Vicious Carousel (Suncoast Society #25)(27)

All the while, thinking about the slip of paper hiding in her bra. She hadn’t had her purse with her. Jack had put her license in his wallet for the evening. He’d asked to see her hands when she’d walked out, and she thanked god she’d thought to hide the paper.

When she’d stripped upon returning to the apartment, yes, Jack had paid more attention than usual, and then his demeanor changed, going back to normal once she was naked.

She’d quickly let that incident slip from her mind. Mostly so she didn’t risk him thinking something had happened once he’d appeared satisfied that it hadn’t.

“So,” Tilly said, “when you start thinking you have this huge burden of guilt for what’s happening now, dump it. There are several of us shouldering our own burdens of guilt that you’re in this position. No, we can’t police everyone. We’re not a nanny state, for chrissake. People are adults and we can’t stop every bad decision out there. But several of us comparing notes realized too late, unfortunately, that we should have stepped in sooner. If nothing else, to get you alone, speak with you, and make sure you were okay. And we failed you as friends. And for that, we feel guilty.”

She’d had no idea. Betsy had assumed she was totally alone now. Well, before Saturday night. She’d assumed once Jack had cut her parents out of the picture that it was her against…well, everyone. Because Jack had sworn that if she tried to leave him, he’d ruin her, turn any-and everyone against her.

Then Loren had slipped her their phone numbers.

Never would she have dreamed that maybe everyone was already against him.

“This is how today will go,” Tilly said. “Finish eating. I’m going to make sure I can print something and access the Internet before they leave. We’re going to get you a shower and get you dressed and then we’re going to go see Ted Collins at his office to talk to him for a little while. I’m also taking you shopping. Back here, work on your resume, and then comes the hard part.”

That all sounded hard right at that moment. “The hard part?”

She looked grim. “We’re going to track down your parents, and you’re going to let me talk to them.”

Cold fear filled her. “My parents?”

Tilly set her laptop on the coffee table and turned to her. “You haven’t actually talked to your parents, have you?”

She shook her head.

“When and what was your last contact with them?”

“I sent them a Christmas card, but that was before Jack talked to them that night.”

“You mean the phone call you aren’t even sure really happened?”

“But I was right there when he called them!”

“He called someone, but you don’t know who. He could have called his own f*cking voicemail, for all you know. Or he could have faked making a call.”

Betsy wasn’t sure if her thrumming pulse was from fear or hope.

“Maybe he did call them,” Tilly continued. “Maybe he called them and sent them pictures. Maybe he didn’t. But do you want to spend the rest of your life not knowing for sure?”

She shook her head. “No,” she whispered.

“Did they ever send you any mail?”

“No. I sent them my new address, too.”

“Sent them how?”

“I mailed them a card.”

“You mailed them a card?”

“Yeah, I gave…” Her voice trailed off.

Tilly grimly nodded. “You gave it to him and he supposedly mailed it for you.”

Heat filled her face. She nodded.

“Right. Here’s what I’m going to hope is the best-case scenario. That we contact your parents today and they are overjoyed to hear from their missing daughter, whom they were worried might have fallen off the face of the damned planet. Second-best-case is that Jack told them you didn’t want anything to do with them and they let it go. Worst-case is he did send them pictures and talked to them. But somehow, I doubt he did that.”

“Why?”

“Because he would have been risking your parents calling the cops to do a welfare check. I know if I had a daughter and some douche called me and told me what Jack supposedly told your parents, as soon as I hung up the goddamned phone, I’d be calling the cops to go check on her.”

“Oh.”

Tilly cocked her head. “What?”

It took her a moment to answer. “I felt really hurt by them just accepting what he said and did without wanting to talk to me about it.”

“You did, huh?”

“Yeah. He even made a point of twisting it around. Saying that he could accept me as ‘freaky’ but they couldn’t. Meaning he was right to take control over me because I didn’t belong with ‘vanillas.’”

And then he’d followed it with a tender session to “prove” to her that he loved her.

Betsy felt ludicrous admitting all of that now, but in the cold light of day, and in the safety of Kenny and Nolan’s living room, and with Tilly’s strong shoulder to lean on, she realized how deep she’d been dragged into Jack’s bullshit at the time.

“And you never, at the time, thought he might be pulling one over on you?” Tilly gently asked.

Her left eye blurred with tears as she slowly shook her head. “How f*cking stupid am I?”