Riot (Predators MC 1)

Dalton looked around the clubhouse briefly, his expression not one of a man who regretted what he had walked away from, but a man remembering his past. He nodded toward the bikers standing in a crowd at the bar before turning to leave.

“Ride easy, brothers.”

Chapter 28

Grace stirred the bubbling barbeque sauce then turned the burner down. It would have to simmer for a few hours before it was ready.

When she was upset, she cooked. Right now, she was trying to take her mind off her parents’ abrupt departure. She had thought they would stay for another week.

The silence of the house after they had left had grated on her nerves. She couldn’t mow her already mown yard yet again, so she had decided to keep busy by cooking. When it was done, she would divide it between CeCe and Jones.

The doorbell rang as she put the ribs into the oven, turning down the temperature to low before she went to answer the door.

Looking out her peephole, she leaned her head against the door, not opening it.

“Go away.”

“Open the door, Grace.”

“Go away, Ice. I don’t want to see you.”

Daisy came to her side, leaning against her and whining softly, feeling her heightened emotions.

“Grace—”

“I’m not going to open the door. Ice, please go away.”

As silence came from the other side of the door, she stood there, listening for the sound of his motorcycle to start. When she didn’t hear it, she looked out her peephole to see Ice still standing there, looking back with a determined expression.

Sighing, she keyed in the alarm code and opened her door a small crack.

“There’s nothing you have to say that I want to hear—” Grace broke off as she looked at him, seeing a small, brown nose peeking out of his vest.

“What’s that?” she asked curiously, watching a small head peek out. “He’s so cute.”

Grace opened the door wide, her hands going for his vest at the same time Ice released one of the buttons. The small, wiggling puppy landed in her hands at the same time Ice moved past her to go inside the house.

Distracted, Grace cuddled the small black dachshund wiggling in her hands. When she looked up, Ice was already sitting on her couch. Closing the door, she went to the couch and stared down at him.

“Where did you get him?”

“I went to the animal shelter. He was a rescue from a breeder who actually wanted to breed more of those things.”

Grace sank down on the couch, letting it chew on her finger. “What’s his name?”

“Whatever you want to name him.”

Grace sat the tiny puppy that was no bigger than the palm of her hand down on the floor. Daisy jumped down from the couch, sniffing the new puppy while it tottered off to investigate its new surroundings.

“Ice, I want you to leave. Thank you for the puppy, but I don’t have anything to say to you. My mother told me what she said to you, and I’m sorry about that, but ultimately, it was for the best. It showed me that you will always put the Predators first, and I can’t live with that.”

“I didn’t put them first. There wasn’t a choice to make. I don’t give a fuck if your mother tries to bring down my club. She hasn’t got enough money to accomplish that,” Ice stated coldly. “I stayed away while your family was here so there wouldn’t be any arguments between them and me. I didn’t want you having to deal with the friction between us and them right after Church and Yo-Yo had attacked you.”

“You could have called,” Grace said reproachfully.

“I couldn’t have stayed away if I heard your voice, Grace. I felt like shit already about Church and Yo-Yo.

“I’m going to tell you the truth. I’m not going to discuss the club business with you again, but this time, you deserve answers, and I’m going to give them to you. I was in prison because I had set it up to help Yo-Yo escape. My boss is Yo-Yo’s cousin. Me and the brothers took the job because we wanted the money to buy Gert’s house for her. She’s sick, and we weren’t going to watch her lose her home. Any other time, we would have had the money, but we had just bought the land the clubhouse is on, and one of the brothers had been in an accident, and we had paid off his medical bills. We don’t make an honest living, so we don’t exactly have insurance.

“Since then, we’ve gotten back on track, overseeing a few deals between buyers and sellers. We don’t sell the merchandise, but we make sure our boss gets his cut and that everyone comes out of it alive. It doesn’t affect you, and it never will.

“I screwed up when I became involved with you on a job. I sure as fuck should never have sought you out after the job was done, but I thought I’d get you out of my system and eventually move on. I should have let you go and not looked back. If I was a good man, I would have, but there’s nothing decent about me. You know that from Rita and Brandy.