Bourbon Street Royalty: Jaded Series, Book Two (6 page)

He sat in his father’s stuffy office, taking in his surroundings. It was all too much. He must have been looking at the picture while drinking his father’s expensive scotch from the bottom drawer of his desk.

He stood from the couch. Lightheaded, he had to brace himself from falling to the ground. He rounded the corner of the desk and propped himself up in the huge leather chair, the same chair he used to sit in when he was a kid and swear that he would one day be the head of Gauthier.

And now his mother had presented him with the opportunity to take on that very role.

Shit
.

Lucky bolted from the seat and stumbled to his father’s bathroom, vomiting the sloshy contents of his weak stomach.

When he was done, he splashed water on his sweaty face and took in a deep breath. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to piece together the pieces of the night before.

Baby Jade.

She had been with some douchebag. They appeared to be close, too close. It hadn’t been that long ago when they were making plans to get married. They were going to be parents. They had the world at their fucking fingertips. It was theirs for the taking.

Now she had moved on, and rightfully so. It was his fault that she was back in that shit hole of an apartment and probably working in that snake pit, Bottoms Up. It was his fault she looked so sickly, not like her vibrant, healthy self. She looked fractured, not quite broken, but not whole either. It was all his fault, but that didn’t take the sting out of the fucked up situation.

Lucky rinsed his mouth with some of his father’s mouthwash that he kept on hand and opened the bathroom door.

“Well, well. I thought that was your two wheel death trap I saw in the parking garage.”

Carrie scanned him with her cold eyes. She had helped herself to his father’s chair with her ugly ass high heels propped up on his desk.

“It looks like you’ve had a rough night,” she said as her gaze darted to the bottle still lying on the floor.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” He blasted at her. This was not the bullshit that he needed, not after last night.

“Well, as you know, I work here.” She tapped her fingers together in front of her chest.

The fact that she was sitting in his father’s chair pissed him off. He clenched his jaw, clenching his teeth, causing pain to shoot across his head. “You know what I mean. Why the hell are you in my father’s office? And get your ass out of his chair.” The words his mother had said were ringing in his ears. The way Carrie was acting lead him to believe that maybe his mother was on to something about a company takeover.

Carrie pushed herself back from the desk. She made her way across the room and stood entirely too close for Lucky’s liking.

“I don’t know when you became so hateful. That kind of attitude is going to make for a lonely life, James.” She smoothed her hand across his wrinkled t-shirt.

He shoved her hand aside.

Carrie’s eyes narrowed. She was a joke standing there in her fancy business suit with her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. And pearls. She was wearing fucking pearls. He recalled the way it had always been her lifelong dream to work at Gauthier. To be a power player in a game ruled by men. She was cut throat, and it had worked. She was now a major contender.

“James, I’m not even sure why you’re back in town. I thought we had seen the last of you.”

“I don’t know. Maybe a dead father might have something to do with it.” He didn’t want to tip his hand, giving away his mother’s suspicions. He wasn’t going to be the one to give her any ammunition.

“Oh, please,” she said, resting her backside against the desk. “Colby’s been gone a couple of weeks now. Why come home after it’s all over? And don’t say it’s for Tilly. She’s surrounded by people to help take care of her, and you two were never close anyway.”

He fought the urge to throw her across the room.

“Yeah, well, maybe I’m just here to fuck with your head.”

She pulled her lips into a tight line. “Nice try, but you were shocked to see me. Yeah, you’re up to something. Maybe it has something to do with that little piece of trash from the other side of town. What’s her name again? Baby?”

Lucky’s chest bowed. His muscles tensed causing the veins in his neck to pop. “I don’t know how you know anything about her, but if I hear her name come out of your nasty, fucking mouth again, you’re not gonna be talking for a long mother fucking time.”

Her eyes danced with pleasure. She was definitely getting off from pushing his buttons. “James, I’m not scared of you, and trust me, I know a lot more about your little tramp than just her name. Who knows, maybe I’ll pay her a little visit.”

