Page 3 of Won't Let Go
2
WHITE BOY
Parkingmy Harley out front of Jade’s, I don’t bother knocking when I enter through the front door. All the lights are off, and the scent of bleach hangs heavy in the air.
My stomach sinks as the constant niggle that’s been bugging me all day grows.
Something’s wrong.
Jade hasn’t cleaned in months.
Why does it also smell like roast in here?
My pulse pounds like a drum as I search everywhere for her, knowing her car is here. Plus, I checked her location before I left the clubhouse. We’re all synced for safety reasons, so her phone is also here. When I find it plugged in on the kitchen counter, that’s when I hear it.
A sob.
I follow the sound, knowing whose it is before I reach the back deck, where my mom sits, without her wig on, in a polka-dot bathing suit.
“Mom. What the fuck is going on?” I growl and kneel by her, resting a hand on her slender shoulder.
“It’s Jade,” she blubbers and sips her drink from a pink flamingo straw, staring over the dark water, not at me.
“What’s Jade?”
“She’s…” Mom trails off on a broken hiccup.
Getting frustrated by the intoxicated answers, I jostle her shoulder. “She’s what?”
“It’s the day.”
Jesus Christ.
“What fucking day?” I growl, steal the drink from her hand, and chuck it into the night, not giving a shit if it upsets her. She needs to tell me what the hell is going on.
Turning her head to look up at me, her eyes are almost swollen shut as a waterfall of tears and snot pours down her face. “She made me promise.” With a shaky hand, Mom points to the far side of Jade’s pool.
Oh, fuck.
Twisting my mom around by the shoulders, I rip my phone from my jeans pocket and shove it at her chest. “Call Blimp. Now.”
Within seconds, I have my cut and boots off before I jump into the water.
I fucking knew they were up to something. Things have felt off for months, but in the past week, Jade has acted differently. Nicer, even. She started to seem a little more like her old self.
Reaching the far end of the pool, I dive below the water to find her wrapped in something, but I can’t see shit in the dark. I feel around, and when I find what must be weights, I rip each of them out of the water and toss them over the side, untangling what I can of the endless rope as I go.
It feels like hours, but it’s most likely just seconds until I pull an unconscious Jade from the bottom. Water runs out of thesides of her blue-tinged mouth as I cradle her against my chest and rush to the deck where Mom is standing, shaking like a leaf as I hoist Jade onto the wood, then pull myself up. Dripping water everywhere, I immediately start CPR, not knowing how to do it, but I try anyway.
Compressions on the chest, then dumping her onto her side, where I pound her back.
“Wake the fuck up. You don’t get to die.” I shove two fingers down Jade’s throat to induce gagging.
Nothing happens.
Water continues to trickle from her mouth and nose as sirens wail in the distance.
“At least you did one fuckin’ thing right.” I scowl up at my mother, knowing she must have been the one to call for real help.
