Page 60 of Bourbon Truths
I pressed my fingers to my eyebrows. “Why you thought outnumbering us with women was a good idea, I don’t know.”
“Not one of my better decisions.” Jett smirked, buckling up.
“You have no idea what it’s like to try to wrangle them together and get them to focus.”
“I do know. I watch you do it.” Jett laughed, referring to the cameras he had in the room. “I’m glad I’m not doing it.”
“Yeah, you just make me do the dirty work.”
“Isn’t that how it’s always been?” he asked. “I’m the mastermind, you do the grunt work.”
His comment was said with humor, but it was very true. Ever since I’d known Jett, he had come up with schemes for the trouble we loved getting in, and I always followed through with the deed. We were never caught. It was a small high we’d lived on when we were young. Now that we were older, our schemes were heavier in weight. Instead of covering up misadventures, we covered up sins and helped people escape them.
“Where are we going?” Jett asked, breaking my thought.
“I don’t really know.” I shrugged. “I was thinking about going to Target.” I really had no idea where to shop.
“Target? Seriously?” Jett asked with disapproval.
“Shit, I don’t know.” I rubbed the back of my neck, trying to think. “I don’t know what to get a little girl.”
“You don’t have to get her anything,” Jett replied. “You give them money already.”
“It’s the least I can do,” I said, feeling the weight of responsibility on my shoulders.
Madeline didn’t have a father in her life because of me, so I’d taken it upon myself to make sure she was well taken care of from a distance. The checks I earned at the Lafayette Club went straight to her every month. I dropped a pile of cash in her mailbox every month with a note of sorrow and regret. It was her birthday, and I’d decided it was a day I would help celebrate, so I was out to get her a gift but had no fucking clue what a little girl wanted.
“Why am I coming?” Jett asked. “You should have brought one of the Jett Girls.”
“That would have warranted too many questions. I don’t want questions. I don’t need them.”
“I can understand that. So instead it’s going to be us shopping for a little girl?”
“Yup,” I responded, holding back a smirk. “Should be a good time.”
“Or a major clusterfuck,” Jett shot back. “We’re not going to Target though. Head to the French Market. You can at least get her something with meaning of the city she lives in.”
“Are you getting sentimental on me?” I teased.
“Do you want my help or not?”
“I do. I just didn’t expect you to get into this.”
“I’m not,” Jett said. “I’m just making sure you don’t look like an idiot.”
“She’s not going to know it’s from me,” I replied. I turned onto St. Charles Street and headed toward the Quarter.
“Explain how that’s going to work,” Jett said.
I felt Jett’s questioning eyes on me. He always had to know every aspect of a plan he was a part of, and it drove me crazy sometimes. I just wanted to execute my plans without talking about them. But with Jett, you had to make sure you checked all your boxes and took every possible precaution. He wouldn’t be the brilliant business man he was today if he didn’t have that kind of mindset. Too bad it irked me every fucking time.
Blowing out a frustrated breath and gripping tightly on the steering wheel so I didn’t lash out, I said, “I’m just going to drop it off at her front door. Do you think I personally hand them money every month?”
Jett knew my monthly paycheck went to Madeline and Linda, and he’d never said one word about it. He was a silent partner when it came to my drunken sin, and it was an uncommunicated rule we were both in this together, that I was the one who’d killed a man but Jett had covered it up. And for that, we were both at fault. So Jett accepted the fact that my money went to Madeline; he had no qualms about the exchange.
“You’re really going to leave the present on her doorstep? You don’t think that’s creepy in any way?”
“Fuck, you know it’s creepy, me sneaking around and delivering things to them, but what other choice do I have? Show my face? You know I can’t fucking do that.”
