Page 29 of Bourbon Truths
I’d taken that away from her. I’d taken away her father.
The wife turned toward me after she placed the flower on the casket and held on to her daughter. For a brief instant, her eyes met mine, and I was able to see the hole in her heart I’d put there. I was able to see the pain I’d caused, the uprooting I’d forced upon her.
It was too much.
My heart beat out of my chest and my breathing became erratic. Without turning to Jett, I said, “Get me out of here.”
His strong hand took hold of my shoulder, and he guided me back to the car, not saying a word. There was nothing to say. I was an animal.
I would never forgive myself.
Chapter Eleven
My Present…
“Where do you want these thongs?” Tootse called, drawing me from my thoughts. I looked up at the blondest women I’d ever met, carrying an abnormally large box and about ready to tip over from its size.
I rushed over to help and grabbed the box from her so she didn’t end up face-first into the wall.
“Thanks.” She shook her arms out. “Thongs are heavy.” She huffed and held on to the wall.
I set the box on the floor in front of the counter at the community center just as the contents of the box registered in my head. “Thongs?”
“Tootse, make sure Kace doesn’t see the box….” Goldie stopped in her tracks when she saw me standing over Tootse with my hands on my hips. “Oh shit….”
“Yeah, ‘oh shit’ is right,” I said. “Care to explain why there is a box of—” I bent over and looked at the number of thongs on the shipping label and then glanced at Goldie. “Why is there a box of a one thousand silk thongs being delivered to the community center?”
Goldie stepped up to me and pushed her pen against my forehead. “Before that little vein pops, stop worrying. They are just parting gifts.”
“Parting gifts for what?” I questioned.
“Nothing you need to concern yourself with,” Goldie said while trying to grab the box off the ground. She struggled from the weird size of it. Jett called her ‘little one’ for a reason.
Instead of helping her, I stood back and watched her struggle. She tried holding the box in different positions. She even pushed it with her toe to scoot it along the floor, but in the end, she just gave up.
With a huff, she looked up at me and said, “Do you mind helping?”
“I do, actually.”
She stomped her foot on the ground. “Kace! Don’t be an ass and help me.”
“What are the thongs for?” I said between clenched teeth. “I’m in charge of the center, so I am privy to whatever information I want to know. Now tell me why you have one thousand thongs in a box in the community center.”
“You’re so frustrating,” she whined.
“Well…?” I waited.
She gave in, like I knew she would. “Fine. We’re going to offer pole-dancing classes, and we thought a little gift bag for the attendees would be nice.”
“No,” I said, going back to the front desk and checking on my paperwork. The center opened in a few days. It was a soft opening but an opening nonetheless, and I wanted to be prepared. We would only be offering a few classes to start, but once everything was complete, we would be expanding our schedule.
“No?” Goldie said, coming up next to the counter. “How can you just say no?”
I glanced up at her. “Because I can.”
“Ahh! I want to strangle you,” she complained. “Did you know pole dancing is actually a really good form of exercise?”
“Goldie, we are not going—”
