Sinners & Saints (Sinners & Saints #1) (42 page)

           
“You
know, Mandrake… everyone in the world has done something more horrible than the
other. No sin is greater than any other sin. You have my love because you do.
You are it for me.” I cup his face. “No one is undeserving of love. Not even
the wicked. The wicked can have that love, but if they do not nurture and care
for that love… than they are the undeserving.”

           
“I
can honestly vow that this wicked will never be undeserving of your love then.”

           
I
smile and he does also.

           
“Now…
stop it with all the doubt.” I playfully glare at him and push him on his back,
straddling him. “I want to spend all night making love to you and having
glorious orgasms.”

           
He
laughs. I love it when he laughs. That sound would forever be my favorite song.

           
He
sits up and cups my face with his hands.

           
“Juliet
Spears.”

           
“Hugo
Mandrake.”

           
I
kiss his lips and fall into him.

SCARLETT

“This
is all your fault.” Of course she is going to blame it all on me. “Hugo
Mandrake is your friend. If it wasn’t for you, my daughter would never have
gone through this!”

           
“Mom
enough!” Patrick slams his fist on the dining room table. “This is not
Scarlett’s fault. He did this and only he.” He reaches across the table and
grabs Rebecca’s hand. “And he will pay for it, I swear it.” He looks to Chad.
“Thank you for coming forward.”

           
“Uh,”
Chad snorts his nose revealing how high his fucking ass is. “Yeah, of course.
I’m really sorry that I wasn’t, ya know, sober to see it, but I’m telling you
Hugo just gloated about it and I knew I should’ve just came to Scarlett.”

           
I
have never seen Patrick so angry before. It kind of makes me afraid. If that
anger were ever turned towards me, it would probably be the end of me. I make
sure to talk Rebecca into withholding certain information about that night. The
story is that she and I were hanging out. She snuck in a drink and Hugo came
and slipped her something while I fell asleep. Rebecca is really an idiot. She
has her timeline all fucked up, but that’s what happens when you trust the
wrong people. And when you’re an idiot.

30

JULIET

“Juliet,”
I hear him whisper. It feels like a dream. Everything that has something to do
with Hugo and happiness will only feel like a dream for a while. I slowly open
my eyes and see him, fully dressed in a black t shirt and grey pants, staring
down at me like he loves me. He loves me. That still feels like a dream too.

           
“Let
me sleep,” I moan.

           
“I
have a date prepared for you today.”

           
That
got my attention. My eyes open wide and peer up at him. “Really?” I sit up with
the sheet wrapped around me. “What are we doing?”

           
“It’s
a surprise,” he says quietly. “Take a shower, get dressed and come downstairs.”

           
“Yes,
oh great one,” I mock and he leans in and kisses me.

           
I
watch him leave out the room and smile to myself. Will this smile ever go away?
I think not.

           
I
eye my phone on his dresser and grab it. I realize that now is the time to text
Jess and let her know everything.

ME:

I know the rules. I’m never allowed to text you
but you did tell me to let you know when I did something you oh so requested
from me.

I FUCKED HIS BRAINS OUT… HE FUCKED MY BRAINS OUT.
I hate texting you with crude language by the way. You are such a foul mouthed
girl.

           
A
minute passes and it’s her texting me back.

JITTERY
BIOOOTCCHH:

           
WEELL DONE! BRAVO! YOU HAVE FINALLY
SUCCEEDED MY EXPECTATIONS! Your sins are now forgiven. I know you don’t want to
tell me the other thing, but I want you to know you can. I may get jealous, but
I’ll still be happy for you through all my hatred.

I laugh out loud. I don’t
know. I sometimes still feel like I shouldn’t feel I deserve to be this happy.
What a hypocrite I am.

JITTERY
BIOOOTCCHH:

           
STOP being a hypocrite. I know you’re
doing it. Listen, no matter what the person you are, you are my friend. My ONLY
friend and you deserve to be HAPPY so go ahead say it. I want to vomit.

I
laugh again before finally texting back.

ME:

He told me
he loved me. It’s hard for him just like it’s hard for you. I love him. I love
you. I’ll wait for you to say it like I waited for him to.

JITTERY
BIOOOTCCHH:

           
When
I’m dead Bitch. Cheerio.

           
I
shake my head laughing. I start to get a little sad. To think that something
can happen to Jess scares the shit out of me. She knows why. It is because I
love her and she deserves to stay on this earth and experience the things life
has to offer. I helped her put a timer on her life. But if she heard me say
that, she would say, “We all have a timer on our lives. All you can do is ride
it out no matter if it’s ten seconds or twenty-four hours. You just got to ride
it out. It’s a sin to dwell on the what ifs and what nots.”

She’s a wise girl, that Jess.

HUGO

I
sit out on the patio with my brother, Jordana, Ms. Eleanor, and Poppy. They all
stare at me smiling. I’m annoyed by the amicable silence.

           
“So,
you guys have sappy nicknames picked out yet?” Jordana teases.

           
“Muffin,
my boo, bae?” Poppy asks, chiming in.

           
“Funny,”
I say.

           
“Love
is a very funny unexpected paradise, isn’t it Hugo?” Ms. Eleanor asks, her
Bloody Mary in hand. “It builds us into something we never thought was
possible. It can do harm and it can do good. I predict that it will serve you
the latter.”

           
“I
have to agree with Madam Yoda on this one too,” Jordana says and Poppy giggles.

           
“You
all make me want to vomit.”

