Page 4 of Sinister Hearts
Ma came outside with a thick wool blanket shortly after, while I watched the flames dance in a hypnotized gaze. She wrapped the blanket around me, looked at me, and said, “It’s time westop being sad, and it’s time we start getting angry.” With that, she left inside as her words marinated. She was right. I had enough of sulking in my own misery. I needed to get my ducks in a row, not for me, but for Birdie. No more drowning in my tears and hiding away from the pain that left a vast hole in my chest. I had become weak, and I hated myself for it. It was just me and the moon baring our souls and shedding layers of tainted skin. I wanted to rip out of my own skin and howl ruthlessly at the moon and just forget the pain. Give these damn neighbors something real to talk about. I’m sure the talk of the town tomorrow will be, “Oh my god, did you hear? Faye Robles was caught dancing under the moon nude?” Rolling my eyes, I kicked the dirt, already exhausted from my own internal dialogue.I wish that bitch would shut up sometimes.
Earlier that morning I had driven to Penelope’s—our families had been doing business together longer than we’d been alive. While we mainly maintained Grimstone’s herbs and community services, the Nightbloom’s took care of the town’s legalities. Penny’s father, Armand, and her grandfather, were well-respected attorneys and judges, and were part of the town’s committee, along with all of the founding families, including the Robles’, the Ravenport’s, the Nightbloom’s, and theGrimwood’s. The Nightbloom’s had their hands in anything that had to do with this town, making the family incredibly powerful. On top of never shying away from shady business deals, they were unstoppable.
Although people feared them due to their power, they always took care of us, and vice-versa. I grew up with both Penny and Rocky. I still carried the memories of us having slumber parties in her Victorian mansion, while all the three of us binged occult movies, likeThe CraftandPractical Magic, over popcorn, face masks, and gossiping about boys. While the three families didn’t seem very close, it was evident how much they respected one another. They always put us and the town first.
Our families always had one thing in common: Grimstone and blood. Penny took after her father and became a high-end criminal defense lawyer and started her own law firm here. She was a complete shark and wickedly beautiful. She was an exact replica of her mother, my Tia Selene, my ma’s half-sister, who for some mysterious reason became estranged with my mother over the years. My Tia Selene ran all the important events in town. She was known for her black short, sleek haircut, her cinnamon skin, lips always coated with cherry red lip gloss, and the most exotic emerald green eyes you’d ever seen. Despite Penny having her mother’s facial features and green eyes, she also took after her father, with her snow-white complexion and physique. Her stature was slender and tall at five-foot-nine.
With our families in relation and being founding families to Grimstone, we were inevitably around each other a lot. Our parents, mainly for the town’s businesses and events. But Penny, Rocky, and I were the three bitchachos, the brujitas. And despite our parents’ differences, we never let it get between us.
The Nightbloom’s and the Grimwood’s always had a strange competitive power struggle over the town. They always made sure to avoid one another, but were wise enough to come offas united in front of the townspeople. We all grew up together, making us close as adolescent teens who had nothing better to do in this small town besides throw bonfires in the desert and get wasted. I smiled at the memories, the remembrance of how simple life seemed back then.
I drove up to the Nightbloom’s mansion that sat right up a desert mountain hill. As I got out of my car, the view took my breath away. I gazed at the pink and red hues of the sunset. “Here goes nothing.”
I walked up to the tall, black iron gates, looking as if they came from hell itself. I smirked to myself. I knew the Nightbloom’s had always been eccentric—a fact I was already accustomed to. “It’s me, Faye,” I said while pressing the button.
“The door is unlocked. I’m in my office,” Penny voiced with her mid-tone, as always. She was always seemingly bored and out of patience, but I’d known her too long to take it personally. It was just Penny’s nature. The truth was, underneath all that steel, she had one of the greatest hearts I’d ever known. She would drop everything for the people she loved. It was the reason I was here. Seeing each other last week was emotional. We kept in touch over the last few years, but she became distant and short, and with a chaotic life of my own at the time, I just left it alone. I knew my cousin would come talk to me when she was ready. Rocky and Penny were two complete opposites: Rocky was like a cherry bomb and Penny was like a reclusive venomous spider.
