Chapter 5

Suzie

I t's Wednesday and I've found more information about the bitch who is now chasing Brent for all he's worth. Which isn't that much because it's all show. He's worth far less now that I'm not the one he's feeding off.

I know where she shops, has her hair and nails done, her favorite restaurant, and who likes and dislikes her where she works. It's simple to find out about people if you know who to ask and in what manner.

Working for the security company has taught me a lot about dealing with people, and my bosses have taught me about reading body language and peoples tells. I now realize that Brent scratches his wrist with his index finger when he lies. Noah pointed that out to me, and I have to agree I noticed it at times but just thought it was something he did.

This woman is not nice. She's broken up three marriages to date. Her co-worker has seen it and stays well clear of her, in and out of the bar where they work. Being a bartender and waitress has put this bitch in a position she can pick her victims. But what she doesn't know is that WAR has been formed, and WAR is after her.

Slade walks into my office and gives me a smirk. "What?" I ask because I know that means trouble.

Rubbing his hands together, showing he's happy about something, he chuckles. "I've found out Holly's parents are going to be attending the Museum's ‘Magical'…" said with air quotes, "evening, and guess who's going to be going?"

I frown, shrugging, because it could be anyone. "You and yours truly," Slade states with a huge grin on his face.

"I'm going with you?"

"Yes, you are. Holly is going with Benjamin, and Liv is going with Noah. We are going to show a united front and make sure they have a fucked-up evening."

"Do my friends know they are doing this?" I can't help asking.

"Yes, and they are up for the task. Liv is particularly excited. Holly is reserved, but is happy to give them a taste of what they dished out." Slade is still smirking, and I have to admit it's infectious because I can't stop the enormous smile that forms and spreads across my face.

"Oh, I'm looking forward to this. We need to make sure they look nothing like as good as they pretend to be. Holly is a great person, and she deserves to get revenge for what her parents and sister have done to her. Those are the worst because they were family that should have supported her no matter what." I tap my chin with an index finger. "I'm going to have Holly and Liv go shopping. We need gowns that will outshine anything they could wear."

"Choose something at a reasonable price and speak to Soriya, who does all my tailoring. She spruces up gowns and makes older ones look new, improved, and outstanding."

"Soriya, yes, that's a great idea. Oh, I'll give her a call and see if she'll be able to fit three gowns into her schedule."

"Tell her why we need them. She's confidential, she'd never spill what you say to her, not even to me." Slade turns and walks out of the office and I'm grinning because this is going to be fun.

We will need to know everything we can about this ‘Magical' event. Making sure we stand out and look at what is needed. Holly will know most of the people attending and we need to be versed on what is expected of us.

After speaking to Soriya, we arranged a time for a ‘battle plan' as she called it. I have to say she was super excited at the prospect of designing and making three evening dresses for the event. She also had a twinkle in her eye when we told her we were only going to look better, mingle better, and outshine Holly's parents.

The first dress for Holly is a full-length ball gown, a princess line with a V-neck, and thin shoulder straps. The dress is black silk, with a lace tulle overlayer. The overlayer covers the bodice with flowers of pink, blue and green. The flowers meander down to below the thigh, with sequins and gems that sparkle when they catch the light.

Liv's dress is also V-neck with thin shoulder straps. The dress is black at the top, turning gray under the bustline, and fades to white by the time it reaches the hem. It has lace trim with glittering beading and an asymmetric hem. The layers of the hem remind me of hanging handkerchiefs in black, gray and white. It has a magical feel about it, a witchery type of magic.

My dress is floor length, an evening dress with a plunging overlapping neck, pulling to the right where it tucks in pleats with a huddle of tiny black roses. The roses are filled with white gems, sparkling when the light hits them. Small shoulder straps and a thigh-length split nearly completes the dress, but it's the tiny gems that run along the split and the hem that catches the eye as they are of stars, cats, and wands that make this one magical.

All three of us are delighted with the dresses, and Holly tells us we will outshine what her mother and sister will wear. We couldn't be more delighted, or eager to put them in their place without saying a word.

Holly has all the details now for the event and has the tickets which she has given to Noah, because entering on their arms as they hand over the tickets will be our grand entrance statement to whoever may be watching.

While we are waiting for the Magical evening at the museum, we organize an evening of WAR to plan out our attack on how to hit Brent's new woman, Philomena. Really! We have named her ‘Meanie Mo'.

The meeting went well. We have found out the woman cheated with three other couples, leaving three women as well as myself either devastated or determined to move on quickly, quietly and positively.

Meanie Mo works at ‘The Medusa' and I can't help thinking it could be a good name for the place this woman would work. I first saw her when Brent and I frequented the place occasionally. Maybe when she's standing behind the bar, she's checking out her next victim?

