Unfortunately, she was right. I’ve been nothing but trouble for her since she got here. If it wasn’t my damn emotional brick walls stopping her from moving forward, it was my father’s lack of humanity. I was fucking with her in every which way and I still couldn’t be the bigger man and let her go. I kept stringing her along. I didn’t want to admit why but in the pit of my stomach, I was pretty sure I knew the reason.
“Please, little one, just hang in there a little bit longer.”
Deflating, she nodded her head and looked up at me with unshed tears. “I just want things to be normal.”
“Me too.” I wrapped her up in my arms and kissed the top of her head. “Me fucking too.”
Instead of sending her on her way, I walked her down to the garage where Kace was waiting and helped her into the car. Before she pressed her body against the seat to hide, she gave me one last kiss on the lips and held on to her necklace.
“Don’t forget about me, Jett.”
“Not possible, little one. You’re on my mind every damn second of the day. Go back to Diego’s, relax and enjoy painting. Get lost in the paint and before you know it, you will be back at the Lafayette Club and in my arms.”
I kissed her one last time and sent her on her way. It was painful to send her back to Diego, especially since our relationship was rather shaky but I didn’t have a choice.
When I got back to my office, my cell phone buzzed against the hardwood of my desk. The number was unknown but I answered it anyway. Given everything that was going on, I was taking just about any call these days.
“Jett Colby,” I answered.
“It’s nice to hear your voice, it’s been a while. Did you receive my letter, son?”
My father. I cringed from the way his voice slithered through the phone.
“I did but there was no use sending it because like I told you, there is nothing going on between Goldie and me.”
“That’s not what I heard,” he replied.
I kept calm as I sat in my chair and fiddled with a pen between my fingers.
“Oh, please enlighten me with what you heard because I can guarantee you that they’re wrong. Goldie is no longer a part of my life. She was a decent fuck but after I grew bored of her defiance and inability to submit properly, I dropped her out of my life.”
My dad laughed and said, “You always had a problem with control.”
“And you always had a problem with being a decent human,” I retorted, not enjoying the father- son conversation he was trying to have right now.
“Life isn’t full of candy canes and bimbos, Jett. Take a lesson from me, you have to be cutthroat to get anywhere in this world.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I’ve climbed my way to the top using honesty and good business sense. I’ve never had to bribe anyone or slip anything under the table to get what I wanted.”
“Yes, but what you fail to realize is that you never would have gotten to where you are without the foundation I built you and the Colby name. I made you, I launched you into this business world and without me, you would be no one. So don’t go and scoff at my techniques because without me, you would be a sorry shit just like your mom.”
“Fuck you,” I replied, losing my temper.
A maniacal laugh escaped his mouth before saying, “Choose wisely, Jett. Lot 17 or Goldie.”
“Do whatever the fuck you want to Goldie, I couldn’t care less about her. Why don’t you get a fucking clue? It’s over between us. She’s up for grabs for all I care,” I shouted into the phone praying that he didn’t read my bluff.
“Good to know. I’ll let Rex know she’s fair game.”
I clenched my teeth and held back the hiss that wanted to escape my throat. “Good fucking luck to him,” I said instead.
“See you at the ball,” my dad called out and then hung up. I tossed my phone on my desk and leaned back in my chair, rubbing the side of my temples.
I swore under my breath as I thought about my dad’s threat and my bluff to throw Goldie under the bus. I just prayed that my father was all talk because if he laid one finger on Goldie, I would lose my ever-fucking mind.
Chapter Thirty One
“This is How We Do”
Lo
“Black thong, black bra, black skinny jeans, white tank top and a leather jacket, oh and I can’t forget my three inch black pumps.”
Jett groaned into the phone. “I think you need to change into a turtleneck and a corduroy jumper.”
A laugh escaped my mouth. “How do you even know what a jumper is?”
“My nanny used to wear them all the time. It was her go-to outfit. She had them in every color and texture.”
“Classy.” I laughed.
“At least there was no chance that as a teenager I would be hitting on my nanny.”
“I guess you’re right about that. I bet you were a troublemaker.”
“Kace and I got into our fair share of trouble but luckily never really got caught. We were able to get away with anything back in high school. No one believed that a Colby would do anything to get in trouble and pair that with Kace’s smile that used to melt the pants off all of our teachers, even the men, we got away with all of our pranks.”
“Kace knows how to smile?” I asked, acting completely shocked. “I don’t believe that one second.”
“Well, he’s changed,” Jett admitted. “The guy’s been through a lot in his life and is having a hard time digging himself out of the emotional turmoil that blinds him almost every day.”
My heart broke as Jett talked about his friend with such sadness in his voice.
“What the hell happened to him?”
“That’s not my story to tell, little one. If he wanted you to know, he would have told you. Just let it go.”
“I just wish I could help him,” I admitted. Kace owned a little piece of my heart, ever since the day I first met him, even though he was an ass, he still put a hole in my heart and buried himself in it. He helped me through so much and was always there for me, I only wish I could return the favor.
“I do too.”
The mood of our conversation went down to an artic level so I tried to spice it up a bit.
“You know, there’s still time, you can still go out with us tonight.”
The girls were coming over to Diego’s and we were all going to go out for a little night on the town, have some drinks on Bourbon Street and do a little dancing. My friend Lyla from Kitten’s Castle was going to meet up with us and we were going to take advantage of our night off. Of course Diego and Kace would be trailing us to make sure we didn’t happen upon any trouble but I could ignore two beefy bodyguards that took my breath away every time their shirts happened to slip off.
“You know I want nothing more than to spend the night with you, watching you get sloppy drunk and calling me a cow’s vagina but I have a prior engagement I must attend.”
“You paint such a beautiful picture of me,” I teased. “I still need to see that security tape of that so-called night. I still don’t believe you.”
“You’re saying that I conjured up such a lie?”
I took a second to think about it and then said, “Why, yes. I do think that.”
“Little one, it disappoints me that you find it so easy for me to make up such a story about you calling me a cow’s vagina. If I made up such a story, I would have at least called me something like a vulture’s asshole.”
I choked on my spit from Jett’s rather rare display of vulgar language.
“Why, Jett Colby, next time I see you I might have to wash your mouth out with soap.”
“I know something else you can do with my mouth,” he said in his deep southern voice that ran from my ears all the way down to my toes.
“Are you trying to torture me?”
There was a knock at my door as Jett tried to answer me but I couldn’t hear him because in a loud wave of cheering came all four Jett Girls with their arms raised above their heads and causing a ruckus.