As the mammoth sized truck driver lunged for him, Lucky saw his chance. He ducked as the man attempted to put his massive fist through his face, barreling into him and sending him flat on his ass. The big man scrambled to get up right before Lucky kicked him in the ribs with everything he had.
When he realized the man had had enough, he gathered all of the money from the floor, cramming it into the pocket of his tattered jeans. He tossed a few twenties on the counter on his way out of the bar.
After a long night of gambling, the sunlight scorched his eyes.
“Hey, you sure you couldn’t use some company?” The waitress who had spent her entire evening at Lucky’s beck and call, making sure he had everything he needed, and clearly wishing for a little something extra was giving major fuck me vibes. She was a cute, young thing with the typical southern girl appeal, wearing cut off shorts and a tight tank top to reveal her most obvious assets.
“No, darlin’. I don’t think so.” He kick started his ‘new to him’ Harley.
“I can help you spend those winnings.” She placed her hands on her slim hips, beamed and tossed her head, swishing her ponytail from side to side.
“Don’t try so hard, honey. It’s a real turn off.” He peeled out of the parking lot, leaving the poor girl with her arms hanging limply by her sides and her chin on the pavement.
He had been back in Longview for a few weeks now. He worked odd jobs, mostly as a bouncer, picking up a few side jobs at auto shops. Some things never changed. He just wanted to keep himself busy and his mind occupied.
Thinking about Baby Jade day and night was driving him insane.
No matter how hard he tried, Baby was there. He saw her everywhere he looked. He dreamed of her every time he fell asleep. He was beginning to think it would never end. His penance. It was only recently that he had finally been able to function again. For the first month or two, he couldn’t even work. He stayed drunk, holed up in a cheap motel, living on nothing but Jim Beam and greasy takeout.
The days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months and with every night, Lucky prayed he wouldn’t wake up again. He prayed for God to have mercy on him and end it all. He had nothing left to live for. Baby was gone, and he didn’t blame her. Not after the way he destroyed both of their lives, all three of their lives.
He thought about suicide but decided it would be too easy. He deserved a long, painful demise. He did the only thing that made sense to him. He tried to drink himself to death.
The plan was working quicker than expected until one day when he was walking to the local liquor store. He didn’t know what caught his eye or why he noticed the woman pumping gas across the street. There was no explanation; it was just one of those weird coincidences. Right time, right place. The woman leaned into her car and made hand gestures, almost as if she were talking to someone, although the car appeared to be empty. She closed the door and headed into the gas station. As the sliding glass door opened, some random dude jumped into the driver’s seat and took off.
Adrenaline flooded Lucky’s body, pumping through his veins. He planted himself in the car’s path and grabbed a hold of the side as the man tried to speed away. Somehow, Lucky managed to open the car door. The man must have been shocked because the vehicle came to an immediate stop. He wrestled the guy to the ground, holding him in place while he waited for the cops to arrive.
The woman who owned the car raced across the parking lot screaming bloody murder. She ran past him and bolted for the car. Reaching into the back seat, the woman pulled out a tiny bundle, wrapped safely in a baby blue blanket.
Lucky’s heart plummeted.
He watched the woman fall to her knees, cradling the baby to her chest. He dug his knee into the man’s back as he thought about what could have happened to the baby boy. The man mumbled something, but Lucky tuned him out. His ears roared with the sound of the woman’s uncontrollable sobbing.
The police showed up and arrested the man. They took Lucky’s statement and asked if he needed a ride. He said no. At the time, he still intended to get a new bottle of Beam from the liquor store and drain it before the night was over.
“Sir?”
He glanced up to find the woman holding the baby staring at him. His heart rate slowed, but his muscles ached from the abrupt tension.
