She drove directly to the clubhouse. She had been there two other times when Ice had been too tired to make the ride, asking her to drive to him. Both times, she had borrowed CeCe’s car, but this time, not wanting to again and feeling as if she was beginning to take advantage, she had chosen to drive her own.
She parked behind the clubhouse where there were a few bikes, but she didn’t see Ice’s. Getting out of her car, she grabbed the chocolate cake. It was his favorite, something she had made a couple of months ago, and he had almost made himself sick eating too much of it.
Carefully balancing it, she went to the backdoor and knocked. Griffin opened the door. Grace had only met the man a couple of times previously. He always wore a his long blond hair tied at the nape of his neck, and his grey eyes were guarded as if he hid his true feelings for her behind fake politeness.
“Hey, Grace.”
“Griffin, I wanted to surprise Ice for his birthday.”
“He’s not here. I can call him.”
“Do you know how long he’ll be?”
“Last time I talked to him, he was headed back, maybe twenty minutes?”
“Do you mind if I come in and wait?”
When Griffin opened the door wider for her, she went into the dimly lit room, noticing several of the women hanging around. The only other biker she recognized was Fade, who was playing pool.
She walked across the room, setting the cake down on the counter as Griffin went back to the pool table. Rita swiveled around on the bar stool, looking at the cake distastefully.
“Hi, Grace.”
“Hi, Crush.” Grace was relieved to see her. She had become tentative friends with her, while Rita’s antagonism had only grown worse.
“What do you have here?” Crush laid a light finger on the cover.
Grace smiled. “I made a cake for Ice. I wanted to surprise him for his birthday.” She included the gorgeous woman sitting next to Crush, giving her a smile. She hadn’t met her before.
Rita gave a harsh laugh. “He’ll enjoy the brothers’ present a whole lot more. They called Brandy to come and give him another go around.”
The smile slipped from Grace’s lips. “Excuse me?”
“You better watch it, Rita,” Fade warned from the pool table.
“What? If she stays, she’ll see for herself.” She nodded at the woman sitting next to her. “This is Brandy.”
“Hi, Brandy,” Grace said weakly.
“Hi,” she responded with a confident air, not denying what Rita had said.
“I think I’ll just wait out in the car for Ice.” Grace turned to leave.
“Grace, stay. I’ll get you a beer,” Crush offered.
“Let her go sit in the car. You know she shouldn’t be coming around, sniffing after our men. Fuck, she comes in all dressed up as if she’s worth a million fuckin' dollars when she’s a slut like the rest of us. Hell, she sounds like she’s being strangled when she comes. I don’t want to be in the house when Ice is finished with her and Stump has her. Then she’ll sound like a banshee.”
Grace’s temper got the better of her. It was better than the feelings of humiliation coursing through her bloodstream, though.
“What’s wrong, Rita? You upset because Ice isn’t giving it to you and the others since he started seeing me?” Grace snapped, and the men quit playing pool to listen.
“If that’s what you really think, then you’re a bigger fool than I thought you were. He fucked Brandy on that pool table over there right after he came back from seeing you.”
Grace felt the smack of Rita’s words as if she had hit her. It probably would have hurt less if she hadn’t seen the truth in all the faces staring at her.
“Rita!” Fade slammed down the pool stick walking angrily to the bar. Grace was too mortified to listen to what the angry biker was saying to Rita.
Without another word, she walked steadily out of the clubhouse, holding her tears back, determined not to let Rita see how badly she was hurt. After she heard the door close behind her, she let the tears slip down her cheeks. She could barely see where she was walking with the tears flooding her eyes and fell back a step when she plowed into another figure.
“Excuse me.”
Grace’s head came up at the feminine voice. “It was my fault,” Grace hiccupped.
“Are you okay?”
Grace furiously blinked her eyes so she could see the woman she was talking to. “Yes. Thanks,” Grace said, moving to the side so she could pass.
She went to her car and opened the door as the woman headed inside the clubhouse without knocking. Probably another present for Ice, she thought, stabbing the imaginary knife deeper in her heart.
She tried to turn her car on, but the motor wouldn’t start. She tried several times before she laid her head down on the wheel and burst into tears.