by Aven Jayce
“Of course.” My mother disappears and I give my wife a look of agony as to where we are.
“Here you go. It’s a new box.”
“Thanks mother. I’ll be late tonight. I need some time.”
“Of course. You should take the night off. I can handle things with Haverty, and you don’t need to be at the Scarlett every hour it’s open, dear. But let’s do talk soon about what happened today. Coffee tomorrow afternoon? Or dinner?”
“Sounds good.” I feel like shit looking at her; keeping this secret. She’s always been so kind and supportive of me throughout my life. So well put together.
Her makeup and dress are classy, maybe even a little extravagant, with a plethora of gold rings, bracelets, and other accessories worn at all times; a modern day Elizabeth Taylor, the type of woman who ages gracefully and gets better looking with each passing year.
I grab Sophia’s hand and take her back to our place before my father has a chance to appear.
“Jesus,” I lock the door and plant my head against the wall. “She doesn’t know, Soph.”
“Well, don’t you think she should?”
“Yes, of course I do, but it’s not our place to tell her.”
“I know, but this sucks. I didn’t go over there to see her, I went to... how could your father... so he’s kept... uurgh, fuck I’m pissed. I want to smack him. And Ivy never knew about this either?”
“From what I’ve heard, no.”
“What a shit ass way to find out.”
I rub my eyes free of tears and pull her into a hug. “I don’t know what to do. I basically told my father to fuck off.”
“Good.”
“No, it’s not good. I can’t keep up this charade in front of my mother forever. We have to talk about it eventually, I mean, they live next door to us. Fuck, I can’t stand the sight of him right now. And what do I do about Ivy? Am I supposed to talk to her? What? I’m losing my shit.”
“Cove, you’re putting all of this on yourself, and it’s not your problem, it’s your father’s. Don’t take responsibility for his mistakes. I think you need a day to just chill. I know that doesn’t make much sense coming from someone who’s a ball of anxiety like me, but you’re too emotional to do anything about it right now. Nothing good will come from you speaking with him when you’re ready to punch your fist through the wall.”
I take another beer out of the fridge and wait for her to give me hell about my drinking, but she holds back. Sometimes a man just needs to get piss ass drunk. “When the fuck did you get so smart?”
“It happens,” she smiles. “So you’ve got a sister?”
“A half-sister, and that means you have a sister-in-law.”
The alarm on my cell chimes as a reminder that it’s time to open the Scarlett; Haverty’s probably already on his way and my mother should be leaving soon.
“Soph, why don’t you see if you can catch a ride with my mom, I really need some time to myself.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea? To be alone, I mean.”
“I’ll be fine. I need a swim, and like you said, time to chill, maybe cry my eyes out too, but I’d prefer not to have an audience for that part of my evening.”
She nods and flashes a cute grin, being overly supportive and patient this afternoon.
“I’ll get ready, but you need to promise me something if I’m leaving you alone.”
“What’s that?”
“If you swim, do it now, not when you’re wasted. I’m not going to say much about the alcohol you’ve consumed today, for obvious reasons, but if you’re getting shitfaced, stay safe. No pool, keep off the terrace, and if you’re drunk later call Haverty for a ride to work. Those are my requests.” She takes long strides up the stairway to our bedroom. I love that woman. “And Cove,” she calls back. “One other thing. I know this doesn’t help, but I’m sorry.”
My heart softens as she speaks. I follow her every move as she dresses in her usual attire for the night; a black above the knee dress, heels, and her hair pulled up with a few strands tucked behind her ears. She subdues my mouth on her way out, and brings me out of my shitty mood, at least for a brief moment.
The loft is dead silent once she’s gone, and all I can think to do is set up another shot... and then another, as I pace and question my life.
CHAPTER SIX
“Hey, Babe. You doing alright, still alive?”
“Yeah,” I laugh. “Tanked off my ass. Haven’t felt this good in a long time, Beautiful Dove.”
“Careful what you say, my drunken goofball.”
