That Forbidden Love

Chapter 2

Jazmyn

Jazmyn struck the last chord on her guitar and faced the crowd at Perry’s with a smile as the chorus of applause began. Bowing and striking a cute courtesy, she slung the faithful instrument that had been more than a friend for the past year across her body and turned to high-five her guitarist and drummer, Isaac Landry and Jean-Pierre Abbott.

“I wasn’t expecting that additional verse, girl. It sounded great,” Jean-Pierre whispered and winked as he stowed away his drumsticks.

“You should spring this surprise once in a while,” Isaac commented from behind, pushing away his dyed electric blue bangs from his eyes. “It would do well to keep us on our toes, plus look!” He gestured to the crowd, buzzing with excitement. “You sure raised the energy in the room with those sensational lines.”

“Guys….” Jazmyn was lost for words and slightly emotional as she waved back at some patrons waving and cheering the band from the tables below the makeshift stage.

She hadn’t planned to insert the last number and knew it could have gone wrong in multiple ways as they’d not rehearsed it earlier but as usual, her band mates had come through for her.

They were the oil to her musical wheels, the life force to her powerhouse and she didn’t think there was anything she could do without them.

“Thank you for coming through as always. Y’all literally mean everything to me,” she said to them as they paused in gathering their gears. Unable to resist, she gave them bear hugs and wet, noisy kisses, eliciting a scattering of applause.

“We love you too, chocolate bug,” Isaac replied fondly while Jean-Pierre tousled her hair before returning to packing up the instruments. He wasn’t big on expressions or good with words like Isaac was but Jaz knew his heart was bigger than all of theirs and he loved her beyond mere words.

Like her, they were both wanderers who had met up and decided to form a band in college. Isaac had initially been a chemistry major before switching to music after an accident that had seemed to rewrite his purpose and Jean-Pierre had been born into a family of travelling musicians but had chosen to study veterinary medicine.

He still worked as a part-time veterinarian at a clinic in uptown Garden District and was Bishop’s self-appointed doctor.

Both Isaac and Jean-Pierre were more than just band members; they were family and came with family cherished baggage like overprotectiveness and loyalty and she loved them crazily for it, even though it could be a huge bother sometimes–   

If you called being relieved of the attention of scumbags and protected from the industry vampires, overprotectiveness.

Rather than retire to the makeshift backstage that had been erected specifically for their performance, Jazmyn headed straight for the bar and took a seat on one of the high-backed stools.

“One tall glass of Bourbon Neat with the Jaz twist, Luis. I need something to cool the adrenaline,” she signaled to the handsome black Creole bartender who smiled endearingly.

“Anything for you Jaz, including my heart if you want that like right now,” he replied, making the shape of a heart with his long-limbered fingers in a dramatic fashion.

Jazmyn couldn’t help laughing. Luis never failed to hit on her every time their paths crossed.

He was an old admirer whose flames had fanned through the years and even though she’d never given him any encouraging light, he hadn’t stopped persisting or doing wonderful little things like giving her heads-up on any upcoming gig, or designing her own personal drink.

“Here you go,” he reappeared right then with the signature Bourbon with the Jaz twist and placed it before her. “Enjoy, just as I enjoyed your majestic performance as always.”

“Thank you, Luis. You are a gem; do you know that?” She picked up the shot glass and swirled the orangey-brown content as it caught the light and glinted goldenly.

He didn’t reply but gave a saucy wink before turning away to serve other patrons. Jazmyn downed a generous content of the glass, enjoying the slow burn as it travelled down her throat, calming her chords and easing off the adrenaline thrumming through her system.

She turned to peruse the dinner crowd and allowed the excitement of the just concluded performance to wash over her like a midsummer ice-cold bath. She had always enjoyed playing gigs like this.

They were small, intimate and allowed her to connect deeply to the audience with her lyrics and guitar mastery. It always felt so good to see them singing along and swaying to the slow pieces like Mo’Town Girl and Evergreen or dancing wildly to her faster-paced pieces like Summer Evenings and Take me Home, Baby.

Most times when she played at restaurants, formal engagements and small, exclusives lounges like Perry’s, she stuck to the slower-paced songs which were very emotive and soft. They were still her best gigs to play even though the club and concert gigs brought in more money, a wild adrenaline rush and fantastic PR.

Currently, the band ranked sixth place in New Orleans’s band of the year list, and by the end of the year, she and the guys hoped to be sitting pretty in the Top Five.

They’d put in a lot of work and effort, including churning out two albums and two EP’s since they’d made a debut five years ago. If there was any list of bands that deserved the Top Five Honor, then they surely ranked high on that list.

Feeling suddenly sober, Jazmyn’s thoughts strayed to her adoptive mother, Lauren Tucker and how deliriously proud she’d have been of how far Jazmyn had come.

The woman had been her greatest supporter and cheerleader ever since the first time she’d overheard her singing in the bathroom one afternoon when she’d thought no one was home.

The memory of the tall, homely woman who’d taught her a deeper meaning of love and acceptance brought an instant rush of tears to her eyes as she downed the remnant of the bourbon without as much as a wince.

Jaded, indifferent and shy, Jazmyn hadn’t had any expectations or hope about the fostering, when Lauren and her husband, Simon had come for her at the foster home eleven years ago. She’d just clocked sixteen and had already been fostered twice by two families which had been toxic, abusive and hellish experiences.

After saving herself and two other kids from the last foster family who’d been using them for the maintenance money to fund their drug addiction, she’d erased all hopes of ever finding or belonging to a family until the Tuckers showed up.

In less than a month, they’d worked out all the papers for a straight adoption rather than fostering which had not only surprised but had made her grow instantly suspicious.

Despite the refreshing enthusiasm they’d shown in adopting her, or how much they’d bent over backwards to make her feel welcome, Jazmyn had a hard time warming up to the Caucasian couple or trusting them either.

Even after a year of living with them and experiencing the normalcy and communion of a family, she’d woken up every day, waiting and half expecting the moment when it would all fall apart.

Everything had changed swiftly right after her seventeenth birthday when her adoptive father, Simon had taken ill with stage four lung cancer with no pre-existing symptoms.

She hadn’t realized how much she loved and cared for the quiet, soft-spoken man until she saw him fighting desperately for life on the hospital bed while reassuring them that he’d taken care of everything, and they’d be alright after his death.