by Calinda B
“Is everything okay?” Tanya called from the doorway of the bar.
Jace turned to say something, giving Zoé a chance to wrestle free of his grasp. She sprinted away from him, racing down the well-lit, nighttime street.
His boot clad feet thundered after her, swiftly catching up to her. He grabbed her arm and whirled her around. “Don’t do this to me, Zoé. I’m not kidding. Don’t do this.”
His face looked wild, frantic with grief, alarm, worry…whatever it was it made her stop, her mouth falling open, while her head spun with the effects of everything she’d consumed.
“Don’t do this to me. Please.” His green eyes pooled with unshed tears. “Don’t walk away from you and me,” he said on a whisper. “Not like this. Please, baby. I can explain.”
“You’re hurting my arm,” she hissed, her eyes locked with his.
“Please don’t walk away. Give me a chance to explain.”
“Get the fuck away from me, Savage.” She wrenched free of his embrace and dashed into the street, in front of an oncoming car.
The car slammed on the brakes, barely missing her.
She screamed and leapt to the other side of the vehicle, barely missing the passenger door as it swung open in her direction.
“Hop in, baby,” a sinister voice said to her.
She looked across the top of the car at Jace’s face. “Tell Kate hi for me next time you fuck her.” His expression was beyond fury, beyond pain. Unable to stand seeing him like this, she leapt in the Porsche, turned to Billy and said, “Take me out of here.”
Chapter 22
Jace sprinted back to the parking lot, threw his helmet on, fired up the bike and peeled out, tires screeching. He didn’t know where he was going, what he was doing. He only knew he had to find Zoé. This can’t be happening, can’t be happening, can’t be happening. Not again. After what felt like hours, could have been minutes or even seconds, he found Billy’s car in front of one of the places he went to party. The engine screamed as he rocketed across the lawn. He threw the bike down and bolted for the door.
Finding it locked, he assaulted it with his fists. “Open the fucking door, O’Reilly! Open the goddamned door!” He was just about to find something to hurl through the window, when a wispy woman opened it.
“Hey, chill, dude,” she said, swimming through her high to attempt communication. “Billy’s in the back.”
Jace pushed past her, practically knocking her into the wall, and raced to the back room.
On a sofa, Billy lay on top of a naked brunette, pounding into her.
Jace launched himself at Billy, tearing him away from Zoé, blinking when he saw it wasn’t her.
The woman screamed and tried to cover her breasts.
“Save the modesty. Yours aren’t that special.” He whirled to face Billy. “Where is she, motherfucker? Tell me now or I’ll beat the shit out of you.”
“She’s in the bedroom.”
“What did you do to her?”
“Whatever the fuck I felt like, what do you think?” He leered at Jace.
“So help me, God…” Jace began.
“God can’t help you, I’m afraid,” Billy said. “Now can you let me finish?” He glanced at his swollen cock. “I need some release here. I haven’t got my fill of fucking tonight.”
“I’ll take care of you and your dick.”
“Yeah, yeah, tell it to my lawyers.” He turned to the brunette. “Spread ‘em, baby.”
“No, I’m not in the mood anymore.” The woman appeared terrified, eyeing Jace.
“Spread your fucking legs,” he said, as Jace stormed from the room. “Before I kick your naked ass out of here.”
Jace dashed into the back bedroom, noticing an open prescription bottle on the side dresser, pills spilled on top and on the floor and a couple empty syringes. An elastic band - the kind used to strap around your arm and find a vein - lay on top, along with condom packets, both empty and unopened.
Zoé lay lifeless on the bed, her legs splayed, her skirt pushed up.
Jace completely lost it. Please be alive. Please be alive! He rushed to her side and shook her shoulder. “Baby! Baby, please.”
She stirred and looked at him through fog-filled eyes. “Jace?” she said, before her eyelids slammed shut.
You’re completely wrecked, beautiful girl. And I’m the one who wrecked you. Tears stung his eyes as he lifted her and carried her outside. Once on the lawn, he fell to his knees, holding her tightly, his chest heaving dry, empty sobs into the air.
