Page 113 of Enemies to Prom Dates
“Will she? Like Chas told me about his car. Fuck, Beth, these people are supposed to be our friends.”
I hugged him, because it was the only thing I could do and when he hugged me back, I thought at least we had each other.
* * *
Fitz followed me home.Whether he was afraid Heath would pull something or not, I didn’t know. I was just comforted to know he was there. Watching out for me. I had no clue where we went from here. Tomorrow would come and we would both have to see Reen and Heath at school.
What if she didn’t tell me what she was up to? What if she was in real trouble?
And Heath. How could I sit in a class with someone who I knew could do something as horrible as running someone off the road? Forget setting up his friend to take the blame.
I needed to talk to Fitz again about the police. Maybe if they looked into Heath further, they would find other proof of his guilt. It just didn’t seem right that he should get away with everything.
Not to mention all the betting money. Was that the money in Reen’s account? If it was, then we were going to have a hard time getting her to turn it in. Heath wasn’t wrong about that. Reen liked money a bit too much.
I pulled into my driveway and stopped when I saw shiny red Maserati sitting in the driveway.
That same prickly sensation was firing on the back of my neck and every instinct I had told me the car was bad news.
I could hear Fitz getting out of his car behind me. I didn’t move until he was standing next to me.
“Who is that?” he said, pointing to the car.
I didn’t want to guess. I didn’t want to know. I had this hunch and everything in my brain was screaming at me to reject it.
NOOOOO! It can’t be.
Except then the front door of my house opened, and a man stepped out. Tall, distinguished looking, gray hair at his temples, wearing what, even from this distance, I could tell was an expensive suit.
Impossible. My eyes wanted to reject the truth, but I couldn’t.
“Beth, honey!” he said with a booming voice. “Come welcome me home. I see you have a new friend. Invite him inside. The more the merrier. We’re celebrating.”
“Dad?” I whispered.
24
Later That Night
Beth
Iquietly closed the door of the study behind me.
“It’s a little late, dear. I’ve had a long day, as you can imagine.”
My father was sitting behind his desk, a half inch of his favorite bourbon in the crystal goblet he was holding. He looked as he always looked in this room. In command. The head of this family. Only a few months ago we’d rifled through that very desk looking for anything that might tell us the state of his finances or what criminal activity he might have been involved in.
We’d found nothing.
I hadn’t invited Fitz inside. I knew he needed to go home and tell his parents what had happened with Heath.
God, had that just happened hours ago?
Still reeling from it, I had to sit quietly and watch as my sisters, one by one, hugged our father and squealed as he’d unveiled a whole slew of gifts he’d brought with him on his return.
A diamond tennis bracelet for my mother, which I thought would fetch a nice price in Philly when we needed it. Clothes and shoes for the girls. A first edition of a classic book I loved. A forty-inch flat screen TV for Star to take with her when she went off to college.
It had all been perfectly surreal, and I didn’t feel like I could say anything, demand any answers, not while everyone else seemed to be so happy about his return.
