Their Wicked Ways (Crimson Club #6)

1. Jett

1

JETT

Pulling in a deep breath, I did one last fit check in my mirror.

“Jett?” my aunt Marilyn called from downstairs.

“Yes?” I hollered back distractedly.

Should I put on a different shirt? A plain white tee was kind of boring, even if it did cling to me in all the right places.

“Do you have a minute?”

“Yeah. Be right there.” I quickly finger-combed my hair so it fell into a messy bedhead style. When it was perfect, I abandoned my reflection and hurried for the stairs.

“Is everything okay?” I asked my aunt.

She was standing at the bottom of the stairs, an envelope in her hands. “Oh, are you on your way out? I thought tonight was your night off?”

“It is.” I looked between her and the envelope. “I’m meeting up with Chanel and Becca in a bit.”

She smiled, some of her worry fading. “That sounds like fun. Are you coming home tonight?”

I didn’t think I’d ever get used to how much freedom my aunts gave me. I lived with them, but they didn’t try to control my every move. They didn’t care if I stayed out all night or if I went somewhere as long as I kept them informed and let them know my comings and goings so they didn’t worry about me.

“Yeah. In a little bit.” I glanced at the letter she was still clutching. “Is everything okay?”

She smiled, but it was the fake one she used with annoying customers and not her genuine smile. “It’s fine.”

“What’s that?” I nodded to the envelope.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” she said in a breezy tone, but her guilty expression told me everything I needed to know.

“Is it from them?” I asked, all emotion leaving my voice.

“You don’t need to open this now.” She gave me another fake smile. “Enjoy your night. You can worry about this tomorrow.”

I held out my hand. “We both know that’s not gonna happen.”

Sighing, she pressed the envelope into my palm. “I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have said anything if I knew you were on your way out.”

“It was kind of a last-minute thing,” I half lied, my gut twisting with guilt. I’d made plans to go clubbing a few days ago, but I hadn’t told them because I was still conditioned to lie about anything that could be seen as inappropriate, like drinking and dancing.

Which was stupid because they knew I worked as a bartender at a strip club and encouraged me to go out and have fun with my friends.

“Did you give it to—” Aunt Tabby asked, coming into the hallway. “Oh, are you on your way out?”

“In a bit.” I squeezed the envelope, testing the thickness. Something stiff bent under my fingers. A photo?

The handwriting on the envelope was my mother’s. I’d recognize it anywhere.

In the year since I moved out of state and in with my aunts, my family had completely ignored me. No letters, calls, or texts. Not even an email. It was as though they’d forgotten I existed.

Why was she sending me a letter now? And why couldn’t she pick up the phone and call me if she needed to tell me something?

“Do you want to open it with us here?” Aunt Tabby asked. “Or do you want to do it alone?”

“With you here.” Shaking off the intense feeling of dread that had settled over me, I tore it open and pulled out a letter, and the photograph I’d correctly guessed was in there.

It was a birth announcement. My chest squeezed when I saw the name.

“Jett?” Aunt Tabby asked softly.

“Naomi had a baby.” I handed her the announcement. “A girl.”

She looked at the glossy card and passed it to Marilyn so she could see it.

“Guess that answers the question of whether my ex-wife married the guy she cheated on me with.” I forced out a laugh.

“Jett—” Marilyn started.

“Whatever.” I cut her off. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I’m done with all of them.”

My aunts exchanged a look.

“Whatever,” I repeated. “Good for her.”

My feelings about my divorce and my ex-wife were complicated. After everything that had happened, leaving had been my only option. I knew that, but I hadn’t been prepared for how hard it would be to lose my entire family and support network because I dared put myself and my happiness first.

“Do you want to read that now?” Tabby nodded to the letter I was still clutching.

“Might as well.” Unfolding the page, I skimmed it, reading fast in my haste to get it over with.

When I was done, I stared at the page blankly. Anger, hurt, and a bone-deep sorrow warred inside me as disjointed thoughts raced through my mind.

“Jett?” Aunt Tabby asked gently. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Nothing to talk about.” I pushed aside the wall of emotions building inside me. “It’s basically a newsletter blast, the kind you’d send everyone on your email list. This is how I find out that my sister is pregnant again and one of my brothers is engaged. A generic letter she probably sent to dozens of people.”

My aunts exchanged another look.

“She didn’t even ask how I was doing. No I miss you . No I love you . No concern for me whatsoever. More than a year of radio silence, and she breaks it to send me a damn birth announcement to tell me my ex-wife has moved on?” Angrily, I crumpled the letter into a tiny ball. “Why would she do that if she wasn’t trying to hurt me? I don’t need to know this. I don’t want to know this. But she went out of her way to tell me anyway. What mother does that? Does she even care about me at all?”

I’d asked that question a million times in my life, and my answer always came back as a no. She loved me in the sense that it was her duty to love her children, but that love came with conditions, and I was done with all of it.

“Whatever.” I shoved the ruined letter at Marilyn. “Can you get rid of this? And that damn announcement?”

