Page 38 of Perdition
“I know you heard us yesterday, me and Frost,” she said, her voice grating on Em’s nerves like steel dragging over concrete.
She knew the Em had heard? How was that possible?
Sarah huffed. “I could see you from where I was sitting, standing out in the hallway, all ugly and sad.”
Suddenly less wary and more warrior, Em grit her teeth and snapped, “You’re such a bitch. You knew I was standing there and still said all that shit about my husband having options?—”
“That’s because he does,” Sarah shrilled, planting her hands on her hips. “I mean, look at you!” Sarah gestured at all of Em with a disgusted sneer on her face. “You’re fat, dress like an old lady, have skin like sandpaper, and look like you’d rather stay home and bake than go to an Unchained party.”
Affronted, a sickening sensation oozed through her.
Was this what Mads thought, too?
Humiliation seared through her, making her face heat and her shoulders tense.
Sherefusedto let this woman see that she got to her.
Again, Sarah huffed haughtily. “Frost has been with you for years and now that he’s finally hit his peak, he deserves a woman at his side that doesn’t look like…well…you. You don’t fit him, Emily. He’s hot as fuck, rides like a dream, and is the president of a club of bikers.” That disgusted sneer was back. “And you…well…you gave up long ago, and it shows. You honestly think that you don’t embarrass him at club parties? I bet he doesn’t even stand next to you when the club meets up, right? And he doesn’t invite you to club events anymore, and that’s because he knows you won’t come—I guess you’re too busy in your sweatpants and gross t-shirts, eating cookies and your pride—to come and support your man.”
Unable to speak for the lump of shame and anger lodged in her throat, she didn’t stop Sarah from continuing.
Sarah snorted, giggling. “Wait, I bet you don’t even know that we’re having a costume party at Cool Hands next weekend.”
Struck, Emily almost flinched. In fact, she really had not known.
Why hadn’t anyone told her?
No, she wasn’t as involved in the club recently, but she was still the prez’s old lady, his woman, so she expected to still be on the list of immediate invites.
Maybe they just assumed you’d know, that Frost would tell you.
Right, because he’d beenrealchatty lately.
You haven’t been all that chatty with him lately, either.
Too true. And all sorts of wrong.
Seriously, where the hell had she’d gone wrong?
She wasn’t as emersed in the club as she once was—she’s been the party planner, the go to, the fixer—for years. It wasn’t until Flower’s Blooms took off that she’d started taking a step back from being so busy with the club. She’d handed off some of the responsibilities to Sasha, who’d been Tornado’s woman at the time, but she’d been banned from the club—and the state—for the bullshit she pulled with Patriot’s woman, Cilla. That had been a lesson in trusting people just because they were club affiliated and supposedly vetted.
Now, she knew that Cilla and her best friend, Stephie, Horde’s old lady, had taken over the party planning and clubhouse management. She hated to say that she didn’t know the woman as well as she wanted to, but her life outside of the club had taken her by the tits and was pulling her further and further away from what was once her second home.
Sarah snickered, the sound a tad too much like a snuffling Chihuahua.
“I can tell by the look on your face that you had no idea about the party.” She sounded entirely too smug about that.
“I know about it, I just haven’t decided if I’m going or not.” The lie didn’t even convince her.
Rolling her eyes, Sarah crossed her arms, and lifted her chin. “Don’t bother. You wouldn’t fit in, and even if you did find a costume that fit over your big ass and wide hips, you honestlythink you’d look good standing next to Frost? Do you honestly think he wouldn’t be embarrassed to have you there? Seriously, Emily, you should just forget about being the president’s old lady and focus on what you’re good at—playing in your little garden like a fat gnome.”
With a gleam in her eye that made Em’s heart stop, Sarah landed a final blow. “He took me to your tree…but you know that, because you were listening, right?”
There was the giggling again. “You know he fucked me under that tree, don’t you?”
Her heart died right then.
Finally finding her voice, she rasped, “He wouldn’t do that; he’s not a cheater.”