Jackal’s eyes met hers. “Grace.”
“Jackal.”
Crush gave him a beer, then he moved off into the same direction Ice had with his arm around the woman.
“That was Nola.”
“She seems very young.”
“Look around. There are younger ones here. We don’t exactly check IDs, but if Ice catches anyone under eighteen, he throws them out. He doesn’t want any of the men locked up.”
When there was a loud yell from the back, Grace turned to see two men stand up and start shoving each other. Max broke up the fight by pushing one of the men back down onto a chair.
Crush saw her staring. “It’s only going to get worse the later it gets. You sure you’re in the right place?”
“I’m sure.”
Ice came back, putting his arm around her shoulder. “Let’s go sit down.”
After finding a spot on a couch next to a wall, they watched two men play pool. Once they finished, Ice stood up to play the loser.
Gradually, Grace relaxed. She had been to several parties in Paris while she had lived there, and this seemed pretty much the same. Actually, she had attended some much worse, but her brother had not let her stay for long.
She watched some party-goers doing a few lines of coke on the bar while Ice gauged her reaction. She merely raised a brow at him. The only time she became uncomfortable was when one of the women broke away from the man holding her to dance on one of the tables. As she gyrated her hips, someone turned the music up and she took off her top, showing her naked breasts. Grace had to glance away at that one, but she did look to see if Ice was watching the performance. He merely kept playing pool, beating everyone he played, finally handing over the pool stick to Fade.
Then he sat back down beside her. “Ready to run yet?”
“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.”
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.”