“Sir, I don’t know what to say.” Her bloodshot eyes pooled with tears, spilling over and streaming down her ashen face. “You saved my son’s life. They said that the man appeared to be strung out on meth and had a long list of crimes and active warrants. He would have killed him. I know it. I can’t thank you enough. You’re the reason my son is alive and safe right now. Thank you,” she said as she sunk to her knees and flung one free arm around Lucky’s neck.
The overwhelming scent of baby lotion or powder slapped him in the face. The faint whimper of the child punched him in the heart.
“Ma’am, really, I’m sure he would have been fine. All I did was save a car.” Lucky sat on the curb trying not to let the woman know he was shaking, and it had nothing to do with the altercation. Being so close to the baby was making his stomach pitch.
The woman surprised him by grabbing his hand and squeezing it tight. “No, you’re a hero. My son and I will never forget you. You have no idea what you’ve done. Thank you.”
Lucky lowered his head, unable to look her in the eye.
“Thank you,” she whispered, hugging him one more time before leaving with the police officer.
Tears stung his eyes as he managed to swallow back a large lump in his throat. His heart swelled, feeling as if it were alive for the first time in months.
He stood and started walking in the opposite direction of the liquor store. He walked back to his motel room. He cleaned up, throwing out all of the empty bottles and old trash. He took a long, hot shower, thinking about Baby Jade. The more clear-headed he got, the more his heart hurt. He craved her touch, her kiss, just to be next to her. They were both grieving, but couldn’t be there for one another.
What a fucking joke.
From that day forward, Lucky allowed the hurt to take over. No more being a coward. He chose the pain over being numb. Everything in his life was his fault. He would never let himself forget again. His own self-inflicted punishment.
That might explain why he was getting into so many fights. It’s almost as if he placed himself in risky situations on purpose, toying with danger, not caring about the outcome. He deserved what he got, and then some.
Lucky emptied his pockets onto the dilapidated dresser. He had been staying at the Rat Hole Inn, as he called it, for a week now. He stayed on the move so his parents couldn’t track him down. He hadn’t talked to them since he saw his ex-fiancé, Carrie, standing in the Gauthier boardroom, snuggled up to his father’s side.
After everything she had done to him, to their unborn grandchild, he couldn’t move beyond the fact that his parents had hired her at the family business. It was too much, especially since they knew that she had aborted their baby without even discussing it with him. The sight of her standing there, next to his smug ass father, left him dumbfounded.
Fuck it.
Carrie could have the job. He didn’t have any reason to care. He would continue to show up for the annual meeting, cast his vote, and get the hell out of town. There was nothing left for him in New Orleans.
CHAPTER THREE
Baby Jade
After a long night of back-to-back sets, Baby Jade was looking forward to a shower. Too bad it wasn’t going to be a hot shower, not in her shit hole of an apartment. The water heater was kaput, and she had yet to get Mickey to get up off his cheap ass and make a phone call to get it fixed.
“I’m heading out,” she hollered to Mickey on her way out the door. He gave a curt nod in response. He finally quit giving her so much shit when it came time to leave. Having a couple of extra girls had taken off some of the pressure. She took advantage since she knew it wouldn’t last long. Bottoms Up had a revolving door when it
came to dancers.
Baby stepped out onto the busy sidewalk. The muggy night air was better than the stale cigarette smoke in the club. She glanced toward the spot on the sidewalk where Lucky used to park his motorcycle. Her heart sank into her stomach. She closed her eyes and tried to remember the way it felt to have her arms coiled around his waist as the two of them roared down the interstate heading out of New Orleans, dreaming of a life together, unlimited possibilities. For the first time in her life, she felt as if she had gone all in and had finally beaten the odds.
She couldn’t have been more wrong.
A faint moan caught her attention. Baby Jade whipped her head around. The sound was barely audible, but it was there. Bourbon Street was full of people, mostly tourists, filling the sidewalks and street, making it difficult to figure out where the groaning was coming from.
She followed the muffled cries around the corner until she almost tripped over what looked like a pile of old blankets.
