Chapter Nine

CHAPTER NINE

Levee

I tapped out of the festivities after the first club, finding myself kind of, I don’t know, bored.

I’d never felt that way about a night out on town before. The only thing I could chalk it up to was the fact that I wasn’t interested in any of the women who came around our table in the VIP section.

I couldn’t even say what it was about them that didn’t interest me. They were all pretty and engaging.

But they weren’t… Jade.

I guess it came down to that.

“You’re uncharacteristically introspective tonight,” Teddy said as he brought me over a glass of scotch from his bar, then moved to sit in the chair across from me.

“I guess I am,” I agreed, taking a sip of the drink and looking around his penthouse. I’d been there a dozen or so times before, but this was likely the only time I’d seen it while not actively drunk or hungover.

As enormous as the space was, I found it surprisingly comfortable. I got why Teddy lived here instead of the many other estates he and his family owned across the country.

“Would this happen to have something to do with a favor you asked for a friend of yours?” he asked, insightful as ever.

“Think it might,” I agreed, taking another sip.

“I’m assuming this friend is of the female persuasion.”

“Yep.”

“And very pretty.”

“Gorgeous.”

“I thought so,” he said, nodding as he looked off into the distance for a moment, reaching up with his hand to rub his jaw. “I feel like I’ve been here about half a dozen times already,” he admitted.

“What do you mean?”

“One of you clueless bikers sitting across from me, all up in their heads about a girl.”

“Oh,” I said, realizing that Teddy likely was the person a lot of the guys ended up confiding in. He, like Eddie, was a friend of the club without being a direct member. And that little level of detachment made it seem like he was a safer person to confess something to.

“History goes like this. Sad sack feeling all confused and lost about a beautiful woman. Me, offering eloquent and spot-on advice on how you can’t logic your way out of feelings. Them, completely disregarding that advice and going out of their ways to be complete fucking idiots. Only to circle back around, realize I was right, do what I said to do, and get the girl and the happily-ever-after,” he said, making me let out a small chuckle, easily seeing the other guys in the club acting exactly like that. “So how about we cut to the chase and you just take my advice.”

“I’m… not opposed to that,” I said.

“I know you guys are the party hard, different girl every night, nothing serious kind of men. Which generally means you have the emotional intelligence of fleas,” he said, making me snort into my drink. “But let me break it down for you. When you finally come across a woman who makes you leave a night of partying early to come and sit in an empty penthouse with a man you barely know, that’s the woman you want to slow down and spend some time with.”

“I’m seeing her in the morning,” I admitted.

“Let me guess. She’s being chased by a dangerous member of the Russian mafia or is being stalked by an ex-boyfriend.”

“Eh, not that I know of.”

“No shit,” he said, nodding. “Interesting. Well, even better. How’d you meet?”

“She chewed me out for not taking good enough care of my uncle. She’s his neighbor across the hall.”

“And she’s not writing super secret fan fiction about you online?” he asked, making me smile at the mention of Donovan’s girl.

“Not that I’m aware of. She’s an artist, not a writer. I did offer to pose nude for her, though,” I said, smiling.

“Oh, is that who Zayn was talking about?” Teddy asked. “He was spouting something about a commissioned art piece for Daniyal. Which seems like the last thing in the world the man would want.”

“Precisely why Zayn would get it for him, I think,” I said. “But yeah. We happened to run into her at the farmer’s market earlier. I bought this,” I said, producing the goldfish print and handing it to him.

“This is really well done.”

“It’s Swim Shady.”

“Excuse me?” he asked, brows raising.

“That’s her goldfish. His name is Swim Shady.”

“Does she exclusively do animals?” he asked.

“No. She does a little bit of everything,” I told him, finding her website, then passing him my phone.

“Hmm,” he said as he scrolled through the images.

“Hmm, what?” I asked, not realizing my tone was a little sharp until he shot me a knowing look.

“She’s very good,” he said. “I’ve been looking for art for that new hotel,” he said.

“I’m sure she’d be over the moon at the idea. It would be nice for her to be able to get out of the building she’s in.”

“Same one you, Seeley, and Cato grew up in, right?”

“And Ama,” I agreed.

“Yeah, that’s not an ideal place for a single woman to be living,” he said. “I’m going to have the designer reach out to her in the coming weeks if you want to tell her to be on the lookout.”

