Sins of the Fallen Read online

  Sins

  of the

  Fallen

  by

  Karina Espinosa

  SINS OF THE FALLEN Copyright © 2014 KARINA ESPINOSA

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.

  Interior design and typesetting by Sharon Kay of Amber Leaf Publishing

  Book Cover © Laura Hidalgo

  ASIN: B00I214NZ2

  Table of Contents

  Contents:

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Dedication

  To my father.

  I’m sorry you didn’t get to see my dream come true like you wanted.

  I miss you more now than ever.

  Efrain Espinosa

  February 2, 1936 - January 28, 2013

  1

  Sweat trickled down my spine as the sun blinded me. Just five more minutes, just five more minutes. I repeated this mantra in my head as I dodged another McDonald’s ice tea cup someone had thrown my way. I stood on the side of the road holding a sign for “Tina’s Beauty Supply Store”. I didn’t know if this was God’s punishment or his sense of humor, but I stood here on the corner of Main Street and Fifth Avenue religiously, every day, wearing nothing but a red slinky dress, black pumps and a dirty blonde wig. I didn’t even want to get into the make-up. My thick black hairs were plastered to my legs as my sweat made its way down to the insides of the pumps.

  I checked the time on my phone and I wasn’t even surprised. Late as always. I slipped off the high heels, jumped over the bushes and started my jog back into the store. I heard whistles in the background as men, boys, or whoever watched my butt bounce. You would think it’d be obvious I’m a guy. The broad shoulders should have been a dead giveaway.

  I walked into Tina’s and the store front was empty; I already knew how this night was going to go. I pulled my wig off and marched to the back office.

  There she was, plopped on the manager’s desk, smacking that damn gum. ”Brit what are you doing? There’s no one at the register, are you trying to get fired?” I said. She continued to run her mouth on the phone, her butt crack bulging out of her too-tight jeans. She’s one of those girls who thought she was a size small when in reality she was a large.

  Brit ignored me as I walked to the phone plug. She was going to hate me but whatever. I pulled it and almost instantly she was swinging off the desk, and pulling her jeans over her belly.

  Does she think that’ll make her thinner? She’s still a beast. She came over to me, a little too close for comfort, smacking that damn gum again and her annoying, nose pinching voice invaded my ears.

  “What the hell Max! That was an important phone call. Sam’s boyfriend’s cousin’s girlfriend’s godmother’s aunt was just diagnosed with cancer. This is a hard time for Sam right now and I need to be there for her!” I stood still hoping that eventually she’d tell me she was joking. But she continued to stare at me wide eyed, hands on her hips, tapping her big clown feet on the ground.

  “Are you serious Brittany? That is just the most pathetic crap I’ve ever heard,” I said as a car honked outside the store. “Brit just use the phone that’s up at the register, my ride’s here and I don’t want to show up to work tomorrow just to be told I’m fired.”

  Rolling her eyes, she wobbled her way to the front register. We never got along. Especially when Tina first hired her and she thought she could seduce me in the storage closet. Just the memory alone makes me gag. She’s so short, she had to use the stool step to reach up to me. Well, to make a short story even shorter, I grabbed the mop in the closet and stuffed it in her face—making her lose her footing, fall backwards and knock all the cleaning supplies to the ground. Let’s just say besides being embarrassed about cornering me like that, she holds a minor grudge.

  I quickly went to the bathroom, washed my face, and threw on my clothes. Finally I get to go home.

  I made my way out to the curb where Brittany was trying to push the mosquito bites she called breasts, toward Jones.

  “Alright Brittany, I hope to see you at Anthony’s party tomorrow.” Jones winked at her and flashed his million dollar smile. She was in such a trance looking at him, she didn’t move at his dismissal. I cleared my throat and she glared at me. If looks could kill. She moved out of the way and crossed her arms over her flat chest.

  “And Brit, please stay at the register until closing.” She rolled her eyes at me and I gave up. No use in repeating myself. Jones turned the keys in the ignition of his royal blue BMW coupe and the engine purred to life.

  “Bye Jones!” Brittany almost jumped out of her clothes, waving frantically as we drove away.

  “It’s about time you came and picked me up. What took so long? And take off those sunglasses before you get me killed in this car.” I held on to the handle by the door as Jones swerved through the night like a maniac.

  “What took so long, you ask? Well if you must know, I got us dates with none other than the freakin’ Anderson twins!” Almost too excited to contain it, he wiggled in the driver’s seat. I couldn’t help but laugh. It was official; my best friend was a man whore.

  He was tall like me, but with olive skin and hazel eyes. He never had trouble getting girls, and I was always his wing man.

  “Why are you not excited? These chicks are hot, like Megan Fox hot! I better get some kudos for scoring us these girls for Anthony’s weekend party,” he said as he turned to face the road again.

