Page 78 of Bourbon Deceit
“Hi,” I answered.
“God, I love your voice. How are you?”
“Much better now,” I admitted as I got comfortable in my bed.
“I feel like a teenager, talking to my high school crush right now.”
“You have a crush on me, Goldie?”
“I have a hell of a lot more than a crush, Mr. Colby.”
“Oh, yeah? Tell me about it.”
She laughed and said, “I’m not going to lie here and boost your ego. You know you’re hot, you know you own me, no need to repeat myself.”
“Sometimes a man likes to hear it.”
“You don’t need it.”
“I do, Goldie,” I said weakly. There was something about her that made me weak, that made me feel needy and I couldn’t control it.
“Jett, you’re such a confident man who knows what he wants and when he wants it, what makes you question my loyalty to you?”
I took a deep breath and thought about telling Goldie about Natasha but found myself unable to speak. She needed to know, it would be so easy to tell her, but would she think differently of me?
“Jett, I wish you would talk to me.”
“I was engaged once,” I said quickly.
“Oh . . .”
Fear started to prick the back of my neck and my stomach churned. I couldn’t do this. Just from her little response, I knew this wasn’t a good idea. There was no way I could tell her right now, not when we were so far apart. I would only be damaging what we had.
“Hey, I have to go. I forgot I had to sign a couple of things before I went to bed.”
“Jett, don’t. Don’t you pull away from me.”
“I’m sorry, Goldie.”
I pulled my phone away and ended the phone call, hating myself for not being man enough to tell her. When it came to her, I was so fucking weak.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Let Love In”
GOLDIE
“What the fuck,” I said as I looked at the blank screen on my phone. He hung up on me. Jett hung up on me.
Oh hell no!
I got out of bed, threw on a pair of yoga pants and a sweatshirt, and grabbed my purse. I was not about to let Jett get away with pushing me away. I didn’t care if I wasn’t supposed to go out alone. If he wanted me safe, then he was going to have to stop fucking around with me and talk. I was growing more irritated every day with his evasiveness. There was only so much a girl could take.
Being as quiet as possible, I stepped out of my room and walked down the stairs to the back entrance. The stairs creaked under my feet and I prayed Diego was a heavy sleeper. When I reached the door, I checked the locks first, then opened it as slowly as possible and slipped out of a small crack. I looked behind me before shutting the door to make sure Diego didn’t see me. The coast was clear, so I shut the door and walked through the back alley until I hit Royal Street. Bourbon was still roaring with drinkers, so I stumbled near my old dwellings and flagged down a taxi.
The ride over to the Garden District was quiet and almost eerie as I passed the wonky trees that lined the roads and the trolley tracks that were vacant of tourists and runners. I didn’t travel much at night so it was odd to see the quiet side of New Orleans.
The taxi pulled up to the Lafayette Club, which was dark save for Jett’s office window on the third floor, where a dim light shone through the window pane. The tall, white pillars and dark lanterns seemed intimidating in the dark as I paid the driver and walked to the back of the house, where I still had a key to get in.
