Page 5 of A Sinner's Saint

“Studying with a friend.” It’s not a total lie. I’m going to a party with Dash and Marcus, but I’ll be studying the body of some girl before the end of the night. I’m certain of it. My head has been fucked up all week.

I never should have taken Cammi to that park. She’s not the kind of girl I can lose myself in and then discard. She’s the kind of girl you keep, and I can’t keep anyone. Nobody deserves to be shackled down with my baggage.

Gio doesn’t say anything else when I leave the room. And, thankfully, Eloise walks past as I do, which means my brother is going to be distracted for the rest of the night and won’t be worried about where I am or what I’m doing.

I head straight for the garage, stopping by the wall of keys before I snatch the ones for the Tesla. I climb behind the wheel, press the button to open the garage door, and then I’m gone. The gates open as I approach, the soldiers currently on guard duty giving me a nod as I drive out.

Ten minutes later, I’m pulling up out front of Marcus’s house. His parents are some sort of investment brokers, superwealthy, and Marcus is every bit the rebellious trust-fund brat. We’ve been friends since kindergarten, though, so I’m stuck with his snobby ass.

My family isn’t short of a quid either. And, honestly, my trust fund is probably bigger. I just don’t give a fuck, while Marcus is stuck under his father’s thumb. The old bastard hangs that trust fund over my friend’s head like a damn carrot, whereas my money ain’t going nowhere. One more fuckup could see Marcus penniless with no parental money coming in.

Has that threat straightened out his crooked ass? Nope. He still gets up to as much shit as I do. He’s just learnt to hide it better.

“Fucking finally. Where you been?” Marcus huffs while climbing into the passenger seat.

“Didn’t realise I was an Uber service. Next time, drive yourself if you don’t want to wait,” I tell him before taking off down the street.

“Dash meeting us there?”

“Yeah, he’s been there a while. Wanted to meet up with Kenzie.”

Dash has been following that girl around for the past twelve months. I don’t know what their deal is. They’re the ultimate on-again, off-again couple. Last I heard, they wereoff. But if Dash is there early to follow her ass around, then they’ll beonwithin the next few hours.

“Fucking Kenzie. He’s never going to learn.” Marcus shakes his head. “Bachelor life is the only life.”

“Right, like your parents haven’t already found someone to shackle your ass to.” I laugh. I don’t know if it’s true, but I wouldn’t put it past Marcus’s parents to arrange his marriage. It’d be a business deal that benefited them, of course. Not that my parents were any fucking better. My father sold me out to benefit his deep-ass pockets.

Fuck, I run a hand through my hair. My right hand squeezes the steering wheel. Now is not the time to be going down memory fucking lane.

“Bro, take this.” Marcus hands me a pipe.

I snatch it up and press the button for the window. Then I set the car to self-drive mode and reach into the centre console for my light. After two hits of the pipe, I hand it back to Marcus. “Thanks,” I grunt out.

“Don’t mention it,” he says.

He knows when I need a hit and he knows when I’m about to lose my shit. We’ve been friends forever. He also knows something happened during those years when I was at my worst. But we have a very muchdon’t ask, don’t tellpolicy.

I’m relieved when I pull up to the party spot. It’s at one of the jock’s houses. His parents are out of town. The street is already lined with cars, and I have to stop a few blocks back. “Let’s get fucked up,” I tell Marcus before climbing out of the car.

“Behind you, bro,” he says, handing me a bottle of Cinque.

“You buy that?” I ask him. “You do know I have access to warehouses full of those, right?”

“Of course I bought it. Gotta support small business and all.” The fucker laughs.

“I’ll be sure to let Gio know what you think of the family business,” I deadpan.

“Nah, I know you want me alive. Who else is going to put up with your grumpy ass?”

The music blares from the house. Pushing through the front door, I glare at the fucker who steps right in front of me. He pales and steps back, practically running in the other direction.

Marcus’s hand lands on my shoulder. It takes everything in me not to knock him off me. I’m not a fan of being touched by dudes. No fucking surprise there.

The house is crowded. I swear every fucking senior from school must be here. Walking farther into the house, I head for the back door while looking around for Dash. I spot him leaning up against a far wall.

“Did your cat die?” I ask him as I follow his line of sight.

It doesn’t take me long to find the reason he looks so pissed off. Kenzie is dancing with Logan, an uptight preppy fucker who clearly doesn’t know what’s good for him. I’m surprised to even see the kid here, let alone dancing with Kenzie. Dude must have a death wish.

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