Again, when she felt him about to climax, she pulled back.
“Baby, I’ve never been a big fan of teasing.” He bent down, picking her up.
Grace gave a startled squeak as Ice turned and dropped her onto the bed. He unbuttoned her jeans, jerking them and her thong down her thighs and off before she quit bouncing.
“Give a girl a little warning.”
“Okay, I’m going to shove my dick so far up your pussy you’re going to have a hard time riding home tomorrow.” Ice, true to his word, slid a condom on, braced his arms over her, and then slid his cock in her in one stroke.
Grace’s legs were hanging off the bed before she wrapped them around his waist, afraid the strength of his thrusts was going to make her fall off the bed.
Ice gripped her ass cheeks in his hand, moving her hips against his. While the bed hit the wall as he slammed against her, Grace’s mouth went to his shoulder, wanting to scream out in ecstasy at the intensity of the fire building inside her.
“Ice, oh… God, Ice.” She let her self-restraint slip, giving herself over to him.
She clasped his waist tighter with her thighs, arching her hips up to him so he could reach higher inside her. Her position allowed him to stretch her even farther, and when the head of his cock with the metal balls hit high, she couldn’t hold back her broken half-scream before she bit down on his shoulder to smother it.
Ice moved faster as her pussy clenched on him, driving him to a climax, which had his arms collapsing, dropping his sweat-slickened body on top of her. When he regained his breath, he shifted her farther up in the bed.
“I need to go to the bathroom.”
“Door across the hall,” Ice said, flopping down on the bed.
Grace climbed out of the bed, putting her jeans back on. “I’ll be right back.” She went out the door, closing it behind her.
The bathroom door was locked, so she waited patiently for it to open. When it did, she wished she had waited in Ice’s room. Rita came out in a large T-shirt, her eyes going over Grace’s rumpled hair and swollen lips. She curled her lips, moving to the side and letting Grace enter the bathroom. Grace was grateful the woman hadn’t smarted off to her.
She hurriedly used the toilet and washed her face before walking out of the bathroom. Her hand was on Ice’s doorknob when the door at the end opened and a large man came out. He was taller than Max, though not as large. He didn’t have on a shirt and his long, black hair was tied back. His jeans were unzipped and she could practically see the tip of his cock. Grace hastily lifted her eyes to see him smiling seductively down at her.
“Where you been, sweet thing? All the girls have welcomed me home. It’s your turn next. Give me five and I’ll be with you. Damn, I wish I’d seen you before I gave Rita another turn.”
Grace almost fell into Ice’s bedroom when the door was jerked open from within.
“Back off, Stump,” Ice ordered.
“That’s Stump?” Grace asked, shocked.
“I’m as big as a tree stump,” he said wickedly, licking his lips. “Any time you want to see it, come knocking on my door.”
“She’s my old lady,” Ice gritted out.
Stump’s expression changed in a flash. “Sorry, Ice. I hadn’t heard.”
“Now you have.” Ice took her hand, yanking her inside his room before slamming the door.
“Did you get a good look?” he snarled.
“I did.” Grace nodded, looking at Ice’s still-naked body. Her calm answer took Ice’s anger down a notch. “You’re seriously not jealous of him, are you?”
As Ice’s body came toward her, the lethal look in his eyes had her backing away until she came up against the wall. “I told you once I never had a pussy that was just mine. I don’t intend for anyone to ever touch you. Your mine, just mine, Grace.”
She wasn’t frightened by his attitude, not fearing he would ever hurt her. Any other man who might touch her would be another story. She didn’t doubt Ice would cause them physical harm.
Grace felt the unexpected thrill of his possessiveness, hating the emotion while, at the same time, admitting it made her feel special. If he felt that way about her, then she had no need to worry about him and other women.
Grace wound her arms around his neck, plastering her body against his. “Just yours, Ice. I promise.”
