4. The Ice Queen Melts

Chapter 4

The Ice Queen Melts

S abre

One minute she was sitting next to me, taking a drink of water, and the next she was gone. I sat there, dumbfounded. What the fuck had just happened? Trying to process what I remembered, I played the scene back in my mind, drinking my beer.

The last thing I remembered clearly was when I'd offered her my bed for the night, and she'd turned me down. I didn't think she'd really take me up on it, but it was fun to see her flustered. I doubted she allowed many people to see beyond the perfect mask. The next thing I knew, the bride was storming to the table. They had grabbed all of their things and hightailed it out of here. It wouldn't have surprised me to find out they had been practicing that maneuver over the years. It had been too fast, and I normally had better instincts than that.

Taking another sip of my beer, I watched over the edge of the glass as Grizz headed my way with the rest of the brothers a few steps behind him.

"How could you have let them go?" he asked me as he approached.

I took another long gulp of my beer. The foam tickled my tongue, which made me curious what she'd taste like in my bed. She. Fuck, I didn't even know her name. I'd just started calling her mama, and she'd gone with it. "You didn't even know what was happening, so don't come at me. They were gone in a cloud of tulle before you even knew the bride wasn't next to you."

"How the fuck do you even know what tulle is?" Grizz raised his eyebrows at me, trying to get the last word .

We'd been best friends way too long for me to take him seriously right now. He was probably pissed that they had left without a trace, and he'd have to get Cyph to work his magic. I wasn't taking my life into my own hands and telling him that his womanizing skills were rusty. He should have been able to talk her into coming back to the clubhouse. Reality hit me like a ton of bricks that I hadn't been successful either.

"Are you two going to bicker like old ladies, or are we heading out to the parking lot? They might still be here," Pretty said, standing with his feet shoulder width apart, and his hands on his hips, scolding us.

Grizz didn't hesitate. He worked his way through the tables, pushing past anyone who dared to step in his way. Reaching the front door, he nearly pulled it off the hinges as he ran into the lot. The rest of us filed out behind him, but it was too late.

A silver SUV turned out of the parking lot and headed for the highway.

They were gone.

"Fuck. Did anyone get their plate number?" Grizz crouched, rubbing his hands against his face.

"How the fuck did you expect us to see that far? It's dark." Pretty was continuing down a dangerous path by provoking Grizz, but my brother loved to stir up other people's shit.

"He was hoping for a Hail Mary but got denied," I heard Wreck say from behind me.

Grizz was staring at the road, probably willing the girls to turn around. "Let's go after them. We can probably catch them."

"Then what? Scare the fuck out of them? We're bikers, and they're definitely high society princesses. Did you see the bride's dress? It was probably worth more than my bike, and that's saying something." Count was our treasurer, and I didn't even question how he would know something like that.

"Well, we can't just stand here with our dicks in our hands," Grizz said, his eyes falling on Cyph. Grizz pointed at the phone in his hand. "Find them. "

"All non-club information comes with a price." Cyph didn't even bother to look up from his phone as he happily typed away.

"I am not paying you when you could have already been done by now. You're wasting time. At least figure out where they live, fuckface." Grizz was breathing heavy, his chest pumping twice as hard as normal as he tried to rein in his temper. I thought the bride had just been a conquest, but now I questioned how fucked up Grizz was going to become.

"Not without payment. You know I don't work that way." Cyph tucked one arm into the crook of the other and continued to play on his phone.

"You're fucking with me now? What the fuck do you want?"

"Three video games for the club's Playstation and the fight night package for the TV." Cyph stuck his fist out to bump with Count's.

"Fuck, no. Just find them. If you weren't busting my fucking balls, we could have caught them." Grizz was two seconds from strangling Cyph.

"Four video games and the package for at least a year." Cyph wasn't giving up, and I was enjoying the bickering way too much.

"For a goddamn phone number? I'll just fucking do it myself." Grizz pulled out his phone and clicked the app to bring up the maps. "Anyone know where they were from?" he asked the rest of us.

I threw Grizz a bone. "Start with a four-hour radius. The husband called, and she said they had driven four hours before they stopped here to eat."

She'd held the phone to her ear in between us, and the husband had had been so loud that I had no problem hearing him. I didn't like how he had spoken to her, but I hadn't pushed the issue. She hadn't appeared to be afraid, and I was looking for a good time, not a lifetime commitment. If there had been any sign that he was getting physical with her, I told myself that I would have stepped in.