“Well, you know what I mean. I always feel great with you, Soph, but fuck it’s nice to be consumed with liquor...you know... yeah. Fuck yeah,” I laugh again.
“You coming in soon¸ or gonna stay home tonight? It’s a madhouse in here by the way.”
“Home. No, I’ll come in. Yup. How ‘bout an hour? I’ll call Hav to... whoa.”
“Whoa what?”
“Nothing. Shit, almost dropped my beer. Gotta go, Dove.” I place my cell in the front pocket of my sport coat and notice the driver peering at me in the rear view mirror. “You nearly hit that black cat a second ago. It’s bad luck to have one of those things cross your path. I can only imagine all the shit that could go wrong if you ran over it. Good swerve.”
“Practice. You come across a lot of strays on the city streets after dark. I try my best to avoid them. Sorry about the beer spillage, did you get any on my seat?”
“No, It’s about empty. Thanks for letting me drink in your cab by the way.”
“Not a problem. We’ve got one block to go.”
“Can you pull along side the house, or just past it?” I ask.
“Surprising someone?”
I nod with a drunken grin and pull some money out for the fare. Sophia will cut my dick off if she finds out about this, but I can’t get Kaitlyn out of my head, even after a swim and a shitload of alcohol, I need to find out more from her. Now that I know what the fuck’s going on, I’m pissed that she would ask me to give her daughter a job. The sneaky bitch wanted me to find out, or she was trying to bring Ivy into the scene for my father and her to connect. He’s seen her at the bar and I wonder if he even recognized her as his daughter. He said he wasn’t a part of their lives... fuck these asinine games.
I stand outside a door the size of Texas. Kaitlyn lives in a painted lady, as I often hear my mother and others describe these massive renovated Victorian homes. It’s all girly and shit, painted yellow, purple, and green, with flowers on the porch and a white wicker rocker. I wonder where the fucking lemonade is. God, I’m in a foul mood again. I should’ve brought my flask along. My ass is about to hit the ground from the shots I had before I left, but I could always down another at times like this.
Her door opens a moment after my first knock. Crap, she’s in a robe. Damn it. My eyes scan her body and stop on her bare legs. Okay, yeah, I’m a dumbass. This was a fucking bad idea.
“You look devilishly handsome, Cove.” Her fingers push into the front of my pants and I’m pulled inside. She locks the door and I manage to step away before her hand reaches further down and snags my dick.
“Cut the shit, Kaitlyn. People like you disgust me.”
“People like what?” She brushes her body alongside mine and I stumble back.
“People who want to fuck the son of the man who fathered their child. People who play dirty games to get what they want. You know your daughter was assaulted, right? And yet you’re gonna fucking attack me, after everything’s that’s happened today. You whore.”
“Such harsh words coming from an Everton,” she pauses and takes the Paul Jameson article from her purse, which tells me she’s seen my father some time after he left the Scarlett this morning. “I did see my daughter today, and yes, I’m devastated that such a thing would happen to her, but not surprised. I told you she...”
“Wait. What did you say? Not surprised? That’s bullshit. No parent who cared about their
child would say such a thing.”
“No parent who cared about their child would ignore her for her entire life either. Is that how your father treated you growing up? Is that fair? Was he around for you, or did he disappear like he did with Ivy? Did he protect you from the bad men, Cove?” She waves the article in front of my face.
I want to smack this woman. My fists clench, my heart pounds and I’m starting to feel dizzy. “Why do you have the article? Did you set it by your money so Ivy would come across it, hoping it would eventually get back to me or my father?”
“It’s the only photo I’ve ever found of your father, besides the ones involving his court case. If I decide to talk to Ivy about him, then I believe she deserves to see the face of the man who abandoned her. Don’t you?”
“So the time was now. You decided out of the blue to do this? What the fuck do you want from me anyway? A good fuck, ‘cause that’s what it seems like. If you want to get laid there’re plenty of people in this world who you can pay. I’m not one of them.”
Her sarcastic laughter echoes throughout her home as she shakes her head. “No? Not anymore?”
“You bitch. You don’t know anything about my past.”
