“I see they already started.”
“We wouldn’t have been so late if you hadn’t stopped and bought me a helmet. I feel as if my head is going to fall off my shoulders. I don’t know why you made me wear one tonight; you haven’t before,” she complained.
“Because there’s a difference between driving around your town at slow speed and a long ride where we’re hauling ass,” Ice answered curtly.#p#分页标题#e#
Grace set the helmet down on his motorcycle. The evening already wasn’t going as she’d planned. Ice didn’t seem happy she was there at all.
“Let’s go in.” Grace followed him.
When he reached the door, he paused, looking at her with a hard expression.
“No matter what you see inside, you’re not going to stop seeing me. I won’t let you.”
Grace was taken aback by his words, and her doubts about why he didn’t want her there disappeared. He didn’t want her to see what his life was like here then change her mind about seeing him.
When Grace finally nodded, Ice opened the door, taking her hand as they went inside.
To say Grace received a culture shock was putting it mildly. Ice had told the truth when he’d said his friends got wild when they partied.
The huge room was filled with men and women. There was a bar on one side of the room with a pool table in the center and another farther back. There were also several chairs and assorted furniture, and Grace didn’t want to guess how old they were.
“Ice, where you been?” Max came up to them, smacking Ice on the back. He was holding a bottle of whiskey in his hand.
He stared at her hard for a minute. “Is that Ms. Andrews?”
“Hi, Max,” Grace greeted him, smiling. She felt the eyes of everyone on them.
“Let’s get a beer.”
They went to the bar where a friendly brunette was serving drinks.
“What can I get you, Ice?”
“Get us a couple of beers. Crush, this is Grace.”
“Hi, Grace. So, you’re the one keeping Ice busy these days?” She reached under the counter and pulled out a couple of beers.
“I hope so,” she said, taking one of the beers then looking around the room.
“Crush, take care of her for me for a few minutes. I want to go see Stump.”
“He’s in the back bedroom with Rave.” Crush laughed.
Ice turned to her. “Stay here with Crush. I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be fine,” she assured him, keeping her doubts to herself.
“Don’t look so scared. We don’t bite.” Crush laughed after Ice left. “Most of us are harmless.”
“Crush, give me a beer.” Jackal’s voice from the end of the bar drew her attention. A young woman who was about nineteen stood by his side. She was wearing a tank top and it was obvious from her pert breasts she wasn’t wearing a bra.
Jackal’s eyes met hers. “Grace.”
“Jackal.”
Crush gave him a beer, then he moved off into the same direction Ice had with his arm around the woman.
“That was Nola.”
“She seems very young.”
“Look around. There are younger ones here. We don’t exactly check IDs, but if Ice catches anyone under eighteen, he throws them out. He doesn’t want any of the men locked up.”
When there was a loud yell from the back, Grace turned to see two men stand up and start shoving each other. Max broke up the fight by pushing one of the men back down onto a chair.
Crush saw her staring. “It’s only going to get worse the later it gets. You sure you’re in the right place?”
“I’m sure.”
Ice came back, putting his arm around her shoulder. “Let’s go sit down.”
After finding a spot on a couch next to a wall, they watched two men play pool. Once they finished, Ice stood up to play the loser.
Gradually, Grace relaxed. She had been to several parties in Paris while she had lived there, and this seemed pretty much the same. Actually, she had attended some much worse, but her brother had not let her stay for long.#p#分页标题#e#
She watched some party-goers doing a few lines of coke on the bar while Ice gauged her reaction. She merely raised a brow at him. The only time she became uncomfortable was when one of the women broke away from the man holding her to dance on one of the tables. As she gyrated her hips, someone turned the music up and she took off her top, showing her naked breasts. Grace had to glance away at that one, but she did look to see if Ice was watching the performance. He merely kept playing pool, beating everyone he played, finally handing over the pool stick to Fade.
Then he sat back down beside her. “Ready to run yet?”