Page 42 of The Tempted

“It’s going to be okay,” I said because she looked desperate for assurance. She looked at me biting her lip, trying not to cry. She reached for my shirt clutching the fabric in her hands she closed her eyes for a moment.

“Mikey this is all my fault,” she struggled with her words, pausing before lifting her head to meet my gaze.

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, not comprehending how any of this was her fault as I ran my hands down her arms slowly.

“No baby, it’s not. It’s all going to be okay, I swear to you,” I said catching the bikers flashing their lights signaling me to move it along and the sirens were growing louder. I reached around her and pulled open the door. “Get in the car Nikki we need to get out of here.”

She didn’t argue as she climbed into the back seat of the Ford Expedition. I slid in beside her before I could even close the door Jack pulled away from the curb. I glanced out the rear window watching as the first two motorcycles leading the pack passed us by so that they were now riding in front of us. The next two remained on either side of us and the last of the pack followed behind the SUV.

Nikki was sitting quietly beside me, her arms still wrapped around her body. I leaned forward and shrugged my suit jacket off.

“Lean forward,” I said. She pushed up from the seat and I draped my jacket over her shoulders. I watched her settle back into the seat before I turned meeting Jack’s eyes in the rear view mirror.

“Where are you taking us?” I asked him. His eyes left mine focusing back on the road ahead of him. I glanced out the window, trying to figure it out for myself since apparently, the Bulldog wasn’t in the mood to talk. His phone rang, and he lifted it to his ear.

“Yeah…,” he glanced back in the rearview mirror and it took everything in me not to flip him the bird. “They’re fine, but the girl looks a little shaken up and the kid may have shit his pants.”

Fuck you Bulldog. I flipped him the bird president or no president, I was not in the fucking mood for this shit. He chuckled again before looking back at the road again.

“Okay, we’ll meet you at the dog house,” he said before disconnecting the call.

“Was that my father?” Nikki asked beside me startling me by how controlled her voice suddenly sounded.

“No sweetness that was Jimmy Gold,” Jack said to her.

“Glad to know he made it out of there in one piece,” I said sarcastically. Nikki elbowed me, causing me to look over at her. “Sorry,” I mumbled and ran my fingers roughly through my hair. I looked back towards the driver’s seat and stared at Jack suspiciously. He was located in Jersey there was no fucking way he’d be able to get to Temptations that quickly not much time had passed between the first gunshot to the time we escaped the club.

“Hey, Jack mind telling me how the hell you got involved in all of this?” I was probably way out of line asking him that and to add insult to injury I knew my tone was condescending.

“Victor asked me and my club to assist in providing extra protection tonight,” he said shrugging his shoulders as if this whole shootout was no big deal. “We were close by in case shit like this went down.”

“Wait a minute, are you saying my father anticipated this was going to happen tonight?” Nikki asked suddenly sitting straight up her whole being appearing to be on high alert.

“I’m saying your old man was being cautious and you two are damn fucking lucky he did,” he fumbled with something before pulling a cigarette out of a pack with his teeth. He reached over his shoulder and offered the pack to us. Nikki leaned forward, taking the pack from his hand. I watched her intently as she plucked a Marlboro out of the pack and placed it between her lips slipping the pack of cigarettes into her bra.

“Can I have a light?” she asked.

She took the lighter he offered and lit her cigarette, taking the first pull, it seemed to instantly calm her nerves and I wondered if it was all in her head or if the nicotine really did take the edge off for me I’d need a gallon of vodka and a joint to calm my fucking nerves. She ran her fingers through her hair and cracked her window slightly. She flicked the ashes of her cigarette out the tiny opening of her window and then looked back at me.

“Rico had something to do with what happened tonight,” she stated sounding eerily calm.

“Who’s Rico?” Jack asked instantly.

She tore her gaze from me to look at Jack. “My boyfriend… or whatever… I mean he was my boyfriend,” she closed her eyes for a moment, taking another drag of her cigarette. “Before I ran into you I went upstairs to wish him luck and I saw him in the sound booth with another guy and some girl,” she laughed mockingly because there was nothing amusing about what she was saying. “I think he was cheating on me.”

“I fucking knew there was something shady about that jerk off!” I said, smacking my hand against my knee.

“I don’t really need to hear I told you so Mikey. I know you can’t stand him, but you could be a little fucking compassionate I just told you my boyfriend was cheating on me and probably had a fucking hand in the shootout we just witnessed. For all, I know someone I love could be bleeding to death in that club and I’m sitting here trying not to think the worst and hope that I didn’t have a hand in any of this.”

Her words cut me down to size, but instead of apologizing for offending her or saying something she didn’t want to hear I pressed on for more information.

“How would you have had a hand in any of this?” I asked incredulously.

“I brought Rico into everyone’s life thinking that he was a good guy. I thought he cared about me and that he was different none of that bullshit dating me because of who my father is. I really thought he was the one guy who saw something other than my last name. I brought him around my family I encouraged my father to hire him for tonight’s gig. I have no idea what his involvement is in any of this, but the one thing I do know is that whatever his part was in this he was able to execute because I allowed him to. I allowed him into my life and the lives of everyone around me,” she threw the cigarette out the window and leaned back in the seat.

I rubbed my face tiredly feeling like shit for making her tell me what she was feeling. I understood I lived with the guilt of my own actions every day. If I had been a better son or stepped up to be the man of the house when my father died instead of acting like an entitled selfish prick maybe my mother would be alive. It was a shitty feeling, thinking that I had a part in the abolishment of another person’s life, especially someone you loved living with the regret knowing that if you maybe had done things just a little differently none of the destruction would’ve happened.

I placed my hand on Nikki’s knee an act of comfort. “I think we’re jumping the gun here. Let’s just wait and see what happens,” I said softly, wishing I could turn the thoughts inside her head off just at least until we got to our destination.

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