Page 48 of The Devil's Ice

“But Scars can’t just donothing, right? I mean, if he doesn’t, Dux and Drake will take matters into their own hands one way or the other.”

“Not if it means their babies get hurt. They’re hanging tough for now, and staying with Briley who needs them there with her, but you’re right: their patience won’t last much longer.”

“So…”

“So we’re having a meeting today at the clubhouse,” Ice said reluctantly. “I can’t say too much about that, but I can tell you that we’re bringing in some outside help.”

“King?”

Ice stared at her, then realized that of course she’d know about Matt Kingston; the man had been in and out of the conference room at Satan’s a dozen times over the past few years, and Vix would have observed that with her own two eyes. And anyway, King’s reputation around Denver preceded him, and she probably knew all about him, separate from his MC connection.

“Yeah,” he said. “King.”

“Makes sense.” She took the last bite of pastry, sipped her coffee. “He’s known for taking care of things that nobody else can. I don’t have a clue about the man’s connections, but Idoknow that they reach all the way to law enforcement.”

Right away, Ice’s mind went to Travis Denton, and how he’d died so horribly, having his skin and guts and bones ripped out of him behind a speeding motorcycle, dragged on miles and miles of road. Then his next thought wasDerrick Bale, naturally, the snake in the garden who’d definitely betrayed his friend.

King had done some looking into things with his King’s Men, and had reported to Scars that Bale was fully on the Hellions payroll. The man had a paid-for-cash holiday cabin in Vermont, an offshore account with almost two-hundred-thousand in it, andwaymore expensive toys than a Utah cop’s salary explained, even if hedidhead up a high-profile unit. The man was dirty, and he was dripping in the blood of innocents.

And soon he’d beliterallydripping in blood; Ice was sure of it. He couldn’t say yet who was going to deliver the final blow to end Bale’s life, but right now, he suspected that it’d be the twins. He wouldn’t mind doing a bit of damage for what had happened to Vix, and he knew that Scars would want to beat the man within an inch of his life for Keira, and King would want to take some revenge for Denton, and the boys would be lining up if anything had happened to Wolf. But Ice firmly believed that Dux and Drake had earned the right to rid the world of Derrick Bale’s odious soul once and for all.

“Ice?”

He blinked a bit, realized that she had asked him something.

“Sorry, Vix. What did you say?”

“Is Wolf OK?”

“Honestly… we don’t know. We hope so.”

Vix gave him a searching look, those incredible eyes dark and troubled, but she didn’t ask anything more. Instead, she held out her hand to him.

Surprised, strangely touched, he took it, noticing yet again how tiny she was next to him. Most people were, of course, but Vix was small even for a woman. She was a fighter, though, in more ways than he’d ever have believed, and the fact that she was offering him comfort even as she was recovering from a living nightmare showed that toughness, through and through.

Sitting there on the bed that he’d shared with her the night before, his back warmed by a beam of December sunlight, the room smelling of coffee and Vix’s perfume, holding this sweet, strong woman’s hand, Ice felt something inside of him thaw, just open up a little bit. He wasn’t about to start gushing fucking poetry, but he’d already told her more about how he felt than he’d told anyone, ever.

What he’d told her standing in her bathroom had been totally alien to him, but somehow it had also felt exactly right, like he was coming home. And seeing as he hadn’t called anyplace ‘home’ since that trailer in Montana (andthatwas a pretty shit one, by any metric that he cared to bust out), he was starting to think that maybe a home wasn’t always a place.

Maybe it can be a person.

But canIbe a home in return? Not fucking likely, not with the way things are.

“Ice?”

He started, realized that he’d missed yet another question. He was turning into a serious fucking space cadet, and he had to get his head in the game, and fast.

“Sorry, baby.” He squeezed her fingers. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”

“I know,” she said quietly. “But I wanted to say something to you. I wanted to last night, actually, but I passed out before I got the chance.”

“OK. I’m listening now.”

“Well, it’s about whatyousaid. About how you don’t know details about my life, but you knowme.”

He nodded.

“And I wanted to tell you that I feel the same way, about you. I really don’t know the nitty-gritty of your life, but I think I see the big picture. Not the whole thing, of course, because I know that working as the MC Enforcer means that there’s a lot that’s impossible for me to know. Maybe even dangerous.”

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