“I will,” I agreed. “So, do you know a good bagel place around here? Particularly if they have cinnamon raisin ones.”

“Already know her food preferences, huh? Maybe you didn’t need the pep talk after all,” he said as he handed me back my phone. “There’s a great place about five minutes down the street. Mo’s. But you have to get there early or there won’t be anything left. Now, I’ll trust you can see yourself to bed,” he said, putting his glass on the coffee table. “I have an obnoxiously early meeting.”

With that, he headed off.

And I did something very unusual for me. I got an early night of sleep.

So that when Teddy got up for his obnoxiously early meeting, I was already up with coffee ready.

By the time he headed out, I decided to as well, wanting to make sure I could get Jade’s bagels.

I did drop into my uncle’s place first, but he was still out cold on his recliner, so I just left a few bagels on the counter, then made my way across the hall.

There was a second of hesitation, worrying it was too early, but I decided that Jade struck me as a morning person, so I knocked.

I immediately second-guessed my decision a moment later when the door opened to reveal a very exhausted-looking Jade.

No. Not just exhausted. Sure, there were purple smudges under her bloodshot eyes. But it was more than that. Her eyelids looked swollen. She was still wearing the same outfit from the night before, but now the skirt was ripped and the whole front of her was dirty.

“Are you okay?” I asked, my smile falling as my mind raced with all of the possible things that could have happened to her after she drove herself home.

If there wasn’t a spot in the lot and she had to park on the street, making her walk past the local drug dealing crew amongst various other people who were likely up to no good.

Or, you know, even some of her neighbors.

“What? Sorry,” she said, shaking her head.

“Are you alright?” I asked again.

“Oh, uhm,” she started, looking down at herself, realizing what she looked like for the first time. “Sorry. I’m… behind today. Can you give me twenty minutes to throw myself together?” she asked.

“Yeah, sure,” I agreed.

“Ah, make yourself at home,” she said before rushing off, whacking her hip off of her kitchen counter she was walking so closely to it.

I heard the door close a moment before the water in the shower turned on.

“Huh,” I said, setting my bag down on the old formica counter, checking out the fresh sage-colored cabinets that made the space feel less dated than my uncle’s apartment or the one I’d grown up in.

Her apartment as a whole didn’t even seem like it was in the same building as anyone else’s.

Unsurprisingly, Jade was a fan of color. From the yellow and orange drapes on the windows to the green couch covered in a bright, multicolored crocheted throw and multiple mismatched pillows.

There were a ton of live plants scattered around, including around her little space in the apartment that acted as her studio. It faced the front windows to allow for good light, and the walls were lined in shelves full of brushes, paints, and sketchpads.

There was also an abundance of art on the walls. All different styles in lots of different types of frames.

The only other wall left in the apartment was dominated by a massive fish tank. Inside, there were a shitton of live plants. And four fancy goldfish moving around.

I recognized Swim Shady immediately as I moved over to look at them. But the other three were equally as striking. One, black, white, and orange. Another, pure orange. The final, black and white.

“I feel like it’s wrong I only have a print of one of you,” I told them before moving across the room to pull open the curtains to let the sun in for the plants.

Moving back to the kitchen, I rummaged around in the cabinets to find the coffee, then started brewing a fresh pot.

In another cabinet, I found her plates and cups. As I expected, not a single one of them matched. And they were all colorful or fun. One mug featured hand-drawn flowers. The other was covered in various bird eggs.

The bathroom door opened, bringing a burst of hot air and the scent of lavender from, I assumed, her body wash or shampoo.

I exhaled hard, trying not to imagine her naked as I heard her move across the hall and close the door to her bedroom.

She emerged just a few moments later as the coffee machine beeped, looking refreshed.

Sure, her eyelids were still puffy and she still had the sleepless smudges underneath her eyes. But she looked less haunted.

Though, what I couldn’t seem to look away from the way her wet hair was soaking through her thin white cutoff tee. That she wasn’t wearing anything underneath.

I forced my gaze down, finding her wearing some sort of loose, flowy pants of some paper-thin light blue material.

“That smells good,” she said as I poured each of us a cup.

“Everything okay?” I asked again now that she’d seemed to have recovered a bit.