  “Instead of getting kudos, you should start worrying about what my mom is going to say when we get home. Its family night, remember? She’s going to flip.” Both of us let out a deep breath, realizing we were in for some trouble.

  A light blue two story house with white trimmings, came into view as we pulled up the drive way. Right in the middle of your typical “leave it to beaver” neighborhood with the white picket fences. The porch lights were on, and sitting on one of the rocking chairs was a slender woman. She wore a floral dress under her white and pink kitchen apron; her right leg crossed over her left, she tapped her long thin fingers on her knee. Waiting. Patiently waiting.

  It scared us half to death.

  Emily Taylor was tall for a woman, and
it was the only characteristic I had of hers. She was usually a very calm person, but her one and only pet peeve was tardiness. Her brown eyes were glossy in the night as we stared at her from the car; debating as to who would get out first.

  “You get out first, she’s your mom.” Jones countered, holding his ground.

  “You made me late, so you get out first.”

  “Let’s both get out at the same time; on the count of three.” We nodded in agreement.

  “One…Two…THREE!” We jumped out of the coupe and dashed towards the porch, but it was too late. Her voice rang out all the way back into town.

  “MAXIMILLION TAYLOR AND LORAN JONES! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?”

  Jones cringed at the sound of his name. He hated being called by his first name. It sounded too much like Lauren.

  “I have been so worried and neither of you decided it would be thoughtful to give me a call? What were you doing? Cruising around town? Picking up girls on a school night? Speak up I can’t hear you!”

  The neighbor’s lights turned on. This was what I hated. She always made a scene.

  Quietly, Jones stepped up and spoke. “I’m sorry Emily, it was my fault. I was late picking him up. I had to stay after school to make up a test and when I went to pick up Max, the store was so busy. We didn’t have the chance to call.” His voice became childlike and I envied him for his acting skills. He could get away with murder if he wanted.

  The neighbors were already standing under their porches or driveways watching the scene that was unfolding at the Taylor’s. My mother stood under the porch with her arms crossed over her chest, contemplating what he had just told her.

  Right on cue, our front door opened and my dad walked out. I was a splitting image of my father. Tall, pale with black hair and matching eyes. Always calm and for an old guy, he could give The Situation a run for his money. Okay, I might be exaggerating but for someone who never worked out, he was pretty fit. Whenever he went to the PTA meetings at school, my mom would have to shoo away the single mothers who crowded around him.

  “Honey, please calm down. They’re just boys and the neighbors are watching. Let’s come inside and eat.” He tugged her by the arm.

  “Get inside and wash up,” she said through clenched teeth and we ran up the drive way as fast as we could.

  Before I went inside, I caught Angela, the girl next door, watching us with the rest of the neighborhood. I was glad for the darkness because I could feel the heat rush up to my face.

  “It wasn’t that bad, was it? Last time I thought she would actually beat us.” Jones let out a stifled laugh as he finished washing his hands. “Though I have to admit, Xavier coming out was a big help, apart from my acting skills of course.” He winked at himself in the mirror, flashing those pearly whites and walked back into my room.

  I spun around and around in the chair at my computer desk until I was too dizzy. My room was like any average teenager’s—everything that made me one at least—from video games and an unmade bed, to the dirty socks and underwear lying on the ground.

  “So have you decided on which twin you want this weekend? I prefer the freakiest one, but I’ll let you get first dibs.” He plopped down on my bed, making himself at home.

  “No, I haven’t put much thought into it, but I don’t really care,” I said as I rolled up some dirty socks into balls and shot them into the laundry hamper. Jones jumped up at my response.

  “Dude, if it weren’t because I know you, I would have thought you were rooting for the other team. How do you not care about the Anderson twins?” His face was in complete and utter shock.

  “I just don’t. I’m not like you.”

  At that moment, my mom yelled for us to come down for dinner. The conversation forgotten, we raced down the stairs to see who would make it first. At the smell of fried chicken we stopped, my mouth watered. We hurried to our seats in hopes to start eating soon.

  Coming in and out of the kitchen, my mom brought in a bowl of potatoes salad and some greens. She sat down lightly and pulled her napkin under the table and onto her lap.

  “Okay, let’s say grace.” Before she could open her mouth again, the three of us yelled “grace” and began to eat. This infuriated her every time.

  No one ever spoke while eating. The chatter began when dessert was on the table. It had been an unspoken rule.

  My mom came in with a fresh out of the oven apple pie and a bucket of homemade vanilla ice cream. Even though we were all full, our mouths were still salivating.

  “So boys, how was school today? Anything new?” My dad didn’t even look up from his plate of dessert. Jones was the first to speak, stuffing his face with ice cream and pie.

