The Satyr's Curse (The Satyr's Curse Series Book 1) (22 page)

Chapter 19

The next morning Julian pulled his dark blue Maserati around to the back door of The Sweet Note Bistro. After he put the car into park, he looked over at Jazzmyn in the passenger seat next to him.

“I’ll be by at ten to pick you up, so make plans to sneak out early.”

She placed the strap of her brown leather purse around her shoulder. “Scott usually closes for me on Sundays, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“The ceremony is to take place at midnight in Lafayette Cemetery Number One, where Odette is buried. We are to meet Lucinda there at eleven thirty to go over the details.”

“Is there anything special I need to do for tonight?” she asked as she reached for the door handle.

Julian patted her thigh, reassuringly. “I’ll take care of everything. Don’t worry about tonight. It will all be fine,” he added, looking confident.

“Will it, Julian? What you are dealing with is pretty powerful stuff. Who knows what can happen, or what price you may be asked to pay to rid yourself of this curse?”

“I’ve already paid my price, Jazzmyn.” He leaned across the car and opened her door. “Now go to work and forget about tonight.”

As Julian’s sleek sports car pulled away from the curb, Ms. Helen’s words kept repeating in Jazzmyn’s head. What sacrifice was Julian going to have to make to end this? Either he had no idea there was going to be a sacrifice, or he was lying to her about what was really going to happen tonight. Jazzmyn had a sneaking suspicion that he was lying to her. He made everything sound too easy, and she knew removing whatever was in him was not going to happen with just a few magic words. Making amends with anyone you have slighted usually took more than a simple apology. To be truly forgiven, your actions had to speak louder than your words. In Julian, she wasn’t seeing the conduct of a remorseful man; she was witnessing the horrific deeds of an angry one.   

When Jazzmyn walked in the back door of her restaurant, she felt comforted by the familiar sights and smells of her home away from home. The world outside and all its problems were hushed when she walked down that hallway toward the kitchen. For a few brief moments Julian, curses, and voodoo rituals did not matter anymore.

Wanting to check on the morning prep before heading to her office, Jazzmyn turned into the kitchen. She immediately spotted Carl standing by the main prep table and covered from head to toe with a red, oily substance. She took a breath and walked over to Ms. Helen, who was chopping up vegetables at the salad prep area.

“What is on Carl?”

Ms. Helen looked up from the eggplant she was slicing into strips. “Stronger juju,” she declared.

“Which is what exactly?” 

“Red food colorin’ and olive oil,” Ms. Helen replied with a slight smile.

“How long does he have to have it on?” Jazzmyn pulled at the purse strap around her shoulder. “I’ve got lunch service in two hours.”

Ms. Helen shrugged. “Until then should do it.” She began slicing her eggplant again.

“I don’t think it’s going to help him,” she whispered to Ms. Helen.

Ms. Helen nodded in agreement. “Then you best be gettin’ over to Kyle’s place before we have to put out Carl’s dishes for lunch.”

A look of disbelief crossed Jazzmyn’s features. “How did you know I was planning on going there this morning?”

“Same way I know that demon isn’t the one for you. I see it.” The sound of a loud car horn came from Magazine Street in front of the restaurant. “You best be goin’,” Ms. Helen advised as she motioned to the dining room door.

“What are you talking about?”

“That’s the cab I called to take you to Kyle’s.” Ms. Helen winked at Jazzmyn. “Go on, girl.”

***

Kyle lived in a quiet neighborhood made up of shotgun houses not far from Audubon Park, near the bend in the Mississippi River. When the cab stopped in front of Kyle’s narrow, rectangular one-story home, Jazzmyn got out and looked up at the structure. It had been painted bright green with a front porch supported by columns and brackets that were decorated in white, lacey Victorian motifs. There was a short, black iron fence around the front yard and one small magnolia tree planted in a garden bed by the front gate.

