Page 124 of Bourbon Kingdom
“Is this one of those conversations where we only ask each other questions?”
“I don’t know, is it?”
Shaking his head, a small smirk peeked through his lips, but was briefly wiped away when he sat back in his chair.
“She wants to talk, she wants to know what happened to me, and I don’t want to tell her.”
“Whynot?” I asked, wondering if the man in front of me would ever move forward and forget about his past, if he would ever forgive himself for what he did.
“Why not? Jett, I don’t want anyone knowing what happened. If I told her, she would judge me, she would treat me differently, and she wouldn’t look at me the way she looks at me now.”
“You don’t know that. It seems like you both have rough pasts. It might be good for both of you.”
Shaking his head at me, Kace laughed. “You fail to realize something, Jett, I will never get the chance to be happy again; I don’t deserve it.”
“Kace, what happened was so long ago—”
“Yes, but do you think that little girl will ever forget losing her dad?” Kace shot back, now leaning forward and threatening to get in my face. “I took away a father—”
“It wasn’t your fault,” I said sharply. “He provoked you, he got in your face, and he started the fight; you warned him.”
“I should have backed away, Jett. I knew better; I should have backed away.”
Once again, we were at a standstill.
I hated seeing my best friend like this, distraught, hurting, and angry. I remember when he was on top of his game, when he was winning match after match, when he was one of the best boxers in the country. He was happy, he was satisfied with himself, and he had a spark of life inside of him.
Now, all I saw was a black soul, floating around, just living a day to day life, never looking toward the future.
“You can’t punish yourself for the rest of your life, Kace.”
“You don’t get to decide my punishment,” Kace said, as he looked down at his hands.
The fight he was having within himself was hard to watch. To see a man who was so vivacious, so full of energy, slowly deteriorate to an empty shell killed me. I knew Kace’s potential, I knew who he could be, but that man was gone now.
Getting up from his chair, Kace tapped the desk and said, “Is everything okay with Goldie?”
“Everything is fine; no need to worry.” I looked at my watch and realized what time it was. “I have some things I have to take care of, if you don’t mind,” I gestured to the door.
“Not a problem,” Kace replied, as he helped himself out.
“Hey,” I called after him. Kace stopped, but didn’t turn around to face me. “I want you to live again, Kace.”
“I don’t deserve this life,” Kace replied.
He left me alone in my office to attend to my business. I had a lot of things to take care of and a lot of plans to finalize. Unlike Kace, I was moving forward with my life.I was done living a life with no emotion. If I wanted Goldie, I had to break down the wall I’d put up around my heart and let her in, and I couldn’t be more ready to do so.
My phone started ringing, and I looked down to see it was my security detail.
“Jett Colby,” I answered.
“Mr. Colby, we’ve located Goldie and have informed her we are here now.”
“Thank you, did you see any suspicious behavior on your way over there? She was talking about a girl she ran into on the streets.”
“We weren’t able to locate any suspicious behavior, sir. We will watch our six, though.”
“Keep her safe; that’s my life you’re watching.”