  “School still sucks, I’m still playing football, girls still want me, and oh, Max and I have dates tomorrow with the Anderson twins. Score, right?” I glared at Jones as he smiled at my parents with pure excitement, while vanilla ice cream dripped from his face. He was so relaxed, I kicked him from under the table. Like always, his comments shocked the hell out of my mother; but my dad just brushed them off.

  “Aren’t they the two girls that Deputy Riley caught working at that adult entertainment restaurant outside of town?” She looked at us with wide eyes.

  “Uh huh, isn’t that awesome.” Jones had a grin from ear to ear. Before my mother could say anything, my Dad cut in.

  “You boys be careful tomorrow night, them girls are fast.”

  Under his breath Jones whispered, “But we’re faster.” My mom caught it, and glared at us both.

  “So um...” I croaked and cleared my throat trying to change the subject. “I submitted my college applications.”

  “That’s fantastic, Maximillion. I see a good university in your future,” Dad said into the awkward silence.

  “Yeah, we’ll see.” It was the only thing I could say, because I didn’t want to go anywhere expensive. I was content with staying at home and going to a community college outside of town. Thinking about telling him was nerve-wracking. My father was so calm that I was worried he’d lose it one of these days. School was a big deal for him.

  “Well, it is too late to play a board game so we will just have to compensate tomorrow night.” My mother chimed in, hoping to have us stay home.

  “Emily, you know the boys have plans tomorrow night. We will play it next week.”

  Jones relaxed, thinking his plans were shattered. Even though he wasn’t biologically part of the family, he still considered us his family. And telling my mom “no,” was out of the question.

  Jones and I headed for the kitchen since it was our turn to wash and dry the dishes. I looked out the small window above the sink to see if Angela was in her room, but I couldn’t catch a glimpse.

  “Earth to Max! Stop trying to peek at that girl’s window, you pervert.” He caught me staring at the house next door. “Dude, you really need to give up on her. She is way out of your league. Anyways, I heard she was dating someone.”

  I turned my head so fast I was surprised I didn’t snap my neck. “What?”

  “Yeah, I heard she was dating this older guy or whatever. So just get over her. Remember we got dates with the Anderson twins tomorrow.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How did Jones find these things out? Angela never spoke to anyone at school. People were frightened by her and I didn’t blame them. She was the only girl in school who wore leather in the summer and almost always dressed in black. Decked out in ripped jeans, a leather jacket and her combat boots, she looked like some bikers’ girlfriend—but she was beautiful. She had the face of an angel: not one imperfection. And those dark green eyes stood out seamlessly against her sun kissed skin and midnight black hair that fell into these curls that were completely flawless. She was amazing. I wonder who she’s with. Having been quiet for too long, I snapped out of my trance and looked to my best friend.

  “Do you need help drying?” I was done with my part of the bargain and I needed to get out of the kitchen before I kep
t looking at her window. Jones shook his head. “Alright, well I’m heading upstairs. I got that chemistry exam to study for,” I finished up and went to my room—my thoughts nowhere near chemistry.

  The house was silent and darkness filled my room. After a shower I couldn’t think about cracking a textbook. The thought of Angela with someone else made me feel like I’d been punched in the gut and I couldn’t explain why. I didn’t even know this girl, so why was I so hung up on her? I’d dated plenty of girls, but still, she lingered in my mind. Before I could even think of who it might be, I heard voices downstairs. Grabbing my baseball bat from under the bed, I crept out of my room. It was late—Jones had already left and my parents had gone to sleep over an hour ago—it couldn’t be them. I inched closer to the top of the stairs by the kitchen, and heard the conversation clearly.

  “Took you long enough, I thought you fell asleep on me.”

  “No, just had to make sure Emily was sound asleep. So tell me, what news do you bring?”

  “Nothing concrete so far, but word through the grapevine is that there’s an odd amount of demons lingering around town and they’ve been asking for you. You might want to send Max and Emily away for a vacation until we clear things up. You don’t have to stay either; we can handle it on our own.” I recognized the voices. Why was Jones talking to my dad? “You can’t keep this secret forever, Xavier. He will soon find out, I just hope it’s not the hard way.”

  “Well I can sure as hell try to keep it. That is why you both are here. To protect him. So if he finds out, then it falls on you both. Where is she anyway? I said I wanted to meet with both of you.” Getting closer to the stairwell, I got a look at them and my voice got caught in my throat. This was some cloak and dagger crap.

  Jones got up from his seat. I couldn’t see his face well but his tone was so serious I almost didn’t believe it.

  “You know she doesn’t like coming here. It’s too risky, and trust me Xavier; we won’t be accountable for your fall. Things have dragged on for too long and we are pushing our luck. Let us not get too comfortable.”