“Not exactly.” She leaned against him when he put his arm across the back of the couch. “I’ve been to parties in Paris that were much worse.”
“Your parents let you go?” Ice asked in surprise.
Grace shrugged. “I began modeling young. It’s expected for you to attend certain parties. Dax always went with me, and my parents knew they could trust me.”
“What would they think if they knew about us?”
“They wouldn’t be happy,” she told him truthfully. “Not because you’re in a motorcycle club, but because of your past criminal record, and you were the one who took me hostage.”
“That’s fair. I wouldn’t want a kid of mine—if I had any—to get involved with a man like me, either.”
Ice had just brought up something which had been bothering her, something she hadn’t found a way to ask him about yet. “Why don’t you want children, Ice?”
His expression went cold. “Because I won’t pass along my father’s genes or his name. It’s going to die with me.” He took a long drink of beer.
“I want kids. I already have their names picked out,” she said, playing with a thread on her jeans. She felt Ice staring at her.
“I wouldn’t mind adopting. Giving a kid like me a chance would be good.”
“A future member of the Predators?”
“Hell, yes.” Ice laughed.
At that moment, the club door opened and an older woman came inside. “I’ll be right back.”
While several of the members were greeting the woman as if she hadn’t been there for a while, the couch sank as someone sat down next to her.
“You Ice’s bitch or his old lady?” a woman asked, giving her a sharp stare. No one would take this woman as friendly.
“What’s the difference?”
“A bitch is someone he fucks and shares. An old lady gets fucked over and doesn’t get shared.”
“Neither sounds very appealing. Which one are you?”
“I don’t get fucked over.” Rita boasted.
“I could have guessed you were a bitch.” Grace concluded.
“Aren’t you funny? You won’t be smiling when I smack—”
“Shut up, Rita,” a voice interrupted the woman’s tirade. “Hi, I’m Gert,” she introduced herself to Grace.
“Get up, bitch!” Gert said to Rita.
After the girl threw a dirty look at Grace before getting up and going to the bar, Gert sat down in her spot.
“She gives all the new women hell. She would keep all the brothers to herself if she could.”
“I’m Grace, a friend of Ice’s.”
“He told me. He went outside to check my car out for me. It’s been giving me some trouble.”
“I hope he can fix it.”
Gert shrugged. “If he can’t, he’ll get me another one.”#p#分页标题#e#
Grace smiled, thinking of Ice, seeing that the woman who had helped him get off the streets was taken care of.
“Ice told me how you found him in the back of your car.”
“He told you that story?” Gert’s gaze sharpened.
“Yes.”
“I don’t think he’s told anyone outside of the club before.”
Grace blushed. “I’m glad you were able to help him out.”
“I had gone back to my ex’s house to get my clothes. I wonder sometimes what would have happened to him if I hadn’t met him that night.”
“Probably dead. He said he’d been stabbed. You gave him a place to go to when he was hurt.”
Gert nodded. “He was half-starved, too. He still eats like he has a hole in his stomach.”
“Tell me about it,” Grace said wryly.
Both women laughed for a moment; however, Gert quit laughing when they saw Ice coming back inside. “Be careful of Rita until you get to know the others in the club better. I’ll tell the other girls to keep an eye on you.”
“Thanks, Gert. I’m sure it will all work out.”
Gert gave her a skeptical look yet stood up as Ice drew near.
“It’s running. I’ll start looking for a new one for you tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Ice. I’m going to go say hi to Stump then go on home. Had a treatment this morning and I’m tired, or I’d stay and have a beer with you.”
Ice bent and brushed his lips over her wrinkled cheek. “Take care.”
“I like her,” Grace told him after she left.
“How about Rita? You like her?”
“Not so much,” Grace admitted.
“Not many do.”
“Come on, I’ll show you my room.” Ice took her to a long hallway that had several doors, some open with people inside talking and laughing. He took her to the one next to the end, opening the door then reaching in to turn on the light. “Go on in,” Ice urged.