Chapter 26
Ella
Camille was loading her luggage into the trunk of her car when I pulled up in front of her condo. We were taking her car to Chicago since it was a convertible. She loved road trips with the top down, and I had to admit, they were fun.
I hopped down out of my SUV and greeted her, then transferred my suitcase and toiletry bag into her car.
“I can’t wait to get on the road,” she said, then glanced in confusion at the two cake pans I picked up from my passenger seat.
“You madetwobirthday cakes for Kim?”
“No,” I chuckled. “One is for Kim, and the other is for Lincoln, Dante’s nephew. When I took some meals over for Pop to put in his freezer this morning, he mentioned that today is Linc’s birthday. So, when I found out my client needed to cancel our meeting today, I decided to use the extra time to bake a cake for him, too. I want to drop it off at the clubhouse for him on our way.”
“So, if we’re stopping by the clubhouse, does that mean I’m going to have to wait on you to get a little lovin’ from your sexy biker?”
“I wish,” I replied with a laugh as I carefully set the cake pans down in the back seat of the convertible. “I don’t think he’lleven be there. He had something important going on today and left the house at an ungodly hour. I didn’t want to disturb him in the middle of his meeting or whatever, so he doesn’t even know I’m stopping by. I’ll just leave the cake in the kitchen for Linc, and we’ll be back on the road in no time.”
I grabbed my purse and sunglasses from my car before locking it and settling into Camille’s passenger seat. I directed her toward the clubhouse, with two quick stops along the way to pick up a birthday card for Linc and fill her gas tank before we got on the highway. While Camille pumped the gas, I signed the card, then decided to check my work email one last time before starting my weekend. I reached into my purse to put the pen away and pull out my phone, only to realize it wasn’t there.
“Oh, crap,” I muttered right as Camille opened her door and slid behind the wheel. “I left my damned phone in my car.”
“We can swing back by to pick it up as soon as you’re done dropping off the cake. It’s not quite eleven yet, so we’re actually ahead of schedule for once. We still have plenty of time to get to Chicago before rush hour traffic hits, even with the extra stops.”
“Kim will probably faint from the shock when we show up early,” I laughed. None of us were known for our promptness.
We pulled into the compound about ten minutes later. The parking lot was almost empty, but I was surprised to see Dante’s bike parked in his designated spot right by the front door. Hopefully that meant whatever problem he’d been dealing with had been resolved.
“Oh good, Dante’s here after all.”
Camille rolled her eyes. “I guess I’ll just have to force myself to hang around inside with some sexy bikers and wait on you to get some nookie,” she teased.
I laughed as I instructed Camille to pull around to the side of the building, so I could go in through the back door right by the kitchen, rather than walking all the way around through the common room carrying the cake.
Her phone rang as she was parking the car, and her mom’s name flashed on the screen. “Shit, I forgot to call her back earlier. Tell Dante hello for me, and don’t let him distract you with his dick.”
“I’ll just tell him a quick hello and goodbye,” I promised her, and she shot me a look of disbelief as answered the call.
I hurried into the building and set the cake down on the kitchen counter, pleased to see that the flames I’d piped around the sides and top edge of the cake – using red, orange, and yellow icing – had survived the trip intact. I wasn’t an expert cake decorator by any means, but it looked kind of badass, and I was incredibly pleased with the way it had turned out.
The kitchen was empty, and I glanced through the large pass-through opening into the common room, spotting DD and Diamond lounging on one of the leather couches on the far side of the room. They looked engrossed in a movie playing on the big screen TV and didn’t seem to have a clue I was here. That was more than fine with me. I had zero desire to interact with either of them. Star might be gone, but those two weren’t much better on the scale of zero to skank.
I debated whether to ask Dante to put the cake in his office, on the off chance that one of the bunnies or club brothers would eat it before Linc had a chance to enjoy it. I placed the birthday card on top of the cake container, so hopefully with his name emblazoned on the front of the envelope, as well as the birthday greeting I’d carefully piped onto the top of the cake, no one would bother it, but you never knew with these guys.
I started to go look for Dante when it occurred to me that I should have brought some candles for the top of the cake. Then I remembered the box of party supplies I’d seen in the pantry the last time I’d been here. I stepped inside the huge pantry, impressed again by the sheer amount of food they kept on hand. It took a moment to find the plastic tote filled with colorful plates, napkins, and streamers that were clearly left over from some of the more family-oriented parties they had around here.
“Candles, candles, please have some candles,” I muttered to myself as I rooted through the box. I spotted a small box underneath a stack of napkins with LEGOs printed on them. I assumed the napkins were left over from a party for Ethan, since that kid loved those things. There were only a few birthday candles left in the box, but I really only needed one anyway. I slipped it out of the box, then put everything back into the tote. I was reaching to put it back on the shelf when I heard the heavy stomp of boots on the tiled floor, followed by a familiar voice.
I smiled as I slid the tote into place, imagining his shock when I popped out of the pantry to greet him. The shock was mine, though, when his words registered.
“I’m so fuckin’ glad Ella’s in Chicago for the weekend, and I don’t have to deal with her needy ass. I never should have hooked up with her, man, and now I’m fucked.”
My heart skipped a beat, then started pounding frantically as I tried to make sense of the hateful words he’d just spewed.
“What the hell are you talkin’ about? I thought you were serious about her?” I recognized the second voice as Cowboy’s, thanks to his slight Texas drawl, although I’d never heard the hard undertone of anger I was hearing now.
“Hell no, but I made the mistake of fucking her, and now I’m stuck with her because she helps take care of Sinner. I gotta figure out a way to let her down easy so she won’t get all pissy and quit doing it, not to mention that he’d rip me a new ass if I hurt her precious feelings.”
I heard the door on the refrigerator open and then slam shut, and I swallowed down the sob that was trying to claw its way out of my throat.
