The Sinners - Ruby Vincent Page 0,11
to. You can tell me the truth.”
“I just— Fuck!” Royal shoved out of the car, storming off.
I calmly got out and trailed him. My raven-haired Angel didn’t express himself well off paper. That was okay. He could struggle to get this out as long as he did.
Royal broke through the trees. I listened to him snapping twigs and trying to put distance between this situation he couldn’t control.
The grasping naked pines welcomed me inside. A pleasing mix of earth and fallen leaves tickled my nose, enveloping as the wind danced through the branches. Above us a cascade of stars showed off their beauty, as breathtaking as the diamonds they were so often compared to.
This was a place for lovers at night, and now it would be our place. The place I got Royal to do something even harder than love.
Jogging to his side, I clasped his arm to my chest and rested my head on his forearm. He was wound like a predator coiled to strike.
“Relax,” I soothed. “If you do, we may even hook up again. I remember how you like your hand jobs.”
That had the opposite effect of loosening up. “What the hell?” he sputtered. “I can’t keep up with you, Bancroft. I never know what’s going to come out of your mouth next.”
“Well, I know what better come out of yours, if you want to put something in mine.”
“You think that pussy has me under some kind of spell that ultimatums are going to work?”
“Yes,” I teased. I went ahead of him, walking backward as I tugged him toward the gazebo. “But it’s not an ultimatum. We can’t move forward if you’re not willing to talk to me. Be honest. Your secrets have hurt me one too many times, Royal. There’s not going to be an ‘our crew’ if we don’t cut the bullshit right now.”
My foot hit the step of the gazebo. I brought him with me, plunging us in darkness.
The twinkle lights shut off with the closing of the park. The moon and the stars spread a teasing glow through the trees. Together we sat on the wooden bench. I felt him in the dark, seeking his heartbeat and pressing my ear over the arresting music.
“Tell me what happened to the sweet boy who took my virginity all those years ago.”
“That boy wasn’t sweet.” Royal tangled his fingers in my hair. My eyes fluttered shut as they caressed my strands. “Rio just wasn’t through destroying him.”
I lay quiet, waiting for him to go at his own pace.
“My dad wasn’t in the picture growing up,” he began. “Gran raised me, telling me about the father who wasn’t ready to be one and smiling as she said the best thing he did was give me to her, so she could give me more love than I could stand.
“That’s Gran. She’s good. A real angel if there could ever be one. Rio dumped a baby on her and took off and she never once resented him or me. Some days it fucks me up wondering how a woman like her could have a son like him. But I guess that’s just a trick of nature. Your true self always wins out.”
His heartbeat picked up speed, fueled by loathing.
“Life wasn’t perfect. It’s not for anyone who lives in the OB. But Gran and I were good. We didn’t need anything. Or at least, I didn’t think we did.”
“What changed?” My hand trailed up and down his stomach, basking in the ability to touch him.
“Gran met a guy when I was in middle school. A nice guy. Surprised her with flowers. Said things on the phone that made her giggle and shoo me from the room. Eddie is one of the good ones. He married her, got us out of our shitty neighborhood, and moved us to a nice place on the eastside. Everything was perfect until Rio came back.”
“Back?” I repeated. “Where was he?”
“Off becoming the slick, arrogant criminal you met today. New York, Chicago, California, and then Europe when he got the money. Year after year building his reputation and contacts as a fence.”
Goodness. Why in the world did he come back? It seemed like the people he left behind were doing just fine without him.
“Gran was a single mom. She had to work two jobs to raise him while he got messed up with drugs and all the wrong people who hang out in our neighborhoods. She didn’t know what to do with him. Then he got