Reckless Karma (Sinners & Saints #2) (26 page)

           
“Hi,”
she says.

           
I
stand up and Ms. Eleanor does too.

           
“Cody,
why don’t you and I go indulge ourselves with a glass of Bordeaux and ice
cream?”

           
“Yeah
sure. Odd mix, but sure.” They quickly walk out, leaving me and Margaret Jacobs
surrounded by the tension in this room.

           
“What
are you doing here?” I’m a bitch when I ask her. I have to be.

           
“I
miss you,” she says and my heart does that stupid skipping thing.

           
“Well,
some people miss Codeine and sprite. Doesn’t mean they should Lil Wayne it all
the time.”

           
She
laughs a little. “True. That is true.”

           
“So
what now? Here to tell me that you’re sorry? Want to continue our secret
affair? Perfect daughter of the Partridge family by day? My personal pillow by
night?”

           
“I
don’t think I’m gonna have that title anymore. Being the perfect daughter of
Steven Jacobs. Hell, I don’t even think I’m his daughter anymore. According to
him, I’m not.” Her hazel green eyes stay on mine. “I mean what do you expect
when his daughter tells him that she’s gay?”

           
“I-I
guess the usual Steven Jacobs insulting remarks will do the trick.” I’ve never
stuttered or choked on my words before. But Margaret fucking Jacobs has stumped
me.

           
“Yeah.
I was sitting with him and my mother and we were eating meatloaf and I hate
meatloaf.” She laughs to herself. “Then I thought I hate meatloaf as much as I
hate lying every day and I just… I didn’t wanna eat meatloaf anymore. I didn’t
want my father running everything. So I told them. I told them that I was gay…
and that…” She sniffs and shuts her eyes. Once they open the tears just fall.
“And that I was in love with you. I’m in love with you. I have been since you
smiled at me in biology.” Now I’m crying. “My dad kicked me out and told me
that I was nothing but shame and disgusting and that God and him will no longer
be with me on my journey, but you know I think God still has my back and I
think I’m gonna be okay because we love each other, right? And as long as we
have each other we’re gonna be okay, right? Right Jordana?”

           
I
make my way over to her. My hands fall around her face and I bring her into me.
My mouth pressed against hers. My love surrounding her. Hers surrounding me. I
kiss her like there is no tomorrow. Letting my lips, my tongue, my heart, and
my soul tell her that everything is going to be okay. It’s going to be better
than okay. In case she doesn’t understand, I let her know once I force my mouth
away from hers, pressing my forehead against hers and catching the breath that
tried to escape once she walked in.

           
“Yes,”
I exhale. “Everything is going to be wonderful.”

           
She
smiles and so do I. She cries some more and so do I. She kisses me and I now
believe in something greater than the human spirit. Now I get what all the fuss
is about.

           
“Well
on another day this would be a real turn on.” Hugo and Karlie and Anika are
standing next to him.

           
I
scoff at his comment and clear my throat while MJ is flustered.

           
“Um,
how are the kids?” I ask.

           
“Despite
Scarlett paying off some homeless guy to scare my nephew into breaking his arm,
they’re all good.” Anika’s answer causes my mouth to drop.

           
“Are
you serious?” Cody and Ms. Eleanor come in.

           
“Yes,
and Rebecca Townsend tried to kill herself,” Hugo says.

           
“Oh
Lord, is the poor girl alright?” Ms. Eleanor asks.

           
“She
will be and I think she’s definitely on the I-believe-Scarlett-may-be-psychotic
bandwagon.” He looks around. “Where’s Juliet and August?”

           
The
up to date parties all look at me nervously.

           
“I
think August is in his room.” I pause before I can tell him about Juliet, but
he runs up the stairs.

HUGO

           
“Hugo,
what’s going on?” Karlie asks me as she and the rest chase me upstairs. “What
did Scarlett say to you?”

           
“No
one expects the slow one to know anything.” I say the words that have been
repeated in my head since I left Scarlett’s place.

           
“What?”
she asks. “I thought you texted to tell me to meet you here because she told
you where the original box is.”

           
“She
did,” I say once I get to August’s room. I knock on the door and walk in.
“Everybody stay in the hallway,” I instruct them as August looks away from his
current maze to me. His eyes connect with mine and he knows what I’m about to
ask him. He takes a step back as I take one toward him. He folds his hands
behind his neck and looks down at his bare feet.

           
“Gabriel
knew that she would never expect you to have the box. He couldn’t trust anyone
else with it.”

           
“D-D-Don’t
show anyone but Hugo,” he says low. “That’s… that’s what he said.”

           
“And
you did try to show it to me. Didn’t you?”

           
“I
was… I was so scared, Hugo. I was so scared to bring you the key. Show you the
secret. I felt the darkness getting to you. It was getting too close. She was
getting too close and the only way to save you was to give you the box.” He
swallows and breathes. “So I did.”

           
“That
day I hit you…” I painfully remember. “That was the secret you had to tell me…
and I hit you. I called you names.”

