Being a Jett Girl

  “You smell divine.” I rubbed my nose against her neck.

  “I have to go,” she announced sadly. “Kace is waiting for me downstairs. I just came up here to give you a kiss goodbye.”

  We made out on her bed for at least ten minutes before I came up here, making sure I gave her enough kisses to last the next couple of hours so I found it adorable that she wanted to sneak one more in.

  I rubbed my thumb against her cheek and said, “Can you hang in there just a little while longer? I hope to have this all settled after the Mayor’s Ball which is coming up shortly. After that, this whole mess should be taken care of.”

  “Really?” She brightened. “Then I can come back here, go back out on the stage and be with the girls?”

  “I don’t know about the stage…”

  “Jett Colby!” She planted her hands on her hips.

  “We can discuss that when the time comes.”

  “I want to be out there,” she said defiantly.

  “Little one, don’t make me raise my voice. I said we will discuss it later.”

  “Ugh, you’re infuriating. Fine, but I’m going to put up one hell of a fight.”

  “And I look forward to it,” I replied while nuzzling her neck.

  “I really have to go.” She sighed. “Kace is already pissed at me for making him bring me here.”

  “Kace can suffer while I soak you in for a little while longer.”

  She wrapped her arms around my neck and brought her lips down on mine. She was soft and gentle with an edge of yearning. Her tongue darted out of her mouth and I tasted minty toothpaste on her lips that ignited a flame deep within. I felt my cock start to grow under her and she noticed too because she pulled away and looked down between us.

  “Seriously? You have more in you after last night and this morning?”

  “You do this to me, little one,” I said as I rested my forehead against hers. “I told you, I need you all the time. I can’t control it.”

  “I need you, too.” She took a heavy breath and looked out the window behind me. “I can’t wait for all of this to be over, Jett. When it’s over, do you think we could, you know, go out in public together? Like on dates?”

  The sadness in her voice spilt my heart in two, I hated that our situation made her sad, that I couldn’t give her what a normal boyfriend could, that I couldn’t even take her out on a simple date like she deserved. She really deserved so much more than me but I was a selfish bastard who wouldn’t give her up. She was mine.

  “We will have to lay low for a little bit but after the storm passes through, yes, we’ll be going out in public together. I would love to take you on dates, little one. Please don’t think otherwise, I just need some time to figure this all out.”

  She nodded and started to get up but I held her down, I had to tell her something that she wasn’t going to like very much but I thought I would rather be open and honest with her than she find out another way.

  “I need to talk to you about something.”

  “Okay,” she said with hesitation.

  “The Mayor’s Ball is a big deal and for me to pull off the fact that we aren’t together, I need to show up with another date.”

  “Okay, so are you bringing one of the other girls?”

  “No, I don’t want to put them at risk. I need someone who is neutral and frankly who I don’t care about.”

  “What are you trying to tell me, Jett?”

  “The other day when I had a visitor, that was Keylee Zinc.”

  “Keylee Zinc, who the hell is…” She stopped her words as realization hit her. “The kiwi?!” She got off my lap faster than I could react and started to pace the length of my office. “You mean to tell me that you’re going to the Mayor’s Ball with the kiwi who blatantly said she would do anything to become a Jett Girl? Are you trying to deliberately hurt me?”

  “What?” I stood up and walked over to her. “No, I would never do that. I’m doing this because it’s the only way…”

  “That’s bullshit. I don’t want to hear about how it’s the only way. It’s not the only way. Take me, take Kace, take Miss Mary for fuck’s sake but don’t take the one girl who I would rather eat razor blades over seeing socially ever again. Why the fuck would you do that?” I could feel the tension pouring off her, the anger, the sadness.

  “I’m not doing this on purpose, Goldie. It’s the perfect distraction. Keylee is well known in the crowd I need to mingle with so if people see us together…”

  “They’ll think you’re together,” she finished for me but in a hysterical tone. “I don’t want people thinking that.”

  “Goldie, please think rationally for a second about this.”

  “I am,” she shouted. “I’m the only one thinking rationally. You drive me crazy, Jett. Keeping me in the dark about everything, sending me off to live with some guy who, I’m sorry, has some kind of flirting problem because that’s all he knows what to do and then you say you’re going to go to an intimate affair with another woman but not just any woman, you’re going with the kiwi. Fuck, Jett. You’re breaking me in two.”

