Iced (VII Knights MC), page 4
I did not want to have to deal with a customer on top of all the phone calls I was about to make.
“Should have locked the damn door,” I muttered.
“Hello?” A woman’s voice called.
I knew that voice. It had been haunting me the past couple of days.
I kept going back and forth about whether or not I should call Hannah Mitcham. She said she needed my help, but just what kind of help could I give a woman like her?
“Coming,” I called. I stood and made my way out to the front.
“Oh, it’s you,” she gasped. “This is easier than I figured it would be.”
“You’re not going to tell me that I’m where I shouldn’t be?” I drawled.
She tipped her head to the side but then figured out what I was talking about. “No, this time, you are right where I want you to be. And for the record, last time, you wound up being right where you should have been, too.”
“You’re kind of a confusing woman, Miss Mitcham.”
Hannah stepped forward with her hand outstretched. “Call me Hannah, please. If you ever talk to Nessa, I would call her Miss Mitcham.”
“The Ice Princess?”
Her steps faltered, and her smile slipped. “Ice Princess?”
I waved my hand. “Forget I said that.” Why had I said that? Because everyone else around here referred to her as that, that was why.
“Is it because of her silver hair?” she asked.
“Uh, yeah.” Sure.
“Or, the way she comes off when you don’t really know her?”
I did not want to explain why people called Hannah’s sister the Ice Princess. “I’m sure she’s a nice person once you get to know her.” Not exactly a good conversation for the second time we met.
Hannah laughed, and the light, airiness of it entranced me. “You are not the first person I have heard that from. I think the first was back in second grade, and it was my mother who had said it.” Hannah leaned toward me. “She wasn’t wrong. Not even all these years later.”
“But I bet she never said anything like that about you,” I guessed.
Hannah smiled wide. “Well, no, but I’m sure there are other things muttered about me. I’d much rather not know what those are, though.”
Things were always said behind people’s backs. It normally was best not to know what those things were.
“But we’re not here to talk about that.” She looked expectantly at me.
“Uh, we’re not?” I still had no clue why she was here.
“No. The first thing you need to tell me is what your name is?”
Samson let out a woof from my office and came barreling into the front area.
“Oh my!” Hannah gasped.
“Samson, no,” I called.
Samson didn’t listen. He could sense the same thing I could when Hannah was around. He needed to be as close to her as he could.
I thought for sure she was going to be terrified at the large dog barreling down on her, but she did the exact opposite of running or screaming.
She crouched down and held her arms out wide to Samson.
Samson lavished her with kisses all over her face and pressed his broad chest into her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his white mane.
Samson was a perfect judge of people. He loved up on Hannah Mitcham and reaffirmed my belief that she was the complete opposite of her sister.
“What a good boy you are,” she cooed.
She ran her hands all over his body, and Samson wiggled around until his butt was toward her. She rubbed his hind haunches, and he looked up at her adoringly.
Well, she had Samson wrapped around her finger already, and it had taken only thirty seconds.
Me, too, Samson. Me. Too.
Hannah finally stood and brushed some of Samson’s loose hair off her pants. “I love dogs,” she sighed.
“I noticed.”
She laughed and reached down to ruffle the top of Samson’s head. “He’s such a beautiful, big boy. What kind is he?”
“Sheepnees. Australian Shepard and Great Pyrenees.”
“That explains his coat and his size.”
“Samson,” I called. The big mutt looked at me. “Go lay down,” I ordered.
Samson sighed but turned around and headed to his bed that was by the front door.
I kept my eyes on Hannah, who watched Samson.
She smiled blissfully as Samson turned three circles on the pillow and then finally laid down.
“Hannah,” I called.
Her eyes darted to me, almost as if she forgot that I was there. “Yes?” She waved her hands and shook her head. “Your name,” she blurted. “I wanted to know what your actual name was. Nessa and I got in a bit of a tiff the other night when I mentioned I had given you my number but didn’t know your actual name.”
“My name is Ice.” She knew that.
“I know that’s your gang na–.”
“Road,” I interrupted. “It’s my road name, and I’m in a motorcycle club, not a gang. There’s a huge difference, darlin’.”
Hannah held up her hands. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean that. I just get flustered sometimes, and then I talk without really thinking about what’s coming out of my mouth.” She tapped her head and laughed. “It makes sense up here, but then it’s like it gets lost in translation.”
“Honest mistake,” I murmured.
“I would like to know the name you were given at birth. I have to assume that your mother did not name you Ice when you were born.”
“That you would be correct about.”
She smiled expectantly. “So, what is your name?”
I had gone by the name Ice for the last eleven years. Hell, half of the guys didn’t even know my birth name. It wasn’t anything embarrassing; it just wasn’t what I knew myself as. “This is what you need from me?”
Hannah shook her head but then nodded. “I need help, but I can’t get your help until I know what your name is. Once I know that, we can proceed.”
“Anyone ever tell you you’re a little confusing, darlin’?”
Hannah shrugged. “A time or two.”
“If I tell you my name, what am I going to get out of it?” I asked.
Hannah tipped her head to the side. “Well, nothing. I don’t have much to offer.”