She took them with a silent nod.

Tabby’s expression was sad. “I’m sorry you have to deal with this. My sister can be…headstrong when she believes something.”

“That’s a nice way of saying she’s a bully who tries to bend people to her will.” Drawing in a deep breath, I let it out in a shaky exhale. I needed to get control. It wasn’t their fault my mother didn’t love me. “But whatever. It is what it is.”

“Are you okay?” Marilyn asked. “I’m sorry. I should have waited to give you the letter.”

“It’s not your fault. You didn’t know I was going out. And I’m fine. It’s just a letter. I’m over it.”

They exchanged another look.

“I need to finish getting ready.” I took a step back, moving up a stair. “It’s fine,” I repeated.

“Do you need anything before you go out?” Tabby asked.

“I’m good.” I moved up another stair. “Thanks.”

When they didn’t say anything, I turned on my heel and rushed to my room. Closing the door behind me, I stood in front of my mirror, barely seeing my reflection.

Loneliness and hurt took over from my earlier anger, and a strange sort of apathy settled over me.

It wasn’t like any of this was a shock. Of course Naomi would have moved on. And it wasn’t some big revelation that my mother was still up to her old tricks and trying to emotionally manipulate me from three states away.

Abandoning my mirror, I picked up my phone to order a car.

I couldn’t wait until I found a place in the city. I loved my aunts, and I’d be forever grateful to them for taking me in when I’d had no one and nowhere to go, but living almost an hour away from my jobs and friends wasn’t sustainable in the long term.

I was about to open the Uber app when a text caught my attention.

Chanel : I have to cancel tonight

She’d added a line of crying emoji.

Chanel : my asshole boss scheduled me to work and only told me an hour before I had to clock in

I checked the time stamp. She’d sent it when I was in the shower.

My heart sank. This was my first Friday night off since I’d started working at Crimson Club. I’d been looking forward to going out with my friends like a normal twenty-three-year-old.

Jett : that suuuucks. He’s the worst

She read the text before my screen went dark.

Chanel : he sucks soooo bad. I hate him but I need this job

Another text came into the group chat.

Becca : now I feel like the worst person ever because I have to cancel too. Arias running a low-grade fever

Jett : oh no. Is she okay?

Becca had two kids. Aria was three, and Felix was fourteen months. This wouldn’t be the first time she’d had to cancel last minute because something came up with them, and it wouldn’t be the last. That was just par for the course when you had little kids.

Becca : I think so. She was fussy today but she hasn’t been sleeping well. Hopefully it’s just from being overtired

Becca : I feel so bad we ruined your night off

Jett : nobody ruined anything. It’s fine. I promise

Chanel : what are you going to do?

Jett : not sure but I’ll figure something out

Chanel : I gotta go. I’m at work and can only hide in the corner for so long

Jett : good luck

Becca : I gotta go too

Jett : let me know if you need anything

Becca : thanks. I hope your night is awesome!

I waited to see if either of them would answer. When my screen went dark, I tucked my phone into my pocket and looked around my room.

What the fuck was I supposed to do now? It was too late to see if anyone else wanted to hang out, not that I had a ton of friends to choose from. If I wasn’t with Chanel or Becca—or alone—I was with my coworkers, who were all working at the club tonight.

I could just stay home and relax, but the thought of spending the rest of the night in my room with just my thoughts was even less appealing than going to a club alone.

I needed to be around other people. I needed loud music and flashing lights to distract me from everything that had happened in the past hour. I needed an escape. To shut my brain off and focus on something other than the clusterfuck that was my life.

I froze.

Could I do it?

This would be the perfect time. As much as I trusted my friends, there were a few key things about me they didn’t know.

The biggest being that I wasn’t straight.

I’d known I was bi since middle school, even if I hadn’t had the language back then to understand why I was attracted to both boys and girls. I’d tried to ignore it, but my interest in guys had never faded.

But even after all these years of knowing, I wasn’t ready to tell anyone. Not because I was ashamed or I thought there was something wrong with me. Not anymore, at least. I’d spent the last year slowly dismantling the internalized homophobia I’d carried because of my upbringing, and I was finally in a place where I was ready to explore that side of myself.

And it wasn’t because I thought they’d have a problem with it. My aunts were lesbians, all the guys at work were queer, and Becca and Chanel were loud and proud allies.

Everyone who mattered wouldn’t care that I liked dick.

But I still couldn’t bring myself to tell anyone about my sexuality because I’d never acted on it.

I flirted with male customers at the club because it was safe, but that was the extent of my experience with men. Meaningless flirting and lots of late-night solo sessions with porn and toys.

Maybe it was time to stop thinking about it and just do it.

Feeling a little reckless and a lot antsy, I checked my watch. It was early for clubbing, but everything would be open by the time I got to the city.

Making up my mind, I grabbed my keys and wallet and slipped out of my room.

Going to a gay club alone hadn’t been on my radar of things that would happen tonight, but I couldn’t deny my excitement at the possibility of finally exploring the side of myself that I’d suppressed for so long.