Soleil took out her phone. Ice noted her hand was still shaking. He wanted to cover it, to soothe her, but she wasn’t quite yet certain she was out of danger from him. Not even with the liquor. Unashamedly, Ice looked over her shoulder as she typed in her message to Lana.
Came to bar looking for you. Found Ice and others. It was bad. Worse than either of us thought.
What the fuck did that mean? He couldn’t just ask her. He waited impatiently for Lana’s reply. He knew she’d back him, but to have actually spoken to Soleil, given her contact information when they had just run a huge mission, meant she might know more about her situation. They’d separated, changed, made certain there wasn’t so much as a speck of blood on any of them and then gotten back together, everyone wearing their colors, celebrating Steele’s marriage to Breezy.
Ice will keep you safe. Don’t go back to the hotel. Stay with him. He absolutely won’t let anything happen to you. If you come with him, I’ll see you soon.
Ice could have kissed Lana. That was put in there so subtly. Stay with Ice. He’d keep her safe. See you soon. Perfection. The seeds were planted. His girl was that scared, and she needed friends. She needed to feel safe after the suit had gotten rough. He watched her carefully text Lana back.
Thank you.
“Here’s what we’re going to do, Soleil,” he said, taking charge, because she might as well know his true nature. “We’re forgetting that asshole. He’s not coming in here. Even if he did, he can’t touch you, there’s too many of us. We’re going to spend the rest of the evening having fun. We’ll dance a little. Play some darts. Some pool. Drink a little. We’re ignoring the rest of the world just for tonight. How does that sound? You with me, girl?”
She leaned her chin onto the heel of her hand and looked into his eyes. He was usually the one mesmerizing others with his glacier-blue crystalline eyes, but she turned the tables on him. He was sliding far past want straight to need.
“I think you’re making astonishing sense. Absolute sense. I’m with you one hundred percent.”
Still no slurred words, but his girl was feeling the effects. “You hungry?”
“I could eat something, but honestly, I don’t want to leave yet.” She glanced over her shoulder and a little shiver went through her body.
“He’ll give up looking.”
She shook her head and her eyes darted a second time toward the door. “He won’t.” Her voice dropped low.
If he hadn’t been bending his head very close to her mouth, close enough to feel her lips whisper over his ear, he wouldn’t have heard her.
“He has a plan.”
The way she said it alarmed him. “What kind of plan?”
She shook her head and straightened, once more lifting her glass to her lips. That told him two things. She was in more trouble than he’d first realized. A fiancé who was willing to beat her was one thing to contend with, but her fear and those four little words said something else, something much more sinister. And his girl had a stubborn streak.
“If you’re hungry, we can get you some food. What are you hungry for?”
She flashed him a smile that made his cock come to attention all over again. The woman was beyond his wildest dreams. Nothing made his cock hard unless he ordered it to get hard. She managed effortlessly. She didn’t even have a fucking clue what she was doing. Her tits rose and fell with her breath. Pushed against the tight bodice of her sundress. Strained for release. He wanted to pull her into his lap and fill his hands with those soft curves.
“Stop looking like you’re the Big Bad Wolf and you’re going to eat her alive,” Alena said, leaning into him from the other side. She wedged herself in between him and Maestro. “Hi,” she added, leaning farther onto the bar so she could see around him. “I’m Alena.”
“Soleil.”
His girl smiled at his sister. He was a little leery of what Alena might do or say. She could be charming, just as Storm could. Somehow, Ice had missed out, but his twin and his sister could charm the birds out of the trees when they wanted.
Storm was staying in the background. They had a pact. If one of them met the “one,” the other would fade until she was hooked. Ice thought Storm wasn’t quite as fucked up as he was, so he didn’t want to take the chance that his girl did it for his brother or she found out there was a nicer twin.
“I heard Ice say something about food. Pizza sound good to you? We could take over the game room, eat pizza, challenge Ice to darts or pool . . .”
“You’re not going to hustle my girl, Alena,” Ice said.
Soleil laughed. “Has it occurred to you that I might be fairly good at pool? Or darts?”
“Fairly good doesn’t cut it around Alena,” Ice said. He pulled out his phone and group-texted the others, setting up for pizza orders, and one by one, they headed toward the game room. A few of them going in wouldn’t move many of the other clubs out, but all of them together usually sent the players scurrying. “Alena is a genuine hustler. She looks all cute and cuddly and then she takes everyone’s money.”
“Sounds to me like you lost a bit of money to her,” Soleil said, her long lashes sweeping down.
That got him right in the gut. Or cock. Or both. His chest was so fucking tight he could barely breathe. He wanted to tell his sister to go easy. Not eat his little sunshine girl alive. Alena could. She might.
Ice rubbed his chest right over his heart. Soleil’s perfect brows came down in an adorable frown. He hoped he hadn’t said that word aloud. Adorable. He’d have to shoot someone if he had. He’d never hear the end of it.
“Are you all right?”
The soft concern in her voice played over his skin like the touch of fingers. Intimate. Anxious. Shit. Alena had noticed as well.
“I’m good. Just hungry.”
Both women looked skeptical. He raised his hand for another round, and when the bartender delivered, he picked up both glasses and waited for his girl to slide off the barstool. Her cute little boot things hit the bar floor, and she swayed to the music for a moment before following Alena. He brought up the rear. Close. So there were no mistakes by anyone. She wasn’t going to get accidentally touched. Or hit on. Or worse. Some drunken biker tried anything, Ice knew he would turn murderous instantly.
Savage moved with him on his left. Player was on his right. Both were a short distance away, just enough to fight if necessary. The rest of the club had gone inside the game room, one by one, getting the other clubs to drift on out.
“Pizza’s ordered,” Code called out. He was first at the dartboard.
Alena bumped her hip against Absinthe and took the darts out of his hand. “Ice thinks he can beat me. Want to put money up he can’t?”