She sauntered across the room before glancing back over her shoulder. “We might have a lot in common. After all, we both know what it feels like to have been knocked up by the infamous James ‘Lucky’ Gauthier.”

She winked and pulled the door closed behind her right before he hurled the scotch bottle at her head, busting it, and sending shards of glass across the floor.

Shit
!

He was visually shaking. He never imagined that even she would stoop so low.

Lucky mumbled under his breath as he picked up the glass and tossed it into the wastebasket. He sat back down at his father’s desk, leaning his head back. Pinching his eyes closed, he pictured Baby Jade, radiant and pregnant. He envisioned the way her smooth belly had started to swell. She was so fucking gorgeous. She glowed with happiness.

Why did he force her to get on the back of his bike that day? Why the hell didn’t he listen when she said she’d had a bad feeling? Why the hell was she already seeing another guy? His life was full of nothing but fucking ‘whys’.

CHAPTER NINE

Baby Jade

“Open ‘dis door, I know you be in der!”

Baby knew she couldn’t ignore Ma’Linn forever. That old woman knew everything, sometimes even before she did. She sighed, “Ok, I’m coming.”

She had gotten up early and was going to try to be gone before Drew showed up. She couldn’t deal with the tension today. There was too much shit going on, and she needed to get stuff done before her shift at the club.

“You still be sleepin’?” Ma’Linn walked in with an arm full of food, just as Baby knew that she would.

“No, I’ve been up for a while. Got up and did a little cleaning and made some coffee.” She held up her big mug.

“Didjya eat?” Ma’Linn planted her hand on her hip and raised one eyebrow.

Baby didn’t respond.

“Yeah, dat’s what I t’ought. Sitchya ass down.”

Baby didn’t attempt to argue. Ma’Linn made her a plate of Cajun pain perdu smothered in spiced rum syrup. She moved the food around with her fork and nibbled. She wasn’t fooling anyone. Ma’Linn knew all too well what it was like to get her to eat these days, but that didn’t keep her from trying.

“So?” She sat across from Baby and folded her plump arms across her colossal chest.

“So, what?” Baby asked and took another sip of steaming hot coffee.

“You gonna tell me who dat man is dats been comin’ ‘round?”

Baby tossed her head back as if she was a teenager who had just been caught sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night.

“Yup, I see evert’ing. Spill!”

“He’s no one. He’s a customer and he’s been giving me a ride down to the hospital.” She filled her friend in on the situation with Lolli, even though she knew it was a bad idea. Ma’Linn had her own feelings about Slade, and they were usually deeply rooted in some kind of dark voodoo.

Her friend’s coffee colored eyes grew three times their regular size. She slowly shook her head and flared her nostrils. “Girl, dat be no good. You can’t be gettin’ screwed up ‘gain. ‘N you know dat man got somet’ing to do with my boy missin’.”

Ma’Linn swore up and down that Slade was the reason that Phillipe was missing, and even through Baby wanted to reassure her, she couldn’t. She didn’t want to give Ma’Linn false hope. Phillipe had been running with that crowd for far too long for it to be a coincidence.

“I’m not getting messed up with anyone or anything, but I couldn’t leave her dying on the street corner. You didn’t see her Ma’Linn. She’s scared to death, and you and I both know that she should be. She doesn’t have anyone. She was on the streets before working at the club. No family. She’s not even from the city. I think she’s from back east somewhere. Anyway, she doesn’t have anywhere to go once she’s released. I think I’m gonna have to bring her home with me.”

Ma’Linn pushed herself back from the table and began pacing the tiny kitchen. “Girl, you can’t be doin’ dat. He be here lookin’ for her ‘n a heartbeat. You know dat. You know how he be when it come to you. He kill you n’ not t’ink twice ‘bout it!”

“Yes, I know.” Baby had personally suffered Slade’s wrath in the past, and as much as she hated to admit it, he had shown mercy. She should have been dead a few times over.