“Yeah. I just didn’t sleep well last night,” she said, shrugging it off. “This should make up for that,” she added, ducking into her fridge for some half & half.

“Please tell me you’re not one of those people who hates sugar,” I said as I took some of the creamer. “Because I’m gonna have to go borrow some from the neighbors then,” I admitted.

“Nothing wrong with cutting the bitter a little,” she said, reaching for a sugar bowl. “I don’t have coffee often, but when I do, I need something to sweeten it too,” she said, scooping one teaspoon into her cup. “Oh, wow,” she said, barely holding back a laugh as I put three.

“Yeah, the guys give me shit about it all the time too,” I said, taking a sip. “So, hungry?” I asked.

“Starving,” she said as I put my mug down to reach into the bag, pulling out two different cream cheeses and some butter before putting her cinnamon raisin on her plate and a sesame on mine.

“Oh, cinnamon sounds amazing,” she decided, producing a bread knife, and slicing her bagel before tossing it in the toaster. “You can’t eat this kind of bagel cold,” she explained. “Did you bring any to your uncle?”

“I dropped them on the island. He was still sleeping.”

“Yeah, he seems to keep odd hours,” she agreed. “So what did you guys do last night after I left?”

“Well, Teddy and I cut out after the first club,” I told her.

“Why?”

“Just wasn’t feeling it,” I said. Adding silently without you there. “And Teddy had an early morning, so it made sense to crash with him.”

“Are party buses a common occurrence for you guys?”

“This was a first. But Zayn always has something interesting planned. He once had his yacht docked around here and had a giant-ass party that went on for three days or so. I don’t even remember much of it. I think we were all wasted the whole time.”

“Zayn seems to be a party starter for sure,” she agreed.

“To be fair, the club has a lot of parties too. But his always go over the top.”

“Is he in real estate or something?”

“He’s… into international business,” I told her.

I wasn’t sure why I didn’t tell her the whole truth. It wasn’t like I was ashamed of my job and our connection to Zayn.

Maybe it came from growing up in such a disenfranchised neighborhood where I brushed shoulders with drug dealers and pimps almost daily. Amongst other criminals. And, to an extent, they were all kind of decent guys. They just saw a market and sold to it.

That was what we did as well.

There was just… something soft about Jade that made me want to protect her from the truth.

No.

That wasn’t exactly right.

It was that I didn’t know she would still want anything to do with me if she knew what I was into.

Was I probably a shitty person for keeping it from her? Yeah. But it wasn’t like she’d outwardly asked me what I did, or the club did, for a living.

I never felt so conflicted about my profession before. I guess that in the past, the women around us knew who we were and what we did since they were, you know, club girls. Or when it wasn’t club girls, it was all just fun and casual. I never knew their last names. They didn’t need to know my job.

This was… different.

I was kind of just stumbling my way through it.

“Oh, speaking of Teddy,” I said as she grabbed her bagel and started to spread the cinnamon cream cheese. “He told me to tell you to be on the lookout for his designer to contact you in the coming weeks.”

“Really?” she asked, eyes going round.

“He’s renovating or building, not sure of the details, a hotel. He says they need art. And he liked what he saw on your website.”

“Oh, wow,” she said, a shocked smile tugging at her lips. “You have a lot of amazing connections, huh?” she asked.

“To be fair, those are the only two super-rich guys I know. But they are good men to know because, well, they know everyone else. So shit kind of spirals out in a good way.”

“Is Teddy the sort to commission art of people he cares for riding mythical creatures?”

“I think Teddy’s tastes are a little more traditional than that. I imagine some of your beach pictures will be right up his alley for the hotels anyway. Maybe a goldfish one too. He liked Swim Shady. I met your other fish, by the way. Do they have names too?”

“Well, we have Tuna Turner, of course,” she said, making me chuckle.

“Of course.”

“Then there’s Mackerelmore and Carly Salmon.”

“Those have got to be the best names I’ve ever heard,” I decided as she took a bite of her bagel, letting out a moan that did not go straight to my dick or anything.

“Thank you,” she said. “And this is so good,” she told me, seeming to relax a bit more with each passing moment.

I still wanted to ask what had happened the night before. But I’d already asked three times. I didn’t want to piss her off with my curiosity. It was probably none of my business anyway.

