Page 78 of The Devil's Pair

“Holy shit,” Jinx breathed. “Never thought I’d see the daythathappened.”

“You want me to go after him?” Holt asked Wolf. “Bring him back?”

“Nah.” Wolf leaned back in his chair, not looking even slightly pissed off. “I’ll talk to him later. Let him go.”

**

Victoria ‘Vixen’ Shaw looked up from wiping a bar table, saw Ice striding down the hallway from the conference room. She knew that all the boys had been called back there, and even though she obviously wasn’t privy to Road Devils business, she knew that things had been incredibly rough lately.

Anyone with eyes could tell that Wolf and Scars were stressed beyond all belief, nor could anyone miss the fact that everyone was still reeling from the tattoo parlour burning down, and Elle and Violet escaping a cult, and Violet disappearing, and Rebel being killed, and then the twins being released fromtheir MC obligations to be fathers… and that was only the stuff that Vixen had a clue about. She knew enough about the club to understand that her knowledge was barely scraping the surface of what wasreallygoing on.

She’d been trying to talk to Ice alone for weeks now, ever since Rebel’s funeral, but he’d been studiously ignoring her. He hadn’t even invited her to join him in one of the back rooms at Satan’s, and that was highly unusual. For almost a year, the two of them had been visiting the rooms a couple of times a week – usually more, rarely less – and she’d loved very second of it. Watching Ice literally heat up in front of her, all that strength and muscle at the mercy of her lips and fingertips, was addictive. No man couldevercome close.

The truth was that although Vixen flirted wildly with every man in the place, and flaunted her body with confidence, and she’d been with quite a few of The Road Devils, Ice was the only man she was with anymore.

Oh, sure, she played up her sex appeal for tips and to pass the time during a waitressing shift, but she turned down any and all invitations with a laugh and a toss of her long, blonde hair. She had a reputation for being easy, and it had been fairly earned – but she wasn’t that woman anymore. Not that anyone would believe it.

Seeing her chance to cut Ice off at the end of the hall, she hurried over to meet him. His eyes – normally so cold and emotionless – met hers, and Vixen stopped dead in her tracks at the rage in those blue depths. Whatever had happened in the conference room, Ice had lost his mind over it, and although Vixen had seen Ice hot as hell, she’dneverseen his anger before.

“What happened?” she said to him, unable to stop herself, knowing that it was a mistake to ask the second the words were out of her mouth. “Ice, what’s wrong?”

And just like that, that menacing, implacable cold settled over him again, so fast and so completely that she shivered. She didn’t like this side of him, though of course she knew that it was a big part of who he was: there was a reason that he’d been the head MC Enforcer for years, and why she suspected that he was still the one who was called to deal with messes. Or to create them.

He was gazing at her now, that full, sensual mouth curled in a sneer, that heart-stopping face pure stone, and her heart sank. He was right there, just inches away from her, but he might as well be a thousand miles away. A prairie distance was in his eyes, a look that levelled her where she stood. It meant that he was far away from her, and she’d been brutally dismissed, and he’d walked out of the room in every way except physically.

It made her feel small and cheap, which seemed an odd thing to say, considering how people thought of her around Satan’s. It was true that even though Vixen had been with plenty of men, and she knew that many women thought she was a slut, she’d never felt like one. No, she’d enjoyed sex, and she’d enjoyed the men, and she’d enjoyed feeling wanted.

She’d chosen it, every single time, and she still stood by that. It was that decision to own her desire and her sexual appetite that saved her from shame. Vixen could look at herself in any mirror in the world and like what she saw, and from what she knew about many women, that sadly wasn’t the norm.

But Ice was looking at her like she was nothing –for the first time ever, she realized – and it made her want to crawl into a hole and hide and cry. No, they weren’t anything official, and no, he’d never been to her place or her to his, but from the very beginning, he’d looked at her like she was a beautiful woman that he wanted. And from the first time they’d had sex, she’d felt seen and taken by this complicated, rough man. Sometimes even cherished.

Vixen knew that she should shut the fuck up, turn and go back to waiting tables, but the look on his face stung her. Suddenly desperate to reach him, she fumbled and stumbled for a conversational topic to bring him back to her, and she chose the worst possible one.

“I just wanted to tell you that I’m really sorry about Rebel,” she said quietly. “And even though Dux and Drake are doing something amazing with Briley and the babies, I know you guys were really close. You’ll miss them, huh? All of them?”

That gorgeous faced closed even more, and she thought he’d just turn away without a word. But then Ice said:

“Theonlyuseful part of you is between your legs, not between your ears. Keep your fucking inane thoughts to yourself, whore.”

Feeling like he’d just thrown a bucket of icy water over her head, Vixen gasped, absolutely unable tobelievewhat Ice had just said to her. All this time, she’d assumed that he’d likedher, not just her pussy. It was a complete shock to find out she’d been wrong about that, but it was far,farmore hurtful. He had the power tohurther, she’d just discovered, and that made her vulnerable with a man, for one of the first times in her entire life.

She watched him walk away now, taking a little part of her self-respect with him, then she remembered where she was. Vixen shot a few quick glances around Satan’s, and was relieved that nobody had been watching them: all the customers were focused on their drinks and meals and each other, and none of them were close enough to the hall to have heard anything, anyway.

Reminding herself that she still had to get through seven more work hours, she plastered a smile on her face, tossed her shining waterfall of hair, licked her full lips. Then she sauntered over to the kitchen – lifting her skirt slightly higher and making sure to flash her firm thighs at the table in the corner, the onethat was tipping so well – to ask Elle if she could get her lunch now. Vixen needed a break.

Chapter Twenty-three

Bellefonte, Pennsylvania

One week later

Dux dried the last dish, put it back in the cupboard, then glanced over at Briley. She was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking a cup of green tea that Drake had made her. She looked good today, well-rested and happy, and Dux caught her eye and returned her smile.

“So,” he said, closing the cupboard door. “That’s dinner all cleaned up. We brought over some ice cream for dessert, so when you’re ready for that, just say the word, babe.”

“Ice cream, huh?” Briley said. “What flavor?”

“Allthe flavors we could get our hands on,” Drake said. “We learned from the whole ‘we brought chocolate, but Mama was craving salted caramel’ debacle.”

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