Jaded Hearts (The Jaded Hearts Club)

by Olivia Linden

  With no one in sight, I made my escape. I stepped out to the back alley into the pouring rain. Not a good look, but luckily the street was less than half a block away. I hurried down the block to an empty street. Not a cab in sight. Shit!

  25 FADE TO BLACK

  Thirty minutes later I was walking down the block to my building. Thank God it was warm out. The rain felt good in this heat, and I needed to cool off. Seeing Julian was too unexpected. I breathed a in relief as I spotted Manny, the night door man. He wasn’t as friendly as Donovan, but I felt good finally seeing someone I knew. I was safe. I couldn’t wait to get inside and call John. Then the door of a black Range Rover swung open and Julian jumped out storming towards me. He was furious.

  “Woman! Are you crazy??? Do you know how insane that was for you to do??” He shouted as he approached me.

  The tears came in a flood, and I couldn’t stop them if I tried. My life had spun out of control and I was too tired to fight against it.

  Maybe I was weak.

  He stopped in his tracks and just looked at me and then came and scooped me up into his arms.

  “Is this how far you go to get away from me?” His look was of sincere hurt and disbelief. I just continued to cry, my tears mixing with rain drops.

  “Ay, baby don’t cry. I’m sorry Hermosa. Lo siento.” He kissed my tearstained cheeks and took me into his arms a look of curiosity playing at his frown.

  “Why would you do this Jade? It was so freakin dangerous for you to walk out into an alley, and walk home in the rain after midnight. Maldito!” He scolded me softly.

  I tried to pull away from him in one final act of desperation.

  “Julian! I feel like you are ruining my life! You can’t do this to me. You can’t begin to understand what I have gone through. What you put me through! The not knowing! The constant wishing and hoping! Trying to forget!” I pushed against him in futility. His arms just held mine against him, wearing me out.

  “You think I don’t know? Do you think I didn’t die inside every time I thought about you and then die twice at the thought of you with another man? I came back for you! I can’t stand to be away from you any longer. Please come back with me.” His eyes pleaded with me in my stunned silence.

  “Come with you? To Where? This is crazy, I have a life! And yes, there is someone else!” I yelled.

  “Jade, I told you I will explain this all to you. I know you have a life but I would give anything to have you in mine.” He continued.

  I just held my head against his chest too emotionally exhausted to say anything. There was so much going on in my mind right now with John and the visit from Evan.

  WTF?

  Julian pulled my head back by my soaking wet hair, his eyes asking me an unspoken question, and I knew the answer. The answer was yes. With no more fight left in me I reached my arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss. He accepted my kiss like a man starving for it. The enormity of the passion that transpired between us was overwhelming.

  “I can’t stay here with you Jade, please come with me so we can talk.” He had already used my submission to his advantage and was ushering me towards his car whose driver was waiting patiently as our drama played out. I didn't even know where we were going.

  Once inside I sagged against him almost lifeless and for warmth as the chill from the a/c caused me to shiver. Julian uttered a command at the driver to lower the blast of cold air, to no avail. His order was ignored. Again he called a command to the driver while tapping on the privacy glass. I could feel the tension rising in him and panic stirred in me.

  “Fucking, shit! Hello? Do you not value your life? Turn the-wait…where are you going?” His voice masked the dread that was permeating from him.

  I held onto him fearing the unknown dangers everyone had warned me about. Julian was frantically fighting with his phone to make a phone call, but there was absolutely no reception. I pulled out mine hoping to help, but I also had no bars. He handed it back to me and tried his again with the same result and hurled it at the privacy window smashing the phone to pieces, but not harming the glass. I stared at him as the cold chill of fear crept throughout my body.

  “Jules? What’s happening?” He looked at me with the same pained expression as the night he left me, and shook his head. I jumped as the privacy glass abruptly slid open and then managed a small scream as a gun protruded through it aimed at Julian who had his head in his hands. He looked up just in time to see the gun before he was struck in the neck.

  A dart?

  Not finding any comfort in the fact that it wasn’t a real bullet I screamed wildly as his body slumped heavily against mine. I checked to see if he was still breathing but before I could find his pulse I heard another shot. I don’t want to die this way… Fade to black.