           
Speaking
of releasing fluids,” Jordana oddly states. “This one seemed to have finally
released it into a real live female.” She shrugs as I turn my head towards a
grinning Cody. His hair is even disheveled. He isn’t fully dressed like he
always is in the morning; he is in a t shirt, boxers and robe.

           
“Good
morning everyone.” He sits down and even pats me on the back.

           
“Cody,
I sense that you have finally become a man,” Jordana says.

           
“A
man does not kiss and tell.” He stuffs a waffle into his mouth.

           
“Where
is Anika?” Poppy asks.

           
“Still
asleep,” he says proudly. I guess he thinks he wore her out. Okay, let me stop
being an ass—he probably did.

           
I
grant him a smile and he is taken aback. “What the hell, bro?”

           
“This,
Cody, is a smile granted to you because you are no longer blue balls or the
virgin. You are now Cody. The Conqueror.”

           
He
laughs at me and shakes his head, continuing with his breakfast. I stare at the
people around me and I feel at peace. This is my family.

           
“Well,
either I’m crazy or everything is right with the world,” Cody says after a
moment.

           
“I
must say, Nichols, I think it is.”

           
“You
can’t come in here!” we hear the butler yell. Two men who seem to be cops come
in.
 

           
“Hugo
Mandrake?” I stand up once they say my name.

           
“What
is this?”

           
“We
have a warrant to search the premises, specifically your room.” The cop holds up
a piece of fucking paper that means shit to me.

           
“What
the hell is this?” I snap.

           
“Hugo,
calm down,” Ms. Eleanor says as we follow the detectives into the living room.

           
“What’s
going on?” Juliet comes downstairs and Anika is not too far behind.

           
“What
the hell are you doing?” I ask Scarlett who is standing there pretending to be
innocent and doe eyed. Patrick comes behind her and charges at me.

           
“You
son of a bitch!” he says trying to take a swing at me, but he is stopped by one
of the police officers.

           
“Mr.
Townsend, we told you two to wait outside!” he tells him.

           
“I
want to look him in the fucking eye and dare him to fucking deny it!”

           
“Deny
what?!” I ask, pissed off.

           
“That
you raped my sister!”

           
My
eyes widen at Patrick and the cops surround me. I look to her. “What have you
done?”

           
“Go
search the room,” a cop orders.

           
“Hugo?”
My brother tries to approach me, but a cop shoves him away. My brother panics.
“Hey! Don’t touch him!” A cop holds me back as Ms. Eleanor grabs August. We
wait for the cops to search my room. I shouldn’t be worried, but I am. That
cold stare on Scarlett’s face says it all.

           
“This
is ridiculous,” Juliet protests. “Hugo would never rape anyone.”

           
“Juliet,”
Scarlett says softly, pretending to be a normal human fucking being. “You don’t
know him like I do.”

           
“Apparently
not,” a police officer says, coming downstairs, holding up three packets of
pills—my guess rohypnol—and unfortunately my stash of weed and the
coke I had taken from Poppy.

           
“That
is not mine.” I look back at Scarlett. “You psychotic bitch! What did you do?!”

           
“I’m
doing what I should’ve done a long time ago. How could you, Hugo?” I charge
after her but the police slam me to the wall.

           
“Hugo
Mandrake, you are under arrest for the rape of Rebecca Townsend.” The police
officer reads me my rights and I watch Juliet who is in shock and for a moment,
I fear, doubt. I fear she thinks I’m guilty.

           
“She
says she knows me, but she doesn’t,” I tell her as I get dragged out by the
police. “You know me. You hear me, Juliet! You know me!”

           
As
I pass Scarlett, I see the timid smile on her face. Her eyes gleaming with
victory. “Well played,” I say to her and never in my fucking life did I ever
think it would go this far.

SCARLETT

Never
underestimate how far one will go to destroy an enemy. I destroy her and
everything she works for. I destroy him and everything he discovered he wanted.
Why do I do this? Because no one challenges me.

           
“I
know it’s hard,” I say to Juliet, coming closer. “We always hope that real love
and truth are stronger than any evil or misfortune in the world.”

           
Her
eyes widen at my acknowledgment of the quote she wrote on Hugo’s wall. Her jaw
clenches and I don’t see her fist coming across my face. I fall back as Patrick
yells at her for hitting me.

           
“You
people are insane,” Patrick says helping me up. I press my thumb against my
bottom lip and see the blood. I flip my hair and still kept my calm smirk on
her.

           
“Your
girlfriend is insane,” Juliet says to him.

           
“Hugo
would never rape anyone. Scarlett played you, like she has been playing people
her whole miserable fucking life,” Jordana says.

           
“Everyone
is right about all of you and Hugo Mandrake is the worst of you all,” Patrick
says. “That bastard is going to pay for what he did. If any of you touch or
come near Scarlett again, I will have you sharing a fucking cell with him.” He
grabs my hand and leads me out. “Let’s go.”

           
“Scarlett.”
I look back at Ms. Eleanor who is staring at me in shock. “I never wanted to
see it, but you truly are a woman of poisoned virtue.”

           
I
let out a harsh laugh at the old pathetic woman and follow Patrick out. Once
we’re in the car he gently traces my lip. “You okay?”

           
“Yeah,
I’m so sorry, Patrick. This is all my fault.”

           
“Hey,”
he shakes his head. “This was never your fault. I love you.” He pulls me in for
a hug and I smile. The sun is out and everything is right with the world.