by Meghan Quinn
33
“Demons”
Goldie
“Why isn’t he answering his phone?” I cried, as I got in the back of the security agent’s car. “Didn’t you just talk to him? He always has his phone on him. Get in the damn car,” I screamed at the security guy, who was shutting my door. “I can close my own damn door; start driving.”
Yes, I may be acting like a bitch, I might be over-exaggerating, since the sirens could be for anyone, but I just had a feeling, a really bad feeling.
“Drive!” I shouted, while pointing forward like I was leading a pack of angry ass Braveheart men, whatever they were called.
“Ma’am, you’re going to have to buckle up…”
I gripped the driver’s ear and twisted it while leaning over his seat. “If you don’t start driving this damn car, I’m going to Mike Tyson your ass and eat your ear as a snack. Fucking drive!”
That got his attention and he pressed his foot down on the pedal to get the car moving.
“Good boy,” I said, as I patted and stroked his ear.
I watched as the pastel colored houses flew by as my driver disobeyed every city speed limit set. We weren’t that far away from the Lafayette Club, but it almost felt like we were going at supersonic speed.
We turned the corner to Jackson Street, where the club was located, and that was when we were hit with a billow of smoke, fire trucks, and blazing flames. My heart sank in my chest as I saw the Lafayette Club burning down at an alarming rate.
“Oh, my God,” I cried, while I tried to get out of the car, but the doors were locked. “Open the door!”
“Hold on, ma’am.”
“Open the fucking door!” I screamed, while grabbing ahold of his ear and yanking on it. “You son of a bitch, open the door. Open the door! Open the Goddamn door!”
He swatted my hand away and pressed the unlock button. In a flash, I bolted out of the car and tried to make my way through the crowd that was forming. People from around the street milled about, taking in the sight of the infamous Lafayette Club going up in flames, flames that were so large I was actually nervous they would spread and burn up the historic Garden District.
The trees that surrounded the Lafayette Club danced with the flames, threatening to light up. There were three fire trucks, taking up angles all around the building to calm the roaring flames.
Pushing my way forward, I called out Jett’s name, to the point where I felt my voice start to go hoarse, but my voice went unheard from the sounds of the sirens, the shouts of the firemen directing each other, and the crowd that had gathered to watch everything unfold.
“Move,” I said, as I shoved a lady to the side, not caring who I took out. “Jett,” I screamed while looking around.
Nothing, I saw absolutely no one, not even Kace or one of the girls. Were they still in the building?
I pushed my way to the front of the crowd until I was able to make it to where firemen were blocking the crowd from getting closer. I tried to peek over the giant fireman in front of me, but I couldn’t see anything, so I took it upon myself to make my own ladder and hopped on top of the man standing in front of me. I knocked off his hat by accident and heard it clang to the ground as he spun around and started yelling at me.
“Lady, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” he asked, trying to grab me from behind, but I clung on like he was my lifeline and used him as my lookout post to find a familiar face.
“You’re moving too fast, slow circles,” I directed him, while I continued to climb up his back.
“Get the hell off of me; I have a job to do,” he yelled, still grabbing at me.
I used the top of his head to help me gain a little more height as I planted my hand on his hair and pushed up.
“Just give me a second,” I said, while I continued to look around. “Why can’t I see anyone?”
“Lady, get off of me!”
I was about to snap at him and tell him to be a better ladder when a strong pair of warm hands grabbed me by the waist and lowered me to the ground. Quickly, I turned around and came face to face with the brooding man himself, Kace Haywood.
“Kace,” I cried, as I threw myself in his arms. “Where is everyone?”
“We’re all around the corner, past the trucks,” he said. “We exited out the back of the club.”
“Oh, thank God,” I said relieved, letting my heartrate return to normal. “I was at the cemetery and I had this horrible feeling that something bad was going to happen after creepy Mercy talked to me.”
“Who’s creepy Mercy?” Kace asked, as he moved the crowd to the side and showed me where everyone was huddled.
“Rex’s plaything. You should have seen her; she looked like a psychopath. She was hugging a bloody shirt…”
I was interrupted by a loud creak and pop. We both turned to the house to see an explosion go off from the back of the house.
Holy shit.
Then it hit me, the club was burning down; there was no way to salvage it.
My sanctuary, the place where I made everlasting friendships, the place that had become my home, the place where I fell in love, where I expected to spend the rest of my days.
Tears welled up in my eyes as firemen exited the building in a hurry so they weren’t trapped when it collapsed.
“Clear the area; clear the area,” shouted one of the firemen into a walkie talkie that was strapped to his shoulder. “Is everyone out?”
“Yes, sir,” all is clear.
“Wait,” Kace said, while looking around, “Where’s Jett?”
Where’s Jett?!
My heart bottomed out as my vision around me turned black and my eyes narrowed up to the third floor window, from where I’d seen Jett look down at me many times. In the midst of all of the smoke and flames, there was a body moving up on the third floor, clearly pacing back and forth.
A shrill cry escaped me as I charged toward the house, but was grabbed by the waist.
“Goldie, stop.”
“He’s up there!” I screamed and pointed. “He’s up there; we have to get him.”