“Oh, but I do.” A voice I recognize from Jameson Industries, Paul’s porn company, bores a hole through my chest. “Hello Cove.”
My stomach is in my throat, literally. Vomit comes part way up and I swallow to keep it down, leaving a burning sensation from my mouth to my gut. Fuck me.
“Not going to turn around and say hello, my prized friend?”
My heart has now officially stopped beating. This is a set up. “This isn’t about Ivy at all, is it?” I whisper, keeping my back turned from the evil in the room. Kaitlyn smiles and sits on her sofa with her legs crossed and a look of victory plastered across her face.
“Did I happen to mention I met this nice man last year who paid me a fortune to keep your father’s release from prison out of the St. Louis Tribune?” she says. “Boy, that could have been our biggest local story of the year; an innocent man finally given his freedom,” she looks past me and smiles. “One of the prison guards told me about it, but then along comes David, and, well... you can’t turn down that kind of money.”
“David,” I whisper. Everything’s always about money. People do some fucking dumbass shit for cash. I’m gonna pass out and I don’t know if it’s from the alcohol or the fact that the man behind me is the devil.
“Cove, you’re as white as a ghost,” Kaitlyn says,
“Do you know anything about this man you’ve so carelessly let into your home? Do you know what you’ve done? He has you now. You took a bribe from him and there’s no turning back. You’re in.”
“Hey dickhead, you don’t sound very happy to see me, why don’t you turn around and play nice.” David’s voice sends a shiver through my bones, and I know if I don’t turn, he’ll have a gun pointed at my head in a second flat.
“Ahh, there’s the face I know and love. How you been, Star?”
David Rosen is the main reason my father’s out of jail. He’s a lawyer with a shitload of connections, and I’ve come to believe he’s involved with the mob. Or he is the mob; an all-powerful man who once tried to force himself on my wife, whose twin sons were Paul Jameson’s bodyguards, and who was the man who began Jameson Industries; using Paul as a front to cover his ass if anything went amok. He’s older, possibly in his sixties, with a tough as nails Harrison Ford personality, and unfortunately, I’m also related to the dumbfuck. He’s my mother’s uncle.
“What do you want, David?” The words barely escape my mouth as he steps forward with a gun in hand.
“Dear Lord, you never mentioned anything about guns.”
“Sit down, Kaitlyn,” he gestures his piece in her direction, signaling for everyone to keep cool. “You reek of alcohol, kid. You old enough to drink?” He pats my shoulder and laughs. “Take it easy, loosen up, you know I’m just having some fun with one of my old pals.”
“Tell me what you want,” the words whistle through my clenched teeth. I need to call Haverty. Shit, I should’ve had him drive me here, or listened to him in the first place when he said to give it all a rest.
“I think a discussion between the two of us is long overdue. Kaitlyn, go fix us a drink. Something hard for this lad. He likes a good whiskey, if I recall.”
“No, I’ve had enough.” I need to sober up as quickly as possible. My eyes are still blurry and there’s two of David before me.
“Go,” he barks. “And stay away from your phone,” he calls out to her. “Have a seat, Cove.”
“No, I’ll stand.”
He takes a slow intimidating walk around me. Without warning, my arm is behind my back and my face planted on Kaitlyn’s sofa. He’s fast, that motherfucker.
“So shithead. You’re not even going to ask how my sons are doing? Boy, they sure do miss you. They can’t wait to get out of prison and come knocking on your door.”
“They deserve to rot in their cells,” I mumble into the sofa cushion, only to scream in agony a moment later. “Fuck! Stop!” My ring finger’s snapped back, broken, and his hand is on the next in line.
“Shut the fuck up or I’ll break all of them.”
“I’m sorry,” I pant. “It must be the alcohol talking. Don’t... please.”
“So you think my boys deserve to be in prison just for being Paul’s bodyguards?”
I can’t help but laugh, even though I’m starting to sweat from the pain. I feel pressure on my next finger as he slowly pushes it back. “Don’t,” I yell into the cushion; trapped under the weight of his body.
“Laughter? Are my sons a fucking joke to you?”
