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.

After a knock on her window had her jumping, she looked up to find the woman she had bumped into outside the club, watching her in concern.

Grace pressed the button to operate the window, but it didn’t work, either, so she opened the door.

“Your car won’t start?”

“No, when it gets hot, I have to give it time to cool down.”

“I’m Vida. My husband belongs to the club. I could give you a ride if you need one.”

“Are you going to Stephenville?” Grace asked on a sob.

“No, but I could. If you don’t want to sit here, I could take you to my husband’s tattoo shop and then bring you back when it closes.”

Grace grabbed her purse. She didn’t want to be sitting in her car when Ice showed up. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

Grace got out of her car, locking the door, and then went with Vida to her small car, climbing into the passenger seat.

Once they were on the road, Vida cast her a curious glance. “You didn’t tell me your name.”

“I’m sorry. I’m Grace.”

“Do you want to talk about why you were crying?”

“Because my car wouldn’t start.”

“You were crying before you got in your car,” Vida gently reminded her.

“I was?”

“Yes, but it’s okay if you don’t want to tell me.”

“I planned a surprise for my boyfriend… my ex-boyfriend.” Grace continued after correcting herself, “The men had already planned a surprise for him, though. Her name is Brandy.”

“Ouch. Who told you? Maybe they were wrong?”

“Rita. No, she wasn’t lying.” Grace looked out the window.

“That bitch. She gave me a hard time when I first started seeing Colton. She’s actually not that bad once you get to know her. Which one is your boyfriend?”

“Ex-boyfriend. Ice.”

“Oh.” Vida was silent. Grace could tell she was having a hard time coming up with something nice to say.

“Why were you at the club?” Grace asked. “Were you going to the party?”

“God, no.” Vida shuddered. “Thank God my husband doesn’t take part in that aspect of the club.” Vida cast her an apologetic glance. “Sorry, I didn’t mean… I was there to drop off some concert tickets for Gert. She’s been sick, and we wanted to get her out of her house for a while to have a good time.”

“I’ve met Gert. She tried to warn me about Rita. I might be slow on the uptake, but I’m not completely stupid. I thought we had something special. He was so adamant about me not having anyone else that I took that to mean he wouldn’t, either. But Rita told me he had sex with Brandy on the pool table.”

“That asshole,” Vida said, slowing the car down and parking in front of a tattoo shop. “Come on inside, and I’ll get you a cup of coffee.”

Grace had never been in a tattoo shop before. There were pictures on the walls of people showing off their new ink and others of tattoos people could choose. On the side of the wall was a poster showing men and women’s genitals and the piercings available.

Vida went behind the counter and came back with a cup of coffee.

“Does your husband do the piercings?”

Vida grimaced. “Yes, and before you ask, I’m always in the room when it’s a woman.”

Grace took a drink of her coffee.

“What are you going to do about your car?”

“I’m going to call a tow truck and junk it, and then I’m going to call a friend of mine to drive up from Stephenville to pick me up.”

“If you don’t want to do that, I have a friend, Penni, who has to leave town tonight after the concert. She has to go past Stephenville. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind dropping you off.”