Page 49 of Bourbon Kingdom
“I hope, in the future, you’ll come up to my speedway and indulge a little.”
“I would enjoy that,” I said, as Zane got up from his chair and headed toward the door. I grabbed his cup from him and put it on the buffet that held my bourbon.
“Who knows? Maybe you’ll start your own racing team for my Speedway; just remember, no one beats Black Top Racing,” Zane said with a wink.
“Wouldn’t dream of even trying.”
We shook hands and I guided Zane out the front door of the Lafayette Club. Once again, we thanked each other and made future promises to visit one another. Zane would be spending some time in New Orleans because of the Expressway, so I reminded him to call me when he was in town; I would be more than delighted to show him around the city that made me the man I was today.
The minute Zane was gone, I sent a text message to my detective and let him know I would be sending over the write-up Zane put together on Masquerade, as well as all the evidence he was able to gather.
I was in my office, sending out the information when Kace knocked on my door. I looked up to see he was looking somewhat distraught.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, looking away at my computer, making sure I had everything in place.
“Lyla is driving me fucking insane,” Kace responded, slouching on my chair. “That girl has more of a mouth than Goldie, and she’s impossible to shut down.”
“You chose her,” I said, while finishing up, ignoring the pang of hurt that ran through my veins at the mention of Goldie’s name.
“I thought I was doing us a favor, trying to find Goldie. She had some great ideas, but fuck, now she’s just annoying the crap out of me.”
“It was never your concern to find Goldie.”
“What’s crawled up your ass?” Kace asked. “I thought you saw her last night.”
“I did; she was with Rex.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“How do you know?” I asked, getting angrier by the second.
“Because, she told me . . .” Kace trailed off, knowing he’d divulged some information he wasn’t supposed to.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, anger lacing my voice.
Clearing his throat, Kace shifted in his seat before looking me in the eyes. “I went to go see her one night; I wanted to make sure she was okay.”
“That is not your place,” I yelled, while slapping my desk. “I told you to stay the fuck out of it.”
“Someone had to do something!” Kace yelled back.
“I had it under control. I have it under fucking control!”
“You might now, but you didn’t then. I needed to make sure she was okay. Fuck, Jett, she set out to save your pathetic ass. Who knew what she was getting herself into? But that doesn’t matter; what matters is that she told me she wanted nothing to do with Rex. She only wants you, Jett. She was devastated to know you were hurting.”
“Why would you tell her that?” I asked, feeling rage pouring out of my body. “You had no right to tell her any of that.”
“Why is it so hard for you to show someone your feelings?”
“Pot calling the kettle black there, Kace.”
“Don’t, don’t fucking compare me to you. I’ve lived my life. I fucked it up. I have no need to show feelings. I’m an emotionless man walking through the phases of life until my day comes. We both know that, but you’re different. You have your life in front of you, but you refuse to let anyone into your fucking world.”
“I was raised not to show feelings,” I shot back. “Showing feelings is showing weakness. The moment I showed any kind of emotion, everything was taken away from me, Natasha was taken from me—”
“You didn’t even love her,” Kace cut in.
“That’s beside the point. I don’t let anyone in. I didn’t until Goldie came along, and do you know what fucking happened? She ripped me apart. The moment I let her in, the moment I dropped the walls erected around my heart, she broke me. She fucking broke me,” I trailed off.
