13
ARIELLA
“My pretty, spying, cousin.” Jason emerged from the curtain he’d been hiding behind and seized my wrist.
I tried to yank it out of his grasp, but he twisted the flesh with both hands to deliver a nasty wrist burn. The pain shot up my arm and froze me on the spot.
Just like old times.
Peggy hustled back to the banquet hall for help.
“You’ve been busy lately, haven’t you?” His gaze crawled up and down my body, as if my dress were made of refuse and embellished in maggots. “w*****g yourself out to a roughneck? I suppose he’s a catch for someone of your stature. Pure w*********h. Daughter of a trailer-park drunk.”
Time passed impossibly slowly. Then Peggy returned to stand behind Jason. Eric and Peggy’s date approached with thunderous scowls. Peggy stuck a plate of cake into
