“I’m not that bad.”
“Yet,” Blue whispers.
I shake my head. “I don’t want to embarrass him. I know it made him look bad, having to go to Stone with my bullshit.”
“Yeah, it did. That’s why we’ve got to turn you into the baddest bitch out there. The Old Lady everyone covets.”
“You got a miracle worker hidden around here?” I ask.
“You’re halfway there. You got the brains, the job, the smart mouth and the body. We just need to teach you how to reign it in and use that body of yours for evil.”
“What? I don’t know if Skull will like that.”
“Fuck him. He wants to play games…we’ll give him a worthy opponent.”
“Shouldn’t we be on the same team?” I ask.
“Oh no, all’s fair in love and war. He needs to see you have some of the power too.”
“I don’t know about all this, Blue.”
“Luckily for you, I do. Come on, we’re going to spend some money.”
“What?”
“This party tonight is for you too, not just him. He was going to let you roll up in there completely unprepared on purpose. Fuck that.”
“Unprepared for what? You’re making it sound like I need to be ready for war.”
“You do. Cause believe me, some bitch is going to test you, and all eyes are going to be on you, judging you. Get ready, because I’m about to give you a crash course. We’ll call it Old Lady 101.”
“I don’t know if that’s such a good—”
“Do you trust me?”
“Of course.”
“Then let me help you with this.” Blue grabs my hand and squeezes.
“Okay.”
Blue claps. “We’re going to have fun. Rule number one, Old Ladies stick together. This is a hard life and the men look out for one another. That means we have to hold each other down. There are some who don’t get onboard with this philosophy. I’ll point them out.” She links our arms. “Welcome to the first day of your new life. It’s a crazy one, but you have so many people here who love you. It’ll be easier for you than most Old Ladies.”
“I don’t see how when my Old Man hates my guts,” I state glumly.
“He doesn’t hate you. You don’t expend that much energy on a person you hate. Unless you’re exacting a revenge scheme. He’s hurt, licking his wounds, and trying to reaffirm his spot.”
I want to ask her if she knows his history, but it feels wrong. The last thing I want to do is give him more of a reason not to trust me. “I hope you’re right.”
As we head to the store, I can almost pretend it’s just another girls’ day. The knots in my stomach and the anxiety tightening my muscles make it impossible for me to hold onto the fantasy. Since our announcement, life has been a whirlwind. The club has searched every inch of my house, examined every bank account, and did things with phone records that made my head spin. I never realized how scary they could be until I was on the receiving end. Their resident hacker, Keys and I might as well be best friends. At this point, he knows more about me than I do.
We pull into a store I’ve never seen before. The black leather clad mannequins in hot pink and blonde wigs are so far out of my comfort zone, it’s not even funny. Their bikini tops and low slung leather pants leave nothing to the imagination. Leather and Lace is a fitting name.
“Don’t let the display throw you off. They have tons of great stuff inside.”
“For someone else, maybe.”
“You have to come out of your shell and challenge your comfort zone, babe. You’re playing to win, right? This is for your family. Shake things up. Show him he doesn’t know you as well as he thought.”