Page 8 of Sins of Sorrow


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Asher Thomas’s parents left for a long weekend trip to The Hamptons, and he decided to throw a pre-graduation rooftop rager the second they were gone, inviting not only the students of our schools, Agnes Parker’s All-Girls Day School and Quincy Elliott’s School for Boys, but the students of Kensington Academy as well. All three are on the Upper East Side, but rarely intermix.

Needless to say, knowing I’m about to be in a sea of faces I’m unfamiliar with is giving me a rush of adrenaline of both excitement and nerves.

Sensing I need an anchor, Raina, my best friend, reaches down and laces her fingers through mine. “I heard Christian broke up with his girlfriend, finally.” She shakes my hand, a mischievous little smile coasting her lips. “Maybe he’ll be DTF.”

Snapping my head in her direction, I give her what I feel like is a completely baffled look. “BecauseIam? Just because I have a crush on the guy doesn’t mean I’m going to give it up to him on Asher’sroof, Raina.”

She laughs and turns toward me, weaving her fingers through my hair and tousling it slightly to give it more volume. “I’m just playing! I know you wouldn’t. But you didn’t deny that youwantto give it up to him.”

“Whatever.” Rolling my eyes, I adjust the hem of my black mini-dress, trying to give it more length than is physically possible. Raina talked me into wearing it, when the last thing I wanted was to bring more attention to myself.

Right now, I feel completely out of control of my body—an ugly duckling, if you will. Which isn’t entirely true, but it’s how Ifeel. Self-conscious and hyper-critical of my body. Teenage hormones haven’t been kind to my skin, and I am counting down the days until my hideous braces get removed. Dolling me up in a skintight dress with pretty makeup and hair won’t fix either of those things. No matter how much makeup she caked on my face.

“At least the Mason ship has sailed! You held onto that for far too long.”

“He’s cute.”

“Mason Townsend is the physical definition of the wordsettling.”

“Just because he isn’t a bad boy doesn’t mean he’s boring!”

Her bubbly laughter fills the elevator as the doors open, she grins and pulls me through them. “You’re the one who said he was boring, babe!”

Immediately we’re hit with the cool New York air and a cloud of smoke—exhaled from a kid to my right, the lit joint extended as though he’s passing it to me. Electronic dance music pulses through the huge speakers placed at all four corners of the rooftop, and all around us bodies gyrate. I watch as drinks get sloshed from cups spilling onto exposed skin, unnoticed by those completely lost in the music, or those too drunk to care.

“Looks like we’re behind,” Raina comments, pulling me to one of the two bars lined with liquor bottles.

Inwardly, I cringe.

I enjoy a party as much as the next person, but parties likethis…they make my skin crawl.

And yes, I am aware of how incredibly stuck up that sounds.

I just hate when people can’t hold their liquor, and I hate drugs even more. Ironic, considering what my father does, though if he knewIknew, he’d sugarcoat it with a bald-face lie and deny the truth.

To the world, my father is the single most profitable coffee importer in North America, with teams all around the world scouting the finest coffee beans andundiscovered growers. But behind that facade, my father is actually one of the most profitable drug smugglers this country has seen in decades.

It’s only been two years since I found out, eavesdropping, when my two older brothers, Luciano and Joseph, were whispering in the men’s parlor late one night. Joseph was praising my father’s ventures, talking about how ingenious he was and how he couldn’t wait to take over for him one day. Luciano, on the other hand, seemed quite irritated with the eagerness Joseph exuded.

Joseph was only seventeen at the time. He had his whole life ahead of him, and the brains and wealth to back him in whatever path he went down, but instead, he wasexcitedto step into the shoes of a glorified drug dealer.

Since overhearing that conversation, I’ve kept a closer eye on Joseph, not that I needed to since he was always keeping an eye onme, constantly glaring at me with a look of malice hidden behind his toffee colored eyes. The last few years, intuition has reminded me to watch my back around my older brother. Joseph has a knack for making me feel like his prey, and while I want to think the best of my own flesh and blood, I’m not the only one who notices his strange behavior.

Raina hates being around him, too.

“Here,” she says as she pushes a clear plastic cup in my hand, filled to the brim with amber liquid.

Bringing it to my nose, I smell what she’s handed me, and take a sip when I smell the sugary scent ofCoke. But under the sweetness, are the unmistakable notes of rum, so I sip slowly. The combination explodes on my tongue and I can’t fight the moan that escapes from the taste.

“Oh! Look,” she squeals, and I lower my cup to follow her line of sight. “There’s Brock Leclair. He’s so freaking cute.”

“Who’s Brock Leclair?”

“He’s the best attacker on Kensington’s lacrosse team,” Raina says with a deep sigh as she watches him from across the room. “I heard he plays hard both onandoff the field.”

Taking another sip of my drink, I scan the group of guys standing with Brock. I don’t recognize any of them, but they’re cute enough. “Do you want to go introduce yourself?”

“Introduce myself?” She rolls her eyes playfully at me. “We’ve been sexting for a week now, baby girl. I’m going to do more thanintroducemyself. C’mon!” Circling her fingers around my wrist, she pulls me again, and I have to hold my drink in front of me to avoid spilling it.