“You okay, Ice? We could go back to the motel,” Storm suggested carefully.
The bar was rocking. Three different clubs. Czar and Steele had taken their women and the very scared and traumatized little boy home. Lana, Preacher and Reaper had escorted them. Reaper’s woman, Anya, was with them. That left thirteen Torpedo Ink members in the bar. With numbers like that, they could wipe up the floor with any of the clubs. Thinking like that was exactly what Storm worried about.
“And do what?” Ice asked. “Stare at the fuckin’ ceiling?”
“You’re in a foul mood,” Alena, his sister, observed.
She leaned against the bar, very close to him, looking like a seductive siren. She couldn’t help it. She was born that way. Trained that way. She knew she looked good and she had no problem flaunting it. She often provided a damn good excuse to fight. Most likely Storm had signaled to her that Ice was on the edge again and they’d need to corral him and get him the hell out of there.
Ice loved her. All the brothers did. She was his birth sister and a few years younger. In those early days, he’d been too young to protect her, too helpless. He hadn’t yet shaped himself into a weapon. Now, maybe he was overprotective when she didn’t need it. She was sweet, beautiful and lethal as hell. Most underestimated her. They saw a gorgeous woman and didn’t think for one moment that she could be trained in a thousand ways to kill. It was a miracle she had survived. Only two women, Lana and Alena, had gotten out of that hellhole they had spent their childhood in.
Before he could answer her, there was a sudden silence in the bar. An actual pause in the many conversations. The music still pulsed through the room, but no one said a word. He turned slightly, angling his body toward his sister, prepared to take her to the floor if necessary. He glanced toward the door and his world just stopped. His vision tunneled. For one moment he thought he had finally gone over the edge and was hallucinating.
His heart thudded. She was there. His little princess. She was beautiful beyond belief, standing there in her little white, flowery sundress with a small denim jacket covering her arms. She wore those little ridiculous boots that showed off her slender legs. He hadn’t imagined them. She looked absolutely out of place and, unfortunately, oblivious to the danger.
Ice sent a low whistle into the silence, alerting his brothers. He reacted before anyone, pushing through the crowd to get to her as she stepped inside. “Babe, what the fuck are you doing here?” He took her arm as gently as he knew how, which wasn’t all that gentle.
She was breathing hard as if she had been running. The bodice of her dress struggled to hold her tits as she labored to find air. For the first time she really looked around the room and saw the occupants. Most had gone back to drinking and talking now that she’d been claimed, but there were a few watching closely. She was like bait thrown into a sea of sharks. Because he noticed everything, and this was his dream princess, he saw her swallow, but then she glanced back at the door looking more afraid of what was outside than what was in that bar. He recognized fear when he saw it.
“Someone after you?”
His brothers had slowly moved into position to defend her if needed, inserting their bodies between his innocent princess and the rough men and women in the bar. He knew that was why most in other clubs had gone back to their own business. Few wanted to take on Torpedo Ink in a fight. They had a certain reputation.
He lifted his hand shoulder high, tapped three times and then rested his hand again very gently on her arm. His brothers read the code. Transporter, Mechanic and Player slipped out the door, moving into the night, looking for anyone who might have been chasing her.
She looked up at him and those beautiful, lush lips parted. She smiled. Her lashes fluttered, and he nearly went to the floor. This woman had the power to send him to his knees. Holy mother. His temperature went up a million degrees and for the love of God, his cock became a steel spike and then some.
“I’m looking for someone. A friend of mine. She was wearing a vest with a tree . . .” She looked around and then indicated the Torpedo Ink jacket Storm was wearing. Storm was facing away from him, keeping an eye on the room. “Like that.” She tried to peek around him, but he kept his body between her and the room.
“Like the one I’m wearing?” He turned slightly so she could see his colors.