Shiver

by Brandy Schmitt

  “A hard day, huh? I know we recently met, but people tell me I’m a great listener.”

  Nicole turned to find the guy in the suit standing right behind her. As she lifted her head to look over her shoulder at him, she caught sight of a warning look from Ice. He was giving her a warning look? Even though he’d spent most of the evening buttering up with the long-legged blonde? This, she could work with.

  She gave him a smile, flirting with her eyes as she tilted her head to the side like she saw the blonde do to Ice. “Yeah, sorry if I came across as bitchy over there…”

  The suit held his hand up between the two of them to stop her. “No, it’s cool.”

  “I’ll be back over in a minute with your drinks.” She shared his smile as he walked to his table. He looked back at her twice before taking his seat. The suit was coming on a little too strong and fast for her liking, but she could work with it. She wanted to show Ice that two could play this game. He obviously didn’t care about her feelings, so maybe she should return the favor.

  Turning back toward the bar, she cast her eyes quickly toward Ice to find him watching her instead of the blonde sitting in front of him.

  “I need two beers and a martini…and I need that dirty.” She emphasized the word making it as sexy as she could to Keith. He smiled at her before he turned to look over at Ice then back to her. “I can give it to you dirty, Nikki. You tell me when you’re finally through with this one?” Keith teased her by nodding his head in Ice’s direction.

  “Oh, you haven’t heard, Keith? I’m old news now. Look, he’s back on the prowl already,” she said waving a hand toward the blonde in the vagina shorts.

  “Shut the fuck up?” Keith said as the situation seem to just reach his brain.

  “It wasn’t like that, Nikki…” Ice jumped to his own defense, but she wasn’t listening.

  “Keith, can I have my drinks? I have a table waiting.”

  The bartender popped open two beers and grabbed the shaker. Once the drinks were on her tray, he reached out to grab her wrist stopping her. Leaning closer to her ear so only she could hear his voice, he whispered, “Don’t take it to heart, girl. You were the best that ever happened to him. If he’s too stupid to see it, then he can go to hell.”

  Tears sprung to her eyes. Those words were what she needed to hear. They were the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her. She reached across the bar to grab a napkin to dab at her eyes. “Thank you. I need to get these drinks over there.”

  The guy in the suit smiled at her as she headed to their table. She knew if she said yes, the man could be hers for the night. He gave off some intense sexual vibes. But getting tangled in the sheets with someone new wasn’t going to make her feel any better. Sleeping with a random guy wouldn’t make the pain of Ice’s rejection go away. The only way to nurse a broken heart was to give it time.

  In the end, she couldn’t play the game. No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t be that vengeful. She served their drinks and walked away, hoping the guy would get the hint she wasn’t interested. As she turned back toward the bar, she didn’t stop her gaze from seeking out Ice. She needed to see emotion in his eyes. She needed to see that he gave a shit, at least a little, for the pain he caused. Her eyes roamed over the area behind the bar. She saw Keith there, but Ice no longer stood in his spot…and neither did the blonde.

  Chapter Eleven

  God damn it, he was acting like a pussy. Here he was being offered a hot piece of ass on a silver fucking platter, and he couldn’t go through with it. The blonde he had been flirting with all night had served her purpose. When she had walked up to the bar looking the way she did, he knew she would be easy bait. He wanted Nicole to see them talking and flirting. He needed her to get angry with him. Anger he could deal with over her tears any day.

  He was an asshole for making her miserable all night. She watched him flirting with that girl, and he turned up his game hoping to piss her off more. All he accomplished was upsetting her more and making himself feel like a bigger bastard.

  Then the business group came in, and Ice wanted to fly over the bar top and punch the man in the top dollar suit in the face for trying to take Nicole home. Hell, his heart had stopped in his chest when he thought she actually might let the guy just to get back at him. He would have deserved nothing less for being an asshole to her.

