The Sinners - Ruby Vincent Page 0,54
to waste an hour and a half talking about issues they started in the first place.”
“Mark, my friend,” said Brandon. “You. Preacher. Us. Choir.”
“She has to do something,” I found myself saying. “And the something she was planning to do was kick people out of school. A feelings workshop isn’t so bad in comparison.”
“The lady has a point,” Jorge mumbled.
Mark squinted at me. “Hey, aren’t you—”
“From your middle school.”
“—Ember Bancroft,” he finished. “That girl with the con artist parents.”
“That’s me.” I gave him my back. “See you around.”
“Whoa.” Brandon pulled me up short. “Mark didn’t mean anything by that. Did you?” A hard edge laced his question.
“No, honest. Your parents are legends.”
That made me turn around. “Legends?”
“Uh, yeah.” Excitement lit up his hazel eyes. “They scored twenty-five million freaking dollars and got away clean. It’s sad the people who were ripped off and stuff, but you gotta be slick to pull off what they did.”
“That’s one word to describe them,” I muttered. “People usually choose unflattering adjectives.”
He put up his hands. “No doubt what they did was messed up. Taking the money and leaving their own kids. I just think it’s cool that the Raveners were the worst hit. They got twenty million off them alone.” An emotion I understood crept into his voice. Anger. “Now they know what it feels like.”
Jorge simmered on the same rage. “Mark’s dad used to work for Brynn Redgrave’s father in his accounting firm in the Estate. Jobs in there are hard for someone in the OB to get but he worked for that bastard for eight years without a problem.”
“One day something goes wrong.” Mark picked up the thread. “Files were accidentally wiped from the drive and Dad was blamed on the spot. They fired him before they got IT to check it out. It was caused by a glitch and they were able to get back all the files. But Dad was still fired. They don’t give a shit about us,” Mark ground out. “So, yeah, your parents are fucking Robin Hoods.”
Would this communication activity change Raven River and the way the townspeople felt about each other? Maybe not. But something needed to be done. The bitterness, resentment, and vindictiveness Hart spoke about salted the air whenever one group spoke about the other.
“My parents hurt people from the OB too,” I reminded. “But I’m sorry about your dad. After eight years, Gus Redgrave could’ve stumped up some trust.”
“Exactly,” he agreed, skating over my comment on the OB. “I wish Dad sued—”
“Get that out of here!”
Our conversation came to a quick stop. Every conversation came to a stop.
Craig faced down two guys from my sociology class, and him facing people down had a different meaning. Brandon’s roommate was over six feet and captain of the lacrosse team.
He hauled Major and Harley across the room.
“Chill, Craig,” protested Major. He yanked free of his hold. “It’s only weed.”
“I don’t care. I told you straight up not to bring that stuff in my room, and you smoke it in my shower. You wanted to piss me off; it worked. Get out.”
“You said not to bring drugs,” said Harley. “It’s not like we rolled in here with E and oxy like the Raveners. Weed doesn’t count as a drug.”
Brandon stepped up. “It’ll count when we’re all thrown out of school. Stop arguing and leave.”
“Whatever.” The two stormed out.
“Brandon, I’ll be right back,” I tossed at him. “I forgot something in my room.”
I caught up with the guys on the back stairs. “Hey.”
They paused, giving me a funny look. “What?”
Major and Harley never said anything about my parents. They also had nothing to say when everyone was bitching me out. This could go either way, but I had to try.
Smiling, I propped my hip against the railing. “You guys hate me too much to let me smoke with you?”
Wide eyes looked me up and down, soaking in my tight jeans and bare midriff.
“Life’s too short for hate, beautiful,” Harley said. “Join us.”
The three of us descended the stairs and looped around the building. We found a piece of wall the same as the rest of the wall and I leaned against it.
It was pitch dark. Harley used his phone’s flashlight to help his friend roll up.
“That was harsh in there,” I started. “I mean it’s like you said. Raveners do it all the time. Why can’t we?”
“For real!” Major nudged my arm and took his time pulling back. “And it’s just weed. We’re not doing the hard shit