Trials and Tiaras (Untouchable #7) - Heather Long Page 0,90
help it if our names did that. To be honest, that onus wasn’t on us. Yes, I had taken advantage of the fact more than once, but again, I wasn’t the one who created the situation.
“In their junior year, it all came to a rather unfortunate and disturbing head when two students overdosed at one of her parties. While no charges were filed, the school had done what they could to mitigate the circumstances, and we had to fight to keep her in because they wanted her to withdraw.”
But no way could they have forced the issue. “You paid to keep her in,” I supplied, in case Frankie didn’t understand why they would have asked but not forced the issue.
“There was no proof,” Patience said. “That other than those two students attended her party. There was no proof that Maddy supplied the drugs. There was no proof that Maddy had anything to do with them. It could just as easily have been a case of wrong time, wrong place.”
Right.
“Still, Maddy promised no more parties. She did stop throwing them.” Eugene sighed. “That was when Eddie started hosting them for her.”
Of course he did. Then again, would I really tell Frankie no if she wanted something badly?
“When they graduated, Eddie proposed,” Patience continued as she lifted her cup and took a sip. “They were both far too young, but Maddy threatened to elope if we forbid it. Fortunately, we weren’t the only ones opposed, and Ted had much firmer control over Eddie. They had to graduate college, and they had to be in their careers a year. That was the agreement. For that, we sanctioned the engagement.”
“No offense,” Frankie said abruptly. “I am trying to understand what indulging her every whim has to do with ignoring me.”
“We weren’t trying to indulge her whims,” Eugene stated. “Though ultimately, we did, because Maddy never took denial well. She often found a way to make what she wanted happen. In the beginning, we thought it was luck or just her perseverance, but later…later we learned the hard way. Her relationship with Eddie was always troubled. They fought, almost constantly. He wanted them to move in together, but she wanted her own place. After all, they were going to be engaged for years, they should embrace their single, committed lifestyles.”
I swore Eugene was going to roll his eyes, but he caught himself.
“What he’s trying to say tactfully is that Maddy wanted a place to see other boys. She enjoyed winning the hearts of those who seemed impossible. Like it was a personal challenge.” Patience’s lip compressed. “She began with a business acquaintance of ours when she was just sixteen. We found out much later, or I assure you, that would never have happened. At college, this need to conquer others only grew, and it became something of a competition between her and Eddie.”
The whole concept was nauseating. The one-upping each other in the shitty to each other department, the need to assert herself…
“When Maddy threatened another student with a pair of scissors because she’d had an affair with Eddie and nearly shaved her head, we insisted she see a psychiatrist.” Eugene looked a hundred years old all of a sudden, and Patience looked away.
Frankie’s fingers suddenly tightened on mine, and the bite of her nails dug into my skin.
“She refused at first, but when she faced actual criminal charges, she made a deal to seek psychiatric help if the charges were dropped, and unfortunately, we made sure that happened—the charges being dropped.”
I didn’t know whether to feel sorry for these people or throttle them. “What happened?”
When Frankie started to pull her hand away, I tightened my grip and glanced over to find her mouth whitening as it compressed. She was probably biting the inside of her lip or her cheek. Either way, I didn’t want her focused on Maddy’s actions, they were taking a long roundabout way of answering her question, which left me suspicious as hell about what their answer would be.
“She saw a psychologist for a few months, and I thought it was going well, but I should have known better.” Patience sighed. “The next year or so, things escalated with Eddie and they escalated here. Her acting out took on an entirely different kind of flare. There was a far meaner edge to it. Eventually, Eugene told her if she couldn’t be respectful, she couldn’t return here. Then…Eddie got the girl pregnant.” She cast me a look. “I’m sorry, Archie.”