Ashes & Roses

Chapter 6

Carsin Saint Clair

'Sin'

The fraternity house of Omega Beta Sigma came into view before I even reached the street. I slowed down as I approached, scanning the crowd gathered around the property. Cars lined both sides of the road, some parked halfway onto the grass, others squeezed into spaces that clearly weren't meant for them. I kept driving until I found a spot a little farther down the street.

Close enough.

I pulled into an empty space beneath a tree and killed the engine. For a moment, I just sat there. The music was loud enough to hear from where I was parked, the bass carrying through the night in steady vibrations. Every few seconds, someone stumbled out of the house before disappearing back inside or wandering toward one of the groups scattered across the lawn. I rolled my window down slightly, letting cool air slip into the car. I lit another cigarette and rested my arm against the window, watching through the windshield.

There were people everywhere. Students stood around with red cups in their hands, laughing too loudly and talking over one another. A group near the driveway passed a cigarette between them. Someone had a speaker outside, though it was almost pointless with how loud the music coming from the house already was.

Two people were pressed against the side of a parked car, too distracted to notice anyone walking past them, another couple disappeared through the front door with their hands tangled together. Nothing about it surprised me, College parties were college parties. A variety of loud obnoxious music. Cheap alcohol mixed with even cheaper carbonated drinks and diluted with ice, and bad decisions. People pretending they weren't going to regret any of it in the morning.I took a slow drag from my cigarette and watched the smoke drift out through the small opening in the window. I wasn't here for any of that. My eyes moved across the house again. The front porch was crowded. People moved in and out through the doorway, some shouting over the music, others stumbling down the steps. I recognized a few faces. Most of them were already drunk. I took another drag and leaned back against the seat. The cigarette burned slowly between my fingers.

________________

A few minutes later, I finally spotted Luca standing near the front of the house. He was waiting just beyond the porch, far enough away from the crowd that nobody had bothered him. His hands were tucked into the pockets of his jacket, his attention moving occasionally across the street whenever another car pulled up. I took one last drag from my cigarette before dropping it into the ashtray. The ember disappeared beneath the lid. I rolled up the window, grabbed my keys, and stepped out. The cool air settled against my skin as I locked the car behind me. Luca noticed me immediately. His eyes met mine from across the sidewalk, he didn't wave, didn't call out, he simply waited.

I walked toward him, the sound of the party growing louder with every step. When I reached him, Luca gave a small nod.

"Sin." He straightened himself out.

"You've been waiting long?" I asked returning his nod.

"Not long." He reassured, even if he was waiting long her wouldn't say anything. His eyes briefly moved toward the house before returning to me.

"Zaelen's inside." He says clearing his throat "I can hear his loud ass from here" That was all that needed to be said. I glanced toward the entrance.

The front porch was crowded now. Students moved around us carrying red cups, laughing and shouting over the music. Someone brushed past my shoulder without apologizing. I didn't react. Luca stepped aside as another group came down the stairs. Neither of us spoke, there wasn't anything to discuss out here. We were here for one reason.

I started toward the entrance, and Luca followed without hesitation. The closer we got, the louder the music became, bass pulsed through the walls. The windows were fogged from the heat inside, and every time the front door opened, another wave of noise spilled onto the porch. Reluctantly, I stepped inside and the smell hit first, alcohol, smoke, different notes of perfume, and sweat. Too many people packed into one space, but none of it mattered, my eyes kept moving, looking for one person.

Zaelen.

___________

The fraternity had thrown the house wide open, tearing down the boundary between private rooms and public chaos. Furniture was shoved against the drywall, swallowed by a dense, shifting tide of students dancing beneath throbbing, colored lights. Red plastic cups littered every available surface like static on a screen. A few couples occupied the stairs, their voices raised over the bass, while others drifted aimlessly between rooms. I didn't stop. A guy cut across my path, and I veered around him without breaking stride, the leather of my jacket brushing his shoulder. Luca stayed glued to my right, an immovable shadow, his sharp gaze sweeping the perimeter. The air was thick and heavy, saturated with cheap liquor, stale smoke, and suffocating perfume. I swept the room again.

Nothing.

We pushed deeper into the house. It felt entirely wrong compared to the shop. At the shop, every surface had a purpose. Tools went back where they belonged; equipment was checked down to the bolt; doors were deadbolted, lights killed. Here, everything existed purely by accident an empty bottle teetering on a windowsill, an abandoned jacket slung over a chair, a pair of sneakers kicked off near the base of the stairs. I flicked a glance upward.

