The Sinners - Ruby Vincent Page 0,75
sue. I didn’t make anything up or defame his nonexistent character. Everything I wrote is backed up in the official police reports.”
“I’m glad Somerset did something,” I told her. “Hopefully, the rest of them follow suit.”
“Even if they don’t, his name is out there. People know what he did. He can’t silence me after I’ve spoken.”
“I love that. Are you majoring in inspirational speaking by any chance?”
“Early childhood development, but I’m open to minors.”
We shared a laugh, indulging in a good, triumphant moment. Tensions were high, the dealer was still out there, and the future was uncertain. But that day was a victory.
I snuggled into my pillow, allowing sleep to take me.
My phone vibrated on the nightstand.
Snapping my eyes open, I picked it up and tapped the message from Clay.
Clay: We’re outside on the bottom staircase. Come outside. We have something for you.
The clock read ten minutes past midnight. I was up for whatever we were going to get up to, but did I have to go outside? It was fifty-something degrees out there.
Sucking it up, I shoved my feet into some boots and pulled a hoodie over my head. Clay and Cassius ceased talking as I came down the steps.
“What’s going on?” I gave them both a kiss. “Why are we out here?”
“Because there’s something we have to do in the forest,” Clay replied. “Will you come with us?”
“Guys, I’m all for forest sex, but it’s freezing out here.”
Cassius chuckled. “I told you she’d think it was about sex.”
“Put those dirty thoughts away,” said Clay. “It’s a different surprise.”
Cassius held out his hand. “Come with us. Please.”
I don’t know if I could’ve refused him when he asked me like that. I didn’t try.
Together the three of us crossed the grounds, though not in silence.
“Cam was amazing,” Clay began. “She taught a lesson that will last longer than a beating. That letter will follow him for the rest of his life. The colleges considering him. The employers looking him up.”
“She needed to see him deal with the consequences and she had to do it her way,” Cassius added. “Cam was right to tell us to step aside. We’ve looked out for her for so long we forget Camila can take care of herself.”
We arrived at the gap in the fence. Clay widened it to help me through.
“She can.” I ducked down, passing from campus to forest. “I imagined a bunch of things when she said she was working on revenge against Leo, but this was better.”
Darkness rushed to swallow us. The triplets beat it back with their flashlights, lighting the path as we continued through the forest.
“There’s just Nolan left,” Clay said. “He told my sister he loved her and then he watched his friend drug and pour alcohol down her throat. He called you his girlfriend and he abandoned you alone in the dark miles from home.”
My fists balled. “I remember what he did.”
Cassius held my hand and helped me over a fallen tree. “It’s not right that he gets away with it. Someone that hates women as much as he does can’t run off to be the university golden boy basking in his riches without learning a single lesson.”
“I agree with everything you said.”
“Cam is done with him,” Clay continued. “She doesn’t want to think about him. She told us that if we wanted revenge, we should go after it with her blessing.”
I nodded along. “What are you going to do?”
“That’s just it,” Cassius said. “We can’t make the same mistake twice. Pretending like it’s our revenge to have when those things didn’t happen to us. They happened to you and Cam.”
“What do you want to do, Ember? Do you care to make Nolan pay for that night in the woods?”
Memories tumbled through my mind one after the other. Nolan’s severity as he ordered me out. The biting chill of whipping winds tearing through my thin fabric. The glowing brake lights disappearing in the distance. Icy tears seeping into my skin and shredding my childish beliefs in love. Oozing, painful blisters marring my toes days after the five-hour trek.
“Yes.” The word was said so softly the wind almost snatched it away. “I care.”
“It’s up to you, Ember,” Clay said. “Whatever you want to do to him, we’ll help, we’ll follow your lead, or we’ll stay out of your way.”
The triplets guided me over the final mound. Lifeless limbs fell out of their hands.
In the tree’s crevice that was Clay’s favorite spot, Nolan Ives knelt bound in the dirt.