           
“Retard,
stupid shit, dumb nothing, stupid fuck.” He remembers every word I insulted him
with that day. It was a breakdown I had and I took it out on my brother.

           
“I’m
sorry.”

           
“I
know. You were only beating yourself. Calling yourself those names because I
look like you. You look like me. I was the perfect wall to hit because you
hated yourself.”

           
I
laugh a little. “Yeah. You know me best.”

           
“Better
than her?”

           
“Yes.”

           
He
quickly nods his head. “You ready now?”

           
“Yes.
I’m ready now.”

           
August
kneels down by his bed and reaches under it and I can’t help but laugh.

           
“Under
the bed. Of course,” I say shaking my head.

           
He
brings it to me confused, not finding the amusement. “It’s where all the best
hiding spots are.”

           
“It
is.” I grab the black box from him. It is the same exact kind of box as the
other except this one holds more. It holds everything. Holding it I instantly
feel a form of regret. I feel regret because I know once I open it, it’s over.
Every mystery surrounding me. It will all be foretold and there will be nothing
left.

           
“All
that and it was under August’s bed.” Jordana says once I get out to the
hallway.

           
“What
is that?” Margaret Jacobs asks.

           
“Long
story,” Cody says. “You know the code for that one?”

           
“I
have an idea,” I say. “I look at them staring at it with the same curiosity.

           
“I
fear that box will only bring misery, my dear,” Ms. Eleanor says and I agree,
but do we have a choice?

           
August
comes out of his room and hands a disc to Karlie.

           
“Gabriel
left this for you. He told me to tell Hugo to give it to you.”
 
He looks around at all of us biting his
thumbnail then at me. “Juliet’s gone. Get her back, Hugo.” He goes in his room
and shuts the door and I look at Jordana and Cody.

           
“What
is he talking about?”

           
“Uh…”
Jordana for the first time is nervous to speak. “She left.”

           
“What?”
The “what” just comes out like poison?

           
“She
and Jazib left tonight. Went back home,” Cody says and I almost drop the box.

           
“No,
she wouldn’t leave like that,” I say in denial of the truth. Of course she
left. They always leave.

           
“Hugo,
before you go crazy, you should know why she left. That girl Jess died.”

           
Instead
of being relieved that it wasn’t for me or feeling horrible that her friend
died, I just get more angry.

           
“Keep
the box,” Karlie says knowing what I’m about to do. “I can wait till you get
back.”

SCARLETT

“She
needs to go home,” Patrick’s mother says.

           
“Now?
Now you want to take her home?” Patrick snaps. “You weren’t so worried when she
got raped, but now it takes her standing on a roof threatening to kill herself
to do it?!”

           
“Yes!
That’s right! I will not have my daughter being used as a pawn for someone
else’s game.”

           
“Whose?”

           
“That
tramp of yours and that disgusting boy.”

           
“Scarlett
has nothing to do with this!”

           
“You’re
so blind by her I can’t even fathom it! Where did I go wrong for you to be this
incompetent?”

           
“You
were a horrible mother!” Ooh even I can hear the venom from Patrick’s words.
“So you wanna go? Fine!”

           
“How
dare you speak to me like that?!”

           
I
move further from the living room smiling as I come down the hallway and pass
Rebecca’s room where she is probably still crying. I’m still pissed about the
outcome. It didn’t go the way I expected and Hugo somehow came out victorious
in his knew persona of being a decent human being.

           
“I
know what you are,” Rebecca says to me from in her room.

           
I
walk in and she’s curled up in her bed, tears still in her eyes, glaring at me
like she knows me. A look that makes me nervous.

           
“What
are you talking about?” I ask.

           
“Hugo
may be a lot of things… but he doesn’t seem like a monster. I think you are.”

           
I
break off the act and fold my arms, my eyes lighting up at the challenge.

           
“Sure
it’s not the medication talking?” My amused tone makes her angrier.

           
“He’s
gonna bring you down… and my brother will truly know what you are.”

           
I
smile and walk back out of the room as Patrick is coming down the hall. He
passes me and heads into our bedroom where I follow.

           
“You
okay?” I ask wrapping my arms around him, laying my head on his back.

           
“I
don’t know anymore,” he says. I feel him breaking down more and more. I need
him tamed, but I don’t need him useless. I need to nip this in the bud,
especially since that little bitch is catching on. I need to get rid of Hugo. I
didn’t want it to come to this, but it has to and I think I know exactly how to
do it. “You didn’t know, right?” I let go of him and step back.

           
“How
could you ask me that?” I put on the perfect act. I swear I could get an Oscar.
“I swear to you, Patrick, I didn’t know. I know that I’m not perfect and I have
done some really fucked up shit.” I throw in the fake tears. “But I would never
put Rebecca in harm’s way. Never. And this is what scared me. I was so scared
that you would look at me… like the rest of them do.”

           
“Baby.”
He wraps his hands around my head and pulls me into a kiss before wiping my
fabricated tears away. “I’m sorry. I promise you I will never think that way
about you again. I just… Everything is just really fucked up right now.”