Sinners & Saints (Sinners & Saints #1) (34 page)

           
“Oh,
Hugo, always the charmer.”

           
He
raises his glass to her before drinking.

           
“So,
you go to Columbia?” Rebecca asks. “I want to go there someday.” Her eyes
practically sparkle once Hugo looks at her.

           
“Since
when?” Jane looks at her.

           
“Since
now.” Patrick chuckles and Rebecca glares at him. She smiles back at Hugo.

           
“I
like your eyes, by the way. The one blue, one green
—
it’s really cool on you.”

           
Hugo
has this annoying look on his face. He’s about to insult her. He glances at
Juliet who narrows her eyes at him.

           
“Thank
you… Rebecca.” He forces it out. “That’s very nice of you.”

           
Rebecca
giggles and blushes once he smirks at her.

           
What the fuck is this shit?

           
“Juliet,”
my mother gets her attention. “Are you enjoying yourself here?”

           
“Yes,
I am.”

           
“Dear,
I heard your father had a heart attack, how is he?” Jane asks.

           
“He’s
better. He’s going to be okay.”

           
“Your
mother’s family is Northstrand?” My mother’s eyes light up.

           
“Yes.”

           
“Their
reputation precedes them.” I’ve done some business with your uncle.”

           
Juliet
just smiles as my mother continues.

           
“I
took over my late husband’s shares and business when he died.”

           
“Connor’s
death was a great shock to us all, Daphne,” Ms. Eleanor says.

           
“Yes,
it was.” My mother smirks to herself. It wasn’t a shock to her. In fact, she
prayed for his death.

           
I
glance back at Hugo and Juliet whose gazes linger a little too long. She has
her hands folded on the table until she takes the right and reaches below. He
has his right hand in view but his left one under the table. They’re holding
hands. They’re staring at each other like they’re together. Like they’re… in
love.

HUGO

 
“What the hell has gotten into you?”
Scarlett furiously whispers to me upstairs in the hallway. “You have been in a
fucking haze this whole night. You have been hesitant and distracted and it’s
all because of her!”

“Scarlett,” I look around before
continuing. “Calm down.”

“No, I won’t calm down.”

“Scarlett, I don’t have time for this.
I’m tired.”

“Of course you’re tired. It’s because
of her; she’s got you mind fucked and you are blatantly letting her. Hand
holding at the table?”

“So what?!” My whisper is louder than
hers. “So what? You have a fiancé, you are going to get married and have
everything you have ever wanted. Why do my affairs matter to you?”

She places her hand on my face.
“Because no matter who I marry, who I fuck, you are the one. Always have been.
No one has ever understood me the way that you do… not even Gabriel.”

She leans up and presses her lips
against mine and quickly her hunger takes over as she opens her mouth, sliding
her tongue into mine, pulling my hair and pressing her body against me. I do
the same, but still I feel nothing but pain and I’m just over it. Honestly, I
am turned off and disgusted in her begging behavior right now. She stops and
presses her forehead against mine and opens her eyes, staring at me.
“Nevertheless, thank you for coming to my defense.”

“Of course.” I genuinely meant it when
I came to her defense. Her mother is a bitch and the reason why Scarlett is the
way she is.

“You never told me what happened with
Kelly?”

I care for Scarlett, I do. I always
will, but this. This is where the connection gets clouded.

I sigh and answer, “She confronted me.
She was upset of course.”

“Did she cry?” She smiles at the
thought of Kelly’s tears and for the first time it makes me sick, literally.

“Yes,” I painfully admit.

“What about your dad?”

“He has not come in contact with me.
I’m not shocked.”

“He must be devastated. The son he
loathes took something of his.”

I say nothing.

“I could come back tonight,” she
suggests. “I’m very angry at you, but I still would like to enjoy some time
with you. Patrick and his mother are going out tonight to handle some last
minute deals before the upcoming Century Ball.”

Brushing the blonde lock from her
beautiful face, I give her the truth. “I think you should stay home… the home
you have with your fiancé.”

Her eyes burn into me and she sees it.
She sees it before I can even admit it. She shoves me away from her and stomps
off in her heels. Her feelings are hurt. She’s humiliated. I have never
rejected her.
Never.
I feel like a
dick, but a dick that unfortunately did the right thing.

SCARLETT

I head downstairs to the foyer to see
my mother smiling at Juliet and even kissing her on the cheek. “You are a such
a lovely gem, Juliet.”

“Thank you.”

My mother looks at me and that soft
smile turns into a cold frown. “Hurry up. Patrick is waiting on you.”

She walks out and I approach Juliet.

“Stay away from Hugo.”

She grins at me. “That should be quite
hard, seeing that I live in the same vicinity as him.”

I snicker. “You really think you have
something here. Hugo is never satisfied, unless it’s me of course. You will
only make him worse. He will realize how much of a waste you are and throw you
away like everyone else. It is his nature.”

“For someone who is very confident in
Hugo’s nature, as you call it, you sure are wasting a lot of time telling me
this. Are you scared that, for the first time, someone could actually love Hugo
better than you?”

“Can you? Are you really up for the
challenge?”

“Oops there’s another contradiction.
Thought you didn’t do love?” Fucking bitch. “And yes, I can… I do.” She says
the last part with conviction. “You shaped Hugo into this copy of his dead
brother so you could have a new toy to play with. You love the idea of things,
not the person. You love the idea of Patrick and his status and wealth. You
love the idea of men like Hugo, his brother, and Chad who could be down to your
level and revel in it with you, but you’ve known all along that Hugo’s nature
is more than you led him to think. Maybe all the men you’ve come across have.”

