Adler | The Aces of St.Sinclair BOOK 1.

Goodbye | A FORTY SIX

That’s why his next response didn’t surprise me. “Is that what it is? You want me to apologise for that?” It wasn’t asked in annoyance or remorsefulness, but vivid disinterest. “Okay, I'm—”

“I don’t want your empty apologies.”

“What do you want then?”

“I want you to tell me if I'm right about why you took the fall for what happened to Mr. Goy-Smith's sculpture.”

Dead air filled through the line and it may have been my severe drowsiness, but when Hess finally spoke, he was tense. “Mm, afraid I don’t know what you mean.”

“Shaun thinks you leaked the photos. After you didn’t deny it when I brought it up, I thought it had to be true but a few things weren’t adding up. Like, what was the motive in doing that? Or why did Rosita believe you but not Shaun? Even if she was into you, why openly defend you? If proof turned up that you were the culprit, that would put her in a bad spot with Shaun’s parents.

She obviously wasn’t as welcomed. Despite being their son's girlfriend, she was never shown the sculpture, unlike you. Also, if you were the culprit and you and Shaun no longer were in contact, she wouldn’t carry any responsibility in getting between your friendship. She could freely go to you so why put herself at risk there?”

“Because she stupidly believed I wasn’t that sort of person,” answered Hess.

“Maybe, but the greater factor was that she knew the real culprit.”

“… Oh, now that does sound interesting. The problem there, Buns; why didn’t Rosita just expose them if it wasn’t me?”

I'd more than anticipated he'd point that out. “You sure you want to hear this bit?”

“By all means.”

“It’s very simple— Rosita wasn’t in love with you. She might’ve felt some attraction and teased and flirted, whenever Shaun wasn’t around. And you hated her for that.

The photos got leaked, Shaun accused you immediately and that hurt. You felt betrayed and thought it had to have been Rosita who put the idea in Shaun’s mind. But then she defended you so if you called her out, you'd only make yourself look worse.
You got frustrated and confused. You suddenly weren’t sure if Rosita was behind it or knew anything, but none of it mattered anymore after losing Shaun’s trust and his parents. You still thinking highly of Goy-Smith's talents with how you bragged to me on the sculpture making it as a hit.

You gave up on clearing your name and sought out the only place you thought you weren’t rejected— which turned out to be the biggest mistake. Rosita welcomed you in to her house, she had you vulnerable, you weren’t thinking straight and harboured anger for Shaun abandoning you. The rest is the typical 'one thing led to another'…”

A bark of laughter filled the line at that, momently jilting me. I had never heard anything more jarringly void and pitiful.

“I think you've watched one too many soap operas.”

For some reason, it made me smile he denied it. Not that I believed everything I said was right. Many things Shaun told me didn’t still add up, nor did I feel satisfied if my creeper stalker was just a broken hearted boy, acting tough like those sappy romance novels.

“I’ve never actually watched one, before,” I confessed, curling up into the covers. “Got any you'd recommend?”

“… Is that a serious question or am I missing something?”

“Something like what?”

“Why did you really call me? Did something happen with Shaun?” His voice sounded funny again, like he actually could be concerned.