Bad Company (Seven Deadly Sins #1) ✅ Completed

Chapter Eight: One Beauty Queen Closer

“You don’t understand. He’s mine. Just because he’s going out with that heifer now doesn’t mean he loves me any less. I was his girlfriend for three years!”

Celeste looked over at Andy Andersen. They were on the third floor among her private collection, while Dante guarded the door just outside. Instead of his usual place by the front register, she’d had to move him. She couldn’t risk Eliza stumbling in, so she’d given her niece some boxes of old silverware and set her to polishing. At least this way she figured the girl would stay out of the way.

Now she was dealing with Blackwater’s own Harvest Queen. Celeste didn’t let just anybody up here. Oh no. Only the right sort of shopper got to see the extra special goods she kept up here.

 And Andy Andersen was definitely the right sort: the girl had the moral compass of a politician.  

Tall and graceful Andy had always been a beautiful child. Celeste used to watch her momma tote her around, showing off at the beauty parlor where she got her little girl’s nails done. Celeste never saw such foolishness. Who in their right mind would get a baby’s nails and toes done? As the women cooed and clucked over the pretty little girl, no one ever gave a thought about the monster they were well on their way to creating.

They'd done a mighty fine job of it too.

The beauty queen glared daggers at her now, “Have you ever loved someone so much you can’t live without that person, Ms. Devillier? I’m not talking about a simple crush. I mean the kind where you’d do just about anything for a person? Give up everything?”

The cold smile Celeste gave her revealed nothing, but spoke volumes. “Men ain’t worth all that.”

“Maybe not the men you know, but Pete is definitely worth it,” she snapped back.

“You ain’t come here to ask me ‘bout my love affairs, Andy Andersen. Why don’t you just spit out what you really came here for.” 

Andy narrowed her eyes. Her voice was sharp and acidic, lacking its normal calm propriety, “You got a lot of nerve talking to me like that. You know Pete’s dad is the sheriff. I could have Sheriff Sutter in here faster than you could blink. Who knows how many building code violations you got in this place?”

Perhaps she’d underestimated the girl. Oh, she knew what truly lay festering inside that black hole Andy called a heart. And it had absolutely nothing to do with the time she’d given that sap boyfriend of hers. She didn’t give a rat’s fart about Pete Sutter – and that was the only reason Celeste had invited her up here in the first place.

It wasn’t her ex-boyfriend she was truly after.

It was his new girl.  

There was nothing Andy Andersen wouldn’t do to get back at Caroline Hayes for stealing her man. Local gossip had it that Caroline had been Andy’s best friend since kindergarten. They’d been next door neighbors and their mothers had even been each other’s maid of honor at their own wedding.

But Caroline Hayes had been sneaking off with Andy’s beau for practically a year behind her best friend’s back. Even the mothers had gotten into it down at the Lucky Arrow. The sheriff had to come in and pull them apart like a couple of feral mountain lions. Or at least that was the story according to the bar flies who’d witnessed the brawl.

Deciding Andy needed a bigger nudge in the right direction, Celeste gave her a pitying look, “Pete’s moved on, Andy. That new girl of his practically worships the ground he walks on. You can be sure a man like Pete eats that sort of thing up. It's just how God made men.”

“You can change that,” Andy stated matter-of-factly. “I know you can. I may not know how you do the things you do, but I know you can. I hear what people say about you.”

Celeste only grunted. “People around here know two things missy: Jack and shit, and Jack’s left town.”    

“Pete loves me!” Andy shrieked, losing all semblance of control now. Her normally perfect composure was shot to pieces.

Celeste could see why people in town thought Pete Sutter was better off without her. She wasn’t grown just yet, but Andy Andersen was well on her way to becoming one nasty piece of work.  

She was perfect.

Andy’s eyes gleamed dangerously, “He just needs to remember that. Remember how much we mean to each other. He just can't 'cause that cow's in the way. She’s done nothing but turn a good guy inside out. He would’ve never broken his promise to me if she hadn’t thrown herself at him. She’s nothing but a lying, manipulating whore and I’m taking back what’s mine.”  

“I reckon she might put up a fight…now that she’s pregnant and all.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Andy hissed. “She did that on purpose! Pete would’ve never left me if she hadn’t tricked him into it.”

Celeste knew how to go for the jugular. She’d been doing this too long not to figure out a person’s weakest point within minutes. Everyone in town knew Caroline was having Pete Sutter’s baby. She'd be a senior at the high school this year. Rumor was she was going back in the fall, baby and all. Celeste couldn't think of a finer brew for one helluva a mess.

"I heard she's keeping the baby. Guess you'll see her down the hall, pleased as punch with your man by her side."

Andy looked ready to snap in half. "I will not have people laughing at me, Ms. Devillier. Can you help me or not?" 

Celeste shook her head sadly. “The sorta thing you’re looking for ain’t cheap, Andy.”

“I don’t care.”

“You don’t even know the price of what you’re asking for.”

“It’s worth it.”

Celeste weighed the beauty queen with her eyes. Andy Andersen was many things, but all that really mattered was whether or not she was the kind of girl that could pull the trigger. “Might be there’s something I can do for you. But if you’re wrong, and he doesn’t feel the way you think he does, then you’re on your own. I know what people say, and I ain’t got no magic potion or some other idiocy that makes people fall in love. But perhaps I can get certain…obstacles out of the way. Whatever happens though, the fee ain’t changing.”

“I said I’d pay it! I know he loves me. He just needs the strength to leave her, that’s all.”  Andy looked into her eyes and Celeste saw something settle around the girl’s soul. “If you won’t help me then I’ll find someone who will, Ms. Devillier, but I suggest you think carefully before making an enemy out of me.”  

Celeste nodded once, keeping the delight from showing on her face. She had her answer. Andy Andersen would pay a king’s ransom not for her ex-boyfriend, but to make Caroline Hayes pay dearly for her transgression. That sort of emotion was much more than mere hate – it was full blown wrath with an extra helping of pride thrown in for good measure. Andy Andersen was a woman who hated her neighbor, coveted her neighbor’s boyfriend (or in this case Andy’s ex-boyfriend), and who’s pride demanded retribution.

And everyone knew wrath, envy, and pride were all mortal sins – three of the seven deadly ones to be exact. But it was Wrath that mattered. It was the one sin that would get Celeste one soul closer to her set. She wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Thankfully, Andy didn’t have the good sense God gave that particular horse.

“Alright then,” Celeste turned and headed over to one of the far display cases. “I think I got just what you need right over here.”

She didn’t have to turn around to know Blackwater’s Harvest Queen followed behind her like a trained dog.

They always did. 

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*A/N: Music selection: Pretty by The Cranberries. Thanks!! wen =c]

Image: Inspiration for Andy Andersen