Grizz clicked his fingers at me. "Yes!" He instantly went back to the map, but he'd easily get confused when he had to bounce between the map and a browser window. Pointing at Cyph, he said, "This would have been faster if you'd just do it, but you're being a little shit since none of them were interested in you. "

"At least I am not delulu. You think she really wants a little bitch like you?" Cyph retorted. "Five video games, the fight night package, and the sports network."

"Oh, that was a good one." Count chuckled, enjoying this as much as I was.

"You can't be fucking serious right now." Grizz was now whining.

"You should have taken me up on my first offer. Check your fucking phone." Right on cue, his phone dinged with an incoming text. Cyph had already figured it out.

"You're a fucking bitch, and I am going to remember this." Grizz was scrolling through the text. "Do I call her now?"

The rest of us cracked up laughing.

"For what? 'Hey baby, come back so that I can whisk you away to my rancid room in the clubhouse, and we can celebrate your honeymoon?'" Pretty was laughing so hard that he tripped over his own feet and fell into Wreck.

My phone dinged, but it wasn't unusual to get texts at all hours of the day and night.

"You're welcome," Cyph told me with a smirk.

I opened the text. He'd done me a solid.

Cyph

Grace Montgomery.

Grizz had figured out that Cyph had sent me my woman's information for free. "How come he doesn't have to pay, and I got robbed?" he complained.

With a snort, Cyph retorted, "I know where my bread gets buttered."

***

Grace

I felt like a train had hit me as I drove past each mile marker on the way home. The energy in the car from the day before had vanished. We were exhausted, and the laughter that had bounced off the windows was now gone, but the silence was not uncomfortable.

After we'd left the bar the night before, we'd headed south, stopping at the first decent chain hotel we'd found. Settling in one room, the girls had immediately gossiped about the bikers all night, like they would have done in high school. I had only interjected a word here or there, preferring to stay on the outside of their conversation.

I dropped Charlie and Stella off at their respective homes and then made my way to Meredith's condo. The girls had ridden to the church together, so when my father had called this morning, he'd said that he had taken care of their vehicle. It was currently sitting at Charlie's apartment complex.

I was a little surprised that he hadn't mentioned the failed wedding to Meredith. She'd spoken to him as I had driven, and when the conversation was over, she'd mentioned the car and then let it drop.

Halfway to her condo, Meredith turned in her seat to face me and asked, "What happened, Grace?"

"When?" I asked warily. Too much had happened, and I didn't want to guess wrong and volunteer additional information.

"At the wedding," she said, biting her bottom lip as she bent her knee and tucked her leg underneath her. She turned in the passenger seat so that she faced my profile as I drove. "Yesterday was unlike you. It was strange because you didn't push me to get married, and I know you. You would have told me to put my big girl panties on and just do it."

Despair hit me over the head like a water balloon. Had I really lived my life like that? I didn't know why I was questioning myself when I already had the answers. Meredith was right. I hadn't wanted to admit to it.

"What happened?" Meredith kept pushing for answers, staring a hole into the side of my head.

I should have word-vomited everything that had transpired in the last twenty-four hours, but I kept my secrets locked tightly to my chest. Part of me rationalized that if I didn't emotionally understand what had transpired, how was I ever going to make her see reason?

I didn't know what to tell her, but I had to come up with something or else she'd never let this go. Meredith would think that I was hiding something from her, and she'd be too close to the truth that I was trying to protect her from.

"When I walked into the bridal suite, you looked so alone sitting at that table, and then when you sobbed, my heart broke for you. I don't have an acceptable answer, but weddings are supposed to be one of the best days of your life, and you were miserable. If I have ever pushed you into something, I am incredibly sorry. No one should live like that." I meant every word.

"Why do you?" She had a point, but I wasn't sure if I was ready to analyze my situation with my sister. I'd lived my life as if I was a 1950s trophy wife, and I was better than that.

I didn't blow her off, but I had to shut down the conversation. Otherwise, I would cry in a bout of self-pity. "Not right now," I told her. "Let's get you through the fallout of the wedding. You know Brandon's family won't let this drop."

I pulled into the driveway of her condo and turned the car off. She'd bought it a few months ago, and Brandon was supposed to move in a while ago. However, he had been dragging his feet with every excuse known to man. I wondered if the real reason had been that Meredith was the sole owner. None of his stuff was here, and he didn't have the keys to the place. Meredith had dodged another bullet, I thought, the phrase reminding me of Sabre. My stomach fluttered with butterflies.