  Flirting? I was going to have to talk with Diego because that was unacceptable. No one flirted with my girl but me but I wasn’t about to bring that up with Goldie. That would be a separate conversation I had with Diego later.

  I grabbed a hold of her arms and made her stop pacing. I forced her to look me in the eyes as I spoke carefully.

  “Remember what I told you? Have faith in me, little one. In us.” I ran my hand along her necklace. “I gave this to you to let you know that I’m committed to you and you alone. No one else and no one else can step in between that. I might be taking someone else to a ball but you’ll be in my heart.”

  She deflated and shook her head. “I hate this so much. Ever since I met you it’s been an up and down roller coaster. I don’t know how much more I can take.”

  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 en
lighten 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.

  “Lo!!!!!!!!!” they shouted and all pounced on my bed.

  “Who’re you talking to?” Babs asked as she smacked her gum and popped a bubble.

  “I bet it’s Jett,” Tootse said as she poked one of my tits.

  I swatted her hand away and spoke into the phone, “Sorry, I didn’t hear what you said.”

  “That’s okay, little one. I will—”

  Before I could hear him finish, Pepper grabbed the phone from my ear and said, “Lo is ours tonight. Goodbye, Jett.” And with that, she hung up the phone making the girls cheer and causing my mouth to drop open. Were people allowed to just hang up on Jett Colby like that?

  She tossed the phone on my lap and then clapped her hands together.

  “Francy, pull it out girl.”

  Francy stood up and pulled a flask from her purse that was slung across her chest. She then grabbed five shot glasses that she brought over from the club and handed them out.

  Apparently we were going to get shitfaced tonight because the dragon fire coming out of my shot glass singed my nostril hairs.

  Pepper turned a dance party mix on her phone, set it to the loudest volume and blasted us with a deep beat. We held our arms up in the air and swayed to the music as we counted off.

  “To a night with the girls,” Tootse said.

  “To a night without sweaty, fat man lap dances,” Pepper said.

  “To a night of no Kace Haywood breathing down our necks,” Babs stated.

  “To a night of pussies and tits,” Francy said.

  “To a night of debauchery,” I finished.

  We clinked our glasses together and chugged them, then held them out for a chaser of…another shot and slammed that as well.

  Tootse’s face cringed, Francy squealed, Babs shimmied and Pepper thrust her pelvis in the air, we were fucking ready.

  Bourbon Street was crawling with tourists, locals, street performers and barely-covered women. I took a deep breath and swallowed the smell of booze mixed with the faint smell of bile…I was home.

  Kace and Diego trailed us
from a decent distance but always kept an eye on our movements. When Kace showed up, his heated gaze took in my apparel making me shrink from his stare down. Then Diego walked in, wearing a tight V-neck shirt and all bets were off. We had two hot bodyguards and the girls could not be more happy about it. They all were swooning over Diego, I didn’t blame them.

  “Where to first?” Babs asked as we walked by a duo of street performers dancing on some worn-out pieces of cardboard. The streets were barely lit by lanterns outside of the establishments that flanked the street and bar music and live bands competed with each other, trying to draw in the drunkards to spend more money.

  “Daiquiris!” Francy fist pumped the air and took off to a corner bar where there were no doors, just a wall of fifteen different flavored daiquiris that would have you sitting on your ass in less than half an hour if consumed too quickly.

  We all followed her and scanned the different flavors that were offered. Flavors ranged from cherry limeade to blue cooler to witches brew.

  “Five party animals,” Babs ordered for us while slapping down some money on the counter. “And we want the biggest fucking cups you have.” She winked at the bartender that was covered in piercings and tattoos. He winked back and started making good on our order.

  Francy grabbed my hand and started twirling me in the middle of the bar.

  “Time to get loose, baby. You’ve been too tense lately,” she shouted over the music.

  “That’s what happens when you take me away from my favorite dick,” I replied making Francy throw her head back and laugh.

  “Thank God I always have my little pussy cat next to me.”

  We both looked over at Tootse who was bobbing her head to the music and tapping her foot on a barstool. Babs had her arm around her and was twirling Tootse’s hair in her finger while Pepper humped the backside of Babs’s back. Someone must have started drinking a little earlier than the others.

  “Baby!” Francy called out, waving Tootse over to us.

  She smiled, grabbed three drinks that were already poured and brought them over to us. The neon cups graced our hands with straws that were almost as tall as the long cups begging for our lips. With one sip of the freezing cold liquid, I knew it was going to be a long, inappropriate night for me.