Page 68 of Moth Manager
I adjust so the giggling woman isn't in my space.
“Oh my god, sorry,” says a beautiful, dark-haired human. She’s sitting with a group of women, a blonde human, a female Bigfoot, and a lizard with scaly green skin.
“Not a problem,” I say.
“Oh, it’s you!” the blonde exclaims. “This is the bitch that Pleasant left me for!” She tells her friends.
I recoil.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean that you are a bitch. I don’t even know you.” She leans forward and puts an overly familiar hand on my forearm. “I mean bitch in a generic ‘this woman stole my man’ way.”
That makes me recognize her. The sexy demon the night I met Ant. She’s not a demon at all. She’s Ant’s ex-girlfriend. Tall, slender, beautiful, with perfect makeup, high heels, and all the other ‘hot girl’ things I haven’t quite managed to get a handle on.
“I’m Tiffany!” she exclaims. “Surely Pontius has mentioned me.”
“A little,” I admit.
“Oh god, he’s not here, is he?” she asks. “Sorry if I am being, like, so awkward. This is Pontius’ mate!” She says the last part to her friends.
Tiffany. I am face-to-face with Tiffany. The woman who told Ant that no one would ever be okay with his body. She’s a monster. An actual monster.
I stand from my stool, clenching my fists at my side. I’m not sure what I plan to do. Hit her? That’s stupid. Insult her? God, she’s pretty. What would I say? I guess I could go for an attack on her character or something?
“Oh my god! Look at you! You are so cute!” Tiffany immediately exclaims, looking me up and down.
“I bet you two are perfect together. You got lucky there,” Tiffany’s friend tells me. “I’d love for a rich cryptid to just pluck me out of obscurity. I bet it’s fantastic!”
“I—we—” I fumble for words.
“He’ll buy you just about anything you want. I taught him that women love presents.” Tiffany laughs. “You can thank me for that.”
“I’m not…We’re not together.”
“Oh, you rejected him? That makes sense. He’s kind of a freak.” Her face falls briefly before it lights back up. “Is he single again? Maybe I can get him to put a ring on it this time.” She waggles her fingers, which are free of any kind of jewelry.
All of her friends laugh.
That’s not right. She can’t do that. She can’t date him. He deserves someone better than a woman who just wants to use him for his money.
“No!” I shout. The women barely acknowledge my outburst, already chatting over me.
Over Tiffany’s shoulder I see a familiar pink head walk into the bar. Bailey is finally here, right on time.
“Can I buy you a drink or something?” Tiffany asks. “You can sit with us if you like.”
“No, thank you. Have a good evening.” I spin on my heels away from them, and am immediately filled with regret.
Crap. That isn’t what I wanted to say. I wanted to tell her off. Insult her. Say that Ant is great. He’s too good for her. I wanted to tell her she should fuck off to hell.
“Hi.” I greet Bailey when I reach her. “Can we go somewhere else?”
She raises one eyebrow and spots the women sitting at the bar behind me. Her eyes go wide with recognition.
“Is that—” she asks.
“Can we just leave?” I shake my head, not wanting to talk about it.
“I’d love to tell her off.” Bailey’s brows furrow before she catches my expression. “No. No. Of course, let’s go.” She loops her arm around mine and leads me out of the building.
