Vicious Carousel (3 page)

“She’s not working right now,” Bill said. “The asshole made her quit her job. She can’t pay you anything. She doesn’t have anything except what Jack didn’t make her get rid of.”

“We don’t care,” Kenny and Nolan said together. Kenny continued. “Look, we live within easy walking distance to that new mall. If she can’t get a job there, there’s a bus stop a block away. She doesn’t need to pay us rent until she’s able to. We’re doing okay.”

Bill stared at the two men for a moment before walking around to where Sully and Gabe were getting Betsy settled in the backseat of Bill’s car. He leaned in and spoke to them for a moment.

Nolan had always thought Betsy was cute, but before he could have a discussion with Kenny about maybe seeing if she wanted to play with them, Jack, a newcomer from Michigan nearly twice her age, had scooped her up.

And Tony had revealed on the drive over that he’d found out a few tidbits about the guy.

Like that Jack was no longer welcomed in the Detroit area by any of the lifestyle groups there. He hadn’t been arrested, as far as Tony knew, but he had a history of doing this kind of thing to young, vulnerable submissives.

Bill returned. “Okay, Gabe signed off on it, and so did Betsy. Although Betsy’s really in no condition to be making decisions right now. I suspect if I’d told her we were taking her to Disney she would have agreed. Gabe says we need to take her to the ER, even though Betsy doesn’t want to go. She thinks Betsy might have a concussion. And at that point we
will
have local law enforcement involved whether Betsy wants them involved or not.”

Bill let out a resigned sigh. “Let’s get her stuff first, and we’ll talk her into it. The ER trip.”

“Thanks,” Nolan said. “I promise, we’ll take care of her.”

Bill arched an eyebrow at him. “If it wasn’t for the fact that I know Tilly likes you two a lot, you realize I’d be suspicious right now, right?”

Ross called for everyone’s attention. “Let’s move. This won’t take long, but we need to get it done quick.”

* * * *

Kenny was shocked by the duplex apartment. When Bill had told them she didn’t have a lot of belongings, he wasn’t kidding. It took them less than fifteen minutes to gather all her stuff—and a few things that likely were Jack’s, but they were taking for Betsy anyway—and load it into Kel’s truck with plenty of room to spare.

When Betsy nearly collapsed in Gabe’s arms, Kenny rushed in to scoop her up.

“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 fuck 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.”

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 fucker 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 asshole 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 fucker.

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.”

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.”

The doctor looked up from the laptop on a rolling stand, where he was taking notes. “But you said she was in a consensual BDSM relationship?”

This was what Betsy had feared. Not being believed. Being discredited because of that.

Worse, now her friends were at risk of being outed for standing up for her.

Bill spoke up. “It started out as consensual, but the man is an abusive predator. No one knew that when she first met him. He didn’t have a record, as far as we knew. But once he started isolating Betsy from her support network, the consensual part of their relationship quickly turned into nonconsensual abuse.”

The doctor tapped a few more notes into his computer. “And you know this…how?”

She sensed a change come over Bill. “She’s a personal friend of ours. And in our group of friends, we take care of our own. None of us could do anything to help her until she reached out and asked for help. Just like any other victim of domestic violence. So if you think you’re going to discount her injuries because of her personal interests,
doctor
, then you’d best get me an administrator here
right
now to speak with about reassigning her to another on-call physician who will focus on her physical care and not her personal life.”