Sinners & Saints (Sinners & Saints #1) (43 page)

31

JULIET

“This
is wrong,” Poppy says. “Hugo wouldn’t do that.”

           
“Hugo
has done a lot of fucked up shit, Poppy.”

           
“Are
you serious right now, Cody?” Jordana snaps. “You’re just gonna say fuck it and
believe that nonsense?”

           
Cody
holds up his hand and exhales. “What I was going to say is… Hugo has done
fucked up shit… but if there’s anything I do know about him, it’s that he is
not the person to commit rape.”

           
“Well,
why would this Scarlett do this?” Anika asks looking more pissed off than the
rest of them. I still have my hands folded together under my chin. My leg still
shaking. My hand still bruised and swollen from punching Scarlett in the face.
I want to do more to her. I can’t move though because every possible solution
is circling in my head. I’m trying to figure out how to save Hugo. Ms. Eleanor
says his dad won’t pay his bail. If I have to hack into my trust fund, I’ll do
it. Hugo can’t be alone in this.
 

           
“It’s
what she does.” We all turn around. August rocking back on his feet. “Noel
knows. Chad knows. I know. House full of sinners and saints. House full of
sinners and saints. Gabriel Knows. Scarlett knows. Karlie knows.”

           
I
approach him. “August, it’s going to be okay.” I rub the back of his head. “I
swear to you, Hugo will be okay.” August doesn’t look at me. He just shakes his
head and runs away to his room. I can’t go to try and calm him down. I have to
figure it out. I have to…Wait. He said Karlie. I know that name. “August is
right,” I say. “Chad knows. Gabriel knows…”

           
“That’s
all good, but one is dead and the other is as crazy as Scarlett,” Cody says.

           
“Noel
knows. Noel Rochester. Anyone know where he lives?”

           
“Let’s
bring him to us,” Jordana says. “Poppy, where’s Ms. Eleanor?”

           
“In
her room crying,” Poppy sadly says.

           
“Well
let’s help her get her shit together,” Jordana says.

NOEL

I
never thought I would set foot in this place again. I ring the doorbell and
wait for someone to answer. Someone finally does. It’s the new girl, Juliet
Spears.

           
“I
came as soon as Ms. Eleanor called. How is she doing?” I walk past her. She
says nothing. That makes me nervous. I walk through the foyer and see everyone
in the living room including Ms. Eleanor in a purple flowered robe with a
tissue in her hand.

           
“Ms.
Eleanor, are you alright?” I go to her and place my hand on her shoulder. She
sadly smiles and places her hand on mine.

           
“Now
is the time to undo all wrongs, my dear,” she softly says to me.

           
“What?”

           
“Hugo
is in jail.” I turn around and face the group of young kids who all stare at me
with hate. Even Poppy Montgomery.

           
“Why
is he in jail?” I ask.

           
“Apparently,
Rebecca Townsend, the sister of Patrick Townsend who also happens to be
Scarlett’s fiancé, said that he raped her.”

           
My
eyes widen.

           
“From
the look on your face, I can see that you find that hard to believe.”

           
“You
never know with the guys Scarlett molds,” I tell her.

           
“Like
you?” Jordana asks.

           
“Yeah,
well everyone isn’t as lucky as I am.”

           
“Like
Gabriel… he wasn’t lucky,” Juliet says and comes closer. “Let me just put it
all out there. Hugo… fell in love with me. He and I fell in love and Scarlett
hates that and I don’t want to believe that anyone could be that cruel, but
because of Hugo’s sudden change of heart, Scarlett decided to ruin him. Now I
don’t know if Rebecca was really raped or…”

           
“Most
likely she was,” I mumble before I can think. Flashes of the blood, the tears,
everything is coming back. Don’t do this to me now. You got your whole life
ahead of you.

           
“How
would you know, Noel?” She narrows her eyes at me.

           
“Listen,
this has nothing to do with me, okay?” I raise my hands and start to move past
her. She steps in my way. “This has everything to do with you. This has
everything to do with all of us. Now something happened back then to provoke
Gabriel’s suicide. What was it and don’t feed me he was so hopelessly in love
with Scarlett bullshit. If Hugo doesn’t load a gun because she is engaged, I
doubt his brother did because of her. What happened?”

           
“You
need to let. It. Go.”

           
“You
don’t know me well, but I tend to not let things go so easily. I am especially
not a coward like you,” she scolds me and she has every right to. I am a
coward.

           
“I’m
out of here.” I brush past her and I am shoved by Cody Nichols. He presses me
against the wall and I push back. “Get your hands off of me!”

           
He
points his finger at me. “You are going to tell us everything! You owe us! You
knew what she was like! You always knew! But in your own fucked up way, you
actually loved her! Probably still do… but guess what?” For a scrawny kid he is
strong. “She feels nothing for you.”

           
Juliet
comes in front of me. “Tell us what happened! Tell us what happened to Karlie
Dale! Were you involved?”

           
“Karlie
Dale?” Jordana questions. They are all as shocked as I am at the mention of
Karlie Dale’s name.

           
“He
knows why I say her name,” Juliet says still glaring at me. “Don’t you all
remember? August kept spitting out names of people who knew whatever the hell
is scaring him. I’m kind of good at putting things together, predicting
outcomes and to put it simply… I’m just a smart girl,” she sadly smirks. “This
Karlie girl, from what I hear, was a good girl and I may have only known
Scarlett for a short period of time, but even a child can see that Scarlett
loves to destroy good things.”