Jazzmyn was entranced by the exquisite detail of the building. Every time she visited his home, she pictured herself entering a child’s dollhouse. A shimmer of white light bouncing around on the cypress front door distracted her. She lowered her eyes to the source of the phenomenon…the diamond ring on her left hand.

Jazzmyn cursed as she quickly removed the ring from her finger and placed it in the front pocket of her black slacks.

Standing on the porch, she rapped on the frosted pane of glass that filled a decorative archway in the center of the front door. Jazzmyn waited and when no one appeared at the door, she knocked again, louder than before.   

A few seconds later, a soft rustling came from the other side of the door. Feet could be heard bounding across the floorboards, and then there was the sound of someone fiddling with the lock and security chain. When the old cypress door finally flew open, Kyle was standing before her, wearing only a beige terry cloth robe and appearing as if he had just stepped out of the shower.

He ran his hand over his wet hair. “What are you doing here, Jazz?”

“I came to see you, Kyle.”

He looked past her to the street. “How did you get here?”

She took in his clean-shaven, chiseled features. “I took a cab from the restaurant.”

He stood back from the door and waved her inside. “I was just in the shower.”

“I gathered that,” she told him, smirking as she walked in the door.

“Is that funny or something?” he asked, noting her grin.

“No, it’s not funny.” She started giggling.

Kyle placed his hands on his hips and focused his bitter blue eyes on her. “Then why are you laughing?”

She waved her hand up and down his robe. “Oh, come on, Kyle.” She chuckled once more and then placed her hand over her mouth.

He never cracked a smile. “Why are you here, Jazz?”

Jazzmyn’s face sobered. She took in a deep breath and then threw her purse on a floral print sofa by the door. “All right. I’m here because I want you back.”

It was Kyle’s turn to smirk. “Yeah, I heard Carl’s food sucks.” He slammed the front door closed.

“Not quite, but close to it,” she agreed.

Kyle folded his arms obstinately over his chest. “Why should I come back?”

The gut-twisting apprehension that had been plaguing Jazzmyn for the past few days ebbed away, and a gentle wave of contentment settled over her. She didn’t have to carefully analyze what she said to him to avoid getting him angry, or struggle to find soothing words to calm his temper. No longer feeling as if she had to walk on eggshells, Jazzmyn could finally be herself, and that was something she had missed, almost as much as she had missed being near the man frowning before her.

“Nothing has been right without you, Kyle. The restaurant and my life are a complete mess without you there to yell at, talk to, lean on, and to be my friend.” She motioned to him. “I miss you. I miss my best friend.”

Kyle’s wintry blue eyes warmed. He nervously placed his hands in the front pockets of his beige robe. “I’ve missed you too, Jazz. I, ah, wanted to call and apologize for going after Julian like that. I was wrong. I know that.”

She shook her head. “That doesn’t matter anymore. Just come back and we—”

“I can’t come back, Jazz. I can’t watch you with him anymore. Seeing you with another man was harder on me than leaving The Sweet Note.”

Jazzmyn’s heart sank to the worn, hardwood floor beneath her. She could not imagine her life without Kyle. Despite what her reasons may have been for firing him, she had known somewhere in the back of her mind she would take him back. She always did; no matter how heated the arguments between them, they always found a way to forgive each other.

“Julian is…Julian and I are….” Jazzmyn tried to find the words.
“Are what?” Kyle took a step closer to her.

Jazzmyn’s lower lip began to tremble and tears quickly blurred her vision as all the stress she had been carrying around for the past few days poured out of her.

Before the first teardrop had reached her cheek, Kyle enveloped her in his arms.

She clung to his strong body, weeping into the lapel of his fuzzy robe.

“Jazzmyn, what is it?” Kyle asked with more concern in his voice than she had ever heard.

“I don’t know what to do!” Her voice sounded frail and childlike. “I’m afraid to even talk to him. He scares me, Kyle. I’m terrified he’s going to kill me, just like those women they found around the city. I think sometimes he’s going to rip me apart like—”

“Jazz!” Kyle grabbed her shoulders and shook her slightly. “What are you talking about? Who wants to kill you?”

