Page 55 of Perdition
Around her, the conversation continued.
“Horde isn’t an officer, so he isn’t in that circle of bros enough to know all that much, but he has eyes, and he’s seen Frost and Sarah….” Stephie snapped her mouth shut, a flush coloring her cheeks, and pity filling her already sad eyes.
Pity for Em.
Sad for Em.
“I’m not even a part of the club, but from what I’ve heard from Nadia, and what I saw with my own eyes at that party at Emerald Greens, there’s definitely some tension between you and Frost.”
Again and again, Em heard things she already knew, felt the strike of them against her heart like her own heartbeat.
Suddenly sober as a nun, Em crossed her arms and pressed herself back into Cilla’s couch.
“So, is this some kind of intervention?” Em asked, acidly.
She knew she was being unfair; those women were good women, they cared about Em and Frost, and they were great partners to their men, and they’d all experienced theirown heartache—especially Nadia, who was still wary of Frost whenever the two were near each other.
Em didn’t blame her; she was still sour from what her own husband had done to such a good woman. How could a man who’d adored his little girl and his wife order a man he loved and respected to seduce and use an innocent woman for his own purposes?
Oh, he said it was for the good of the club, but Frost could have gone about it without dragging Nadia into it. He could have utilized Redtube’s considerable skill with the computer to get the information he wanted—hell, he could have just hired a PI to find Elijah Tate, Nadia’s stepbrother, who’d stolen money from the Bone Dogz, the MC Frost was so determined to fold into the Unchained MC.
Then again, if he hadn’t, Nadia and Locust wouldn’t currently be “relationship goals,” if Frost hadn’t pulled what he pulled.
“Not an intervention, Emily,” Cilla said, placing a gentle hand against Em’s thigh. “We just know that you need someone to talk to, and that you don’t have many female friends outside of us who actually understand the club.”
That was true. Cheri was a kick ass best friend, but she had no clue about the ins and out and ups and downs of club life. She’d rather give herself a colonoscopy with an impact wrench than spend any amount of time at the clubhouse. And she’d always been a little distant from Frost, claiming she didn’t like how he always seemed on the cusp of becoming dangerous.
Em had always assumed it was because Cheri was there when Mads had enlisted, and then again when he started forming the MC—two lifestyles that screamed, “risk” and “deadly force.”
Moving her gaze from face to face, seeing nothing but concern and love in each set of eyes, Em let the tears break free from the dam that had already begun to fail catastrophically.
“You’re right,” she cried, “I can’t do this on my own.”
Cilla, cooing, pulled Em into her arms. Stephie sat down on Em’s other side, and Nadia and Vicki took up spots on the floor—all of them placing comforting hands on Em’s arms and legs.
With that, wrapped up in warmth and unconditional support, Em let the flood flow, spilling everything—from how things had started to go wrong once the kids left, to how she felt Mads pulling away, to howshepulled away in response as a way to protect herself. Then she shared about Sarah, what she’d overheard between Frost and Sarah that morning from outside Frost’s office, and then she shared about the phone call the night before. Then she told them about the kutte, the note, and…the tree.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house once Em was done sharing.
Though the words had been heavy, she could admit she felt…lighter after having spoken them.
They were no longer locked up tight inside her, clawing at the walls, roaring and growling and keening to be let out.
They were free.
Too badshewasn’t. She was still caught in the consequences of Frost’s poor decisions, her own poor response, and the possible infidelity.
After Em finished speaking, there was a silence so profound, she could feel it pressing down on her.
Beside her, Cilla was shaking with quiet sobs.
The woman was all heart.
Em brushed a kiss against Cilla’s head, her own heart driving her to comfort the younger woman.
Finally, Vicki broke the silence. “Speaking as someone whose been there with a cheating spouse, and dealing with the aftermath of it—especially with kids…you’ve got the strength todo whatever needs doing, even if that means cutting your losses or forgiving him and trying to find a new normal.”
God, what did that look like—a new normal? The old normal hadn’t even been normal for over a year, and even then, her life with Mads and the kids had never been what one would call “typically domestic.” The man was a soldier, then an MC president; there was no guidebook for being married to an all-around badass, at least not one that didn’t come with a trigger warning for morally gray men and unhinged smut.
