“That’s it for today. I’ll be back Wednesday, so try to read the first two chapters by then.” Grace quickly shuffled her paperwork back into her briefcase before snapping it closed. She followed the guard who had escorted her in back outside the room, proud of herself.

She had done it; she had made it through the first class. Grace had doubted she would be able to, but it hadn’t been as bad as she had thought it would be. The presence of the guards had helped to relieve any fears, and the men had been respectful. Though they had stared at her a great deal instead of their computers, which had made her nervous, she hadn’t felt any fear.

Grace stood still while the guard spoke into his radio by the door, waiting for it to open. When it did, she stepped forward, the door sliding shut behind her before the one in front of her opened. The safeguards only made her feel more secure. The guard didn’t try to talk to her as they walked down the long hallway, and she didn’t try to initiate a conversation.

Her thoughts returned to the prisoner with the brown hair. She tried to remember what he was serving time for but couldn’t. Ross had been right not to let CeCe teach the course. She wouldn’t have been able to keep from flirting with him. She would even have done so with the one with the scarred face.

She looked down at her watch, seeing she had thirty minutes to make it to her next class at the college. She would invite Ross and his fiancée over for a dinner to make amends for giving him such a hard time.

The semester was only for a few months, and teaching the class would actually boost her salary enough to purchase a new car. Her parents had offered to help, but she had refused, determined to stand on her own. They were overprotective of their only daughter, and they even tried to talk her brother into attempting to convince her to take their help. It hadn’t succeeded. She had been about to break, though. The last repair bill had cleaned out her bank account; however, now with the course, she could have the down payment she needed. When she got off work today, she would stop by the car lot and begin the process of choosing her next one.

* * *

Ice watched the obviously relieved woman walk out the doorway. Getting to his feet, he got in line to return to the common room. As soon as the electronic door slid closed, he moved to an empty table. Jackal, Max, and Buzz all followed. The others from the class separated, going to their own friends.

“Want to bet the next class is going to be filled?” Jackal stated.

“Is it too late to get admitted?” Max asked.

“No,” Jackal answered, staring at Ice and waiting for his reaction.

“Church seems interested,” Ice broke his silence. “Jackal, you’ll need to get the info on her quick.”

Jackal shook his head. “I’ll do the best I can, but no one is visiting from the club until Friday.”

“Fuck.”

“Change the plans?” Buzzard asked.

“No, everything is the same. It’s the easiest way to accomplish our goal without anyone getting hurt. Let’s stick to it and hope the teach doesn’t raise any flags,” Ice said.

“They’ve already added an extra guard, which we hadn’t planned on. Now there will probably be more prisoners. I think we may need to find another plan,” Jackal suggested.

“Want to stay inside for another month?” Ice’s steely gaze quieted the men. “I know I don’t. Let’s wait until we get the report back before we react like a bunch of pussies. In the meantime, try to discourage as many as you can from signing up for the class.”

“Will do.” Max stood up, leaving the table to join another group of men.

Buzzard stood up, too. “It’s going to be hard to talk them out of taking the class. That sweet piece of ass is prettier than any I’ve seen in the visiting room.” He walked away to join another group.

“He’s right,” Jackal said.

Ice nodded. “I don’t want to change the plan unless I have to. The men are getting stir-crazy, and if we change the plan, we don’t know when we can reschedule it. I don’t want to make a mistake because we’re antsy to get out.”

“I agree. I’ll try to get a message out. Maybe I can get Rave out here by Wednesday.”

“Try hard.”

Ice watched as Jackal left to go to his cell. He remained aloof from the other prisoners. They were all leery of finding out just what he was capable of.

The countdown was four weeks away. He hadn’t wanted to admit his resistance to canceling their plan was because he was tired of being locked up. This job was becoming a pain in his ass. If not for the money, he would never have attempted it anyway. Now, the blonde teacher could set them back weeks if not months, derailing a plan they’d had in place since day one.

Ice drew on his emotions, shutting them down and focusing only on the job ahead. He had always been able to shut his emotions off and make the decisions his club needed him to make. It had earned them a dangerous reputation only rivaled by one other bike club, which Ice thought was a joke. The older bike club traded on a rep, which had been established by the members who had started the club, yet were nothing more than a bunch of overweight, weekend riders.

The pretty teacher didn’t want to teach the course, and they could use that to their advantage if they had to. Either way, she was now involved, and Ice had to figure out a way to keep her alive.

* * *

Grace stared at the packed classroom. She had anticipated a couple of late entries to her class, not the addition of seven more. The one with the shaved head gave her the creeps with the way his eyes stayed on her the entire time she talked. She had heard someone call him the Church. Grace didn’t want to know how he had ended up with that nickname.

She set a simple task for the students who had been present Monday, but then had to backtrack to establish the new prisoners’ skills. She made sure to maintain her distance while she handed out the paperwork they needed. Her frayed nerves had her skittering back to the front of the classroom as soon as the last one touched the desk.

Placing her papers on the desk, her shaking hands reached out for her notes as she inadvertently glanced up, her eyes catching those of the man named Ice. His steady gaze somehow soothed her frazzled nerves.

Regaining her composure, she taught the next section then assigned the task she wanted completed on the computer. When they began, Grace used the opportunity to sit down behind the desk, making sure she avoided staring at the man seated directly in front of her.

Ice had moved from the desk by the window where he had sat in the previous class to sit in front of her. She had been briefly disconcerted at having him so close to her and had hoped he hadn’t noticed, but she didn’t think much went unobserved by the man.

She picked up one of the papers on her desk, finding herself looking under lowered lashes at the tattoos visible on his arms under the prison shirt he wore. She blushed bright red when he caught her staring, glancing back down at the paper she was holding.

As the assignments were completed, Grace went to take the papers. When she reached out to take the Church’s paper, he held on to it. Grace gave a small tug, looking up at him.

“I’ve got something harder for you than that piece of paper,” he said low enough the guards wouldn’t hear.

Grace barely kept her composure, looking down at the paper she had managed to take from him. “The only thing you got right was your name. Obviously, finding the power key was too hard for you.”