by Jamie Begley
She’s right, Grace thought to herself. “Sit back down and let’s finish this. Afterwards, we can grab a bite to eat before we go home.”
“That a girl. I know the perfect place.”
* * *
“Penni, why are we in a strip club?” Grace stood with her mouth gaping open in the doorway, debating whether to follow Penni inside or not.
Penni turned back when she saw Grace wasn’t following her. “Because I want to offer a couple of the women a job dancing on the stage during the concerts. Of course, they’ll leave their clothes on, but their moves will make the men in the audience crazy.”
A huge man in a suit walked toward them as they made their way across the dimly lit room.
“Why are you here?” The man addressing Penni looked like he had been in the boxing ring because of his battered face.
“Is that any way to greet a paying customer?” Penni smiled infectiously up at him, which he wasn’t affected by. Her smile disappeared. “We were in the mood for some hot wings and fries, and your club has the best in town. I was going to give Grace a taste of something she hasn’t had before.”
Henry’s eyes studied Grace. “Stay at the bar and don’t talk to my girls,” he ordered.
“Of course not.” Not by a flicker of emotion did Penni reveal she was lying unrepentantly.
They took two stools at the bar, ordering two glasses of surprisingly good wine.
“King used to own this club before Henry bought it. He has expensive taste in alcohol.”
As the bartender set down their two baskets of wings and fries, Grace nodded, looking across the room to the large flight of stairs, which led to a closed, gold door. Her curiosity was aroused after seeing several men coming and going.
“Where does that go?”
“That’s the private part of the club,” Penni answered. “I don’t know for sure since I haven’t been up there before, but Vida told me that’s where the strippers give private lap dances.” She rolled her eyes. “There are bedrooms up there, too. Vida wouldn’t admit it to me, but I’m willing to guess that a private dance isn’t all men can pay for.”
As they were talking, a familiar figure came out of the door, going down the steps.
“Damn,” Penni muttered.
Grace lowered her eyes and lifted her glass to shield her face as Jackal skirted the bar and took a table at the back of the club.
“I’m screwed,” Grace said, panicking. “Ice will be furious at me that I’m in here.”
“Why?” Penni said, picking up a wing and tearing into it with her teeth. “He comes in here all the time.”
“What?” Grace asked.
“Yep, this is a regular hangout for the Predators.”
Grace’s hands flattened on the counter.
When she remained quiet, Penni threw the bone back into the basket. “I thought you knew. You drive past the bar on your way home from work. Haven’t you ever seen his bike parked outside?”
“No.” But then again, she hadn’t been looking, too preoccupied thinking of what she was going to cook for Ice’s dinner. Penni was right; she was a doormat.
The bartender took away their empty baskets.
“Give me a shot of tequila.” Grace laid some cash down on the bar.
“Now we’re talking.” Penni said enthusiastically, smiling flirtatiously at the handsome bartender. “Make it two.”
* * *
Jackal sat in the shadows, watching the women who thought he hadn’t seen them. They obviously had forgotten the mirror they were sitting in front of reflected their image to the room behind them. He took out his phone, texting Ice as he leaned back and took a drink of his beer. He then watched Penni flirt with the bartender who doubled as a male escort. Ice wasn’t the only one getting pissed at the moment.
When Max, Fade, and Buzzard came downstairs, the women picked up a bar menu to hide their faces.
“What are they doing?” Max asked as they filled up the table.
“I think they’re trying to hide,” Jackal answered.
“Ice isn’t going to be happy,” Buzzard said in anticipation.
“I already texted him,” Jackal told the brothers, knowing they would hang around to see the fight.
The brothers were on the fence about accepting Grace. Jackal was aware of the predicament it placed Ice in; however, personally, it didn’t bother him. Ice hadn’t softened. If anything, he was being a bigger hard-ass, trying to prove that living with her hadn’t changed him. Jackal wished they would get settled down so things could get back to normal. If Ice was smart, and Jackal knew he was, Ice would use the opportunity he had just given him.
* * *
Grace was about to ask for another shot of tequila when she saw Ice coming toward her in the mirror.
His hand attached itself to her upper arm in a hard grip. “It’s time to go home.”
Her hand held onto the bottom of her barstool, refusing to be budged, so Ice quit pulling at her, trying a different tactic. “I left the dogs waiting to go out for their night walk.”
His attempt of persuasion backfired as it dawned on her how she would feel if Ice someday used their children in the same way. What if she wanted to leave him and he used their children to keep her? She needed to rethink things before it was too late and both their lives were destroyed.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Ice’s face turned harsh.
Grace realized she must have spoken her thoughts out loud. “If you don’t love me enough to stay out of a strip club, then you’re not ever going to change your mind about getting married.”
“Is this about wanting a ring? If it means that much to you, I’ll buy you a damn ring,” Ice snapped.
“I did, but now I don’t,” she said, reaching for her drink, but Ice snatched it up before she could, setting it out of her reach. Penni picked it up and tossed it back like a pro.
“If you want to talk, we can do it at home.”
