That helps ease my mind somewhat. Maybe I’ll actually be able to have an honest conversation with Jenn and get some facts out of her. So long as Ghost gives us space, that is.
I slide my eyes toward him and study him as subtly as I can. He seems calm. Not on guard. Not at all like someone meant to be keeping a close watch over me.
If he is just driving me, I might have a chance of shaking him enough to get Jenn alone. I’m guessing he’s taking me to another sleazy bar, but maybe I can persuade her to go into the bathroom with me or something? If I can just get five minutes with her, so long as she’s lucid, maybe I could even convince her to leave Nora and we can end this and go to the police together.
Releasing a small sigh, I shake my head. That might be too much of a stretch.
Ghost and I don’t say a word to each other the rest of the drive, and I quickly realize that he’s not taking me into the city. A ball of nerves tightens in my gut.
“Where are we going?” I question, breaking the silence between us.
“Don’t worry,” he answers with a dark chuckle. “I’m not taking you anywhere to murder you. Nora just wants to ensure you and Jenn have total privacy.”
“I feel so much better now,” I grumble, sarcasm thick in my voice.
He shrugs and grins, clearly enjoying fucking with me.
“Happy to help put your mind at ease.”
I grit my teeth and turn my gaze out the window. Minutes later, we pull into the small parking lot of a semi-secluded beach. Ghost parks and turns the car off.
“Alright,” he says, leaning back in his seat and looking at me. “We’re here.”
When he gazes at me expectantly, I frown.
“Are you not coming?”
He shakes his head. “You’re a smart girl. I know you won’t do anything stupid.”
The barely concealed threat is clear and I bob my head.
“Yeah. You’re right,” I assure him. “Nothing stupid.”
He jerks his chin toward my door. “Then you’d better get going. She’s waiting.”
I only hesitate a moment before I open the door and slip out onto the pavement. With quick steps, I dart down to the beach. It’s starting to get dark, and I’m feeling a twinge of unease as I gaze around, searching for Jenn. When I don’t spot her right away, that twinge grows into an uncomfortable ache. Is Nora fucking with me?
Is this some kind of setup?
“Hey, baby girl.”
I nearly jump out of my skin at the soft voice at my back. Whirling around, I find Jenn standing behind me, gazing at me with wide blue eyes. She’s shuffling her hands in an anxious gesture I immediately recognize. She’s scared, but as far as I can tell, she’s also sober.
But rather than put me at ease, it terrifies me.
If Jenn’s scared and lucid, something bad must have happened.
“Momma,” I sigh cautiously. “Glad to see you’re okay.”
“Hmmm, yeah,” she murmurs. “I’m okay. For now, anyway.” That piques my interest, but before I can say anything, she plops down in the sand and pats the space beside her, asking, “How’s school?”
I almost blow the question off, but she sounds earnest, and guilt tugs at my gut. She’s probably asking for the same reasons Nora always does, but in Jenn’s defense, she has always cared about my academics. Even when it didn’t seem like she actually cared that much about me.
Somewhat reluctantly, I tell her that I’m doing well in school, and even tell her about some of the activities I’ve been involved in. I don’t mention swim team, though I’m sure she knows I was kicked off. I also don’t mention the fire that burned down Saint’s dorm, which I was accused of setting. Again, I’m sure she knows, but those aren’t the topics I really want to talk with her about anyway.
And I definitely don’t mention the bullying I’ve endured. Really, what would be the point? It’s not like she can do anything about it. I don’t have the luxury other kids I go to school with do to be able to run to mommy or daddy when something doesn’t go my way and have them immediately fix it.
Because if I did, my tormenters would probably end up dead with a hot, tattooed guy grinning over their bodies.
By the time I finish my somewhat odd report, Jenn looks almost relieved.
“I’m glad you’re doing so well, baby.”
That wouldn’t be exactly how’d I’d put it, but okay.
“What have you been doing?” I ask, trying to keep the conversation light in the hopes of relaxing her. “Has … has Nora been treating you okay?”
She immediately nods, but her eyes shift around.
“Sure, I’m fine,” she assures me a little too aggressively. “My sister takes excellent care of me. She’s trying to help me stay sober, you know?”
I don’t believe her. I’m certain that’s what Nora wants her to tell me. It’s frustrating, the hold Nora appears to have over her sister. I want to break it, but I don’t really know how.
I decide a more direct approach might have a more desired outcome.
“Jenn, let’s just cut the shit, alright?” I say with a heavy sigh. “You were never afraid to speak brutal truths to me growing up, so I need you to be honest with me now.”
She looks startled, and then cautious.
“What about?”
I hold her gaze steadily as I ask, “Why did you blackmail Dylan to get him to write me a recommendation for my scholarship to come here?”
Even in the dimming twilight, I can see all the color leave her face in an instant.
“What are you talking about?” she gasps, but I hear the lie easily enough. Jenn was never quite as good a liar as I forced myself to become in order to survive the life she’d provided me.
“No bull, Momma,” I whisper. “Tell me. I’m pretty damn confident it wasn’t your idea to do so and you were just following Nora’s orders. Is that true? Had you already connected with her back then?”
She looks so torn that I almost feel sorry for her. I quickly squash that sympathy, however, and remind myself of all the shit she’s put me through, not just by manipulating me into coming to Angelview, but throughout my life.
“Does how you got here really matter?” she whines.
I fold my arms and level her with a hard stare.
She throws up her hands in frustration. “You needed a reference that would guarantee you got in. We had leverage over him. End of story.”
“Did you know what I was doing with him?” I demand. “Did you know and never try to step in?”
“That’s … that’s not really how it was…”
I have my answer, even if she won’t own up to it in her own words. She knew about my relationship with Dylan and didn’t do anything to stop it. Only when it benefited her, or rather, Nora, did she approach him. Yet, it wasn’t even to call him out for what we did.
It was to blackmail him.
A familiar rage simmers in my blood. It’s the same thing I used to feel every time Jenn did something to let me down. I’d stopped being sad about her disappointments years ago.
Now they just piss me off.
Hardening my tone, I ask, “What about Jon Eric?”
“What about him?”