Chapter 21
Grace carefully placed the covered cake into her backseat before getting into the front of her car. Starting the cranky engine, she pulled out of her driveway. She should have asked to borrow CeCe’s car for the trip she had planned for the last two weeks to surprise Ice for his birthday.
She had told him she had a teachers’ conference out of town today, so his men had left with him this morning. She didn’t know how Ice managed the drive in three hours when it took her over four. She had wanted to arrive in time for lunch, but she was afraid to push her old car at a faster speed limit.
She had been planning to buy herself a new car with the money she would make from teaching the course at the prison, but because of the riot, the class hadn’t continued, and she had only been paid for the classes she had taught. The jerks didn’t even throw in a twenty for being taken hostage. She should have at least earned hazard pay.
She drove directly to the clubhouse. She had been there two other times when Ice had been too tired to make the ride, asking her to drive to him. Both times, she had borrowed CeCe’s car, but this time, not wanting to again and feeling as if she was beginning to take advantage, she had chosen to drive her own.
She parked behind the clubhouse where there were a few bikes, but she didn’t see Ice’s. Getting out of her car, she grabbed the chocolate cake. It was his favorite, something she had made a couple of months ago, and he had almost made himself sick eating too much of it.
Carefully balancing it, she went to the backdoor and knocked. Griffin opened the door. Grace had only met the man a couple of times previously. He always wore a his long blond hair tied at the nape of his neck, and his grey eyes were guarded as if he hid his true feelings for her behind fake politeness.
“Hey, Grace.”
“Griffin, I wanted to surprise Ice for his birthday.”
“He’s not here. I can call him.”
“Do you know how long he’ll be?”
“Last time I talked to him, he was headed back, maybe twenty minutes?”
“Do you mind if I come in and wait?”
When Griffin opened the door wider for her, she went into the dimly lit room, noticing several of the women hanging around. The only other biker she recognized was Fade, who was playing pool.
She walked across the room, setting the cake down on the counter as Griffin went back to the pool table. Rita swiveled around on the bar stool, looking at the cake distastefully.
“Hi, Grace.”
“Hi, Crush.” Grace was relieved to see her. She had become tentative friends with her, while Rita’s antagonism had only grown worse.
“What do you have here?” Crush laid a light finger on the cover.
Grace smiled. “I made a cake for Ice. I wanted to surprise him for his birthday.” She included the gorgeous woman sitting next to Crush, giving her a smile. She hadn’t met her before.
Rita gave a harsh laugh. “He’ll enjoy the brothers’ present a whole lot more. They called Brandy to come and give him another go around.”
The smile slipped from Grace’s lips. “Excuse me?”
“You better watch it, Rita,” Fade warned from the pool table.
“What? If she stays, she’ll see for herself.” She nodded at the woman sitting next to her. “This is Brandy.”
“Hi, Brandy,” Grace said weakly.
“Hi,” she responded with a confident air, not denying what Rita had said.
“I think I’ll just wait out in the car for Ice.” Grace turned to leave.
“Grace, stay. I’ll get you a beer,” Crush offered.
“Let her go sit in the car. You know she should
n’t be coming around, sniffing after our men. Fuck, she comes in all dressed up as if she’s worth a million fuckin' dollars when she’s a slut like the rest of us. Hell, she sounds like she’s being strangled when she comes. I don’t want to be in the house when Ice is finished with her and Stump has her. Then she’ll sound like a banshee.”
Grace’s temper got the better of her. It was better than the feelings of humiliation coursing through her bloodstream, though.
“What’s wrong, Rita? You upset because Ice isn’t giving it to you and the others since he started seeing me?” Grace snapped, and the men quit playing pool to listen.
“If that’s what you really think, then you’re a bigger fool than I thought you were. He fucked Brandy on that pool table over there right after he came back from seeing you.”
Grace felt the smack of Rita’s words as if she had hit her. It probably would have hurt less if she hadn’t seen the truth in all the faces staring at her.