  Just thinking of Nicole with someone else boiled his blood, and the urge to punch something worked its way to the surface of his thoughts. He nearly lost his mind when Keith started whispering sweet nothings in her ear that had made her cry again. When she turned back to the bar to wipe her tears, he saw the hurt in her eyes, and he couldn’t take seeing her like that. Especially because it was thanks to him her heart was broken.

  He sent the blonde away before he left his post using the back kitchen doors. He rounded the kitchen, then headed out of the bar before anyone could see him sneaking off into the shadows.

  He took the stairs two at a time, entering his apartment before shutting and locking his door. He headed toward his bedroom where he fell face first into his mattress. As he closed his eyes, all he could see behind his lids was Nicole’s beautiful face in the darkness around him. First, he saw her face as everyone else saw her. Smiling and happy, full of life, and willing to help anyone who needed her. But he had seen her the way few others ever had. He got to see what she looked like when lost in arousal. When her body throbbed while waiting for him to fill her. His cock twitched at the memory. Then her face from tonight came into his mind, and this time the look of sadness mixed with confusion about why he treated her so badly haunted him. Fuck.

  He turned over to his back and stared up at the dark ceiling above him. The sheets all around him smelled like her sweet pea body lotion. The pillow next to his head smelled of her shampoo. Just this morning he had fucked her so hard on this very bed that he felt he might lose himself completely to her.

  Never in his life had he ever wanted to admit he might very well be in love. He didn’t want to deal with that emotion. There was no room for love in his world. He was an ex-drug runner from the streets of Ireland. He had little money in his pocket, and the impressive dream of making it big in his heart. He had nothing to give a person like Nicole. She was so much better off without him.

  He managed to dose off for a few hours before a ringing in his head pulled him out of sleep. He tossed and turned trying to shake the sound but nothing made it go away.

  Tugging a pillow over his head, he hoped it would drown out the noise, it didn’t help. The ringing went on and on before he realized his phone was the nuisance keeping him awake. Letting out a frustrated groan, Ice rolled over to his side, stretching his arm behind him. He blindly searched the bedside table for his phone. Fumbling around, he found his cell and brought it to his ear.

  “What?” His voice cracked from his throat being dry.

  “Ice? Man, get down here now. The cops need to search the entire building.” Hunter’s voice came from the other end. Cops? What the hell was going on downstairs? What the hell had he slept through? “What’s going on, Hunter?” He sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of his bed and rubbing his hand over his eyes.

  “No time to go into details. Get to the bar.” Hunter hung up, leaving him no choice but to go see for himself. Glancing at the clock by his bed, he shook his head at the early hour of the morning.

  There wouldn’t be any point in changing, and he went straight into the bathroom to take care of his morning business before grabbing his keys and slipping his shoes on before he headed out the door. He paused at the top of the stairs and looked over to Nicole’s closed door. A ping of guilt hit him in the chest. He had been a complete dick to her last night, and no matter how much he wanted to go to her and tell her how sorry he was and beg for her forgiveness, he couldn’t do it. Last night he put his plan into action. Now he had to sit back, wait for her to forget about him and let the wounds heal.

  By the time he made it to the bar, th
ere were people spread all over the place. A lot of police and a K-9 unit were walking around, while the dog sniffed everything and everyone. Hunter and Lou sat at the bar and he joined them. “What the hell happened after I left last night?”

  Lou shook his balding head. “I got the pleasure of being woken up this morning by a detective banging on my door at seven, saying they have witnesses telling them they bought drugs here at the bar. The cops have warrants signed this morning to search every inch of the building, including the apartments upstairs.”

  “Jesus, Lou. What the hell is going on?” Ice ran his hands over his head. He knew the bar was clean because they had nothing to hide. The bar was going to get bad publicity for this, and with the big fight coming that could mean everything. “Who the hell would lie about this?”

  Lou shook his head. “I don’t know, kid. Someone has it out for me. Probably those assholes next door. Or that loser owner at the pub down the street. They’ve been wanting me out since I bought the place ten years ago. They’re all jealous this place brings in more money.”