"Upstairs?" Luca murmured, his voice a low vibration beneath the music, barely meant for my ears.

I gave a sharp shake of my head. "Not yet."

My gaze dragged across the crowd, cutting through the haze until it caught him.

Zaelen stood near the back, looking entirely too much at home, anchoring a circle of sycophants. He wore the effortless, expensive smirk of a golden boy who believed every institution in this town legal or otherwise owed him a favor. One hand curled lazily around a red cup while he nodded at something a fraternity brother was whispering to him.

He was laughing. Of course he was.

Nothing about his posture suggested he'd spent his evening bracing for a collision with the me. His eyes drifted over the heads of the crowd, casual and unfocused, until they slammed directly into mine. His smile shifted. It didn't vanish it just tightened into something sharp, calculating, and dripping with misplaced arrogance. He lifted his cup a fraction in a mock toast. I didn't give him the satisfaction of returning it. We weren't here to play his juvenile games, and drawing a crowd in the middle of a packed fraternity house was a tactical liability. Keeping our movements measured, I started walking, the parting crowd instinctively giving way to the cold, dead weight in my expression. The circle around Zaelen noticed our approach. Their laughter died down in stuttering ripples, eyes darting between us before sliding back to their ringleader. Zaelen waited until we were standing right in his space, entirely unbothered by the fact that he was looking up the at men who dealt in blood rather than tuition checks.

"Well," Zaelen drawled, his tone laced with that practiced, slippery charm that had bought him out of a dozen criminal charges. His gaze flicked lazily between Luca and me. "You made it."

I shoved my hands deep into my pockets, my voice dropping into a flat, level register that cut straight through his affectation.

“You called."

"I did."

He took a slow swallow from his cup, letting the silence stretch just long enough to be an insult. He thrived on pacing, on making people dance to his rhythm. Instead of offering an explanation, he thrust the red cup toward my chest.

"You want one?" I stared down at the plastic, my tone ice.

"No." I breathed barely containing my irritation. Zaelen's eyebrows arched, amusement dancing in his eyes. He loved poking a sleeping dog, arrogant enough to think he wouldn't get bit.

"No?" He questioned slyly.

"No." I spat once more.

A slow, ugly grin spread across his face. "You haven't changed at all, Sin. Still allergic to a good time."

I didn't dignify the jab with a response. Engaging in a war of words here was a waste of breath, and Luca mirrored my silence, his face a granite mask. We weren't going to cause a scene not because we couldn't dismantle this entire house before midnight, but because Zaelen was not worth my energy and I refuse to give him what he wanted, a rise out of me. Zaelen's gaze slid past my shoulder to Luca.

"What about you? Still playing the strong silent type?" Zaelen played.

"I'm good." Luca didn't blink.

Zaelen let out a dry, quiet laugh, clearly amused by his own audacity. He took another sip, studying us both over the rim as if we were amusing little insects under a microscope.

"You two always look like you're on your way to a funeral."

"Maybe we are," I replied, my face a wall.

Luca shot me a quick, sideways look, but Zaelen just barked a genuine laugh, throwing his head back.

"There he is. I almost forgot you had a sense of humor."

"I wouldn't get carried away." Keeping my tone the same but irritation grew and my patience was wearing thin. His smile widened, entirely too pleased with his own performance. I knew the game he was playing. He wasn't ready to talk business not yet. He wanted us standing here, waiting, letting him dictate the terms like some corrupt little kingpin of a campus dorm. Zaelen had always fancied himself a chess master, addicted to making people wait for things they already knew they needed. Without warning, he drained the rest of his cup, tossed it onto a nearby table, and turned toward the back of the house.

"You two coming?" he called over his shoulder, walking off with the casual arrogance of a man who assumed the world would always follow.

I didn't move for a heartbeat, letting him take three paces before I followed, Luca right on my heels. We'd play his game just long enough to find out what he wanted, and then we'd finish it.

The heavy back door swung open, venting a rush of cooler night air that swept through the house. The music muffled slightly as we stepped out onto the patio, though the bass still vibrated through the concrete slab and rattled in our teeth. The backyard was a churning mass of bodies. Students clustered around patio tables with drinks in hand or lounged on outdoor sectionals, smoking and shouting over the din. A few couples swayed near a pair of massive speakers bolted to the siding, lost in the noise. Dead center in the middle of it all sat the pool completely empty, its underwater blue lights casting eerie, shifting patterns across the empty concrete basin as people drifted past its edge. Nobody has gotten in the pool yet; the concrete void was just another island for the crowd to anchor around. Zaelen walked right to the edge of the patio, moving with the careless ease of a man who owned the ground beneath his feet. He turned around, spreading his arms wide with a bright, mocking grin that didn't reach his eyes.