“Your sons are dicks. One drugged my wife and both of them have beat the shit out of me at one time or another, not to mention the role they played in the dirty underground porn ring... Awh!”
Snapped. A second finger pushed back to my wrist. I pass out for a moment until he shakes me back to reality.
“Jesus, David. Let him up. Here, I have your drinks, come on, enough.”
The weight disappears, and I’m able to breathe. David downs his shot, while I sluggishly rise and hold the wrist of my injured hand. I take the drink from Kaitlyn, not for a need to stay drunk, but rather in an attempt to deal with the pain.
“Tell me Cove, how is it that someone like your father fucked this fine woman?” His gun runs down her cheek and between her tits, while she tightens the sash on her robe before it falls open; she gets it. She made a mistake. “I thought I could find some dirt on your father, digging through his past, but all I came across was the fact he couldn’t keep his dick in his pants. No news there. No man can.”
“I can.”
“Oh, yes,” he sighs. “Your sweet Sophia has turned you all domestic and shit. Well, since we’re on the subject, I guess we should discuss why I’m here.”
He rubs the muzzle of his gun across his jaw as if he has an itch. A corner of his mouth turns upward as he peers at me with his beady rodent eyes.
“Kaitlyn, get me another shot and bring the bottle back with you.”
She’s quiet. Obedient. Probably scared shitless by the gun. Some people aren’t used to this kind of mad man shit, not like me.
“Your father didn’t get out of jail for free, pass go, and collect his two-hundred dollars. You knew I’d be coming around eventually, didn’t you? He as well, I presume.”
“Yeah,” I whisper. “We knew. It’s not like you to help someone out without looking for payback.”
“Ha, payback’s a bitch, isn’t it?”
“So what is it?” I continue holding my hand, in need of a bag of ice and a painkiller.
“Your father’s free for two reasons. First, I didn’t want anyone to dig into his case and have to go through all that shit again. It’s time to leave my company alone. I’ve got new guys in charge of things who are turning more profits than Paul ever did. It’s time to leave Paul and his mess behind and sta
rt over. And your father’s fuckin’ lucky I’m friends with the governor and the warden of that facility, or he’d be sitting in his cell for another year or two while things were getting sorted out. Second, I thought helping the fucker out might come in handy one day. Your family owes me, and that’s the position I like to be in with everyone.”
Kaitlyn reappears with a bottle and shot in hand. He throws back one more and slams his glass on the coffee table, then puts his hands on my knees and breathes into my face. I turn my head, but he grabs my chin and forces me to look into his dark eyes. “Pour him another,” he says.
I take the shot, hoping to pass out and put an end to this shit.
“Did your wife tell you I called her the other day? I guess not since you’re so surprised to see me.”
Jesus, I can’t believe Soph kept that from me. “Why?”
Kaitlyn keeps her distance; frozen like stone toward the back of the room. David motions for her to leave but she’s hesitant.
“When I wave my hand like this it means go away. Shoo. Bye-bye little woman.”
“You told me you wanted to talk to Cove, and that’s why I lured him to my home, but you never said anything about being so brutal. What have you done to him anyway? I keep hearing him cry out every time I leave the room.”
“I’m fine, just leave so we can finish this discussion and I can get the fuck out of here.”
“Women, they just don’t listen,” he shakes his head and stares her down until she finally leaves. “Like your wife. I called to have a pleasant conversation with her and she hung up on me. Hasn’t picked up or returned any of my calls since. I even saw her on the street the other day and she went running. And your brute has been by her side for days. Good man you got there. What’s his name? Haverty? Yeah, hard to get close to that woman of yours, she’s a feisty little wench, isn’t she?”
“Fuck you.” My mouth tosses words into the room before my head has a chance to catch up. I lunge at him only to be slammed to the wood floor with a knife between my two broken fingers, nicking my skin and sending me into a rage. A useless burst of anger. I probably look like a fish out of water, flapping on the ground, gasping for air. “Don’t talk shit about my wife, asshole. What the fuck do you want with her?”