Another explosion ricocheted through the thick smoky air, sending sparks around the area.
“Start covering the perimeters,” a fireman said, “Save the areas around it; the house is unsalvageable.”
I grabbed his walkie talkie and shouted into it, “There is a man in there still; stop everything you’re doing and…”
The walkie talkie was ripped away from me and the fireman spoke into it, redirecting them to their original duty.
“What are you doing? There’s someone still in there. Go save him.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, it’s too dangerous. I’m not going to send my men in there when the house is creaking and ready to fall.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? What kind of firemen are you?” I screamed, as I charged towards the house to go get him myself, but was grabbed once again. “Put me down! He’s in there; I need to save him. He’s in there!”
“Goldie, stop. We can’t go in there,” Kace’s voice spoke softly into my ear. “There is nothing we can do.”
“Fuck you, there is nothing we can do.” I screamed as loud as I could up to the third floor, hoping Jett could hear me. “Open the window and jump. Jett, jump!”
From the floor of the third level, a hand reached up and hit the window, then slowly slid down the glass, as if it was his last ditch effort to save himself.
“No!” I cried and fought Kace, who was now pulling me away. “Fight, Jett, fight!”
My last words died on my lips as the fire burned and the house collapsed in on itself, causing sparks and smoke to explode from underneath the house.
“Put me down,” I sobbed, as I watched the house repeatedly implode in on itself until there were only a few beams standing tall.
My heart sank to the ground while Kace carried me to where the other Jett Girls were standing, huddled together. When I reached them, I scampered off of Kace and looked aroun
d for Jett.
“Where is he?” I searched around them, hoping that maybe this was some kind of sick joke.
“Where is who?” Babs asked, growing more concerned at how frantic I was.
I looked in the boxes they had scattered around, then I checked their purses, thinking maybe he took a shrinking pill before he left the club. I was reaching, big time reaching, but I refused to think about him up in that room; I refused to acknowledge that was his hand hitting the glass, reaching for me.
“Where’s Jett?” I screamed, continuing to look around.
“Goldie,” Kace said softly, while his hand grabbed my shoulder.
“No, don’t touch me! Don’t fucking touch me,” I cried, tears streaming down my face.
“Goldie, come here,” Babs said, reaching her arms out for me, but I swatted them away. I didn’t want to be held, I didn’t want to be consoled, I wanted Jett. I wanted my man back, I wanted the Lafayette Club back, and I wanted my life, the life I knew as mine, to come back.
In one single moment, everything I’ve ever wanted, that I’ve ever cared about, was taken away from me.
I heard the girls talking around me and saw the look of total devastation on Kace’s face as my vision blurred. Before I ran off, I saw a small tear peek out of Kace’s eye, which he quickly wiped away, but that was it for me. I couldn’t stay; I had to bolt…I had to forget.
“Goldie, where are you going?” Babs called after me, as I sprinted through the crowd, pushing people to the side, trying to get as far away from the smoke and the creaks and cracks as I could.
As I ran, visions of Jett being suffocated by the black smoke ran through my mind, turning my stomach raw. I paused on a sidewalk, held onto a tree and threw up, multiple times, until I could only dry heave. Convulsions shook my small frame and a cold sweat ran over my skin. Once there was nothing left in me, I looked around to see where I was, and I ran to the last sanctuary I had. In front of me was Jett’s mom’s gravestone; the original location that brought me to Jett. In a sick way, my life was coming full circle.
My body felt lifeless, tired, exhausted, so I collapsed in front of the gravestone, pressing my body up against the cold marble stone.
Broken pieces of the grave dug into my skin, but I welcomed the pain, anything to dull the torment that was running rampant through my veins, the unyielding agony that wouldn’t ease in my slowly dying heart.
I rested my head on my hands and cried in front of the grave, while the black smoke from the house started to pool over the cemetery, making the atmosphere dim and bleak, like my future. To say there was a black cloud over my life was an understatement.
Tourists milled about me, spoke softly to each other about the crazy woman, crying in front of a gravestone at the ever-so-popular Lafayette Cemetery. Children cried when they saw me and two people took pictures of the crazy lady. If I had enough strength in my bones, I would have flipped them all off, but there was nothing left in me.
I wasn’t sure how long I laid there; time seemed to escape me as I tried to envision my life without Jett. It was impossible. How was I supposed to give up something that I just recently obtained? How was I supposed to let go of the fact that I fell in love with the most complicated, charming, and sexy man I’ve ever met? How was I supposed to move on from this?
Thoughts of pulling a Romeo and Juliet ran through my mind as a heard footsteps walk up to me. Expecting it to be a tourist wanting to poke me with a stick, I didn’t look up until they stopped right in front of me. My vision blurred from my tears, but I knew those shoes.
In a sheer panic, I wiped my eyes and looked up to see Kace looking down at me. Disappointment washed over my body, as I thought the man who was standing in front of me was going to be Jett. I was sadly defeated.
I rested my head back down on the ground as Kace squatted in front of me.
His hand ran across my face and tried to wipe away the continuously falling tears that would not stop. Carefully, he sat down next to me and pulled up my upper half so my head was resting on his knee. We sat silently as he stroked my back and I cried.