Billy called out the front door. “Hey, dipshit! Close the door when you’re taking out the trash.” He slammed it shut.
Jace barely registered the words. His mind raced, but he couldn’t think of what to do, where to go. All he could think to do was sit, holding her tight to his chest, as if that would somehow make a difference. He continued his vigil for hours, checking for her breath, her pulse, reassuring himself with any sign of life as the minutes ticked by. “Baby, please come back to me. Don’t leave me.”
At about 2 a.m., her eyelids finally fluttered open. “Shit,” she said. “My head hurts. Where are we?”
“You’re with me. You’re safe.”
“That’s debatable,” she said, pushing away from him. She rolled up to sitting, and dropped her head in her hands. “Shit,” she said again.
“Ask me questions. I’ll answer anything.”
“I don’t even remember what day it is. Let’s start with that.”
“We went out for drinks with your friends tonight.”
Her face squeezed as she thought about the night. Tears began tracking down her face. “I can’t believe I let you get under my skin! You’re as bad as Billy!”
Jace reeled back as if she’d hit him.
She scrambled to her feet unsteadily. “Where am I?”
“I told you. You’re with me. You’re safe.”
“No, I’m not. I’m not in the least bit safe with you. Take me away from here. Take me back to my Jeep.”
“No, baby, let’s talk. I’ll answer all your questions.”
“Jace, get me out of here! I need to go back to my Jeep! Get me out of here.” Her voice grew loud, verging on hysteria.
“Shhh, baby, shhh.”
She strode up to him, hauled back and landed a stinging slap on his face. “I said get me out of here. Take me back or I’ll find my way to wherever my vehicle is!”
“Don’t get physical with me, Zoé.” He began to shake with rage. “Ever.”
“Take. Me. Back,” she said, inches from his face, her eyes insane fury.
“Okay, okay. I’ll do it.” He stood up and reached for her hand.
“Don’t touch me.”
“All right. Okay.” He picked up his motorcycle, handing her the helmet. “Put this on.”
“No!”
“Baby, put the fucking helmet on or you can and will walk home.”
She jammed it on her head. “There. Are you happy?”
“No. I won’t be happy until you’re happy.” He slung his leg over the bike seat. “Climb on.”
She got behind him, putting as much room as she could between them.
“You have to hang on if you want me to start this bike.”
“No!”
He grabbed one of her hands, wrapped it around his torso and gripped it tightly.
She wrestled and pulled like a she-demon.
“I’m not letting you go, so calm the fuck down.” He stuck the key in the ignition, fired up the motor and made tire tracks in the lawn, heading down the hill to the club.
Once they reached her Jeep, the sky in its deep night slumber, she leapt off the bike and stormed to the driver’s side.
“At least give me a chance to explain.”
“No!”
“Baby, please. You can ask me anything. Then, if you don’t like the answers, I’ll leave you alone.” A death sentence if ever there were one.
“I don’t want you to leave me alone,”
she sobbed. “I want you to let me in.”
“So give me a chance to do that,” he said, exasperated.
“No! You’ve had plenty of chances. I don’t care anymore!”
Her answer landed solidly in his chest, a bullet if ever there was one. He actually staggered backward. “You don’t mean that. You can’t mean that.”
“Yes, Jace. I can and I do. Get away from me, now.”
Chapter 23
Jace got on his bike, numb, enraged, hurt. He drove aimlessly through the streets of Seattle. How did this happen…again? He pictured his sister, lying limply in his arms. He envisioned Zoé, doing the same. Both of them high as fucking kites. “Son of a goddamned bitch. Holy hell. I may as well join the party.” He pointed the Deus toward Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle, known for drug deals to go down.
Once he arrived, he sat on his bike and watched. At 2:30 a.m., a group of very drunk women staggered by him.
“Hey, handsome,” one of them called. “Want to play?”
He stared at them like they spoke another language.
“I guess the answer’s no,” another said.
