Page 16 of Misrule
Knox covered his face and groaned.
Chapter Five
As if the years fell away, Emily Riser watched as Kendall Miller glided toward the table she sat at. Emily couldn’t have been more shocked when she’d received a call from the redhead. They’d never been friends. Emily had never wanted to be Kendall’s friend, but she hadn’t been able to resist accepting the dinner invitation to see what the stupid, overgrown cow wanted.
“Emily?” Kendall greeted tentatively as she stopped at the table.
Emily pasted a smile on her face. “Kendall, darling, it’s positively lovely to see you,” she lied, standing and air kissing each of Kendall’s cheeks.
They slid into their respective booths and grinned at each other. Emily hated Kendall’s expressive brown eyes and flaming red hair. She hated the creamy skin, fine features, and long legs that every boy in school had found so fascinating. Kendall had gone from being a bullied outcast to a whore for any man she met. Yet, here she was, in spite of everything, still smiling, still gorgeous.
Still her…?
“I heard about your mother.” Compassion oozed from Emily’s voice. “You have my deepest sympathy.”
Kendall nodded. “Thank you.”
Was that a tentative note in the redhead’s voice? Did Emily, by any chance, still intimidate her? Maybe, she remained that insecure little girl who Emily had shut out.
“Oh, I’m so glad to see you! You’ve grown from an ugly duckling to a gorgeous swan, Ms. Miller.”
“Not Miller.Donovan,” Kendall stated with surprising coolness. “I’ve been married for a number of years. I have three children.” She smiled. “Poor you, still haven’t found Mr. Right. Oh, Em!”
Bitch!
Emily cleared her throat, surprised at Kendall’s comeback. “I…well, yes, I have a magnificent life, darling,” she lied. “I wouldn’t want a husband and kids tying me down.” That was true, but she was stuck in a menial job, with no hope of getting her life back on track. She’d had a terrible cocaine addiction and lost everything, even her family, because of it.
“Who is the lucky guy?”
“John Donovan. Vice-president of the Death Dwellers Motorcycle Club and CEO of Wellchris Enterprises, the parent company of the Wellchris Medical Labs.”
Hadn’t she read something about Wellchris in the newspaper a few months ago? And hadn’t she seen news stories, good and bad, about the Death Dwellers? She’d Google both later. Right now, she acted duly impressed.
“Wow! You moved up in the world. What a lucky woman. Congratulations.”
“You’re too kind,” Kendall responded with a genuine smile that Emily intended to eat up and spit out.
To save her marriage, Kendall had decided she needed to face all her fears and dislikes. Her greatest of both was Meggie. Partly because Johnnie was such an idiot, but mostly because of the woman sitting across from her.
Emily was slightly taller than Meggie. Shocking, Kendall knew; Mortician didn’t call her Smurfette without cause.
Kendall wrinkled her nose, cataloging how much bustier and curvier she was than Meggie. Emily’s face, though…her face was almost the spitting image of Meggie. Yet, Meggie’s blue eyes were kinder, warmer. Her skin smoother, creamier, silkier than both Kendall’s and Emily’s, which was galling, but whatever. The words Meggie spoke, she meant. She didn’t patronize anyone in the hopes of walking over them.
As if.
Kendall had called Emily with an open heart and an open mind. She’d wanted bygones to be bygones. She wanted her demons put to rest. In order to do that, she needed to confront her nemesis once more. To see that Emily was nothing special, after all. She’d been easy to find. A couple of calls to mutual school acquaintances with whom Kendall had seen from time-to-time over the years, and she’d gotten Emily’s phone number.
It had been a long twenty-four hours. First, the big Valentine’s Day party, then Knox’s proposal, then the argument—Knox was the biggest asshole on earth, even bigger than Emily.
Kendall didn’t have the time or the inclination to allow Emily to think she’d still suffer her bullshit.
Kendall drummed her fingers on the table. “Emily, darling, it’s been so good to see you. I’ve had a long day, so I don’t find the need to draw this out. When I was a young girl, I only ever wanted to be your friend. You taunted and ridiculed me. For years, I suffered image problems because ofyou. But I look at you now and see absolutely fucking nothing. Just a cunt who was jealous of me and my beauty…” Maybe, that was stretching it, since Emily was so gorgeous in her own right, but Kendall wouldn’t back down., even as the other woman’s face reddened and her mouth fell open.
“You’re the dirt beneath my feet, cow,” Emily spat, recovering fast.
“And you’re the fucking dirt that Iwalk on, bitch,” Kendall shot back. “I came here with good intentions, but fuck that. Fuck you. Fuck off.” Grabbing her purse, she glared at Emily, slid out of her booth, and stalked away.
Two hours later, Kendall leaned against her headboard, sniffling. She pulled another tissue from the box and dabbed at her eyes and nose. She was watchingTwo Women, an old movie starring Sophia Loren. Her character had been close to her daughter until tragedy struck and changed them for the rest of their lives.
