Fat Louise (25 page)

“Don’t fucking feel sorry for him after what he just said to you.”
 

Cade moved to stand between her and Rock. “I’ve had it with you chasing after my woman. I’ve put up with it because you were there for her when she needed someone, and I was too stupid—”
 

“Hell, you were fucking Demie the night she lost her kid.”
 

Jane’s face paled. She could tell from the haunted look on Cade’s face that Rock was telling the truth.
 

Allison’s eyes were wide as she listened. Her big mouth would be spreading everything she was listening to all over town.
 

Cade lunged for Rock, nearly knocking him down. Rock managed to catch himself, though he did knock over a glass table with designer bags on it, shattering it. Rock’s fist then swung out, smashing into Cade’s face. Allison screamed as the shoving escalated into a bloody fight
between the two bikers.
 

Rock tried to pin Cade against the counter, punching him in the stomach. Then Cade pushed Rock back with his shoulder, both of them taking down a rack of baby clothes.
 

“Stop it!” Jane yelled. She went to try to break them apart, but Sex Piston blocked her path.
 

“Don’t you dare. I’ve got a hundred bucks on Cade beating him.”
 

“Shit!” Crazy Bitch shouted at Rock. “Watch his left.”
 

Sex Piston shrugged. “Crazy Bitch thinks Rock can whip his ass because Rock’s bigger.”
 

“He is, but Cade’s meaner,” Killyama gloated, giving away who she had betted on.
 

“They’re going to get hurt!” Jane protested, still trying to move around Sex Piston.
 

Sex Piston shrugged. “They need to get it out of their system. Besides, Rock deserves it for taking Cade’s letter, and Cade deserves to receive a few bruises for the way he treated you. I tried to get Stud to beat his ass for me, but he was determined to stay out of it. Said they’d go at it sooner or later. He’s the one who gave me the idea for starting a betting pool.”
 

“Who did Stud bet on?” Jane asked curiously, wincing as the two fighting men knocked down a whole shelf of stuffed animals.
 

Sex Piston grinned. “He told me he wouldn’t bet against the brothers, but he said, if Cade won, he’d let me get my nipple pierced. If Rock wins, he’d get his cock pierced. I wouldn’t mind losing a hundred bucks for that. I’m tired of listening to Diamond bragging about Knox’s.” Sex Piston stared at Stud’s crotch in his loose jeans. “I think he knew Rock was going to lose.”
 

“You think?” Jane asked sarcastically. She couldn’t imagine Stud letting anyone near his dick with a sharp object.
 

Cade finished the fight with a final kick to Rock’s ribs as he lay on the floor, surrounded by a variety of stuffed animals and purses.
 

“Stay the fuck away from Jane. I’m not going to let her go, and I’m sure as shit not going to watch you try to steal her away from me.”
 

Rock groaned as he tried to rise to his feet. Stud ended up stepping forward between the two men, reaching down to help Rock stand.
 

Rock started toward Cade again, but Stud held him back. “Cut it out, Rock. Go back to the club.”
 

“I’m calling the cops,” Allison threatened, picking up her cell phone.
 

“I’ll pay for the damages,” Cade spoke, wiping his bloody lip with a bib Jane had been about to purchase.
 

Jane jerked it away with a heated glare.
 

Sex Piston leaned casually against the counter. “Stop by the shop tomorrow, and I’ll do your hair for free.”
 

“That include highlights?” Allison asked.
 

“Yes.”
 

Alison disconnected the call. “Okay, but he’s still going to pay for all the damages.” She nodded towards Cade.
 

Cade pulled out his wallet as he walked to the counter. “I’ll pay for Jane’s things, too.”
 

“Jane?” Allison looked up from the register.
 

“He means me.” Jane’s voice wobbled. She needed to leave and go next door to the restaurant. She clutched at the counter, feeling lightheaded.
 

Cade opened his wallet, removing a tiny gel tube of glucose and handing it to her while he asked Allison to replace the bib he had wiped blood on.
 