Grace laid her head down on the bar. “I don’t have a home anymore. I sold it three months ago,” she reminded him in a slurred voice. “You have a home, and I live with you. There’s a difference.”
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?”
“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.
H
e 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?”
Ice’s face went cold at her question. He didn’t like ultimatums.
Yet, as her bottom lip trembled, he conceded, “I do business in there regularly, so I can’t stay out, but I’ll sit with my back to the stage.”
“You won’t go upstairs?” she pressed.
“I won’t go upstairs,” Ice promised.
Grace got on the back of Ice’s bike, winding her arms around his stomach.
“When I get home, I’m going to call my mother and tell her we’re getting married.”
“You better let me talk to your dad first.”
“That’s so sweet. You want to ask for his permission to marry me?”
“Fuck, no. I want to tell him to hide all his guns.”
Epilogue
“Adrienne.”
Grace turned around at the quiet voice. “Mrs. Deniau?” She was stepping off the dance floor after her and Ice’s wedding dance.
Simone’s mother took a step forward, gently taking Grace into her arms.
“Don’t cry.” Her accented French reminded Grace of her past. She had spent many nights at Simone’s home, and she could still remember that voice chastising them, telling them to go to sleep.
“How...? Why?” The last time Grace had seen Mrs. Deniau, she was shouting at her, blaming her for breaking her promise to keep Simone safe.
“Your mother called and told me you were getting married. I’ve called her a few times over the last few years, but she didn’t want to give me your number. She didn’t think you were ready to hear what I had to say. I asked her if I could come.”
Grace waited for the recriminations; instead, she received something she hadn’t known she needed—forgiveness.
“I wanted you to know, before you started your new life, that you were never to blame for Simone’s and Avril’s deaths. I’m sorry I placed that blame on your shoulders. I was wrong. I hurt so badly I wanted to hurt someone, and Leon Winston wasn’t within my reach, but you were. I just couldn’t understand why she was so willing to sacrifice for you. If she had just held out a few hours longer, she would have survived. It took a while for me to figure out why, but I did. She didn’t have the strength to survive in captivity. You… You had the strength. You would have died for Simone, but you wouldn’t have taken your own life. Leon Winston would have to. You didn’t give up… You survived. Don’t ever regret that.”
“I won’t,” Grace said, giving her back the hug Simone would have given her if she had been there.
“You didn’t have bridesmaids?” she questioned, leaning away and wiping her tears away.
“I didn’t want to replace Avril and Simone.”
She touched Grace’s bouquet. “You picked their favorite colors.”
“I wanted them to be a part of my wedding.”
“They would have liked your husband very much, I’m thinking. He is very handsome. Are you sure he isn’t Parisian?”
“Yes.” Grace smiled.
Ice, sensing the discussion had turned to him, pulled her closer to his side.
“I bet he is good in bed.”
Grace answered as she blushed. Then the women burst out laughing, although they hushed long enough for Grace to introduce Ice to Simone’s mother. After the introductions, she invited both of them to dinner before she left to return to Paris.
“We would like that very much,” Grace accepted. They hadn’t wanted to go on a long honeymoon, unwilling to leave the dogs. They were just going away for a three-day weekend.
“What were you two laughing at?” he asked suspiciously after Mrs. Deniau went to speak to her mother.
“She said she thought you might be Parisian. Then she said she bet you were good in bed.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her you are okay, but there’s always room for improvement,” Grace teased.
“Keep talking in French to all your relatives and friends, and I’ll work on it in the back room,” Ice threatened with a wicked grin.
Grace saw Max and CeCe dancing.
“They’re becoming an item,” Grace murmured.
“Baby, Max isn’t exactly the settling-down type,” he cautioned. “Maybe you should give her a heads-up.”
“You weren’t the settling-down type, either; now look at you.” She raised his hand with his wedding band.
“That was different,” Ice responded.
“How?” Grace questioned, motioning to her father as the music started for the father and daughter dance to begin.
“I fell in love with a woman who gives the world’s best blowjobs. Baby, I’ll tell you a secret: a man doesn’t give a prize like that away. Besides, you know how to cook. I was getting sick of eating out all the time,” he added as an afterthought, trying not to laugh at her expression.
“I’ll tell you a secret: a woman doesn’t let a man like you walk away easily, either.”
“Was it the size of my dick or the piercing?”
“It was when you asked my mom to forgive you and promised to always love me,” she said hastily, blinking back the tears in her eyes. “I’ll be right back, I promise. I have to go; Pere is waiting.”
“I’m goin
g to hold you to that.”
“I always keep my promises,” Grace bragged.
Ice lifted her hand, kissing the finger he had placed her wedding band on. “That’s what I’m counting on.”
Books By Jamie Begley:
The Last Riders Series:
Razer’s Ride
Viper’s Run
Knox’s Stand
Shade’s Fall
Cash’s Fight
Biker Bitches Series:
Sex Piston
The VIP Room Series:
Teased
Tainted
King
Predators MC:
Riot
The Dark Souls Series:
Soul Of A Man
Soul Of A Woman