"It'll be okay. They can afford the wedding, and Brandon can threaten to sue as much as he wants. You know it would look better for their family to just play the victim. I don't care. They can paint me in whatever light they want," Meredith said. "I feel easy, like this was all wrong, and I didn't see it until now." She smiled, lost in her thoughts.

"Which biker? I asked her .

She looked at me like a deer in headlights. Her eyes were wide open, and where she'd been smiling before, her lips now formed an O shape.

"I am not blind, Mer. Which one?"

She smiled wider. "Grizz. He was the dark-haired one with the man bun. I didn't give him my number, but I told him that if he really wanted to find me, he should look up the wedding announcement. If he's smart, he'll put it together since Brandon's family took out that ad in the gossip column."

We stared at each other over the center console as we sat in my car. She smiled at me, and as my smile formed, we cracked up laughing at the situation. It'd been too long since we'd just been sisters, sharing a secret. She was suddenly quiet. "Do you think he'll call?" she asked.

"I think he'd be stupid not to." I hugged her as tight as I could.

"Me too, Grace. He'd be stupid not to fight for you." She got out of the car and walked to her front door before I could say anything.

I wouldn't pretend I didn't know who she was talking about.

I didn't know what to expect the closer I came to my home. I was anxious, and my palms were sweaty on the steering wheel as the miles seemed to pass a little too quickly.

It was a little after one, and I shook my head in disbelief as I pulled into the driveway. Matt wasn't even home, and he'd specifically mentioned that I should be home by noon. I hadn't purposely been late, but I also hadn't reached out to tell him either.

Pulling my phone out to call him for the first time this morning, I checked the screen and saw that I had a text. It was from an unknown number, and I normally wouldn't have paid it any attention, except the preview message started with mama . It never dawned on me to question how he had gotten my name and number as I opened the text.

Unknown

Mama, I'll be here whenever you need me. Just call.

I would never reach out to him, but I also didn't delete the number .

Walking into the empty house, I tried to pretend everything was normal. I placed my keys on the right hook near the garage door, took off my shoes, and made sure they were next to each other in the little cubicle.

"Matt?" I called out as I walked from the garage door to the living room. His car wasn't in the garage, but I wanted to make sure he really wasn't home. I waited a few seconds, listening for any response. "Matt?" I called out again. Nothing. Pulling out my phone, I checked for any message that I might have missed.

Dragging myself upstairs, I turned on the shower and stripped off the dress. I was physically and emotionally exhausted, and I wasn't in the mood to play these mind games. Matt was probably waiting for me to call and ask where he was. In reality, I didn't care. I was more concerned about the argument that would ensue when he arrived home. I didn't know if I had the strength to fight, and I didn't want to just blindly agree to any thing Matt would say. Showering, I tried to wash the building anxiety away. I threw on a pair of pajamas and climbed into bed. Releasing a moan, I felt like I was in heaven. It wasn't long before I fell asleep.

I was groggy when I woke from the nap. I didn't know what time it was, but the room was dark, and I figured it must have been past dinner. Burying myself further under the covers, I just wanted to fall back asleep. My stomach rumbled, but I ignored it. Closing my eyes, I waited for sleep to overtake me again. My stomach rumbled loudly once more, and my bladder cried. There was no point. I was up.

Standing up, I stretched and used the bathroom before heading downstairs to fix something to eat. I was in the middle of scrambling eggs when Matt walked in through the garage door. Neither of us said hello as he entered the kitchen. My eyes bounced between the eggs in the pan and his back as he stood in front of the refrigerator. I didn't know where to start the conversation, so I plated my eggs and sat at the kitchen table to eat. It might have been delicious, but I wouldn't know. It tasted like sawdust in my mouth.

Matt closed the refrigerator and walked towards the table. I pulled my shoulders back and straightened my spine, preparing for the battle that was going to start. He approached me from behind and patted the top of my head. Dropping to a crouch, he whispered in my ear, "Don't fucking think about it."

I sat at the table as his heavy footsteps made the hardwood stairs creak. I heard the water rush through the pipes as he turned on the shower. Not long after, he came back downstairs, patted me on the head again, and walked out. His car started in the garage, and he was gone. I didn't see him for three days after that, and when he walked back into the house, he pretended nothing was amiss.