Page 38 of Iceman (Speed Demons MC Virginia #2)

“I know,” he assured me. “But I think I needed to do this for myself. I wanted to show you the last hidden piece. I wanted you to see everything, even the painful, raw, ugly shit that isn’t easy or pretty.

Now you’ve got all of me, baby; the good, bad, and everything in between.

Allie was a big part of helping to shape me into who I am today.

It’s because of her that I’m here now, heart open and ready for you. She made me that way.”

Throat burning, I slotted the image behind the other one, taking a look at a slightly older but still beautiful woman, except that time she wore jeans and a tight, pink tee and was looking to the side of the camera.

A small smile played around her lips, and she seemed to be deep in thought, her long, blonde hair streaming out to the side as a gust of wind caught it.

“That was two weeks before she died,” Jacob rasped.

“That photograph fucked me up for a long time because she looked so alive. All along, she had a ticking time bomb in her chest, and we didn’t know about it.

How can that be, Saint? How can anyone be so full of life, then two weeks later, drop down dead? ”

I tilted my head, resting it on his shoulder.

“For years, it stopped me from getting serious with another woman,” he continued.

“Because I knew how goddamned precarious life could be. I was so fucking scared of running headfirst into the same scenario, to find a woman full of love and life and then lose her because of something I couldn’t control.

So I resisted and shied away from making connections.

There was one woman I felt a spark with before you and I fucked it up on purpose; knew exactly what I was doin’ but did it anyway.

Canceled a date with her and fucked a club whore instead.

” He laughed self-deprecatingly. “I did it under the guise that I knew my club brother liked her and wanted to stand aside for him, but I was lying to myself. Can you believe that shit?”

“You were just protecting your heart,” I pointed out.

“Yeah,” he agreed with a smile. “And it all worked out for the best. She’s happily married, and just over a year later, I saw you backstage at a gig and fell head over heels in love at first sight.

If I’d have gone there with her, I would’ve had to end it when I met you, and that shit would’ve gotten messy. ”

“Life has a habit of turning out the way it’s meant to,” I stated.

He turned his head and murmured, “Yeah,” into my hair.

Emotion grabbed my throat and squeezed.

“Time to go upstairs,” he muttered, glancing behind him just as I heard the hotel doors open and then slam shut.

I craned my neck to see a dark figure at the door with the lights shining behind him, effectively casting his body in shadow. An uneasy feeling hit my chest, and without thinking, I grabbed Jacob’s hand.

“I’ve been looking for you,” a familiar voice rasped. “You disappeared, and I got worried. I went all over the hotel. Even checked your room. Someone said you might have gone down to the gym, so I went there and took a wrong turn and ended up in Colt’s office.”

I smiled at him tentatively. “You’ve found me now. You okay?”

Sam stepped forward, and his face came into view. His eyes went to Jacob’s before swinging to me and looking at me accusingly. “There are cameras in there. I fucking saw you. ”

My forehead furrowed. “You saw me what, Sam?” My heart beat a little faster as I took in the wild look in his eyes and the unnatural twist to his mouth.

His expression was manic, almost tortured, and his voice had an eerie whine when he spat, “I fucking saw you !”

Jacob’s hold on my hand tightened, and he muttered, “Cameras everywhere.”

“Yeah, cameras ,” Sam yelled, his strange, maniacal stare never leaving mine, and he screamed, “How could you? How could you let him do those things to you?”

My blood ran cold.

“Sam,” I began gently, trying to keep my voice low and calm.

“Jacob’s my boyfriend. I’m sorry you saw what you saw; it wasn’t meant to be witnessed by anyone, but what we do is our business.

” Slowly, I dropped Jake’s hand and went to stand on the step, but Jacob was already halfway up, his arms outstretched as if he was trying to appease a rabid animal.

“Was it you who sent the stuff to Saint’s house?” he cut out.

Sam’s crazy stare slashed to Jacob, and he whined, “They were gifts. She was mine and then she met you and you fucked her over. I got it, you saved her from that pig who hurt her, and she was grateful, but that’s all it was, a gratitude fuck.

I got it, I did. But then she pulled away from me again.

” His eyes swung back to mine, and he took a step towards me.

“I was trying to court you, send you little gifts to show you how much I love you.”

Bile rose in my throat.

Jesus, how did I not see this? Looking at him, seeing him like that, it was so obvious.

It suddenly dawned on me how hard it was to scrape him off after I spent the night with him, and how insistent he was that we give it a go, even though I gently explained it was a rebound thing, and I never meant to hurt him.

I should’ve known.

Memories flashed through my head of me and Sam in bed together, and nausea filled my stomach. God, he was so clingy after that, so insistent, such a pest.

He even fit the profile. Someone I knew, and who could access my schedule.

Rich, entitled, and used to getting his own way.

Sam was a nepo kid whose dad was loaded.

His mom left when he was a baby, and he was raised by nannies along with whichever woman his dad was married to at the time.

Because of that, he was socially awkward and found it hard to connect.

My heart dropped, and the sick feeling in my stomach intensified.

I should have fucking known.

“You let him touch you,” Sam ranted, his face twisted and ugly.

“I see the way he touches you all the fucking time. It’s disgusting the way you can’t keep your hands off each other, and always with your tongues down each other’s throats all the fucking time, touching, touching, all the fucking time.

I wanted to be that for you, but he took you away, and you let him.

” He sucked in a breath. “I saw him touch you. I saw everything .” Sam took another step toward me, his face contorting with rage.

Jacob took a step toward Sam. His outstretched hands dropped to his sides and clenched into fists. “Get the fuck away from her,” he snarled.

“Fuck you,” Sam roared, raising a hand in my direction.

I saw the glint of gunmetal in the moonlight, and then it was gone because Jacob’s body was there, shielding me, and suddenly I couldn’t see anything apart from his chest as he crowded me.

“No, Jacob,” I screamed, but I was drowned out by the deafening bang that ripped through the air .

A burning pain spread through my shoulder, and suddenly I was fighting for breath. Winded, I fell to the ground at Jacob’s feet just as another ear-splitting shot rang through my ears.

My eyes slashed up to Jacob’s face, and my blood turned to ice when I saw the blank look on my beautiful man’s face.

His eyes lowered to mine, shocked and filled with pain. “Bab—” he gargled, but choked on the word, and my eyes widened, horrified as blood erupted from his mouth and he fell to his knees, his entire body swaying.

I let out a piercing scream and dived for him, the burning ache in my shoulder completely forgotten. All I could feel was the pain in my heart as it seared through my body while I cradled Jacob’s head in my arms.

Shouts went up and two more gunshots rang out, but I didn’t look at what was happening, I didn’t care because in that moment all I could see was Jacob’s precious blood pumping from his chest, its sticky warmth coating my hands.

The burn of heartbreak razed through my lungs, and I screamed again, my wail filling with heart-shattering agony as I sat, looking on helplessly while the love of my life bled to death in my arms.