurt? The thought of me with another man? Can you picture it in your head? My mouth on his dick, him fucking me!” Grace taunted. “Does it shrivel your fucking soul the way it did mine when Rita threw that woman at me?” Grace pounded his chest with her fists.
“I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry.” Ice buried his face in her neck, his mouth near the spot where his brand had faded a week ago. “I had to prove to my men I wasn’t weak, that no one from that prison had fucked me up so I couldn’t be a man again. They had to see I wasn’t weak. Only the strong survive in this club. They can sense the weak, smell it and come for blood.
“I begged my mom not to leave, but she did. I begged my dad not to leave me alone when he would go out drinking for days, but he left anyway. When I got older and he thought I would beg not to be beaten, I turned on him. He was the one begging me not to kill him. People beg me now. They fear me. Not even those asshole guards in prison could make me beg them to stop.”
“Ice, what happened in the prison?”
Ice didn’t answer her. “I’ve earned my right to be their president. My men expect me to be tougher and meaner than any of them, of any president before me, and I am. My woman has to understand that. You have to understand that.”
“I won’t have a man cheating on me.”
“What am I supposed to do? Give my brothers up for you?”
“I’m not asking you to give the Predators up. They were there for you when you needed them. Does Colton fuck around on Vida?”
“No.”
“Do the men respect him?”
“Hell, yes; he’s our brother…” Ice stopped, listening to what she was trying to tell him.
“Being a Predator has nothing to do with being faithful. Fucking every woman in that room isn’t going to prove you have their back when they need you. You’ve proven yourself to them over the years. It’s me you let down. It’s me who was hurt and humiliated in front of everyone. It’s me you won’t confide in about what happened at the prison when they all know. You haven’t proved you deserve me, but I’ll find someone who will.” She tried to wiggle out from under him.
Ice lifted his head, glaring at her. “You want me to prove myself to you? I can prove I’m the only man for you.” His mouth caught hers in a kiss he didn’t know he was capable of giving a woman. His tongue thrust deep, sliding along the roof of her mouth before slipping under her bottom lip to tease the sensitive skin.
Ice expected her to bite him at any minute; instead, she slid her tongue into his mouth to duel with his. The kiss became an erotic battle between the two where both were determined to be the winner.
“The guards beat the shit out of me before I was released. I was in the hospital for a week. As busted up as I was, I would have rode my bike to see you, but Jackal told me you had security around you. I backed off until they left. The whole time my dick was hard for you. That night, I didn’t want to push you; instead, I rode home and fucked Brandy. I’ll never give another woman what’s yours again. I swear, Grace,” he groaned.
“Ice…” her pain-filled whisper showed she finally understood what had happened in the prison.
Ice wanted to make her desire him enough to let him back into her life, to show her she could do something no one in his life had ever done before—love him enough to stay with him. He didn’t want her fucking sympathy. He wanted her back in his arms where she belonged.
His mother had left before he was four years old because she hated his father. His father would go off for days and leave him alone, telling him each time he wouldn’t come back, and when he did come back, he would beat the shit out of him for crying. When Ice had run away, his father had brought him back just for the child support he had forced his mother to pay. The second time Ice had left, his father knew Ice would kill him if he tried to bring him back.
Shaking away those thoughts, Ice’s hand went under her dress, going straight for her pussy. He rubbed her silky panties against her clit, feeling them get wet. Jerking them down her thighs, he lifted her out of them then set her feet back on the floor. Then his hand went to the zipper at the back of her dress, unzipping it until it fell from her shoulders into a puddle at her feet.
His hand went to her hair, taking his mouth away from hers. “Baby, this isn’t over. We’re not over. We’ll never be over.”
His hand went to her breast, lifting the nipple to his mouth. Biting down on it, he heard her gasps.
“I missed this pussy. It’s the only one I need.” He tried to think of the words that would get her to come back to him. He couldn’t. He wasn’t like that lame professor who had words at his disposal. Instead, he showed her with his body.
His mouth went to her other breast, raising her arousal by pulling her wet nipple between his two fingers.
“It… That hurts.”
“What did I tell you about a little pain?” Ice released the nipple, letting the blood return. The small sting had her clawing at his chest through his T-shirt.
He had taken it easy on her when he’d fucked her before, not wanting to scare her away, letting her discover sex at her own pace, and it had nearly driven his patience crazy. Now
, he was going to give her a crash course in how he liked to fuck and tie her to his bed with chains of desire she would never escape.
Ice picked her up, laying her on the bed on her stomach.
“I haven’t fucked you from behind before, have I?” he asked, getting on the bed.
“N… no,” she stuttered as he jerked her to her knees on the bed.
He thrust two fingers inside her, steadily finger fucking her before she could change her mind and jump off the bed.
“Ice…” She put her hand over her mouth for a second then took it away. “I don’t want your fingers.”
His hand went to her hair, turning her head so she could see what he was doing to her in the mirror on his dresser.
“Did you fuck those men?”
“Yes!” she hissed.
Ice pushed his body against her, one hand sliding around her hip to reach the front of her pussy. He pulled her clit taut until the little hood came out of hiding. Ice rubbed the little bud until Grace dropped her head onto his bed, screaming into the mattress. He didn’t stop playing with her clit while he fucked her faster with his fingers until he heard her crying, begging him to let her come.
“Did you fuck those men?”
“No! I didn’t even dance with anyone,” she admitted, panting through her arousal.
“Do you want me to fuck you?”
“Yes! God, yes!” she whimpered.
“Are you my woman?”
This time, it took much longer for her to give in. Ice was beginning to think she wasn’t going to break. It was only when he had rubbed the tip of his condom-covered cock against her, letting the metal balls graze her already over-stimulated clit, that she gave in to his demands.
“I’m yours. I’ll always be yours.”
“That’s my baby,” Ice praised, rewarding her with the hard cock he had denied her.
He turned her head so she could watch him give her every inch she had begged for. As he pushed into her, he held her hips still, making her take his hard thrusts instead of the gentle ones she’d thought she would get. Then he lowered her head to the mattress, spreading her wider so he could reach farther, his cock nudging her cervix. He leaned over her back until his mouth could reach her sweet spot, sucking the flesh between his lips.