“Ooh … ”
A shriek from under the pile made her flinch. Her pulse raced, and her weak legs almost gave out as she knelt down to the ground. Her trembling fingers gripped the dingy blanket and slowly pulled it back, revealing a battered, naked woman.
The girl whimpered and tried to shield herself, but winced louder as she attempted to lift her mangled arms. Her bright purple face was swollen, and dried blood had crusted in the corners of her shattered mouth. Baby Jade gently peeled the matted hair from the girl’s face.
Lolli.
Baby’s heart hammered against her chest. Blood surged to her head, flooding her ears. “Hold, on Lolli. I’m gonna get help.”
As she tried to stand, a quivering hand reached for her. Lolli tried to speak, but the garbled words only made a loud, groaning sound. She attempted to shake her head and her face twisted from the pain.
It was times like this when Baby Jade kicked herself for not keeping minutes on her crappy cell phone.
“It’s ok. Shh, try not to move. I’m not going anywhere.” Baby searched the alley, looking for help. Just as she got ready to holler out, a shadowy figure circled from the backside of the bar. Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she tried to make out the dark figure. By the massive size, she could make out that it was a male.
Baby blindly reached around on the ground. When she found a glass bottle, she gripped the neck and held the bottle over her head, ready to strike. As the man approached, his pace quickened.
“Hey, need some help?”
He scrambled to her side, and she quickly realized it was the mystery man from inside the club. She dropped the bottle and tried to steady her breathing.
“I’ve got to get her to the hospital. She’s been beaten, and only God knows what else. Shit! Call an ambulance or something!”
His gaze fell on Lolli, examining the damage. “There’s no time. I’ll get my car.”
Before Baby could protest, the man had disappeared down the dark alley. She heard the thunderous roar of his 5.0L Coyote engine. A black, Roush Mustang pulled up beside her, and the man jumped out. He stepped in to scoop up Lolli’s broken body.
Baby didn’t know whether she should trust him or not, but at this point, didn’t feel as if she had a choice. She ran to the car and fumbled for the button. She moved the front seat forward and climbed in the back. The man placed Lolli in the back seat. Baby cradled her head carefully in her lap, wiping the stray tears from the poor girl’s battered face.
They pulled up to the emergency room entrance at Tulane Medical Plaza where the man carried Lolli inside, quickly getting the attention of the staff. Baby tried not to focus on how, only a few months earlier, she almost died in the very same building. Even worse, she wished she had.
Old demons gripped her insides and Baby backed up against the wall to keep from falling. Her vision blurred. She tried to make out the man as he finished talking to the nurses and made his way over to her.
“Are you ok? You don’t look so good.”
The fuzziness in her head traveled to her tummy. She attempted to push herself from the wall, but stumbled, right into the man’s arms. He caught her and guided her to a row of chairs along the waiting room wall. Leaning forward, she placed her head between her knees trying to catch her breath.
The image of the operating room flashed through her mind. Bits and pieces of the night her life had changed forever saturated her brain. The visions were too much. She collapsed, falling to the man’s side.
He held her close, not saying a word.
CHAPTER FOUR
Lucky
“Come on, man. You need to go out tonight. Sandy’s been asking Denise about you all damn day.”
Lucky glanced from his coworker, Calvin, over to the payment counter where Denise was gabbing with her friend. Sandy had brought her car in complaining about a noise that Lucky had yet to hear, even after an hour of diagnostic testing.
“She’s not my type, man.”
Calvin scoffed. “Are you fucking kidding me? Since when is hot and easy not your type?”
Lucky had known him for years, ever since the first time he left New Orleans and ended up in Longview working a short shutdown inside the East Texas Chemical plant.
“Oh, I’m all about hot. It’s the easy part that I have a problem with. That’s some ugly shit, man.”
Both women giggled from the corner. Calvin looked at Lucky and wagged his eyebrows. “You know she’s a sure thing.”
