“Slayer, you can’t do that!” I rasp out, offended but not wholly surprised.
“I have Icer’s proxy when it comes to your safety, Letti. Don’t test me on this.”
I clamp my lips shut because I promised that I wouldn’t argue orders when it comes to my safety, but this pill is a monstrous one to swallow seeing as it’s attached to my pride.
Bossman gives me a look full of sympathy and pity before he takes the envelope and nods his head at me. “Stay safe, Letti. I’m not sure how, but I have a feeling this is centered around our work and your name’s attached and stamped on it since you’ve been my interpreter.”
“She’ll stay safe even if I have to lock her behind steel doors,” Slayer vows, reversing the truck without issuing any sort of goodbye.
I donotwant to be locked behind closed doors. Of any kind. Been there, done that, have the mental and emotional scars with a little post-traumatic stress on top to prove it.
“That’d be a little extreme, Slayer,” I admonish, crossing my fingers with the hope that he was messing around. “It’s not something you’d actually do, right?” When all he does is look at me out of his peripheral, my body stiffens because reality hits me square in the chest. He would most certainly do it if it means keeping me alive and breathing.
I’m surrounded by protective neanderthals with a side of alphahole tendencies.
How did I manage to get myself mixed up with a crew such as this?
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
Icer
As we head back homefrom Gage’s sendoff, I’m still outraged that he was so fucking irresponsible that he left a woman behind, pregnant with his kid. I’m in a hurry to get back home, to Letti, to the bullshit waiting for us when we get there. I’m with Slayer, I don’t believe those bomb threats were connected to the man my girl works for. I think they’re about her and the Onyx assholes showing us how far their reach is.
Even though Riptide is certain we’re in a relationship, I’m not convinced. Men like me don’t get goddesses like Letti. But she is my girl, there’s no doubt about that, I’d raze the world for her and walk away with a smile on my face. Which is why I’m going ninety to nothing down the freeway, pushing my bike to its limits.
Our timeline was skewed when we were ambushed, only the joke was on them because we took those fuckers out and the girls were watched over by one of Rio’s connections in the Rangers. After grabbing lunch with the ladies and kids at the diner wherethey were stashed and watched over, we hit the road. I jumped our formation and am now leading the charge. We’re so damn close and knowing that my princess and little man are safe with their parents calms me and lets me focus on getting home.
However, I have this need to put eyes on Letti and that feeling won’t go away. Hearing her voice isn’t the same thing as seeing her in person. She claims she’s okay, but there was a tremor in her voice that tells me otherwise. She’s a strong woman, but even women with steel running through their veins have a breaking point, and I’m sure she’s closing in on hers.
Rip’s voice comes through the Bluetooth, asking, “Icer, are you heading to the clubhouse or beating feet to your house?”
“Heading home unless you need me,” I answer, fingers crossed that he doesn’t and I’m good to branch away from them and go to the place and the person pulling on my strings.
“No. Just heard from Slayer, he wanted to know your destination so he knows where to take Letti. She’s been staying in your room at the clubhouse where he could keep an eye on her.”
“Why didn’t he just call me and ask?” I spit out. She’s my girl, I’m the one who should be talking to him about her, not Riptide.
“You know why, Icer. Surely, you remember y’all’s last conversation. It didn’t go so well. You ripped him a new asshole,” Rip says.
“He deserved it,” I quip. “He keptmygirl at a potential blast zone instead of getting the fuck out of there. You’d have reacted the same way if that’d been Van.”
“But Van’s my woman, is Letti yours?” Rip questions.
“You said she was,” I say, tossing his words back at him. “As you keep reminding me, you’re the president, so what you say goes. If you’ve claimed her for me, then she’s as good as mine.”
“This is a mighty fine time for you to remember that fact, asshole,” Rip muses.
“Always remember, just don’t always care,” I return.
“That’s obvious, Icer,” he volleys. “We’ll be in town in less than five minutes, watch your speed. We don’t need to deal with Maloney and his crew of misfits right now. They’re looking for reasons to make our life complicated.”
“Bet. I’ll meet his complicated with a foot up his ass or a grenade down his pants,” I spit. “I’m not scared of him, Rip.”
“Never said you were but I thought you were wanting to get home and see Letti. Can’t do that if you’re kissing bars, Icer,” he points out.
“He’d have to catch me first,pres,” I argue, spitting mad that I’m being called out and wrangled by my president like I’m a walking slab of beef. I’m not cattle that can be lassoed and put out to pasture. Anyone who knows me should already be aware of that.
