When Ice stepped forward, making his presence known, Church’s eyes widened at the silent challenge, backing over to a group of men and keeping her within their reach in case the tactical team stormed the room. Every one of them planned to use her as their shield and gain part of the reward. Right now, Ice wished he could have Dax Andrews for five minutes. His reward placed his sister in even more danger.

Ice was forced to listen to the replays of Grace’s family on the television all day. He could tell it was beginning to get to Grace, too.

“Come on.” When he held his hand out to her, she took it and rose to her feet. He dropped it as soon as she stood.

He took her to the commissary, letting her stretch her legs. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

Inside the small store, which had already been plundered until it was almost empty, he handed her two different cups of microwavable soup.

“Which one?”

“The vegetable. I hate tomato.”

Ice opened them both and heated them in the microwave.

“What are you going to do, Ice? This isn’t going to last another day the way they’re eating it.”

“I know. I tried to tell them to ration it out, but they wouldn’t listen.”

“So, you’re not in charge?”

“No, just of my brothers.”

“Max, Jackal, Fade, and the others I see you talking to are your brothers?”

“Not family brothers,” he explained. “We belong to a motorcycle club. We’re closer than blood brothers.”

From her expression, he could tell he had gone even further down in her estimation. He wondered exactly what crimes she imagined he had committed. Her mind couldn’t comprehend some of the shit he was responsible for. He had been on the outs from the law since he was twelve and ran away from home. Over the years, he had never let the fucked-up legal system that dragged him back home to his old man decide what he should or should not do. When he was fifteen, he left home again. This time, he didn’t have to run; his old man had been too scared to stop him.

Ice handed the heated soup to Grace, noticing how she delicately sipped the hot liquid. He took a quick drink of his own soup to regain control of his dick which was about to become noticeable if he didn’t change the track his mind was taking.

“It’s not bad. I didn’t know prisoners had their own store. How do you pay for the things you want? Do they let you have money from your checking accounts to use?”

Ice almost laughed at her naiveté. “No, a family member puts money in an account, which you can spend.”

“Who put money in yours?” She turned bright red as soon as the question left her mouth.

“A brother of mine’s wife.”

She nodded. He could tell Grace wanted to ask more questions but didn’t. He liked it when a woman didn’t pry. He really didn’t want to explain the women back at the clubhouse. He knew one thing for sure: a woman like her wouldn’t understand the lifestyle of a biker and his bitches.

“Do you want anything else?”

“Could I get a soda?”

Ice reached past her shoulder, sliding open the door to the machine and pulling out one of the few remaining sodas.

“Here you go.” He handed it to her.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Ice hated himself for what he was about to do yet couldn’t resist the impulse to touch her. He had wanted his hands on her since the first time he had seen her walk inside that classroom. As his hand circled her neck and brought her closer to his chest, she dropped the soda. He was grateful she hadn’t opened it yet; it would probably be the last one she would have for a while.

He brought his mouth down on her startled lips. When she tried to take a step back, his arm circled her waist, pulling her closer, despite her attempts to try to get away. His tongue parted her tense lips, thrusting inside her warm mouth, and he released a groan of satisfaction at the taste of her. Wanting more but aware she wasn’t responding, he took his mouth away.

“Don’t do that.” Her breath gave a little hitch, which nearly had him taking her mouth again.

“Baby, I don’t take orders. When I want something from you, I’ll take it.”

Her eyes widened in fear.

“Not that. I’d never hurt you or take you against your will.”

“But you just said—”

“You wanted me to kiss you as much as I wanted to kiss you.”

“I did not.”

“Don’t lie. I know what a woman looks like when she’s curious how I’ll kiss her. Now you know.”

“Yes, I do, enough that I don’t want to kiss you again.”

“You want me to do a lot more than kiss you, but that’ll have to wait until we get out of here.”

“I thought I wasn’t your type?” He liked a woman with a little fire. Not much, but a little.

“I changed my mind.”

She snorted at him. “I’m not waiting for you to get out of prison. After they catch your ass, you’ll be in for another twenty years.”

He gave her an enigmatic look, saying nothing else. When he showed up at her doorstep, then she would believe him. He had no intention of not seeing her again once he regained his freedom. She didn’t need to know that yet, or she would probably run back to France or Milan or whatever other fancy places she had lived before. The only new places she was going to be visiting for a while were the places he took her.

Chapter 9

Grace lay on the mat, staring at the tiny sliver of moonlight coming in, with Ice lying next to her.

“You never told anyone what happened while you were kidnapped?”

“No. It wasn’t anyone’s business.” She was curled into a stiff ball next to him, her back against his chest.

“They offer you money to talk?”

“Yes, and I told them to stuff it.”

There was a brief silence. “If I had known, I would have done things differently.”

She swallowed hard. “It happened a long time ago.”

“I shouldn’t have grabbed you like that. I’m going to be straight with you. I plan to fuck you when we get out of here, but I wouldn’t force you.”

She rolled over to face him. “Winston didn’t rape me, Ice.” She saw the surprise in his eyes. “All the gossip magazines, my therapist, my family—they all still think he did, but he didn’t. He took something more precious than my virginity. He took my two best friends.”

“The two models he killed?”

She nodded. “We had gone to modeling school together, started our careers together. We were so excited. I wasn’t as pretty as them. They were beautiful. I was given a chance because my mother pulled some strings to get me in.

“Dad had a break before his next picture was starting, and Dax was going to start his first movie. We decided on a big vacation in New York during fashion week. Mom asked if my friends wanted to come. They were so thrilled to meet my parents they jumped at the chance.

“We were there for two days when my parents and Dax came down with a flu bug. We didn’t want to stay cooped up inside, so we went shopping. None of us could drive in the States, so we took a cab, spending the entire day shopping. It is one of the best memories of my life: going to the different stores, even stopping to eat at an old-fashioned hamburger joint. We all had milkshakes and fries. It was my first hamburger. My mom never let me and Dax eat junk food, so I was in food Heaven.