That was where she was wrong. Looking at Hannah, I could see many things she had to offer. “We’ll figure that out later.” I hitched my finger at her to move closer.
She took two steps toward me and leaned in.
“Kristopher.”
She smiled. “Last name?”
“Darlin’, you sure are asking a lot of me when I don’t know if I’m going to get anything back.”
She bit her bottom lip and looked up at me. “Well, I promise you’ll get something back. Eventually.”
“Nylon.” I shook my head and chuckled. Hannah Mitcham was as pure as I had ever met.
“Like Rose?”
I tipped my head to the side. Maybe Hannah had a screw loose. “Um, what, darlin’?”
Hannah laughed. “I’m assuming you haven’t watched Golden Girls. One of the characters’ last names is Nylon. It was a lame joke.”
“That the show with the old broads?”
“Yeah.” She shook her head. “You might want to catch it in reruns sometime.”
Not something I would do. “Now that you know my name, you want to tell me what kind of help you need?” I asked.
Hannah looked around. “Um, is there someplace we can talk in private?”
“We’re the only ones here right now, darlin’. The rest of the guys are at the job site. Your sister finally got the rest of our steel over to us.”
She wrinkled her nose. “You figured out who I am, huh?”
I nodded and smirked. “Mercury helped me put the puzzle pieces together Friday night. I figured you for a cousin or something, but he said you were Hal’s other daughter.”
“Did you know my dad?” she asked.
I nodded. “We met a couple of times. He always seemed to be hanging around when we came by the fabricating plant. Solid guy.”
“He was.”
I hitched my thumb over my shoulder toward my office. “We can talk in my office if you want. Not fancy, but I got a chair you can sit your butt on.”
Hannah nodded. “Sounds good to me.”
I led the way to my office and motioned to the chair in front of my desk.
Hannah sat, and I moved around to my chair. Samson lumbered into the office and plopped right at Hannah’s feet. “Traitor,” I muttered.
Samson grumbled and flopped back with his head on her feet. Hannah reached down and scratched him behind the ear. “Such a good boy,” she whispered to him.
It was time to get down to what Hannah Mitcham needed from me. The phone calls I needed to make were going to have to wait a bit longer.
Hannah sat back in her chair and sighed. “I thought this was going to be easy, but now I can’t seem to figure out where to start.”
“How about at the beginning?” I suggested.
“The thing is, I’m not really sure where that would be. I mean, at the beginning of everything, or just where I need your help?” she asked. She chewed on her bottom lip and sighed.
“Just start with what you need me for.” I had the slight hope that Hannah wanted me for a roll in the hay, but that wasn’t at all what she needed me for.
“Do you know who Blanche Halo is?” she blurted out.
I reared back and stared at Hannah. “Do you know who Blanche Halo is?” I countered.
“No, that’s why I’m asking you.” She leaned forward and rested her arms on the ledge of the desk. “I heard some things, and now I’m trying to figure out what to do.”
“You heard somethings that had to do with Blanche Halo, and now you need to figure things out?” I asked.
Blanche Halo was one of the largest drug dealers in Colorado. Hell, I’m pretty sure she was the most significant drug dealer in not only Colorado but possibly surrounding states.
Hannah nodded. “First thing, I need to know who she is.”
“She’s a drug dealer, Hannah. A big drug dealer whose name you shouldn’t even know.” I hated judging people, but I would never have thought that Hannah was into drugs or anything to do with Blanche Halo. “How do you know her, Hannah?”
Hannah sat back in her chair and sighed. “I need to start back a little bit further to help you understand, but I don’t know if I should tell you because if this woman is bad news, I don’t want to get you involved.”
“So you’re saying you are involved with Blanche Halo?” Jesus Christ. This conversation had taken a complete one-eighty. “How the hell did you get involved with her?” I demanded.
Hannah sighed. “I’m not personally, but it seems to be that Mitcham Metals is. I mean, I don’t even know who the woman is or what she even looks like.”
There was another fucking bombshell of information. “Darlin’, you keep blowing my mind with every word you have said in the past ten minutes. The only thing that didn’t shock me was when you said hello.”
She pursed her lips. “Well, I can tell you that I will probably knock your socks off when I tell you Nessa and Marcus made a deal with Blanche Halo to haul drugs around in Mitcham trucks.”
I whistled and closed my eyes. “Holy. Fuck.”
“Last Friday, before the party, I was at the office looking over some invoices. I headed up two floors when I was done to talk to Nessa. When the doors to the elevator opened, I walked into Marcus and Nessa arguing back and forth.”
“About?”
“About Marcus convincing Nessa that Mitcham needed to expand.”
“And his suggestion of expanding was to become a mule for Blanche Halo?”
She blew out a sigh. “I’m assuming so. I mean, that was what he said, but for all I know, there could be more going on.”
“Well, muling drugs for Blanche Halo would be more than enough, darlin’.” I wasn’t sure she wanted to add anything more to that. She was already at the top of Mount Trouble with that one.
“I need to know more, but I don’t know how to know more. I don’t exactly know anyone who might be able to help get me in contact with Blanche.”