"Enjoy the atmosphere, gentlemen," he called out over the roar of the party.

I buried my hands deeper into my jacket pockets, letting my expression settle into a flat, impenetrable mask. Zaelen gestured grandly to the writhing crowd surrounding us, a sharp glint of condescension in his gaze.

"You both dropped out during freshman year. When was the last time you actually enjoyed a college party?"

I let his question hang in the air for a beat, sweeping my eyes deliberately over the sea of drunken students before locking my gaze back onto his.

"I'm enjoying it now," I replied, my voice dangerously level.

"Are you?" Zaelen let out a short, sharp bark of laughter.

"Yes."

He studied me for a long moment, his smirk faltering as he tried to decipher whether I was mocking him or entirely dead serious. I gave him nothing no tells, no micro-expressions, just the cold, absolute stillness of a predator who looked at a packed yard and saw only a shooting gallery. Slowly, his signature arrogance bled back into his features, a twisted kind of respect flickering in his eyes. Zaelen waded deeper into the crush of the backyard before dropping onto an oversized patio couch that looked like it had been dragged out of a basement specifically for the night. Dark cushions were slumped at awkward angles, one of them bunched crookedly beneath his arm as he lounged back with the theatrical ease of a Roman emperor surveying the arena. He stretched his legs out over the flagstones, looking up at us through hooded eyes.

"You two are really committed to looking miserable," he drawled.

I didn't offer him the courtesy of a response, and Luca remained a silent, unblinking wall at my right .Zaelen chuckled, flashing white teeth in the dim ambient light. "Seriously. You couldn't even pretend to have fun for one night?"

"We're here," I said, my voice flat.

"You're standing."

"I prefer standing."

He let out a dry huff of amusement. "You've always been difficult, Sin."

I stared down at him, letting the silence press down for a second before I spoke. "You invited us."

"I did."

"And we're here."

"Exactly." He smiled, that smug, untouchable grin of a man who thought every chess move on the board belonged to him. I exhaled a slow, measured breath through my nose, feeling the sharp edge of my patience begin to fray at the edges. I could have walked away. Could have shut his mouth for him right there on the patio. Could have reminded him of the food chain we operated on, far away from this collegiate playground. Instead, I kept my hands buried in my pockets and stayed put. This was his turf. His house, his drunk undergraduates, his carefully orchestrated stage. There was no profit in making a mess here, I broke eye contact, letting my gaze drift away from his smirk and sweep across the crowded yard.

The party bled across the entire property. Students clustered thick around the patio, plastic cups raised, shouting over the relentless thud of the bass bleeding through the open doors behind us. Clusters of bodies huddled beneath strings of amber lights, thick plumes of smoke curling up into the night air. My eyes dragged past the noise, landing on the pool. It was still mostly untouched, a sunken basin of artificial blue glow casting fractured, watery light across the concrete rim. Most people were too wrapped up in their own localized chaos to bother with it.

Then I saw her.

She sat completely alone on the edge of the pool, a pair of brown heels resting neatly beside her. Her honey-brown skin stood out against the blue silk of her dress, the fabric catching the glow of the pool lights whenever she moved. Her dark curls were loosely pinned back, a few strands falling around her face. Her bare feet moved slowly through the water, creating small ripples beneath the blue lights. She held a drink loosely against her knee, looking strangely detached from the chaos surrounding her. Everyone else seemed determined to be noticed but she wasn't. She simply sat there, watching the water as though the party happening around her had nothing to do with her.

"You listening to me?" Zaelen's voice snapped across the space, sharp and demanding.

I dragged my eyes back down to him.

"Yeah."

"I don't believe you."His eyes narrowed, skepticism glinting in the dark.

"I don't care." I replied

Luca shifted slightly beside me, turning his head away just in time to mask a dry, humorless smirk. Zaelen shook his head, though the arrogant amusement was already creeping back into his voice.

"You're unbelievable."

I didn't bother answering. My gaze flicked back toward the pool, almost involuntarily. She was still there. Still isolated and still staring into the water like she was a thousand miles away, letting the artificial blue light swallow her whole while the roaring bass shook the ground beneath her. I dragged my eyes away from the water and forced my focus back onto Zaelen. He was still draped across the oversized patio couch, completely relaxed, radiating the smug comfort of a man who believed he held all the cards. But I was done playing his game. I didn't come here to dance around the edges of a college party, and my patience had officially run out.