“How was your dinner last night?” I asked, figuring we could hedge around the topic of what was wrong.

“It was good. I got lots of baby snuggles. And Curtis was filling me in on how things were going with his case.”

“Well, I hope.”

“Yeah. His new lawyers found out that the cops never even dusted the bag of drugs for prints. So they are having that done now since Curtis knows his fingerprints aren’t on it.”

“And there might be prints belonging to someone else who is also in the system.”

“Exactly,” she agreed. “He and Lily are hopeful. Cautiously optimistic. I really hope it goes well for them.”

“What about his work?” I asked. “Did he lose that new job of his? What?” I asked when she looked a little sheepish.

“I may have suggested that Lily call and, uhm, tell them that Curtis came down with, uh, meningitis.”

“Why meningitis?”

“Because employers aren’t scared of the flu or stomach bugs, since they go around so often. But meningitis is pretty alarming and people don’t want to catch it. So, it bought her enough time to cover for his absence since being in jail. He’s starting back the day after tomorrow.”

“And if he gets the charges dismissed, no one ever has to know.”

“Exactly. And if the worst happens, well, what does it matter?”

“And in the meantime, he’s earning a living.”

“Yes. Lily took on some child care work with other moms in the building for some extra cash too. I think this made them even more determined to get out of here.”

“Understandably. I wish I could say that things have changed since I lived here, but…”

“But there’s no decent social safety nets to help people rise out of poverty,” she filled in. “This area could really use some outreach programs for at-risk youths. Try to break the cycle of the local drug dealers getting their claws into the kids when they’re still in elementary school. Did you or your friends…” she started, then trailed off, worried she was asking something inappropriate.

“No. I mean, don’t get me wrong, we considered it. All of us came from shitty homes with no money. It was tempting as fuck. But we all knew that once you got in, you were in for life. And we wanted more freedom than that.

“Seeley got out way before us. Linked up with the bikers. Then once he proved himself, he brought us in too. And Ama, she got herself out thanks to college. Became a doctor. She actually runs the clinic in this area. Her way of trying to do good for the people around here.”

“Lily talked about that clinic being a lifesaver,” she said, smiling. “So where do you all live now?”

“Out in Golden Glades,” I told her.

“Oh, wow. I guessed I figured you were closer than that.”

“The club started in Miami. There was a car repair shop that also worked as an apartment building. But, uh, it… burned down.”

That was mostly true.

It actually exploded.

But admitting that would require an outright lie if I didn’t want to tell her it had been deliberately destroyed.

“Then the president decided to move somewhere that they could get a little more bang for his buck. Plus, it has a pool.”

“Ugh. That’s ideal with the heat around here,” she said.

“If you ever want to come swim, you can drop by anytime you want,” I invited.

“To swim naked?” she said, smirking.

“I will never judge you for your choice of bathing attire,” I confirmed, getting a tinkling little laugh out of her.

“I might just have to take you up on that,” she said as she finished up her bagel. “Hey, Levee,” she said, suddenly seeming serious again, her pretty eyes going as haunted as they’d been earlier, “can I ask—“

“Fuck! Oh, fuck fuck fucker!” my uncle’s voice yelled from across the hall, making both of us stiffen.

We were frozen in place for a moment, unsure if my uncle was just being his grouchy self, or if it was something more serious than that.

But then there was a cry for help that had us both turning and running across the hall.

I pushed the door open first, rushing into my uncle’s apartment to find him slumped back against the counter clutching his hand.

It was the blood that sent my adrenaline shooting through my system.

On the butcher’s knife. The cutting board. The countertop. His shirt. Leaking down his arm.

“Oh, God,” Jade gulped, looking a little green. Not great at the sight of blood. That was good to know.

“Let me see,” I demanded, moving forward and reaching for his hand.

“No.”

“You called for help,” I reminded him.

“Not from you.”

“Well, tough shit. You got me,” I said, grabbing his arm and pulling it closer to inspect the wound.

It wasn’t my favorite part of being in the club, but because of my line of work, I’d seen some gnarly wounds before. So while it was a nasty, deep wound, the contents of my stomach stayed where they belonged.

“Fuck,” I said. “Doll, can you hand me a dishcloth?” I asked, gesturing toward the drawer.