The one thing about us three, though—no matter the time nor the distance, we always had a sisterhood, and we always surrounded each other in a time of need. When her father left back to Italy after he retired, he left everything to her. She didn’t take it well but Penelope was a true Daddy’s girl in every way.
Tia Selene often traveled back and forth from Italy to be with my Tio Armand. Penny’s introverted personality remindedme of him. Always working, in his office, and always so damn serious. Never had much to say, but when he spoke it was with eloquence and power. You always paid attention. I opened the heavy black door, the sounds of its hinges squealing and echoing throughout the mansion. Penny’s gigantic dobermans came running towards me. “Oh my god, Lestat and Akasha.” I dropped my purse as I bent down, petting them and getting ravaged by their licks to my face.
“Well, it seems my demon hounds remember you,” Penny said, making her presence known. Her energy and aura were as thick as the black coats of paint on the wall, and the red velvet oversize furniture. She stood there smoking her long cigarette, her black silk suit hugging her luscious body. “Come,” Penny demanded. The hounds obeyed without hesitation as they sat next to her, side by side. “Follow me to my office.” Her heels click-clacked with every footstep down the hall. She side-eyed my black boots and long jean skirt in the hallway mirror as she led me down a dark hallway, candles flickering in the room as she entered. “Please, sit.”
She welcomed me into her fully furnished antique office, the decor giving it a beautiful Victorian feel. The scent of something woodsy and vanilla caught my senses. “So, I hear you’re getting a divorce?.” She sat in her red velvet round chair, drinking her red wine, a strange smell of iron tinged in the air.
“Fortunately, yes. I know you are a criminal attorney, but?—”
“We do it all, cousin, whatever you need. How is the little crotch-goblin doing with all of this?” she asked, wrinkling her nose.
“She is doing a lot better than I expected, to be honest.”
Penny smirked. “Darling, she has you as a mother, she will always be okay. Not to mention my Tia Stefani, gods bless her soul.”
We both began chuckling, letting the awkwardness lift and feeling like no time had lapsed between us two. It was the first time we had been alone in years. “How is your mom?” I asked, as she handed me a beverage from her mini fridge.
“Oh you know, that woman is always up to something. Always keeping busy with the town affairs and events.” She swigged her glass of red wine. “She stays here with me most of the time, visiting my papi any time she can. It leaves a much needed distance between those two. Some things never change, I guess. So tell me, do I need to chop the balls off this man and drain him dry?”
“If it only were that simple.” I stared at my water and watched it start to bubble.
Penny grabbed my hands, taking me from my thoughts. “It can be, and I’ll make sure it is. Did you sign and fill out those documents I sent to you?”
“Yes, I did.” I took the stack of thick papers out from my bag.
Penny looked them over and I watched something catch her eye. She stood up and faced the window, as she continued to read.
“Did I fill something out wrong? I’m so sorry. I’ll fix it.”
“No, no. Umm, this is great.” She forced a smile on her face. “I just didn’t know how bad it was.” She read my statements and claims. “I’ll have this filed as soon as I go over everything.” She stood there staring at the paper in disbelief. “I’ll make this a priority. I will make sure this is handled by morning.”
“Uh, okay.” The awkwardness slithered its way back into the air.
“I’m so sorry, Faye.” Her wickedly green eyes penetrated me as she stood from the chair. “Well, it’s over now, so that’s a start. These people, Faye, this family, they aren’t good people. You must protect yourself and the womb-bat.” I wished she would stop comparing my child to creatures.
“I did, I left,” I replied.
Penny nodded in understanding. Something was undeniably different about her, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Like when did she take up drinking and smoking? She was always the straight-edge of the group. Always tagged along for parties, but never engaged with experimenting. She was always our DD, and the responsible one out of us three. I noticed the faint scars on her arms. Scars I’ve never noticed before today. My curiosity got the best of me. “So, enough about me. What have you been up to these last few years, besides all of this,” I asked, raising my hands in awe.
“There’s not much to tell. I took over my papi’s business. My mother is either traveling and fucking gods knows who, or in town throwing a social event every few months.” Penny took a sip from her thick, potent red wine, twirling it in her crystal wine glass.