Brent and Meanie Mo are living together and I hope they both end up hating each other. It would be a worthy end, but in the meantime, we will make Meanie Mo suffer whenever we have the opportunity. Brent is miserable all the time now he has had to give up on trying to get me back, and that's thanks to Noah making himself known, and of course, the court order to stay away from me.

Tonight, we are visiting ‘The Medusa'. We'll be in disguise, well I will, because Meanie Mo might recognize me, but she won't know who Holly or Liv are. We are going to make tonight awkward for her, and let her work colleagues know what she is.

"What are you scheming at?" I hear, and looking up from my desk, I grin at Noah. Now he's leaning on the doorframe looking damn hot, and he always looks that way, but of late he seems to have caught my eye. Stop, Suzie, because that is not where your mind needs to be going!

"I'm thinking about the night out we are going to have at ‘The Medusa'. We are going mischief-making." I give Noah my best-ever smile, the one that shows all my teeth in their sparkly glory. Well, they are white but not sure about the sparkly, but I can imagine the toothpaste ads on the TV.

"Oh, yeah?" Noah steps into my office and takes the seat near the window, but keeps his attention on me.

"Yeah. Meanie Mo works there and we are going to make her evening fairly hard to swallow." I give him my smile again, and he raises an eyebrow, looking intrigued.

"I'm not telling because we'll work it out as the evening develops. It's practice for the ‘Magical' evening, where we are going to make sure that Holly's family gets what's coming."

"Nothing illegal. We can't have you locked up. You need to be at work as normal the next day." Noah is grinning, mind you, so I know he's up for mischief.

Later that evening, scratching my head and jiggling the ginger wig, that feels like it's perched on top of my head, I give Holly a nasty look. "You could have found me a better one than this," I whine, and Holly looks at Liv, who bursts out laughing at my stupid disguise.

I'm wearing the ginger wig, have eyelashes so long it's a wonder my eyes open at all, and a dress so tight I'm not sure I should even try to sit down in it.

My two friends, however, are dressed classily, looking like they stepped off a fashion magazine. Seems I'm the whore of this trio. Sighing, I follow them into ‘The Medusa', and we take seats at a table on one side of the room. Now we wait. We know we are in the bitch's section of the bar, so ‘bring it on'.

Now Meanie Mo walks over, swaying her hips more than any woman would need to, to just walk across a room. Who the hell is she trying to impress?

"What can I get you ladies?" she asks, at the same time as popping a bubble of gum between her lips.

Liv, quick as a flash, looks down her nose at Meanie Mo and gives her an icy snap. "Stop popping gum like a cheap hooker when you're serving at a table. Who wants to eat food when you've been popping a bubble over it and your spittle has been sprayed over it?"

Holly, I can see, is struggling to maintain her composure. I smirk like a fool and don't give a hoot who sees it.

Liv isn't done. She hands Meanie Mo a paper napkin from the holder in the center of the table and lifts an eyebrow as she does. But she maintains the haughty look, and not a crack of a smile showing.

A man walks over and is looking at Meanie Mo questioningly, before giving us all a serious glance, and I mean glance, as he quickly looks back at Meanie Mo.

"Is there anything wrong?" the man asks when he bothers to look back at us.

"Yes, there is something wrong. We walked into the bar and were going to order a meal, but this server was standing here popping gum like she's standing on a street corner. How can we eat here if she's spraying her bodily fluids all over the table and food?" Liv states while giving the manager a disgusted look. We know he is the manager as he has a pin on his shirt collar stating ‘Manager'. Who the heck does that these days?

"I'm sorry, that is unsatisfactory." Now he gives Meanie Mo a stern look, and she bustles away, leaving the manager to placate the three of us.

Meanie Mo returns minus the chewing, and wipes down the table, before standing next to the manager and taking our order for food and drinks.

Once they walk away, Liv looks at me, then Holly smiles, and murmurs, "Ding, ding, round one to us."

The night brings one complaint after another about the service we are provided by Meanie Mo and it's more than a little obvious it's getting to her as she gets more and more frustrated as the evening wears on. But we don't relent, and when we hear her standing speaking with another server, Holly laughs out loud, gaining attention from everyone around us.

What we heard was, "I opened the envelope, which was a gorgeous purple color, and it exploded with glitter everywhere. I had it all over my clothes, it was in the carpet, on the couch and coffee table. It took me forever to clean it and you can still see it when you walk around the living room."

"Ding, ding, round two to us." Holly holds up her glass and after we clink ours alongside hers we call it a night because in two days we have the ‘Magical' event and we'll be getting some revenge for Holly.