If Tomorrow Never Comes (27 page)

____________

           
With fists tightly balled, his
obsession for Marla radically out of control, Butch peered through the cracked
door scrutinizing her, his heart wildly tapping out messages to his mind.
 
Hostility twisted his features.
 
After spending hours in the same room with
Scorpio watching him abuse Marla while viewing videos of a Jordan Montgomery,
as well as her photo's, Butch came to realize how proudly Scorpio wore his
mantle of debauchery.
 

           
Forced to observe Scorpios' warped
methods of relieving his sadistic lust for another woman out on Marla severed
the invisible bond between his leader and himself.
 
Butch despised his cowardice for not
slaughtering Scorpio right then and there, a desire thwarted by the knife
Scorpio held against Marla’s throat placing her in emanate danger, a definitive
blow that made its mark.
 

           
Never again would Scorpio touch
Marla or any other woman.
 
Knowing the
color of his skin would prevent him from winning Marla's affections it mattered
little.
  
Now loathing the man he once
admired, he wanted him dead.
    

____________

           
The vibrating jets circulating warm
water around Jordan's body did not succeed in relieving the tensions building
within, nor did the liquid once filling the Waterford crystal goblet on the
marble basin.
 
Reliving her one night of
euphoria with Jake, the fragrant bubbles mushrooming creatively spilling over
the edges of the tub sought new dimensions.
  
Beside her on a glass and brass, serving cart was a half-empty bottle of
Don Pieron.
 
The delicacies decoratively
covering fine bone china prepared by the hotel’s master chef remained
untouched.
 

           
Littering exorbitant carpeting and European
antique furniture were thousands of dollars previously hurled into the
air.
 
Closet doors sprung wide proudly
displayed its unnatural vacancy, except for the gold, satin, floor length gown,
and matching sling-back heels. Visible from an opened sequined purse tossed on
the bed was an airline ticket, the nozzle of a gun and a special delivery
receipt stub.

____________

           
Discovering Jake in his bed
unconscious from the loss of blood, Margaret summoned the doctor.
 
Leaving the physician to tend to him, she
quickly returned to her apartment to dress.
  
Before she was finished, the doorbell rang.
 
Expecting the ambulance she summoned, she
hastily opened it only to find a Special Delivery courier.

           
Despite the ambulance waiting
outside, belligerently disregarding doctors’ orders, Jake was up and dressed by
the time Margaret returned to his apartment.
 
Breathless, she shoved the package just delivered into his hands.
 
As Jake's trembling fingers clung to a note,
the box containing forty thousand dollars crashed to the floor.
 
The message he was trying to decipher like
shards of glass tearing at his heart and filming his eyes.

Jake,

           
    
I know neither of us wanted this to end badly, but we are smart enough
to know in order for things to end, it usually does.

           
    
In your own words, a bargain is a bargain, so I took the airline ticket
and the ten thousand dollars that were rightfully mine.
 
The remainder of the money belongs to you.
 
By the time, you receive the package no one
will be able to find me.

           
    
It would be best to give our lives up to fate.
 
Maybe in another life, another time,
somewhere, things would have worked out.
 
Right now, all I ask is a moment in time to be all I can be.

           
You see I've discovered life is
nothing more than one gigantic hole.
 
Some people fall in and fill it with light so that others can find their
way out.
 
That's you, Morgan.
 
My life has so many holes if you stacked them
together you'd become lost forever.
 
Problem was I didn't know I was lost, that I was waiting for someone to
turn my life around until you found me.

           
    
If our eyes never touch again always remember that what we shared was an
incomparable gift.
 
You kept your
promises by proving to me my love for you and yours for me.
 
In my cold, desolate world, I didn’t know
sunshine existed until you shined on my shoulders.

           
    
Say goodbye to Margaret for me and thank her. Tell her I love her with a
hug and kiss.
 
She is without a doubt
“Mary” herself.
 
Please listen to what
she tells you Morgan, she loves you so much.

           
    
Remember when you told me you now had it in you to keep all your
promises, well; I know in my heart that you would have done your best. I pray a
place in your heart can forgive me and grant me a few more.
 
Give up those damn cigarettes, cut your hair,
and fall in love again.
 
Be happy, and
when you meet all the Scorpios your life is destined to destroy, wear your vest,
please, Jake, please.

                                                                                                                                                                                   
                                               
Jordan

           
Jake would have believed Jordan was
safely out of the way, as he intended.
 
That she went in search of a new life if Margaret hadn’t confessed that
Jordan had rummaged through his trunk, and that she’d stolen his gun.
 
Anxiety and anguish colliding scalded his
throat, his skin, and gushed in liquid from his eyes.

CHAPTER 27

Black
velvet was the night, dotted with sequins brought to life by the moon's
kiss.
 
The metropolis’ was dressed to
kill.
 
Record-breaking temperatures
radiated off sun-scorched structures. Pungent smells of asphalt mingled with
echoes of the familiar songs of twilight; tires, horns, sirens, squealing
brakes' . . .
 
gun fire.
 
As the majority of the masses snuggled,
falsely secure, wrapped in the arms of their dwellings, others went in search
of the promises of the night.