“Rita!” Fade slammed down the pool stick walking angrily to the bar. Grace was too mortified to listen to what the angry biker was saying to Rita.
Without another word, she walked steadily out of the clubhouse, holding her tears back, determined not to let Rita see how badly she was hurt. After she heard the door close behind her, she let the tears slip down her cheeks. She could barely see where she was walking with the tears flooding her eyes and fell back a step when she plowed into another figure.
“Excuse me.”
Grace’s head came up at the feminine voice. “It was my fault,” Grace hiccupped.
“Are you okay?”
Grace furiously blinked her eyes so she could see the woman she was talking to. “Yes. Thanks,” Grace said, moving to the side so she could pass.
She went to her car and opened the door as the woman headed inside the clubhouse without knocking. Probably another present for Ice, she thought, stabbing the imaginary knife deeper in her heart.
She tried to turn her car on, but the motor wouldn’t start. She tried several times before she laid her head down on the wheel and burst into tears.
After a knock on her window had her jumping, she looked up to find the woman she had bumped into outside the club, watching her in concern.
Grace pressed the button to operate the window, but it didn’t work, either, so she opened the door.
“Your car won’t start?”
“No, when it gets hot, I have to give it time to cool down.”
“I’m Vida. My husband belongs to the club. I could give you a ride if you need one.”
“Are you going to Stephenville?” Grace asked on a sob.
“No, but I could. If you don’t want to sit here, I could take you to my husband’s tattoo shop and then bring you back when it closes.”
Grace grabbed her purse. She didn’t want to be sitting in her car when Ice showed up. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
Grace got out of her car, locking the door, and then went with Vida to her small car, climbing into the passenger seat.
Once they were on the road, Vida cast her a curious glance. “You didn’t tell me your name.”
“I’m sorry. I’m Grace.”
“Do you want to talk about why you were crying?”
“Because my car wouldn’t start.”
“You were crying before you got in your car,” Vida gently reminded her.
“I was?”
“Yes, but it’s okay if you don’t want to tell me.”
“I planned a surprise for my boyfriend… my ex-boyfriend.” Grace continued after correcting herself, “The men had already planned a surprise for him, though. Her name is Brandy.”
“Ouch. Who told you? Maybe they were wrong?”
“Rita. No, she wasn’t lying.” Grace looked out the window.
“That bitch. She gave me a hard time when I first started seeing Colton. She’s actually not that bad once you get to know her. Which one is your boyfriend?”
“Ex-boyfriend. Ice.”
“Oh.” Vida was silent. Grace could tell she was having a hard time coming up with something nice to say.
“Why were you at the club?” Grace asked. “Were you going to the party?”
“God, no.” Vida shuddered. “Thank God my husband doesn’t take part in that aspect of the club.” Vida cast her an apologetic glance. “Sorry, I didn’t mean… I was there to drop off some concert tickets for Gert. She’s been sick, and we wanted to get her out of her house for a while to have a good time.”
“I’ve met Gert. She tried to warn me about Rita. I might be slow on the uptake, but I’m not completely stupid. I thought we had something special. He was so adamant about me not having anyone else that I took that to mean he wouldn’t, either. But Rita told me he had sex with Brandy on the pool table.”
“That asshole,” Vida said, slowing the car down and parking in front of a tattoo shop. “Come on inside, and I’ll get you a cup of coffee.”
Grace had never been in a tattoo shop before. There were pictures on the walls of people showing off their new ink and others of tattoos people could choose. On the side of the wall was a poster showing men and women’s genitals and the piercings available.
Vida went behind the counter and came back with a cup of coffee.
“Does your husband do the piercings?”
Vida grimaced. “Yes, and before you ask, I’m always in the room when it’s a woman.”
Grace took a drink of her coffee.
“What are you going to do about your car?”
“I’m going to call a tow truck and junk it, and then I’m going to call a friend of mine to drive up from Stephenville to pick me up.”