His warm embrace should have been comforting, it should have made me feel some kind of semblance of “home,” but I still felt empty inside.
“Please tell me it’s not true,” I squeaked out, my voice hoarse from crying. I gripped onto his hand and said, “Tell me it’s not true.”
Kace cleared his throat, but said nothing. Through blurry eyes, I looked up at him and saw that his eyes were just as red as mine, just as puffy, and his demeanor looked like he literally just lost his best friend.
“What are you not telling me, Kace?” I asked, trying to wait for the blow.
“Goldie…”
“Fucking tell me!” I shouted.
“They found a body…” Kace choked on a sob.
“Wh-what? No, no, this is not happening.”
I blocked out the hand on the window; I convinced myself this wasn’t true. It just couldn’t be true. There was no way that whoever was writing this fucking story of my life could take Jett away. I couldn’t believe it. We were supposed to spend our lives together, we were working things out, and we were going to finally live our lives the way we wanted to. We were finally given a chance.
“This can’t be happening…” I whispered softly, falling into Kace’s arms. “I love him, Kace. I fucking love him; he can’t be taken away from me.”
“Goldie…” that voice haunted me, that deep southern voice haunted me as I cried into Kace. It wasn’t until I was transferred into another set of arms that I looked up to see Jett staring down at me.
At that moment, it felt like my veins busted and white bursts prickled my skin, making me numb and unable to function. His hair was tossed to the side, his clothes were wrinkled, and he was disheveled. His eyes were glistening, and that’s when I realized he was real.
“Jett,” I choked out a sob and squeezed him until I took his breath away. I looked up at Kace, who had his hands in his pockets and was looking down at us. He looked relieved and satisfied. Quickly, he wiped a stray tear, gave me an almost sad smile, and then turned on his heels, leaving us in his wake.
I wanted to scream at him not to go, to come hold me as well, but it was time to let him go, to eternally thank him for his friendship, his love and his protection, and move on.
After saying a silent goodbye, I pulled away from Jett and gripped his face. With shaky hands, I brought him close and carefully placed a kiss on his lips, reveling in the feel of his warmth, of his body pressed up against mine.
His hands ran up my back and carefully gripped the back of my head as he kissed me forcefully. I felt the need in his touch and the tension release from his body at finding me. His lips parted and mine did as well as his tongue slipped into my mouth, pushing our kiss further. Deep yearning ran through me as I straightened and sat on his lap, wrapping my legs around his back, making sure I was as close I could be to the man.
Needing answers, I pulled away and looked into his deep blue eyes as tears clouded my vision.
“Little One…” he said softly, pulling me into his embrace. I wrapped my arms around him and let his head bury into my hair.
I loved this man, everything about him…from his moody tendencies, to his inability to let go of control, to his kind heart and his rare show of humor. I would bleed for this man, I would kill for this man, I would die for this man. He is my light, my savior, my fucking everything.
“Jett,” I whispered, while shaking my head. “Wh-where were you?” I hiccup-sobbed, sounding not in the least attractive, but was too far gone to even care. I knew there were pools of mucus falling out of me, but I just let it happen, because all that mattered was I was holding my man in my arms.
“You scared me,” he said, while kissing the top of my head. “I couldn’t find you once I found out the club was on fire. All I cared about was finding you,” he said relieved. “When security said they lost you…”
“Wait, what?” I asked, pul
ling away, completely confused. “You thought you lost me? Do you realize that we all thought you were dead? That we saw someone on the third floor and thought it was you?”
“Why would you…?”
“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” I interrupted him. “I tried calling you, but you wouldn’t answer. You always have your phone.”
Jett searched my eyes as he thought about it. “I left it in my office when I left. I was in a hurry earlier. I had some things to do.”
“You left it?” I hit his arm and said, “Don’t ever fucking do that again. Jesus Christ, Jett. I thought you were fucking dead. We all thought you were fucking dead.”
“Shhh,” Jett cooed. “I’m here, Little One. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I put you through so much distress.”
“I thought you were dead,” I whispered, burying my head into his shoulder. “Who was on the third floor?”
“I’m here,” he replied softly. “We think it was the girl you ran into. The police found her car not too far away from the club, full of cans of gas, kindling, and a very vivid diary of her plans to take back what she lost.”
“I knew something wasn’t right. I wish I would have gone back and warned you, none of this would have ever happened.”
“There was nothing you could have done, Little One.”
I shook my head in disbelief and replied, “I love you. I love you so fucking much. Please don’t ever leave me.”
“I don’t plan on it,” he said, while placing a kiss on top of my head.
“The club. What happened?”
Jett sighed and gripped me a little tighter. “It’s gone.”
“I know,” I teared up again. “Our sanctuary, your beautifully built club is gone.”
He nodded. I felt him sag a little from defeat. I couldn’t imagine what he was feeling. His club, his mansion was his pride and joy. He spoke so highly of the establishment, of what it represented, of what it offered and who it helped. It wasn’t just a home, it was a place of new beginnings, a place full of second chances, a place where family by soul came together.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, while kissing his cheek.