Good Girl Bad (36)

Tabby starts to say something, but it’s lost amongst his moans, and he pushes a finger into her mouth, climbing on top of her, the thought of houses and cohabiting far, far from his mind, which is fully occupied with her lush young body, and the space between her legs.





Later, Tabby eyes the lock on her door.

A plan has started to hatch in her mind.

At first, the thought of fleeing was enough. She couldn’t think of much else, if she was honest. There was Freddy still hanging on her every word, and it irked Tabby in a way she couldn’t articulate. Nothing she said or did seemed to get rid of Freddy. And she felt bad, but she just didn’t feel that way about her friend. When Freddy was there, she couldn’t wait to get rid of her.

She wanted to cut ties, to be free.

At the same time, she knows she reels Freddy back in. When she feels low, or unloved, she knows that Freddy will boost her mood. She reaches out to her, mopey, an unasked question, and Freddy is there for her every time. Always answering that question, in a roundabout way.

You’re loved.

Why Freddy loves her so much is a mystery to Tabby. She knows she hasn’t been a very good friend.

She pushes her guilt aside though.

She just wants to leave, to start her new life.

And she just has this little idea of how to get that ball rolling.

Idly, she flips open her phone.





30





One Day Earlier “Do you remember that time at the snow?”

“Yeah.”

Genevieve is lying on Tabby’s bed. Tabby is getting ready to go to work.

“It was like… I don’t know what it was like.”

“Yeah.” Genevieve doesn’t want to talk about her mother anymore. She knows Tabby is just trying to justify wanting to leave. She knows why Tabby wants to leave. She wants to leave too.

She definitely doesn’t want to be left alone with her mother.

“He’s not going to leave her for you, Tabby. He’s lying to you.”

Tabby turns on her, her face fierce, her eyes wild. “Don’t say that!” she shouts. “He loves me! And I’m sorry you’re being left behind, I really am, but it never happens to you! I’m the one who’s stuck with her! If you don’t want to stay here without me, go live with Dad!”

Genevieve’s eyes fill with tears. “You said he said no.” Her voice is small. She feels terrified. Without Tabby, she has no ally, no protector, no confidant.

Without Tabby, the world seems to tilt off axis, like they might all just slide and scrape and tumble right off the edge of the earth, and float off into space, untethered and weightless and destined to die.

It’s not just selfishness, though. Genevieve thinks Tabby has no clue. Tabby feels loved, thinks she is loved, but she has no idea just how much her beauty drives men to distraction. Genevieve has been watching it for years. Tabby’s attractiveness makes men lose their minds.

Once, Genevieve had been jealous of it. No one ever paid her so much attention. No one ever stopped to stare at her in wonder.

But now, Genevieve sees it’s a double-edged sword. Somehow, she thinks that Rebecca’s rage is linked to Tabby’s beauty. She can’t understand how, or why, but it’s the only explanation that she can come up with which explains why she, Gen, is spared, and Tabby is not.

And then, on top of all that pain and stress, boys want Tabby for the wrong reasons. Like Trent, that drip. Gen would see them together, and could see that Trent was not interested in talking to Tabby, in understanding her deeply. He was utterly preoccupied with showing her off, and keeping her to himself. Every time she saw them in the schoolyard together, Gen wanted to walk right up to Trent and punch him in the face.

Her heart hurts for her sister. Partly because she knows that Tabby is so loveable, just for herself. Her beauty is a distraction, it’s not the main thing. Men should choose her because she’s marvelous, not because she’s beautiful. But Genevieve doesn’t think that’s how it works for Tabby. And it’s not fair, and it’s not right, but it’s also just the way it is.

Tabby is going to find out eventually, and she is going to be devastated.

But Genevieve can help her.

Genevieve can fix this.

It’s going to hurt, and Tabby is going to be angry, but she’ll realize eventually.

She’ll come back around.

“I love you, Tab,” she says now, watching her sister with a heavy heart.

Waiting patiently for her to leave for work so she can put her plan into action.





31





Disappearance Day

“Where have you been?”

Tabby stops in the doorway. Rebecca is sitting at the kitchen table, in the dark.

“Just studying,” Tabby replies. Her heart starts to beat faster.

That wasn’t true. She had, in fact, just been riding around. She’d hoped she could convince him to come out and meet her, but he couldn’t get away, and she didn’t want to go home. She’d ridden, aimlessly, till the dark and the cold had made even home seem more attractive.

Now, hairs prickling on her neck, she thinks the dark and the cold seem like the better option.

Maybe tonight? she thinks to herself. But now that she’s faced with the possibility, she feels twisted with fear. Thinking about something, alone with her anger, her sense of betrayal, is different from taking action while her mother looms large in the dark.