  This was definitely not a dream. The loud voices would not have followed me into wakefulness, and I wouldn’t be sleeping on a concrete floor. My body shivered wildly at the cold chill of the ground seeping into my bones. My clothes were soaked.

  “Jesus! I did not get Nina pregnant! I was never with her in that way.” Julian yelled.

  Nina? Oh, Ms. Tall and Blonde.

  “You have to believe that. Call her! She will tell the truth.” Julian pleaded for mercy.

  Unfortunately that didn’t seem to be on the menu as he was rewarded with a punch so vicious it knocked him and the chair he was tied to over. The tears finally flowed out of my eyes as I waited in vain for his eyes to open. My eyes closed against the horror that I was feeling at that moment.

  “Open your eyes you slut! I want you to see what happens next. Put her in a chair!”

  That was an order from Italian shoes. I was dragged roughly across the room and thrown into a chair. I saw Julian still on the ground, tied up and lying on his back as two men with baseball bats began to beat him over his legs and stomach, and he groaned in pain even after they stopped.

  “Yes! That’s how my Nina sounded as she laid bleeding in her bed!” said Italian shoes, also called boss by his associates. He turned out to be an Italian man in a full suit and dark glasses. He walked over to Julian and pulled him up by his shirt so that he could pound his face in. I winced as I saw the blood pour from his nose and began to scream. I was panicking. A hard blow to the back of my head put an end to that. The pain was so severe that I couldn’t feel the rest of my body as I finally passed out.

  I was vaguely aware of my injuries because I was blacking in and out of the pain. I managed to roll my head around to still see Julian tied up and unconscious. I wished that I too could stay passed out and not have to know how I was going to die. I tried to close my eyes and let the pain take over, and to my dismay it was working faster than I had hoped.

  Then I had what felt like an out of body experience. I heard John’s voice. When I opened my eyes I was watching him from the other corner of the room. He was untying me and slowly pulling the duct tape from my skin. I began to cry because I knew that John was the only one that could save me. I tried to let the pain take me again because now I was torturing myself. Then I felt like my eyes were being torn apart.

  Oh God, not again!

  I stopped fighting and let my eyes open to see which goon was torturing me now. I saw John’s serious eyes staring into mine.

  “Jade! Baby you have to wake up, please! That’s right look at me. Stay with me, I'm gonna take you home.

  I was so confused. How did he find me? Then the confusion turned into fear now that I thought he was in danger. Again came the tears.

  “No! Leave me here. I don’t want them to hurt you too.”

  My words were barely audible, and before I could wait for him to respond the pain became too much. I felt him trying to lift me up, but I had no energy left to fight him off. Then I heard the voices. My torturers had returned and they were yelling at John. The last thing I heard was a gun shot.

  26 NO PROMISES

  I felt like I was floating. My first thought was that they had drugged me agai
n trying to finish me off without too much blood. I looked around to see that I was in a hospital room. John was sleeping in a chair with his legs propped up on the bed. I tried to get his attention, but I was so out of it I couldn’t remember how to talk. I managed to move my legs, the only thing on me that wasn’t cut or bruised. The movement startled him and he jumped to my side.

  “Jade! Baby, I’m so sorry. I thought-wait! Don’t move. You have some serious injuries. I don’t want you to pull your stitches.” He looked at me with a mix of relief and sadness.

  “How did you find me? How did we make it out? Stitches? Where?” My voice was hoarse and gravely. I knew that I had been beaten, but I wasn’t even sure what else they had done to me.

  “Don’t worry about that now. We are both safe, and with enough rest you will be as good as new. Drew just left, but I'll call him to come back.” He moved towards the dresser and opened a bottle of pills and poured me a glass of water.

  “But, how? And where is Julian? Is he OK?” I could barely breath, but I had to ask.

  “I can't answer those questions, but I can tell you that he is alive,” was his answer.

  “Here, drink this. You need to get some sleep, and I promise that when you wake up I will tell you everything, but you have to promise me one thing.”