“He’s probably not worth the trouble,” a third slurred.
They laughed and wobbled away.
A homeless woman known in this part of town as “Weeping Wendy” shuffled over in filthy clothes, her dirty hands outstretched in an endless plea. “Please help me,” she sobbed. “I’ve got no place to go.”
“Help yourself, Wendy. I can’t do it for you,” Jace said with a disgusted sneer. “I can’t even save my own goddamned life.”
Across the darkened park, a couple men approached one another, conversed, shook hands and walked away in opposite directions.
Jace swung his leg off the bike and sauntered over.
“Want something?” a small, skeevy looking guy in a hooded sweatshirt asked him.
“What do you got?” Jace asked, conflict and heartbreak screwing with his reason. Don’t do this, dipshit. His heart raced.
“What do you want? I’ll see if I got it,” the guy answered, his skin greasy and pale, even in the dim streetlight. His eyes looked wild and unfocused.
“Coke, weed…I’ll take anything.”
The guy’s eyes glittered. “Your lucky day, then.”
Jace reached in his pocket, pulled out a wad of cash and said, “How much will this get me?”
The guy studied the cash hungrily. “Not much. I’ll need a little more.”
Jace grabbed the guy’s collar and pulled him up to his face. “Wrong answer, dickwad. I said, how much will this get me?”
The guy’s eyes grew so wide the whites glistened in the streetlight. “That should get you a decent high.”
Jace dropped him. “Give me everything you’ve got.”
The guy staggered to catch his balance, fished in his pocket, pulled out a bag of weed, some pills and a small bag of white powder. “Will this do?’
“For starters.” Jace took the drugs and shoved them in his pocket. “Get outta here.”
“Wait a minute. I need to get paid.”
Jace got in his face again. “Wrong again. What you need is to stop selling this shit, got it?” He pulled out the tiny plastic bag and waved the white powder in the dude’s skinny ass face.
“Hey. If shitheads like you didn’t buy, I wouldn’t sell.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. I think I saw a cop around the corner. Want me to go check? We can ask him who’s right, how’s that?”
The guy’s jaw fell open and he skittered away like a dead leaf in the wind.
Jace strode back to his Deus and took off. He stopped at a liquor store for whiskey, rolling papers and a pack of matches before heading to Zoé’s.
He powered the bike next to the Jeep sitting crooked in her driveway illumined by street lights. Her head lay against the window, streaked wet from tears. She didn’t look up. He stalked to the passenger side and yanked on the door handle. “Open up, Zoé.”
“Go to hell!”
“Open the goddamned door or I’ll break the fucking window.”
She pressed the unlock button and it snicked open.
He slid in next to her, brown paper bag in tow. “Want to increase your dosage? Let’s see what I’ve got.”
Her eyes grew wide and she sat up straight in her seat. “What are you doing?”
“I figured you were going to wreck yourself, I may as well join you.”
“Right, you help all the virgin drug users,” she said, a pout on her pretty face.
“Damn straight.” He placed the pills and the coke on the dash. “Which to you want to start with? Want to go up? These are your best bet. Want to get mellow? Here’s what I’ve got for that.” He tossed the baggie of green bud in the space between the seats. “Want me to roll you a fat one? I’m really good at it.”
“No, I…”
“I brought whisky, too, if that’s how you want to play it. Just in case you want to stick with tradition.” He pulled free the bottle, leaned across and pried her legs apart. “Here,” he said, shoving the bottle between her legs. “Something big and hard for you.”
Her mouth fell open. “Why are you doing this?”
“I figured I may as well join the party. Let’s get high together.” He grabbed the white powder, sprinkled some on the webbing between his thumb and index finger and held it up to her nose. “You first.”
She slapped his hand away, the powder falling like a tiny cloud, landing softly on her lap and the whiskey bottle. “What is wrong with you? Why are you doing this?”
“Because you hurt me, that’s why. You took off with Billy O’Reilly and a shitload of god knows what humming in your system. Do you even know what you’re doing?”
