______________________________________________________________________________________The roaring sound of a red Harley Shorttail Cruiser parted with the I-195, majestically purring as it zipped past honking cars, to which a fiery blonde flipped them off. The honks became a distant noise among the passing cars, the rubber on the road that she heard as the wind howled around her, syncing perfectly with the loud thoughts Jade Taylor had pounding her head.
The entire between leaving the prison and driving along the I-195, Jade’s head had been pounding and pounding and
pounding with thoughts about how close it was to that day. She couldn’t get Charlie out of her mind, but not the one who raised her since she was young enough to know that the ones who brought her into the world weren’t made to bring her up in it. No, Jade hadn’t been thinking about her tatted up, corny dad joke-teller, reason-she-loves-men-in-leather Uncle Charlie, but the one she abandoned. The one who found her in a time of darkness but couldn’t see he was drowning in his.
The Charlie who changed her life in childhood.
Yeah, that Charlie Decker.
She kept thinking about him even as she cut off several cars, took spots that sedans and SUVs thought were theirs. Even as she came into town, there was no stopping these regrets crawling up her spine, sending it crashing into the descendent of the iceberg that killed Leonardo DiCaprio and several others. The sinking ship that was her mental health was floating mere inches above the service.
“And it’s not even ten yet. Way too early for this shit.” Jade cursed herself into a right turn, leaving Northie territory. This wasn’t what she needed right now.
Revving over the tracks, Jade was on familiar grounds. Today was her day off, so there was no need for her to slow down as she saw Edge of Sin to her left. She chuckled as she noticed it was already full.
Yup, that seems right.
That thought carried her for a few more blocks.
Familiar territory brought a smile to Jade's lips. She remembered the days when she would just casually walk down these streets. It was strange because even though they were technically dangerous. Everywhere you looked, there were at least one of Rey Rey's corner boys, though back then it was Big Rey's corner boys. Regardless, if Jade literally
anyone else, she would be targetted. The South Side wasn't a safe place for a young woman like Jade to be alone on, but everyone knew who she was. Even if they never met her, they knew. And that was because her Uncle Charlie had a
great relationship with the Serpents. The Fallen Angels MC and the SSS were as close to being family as it got for gangs.
And that's why Jade felt safe lowering her guard when she came home.
But she wasn't going home.
Well, at least not yet.
Seven blocks from the rundown
house that Jade has been calling home for the past seven years, Jade found herself slowing down on the intersection that was known as "Trinity Way". It was dubbed that for its unique triangle makeup design. Jade's Harley engine clicked off and as she got off and walked over to someone she didn't recognize, but they immediately knew her.
"You're Jade, right?"
With a laugh, Jade confirmed as she nodded. She stood about three feet in front of the man. He wasn't old
old even by her standards. He wasn't as old as her uncle, but older than Rey Rey. But there was something about the way he spoke that made the blonde not feel threatened. He had the sort of visage that told you everything you needed to know: inconsistent facial hair, bags under his eyes, and cuts around his face. He was a brawler and he didn't always win. His blue eyes were faded in one eye. The color was more of a muted grey-blue. JAde took that as a reason to feel sorry for him.
"The one and only," she said, half-smiling, reaching into her back pocket and pulled out three twenty-dollar bills held together with a rubber band.
"You got what I need?" Jade asked.
She could feel the man staring at her. It wasn't something she was unfamiliar with. Being a stripper, that happened. Being a girl who grew up in the South Side, she was used to it. But what struck her as strange was that, even as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small bag of white powder that was small enough to fit between his index and middle finger.
"Just what the doctor ordered!" The man laughed and coughed when he did so too hard.
And an exchange of money and bag later, Jade was off, speeding down the streets.
And then when Jade was home, the door smashing behind her, she parked herself on the couch. Her place was a mess. It wasn't like a pig pen where cockroaches would be invited to bunk with her, but Jade exactly the kind of person to do spring cleaning. She couldn't afford the supplies she needed.
And of course, she says that as she spent sixty bucks on some coke.
Jade's priorities were clearly set straight.
As she sat on her couch, despite the age showing from how stiff the cushions were, Jade felt relaxed. Honestly, it was just great to be back home. It was a long morning for her. And that's not just counting her almost three-hour commute to the prison and back. That's not just counting the sexist correction officer who checked her out or how she had to fake a smile for her uncle.
No, that wasn't why.
"Those letters." A thoughtful, drawn-out sigh left her lips and Jade dumped a quarter of the coke onto a glass plate in front of her, lining it up into a straight line. She rolled up a roller bill, packing it as tight as she could. With it in one hand and a rubber band in the other, she wrapped it around it making sure the bill was secure in its new form.
She stared down at the coke and as she did, she kept thinking about the first letter she received. And how she had teared up when she read them. Maybe it was to have a few moments, regardless what the reason was, to hear his voice in her head again. To know how his deep bravado sounded in the words she read. The context was hard for Jade to handle and even harder because...
"Because I let you down," she heard herself say, snorting the line in one go.
And the rush came.
And then it stayed, sending everything from Jade's golden roots to her manicured feet on fire with excitement and in a rush that was like feeling a dozen bolts of static course through her body. It was both a dangerous speed that she had longed for since she read the most recent letter and a yearning to feel something that wasn't the pain of guilt, that wasn't gnawing beast eating at her soul for...everything she didn't do or didn't say.
For however long the euphoric high lasted, Jade was free from the smell of ash that remained of the bridges she burned.
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