Vicious Carousel (Suncoast Society #25)(28)

Tilly hugged her. “Okay, another rule. Stop saying that. You’re not stupid. You made a bad choice about who to trust. Believe me, we’ve all done that at least once in our lives. Eat your breakfast, and we’ll get through today. Hopefully by tonight you’ll have at least one emotional boulder rolled off your back.”





Chapter Ten


Luckily, Tilly hadn’t come armed with only her laptop. Before the guys left, Tilly went out to her SUV and brought in a shower chair. “This was Lan’s. I loaned it to Abbey after her back surgery because she wasn’t supposed to bend over.” She smiled. “Hopefully you won’t need it for long, but trust me, it’s your new best friend.”

After the men left for work, Tilly helped Betsy into the shower. Yes, the shower chair proved to be a godsend. Tilly made Betsy do some slow, careful stretching under the warm water, while Tilly held the shower head for her. Then she made Betsy shave what she could reach of her legs before Tilly helped to finish what she couldn’t.

“Feeling better?” Tilly asked as she combed out Betsy’s hair.

“Lots.”

Betsy forced herself to stare into the mirror at her reflection. Her face looked horrible still, some of the bruises already starting to transform from purple to an ugly brownish green that was almost worse. Her right eye was a little less swollen today than it had been, but it still looked horrific.

In the bedroom, Tilly started dumping bags of clothes that the men had grabbed from the apartment—what few there were—onto the bed and sorting them. The dresser drawers in the guest bedroom were empty, as was the closet. So Tilly started folding and putting them away.

“I’m noticing a distinct lack of any kind of professional clothes,” Tilly noted. “And remind me to give extra kudos to Kenny for what he picked out for you. Dude has style. Let me guess, Jack made you get rid of your work clothes?”

“Yeah,” Betsy admitted. Tilly had helped her dress in the comfortable jersey maxi skirt and a different loose top. They were some of the very few clothes Jack had allowed her to keep that weren’t fetish gear.

“Okay, seriously, what the hell?” Tilly asked as she finished putting everything away. “You’ve got like less than a week’s worth of regular clothes.”

“He wouldn’t let me wear clothes at home unless it was cold,” she said.

“Oh.” Tilly’s mouth pressed into a grim line. “I know some people do that, but they usually have exemptions for daily stuff. And they don’t throw away the rest of someone’s clothes in the process.”

“He decided what he thought I needed and I had to donate the rest to Goodwill.”

“Okay.” She sat on the edge of the bed next to Betsy and took her hands in hers. “Do you trust me?”

Betsy nodded. Tilly was one of the few people in this world whom she absolutely trusted.

“Will you please indulge me for at least the next few days?”

“What do you mean?”

She gently tucked Betsy’s damp hair back behind her ears. “I am not going to be able to be around much for you over the next several months once I start working for Leigh, Lucas, and Nick. So I want to do as much as I can, right now, while I can. June, Loren, and Eliza will step in as your primary mentors once I’m out of town, but I called dibs on getting the ball rolling.

“I have what most people would probably label an enchanted life, if they didn’t know my history. Which, quite honestly, isn’t something I’m going to burden you with today. Let’s just say I earned my good fortune. And I have a very rich husband. I also have no sisters or nieces or daughters, and never will. All I have are friends I’ve adopted as family. Meaning when I want to spoil them, I do.”

She gently took Betsy’s hands in hers. “Saturday was a symbolic birthday for you. A rebirthday. And I want, as your friend and someone who cares about you, to spoil you rotten over it. Can you please let me do that, without you feeling guilty about it? I wouldn’t be doing this if I couldn’t afford it. I will also admit it will help me assuage at least a little of my own guilt about what happened. All right?”

Betsy nodded. “Thank you.” She leaned in and hugged her. “Thank you guys for saving me.”

It was comforting to feel Tilly’s arms around her, holding her, stroking her back. It’d been a long time since she’d felt that kind of true safety and love.

“You can thank all of us by showing us the kick-ass woman I know you are, rising above this, and making us all proud.”

“I promise.”

“Good. Now, another question. How long’s it been since you’ve been to the hair salon?”

Betsy shook her head. “Since I moved in with Jack. Months. He wanted me to grow it out long.”

“How do you want it to look?”

“I…I don’t know anymore.”

“Well, we also have an appointment at my hair stylist. I bribed her to come in today. So we need to get you ready.”

“I can’t go out like this.” The last thing she wanted—the last thing she could emotionally handle at that time—was a salon full of nosy women staring at her.

“Yes, you can. She’s normally closed on Mondays. It’ll just be us. Wait here.” She left the room and returned with the tote bag. In it, a brand new, large, floppy-brimmed hat, large sunglasses, and some makeup.