Vicious Carousel (Suncoast Society #25)(5)

“That’s it,” Gabe firmly said. “Next stop, ER.”

“I don’t have insurance,” Betsy said. “Please, I’ll be okay.”

“No, you won’t. You’ve got a concussion. We’re taking you to the ER, and we’re going to stay by your side while you file the police report.”

“He’ll kill me if I do.”

“No, he won’t,” Kenny said. “That’s not going to happen, because his ass will be in jail.”

Gabe stepped in close and looked up into his eyes. “We’ll set up some shifts for the first couple of days so she’s not alone while you guys are at work.”

He nodded.

Betsy clung to him, trembling in his arms. He knew all too well the cautions about risking his heart on a damsel in distress, but watching her quick decline from a vibrant, lovely woman to a battered shell of a person was enough to awaken the protective instincts in him regardless of who she was.

She was one of their friends. Maybe not as close as some of the others, but she was part of their group, their tribe.

Others were willing to stick their necks out for her. He’d be damned if he wouldn’t, too.

Nolan pulled his house key off his key ring and handed it to Tony, who would ride with Kel to go deliver her stuff to the men’s house before joining them at the hospital. While Nolan did that, Kenny, Sully, and Gabe got Betsy settled once more in the backseat of Bill and Gabe’s car.

Then, the slightly reduced procession headed for the hospital. No, they weren’t all needed there.

But they would stand by Betsy’s side as long as they felt she needed them.

Bill had driven up to the ER entrance. Nolan dropped Kenny and Ross off there and went to go park. Ross ran inside for a wheelchair while Kenny, Sully, and Gabe helped Betsy out. Bill went to go park while Gabe handled dealing with the ER staff.

Only so many of them could be in the room with Betsy at the same time. The natural choices were Bill and Gabe, both active law enforcement officers. With Tony and Kel still gone, it was Kenny and Nolan, Cris and Landry, Ted Collins, Sully, and Ross left to stand vigil in the waiting room.

And as Kenny and Nolan settled in with the rest of their friends in one corner of the ER’s waiting room, Kenny realized something.

He leaned in and said in a low voice, “Everyone else is sort of watching us. All of us.”

Sully smiled. “Good. Let them.”

That late on a Saturday evening, the ER wasn’t exactly packed, but there were probably two dozen others there. The extent of Betsy’s injuries, and the fact that she had a suspected concussion, had bumped her to the front of the line.

Probably hadn’t hurt that both Bill and Gabe had flashed badges at the desk attendant.

While the seven of them had assembled in one corner of the ER, it was like the other people could tell they were…different.

Fortunately, they’d all just come from a private party, designated a pool party-slash-kinky baby shower for Leigh. They were all dressed in either shorts, or jeans, not a stitch of leather clothing among them.

Still, it was as if they gave off a collective “don’t f*ck with ours” vibe, and the other people felt it.

Landry looked amused. “They’re just jealous they’re not as cool as us,” he drawled.

Bill appeared in the doorway and called for Ted, who was a licensed counsellor, and waved him in.

“That’s my cue,” Ted said, hurrying to join him.

“I wondered how long until they got him in there,” Sully said.

“Good call, asking him to come,” Kenny said.

Sully nodded. “I wish I didn’t have to say it, but unfortunately, I’ve dealt with a lot of victims of domestic abuse while I was on the job.”

“Why didn’t you let Mac come with you, if you don’t mind me asking?” Nolan inquired. The two men had had a rather heated-looking discussion, with Clarisse trying to intervene, before Sully had pulled Master rank and loudly ordered Mac to stay behind.

Sully smirked, but it held no humor. “Mac had a sister.”

Kenny wasn’t sure where their friend was going with this, but he didn’t interrupt.

“Okay?” Nolan said.

Sully leaned forward, elbows propped on his knees, hands clasped together, and dropped his voice so it didn’t carry beyond their group. “She’s how Mac and I first met,” he softly said.

Now everyone was leaning in.

“And?” Nolan asked.

“Her name was Betsy, too.”

“I’m still not tracking,” Nolan said.

Sully let out a heavy sigh. “You’ve heard the story about how we first met Clarisse, right? How she showed up on our boat? Looking like she’d been beaten within an inch of her life?”

Nolan nodded.

“I was still on the job when Mac and I met. Mac had been on his way to his sister’s house to help her move that afternoon. She was going to leave her husband. When Mac arrived, she didn’t answer the door. He broke in and found her nearly dead.” Sully looked up, pinning first Nolan, then Kenny, with his intense gaze. “Beaten.”

Chills ran through Kenny, standing gooseflesh up all over his body.

“She died a couple of days later,” Sully continued. “They had to take her off the machines.” Sully’s gaze dropped to the scuffed linoleum floor. “Don’t get me wrong, Mac loves me and Clarisse. I have no doubts about that. But there is no room in our family for any other partners. This is a very raw area for Mac emotionally, a very sensitive trigger. We didn’t expect to fall in love with Clarisse, and I’ll never regret how things turned out there.”