  Had the situation been less serious, Ice would have laughed at Lou for sounding so childish. But the truth was, Big Dogs was the best bar on the block. Hell, it was one of the best bars this close to the water. The bar got all the younger to middle-aged crowd because it had what they wanted in a bar. Bands, DJs, fighting, and dancers. There was a little something for everyone. Not just beer on tap and a football game going on the TV. Ice slapped his palm down on Lou’s shoulder. “Whatever you need, man. I’m here.”

  “Great. Have a seat, kid. We can enjoy the show together.”

  Hunter walked behind the bar to grab a few bottles of water. He handed one to Ice then leaned against the counter. “I hear things between you and Nicole are…not going so good?”

  Ice twisted the cap from the water. “Yeah.” He didn’t meet Hunter’s eyes.

  “Is there anything I can do for you?”

  Ice avoided his friend’s eyes and took a drink of water. “Nah man, I’m good. The fight’s in a few days, and I just need to keep my head in the ring.”

  Hunter stopped talking as another body moved over to the bar where they all sat. He knew without looking Nicole had been the one to join them. He could smell her perfume. Her voice sounded sad and shaken when she spoke to Lou. God, he wanted to turn around on his stool and pull her into his arms. He tightened his grip on the water bottle.

  “Lou, what’s going on here?”

  The older man shrugged his shoulders and repeated what he had told the others.

  “This is ridiculous. There are no drugs here.”

  “You know that and I know that, sweetheart. But the cop over there seems to think otherwise.”

  “Mr. Carter.” Everyone looked around to the man standing behind Nicole. He had on the attire of a police officer, complete with bulletproof vest.

  “Mr. Louis Carter?”

  Lou raised his palm to cut the man off. “That’s me.”

  The agent looked at a piece of paper in his hand then spoke again. “Who lives in the apartments upstairs? There’s no numbers on them, but the one on the right at the top of the stairs.”

  Ice froze for a minute, then turned around. “I live there.” What the hell were they wanting to know that for?

  “What’s your name, sir?”

  “What the hell is this all about?” Lou stepped off his stool and toward the officer.

  “Sir, sit back down,” the officer warned Lou, then turned to Ice. “What’s your name?”

  Ice’s head dropped. If they ran his name, they would see he had drug charges in his past. Somehow this could all fall on him. Fuck! “The name’s Niall O’Malley. AKA, Ice O’Malley.” All eyes on him, even Nicole’s. He had never told any of them his real name. That wasn’t the person he was any more.

  “Where you from, O’Malley?”

  “Rosslare Harbour, Ireland.”

  The agent wrote down his information. “Are you here as a citizen or are you on a work visa?”

  “I got my citizenship three years ago. My papers are upstairs.”

  The agent waved him off. “We’ll get those in a minute. Mr. O’Malley, are you the only person who lives in that apartment?”

  “Yes?” What the hell is this guy getting at?

  “So anything we find there is yours?”

  Ice froze. What the fuck was he talking about? “That would depend. I don’t have anything up there that would make you want to ask me that.”

  The agent waved over two more uniformed officers. “Mr. O’Malley, can you stand up and turn around for me and place your hands behind your back?”

  “What the hell is going on?” Lou asked. Ice knew from his past that if he did as they asked and played nice, things would go smoother all around. He would get answers faster. He turned and allowed the cops to place him in handcuffs.

  Nicole stepped to Ice’s side. He saw the concern on her face but refused to meet her eyes. Even though he was innocent of whatever their talking about, he couldn’t look at her for fear of seeing disappointment in her eyes for him.

  Voices came over the agent’s earpiece, and then the guy grabbed onto Ice’s arm, and they headed up the stairs to his apartment. Inside his personal space, there were a dozen officers and a K-9 unit. His place wasn’t torn completely upside down, but there were things thrown around the rooms.

