24

Tandi thought maybe if she could scream or even if she could cry, she might feel better. As hard as she tried, she could do neither. She felt as if a plastic bag had been pulled tightly over her face, suffocating her, taking her life’s breath. She had driven recklessly back to Sporty’s house, with all the windows open, gasping for air, praying she wouldn’t have an accident. She had to be around for Michael Jared—that she was cognizant of.

Alone in the house, alone in her room, she had tried to make herself cry. She had clutched her stomach and doubled over, trying to drag the tears out. She had punched her thighs, she had latched on to her hair and pulled it at the roots, hurting herself, trying desperately to feel external pain so that she could cry, but nothing she inflicted upon herself was as painful as seeing Evonne, naked, in her bed next to Jared.

Tandi tried hard to shake that hideous vision out of her head, but it wouldn’t leave her. It was as clear as if Evonne and Jared were at that moment in front of her. She couldn’t help but imagine Jared had touched Evonne like he used to touch her, that he’d done to Evonne what he hadn’t done to her in a very long time. What she wondered was, was this the first time or had they been sneaking around behind her back and laughing in her face? It didn’t matter the answer. She hated them both, and they were both deserving of any and all ill will she could wish for them.

What in the world had she ever done to warrant such betrayal? From the time she and Evonne met fifteen years ago while waiting to get their hair done at the salon, Evonne had been like the sister she never had. She thought she could trust Evonne with her life and her husband. When it came to men, be it boyfriend or husband, the thin, invisible line that a sister should never cross, Evonne had obliterated. A long time ago they had talked about never touching each other’s man—not out of curiosity, not out of retaliation, not even out of desperation. They made a pact that if either of their men made a pass, they would tell, sparing no details, as their one true pledge to the other was to always remain loyal, always sister-friend to the end, but that was not the way it played out. As she saw it, nothing on Evonne’s face said she had been so drunk she didn’t know what she was doing, and nothing in her eyes said she was remorseful. Jared said Evonne told him she had been seeing someone. Was that Evonne’s lie or Jared’s? It was somebody’s lie. Had Evonne been secretly coveting Jared all this time? Had she always been waiting for her to leave him so that she could slither into his bed? Just weeks ago, hadn’t she said if Jared was put up for adoption someone would be waiting out there to adopt him? Did she mean herself? No wonder Evonne was so eager to give her a helping hand in moving out of his life.

And Jared—at no time did she ever suspect he had any interest in Evonne. When Evonne was over, he usually left the room and on the rare occasion they were all out together, Jared paid no more attention to Evonne than he did to a piece of lint on his pants. In fact, he said of Evonne that she was annoyingly talkative. Had that been his way of throwing her off? If it was, it worked. She never suspected him of being attracted to Evonne. It was the woman, Jackie, he had had the affair with who had preoccupied her, not the woman—the serpent she called friend—who was right under her nose.

No matter how it happened, the bottom line was Jared had cheated on her again. It didn’t matter that they were separated. He should have been able to control that tubular piece of flesh and blood between his thighs. He should have waited until her scent no longer lingered in the sheets, until the mattress no longer remembered the outline of her body. He should have waited until she no longer cared. That’s why she should have slept with Brent the night before. Maybe then she would not have cared. Well, there was nothing to stop her now. Today, she would know what it was to quench the yearning of her own body. It was her turn to be satisfied.