 
“You are such a silly, bright-eyed girl.
Of course I love it. It’s not an idea. It is my reality. Men fall on their
knees for me. I revel in that. People are so blinded by this vanity or their
idealistic views, they don’t know how to combine the two. My reality is that
everyone knows their place and knows that no form of good triumphs over greed,
envy, money, and a good fuck.”

“You know, I gave you the benefit of
the doubt earlier when I first encountered you, the raging beast
—
oh I mean bitch. But now I truly think
that if greats who devoted themselves and achieved in some way at killing evil
with kindness like Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Mandela, Mother Teresa, well I
think if any of them met you… they truly would break that seal of devotion and
beat the bloody shit out of you.”

“I take that as a compliment.”

“Oh, I know you do.”

“If you don’t back off, you will see
why everyone is so frightened by the wicked bitch of the Upper East Side. You
push me, you will be adding Jesus Christ himself to that list of yours and
don’t forget he was crucified.”

“Is this a threat?”

“Yes, it is along with a promise and a
fact.”

“Good one… but don’t you forget, Jesus
was resurrected. He came back and kicked ass. I’m not Jesus, but I promise you…
you don’t want to fuck with me. Better yet, go home. Go be actually happy.
Maybe it’s not too late for you to stop your life from becoming any less
pathetic. I don’t know what happened to you to make you this way and if it’s as
bad as I think it is. I really do feel sad for you for the part of you that
died.”

She walks away and I swallow the lump
stuck in my throat. My eyes are starting to water.
What the hell?
I don’t cry. I don’t cry for anyone. My whole behavior
tonight has been beneath me. It’s her. She’s doing this. Ruining everything. I
quickly get my shit together before getting outside.

“Patrick, you want to hang out tonight?
Hugo wants to,” I say but I know the answer.

“Babe, you know Mom and I are taking
the first flight in two hours to California. We have that meeting.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m sorry I forgot that
quick. I’m gonna miss you.” I snuggle next to him.

“Mom, can I stay back here with
Scarlett?” Rebecca asks in excitement.

“Absolutely not,” Jane says.

“You guys don’t need me there.”

“Mom, give Rebecca a break.” Patrick
insists.

Jane looks to Patrick then at me. My
mother is doing nothing but texting on her phone.

“Fine.” Rebecca smiles at me and I do
the same. I smile knowing that I am going to absolutely destroy her because I
am upset. I am humiliated and I am angry. When I’m angry… something beautiful
is about to turn ugly.

HUGO

I startle Juliet once she enters her
room. Sitting in her room in the dark sounds about creepy enough. But I have already
surpassed my usual routines and limits.

           
“Your
girlfriend just threatened me to stay away from you,” she says, taking down her
hair and walking to the end of her bed, holding onto her bedpost. “I have to
admit, I almost was scared.”

           
“You
should be,” I say adamantly.

           
She
snickers. “You would protect me though, wouldn’t you?”

           
I
finally look up at her. “Is that what you want? Want to rub it in Scarlett’s
face how much you have damaged me more than her?”

           
Her
smile falters. “What?”

           
“What
do you want from me?”

           
“Wha-Hugo…
I want you.” She comes closer to me. “I don’t know why, but I do and why am I
adding damage to you?”

           
I
stand up and she nervously steps back. “I was fine before you came here.”

           
“No,
you weren’t.”

           
“Yes!”
I yell. “I was!”

           
“No,
you weren’t, Hugo!” She pulls her hair. “You were not fine. You were just here,
existing in your miserable life. Yes, I’m happy that I shook things up for you.
And deep down you are too.”

           
“Don’t
you understand? I am bad for you. I will do nothing but harm to you and still
you come at me with all these things. Why couldn’t you give up?”

           
“Because
I can’t… you are not the only one here in an unhealthy situation, clearly. I
don’t do this. I’m never this invested in someone, but I am with you. Maybe I
have a hero complex, I don’t know. But all I know is that…” She tries to find
the words as her eyes swell up. “I breathe you in, Hugo.”

           
“So
what? You want to be boyfriend and girlfriend and have romantic picnic dates in
Central Park, celebrate Valentine’s Day?”

           
“No!”
She grabs the front of my shirt. “I want us to be… you and me… me and you… Hugo
and Juliet. Us. You can be an arrogant arsehole who sometimes says the most
beautiful things. The arsehole that takes care of his brother. I can be my
usual over excessive and opinionative and dashing self.” She laughs a little to
herself and places her hands around the back of my neck. “I know you feel it. I
have felt it since the first day I met you. This energy between us that just
fills wherever we are. The damn thing just… it just sets itself in me when I’m
near you and because of that, I can’t stay away from you.”

           
“I
can’t stay away from you. Is that what you want to hear?” I pull her hands away
from me and brush past her, staring off. “I hear your voice in my sleep. When
I’m near you, I am aware of every fucking second your body shifts. When I’m not
near you… I can’t even think straight because I’m too busy thinking about what
stupid thing you said or visualizing every smile you give me. Seeing you with
my brother awakens my dark heart… kissing you, carves out my soul. I forsake
every itch my body has for you just so I cannot be trapped by you. Never in my
life have I wanted a woman so much yet couldn’t do it because I know that once
we really just…” I lift my hands up clawing at the air. “When we sink into each
other… it will be over.”