“Doll,” my uncle scoffed, trying to keep up his bravado, but he was looking a little pale now that he got a good look at the damage he’d done.

Some part of me wanted to lecture him about using a butcher’s knife to cut a bagel, but it hardly seemed the time. And the last thing I wanted to do was get into a fight when he was still losing so much blood.

I tightly pressed the dishcloth into the wound, then wound it tightly around his hand.

“Clamp down on it with your fingers,” I instructed as Jade moved around to push his wheelchair closer. “We have to go to the clinic,” I told him.

“Not going fucking anywhere with you,” he snarled.

“You need stitches.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You’re losing a lot of blood,” I insisted, thinking his blood thinner meds must have been the culprit.

“What do you care if I bleed out?”

“If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t be here,” I insisted. Though, at times like this, it was hard to remember why I did.

“William,” Jade tried, voice placating, “we need to go get you checked out, okay? It won’t take long.”

I was already texting Seeley and Amarantha, letting them know I was heading to the clinic with my uncle.

Ama texted back quickly, telling me Seeley was just dropping her off then, and she would keep a room ready for him.

“Fine,” my uncle snarled, glaring at me.

“Seeley is on his way to pick us up.”

“Don’t got your own fucking car, huh, boy?”

Sucking in a deep breath, I bit back my anger, reminding myself he was extra nasty because he was in pain and likely scared, even if he’d never admit that.

“Levee has a motorcycle, remember?” Jade asked, still using that singsong voice, but her face was a little harder since he couldn’t see it. “And as much fun as it might be to hook you up to it and drag you to the clinic, it’s probably safer to take a car.”

“Don’t like being treated like an inv—“

“Like someone who is hurt and needs to get looked at?” Jade interjected, cutting him off before he said something offensive. “Sorry, William, but that’s exactly what you are. Now, do you want me to make vroom-vroom sounds as I push you down the hall?” she teased. “Or are you going to stop being a big baby about it?”

Uncle Will harrumphed at that, but there was a slight twitch to his lips at her words as she started to push him through the apartment.

I went searching for his wallet so we had his insurance cards, then followed behind, catching up to them at the elevator.

We rode the car down in a tense silence, but both Jade and I were looking at how quickly my uncle’s blood was soaking through the white dishcloth.

By the time we made it out front, Seeley was already waiting for us with the passenger side door open.

“Seeley, you remember Uncle Will. And this is Jade,” I said.

“Hey, Jade. I would invite you to ride with us, but we’re barely gonna fit the three of us and the chair,” he said, taking charge and hauling my uncle out of the chair to push him into the seat, knowing he would get less lip about it than I would.

“I wouldn’t want to get in the way,” Jade insisted as Seeley grabbed the chair and walked around the car to fold it up and finagle it into the trunk. “William, try to be a good patient,” she said, giving him a smile. “You might even get a sticker if you behave,” she added, getting another lip twitch out of him.

“Doll, I’m sorry we got—“

“Don’t apologize,” she cut me off as I closed my uncle’s door so he wasn’t listening to us. “You can’t control an emergency. Go take care of your uncle. I need to get some work done on Mrs. Jackson’s canvases anyway. But thanks for breakfast. That was much needed today,” she added, reaching out to grab my wrist for just a second.

The look in her eye said she wanted it to be more than just a touch.

But my uncle and Seeley were waiting.

“Text me,” I said. “That way, I can give you an update.”

“Okay,” she agreed. “Now go. He’s looking really pale.”

With that, I climbed in behind Seeley into the minuscule backseat, and we were pulling away from the curb.

I turned back to watch as Jade seemed to almost run back into the building.

“Wouldn’t have fucking cut my hand if you didn’t bring those fucking bagels,” Uncle Will grumbled in the front seat.

Seeley rolled his eyes at me in the rearview.

“Wouldn’t have fucking cut your hand if you had used a bread knife to cut the bagel,” I shot back, patience razor-thin.

For once, though, my uncle had nothing to snap back at me with.

So we drove in stony silence to the clinic as I wished to hell I hadn’t dropped off the damn bagels.

If not for that, I might still be in Jade’s apartment.

Clothes might already be scattered on the floor.

Hands and lips and tongues might be exploring.

I sighed, shaking off those thoughts.

I’d get another chance.

I hoped.