Jane took the tube, surprised he carried it on him. Her friends all carried something on them.
After all the years they had spent together, they were well aware of Jane’s haphazard way of dealing with her hypoglycemia.
 

Allison ran the card then bagged Jane’s purchases, handing her the bag.
 

“Thanks, Allison. I’m sorry for the mess.” Jane didn’t think Allison would reply, but a hard glare from Cade had her forcing an insincere smile.
 

Jane left the store and went into the restaurant next door, sliding into a large booth. Cade sat down next to her, and Jane set the bags down between them, creating a wedge.
 

Jane began to feel better from taking the gel when her friends and Stud piled into the booth. She studied the menu, avoiding Cade’s eyes. When a tear fell onto the menu, she used her thumb to surreptitiously wipe it away.
 

By the time the waiter brought them glasses of water, the table was unnaturally quiet.
 

“Can I take your order?”
 

Jane glanced up when it was her turn to order. “I’m not hungry. Just bring me a glass of orange juice.”
 

“Bitch, you need to—” Sex Piston began, only to be cut off by Cade.
 

“Bring us both the lunch special.” Cade took her menu and his, handing them to the waiter.
 

“Don’t let Rock upset you. He’s pissed off because he heard you moved in with Cade,” Stud explained.
 

“It wasn’t cool of him to throw up Demie,” T.A. snapped, and the women at the table nodded their agreement.
 

“If Cade hadn’t done it, he wouldn’t have been able to throw it up to my girl,” Sex Piston snapped, glaring at Cade then at Jane. “Men are dumbfucks; they always cheat.”
 

Stud’s gaze darkened, and Jane saw the anger brewing between the couple.
 

“Stud didn’t.” Jane’s statement had Cade’s hand tightening on his glass of water.
 

“Only because he knew I would neuter him if he did.”
 

“I didn’t technically cheat. I wasn’t in love with you then. Besides, you walked away from me, telling me it was only a one night stand.” Cade quit trying to defend himself when the five women’s expressions showed they clearly didn’t agree with him.
 

“Even the score.” Killyama leaned back in her seat so the waiter could set their platters of food down in front of them.
 

“How?” Jane asked, taking a bite of her rice.
 

“Find someone to fuck. Pay the bastard back,” Killyama suggested.
 

“Who is she gonna fuck?” Crazy Bitch asked.
 

“She could fuck Rock,” T.A. piped in.
 

Jane shook her head. “I don’t want to hurt him.”
 

As Cade’s fork dropped to his plate, Jane had to hide her smile. He believed she was actually considering fucking another man as payback.
 

“She could fuck Rabbit,” T.A. offered another sacrificial lamb.
 

“Hell no. The point is to make Cade jealous, not laugh his head off.” Sex Piston shot that candidate down, but not without offering another victim. “How about Pike? Stud could order him to do it.”
 

Stud shot his wife an incredulous look. “No, I can’t.”
 

“Not Pike; he’s terrible at fucking,” T.A. spoke without looking up from her plate.
 

“How do you know?” Crazy Bitch asked with a snicker. “You do him?”
 

“Once, and it wasn’t any good. Bastard got off and left me hanging.”
 

“Sounds like Train,” Killyama muttered.
 

“That’s it!” Crazy Bitch’s hand slammed down on the table. “She can fuck one of The Last Riders.”
 

“Not unless she wants to start a war.”
 

While Cade was getting angrier by the second, Jane couldn’t keep herself from provoking him further.
 

“Which one? Lucky?” Jane had always thought Lucky was the handsomest of The Last Riders.
 

“No!” Killyama looked like her refried beans were sour. “He’s into that freaky-deaky shit. Rider would do you.”
 

“She’d have to catch him first.”
 

Stud winced when Sex Piston’s pointed boot kicked him under the table.
 

“I like Rider,” Jane pretended to consider the option. “He saved my life.”
 

“No, he didn’t. I did,” Cade interrupted.
 