“Maybe.”
“I’ll bet not. I’ll lay odds that the answer is no to that one. I’ll bet you’re a virgin when it comes to drugs.”
Fire sparked in her gaze. “And you’re just the guy who can help me. Jasmine told me you’re an old pro at helping women through their first high.”
“Damn straight I am. We’ve already covered this topic.”
“Give me some of that shit.” She seized the little bag of cocaine. “Help me out, stud. Show me the ropes.” Her hands shook as she poured some of the powder on her hand in the same place Jace did. “How am I doing? Am I getting this right?” She closed one nostril with her fingertip and bent her head down to her hand.
“If that blow goes up your nose, I’m going to break your goddamn windshield, then, I’m going to get on my bike and leave you here, with all of this shit as your friends. Because I sure won’t be one of them. You’ve already done the one thing in this fucked-up world that could break my heart. This runs a close second.” He spoke in a cold, menacing voice.
“You were testing me?” she said, incredulous. Her face drained of color as blood thumped through the veins in her elegant, beautiful neck. She slowly lowered her hand, opened the door, and brushed the powder onto the asphalt with her free hand. She pulled the bottle free and laid it behind her seat. “What did I do?” she whispered.
“You fucked Billy. You promised me exclusive rights and you fucked Billy O’Reilly.”
Her head began to shake back and forth, tears pouring from her eyes. “I didn’t fuck him. I didn’t. I swear to God, I didn’t. We smoked a joint when I got there. Then I was too drunk or high or whatever the hell I was. He told me to go sleep it off.”
Jace eyed her, wondering if he could believe his ears. “What about the smack? There were empty syringes on the dresser.”
“It wasn’t me! I would never do that! I saw that when I stumbled in the bedroom. I would never use that shit, Jace, never! My brother died of a heroin overdose,” she wailed.
Her sobs clawed and tore at his heart. He blinked back his own tears, his lungs heaving. “He what?” he managed to say.
“My brother died when he was nineteen! Denis overdosed on heroine. Now I don’t have a brother or a family anymore. He’
s been replaced by a drug loss memory and my family’s been replaced with people I don’t even like! I can’t even remember my talented, beautiful brother without thinking of drugs.” She shook as she spoke.
“I’m…I’m sorry, baby. I had no idea.”
“That’s because you never asked. I would have told you. I would have told you anything you wanted to know. You tell me nothing.” She spit out the last sentence like venom before turning away from him, staring at space once more.
“So why’d you get high tonight?” So many feelings pushed through him he thought he was going to explode.
“I don’t know,” she sobbed. “I’ve gone crazy with you. You’ve changed me. You’ve affected me in ways I never dreamed possible. All I wanted to do was numb you out of my mind. I wanted to forget I ever met you!”
“But, why, baby? We were having such a good night.”
“Because,” she said, hiccupping through her tears. “B-b-because Jasmine and Simone said you’re a sex god and you have a reputation and you’ve done everything and you had sex with Kate two days ago. I had to give you rights and you didn’t give me anything!” She cried out the last part, tears and spittle spraying from her mouth.
“Baby, please don’t cry. I gave you rights, too. How could I have had sex with Kate? Why would I want to? All I can manage is dealing with my sister’s shit, going to work and dealing with Billy’s bullshit and seeing you when I can.”
She brought her beautiful brown eyes up to meet his eyes and gave him such a tormented, tender gaze he thought he’d die. “You have a sister?”
“Yes, she’s my twin.”
“What’s her name?”
“Jayna. Her name is Jayna.”
“It’s a pretty name.”
“She’s a pretty girl. Or, she used to be.”
“What happened?” Zoé gazed out the window like she’d like to be outside, away from him.
“Drugs. She’s an addict.”
“Of course she is,” she said in a flat-lined voice. She swallowed and blinked back tears. “So tell me more about your ‘used to be pretty’ sister and the trouble you got in. Wait. Let’s start with your past. Did you have a wonderful childhood marred by tragedy, like I did?”