           
My
heart feels like it’s going to burst. Everything just comes rushing back. I’ve
kept it for so many years on the edge of it breaking out. I slide down the
doorframe and Juliet follows squatting in front of me. I don’t know I’m crying
until I feel the wetness on my cheeks. “She…” I pause before finally
confessing. “She never liked it when someone else got more attention than her,”
I quietly say. “Karlie Dale… got more attention. She was just nice to everyone,
not to mention beautiful.
 
It didn’t
matter that she wasn’t from money. Everyone knew she was going somewhere.”
Silence still surrounds me and all I see is that night. “She was innocent and a
virgin. She was pure, kind, beautiful… everything Scarlett wasn’t. Gabriel
enjoyed destroying virtuous people, so when she asked him he was ecstatic. He
took pride in the things he did. Chad did too. I… I just wanted to do whatever
Scarlett wanted me to do. Gabriel tried to seduce Karlie, but it didn’t work on
her, or so we thought. It turned out that Gabriel and Karlie were seeing each
other in secret. I don’t know if he fell in love with Karlie, but he came
close… as close as someone like him would. He was just changing. Staying more
to himself. Not sleeping with anyone. So, Scarlett confronted him and he lied
to her face and that only made her more angry. I was the one who told her. I
followed him to the steps of the Met where he would meet Karlie. Scarlett was
furious—Gabriel was her prized companion and there was no way she would
lose him to her.

 
One night she invited Karlie to a
supposed surprise birthday party for Gabriel. It was only Chad and I amongst
the guests though. Chad likes it when women say no to him. He sees no as a beg
for more. I was never like that, neither Gabriel. Scarlett drugged Karlie,
slipped something in her drink and mine. She threw us in Gabriel’s room with
Chad. He made me go first. He made me take Karlie’s virginity… then once I
passed out, he finished her off.” I look at Ms. Eleanor who is in tears. “You
were out of town that week.” I want to reassure her, tell her it’s not her
fault. “Gabriel came home and found us all in his bed. He acted like it was
nothing… but I saw it in his eyes. The hurt. Karlie went downhill from there.
Gabriel tried to help her, but Karlie just drifted off into despair. I don’t
know what happened after all that. I just know that she got into drugs and her
mother sent her away.”

           
“Does
anyone else need a drink?” Jordana asks after a moment of broken silence.

           
I
wipe my eyes and stand up. “I need to go.”

           
“You
need to go to the police,” Juliet says.

           
“No,”
I say with conviction.

           
Her
eyes stare at me with shock. “You really think you can just confess and then
erase it all?”

           
“Yes.
No one can stop her. She has everyone.”

           
“The
hell she does!”

           
“You
really don’t think my mother knows?!”

           
“What?”
Cody stares in disbelief.

           
“My
mother knows. Chad’s dad knows. And Jonathan Mandrake knows. Mrs. Brayson.
Karlie was going to press charges. Scarlett recorded it and threatened to
release the video if she did, but she didn’t care and then she turned it around
on our parents and threatened them. So much happened. How do you think we were
able to keep quiet? You really think our parents would let us be considered as
deviants to the world? Let us tarnish the name of influential people of this
city? They kept Karlie and her mother quiet. If Scarlett goes down, we all go
down. She always wins. Get that through your skulls. Now you can either live
with it like I have… or perish.”

           
“I
think I’m gonna be sick,” Jordana says.

           
“Always
the problem with people like us, right?” Juliet says to me. “We want to be
gods; we are gods therefore we make no mistakes and if people see that we make
a mistake… they will question everything.” She looks up at me. “Go… go live in
your life full of lies and in pathetic wilderness. Just remember when you look
anyone in this room in the face again, you will be staring in the mirror that
shows how disgusting you truly are.”

           
“Juliet,
we need him for the police.” Jordana says.

           
“I
just want to get Hugo out of jail and I think I have an idea on how to get him
out,” she says and glares at me. “Go.”

           
I
look around the room one last time. All their eyes on me. Nothing but disgust
and disbelief in not the past but the present and the present is now and the
now is what I will continue to spurn.

HUGO

“I
didn’t rape anyone.”

           
“That’s
not what fifteen-year-old Rebecca Townsend tells us.”

           
“Well
obviously she’s lying.”

           
“Yeah,
yet her track record is clean.” He leans down on the table. “I’ve heard about
you. You have a real scandalous reputation.”

           
“Did
you get that from
Gossip Girl
?”

           
He
bitterly laughs. “That’s funny.”

           
“I.
Didn’t. Do. It.”

           
“Then
how do you explain the drugs we’ve found?”

           
“Someone
planted them. It does not matter that you found drugs. You have no evidence
from her but her word. The only reason why you even arrested me is because a
pissed off wealthy Patrick Townsend pressured this entire precinct. You have no
physical evidence that I even touched her so this is all a fucking waste of
time.”

           
“We
have statements from witnesses. Two people who say you arrived at the
Townsend’s building for a little party.”

           
“Let
me guess, Scarlett and whatever idiot she got to lie for her.”

           
“I’ve
known guys like you my whole life. Get everything handed to you and still that
is not enough. What happened, Mandrake? The girl said no, rejected you? You got
angry, huh? You’ve never earned anything in your life. Always take.”