Always (Follow Me #6)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Later, on the plane, Skye turns to me. “I think I had a breakthrough today.”

I lift my eyebrows. “Another one?”

She nods. “When I was at Tessa’s.”

“I’m glad she’s doing well.”

“Me too. She remembers everything—no retrograde amnesia—and she’s adamant that she didn’t take any drugs. She asked me if I truly thought Garrett had drugged her.”

I grit my teeth. So much I want to say, but I can’t. Not yet. Not without concrete evidence.

“And what did you say?”

“I told her I didn’t know. But then I got to thinking. The night I went clubbing with them, and it was Betsy’s first date with Peter, she seemed to get friendly with him really quickly. I mean, more quickly than I’d have thought she would.”

“How well do you know Betsy?”

“Not well, I guess. But I thought I had a pretty good feel for who she is.”

“And she doesn’t seem the clingy type?”

“No. At least not with someone she just met. And then there’s Tessa. She was so distraught over Garrett leaving last night. That’s not her. She’s usually a ‘whatever’ kind of girl, you know?”

I nod and take a sip of the Wild Turkey in front of me.

“So then Tess admitted that she wasn’t herself the last couple times with Garrett. When he started calling her after she caught him with that other woman, she told him to fuck off. It wasn’t until he showed up at our yoga class that she considered giving him another chance. I think somewhere in her subconscious she knew something wasn’t right. That’s why she wanted me to go to dinner with the two of them. She said she didn’t trust herself not to sleep with him. That’s so not Tessa. She has no problem saying no to a guy, and she also has no problem saying yes when she wants to. So something wasn’t right.”

“But still she—”

“I know,” Skye interrupts me. “She apologized to me for laying a guilt trip on me about not going to dinner with them. She admitted that sleeping with him was her choice. And I told her that maybe it wasn’t her choice. Maybe it was the drugs. But she said it felt like her choice.”

I’m not sure what to say. That’s what date rape drugs do. They make the woman think it’s her choice.

“So then I asked her where she got the ecstasy that she took before. She said Peter gave it to her.”

“What?” I clench my hands into fists.

“No, no, no. After I left, she called me and told me she got it from some bartender named Nick.”

“I wouldn’t put it past Peter to give her the drug,” I say.

“I wouldn’t, either, but she swears he didn’t. She apologized for saying it was Peter, that she’s just out of it and so angry with Garrett and Peter. But this whole thing is so un-Tessa-like. Tessa never lies to me. And Tessa would never take drugs from a stranger. I’m worried about her.”

“She’ll be all right,” I promise. “I’ll make sure she gets everything she needs.”

Skye squeezes my arm. “You’re so good to me. But she claims she’s okay. That her mom is taking care of her. She made a joke that her mom might drive her back to the vodka bottle, but then she got serious and said to me that she’s glad her mom is there. That it’s nice to have parents sometimes. And Braden, it hit me.”

“What hit you?” I grin. “I’m the only one who’s allowed to slap that gorgeous ass.”

She smiles. “You know what I mean.”

“Do I?”

“My breakthrough. When Tessa talked about her mom taking care of her, even when she was getting on her nerves a bit, it made me realize that even though we had our struggles, I love my mother, and I’m really glad she’s still around.”

My heart swells a little.

“You’ve forgiven her,” I say. “Forgiven her shortcomings.”

She nods. “Yeah. And it feels all kinds of right.”

I take another sip of Wild Turkey.

Now if I could just forgive my mother.

For dying.

And forgive myself.

For causing it.