She stood and rinsed her coffee mug as a way to put an end to the conversation. “I know, but I couldn’t live with myself if Lolli was put out on the street and the next time someone finds her in an ally, she’s dead. I just can’t do it, and you couldn’t do it either.”

The two stared at each other for a moment before Ma’Linn conceded.

“Humph,” she muttered while gathering up her things. “I guess you t’ink you be knowin’ me or somet’ing.”

Baby smirked. She knew she had won that battle. It was a good thing too because she would probably need the old woman’s help when it came to taking care of Lolli.

Ma’Linn pulled her in for a smothering embrace. “I don’t t’ink it goin’ to be dat easy. Well, den. You know what I be tellin’ yo’ to do. Listen to ‘em, girl. They never be wrong.” She closed the door behind her.

Baby left the house and busied herself until she thought she had successfully dodged Drew for the day. He was really messing with her head. She was finally coming to terms with the fact that Lucky wasn’t coming back. They were through. Happily ever after wasn’t in the cards for them. However, it didn’t feel right to think about being with someone else, not yet, if ever.

She decided to indulge Ma’Linn and stood outside the Saint Gabriel Cemetery. Closing her eyes, she breathed in and out struggling to clear her mind, so she would be able to hear the spirits guide her. Ma’Linn was eccentric, but her heart was pure. When Baby couldn’t trust in anything else, she could always trust in Ma’Linn.

She had been walking the historic burial site since she was a young girl. Ma’Linn would hold her tiny hand and spend hours telling her stories and reading old stones. Baby didn’t know it at the time, but the spine-tingling place would become her sanctuary.

Massive tombs were stacked one on top of the other. Wrought iron rods surrounded some. Others had piles of ash and brick. There were trinkets and offerings lined along old graves, and Baby speculated their meaning. To some, they looked like plastic beads, silk flowers, and stuffed animals, but not to Baby. She could see beyond the surface. They were actual prayers and dreams of broken people in need of hope and healing.

After an hour of strolling through the cemetery, Baby Jade couldn’t get a reading. Nothing.

She decided to walk down to Pecan Grove and check on her mother. Even though she knew her mother wouldn’t see her, she could at least find out about her progress. It had been a while, and it was a little too easy to let the task fall on Ma’Linn’s heavy shoulders. It was about time that she stepped up and grabbed the bull by the horns.

“Hey, Ang.”

The petite redhead peered up from behind the reception desk and smacked both hands onto the countertop. “Well, I’ll be damned. We haven’t seen you around here in forever. Where have you been, young lady?”

Baby smiled. She adored Ang. The woman was full of spunk and didn’t take any bullshit. Which is exactly why she was the perfect person to help keep her mother in line.

“I’ve been around. Just a lot going on, you know how that is.”

Ang leaned back in her seat and stared at Baby. “Yeah, I’ve heard a little. Ma’Linn keeps me up to date.”

Baby rolled her eyes.

“Don’t be like that. We worry about you. Besides, she just gives me the basics, no details.” She leaned forward and softened her tone. “I heard about the miscarriage. Hon, I am so sorry.”

This was the reason Baby Jade had procrastinated for so long. Everywhere she went, people brought up the accident and the miscarriage. It tore her heart into a million pieces all over again.

She blinked back the fresh tears.

“Thanks, I appreciate that.” She quickly tried to change the subject. “So, how’s momma doing?”

Ang waved her tiny arms through the air and pursed her thin lips. “That woman, you know Rozalie. She’s gonna turn my gorgeous, natural red hair gray!”

They both laughed. It was clear that Ang’s ‘natural’ red hair came straight from a Clairol bottle.

“That bad, huh?” Baby only heard bits and pieces from Ma’Linn. It was probably the old woman’s way of trying not to heap any more stress onto Baby Jade. She was always looking out for her.

“Yeah, well, she’s still on a high dose of Clozapine. They’ve had to add an additional anti-psychotic drug to help offset the rage. She’s really worked up about something. Having nightmares and stuff. Sometimes we have to sedate her.”