She had no one to turn to. This could very well be her last chance to have anything that remotely resembled anything she wanted. She found tears running down her face and wiped them away. She didn’t deserve to cry, not when she even contemplated for one moment the idea of matching Ice drink for drink, knowing she wouldn’t be drunk, seducing him and trying to get a ring on his finger. She’d lost her mind. She was as bad as Winston.
* * *
“You sure about this?” Maestro asked. “She’s a fuckin’ innocent, Ice. She isn’t like Breezy, who grew up in the life, or even Anya, who grew up in a shelter and bartended rough crowds. Blythe knew what she was gettin’ into. This girl . . . she’s like some sort of—” He broke off, shaking his head. “She doesn’t belong, brother.”
“She belongs with me,” Ice said as they made their way back to the game room. “She absolutely belongs with me. She’s scared out of her fuckin’ mind. Someone’s hurt her, and they’re still after her. She needs protection.”
“We can give her protection, Ice,” Keys reminded. “Without seducing her. Or gettin’ her drunk. She needs it, she’s a woman, we’ll give it.”
Ice shook his head. “You’re not hearin’ what I’m sayin’.”
“A woman like that, Ice, you take her on like this, there’s no goin’ back,” Maestro reiterated. “You’ll end up watchin’ over her for the rest of your life. No more women. No more women in the plural. She’ll be your only. Hell, she doesn’t even get that she’s sexier than hell. She walked into a place like this wearin’ that dress and lookin’ like a fuckin’ angel. Everywhere you go, someone is going to be challengin’ you for her.”
There were nods all the way around. Ice shrugged. His hand closed into a tight fist. “I have no problem with giving up other women. I was fuckin’ tired of tellin’ my cock to cooperate. Woman goes down on me, the damn thing won’t work until I tell it to. With her, my cock is going to stand up all on his own. Fuckin’ happy to see her. To feel her.”
“We all got that problem, Ice. You don’t take on a woman like that just to put a little steel in your dick,” Keys pointed out.
“You don’t get it, it isn’t about my cock, it’s about feelin’ something. Actually being alive. She makes me feel alive.”
“Fuck her, then, Ice,” Player said. “But you tie yourself to her and she tries to walk when she finds out we aren’t the band of merry men she thinks we are, or that you’re not Mr. Nice Guy, you’re going to really lose your shit.”
“I wouldn’t let her leave,” Ice said. “She makes that commitment, she’s mine. All in. She doesn’t get to walk.”
“She won’t understand the consequences,” Absinthe said. “You know she won’t. She’s probably walked away from everything difficult she’s ever run into. She’s got money. Anyone can see that.”
“It doesn’t matter if she understands or not. There’s a code we live by. She takes me on, she lives with the code,” Ice said. His voice turned hard. Dripped with glacier cold. His eyes had gone hard like twin blue diamonds. He meant what he said.
“It’s a trap,” Maestro said. “You’re fuckin’ putting that girl in a trap and she doesn’t have a hope in hell of getting free.”
“Now you’re beginnin’ to understand,” Ice said. “She’s mine, and I’m not givin’ her up, so give up arguin’. You all know me when I make up my mind. If I don’t have this woman, I don’t exist anymore. That’s the fuckin’ bottom line.”
There was a small silence. “I think Ice just put it on the line,” Code said. “What do you need, brother?”
Maestro shook his head. “I hope you know what you’re doin’, brother, but you need help, we’re here for you. Call the shots. We’ll back your play.”
Ice was grateful to his brothers. He knew they would back him when he laid it out for them, although he doubted if they realized he meant every word. He tended to use humor to throw anyone off from knowing he was at the very end of his rope.
He had nightmares and woke in a sweat. He often couldn’t find a reason to walk out of his room. He always volunteered for the most dangerous position on any job they ran, a part of him hoping he wouldn’t come back from it. He just couldn’t feel a thing anymore, not anything worthwhile. At least not until his little princess had walked through the door.
Maestro called it exactly the way it was. Soleil was too innocent for their world. She wasn’t like Reaper’s old lady, or Steele’s. Even Blythe had knowledge of bikers and knew every single member of Torpedo Ink was an assassin. Soleil thought they were all sweet. She was surrounded by a pack of vicious wolves and she thought they were sweet. If there was one woman in the world who needed protection, it was his woman. And she was going to get it.
“Code, I need to know whatever you can get on her between now and midnight.”
“You lift her wallet?”
Ice nodded and slid it into Code’s hands. It was very slim, a buttery leather that must have cost more than the boots he wore. He slid his thumb over it as he handed it off. Just touching it inexplicably made him want her more.
“She’s so far out of our class, Ice,” Code said. “You know that, don’t you?”
Ice nodded.
“You make certain she isn’t just a challenge.” Code slid the wallet under his shirt, those too-old eyes staring straight into Ice’s.
“She’s no challenge, Code. If she was a real mark, I’d have her in bed already.” That was the truth, and all of them knew it. “After you get her information, set her up for me. I want it all to happen tonight. Get the paperwork done and make it legit. No backing out. No wiggle room for her. I want her tied to me completely.”
His brothers shook their heads, but Code nodded, and he was gone, sliding to a corner of the bar where he could get the Internet and do just as Ice asked.
“Need someone to get her a drink. A screaming orgasm. Want to keep those comin’ until I got this locked down.”
“I’ve got it for you,” Mechanic volunteered. He followed Code out of the game room.
“Need cameras in here shut down. And no one gets in but one of ours,” Ice continued.
He’d been listening, and the water was running in the restroom. She’d be back any minute. “Need her wallet back as soon as possible.”
“I’ll tell Mechanic to bring it with the drink,” Maestro said, “And then I’ll guard the door.” He gave a good impression of a smile—a shark’s smile. “No one will get in.”