  He looked at me with those serious eyes again. I nodded my head in agreement. I knew I had to tell him, I couldn’t keep lying to him anymore. He sat beside me and took my hand.

  “You have to promise me that you will tell me everything, not just what happened to you where I found you. I wanna trust you Jade. What do I have to do to get you to trust me? I told you I would be there for you no matter what. My love has no conditions to it. Do you understand now? Even if we're not together.” He was trying to fight back tears and I began to cry.

  “I promise.” I said as I closed my eyes against the flood of emotions that threatened to drown me. My confusion of what happened and how John even found me. My joy at being safe and hearing him say he loved me. The pain of all my injuries, and the sadness of losing Julian, again.

  But surprisingly a gnawing pang of anger was beginning to replace it all. John broke up with me. Why did I owe him an explanation? I struggled to open my eyes and focus on his face.

  "Well, since we are discussing trust and honesty, you can start by explaining how you knew what was going on and where to find me." My voice was ice cold.

  John sighed deeply and then replied, " Jade, I really can't get into all of that with you. I want to, believe me. It's a lot to explain, and now is not the time."

  I closed my eyes against the tears that suddenly sprang up, and let them leak gracefully through my eyelids.

  Not another secret!

  "John. I need you to leave." My voice was quiet but shaky from my swirling emotions.

  "No. I'm not leaving you. You can be upset with me, but I'm not making the mistake of leaving you again." He began to close the distance towards my bed, but froze when I raised my voice.

  "No!! This time, I am asking you to leave. I was honest with you and you turned me away. Since you can't be honest with me I have to ask you to go. Go!!" I sobbed violently struggling to breath. I flinched when I felt by body being held protectively, until I heard Drew's voice.

  "Sorry JB, but Jade needs her rest. I got it from here."

  I didn't dare open my eyes to watch him go.

  I couldn't wait to get home. The only place I hated as much as the subway was a hospital. I spent five days recovering from my injuries, and five days waiting for an explanation of what the hell even happened. I was pretty banged up, but thankfully I wouldn’t have any long term damage. Except for the slight scar on my stomach. I didn't even want to know why I had been sliced right under my bellybutton, but I was glad they didn't do more damage. It was just an external wound. I still shuddered at the thought of how badly Julian was hurt. I just wished I really knew the extent.

  As tired as I was from my ordeal, I was just plain tired. I had taken an emotional beating in the last few weeks. Heck, the last few months. I was mentally and physically drained. I was hoping to get some sleep, but once I was up for visitors, I was rarely left alone. John somehow was a VIP and could visit me anytime, so he was always there. Drew was next in line followed by Aunt V and Jackie, but never at the same time. I thought my aunt was going to kill Jackie when she found out what happened.

  Drew and Jackie were just returning with my lunch from Au Bon Pain when she came storming into my room.

  “I can't believe this! Jade! I'm so mad I could kill someone for this! Honey, are you OK?” She was livid. I was still slightly groggy and winced at her dramatics.

  “I'm getting there,” was all I could manage. I wasn’t OK

  I'm miserable.

  She came and sat at the edge of my bed and gently stroked the bruises on my face. Tears welled up in her eyes as she canvassed the full damage.

  “I knew it! I just knew. This was what I was trying to warn you about. What happened?” She sobbed. She was taking this harder than anyone else.

  At least visibly.

  “I don't know. It was all so fast. I met Drew and Jacks at Echo. Julian showed up. I wound up walking home and by the time I got there he was waiting for me. Then we were in his car and the driver shot us with darts. I woke up in a warehouse, tied up.” My voice faltered on the last few words.

  “You walked home? Alone?” She asked in utter disbelief. “Why?”

  No one really knew how to answer the question, and Drew just dropped his head in remorse. Jackie was frozen with shame. I knew my aunt wasn’t going to stop without an answer.

  “After Julian showed up he took me to his office to... I got a text saying that they went home since I was in good hands. I guess considering my history with him, it wasn't really expected that I would be leaving with them. When I walked out I was trying to sneak away from him, I just couldn't catch a damn cab.” I didn't mean to throw anyone under the bus, but it is what it is. Aunt V whipped her head around and glared at her daughter.

