"Don't know what you're talking about, Sister."
"Don’t play coy, Mr. Blackwood. You and your band of hooligans think you can run this school and town, but finally, your sins are catching up to you," she snaps, then does a Hail Mary and leaves me standing there, still wondering what in the fuck is going on.
They know. It's the only reason they'd be here, the only reason he'd be handcuffed. So many unanswered questions, and I don't want to face the answers, even when they're right in front of my face.
Father William, the headmaster and my unfortunate guardian, walks up. He smiles at the cop warmly, and offers him his hand to shake. I'd rather take a swift kick right to the dick than have to say anything to him beyond what's absolutely required.
"Officers, a word please?"
The two that are apparently in charge follow him off to the side, where they speak in hushed tones. I try and overhear what they're saying, but there's too much commotion around to make out anything. My eyes search the courtyard for Sebastian’s or Alec’s faces, but I don't see either of them. Instead, I see her.
Valentina Carmichael.
She's standing off to the side of the crowd, in her rumpled uniform, obviously the same one she was wearing last night. Only in the daylight, I can see her better.
I really see her. The way the baggy cardigan she wears is meant to cover the curves of her body. The skirt that's the generic length, not rolled ten times to show off her upper thighs like most of the girls here.
Long, dark hair that is meant to be wrapped in a tight fist. She's fucking beautiful. Sinfully so.
Her attention is fully on the sister she's deep in conversation with. She’s nervously picking her nails as her eyes scan the courtyard, then they meet my own.
The blue of her irises stare back at me, locked in a gaze so intense I feel it deep in the pit of my stomach… unease that seeps its way into my bones.
Then it hits me. How even across the courtyard, I can tell how nervous she is. How she refuses to meet my eyes, instead looking anywhere but where I am. Why the police are here, why they're arresting Ezra. You see… only us four knew our secret. Me. Ezra. Sebastian. Alec. Only. Us. Four. We swore we'd take it to the grave. We had too much to lose to let anyone in. Until last night when she hid behind the bookshelves and stole what was ours.
It was never her secret to take.
I gave her the chance to keep her fucking mouth shut. She had the chance to walk away from this, unscathed. Untouched. Back to being a nobody like she was before she put herself in my fucking life. Yet, here we are, less than twelve hours later, and now Ezra is handcuffed. Not only did she give him up, she has the nerve to show her fucking face here after the fact. Maybe the little lamb is braver than I thought.
"Rhys?" My name being called causes me to avert my gaze to William, who's standing in front of me with the cop he was just talking with.
"Son, you need to come with us. We have some things we'd like to discuss with you. Your friend here is being arrested for arson and attempted murder. We have reason to believe you were involved. We’d like you to come down to the station, willingly." The officer speaks next. His meaty fist wraps around my bicep and guides me out of the courtyard to the gates, where a cruiser is parked.
He doesn’t bother being gentle as he ducks my head down and shoves me into the backseat of the car.
I spend the next three hours locked in an interrogation room downtown at the precinct, with a cop who smells like week-old sweaty-ass socks. The same questions, over and over, ten different ways. I had the same answers, no matter which way he asked them. I'd never give them what they wanted. Finally, after three hours, the dickhole let me leave, only to say that they'll be in touch. More questions, more time wasted. Except the next time, they better have a warrant in hand.
I couldn't get the fuck out of there fast enough. I had to find Sebastian and Alec. And I had to find them before the cops got to them. We’d never let Ezra go without a fight, and it would be the fight of our lives. You bleed, I bleed. There’d be no prisoners of the war we were going to fight if it meant keeping him safe. I will burn the whole fucking world down if it means saving those that I love.
Starting with Valentina Carmichael.
"I need to see you in my office, now," William seethes. For someone as calm and collected as he normally is, I'm surprised by the bite in his tone. He brushes past me toward his office, and even though there are a million other things I'd rather be doing, I follow him. Especially after spending hours downtown at the station yesterday. My head throbs and it's barely nine a.m.
When we're inside the office, he slams the door shut and walks over to the massive cedar desk, taking his seat. The look on his face, paired with his less than happy demeanor, means I'll be getting my ass chewed. Flopping back into the chair opposite to him, I fold my arms across my chest, feigning boredom.
"This has to stop, Rhys."
I clench my jaw and avert my gaze out the window. My jaw ticks and I don't bother responding to his comment.
"Enough is enough. You're a legal adult now, and soon you'll be a functioning member of society. This has to stop. I can't always bail you out of situations," he says.
That gets my attention.
"So, that's what this is about? Sick of bailing me out, William?"
"Don't try and spin this on me, Rhys. I have tried my hardest to break through the barrier you have so insistently put up since I became your guardian, to no avail. You refuse to let anyone in. This isn't detention, Rhys. The police are questioning you and your friends for arson and attempted murder. What happens if you go to prison? Are you just going to throw your entire life away for these boys?"
Yeah, like he'd understand. He's never understood anything about me or my life. I lean further back in the chair. "Stop pretending to care. I'm eighteen now, no longer your ward, which means I’m no longer your problem.
His eyes soften. "I understand you will never forgive me for what you heard, but, Rhys, I was young, just out of seminary, I was as lost as you were. I had hoped somehow we'd maneuver the unknown together, but you've never let me get close enough to try. I simply don't want to see you end up in prison. You're smart, have the highest GPA in your class—you were meant for more than this." He places his hands on the desk in front of him, leaning closer. "I know what happened with your pare—"
"Don't," I hiss. "Do not fucking mention them, ever again. You made it abundantly clear, even as a child, I was nothing but a burden to you, William, and I'm not interested in mending bridges to satisfy your conscience. Don't worry about what I do."
I rise from the chair and walk toward the door, but before my hand reaches the knob, I turn back and say, "For the record, even if you had truly tried, I'd still be as fucked-up as I am today. You would have never been able to save me."
With that, I open the door and walk out.
A sinner like me? Broken, immoral, unforgivable. I’m too far gone.
The next week passed in a blur. Mara cornered me every chance she could, and I spent the rest of my time locked away in the library researching for the essay that's due in two weeks for Latin. The weekend came and went, and before I knew it, Monday morning was here, ready to steal all of the joy Chuck and Blair, along with rocky road, brought me over the weekend.