Vicious Carousel (Suncoast Society #25)(6)

His gaze fell on Kenny this time, piercing, cold. “I’m going to warn you now, it’s easy to get too involved in the wrong ways. Be there for her as her friend first. Try to figure out the line between offering her a shoulder to lean on, and picking up and carrying her burdens for her. Let her figure out her life. She’s going to need a feeling of safety and security. In our case, Clarisse was terrified of me at first when she found out I used to be a cop, because her ex who nearly killed her was a cop. Well, worked for the police department. Technically he wasn’t an actual law enforcement officer. Still, it took me a long time to gradually build her trust in me.”

He pointed first at Kenny, then at Nolan. “Stay strong, but stay focused. Don’t mistake kindness on your part for a deeper connection. I have a feeling once Betsy heals up that Eliza and Tilly will just about be shoving her at you two.”

The other men nodded at Sully’s words, also focused on Nolan and Kenny.

“We’ve always liked her,” Nolan said. “As a friend, at least. I promise, we won’t rush things or try to make something happen with her.”

“It’s going to get really rocky, and really messy,” Sully warned. “She might fall for both of you as her rescuers, and it will be up to you two to stay strong and wait for her to truly recover in a healthy way before giving in to any temptations just because it’s easy. Understand?”

Kenny and Nolan nodded. “Yeah,” Kenny said. “We’re not looking for anything but to help her out as a friend right now and keep her safe.”

Sully reached out a hand to shake with him. “That’s a healthy attitude to have, then.” They shook, then Sully shook with Nolan. “I would have volunteered to take her up to Tarpon with us, until I realized it was Betsy. Once I heard that, no. With the same name, it’s just too much. She needs to be down here, healing down here. And even worse, you—and us all—are her only support net.”

“What about her family?” Nolan asked.

Sully looked grim. “The f*cker deliberately outed her to her family. Pictures and everything. He must have really thought she was a special target to go after her the way he did.”

Ross, who’d been listening to all of that with his head bowed, finally looked up. “We have a spare room,” he said. “And Essie’s mom lives across the street from us. I know she’d be willing to let her live with her for a while, if needed. Promise us, if things get weird, or don’t work out, you won’t keep trying to force it to work. Keep us in the loop with her. If she’ll work to get herself back on her feet, we’ll all help her as much as we can.”

“Okay,” Kenny said.

“I know she’s not some professional victim,” Ross said. “I remember Loren and I talking to her when she first started coming out to events. She’s a smart, hardworking woman. She had her own place, a good job, a car—she just picked the wrong guy. She told us she had a string of vanilla boyfriends over the years, but she’d never felt right settling down with any of them, and so she didn’t. When we warned her about subfrenzy, she assured us she’d be careful and not let some Dom sweep her off her feet and turn her life upside down.”

Ross sadly shook his head. “I believed her, too. I really thought she was someone who would do well. She seemed keenly self-aware of what she’d been missing in her life and what she wanted. I thought Loren was going to pop a gasket when she realized that * had slapped a collar on Betsy and started reining her in.”

“So what do we do about the guy?” Nolan asked.

For his part, Kenny hoped a private “discussion” with the man would be on the agenda.

Somewhere remote.

With quite a few of them in attendance to lay down the new law to the f*cker.

A Sarasota County sheriff’s cruiser pulled up outside the ER and parked in a specially marked space near the door. The men watched as a female deputy got out, walked into the ER, and spoke to the desk attendant before she was waved inside.

“I think there’s your answer right there,” Sully said. “If I’m not mistaken, she’s here to talk to Betsy.”





Chapter Three


Betsy trembled against Gabe as the other woman stood next to the gurney with her arm protectively draped around Betsy’s shoulders. It sucked that when they were helping her fill out paperwork, she didn’t even know who to put as her next-of-kin contact. Gabe finally filled in Ed Payne’s name and cell number. Betsy knew he’d already been called and would help with the legal end of things, but right now, those were details she couldn’t even begin to process.

While the doctor examined Betsy and asked her questions, she tried not to fuzz out, to drift away and tune out the world, the pain.

The shame.

A couple of times, Gabe had to gently touch her arm to bring her focus back to them.

“I think you’re right that she has a concussion,” the doctor said. “We’ll get her into radiology immediately.”

“I can’t afford it,” Betsy tried to protest.

“Doesn’t matter,” Gabe said. “It’s getting done.”

“Agent Villalobos, how did you say you were involved in this situation?” the doctor asked.

“She’s a personal friend,” Gabe said. “Several of us were at another friend’s house, at a barbecue, when she called one of us. Unfortunately, we’ve been suspecting he was abusing her for a while. One of our friends reached out to her a few weeks back and made sure she had our cell numbers.”