  “Is this your apartment, where you live in alone?”

  He nodded. A sick feeling started to climb into his gut. “Yeah.”

  “Then you want to tell me who this belongs to?” The agent turned and another officer handed him a plastic bag. Inside, he fished out over a dozen little, clear bags with white powder in them.

  What. The. Fuck?

  Ice shook his head. Pleading with them that the drugs weren’t his was only going to make him look like a liar. He knew they weren’t his. He wasn’t a user anymore, and he sure as hell didn’t deal anymore. He had no idea how the hell blow ended up in his apartment.

  No one had access inside here besides him and Nicole. He had hurt her last night by flirting with the blonde, but there was no way she would ever do anything like set him up. It simply didn’t make since. No one else had been here beside those two. Besides the night that Poe had stayed…Ice groaned as his eyes closed against the dawning knowledge. He had been set up. Damn it. Apparently there was no getting away from the past. Ice’s head snapped up to look at the agent who held the planted drugs in his hands. “I want to speak to a lawyer.”

  Chapter Twelve

  They charged him with possession with the intent to sell since they claimed to have witnesses saying they bought at the bar. Were they fucking kidding? He’d been out of that game. Poe had fucked him good this time. That bastard had to have been the one who stashed that shit in his apartment. Maybe the asshole even made the call to report the bullshit tip about drugs to begin with. Why he would want to frame Ice—who the hell knew, but it had worked. He was going to take the fall for shit he had walked away from three years ago.

  Not being able to afford a good attorney, he took a public defender and that alone helped seal his fate. He was never going to win in court with the evidence they had against him. Not with an overworked public attorney, who couldn’t care less about another case.

  On paper, all it seemed like it was a repeat offender falling back into the game. It didn’t make a difference that he had been clean trying to make something of himself for the last three years. With these charges, he was looking at prison time. All his dreams of making it to the big ring were lost.

  Ice closed his eyes as his head fell back against the cold, gray brick that made up his cell at county jail. He had been held for three days and had countless more to go. He most likely could count on five to seven years.

  Where would his life have been in five to seven years if this hadn’t happened to him? He would have made a name for himself in the ring, that’s where. Ice O’Malley would be a name that every sports commentator kne
w. He would have the sponsors lining up to throw money his way. He would be in his mid-thirties by then and probably ready to settle down with a wife.

  Behind his closed eyes, Ice pictured what his life would be like and all he could see flashing in his mind’s eye were images of Nicole’s face, her auburn hair floating around her face, her beautiful eyes sparkling as she smiled at him. She could have been his future. She would have stood by him. She had been one of the few people who believed in him, and he had broken her trust as well as her heart.

  The few times he had visitors, he wasn’t surprised that none of them were Nicole. Could he blame her after the way he had dismissed her?

  Lou, Maverick, Johnny, and Hunter all come to see him. Everyone except for her. He finally asked Hunter about her, but all he had told him was that she had left the same day of his arrest. She hadn’t been back to work, and no one had seen her since. Her friend Mandy told Hunter that Nicole had been staying at her parents’ house. She must have been seriously pissed off at him in order to go back there. She had told him how much she hated her father trying to control her.

  What he wouldn’t give to hold and kiss her right now. Given the chance, he would ask her to forgive him for trying to push her away. She had been the only person who had seen the real him and liked him anyway. His heart broke for her and for what they could have shared if he hadn’t been such a selfish prick.

  Ice threw his head back against the cold brick wall embracing the hurt he caused himself. Better to feel that pain than the pain on the inside that ate away at him.

  “On your feet, O’Malley,” an officer told him as the door to his cell unlocked. He stood and placed his hands in front of him, letting the officer place metal cuffs on his wrists before he walked out of the cell and down a hallway. They passed the visitors door and he wondered where they were taking him. They entered another room, and this time there was an officer standing on the other side of a glass window holding a clear plastic bag with writing on it.