Page 34 of Bourbon Truths
“What did you want?” I asked Goldie, hating that she’d interrupted my make-out session with Lyla.
“Just got a shipment in of towels, wanted to know if you want me to divide them up in the locker rooms?”
Running my hands over my face, I let out a long breath. “That couldn’t have waited?”
“Sorry. I didn’t know it was sex-o’clock in the Haze Room. Next time leave a tie on the door or a condom hanging off the knob so I know not to enter.”
“Run the towels through the wash first, then divide them,” I ordered, ignoring her sarcasm.
“Thanks, boss man,” Goldie replied, getting up and taking off. “Want me to hang a condom on the door?”
“Get out,” I shouted, making her squeal and laugh at the same time.
Once the door was closed, I looked at Lyla, who was still sitting on my lap.
“Are you going to sit there all fucking day, or are you going to let me get up?”
Without a word, Lyla got up and grabbed her shirt. She quickly put it on and didn’t look at me as she headed for the door.
I should have let her go, let her walk away, because that was what would be good for me, but fuck if I still didn’t feel the heat of her body on mine. I didn’t want to lose that feeling.
Groaning, I chased after her and pulled on her arm before she could open the door to leave. When I spun her around, a giant smile spread across her face.
Motherfucker. She’d played me. “Shit,” I mumbled.
“I knew you cared.” She poked my chest with her pink painted finger.
“I don’t,” I lied once again.
“Lie all you want, Kace, but I can see it in your eyes, the longing you have for me. Strap on your balls, because you’re taking me out tonight. We’re going to spend an evening living in the present and forgetting the past for at least a couple of hours.”
I bowed my head and gripped her hips, wishing she would just give up on me, wishing she would leave me alone, but the determination in her eyes told me that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. So I gave in. “What time should I pick you up?”
“Seven.” She leaned in, pressing her chest against mine and placing a soft kiss on my jaw. “Don’t shave. I like you all scruffy.”
Before she took off, I couldn’t help but ask, “Why, Lyla? Why now?”
From over her shoulder, she answered, “Because everyone deserves a second chance in life, Kace. It’s about damn time you take yours.”
Fucking hell.
Chapter Twelve
My Past…
Everything I had ever cared about, ever worked for completely vanished in the matter of a day. I was stripped bare. I was left with nothing but an old pair of boxing gloves, my worn out guitar, and a picture of me and Jett from when we were young. Those were my items, my valuables, the only things besides clothes that I moved into my new dwellings with.
The first room Jett tried to give me in the Lafayette Club was unacceptable. It was lavish, it was expensive looking, it had amenities I didn’t want. I wanted simple, I wanted plain, I wanted something that resembled the four cell walls I was supposed to be in.
Luckily there was a room on the first floor of the old servants’ wing that was suitable. New construction made that part of the house more modern, but it wasn’t as lavish as the rest of the house. There was a double bed against a wall, a nightstand, and a single chair in the room. To the left, there was an attached bathroom that would do the job. There was minimal light coming through the one window on the largest wall, and the room seemed almost cold, sterile. It was as close to a jail cell as I was going to get.
It was surprising how much a person’s life could change in a matter of minutes. One moment, I’d been on the verge of a breakout career and the next, I was hiding in my best friend’s mansion, helping him start a gentleman’s club for the city elites.
This wasn’t how I’d envisioned my life ending up.
No, I’d spent hours upon hours training and making the right decisions in my life to help accomplish my goals, to help me become the boxer I’d always wanted to be, but one wrong move, one lapse of judgement and I lost everything. I lost my house, my job, but most importantly, I lost the respect of everyone not only in my life but everyone who had ever believed in me, especially the city that I loved.
My father passed away shortly after his reprimanding, leaving behind debt and a spiteful diary of how much of a disappointment I was. Using the money from selling my house and belongings, I paid off his debt, leaving me with nothing left from my past besides guilt.
