Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
“I didn’t. You can’t have any evidence.”
“We raided your house while you were at lunch and found them in your fucking basement! How can you be so stupid as to hide them in your own house?”
“I wouldn’t! I was framed! He framed me!” Slater pointed at Ice.
“That’s not all the evidence we have. The man you were using as a go-between confessed to receive immunity, and so he doesn’t lose his license. He’s willing to testify that you threatened to kill him if he didn’t set up a sale between you and one of his previous clients.”
Slater lost control and lunged for Ice, but the two officers grabbed him before he could.
Ice slid his feet down from the desk, standing.
“Is that all you need from me, Captain?” Ice asked.
“That’s it for now, Ice. Thanks for all your help. The D.A. will need you to testify.”
“I’ll be there.” Ice gave Slater a gloating look as he passed, which caused him to struggle harder against the men trying to handcuff him.
Ice heard the Taser as he walked away from the office.
* * *
“You finished packing?” Ice asked, picking up another box.
“That’s the last one, I think,” Grace said, blowing her hair away from her face.
“I’ll pack this out and be right back.”
“Okay.” She absently looked around her bedroom to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything.
“Damn it to Hell.” Ice’s shout from the living room had her running.
The contents of the box were on the ground and Daisy was sitting next to it, wagging her tail. The door was standing wide open. Frantically, she started looking for Bear and Waylon. She had chosen to name the puppy Waylon because he would sit outside her bedroom door and wail the nights Ice stayed over
Just as she panicked, Ice came to the doorway with a furious expression, packing a dachshund under each arm. After he handed her Waylon, Ice closed the door then gently placed Bear on his feet.
“Check his collar while I pick this up,” Ice said irritably. “I think we should get shock collars so, when they try that shit again, I can zap them.” Ice looked at both dogs vengefully.
Grace ran her fingers along his collar, making sure it was still buckled as she gently scolded her pet before standing up and placing her hands on her hips.
“You’re not going to shock my dogs!”
“Then you can be the one chasing them through the neighborhood when they run out again,” Ice said, moving past her to set the box down.
Grace started to snap at him again, but stopped. “Why is my couch still here?”
“Because Goodwill hasn’t shown up to get it yet.”
“I’m not giving my couch to Goodwill. I love that couch.”
“There is no way in Hell that flowery couch is going into my house. When the brothers come over and see it, they’ll call me a pussy.”
Grace folded her arms across her chest. “Then I guess they won’t be coming over.”
Ice relented. “It can go in one of the spare bedrooms or the basement. I already bought a leather sectional big enough for the brothers and me to sit on to watch the games.”
Grace’s lips tightened as she rolled her eyes. “What will I be doing while you all are watching sports?”
“Fixing all those game day snacks I see on television. We’re all looking forward to those,” he told her in all seriousness.
“And exactly what will I be getting out of it?” she asked, debating internally about moving in with the chauvinist biker standing in front of her.
“After they leave, I fuck you on the couch and show my appreciation. It’s a big couch.”
“We can put my couch in one of the spare bedrooms,” Grace gave in. Hell, they would probably need it for the nights they would argue. He could sleep on it.
After they finished packing the rest of her things out to the truck Ice had rented, he put her dogs into the front, and Grace went to say goodbye to Merry. She had gotten out of the hospital the previous week and her granddaughter had moved in to help take care of her. Grace hoped she would do a better job than her brother. Before leaving, she made sure the young woman had her number in case Merry needed anything.
She walked back to her house, seeing the For Sale sign on the lawn. Grace locked and set the alarm for the final time, trying not to cry. The house had been a safe haven while she had needed it, but now it was time to move on.
Turning back, she saw Ice playing with the dogs in the truck.
Grace smiled at the only man she had ever loved as she climbed inside. She had never dreamed when she had been chained in that basement in her darkest hour that, one day, she would ever be able to enjoy life again, while her two friends had been denied their own.