Moonlight
glimmered on a lustrous white limo parked in front of the fashionable Parakeet
Club.
  
Inside, gloved fingers were
nervously twisting the gold chain of a sequined purse around and around.
 
Hidden behind tinted windows, Jordan searched
for the once so easily summoned switch capable of shutting out the sensations
niggling her mind, a mass of sensations now toying with every muscle, every
speck of skin.
 
To her dismay, the
proficiency no longer existed.
 

The
love she’d found had melted a hardened core considerably. Exposure to new and
wondrous consciousness had lined her interior with sugar.
 
The fear of losing Jake forever brought
tightness to her chest that threatened disaster.
 
For his sake, recovery was necessary to
re-enforce what little courage remained.
 
Somehow, someway she had to stitch together unraveling nerves and
extract from memory a smidgen of the strength and bravery Jake exhibited.

She
had filled the day with lifelong dreams wandering aimlessly through exclusive
stores, wallowing in penthouse luxury, sampling the finest gourmet foods.
 
Nevertheless, long before the evening tide
chased the sun away, Jordan came to understand the hollowness of such
extravagances.
  

Now
enveloped by plush leather the truths were even clearer.
 
What she truly wanted she'd never experience
again, Margaret's company, her delicious meals, her friendship, the comfort and
security of Jake's meager apartment, his arms, his kiss, his love.
 
Unimaginable as it seemed, the final day of
her life had been more miserable than all the others were.

Swiftly,
as if a shade stretched beyond its capabilities snapping and rolling in
defiance, Jordan stuffed self-pity into the deepest crevice of her mind.
 
Before her, displayed on the façade of the
building staring back were posters of Brenda Star the club’s featured singer,
visions turning her to stone, and abruptly reminding her of her mission.
  
Scrutinizing the billboards, she came to
admit the captivating creature was indeed breathtaking.
 
A beastly jealousy erupted honing teeth and
lengthening the nails feeling as though they'd pierce the fine material of her
gloves.
 

God
how Jordan despised the Brenda's of the world that flagrantly paraded their
womanly wares pretending a false fragility using it as a weapon to solicit the
male ego.
 
She would have thought Jake,
of all people, had more sense than to fall for such deceit.
 
Then, again, she had to admit when it came to
matters of the heart all barriers were easily disintegrated.
   

If
Margaret spoke the truth, that all of Jake's problems began at this club, how
fitting they end here as well, she reflected.
 
Though uncertain as to how the evening would end, instinct told her the
two people she’d come to hate were waiting inside.
          

Entering
through the burnish swishing doors spellbound by a spectacle beyond imagination
a door attendant dressed in a tuxedo instantly whisked her cape from her
shoulders.
  
Beautiful people were
everywhere drinks in hand, laughing, conversing, and dancing, men in white and
black tuxedos', women in an array of glamorous, glittering gowns.
   

The
subdued light fixtures fanning upward and the black and white portraits of
Bogart and Bacall hung artistically on ivory walls were the only draping on
otherwise sterile partitions.
 
Black
tablecloths and red napkins twisted in decorative shapes, along with a single
red rose and flickering white candle, dressed each circular table.
 
Providing privacy, white wicker high back
chairs added to the scene.
 
Crimson
velvet sprawled over areas unoccupied by the ebony dance floor shining so
brilliantly it shimmered like water.
 
A
bar topped with black glass curved like a reptile with white padded edging
offering comfort for elbows of those choosing to sit on matching seats
supported by tubular chrome.
 

A
mirrored wall behind the bar offering an overview of the club called particular
attention to the orchestra and the female performing under hues of multicolor
lights.
 
Not only was Brenda gorgeous,
her voice was alluring as well.
 
At once,
she felt like the ugliest of ducklings.
 

 
Staring overly long at the couples swirling
around the dance floor beneath a mirrored ball hanging from the ceiling sending
dots splashing everywhere made her feel faint.
 
She probably would have given into the feeling if not for the men whose
eyes had zeroed in, as though binoculars, making their customary repugnant
perusal.
 
Defying the urge to run, head
held high, posture perfect, a picture of grace and beauty giving no clue to the
emptiness inside, Jordan’s eyes began searching for the man she’d recognize
anywhere.

Just
as she took a deep breath to enable keen senses to detect his presence, a man
across the room stood.
 
Before the odor
of his cologne reached her, the way he moved, his face, his eyes, Jordan knew
she'd found the enemy.
 
Scorpio’s
demeanor filling the room with a crackling force reminded her he was nothing
more than a parasite who thrived on devouring people.
 
It took long seconds to clear the hovering
miasma caused by the anticipation of their meeting each second forcing her
heart to drum in mute trepidation.

When
Scorpio stood tall, an arm’s length away, his hand plucking hers, his mouth
whispering her name, Jordan might not have heard for all the reaction she
gave.
 
However, inside her body vibrated
recklessly the unwavering eyes staring through him warning Scorpio the elegant,
fragile woman standing before him came tonight with lethal intent on her
mind.
 
When his hand swallowed hers,
despite the hate-filled words wobbling on her tongue and the pulse beating
wildly beneath her skin she managed to cage them by closing the bars of tightly
clenched teeth.