“If you don’t want to do that, I have a friend, Penni, who has to leave town tonight after the concert. She has to go past Stephenville. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind dropping you off.”
“I wouldn’t want to inconvenience her.”
“You don’t know Penni. She really wouldn’t mind; she would love the company.”
“Would you mind calling to check? That way I won’t have to bother my friend.”
“The concert won’t end until ten,” Vida told her.
“That’s fine. CeCe doesn’t get out of class until eight, and she has an early class tomorrow, so I’d rather not bother her.” She also really didn’t want to have to explain to CeCe why it wasn’t Ice giving her a ride home.
“All right, then I’ll give Penni a call.” Vida went back behind the counter.
A couple of customers came in while she was on the phone, and Grace saw a tall man with dark hair and a goatee, come from the back. He went behind the counter as Vida disconnected the call.
She checked the customers then motioned for Grace to come to the counter. “Penni said she would be happy to give you a ride home after the concert tonight. I’ll drop you off when I get off and take you inside to meet her.”
“I appreciate your help, Vida.”
“I’m glad I could help.” Vida gave her a smile, tilting her head to the man to her side. “Grace, this is my husband Colton.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Colton.”
“Grace.”
“I met Grace at the Predator’s clubhouse. Her car had broken down.”
“I’m glad my wife was there to help. Do you know any of the Predators, or did your car—”
“She knows Ice,” Vida explained.
“Ice didn’t offer to help?” Colton frowned.
“I didn’t ask,” Grace replied, taking a seat to the side of the counter.
Colton gave his wife a hard stare.
“Your client is ready,” Vida reminded him.
“What did you do?” he asked in a low voice.
“Nothing. I just gave her a ride,” Vida said innocently.
“Vida, you know not to mess with Ice. He won’t appreciate your interference.”
She ignored her husband’s warning. “Blake, Colton’s ready for you.”
While the customer stood and went to the bac
k doorway to wait, Colton gave his wife a hard stare before heading that direction.
“I hope this doesn’t cause any trouble for you,” Grace said, overhearing the conversation between the two.
“Trouble is my middle name.”
* * *
Ice parked his bike beside Grace’s car while his men pulled in beside him.
Why was her car here?
“Isn’t that Grace’s car?” Jackal asked.
“Yes.” He got off his bike.
“You know she was coming?” Max questioned as they walked into the clubhouse.
“No.”
The noisy room went silent when he walked in. Ice’s stomach sank when he looked around the room and didn’t see Grace.
“Happy Birthday, Ice.” Brandy jumped up from the barstool to hug him around his neck. His arms stayed by his side, and Brandy’s arms fell away as she took a quick step at the fury radiating from Ice.
“Where is Grace?” Ice stared at Fade who reluctantly came forward, rubbing the back of his neck.
“She stopped by about an hour ago. She said she wanted to surprise you. She brought you a cake.” Fade nodded to the covered cake sitting on the bar.
“Where is she?” This time Ice gritted the words out.
“She and Rita got into it, and she left.”
Ice’s eyes went to where Rita was standing behind Lizard, who had come in with Ice. Lizard turned, frowning at his woman.
“What did you say to her?” Lizard asked before Ice could.
She shrugged with false bravado, but the fear could be heard in her voice. “I told her the men had called Brandy for you tonight, and she got mad and smarted off to me. She thought she was the only one you were fucking, so when I told her you had Brandy on the pool table, she left.” Her jumbled explanation ended in a barely-audible whisper.
Ice shook, he was so furious. If she were a man, she would be dead for coming between him and Grace.
“Where is she?”
“She left,” Fade said, taking a step back.
“You watched and didn’t do anything?” Ice’s eyes caught and held Griffin’s then Fade’s.
“We never mess with the bitches’ business—” Griffin said.
“I tried—” Fade began to explain but was cut off.