Page 75 of Perdition
“Sarah,” he growled, “what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
She tried to tug her arms from his hold, but he held on, refusing to give her access to his body.
What belonged to Emily.
“Come on, Frost, it isn’t like it’s the first time I’ve hugged you; what’s the big deal?” she cooed, dipping her chin to look up at him with a practiced coyness.
“You know damn well we don’t hug, and the fact that you attempt to hug me, and then talk about it like it’s an everyday occurrence—in front of my men—tells me you did it deliberately. And then I have to ask myself why—why is Sarah trying to make people think I touch a woman who isn’t my wife?”
Sarah tugged her arms again, and this time he let her go, but not before he took a step back to put space between them.
Rubbing her arms where Frost had firmly gripped her, she huffed, “You act like I haven’t touched you before, Frost. In your office, on that couch—remember?”
Shit. He knew that would come back to bite him on the ass.
“That was me offering comfort to someone I thought needed it. The intention was to offer a shoulder to cry on—nothing else. The fact that you took that to mean something else is on you. Yes, I allowed things to go that far because I honestly believed that you needed help, guidance, and even protection, but neveronce did I want to take it any further than that.” Scrubbing a hand down his face, he cursed lowly, then admitted, “And I let it get that far because I was a fool.”
Cluster, who was standing beside him, hummed, agreeing.
Patriot took that moment to walk through the doors, his gaze immediately landing him and Sarah, and correctly guessing what was going on. He tipped his chin to Tony Dos who was standing at the bar, watching, and silently commanded him to leave. Then he cast a commanding gaze to Cluster, who pursed his lips petulantly, but then followed Tony Dos from the clubhouse.
That left Patriot, Redtube, Frost, and Sarah.
Fewer eyes and ears to hear how pitiful their president was.
Redtube slapped Frost on the back, and said, “I’ll be in my office,” then he turned and walked away, but not before glaring at Sarah, who just huffed.
She had no idea what was coming.
Without saying a single word, Patriot had come into the room, sized up the situation, and went into VP mode, clearing the room so Frost could do what he needed to do to deal with the problem.
Sarah was the problem.
Having done his job, Patriot gave Frost a look that he easily read as“You need me, you call me, I’ll be here.”Then, he walked toward Frost’s office.
Sarah definitely read those actions as something else, because the moment Patriot was gone, she went back to being the cooing, poisonous snake she was.
She slunk up to him, eyelashes batting, lips pouting, hips swaying, and purred, “Now that they’re gone, you can tell me how you really feel about me…then we can do something about it.”
He furrowed his brows, frustrated at this woman’s ridiculousness. He never touched her before, what made her think he’d touch her now? The very idea of his skin touching hers made him want to puke.
“I have been an idiot, Sarah. I admit, I liked you, you were a breath of fresh air, fun to talk to, easy to be around, and sometimes I did wonder if we could truly be close friends—but those thoughts died quick, because my wife should be my only female friend. Full stop.”
Sarah rolled her eyes and stepped closer to him.
Warning bells went off in his head, but he refused to step back, to give her the pleasure of thinking she had any power over him.
“You wanted to be more than friends, Frost, just admit it. Right there, in your office, you told me that you wished you hadn’t settled down with Em, and that you regretted getting married young, and you wanted to see what your options were.”
He shook his head once, glaring down at her.
“Don’t say no, baby, youdidsay that, and Emily heard that, and that’s why she’s being such a bitch about breaking things off with you.”
Fisting his hands at his sides, he snarled, “Don’t talk about my fucking wife—the woman I hurt because I was such a goddamn fool to fall for your bullshit.”
Sarah gasped, pressing a hand to her chest like some fucking damsel. “I didn’t force you to do anything you weren’t already interested in doing. That first night I approached you, you were interested, you just didn’t have the balls to follow through with what your dick wanted. And so I decided to help you along. Sweet smiles, thoughtful little gifts, doe eyes with tears, skimpy outfits, leaning in and gentle touches…and a few words about how I needed you. You were easy, Frost, but I put in the work, and now that you’re finally mine, I’m not giving you up.”
“I don’t belong to you, Sarah—never have, never fucking will. I know I was an asshole, betraying my wife the way I did, hurting her, hurting my kids, hurting myself, but I am done being that prideful jerk looking for emotional fulfillment from someone I couldn’t give to shits about.”
