Page 63 of Ice Rebel

“Fuck me,” I hissed under my breath, but Hudson snapped up the sound, almost racing back by my side.

“Roy,” she said, as breathless as I knew I’d sounded.

“Clementine.”

“Wait,” Hudson chortled. “You two know each other?”

“Yeah,” I muttered, “we do.” Well, if I didn’t feel like an absolute shit. I spun around, heading into the kitchen and as soon as I was facing the cabinet, I took gasping breaths. Two seconds later, Hudson was behind me.

Laughing his ass off.

“Please don’t tell me you fucked Jagger’s girlfriend.”

Lights were flashing somewhere, my pulse racing. “Then I guess I won’t.”

“Oh, shit, man. Oh, shit. You gotta tell him.”

“Tell him what? That I had the most passionate night of my life and it was with his girlfriend? Are you fucking out of your mind?”

Movement caught both and Jagger entered the room, Clementine following.

“So I’m moving in. Anything I should know?” Jagger’s question was ill timed as fuck.

“No. Not a thing,” Hudson attempted to save the day or the moment. Or maybe my ass.

Clementine smacked Jagger’s arm. “Since you’ll be living here, I think it’s appropriate you introduce me. Not that I’ll be coming here unless absolutely necessary.”

Was she trying to speak in code?

I sensed their relationship was tumultuous. Her glare was harsh, cutting through me like a sharp knife used to gut roadkill. There was no doubt she was telling me to keep my mouth shut.

“Sure,” Jagger said, his upper lip curling into a smile. “These two assholes are my teammates. Hudson and Cole. Last names don’t matter because you won’t be getting close to them.”

The glare she tossed in his direction had the same poisonous venom.

“This is Chelsea. She’s my sister, which means hands off. If you touch her, you fucking die. That’s my only rule.”

I wasn’t certain if my mouth was hanging open or if I was still rocking the nasty look fully directed toward Jagger, but her contempt for her own brother was clear. Or maybe her hate-filled expression was directed at both of us. Whatever the case, she huffed, tossing her hair behind her shoulder and storming out.

“Men. You’re all fucking alike,” she hissed.

“Wait. Chelse. Come back.” Jagger dutifully followed and only then did I allow myself to exhale.

Hudson’s grin was back. So was his slap on my back. “Well, you dodged a bullet.”

“Yeah? How so? Girlfriend or sister. What’s the difference? It means one damn thing, Hands off.”

* * *

Chelsea

“There is nothing like witnessing the hottest male stripper on the planet taken away in handcuffs.”

“You’re kidding me?” I laughed as if on cue, although I was still reeling from the last two days. Between the passion, the dance, and my brother’s heartfelt request, I wasn’t entirely certain I hadn’t shifted into an alternate life.

Jagger had been right to ask me to go with him to grab his things, my appearance taking the wind out of our father’s sails, which I’d been glad to do. Of course the man had gotten in a few nasty words, but we’d held our own even while Dad had tried to convince us to come talk to him about this big new project he was initiating.

The other reason for feeling as if I was living an alternate life? The moment I’d realized he was moving into the same house where Roy lived. I mean Cole, oh… It would seem karma had it out for me. That’s what I got for enjoying a night of sin.