“Yeah, for me or for someone else. I don’t think it really matters to her.”
His friend snickered. “Yeah, I bet you got that right.”
Lucky picked up a six-pack of Shiner and headed back to his cheap motel room. He took a quick shower, all the while fighting the urge to head to the bar. He was itching for a good card game, but it wasn’t worth it to have to fight Sandy off all fucking night.
He tried to occupy his mind with a football game, but like clockwork, his thoughts were rooted on Baby Jade. He wondered what she was doing at that very moment, at any moment. Was she safe? Was she healing? Physically? Emotionally? Did she ache for him as he did her? Did she dream of him every time she closed her eyes? Did she drink herself into a stupor, or worse, just so she could see his face or feel his touch?
The mind games fucked with his head every night as he came to the same conclusion. Baby Jade hated him, and rightfully so. Hell, he hated himself.
She deserved better. She deserved more, and the only thing he had left to offer her was to stay the fuck away. To leave her alone and let her move on without him. He had come to terms with his fate, but she still had a chance at a life, at scraping together an ounce of happiness.
Lucky finished off the six-pack in record time and toyed with the idea of running out for more when his cell phone rang. Startled, he jumped. He never got phone calls unless they were about a job. His mother tried occasionally, but he had nothing to say to her or anyone else in his family.
He decided to answer since the number came up restricted and he had been waiting to hear back from a foreman about a job up north.
“Hello?”
“James? Son, it’s your mother.”
Shit! Lucky paced the room, agitated with himself for answering. “What is it, mother?”
“That’s how you greet me after all this time? I’ve been trying to find you for weeks!” Her curt tone was rude and condescending.
“Mother, I don’t have it in me for another knock down drag out. Get to the point.”
“Fine, you need to come home immediately.”
He chuckled. “You know that’s not gonna happen.”
“It’s your father,” she said, her voice cracking. “Your father passed away, James.”
Lucky sat on the edge of the bed. The room started spinning, and a heaviness invaded his aching chest.
“James, are you there?”
“Yes, mother.” Lucky gulped for air. “What happened?”
“They said he suffered from an aneurism. He was on the golf co
urse one minute and gone the next.”
A pang in his heart throbbed at the weepiness in his mother’s typically cold voice.
“When?” He immediately started plotting how he would rush back for the funeral. He and his family were at odds, but they were still blood, even if the thought of heading back to New Orleans made him want to hurl.
“Thirteen days ago,” his mother responded.
Lucky shot up from the bed. His neck tightened. His nostrils flared. “What the hell, mother! He’s been dead for two weeks, and I’m just now finding out?”
“Do not speak to me that way, James. I have tried repeatedly to get in touch with you. I’ve even had someone trying to find you, but you don’t stay still long enough.”
His back snapped straight. She was right. He had missed his father’s funeral because of his bullheadedness.
“I’m on my way.”
Lucky threw his measly belongings into his duffle bag and left the motel key on the dresser. His chest burned deep on the inside as he jumped on his Harley.
Destination, New Orleans.
After riding most of the night, Lucky’s stomach constricted as the lights of the Big Easy came into view. His hometown, but not his home. He drove down the familiar streets, fighting the impulse to head straight to Baby Jade’s apartment. He didn’t even know if she still lived there, but Ma’Linn would know.
Instead, he headed to the Garden District. The historical area was known for being beautiful, but he found it obnoxious. He never liked being in the wealthy spotlight. He tried to sever his Gauthier ties, and every time he thought he had made a clean break, some fucked up situation relentlessly dragged him back kicking and screaming.
He rounded the corner, spotting the monstrosity of his childhood home made his muscles twitch. Fancy cars lined the narrow street. There were even more behind the ornate iron gates. He punched the code on the gate and zipped in and out of the trail of vehicles. He parked his bike right in front of the house, catching the attention of everyone inside.
Asshats.
Bourbon Street Royalty: Jaded Series, Book Two Page 2