“You’re also the one who cheated on me!” Jane yelled, letting her anger go. “You cheated on me the night I lost our baby!” She reached onto her plate before turning to Sex Piston. “Hold my Chimichanga.” Jane picked her plate of food up and threw it at him.
 

 “Let him have it.” Killyama didn’t stop eating to encourage her friend.
 

Cade couldn’t dodge the plate of food in the tight confines of the booth. He scraped the food off and onto the table. “I thought we had settled this.” Cade slid out of the booth. “I need to go to the bathroom and wash this off.” He strode away without looking back at her.
 

“He’s mad at me,” Jane whispered, ashamed of her behavior.
 

“You think?” Sex Piston handed her the Chimichanga back before taking the check from the angry waiter who was going to have to clean up the mess when they left.
 

“I need to get back to work.” Jane wanted to be out of there before Cade returned.
 

She took her bags and slid across the booth, trying to avoid the food. “I’ll see you guys later.”
 

Her friends all called out their goodbyes to her retreating back, and she had to blink back tears as she pushed the door open. Cade was so furious with her he might throw her out of their new house. She couldn’t blame him, either. She had acted terrible. She should have waited until he came home before giving him hell about Rock’s comment on Demie.
 

Jane ate her remaining lunch on the drive back to work, castigating herself for her behavior. Of all her friends, she was the most passive and laid back, letting herself forget that none of the other women had used grenades to blow anyone up … as far as she knew. Well, maybe Killyama might have. She couldn’t be sure. She would have to ask her.
 

Once Jane arrived back to work thirty minutes late, she admitted several patients for testing, the whole time thinking about Cade. She debated texting him several times to apologize yet couldn’t bring herself to do it, still too hurt after finding out about Cade and Demie.
 

Jane clocked out at the end of the day, for once not anxious to go home. She sat in her office chair, tempted to go to Crazy Bitch’s apartment to spend the night. Instead, she rose to her feet with a plan.
 

She sent a message to Sex Piston before starting her car. She knew exactly who she was going to fuck to pay Cade back.
 

*  *  *
 

Jane smoothed the white T-shirt down. Her tiny bra provided no barrier for her peaked nipples, and her leather pants were so tight they were about to cut off her circulation.
 

Opening the door to the clubhouse, she had to catch her balance in the impossibly high-
heeled boots she was wearing. Jesus, she didn’t know how Sex Piston made wearing the boots look so easy.
 

Her friends were already seated at a table with a bottle of tequila in front of them. Jane had no doubt they planned to entertain themselves by watching the show. They definitely could be a pain in the ass sometimes.
 

Jane spotted the brother she had every intention of seducing. She gave her breasts an extra bounce and made her hips sway as she walked across the floor. Provocatively, she leaned against the bar.
 

Demie, whose large breasts were stunningly displayed in her own white T-shirt, was working behind the bar. Jane refused to compare herself against the woman. Those days were over. From now on, she was determined to have more confidence in her own appeal.
 

“I’ll take a beer, Demie.” Jane silently dared the bitch not to wait on her.
 

Demie reached into the ice, handing her a beer while giving her a nasty look, before she retreated to the other side of the bar.
 

“Hi, I’ve seen you around the club the last couple of months, but I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Fat Louise.” She held her breath after introducing herself.
 

Cade paused at lifting his beer to his lips, turning to face her. He was silent a full minute before answering, “I’m Traveler.”
 

“Cool name.” She took a sip of her beer for courage. “Want to dance?”
 

“Yeah.”
 

Fat Louise set her beer down on the counter then walked to the dance floor, avoiding her friends’ snickers as they passed their table. “Call Me the Breeze” was playing as she began moving to the music, swaying in place and appreciating the way Traveler’s hand went to her hips
to bring her body closer to his. His thigh slid between hers, making her nipples tighten in arousal, at the same time his gaze dropped to her breasts.
 

“Hungry” played next. Jane shot Killyama, who was standing by the sound system, a reproachful look over Cade’s shoulder.