Jazzmyn sniffled as she wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Julian. He’s a monster, Kyle. He’s an absolute monster.”

***

An hour later, Jazzmyn was sitting on Kyle’s floral print sofa holding a white mug of mocha blend coffee in her hands. Kyle was sitting next to her, still dressed in his robe and looking as if the world had just ended.

“A curse made him this way?” He sat back on the sofa and whistled. “Damn, Jazzmyn. And I thought I had problems.” He put his white mug down on the square-shaped coffee table in front of him. “You believe this? You really believe this guy is a hundred and fifty years old?”

“A hundred and eighty years old. He was cursed a hundred and fifty-seven years ago,” Jazzmyn clarified, and put her coffee mug down next to his.

“Oh, well, yeah, let’s make sure we get our centuries straight here.” He shook his head. “You know how crazy this sounds? The guy is bullshitting you, Jazz. Can’t you see that? No one lives that long, and there are no such thing as curses. People cannot turn into mythological creatures, even with plastic surgery. The guys a drunk and a hustler; he’s simply working an angle on you to get something.”

Jazzmyn stood from the sofa. “Fine, don’t believe me. I dumped all this on you because I thought you were my friend.”

“A friend is someone who drives you to the psychiatrist, not the one who takes you to the petting zoo to feed the unicorns,” he insisted, jumping to his feet.

“This is not some fantasy or a bad drug reaction, Kyle. I remember Julian from when I was a little girl. His portrait is hanging in my house. I named my cat after him for Christ’s sake, and he…has certain proportions that are humanly impossible.”

“Proportions?”

“Never mind,” Jazzmyn remarked.

Kyle stared at her for a moment and then he frowned. “You mean he has a big cock.”

Jazzmyn rolled her dark green eyes. “Crudely put, but yes. And not big, huge.”

Kyle grinned. “Are you sure that is a curse or a miracle?”

She reached for her purse. “I should have known you wouldn’t help me.”

“I guess you’ve slept with him then.”

“I only slept with him because I thought I had lost you,” Jazzmyn blurted out. She quickly placed her hand over her mouth and turned away from him.

Kyle came up behind her. “Is that the truth? Or was it his really big cock?”

She dropped her purse and spun around to face him. “You son of a bitch! I come here and—”

Kyle’s lips came down on hers, taking her breath away. She raised her hands to shove him back, but something about his kiss stopped her. It was warm, tender, and given with such emotion that instead of pulling back, Jazzmyn slowly wrapped her arms about his neck.

Kyle threw his arms around her. “Tell me this isn’t going to end up as another moment you regret between us,” he whispered into her cheek.

Jazzmyn bent her head back as his kisses tempted her neck. “I’ve never regretted what happened between us, Kyle, I was just afraid it would interfere with the restaurant.”

Kyle’s hands wandered down her back until they settled on her round backside. “Do you still feel that way?”

She reached inside his robe and swept her hand across his smooth chest. “Are you coming back to the restaurant?”

“I’m still thinking about it.” He cupped his hands around her bottom and lifted her from the floor. “First, you have to promise not to push me away anymore like you have in the past. You will tell me what you’re thinking and feeling about me, always. Can you to do that, Jazz?”

She nodded her head.

“Good.” He lowered her to the sofa. “I want no more excuses to keep us apart.”

Jazzmyn reclined on the sofa and searched his eyes. “You believe me about Julian, don’t you, Kyle?”

“I believe it, if you believe it.”

She pushed him away. “I came here hoping you could help me, but I should have known you wouldn’t.” She sat up. ”You just don’t understand, Kyle. Julian’s a monster. A monster I have to marry tonight in order to reverse this curse and stop more innocent women from being murdered.”

Kyle jumped back from the sofa. “Marry? You’re going to marry him? You just happened to leave that little tidbit of information out of your story about him being cursed, Jazz.”