  “You left her? With him? You left her with him? After he'd disappeared off the face of the earth for months? After his uncle showed up at my house unannounced? After I told you how I felt about this whole situation? You left without her?” The rage in her voice was thinly veiled.

  Jackie sat quivering with tears in her eyes and I felt bad for her.

  This isn’t fair. I'm a grown woman.

  “Aunt V. It's not Jackie's fault. I was...” She cut me off before I could finish.

  “No Jade. She knew better. She was trying to play matchmaker. She was trying to be sneaky. She thought it would be cute for you to date him while she dated Edward. If it was no big thing why keep it a secret? Huh? Why hide?” She ranted on.

  “This is why! Look how you’re reacting!” Jackie barked.

  She must be crazy...

  I thought for a minute that my aunt was going to strangle her. Aunt V stood up, towering over Jackie in the visitors chair.

  “Shut your mouth! You hear me? I've had enough of you. When I told Jade to be careful you sat there rolling your freaking eyes as if I was crazy. Because you think you know everything. You know what's crazy? This! Jade being kidnapped and beaten is crazy. Just get out of my face! Get out!” She growled.

  Jackie fled the room as if she was really afraid for her life. I had never seen my aunt so angry before. Me and Drew just looked at each other in shock, but then quit making eye contact out of fear that we would entice her wrath against one of us. V just slumped down in the newly vacant chair not focusing on anything. I knew it took a lot out of her to get that worked up. Drew walked over and gave her a hug, and then left to go console our cousin.

  What a mess.

  “You know history really does repeat itself if you don't learn from the mistakes of the past. I tried to teach her to do things in a way that would take her down a different path. I guess I didn’t do as well as I thought.” She was truly shaken by this.

&nb
sp; “You are an awesome mother to Jackie! To me too,” I affirmed.

  She just let out a long sigh and shook her head.

  “No, you don't understand. I should have just told you guys the truth. The reason I know Ana Garza, the reason Jackie is running that boutique is because I knew – know Alex Garza. Alex is Julian's uncle on his father's side. I was dating him when Ana and Julian senior met. I went to the wedding. He was incredibly handsome and charming, but he was trouble. He kept me in a house in the Bronx while he flew back and forth to Miami.

  I ignored the fact that he made much more money than a man should make running a bodega. He was paying my bills; I had the latest fashion and went to all the cool parties. I met Ana on one of the many trips I took with him to Miami. She was young just like me, and had only been here from Cuba for a short while. The first time I knew I was in trouble was on one of these trips. Julian was the boss. We all were at his house in the Keys and Ana found out he was seeing another woman. She was sulking and pouting the whole time and one night at dinner he asked her a question, and when she didn't answer he dragged her out her seat by her hair. I had never seen anything like that before. I jumped up to protest what was happening and he glared at me then looked at Alex who forced me back in my seat. When I complained about what he had done he smacked me. Plum across my face. Later that night he half apologized but told me that I had to understand not to challenge him in public especially not around Julian.” She paused at some unforeseen memory that was not included in the story. I sat there spellbound, waiting to hear more about Julian's family.

  “Eventually things got worse. The crazier Julian became the crazier Alex had to pretend to be. It got to the point that I refused to go with him on those trips too Miami, but I felt for Ana and I liked her. Your mother was pregnant with you, and so involved with your father that she didn't have much time for me. Her situation wasn't too different except for the abuse. For whatever it's worth your father adored her. I wasn't quite so lucky. Alex was torn between being his kind, caring self and being a monster. Julian senior was a monster. I wanted to leave him for months. I had already met Jackie's father and was secretly dating him. I would disappear to your mother's apartment for weeks at a time. Then someone would come looking for me, and drag me back home. It was torture. Finally, Jackson moved me into his brownstone. I was head over heels in love with him and was pregnant within weeks of living with him. When Alex found out that I was pregnant he snapped. He swore the baby was his. I literally couldn't leave my house. That's how you and your mom wound up living with us. I couldn’t go to the Bronx to see you guys.”