I rested my hand on my desk. Samson lifted his head and nudged Hannah’s leg. She sat forward and ran her hands over his body. “Hello, gorgeous,” she sighed.
“So you think I’m the person who can get you in contact with Blanche Halo.”
She kept her eyes on Samson. “I don’t know that, but I was hopeful you could at least tell me more about her.”
“And you think I know about her because I’m part of a motorcycle club.”
She slowly lifted her head, and her eyes connected with mine. “I’m normally not someone to judge a person by the clothes they wear or the people they hang out with. As much as I hope I’m wrong because I don’t want my snap judgment to be right, I do want your help if you can.”
“And what am I going to get out of helping you?”
Hannah blinked rapidly. “Oh, uh, well, what would you want from me?”
Her. I would want her, but I wouldn’t trap her in a corner to get that. She was going to give herself to me willingly. “Sidecar.”
She reared back and tipped her head to the side. “Am I supposed to know what that is?”
“For my bike.”
“You want a car for your bike?”
I chuckled and shook my head. “You really don’t know much about things outside of your bubble, do you darlin’?” To say Hannah was sheltered was more than an understatement.
“I know the things I need to know,” she grumbled.
“Well, you need to know about Blanche Halo, and you don’t.”
“Which is why I am here,” she reasoned. “I know when I don’t know something, I need to find the best person to educate me.”
“So I’m educating you?” I asked.
She nodded her head. “And in return, I will buy you a car for your bike.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “It’s not a car, darlin’.”
She flitted her hand at me. “Just let me know where I can buy it, and it’s yours.”
I sat back and folded my arms over my chest. “You’re really serious about this.”
“Of course I am. I know Nessa is in some deep trouble, and I need to help her.”
“Or you could let her deal with it herself since she is the one who decided to get tangled with Blanche Halo,” I reasoned.
Hannah shook her head. “No. Family doesn’t turn their back on each other just because they make one bad decision. I know Marcus was behind all of this. I need to get rid of Blanche Halo, and then Marcus is going to go bye-bye, too.”
“Darlin’, I don’t know if you are super confident or super dumb.”
She reared back and wrinkled her nose. “I am not dumb. I have an MBA in accounting and a minor in computer science. I was one of the youngest in my graduating class, and I am the only one from that class who is heading up a whole accounting department at the age of twenty-four.”
“Is there a notation on that saying it’s at your daddy’s company?” I drawled.
Hannah’s eyes bugged out, and she pursed her lips. “I will have you know that has nothing to with my success. I could walk into any other accounting firm and hold my own.”
“I’m sure you can, darlin’.” She could. I could tell she was smart as a whip, but her common sense seemed to be lacking just a little bit, and I’m sure that had to do with her being so sheltered.
Maybe I could be the one to show her a little bit more of the world.
“Are you going to help me or not, Kristopher?” she snapped.
A smile spread across my lips. “I will as long as you never call me Kristopher again.”
“It is your name.”
“No, my name is Ice. Has been for eleven years.”
She tipped her head to the side. “Eleven years? How old are you?”
“Old enough to know better than to help you, but yet I’m still sitting here.”
“I just need some advice and possibly an in with this Blanche woman. I just need to show her the reason why she should let Nessa out of whatever agreement they have. She’s a businesswoman, and she’ll understand where I am coming from.”
“I’ll help you, but we’re gonna need some more people involved.” I closed my eyes and shook my head. I should just let Hannah walk out of here and never think about her again, but I couldn’t do that. She was ready to step into the lion’s den with no knowledge and expected to talk her way out of everything.
“Like whom?” Hannah demanded. “I don’t want this to become public knowledge. It took a lot for me to come to you, and I don’t want you splashing my family problems all over.”
“What if I told you I could get you a meeting with someone who has inside personal information about Blanche Halo?” I drawled.
She sat up and rested her hands in her lap. “I would say that would be a very good start to sorting out my problem.”
“We sort your problem, and then I get my sidecar?” I held my hand over the desk. “Deal?”
She looked at my hand, and then her eyes connected with mine. “A sidecar is all you want. You’re going to be helping to save my family.”
“That’s all I want in payment, darlin’.” I nodded. The other thing I wanted she was going to give it to me freely without any strings attached.
“Who is the person you are going to introduce me to?” she asked.
I shook my head. “You agree about the sidecar, and then I’ll give you names.”
She sighed and pursed her lips. “I suppose.” She put her hand in mine, and we shook. Her hand was soft and delicate—almost half the size of my own. I rubbed my thumb over her smooth skin, and her breath hitched.
She felt it.
I did, too.
Hannah was going to be mine when this was all over, and she wasn’t going to even put up a fight.
She pulled her hand from mine and sat back. “Now tell me who I need to talk to.”
A huge smile spread across my mouth. “Mercury.”
“And who is this Mercury?” she asked.
“The president of VII Knights just so happens to be the guy who shared a bed with Blanche Halo for two years.” I had held that fact in my back pocket until I knew for sure Hannah really needed my help. Mercury didn’t go around shouting anything about his private life.