"The car's gone," I said.

The immaculate, performative smile on Zaelen's face faltered for a fraction of a second. Then, his entire demeanor hardened. He sank a fraction deeper into the cushions, his eyes narrowing into cold, calculating slits as they locked onto mine. The amusement crept back into his expression, but it was thinner now brittle and laced with venom.

"And my money?" he asked, his gaze dropping briefly to my empty hands before snapping back to my face. A slow, mocking drag of his lips curved upward. "I see you came empty-handed, Sin."

He lifted his cup, taking a slow, deliberate sip just to rub it in. My jaw locked, the muscle ticking hard against my skin. My hands curled into tight fists deep inside the pockets of my jacket, my knuckles biting hard against the fabric.

"It'll be ready by tomorrow," I said.

The words cut through the damp night air, sharper and colder than I intended. Zaelen lowered his cup, the plastic settling against the glass table with a quiet clack. Silence slammed down between us, heavy and absolute. The surrounding backyard remained a chaotic blur of screaming bass, flashing lights, and drunken laughter, but none of that noise breached the vacuum of our standoff. He held my gaze. I held his. Neither of us blinked, neither of us looked away. I knew that look on his face it was a calculated test, a quiet dare to see if I would crack under the pressure of his little kingdom. He had another thing coming. Before either of us could break the tension, a drunken roar tore through the air from behind us.

"CANNONBALL!"

All three of us whipped our heads toward the pool. A massive, shirtless guy came barreling across the flagstones, launching his weight through the air with zero regard for physics or anyone else in his orbit. He hit the water with a concussive slap that sent a wall of chlorinated water crashing violently outward. The tidal wave surged over the concrete edge straight toward her. She didn't even have time to brace herself. The wall of water slammed directly into her, soaking her front side in a brutal, freezing splash. The delicate blue silk of her mini dress instantly darkened, clinging desperately to her skin, while her hair and face caught the brunt of the spray. She flinched violently, a soft, breathless gasp escaping her lips as she was drenched. For a split second, she sat frozen, her shoulders curling inward as a hot wave of humiliation flushed over. Eyes widening in sudden, panicked mortification, she looked down at the soaked fabric clinging helplessly to her frame. She didn't glare, she didn't scream. Instead, a profound, overwhelming embarrassment locked her chest. With trembling fingers, she grabbed her brown heels, slipping her bare feet into them with hurried, clumsy desperation. She stood up instantly, wrapping her arms tightly across her chest as if trying to shield herself from the staring crowd, head bowed low to hide the heat burning in her cheeks.

She practically bolted, moving with the frantic, quiet energy of someone desperate to escape a spotlight she never wanted. My eyes tracked her movement through the dense crowd. She weaved through the clusters of bodies with her head down, praying nobody was looking her way. Someone staggered close, and she ducked around them, quickening her pace. She was running away from the exposure, fleeing the noise before anyone could point or laugh. I didn't look away. I watched every hurried step she took until the heavy wooden back door swallowed her up, and she vanished entirely into the dark interior of the house. The heavy wooden door swallowed her up, cutting off the last glimpse of blue silk and damp curls. The back door shut with a muffled thud underneath the music, and I turned my attention back to Zaelen. He watched me, his posture shifting as his arrogant veneer settled into something sharper, though amusement still lingered at the corners of his mouth.

"Tomorrow," he repeated, letting the word hang in the damp air.

I gave a single, curt nod. "You'll have it."

He studied me for another long moment before picking up his cup and leaning back into the worn cushions.

"I'll be expecting it."

"I know."

Luca remained an unblinking, silent wall beside me, the friction between us settling into a manageable weight. Zaelen broke the silence, glancing lazily toward the surging mass of students.

"You should stay for a while."

"I don't think so," I told him.

"You came all the way out here."

"To talk to you."

"And now we've talked," Zaelen said

"Exactly."

His trademark smile bled back into his features. "You really haven't changed, Sin."

"Neither have you."

Zaelen chuckled under his breath. "Fair enough."

I threw a brief, sharp glance toward Luca, who caught it instantly and tightened his posture. Without another word, we turned our backs on the patio couch and headed toward the house.

"Try to enjoy yourselves," Zaelen called out over the yard

I didn't bother responding. The heavy bass slammed back into us like a physical wall as we stepped through the doorway, replacing the open air with the suffocating noise of the house. Whatever Zaelen had dragged us out here for was handled for now. The rest of his kingdom wasn't my problem, the last place I wanted to be was here, so my exit was swift, uneventful, and uninterrupted.