Ice tried to lift her from the barstool, but she grabbed the stool again. “Christ! Grace, you’re being ridiculous.”
“Come on, Grace. You can spend the night with me,” Penni offered, getting shakily to her feet.
“You need to butt out,” Jackal told her. He had been standing behind Ice.
“How’s your lip?” She snickered with her brow raised in a drunken question.
Ice took a step to the side, blocking Jackal from reaching for her.
“Ready, Grace?” Penni asked.
Ice belatedly wished he hadn’t stopped Jackal.
“Can we go get my dogs first?”
“Surrre,” Penni slurred. “I lovvvve dogs.”
“You’re not taking my dogs,” Ice said, moving out of Jackal’s way. The troublemaking blonde was on her own now.
It took Jackal all of a second to have the woman over his shoulder.
“Put her down, Jackal,” Henry ordered as he came down the steps.
Jackal turned back toward Henry. “She’s too drunk to drive,” Jackal said, ignoring Henry’s order.
“I’ll take her home. Set her down!” Henry argued.
Penni had placed her hands on Jackal’s back, rearing her head up. A woman walked by the stage, catching Penni’s attention. “Sherri! I want to talk to you and Jazz. Do you…?”
Henry cut her off. “Pack her to my car and keep her there. I’ll be a minute.”
Jackal didn’t wait to be told twice, carrying Penni outside over his shoulder.
Henry stood, staring down at Grace with a ferocious look. “She was here to try to steal Sherri again, wasn’t she?”#p#分页标题#e#
“No…” she lied. “Maybe…” she confessed. The big man was scaring her.
“Cut it out, Henry. Go take Penni home before Jackal kills her,” Ice told him.
He walked away, tight-lipped.
“Wait, I was going to go with her. I need to get my dogs…” Grace tried to gracefully jump off the barstool to follow Henry, who didn’t slow down. She almost fell at Ice’s feet, but he managed to catch her.
“You’re not taking my dogs.”
“Those dogs are legally mine,” Grace reminded him.
“We’re getting married,” Ice told her. “Then I’ll have as much legal right as you. If we break up, a judge can decide.”
“What?” In her drunken stupor, she was imagining Ice proposing.
“I said, we’re getting married and you’re not taking my dogs.”
“Damn, woman thinks she’s going to take off with his dogs,” Grace heard Buzzard’s voice behind her back.
“He’ll show her. No woman is going to run over Ice,” Max said then cheered Ice on. “Tell her like it is.”
“I thought he hated those fucking dogs?” Fade asked.
“It’s the point of it. He’s showing her who’s boss,” Max said proudly.
Grace wondered if the barstool was too heavy to lift. She wanted to bang it over Max’s head. Ice’s hold on her wouldn’t let her find out, though.
“Ice…” She started to let him have it, lifting her wobbly head until she saw his face. She closed her mouth, thinking, which wasn’t easy with the tequila shots working their way through her bloodstream.
“Well?” Ice snapped, but the love in his eyes made her mind up for her.
“I guess we can get married, then. If you insist. You deserve a legal right to the dogs since you help feed and walk them,” Grace said with fake seriousness.
“Good. I’m glad we got that shit straightened out.”
Grace wanted to stick her tongue out at the men’s comments that followed them out the door.
Jackal, who was coming in, nearly knocked them all over.
“One day, that bitch and I are going to have it out!” he threatened.
“You leave her alone. I like Penni,” Grace jumped to her friend’s defense.
“I didn’t say I was going to kill the bitch. I plan to tame that wildcat.” Jackal’s lips gave a twisted smile which had her wanting to punch him.
“You do know she hates you, right?”
“That’s okay. I’m good at teaching women to purr.”
“You better have a whip handy because she’ll rip you to shreds.” With that, Ice jerked her outside before she could set Jackal off again.
“Are you too drunk to ride the motorcycle home?”
“No,” Grace said, watching him get on the bike, but didn’t make a move to get on behind him. “Did you propose to me inside?”
Ice sighed. “Yes, and you accepted. Now get on.”
She stayed still. “After we get married, are you still going to go to strip clubs?”