Chapter 34: The Ring

OLLIE

Darius clenched his jaw while flexing his neck muscles. “All right, I’m out of patience,” he said.

~Oh, boy, I am in trouble.~

I freaked out. “Oh, no-no-no. You stay right there!” His dangerous look made my heart skip a beat.

“Resist going to the doctor, and you know what I will do,” he warned me.

“I’m almost ready!” My hands scrambled around the laces of my boots. “Just one more minute.”

“No. I’m done waiting for you. We are going ~now~.” He grabbed my arm as soon as I had my shoes on.

“Wait, my bag,” I protested.

I snatched the miniature bag while he stood with his arms crossed, clearly impatient and annoyed.

He spanked me as I passed through the door. “Move. Faster.”

I gasped in surprise, clenching my fists.

~So embarrassing!~

“Oh, I am seriously going to kill you,” I said through my teeth.

“Please, do try,” he mocked me.

His long legs carried him down the stairs faster than me. “Be thankful I’m not carrying you,” he added.

I didn’t doubt that he would do just that if I tried returning to my room.

He turned his head to see if I was following him.

I sighed. “Relax, dude. I’m literally breathing down your neck.”

“You are too tiny for that. You ~wish~ you could reach my neck,” he said as we entered the foyer.

Rosie waited by the open door.

“Wishes can come true, you know? I really do wish to choke you,” I confessed.

“Didn’t know you were into that.” He gave me a curious look.

The raised eyebrow and flash of a smirk were enough to make me jumpy.

“I’m not.” I frowned.

“We’ll see about that, Olivia.”

A dangerous promise. I hated his dangerous promises!

~Fuck.~ He always managed to put me on edge with those types of comments.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked, masking my nervousness.

Before he could answer, rage poured out of me and I released all the loathing I had for him. “Oh, please bring me that neck of yours, Darius. I really can’t wait to suffocate the life out of you.”

My words didn’t bother him even a little bit.

He laughed with that belly laugh, and all I saw was red.

My nails dug into my skin as I pressed my knuckles.

“Already feeling intense emotions for me, Olivia?” His words sounded more like a statement than a question.

“Killing each other is a matter of time,” I muttered coldly.

“Ironic, isn’t it?” He smiled and opened the door for me.

What happened to the more conventional car he’d brought me up in?

And why was he opening the door for me?

“You trying to kill me while I’m trying to keep you alive.” He paused to look at his watch with the door open.

“Did a bug bite you? Why are you being so nice to me?” I narrowed my eyes.

“Get in the car, Olivia. Dr. Kumar is a busy doctor. We have a couple of hours before our jet takes him back to Atlanta.”

I hesitated, and that dangerous spark returned to his eyes.

God knew what this man was capable of doing.

“Okay, okay. I’ll go, but on one condition,” I relented.

He arched an eyebrow, and I managed not to stare for too long at his face.

“I need to… I need to make a quick stop before. No questions asked.”

“Why is this stop so important?”

“I said, no questions asked.”

I wasn’t aware I was touching Roger’s ring until he glanced at my hand and glared at it.

“You really have issues.” I got into the car.

I used my phone to search for the nearest pawn shop as he walked around to the driver’s seat.

I pinned a street around the corner from the pawn shop so he wouldn’t know where I was going.

“Alrighty,” I said. “This is the street.”

I handed him my phone with the address, hoping Archibald wouldn’t text at that moment.

Why didn’t I think things through?

“This is quite the detour, Olivia.” He was clearly annoyed as he turned the engine on and revved it.

It roared and started vibrating.

“No questions asked,” I repeated louder so he could hear me.

“Then we better get going if we want to make it in time.”

He accelerated hard, and I was pushed back into the seat.

Instinctively, my hands went to my sides looking for anything to grasp.

Was he pranking me?

“Are you crazy?”

He turned to look at my terrorized face.

“I thought you liked to have fun!”

“Is this your idea of fun?”

“Kind of.” He made a swift turn at full speed with a bit of a drift. “One of my hobbies.”

“Oh my gosh, I don’t want to die,” I muttered, closing my eyes and digging my nails into the seat.

“Well, I might slow down if you tell me where we are going and why.”

“No.”

“As you wish.” He turned his eyes to the road, accelerating again.

We didn’t speak for several long minutes.

We passed through the town at full speed and arrived at the location I’d given him fifteen minutes later.

“Promise me you’ll stay in the car? Give me a couple of minutes,” I said before stepping out.

He didn’t answer, but I noticed he watched as I covered the ring with my hand.

Maybe he finally understood the no-questions assignment.

The pawn shop wasn’t hard to find; it was on a corner with a red-and-white sign in vintage letters that read “Adam’s Luxury Pawn.”

I entered the store, and a bell announced me.

“Hi, ma’am, welcome to Adam’s Luxury Pawnshop. How may I help you today?” A young vendor took off his glasses to inspect his lenses.

“Uhm, hi. I was wondering if my engagement ring had any value?”

“Sure, let me take a look.” He smiled at me.

He hardly looked old enough to work.

I took Roger’s ring off my finger and placed it on a velvet tray.

The young man took the ring in his hand and looked at it through a magnifying glass.

“Dad!” he called without taking his eyes from the ring.

An older gentleman emerged from a back office.

He took the ring and looked at it through the glass as his son had done.

“Sorry, sweetheart. This ring has no value. It’s a fake one. My name is Adam; I own this shop.” He put the ring back into my hands.

“What?” I stared at the ring.

~That motherfucker gave me a fake engagement ring?~

My face must have looked like a red balloon, ready to pop at any moment.

The kid walked out, leaving me alone with Adam.

~Smart kid.~

“An excellent imitation; it almost tricked me. But no, this is not a real diamond. My apologies.”

Fucking Roger!

“There must be some kind of mistake; it can’t be fake.”

“I guarantee it is fake. Maybe I could offer you something for that bracelet you’re wearing.”

“This?” I raised my hand, showing the delicate gold bracelet around my wrist.

It was the only thing I had left from my mother.

“I can give you twelve hundred.”

Only twelve?

~Oh, why was it so hard? It’s just a bracelet.~ I watched it, knowing I needed the money badly.

“But it has a small emerald. Isn’t that too low?” I pleaded.

“We just measure the gold, sweetie, not the jewel,” Adam replied.

~Oh, Mom. I am sorry.~

“Fifteen, and we have a deal,” I said quickly, catching the old man off guard.

“Too high,” he shot back.

“Fourteen hundred or no deal.” I wore my best poker face.

It only took him a few seconds to realize I was serious.

“Good one, young lady.” He offered his hand for a handshake, and I took it.

I smiled and accepted the money.

It might not be enough to cover my bank installment for this month, but hopefully I would be able to pay for my doctor’s appointment.

“Thank you,” I called, and left.

I was feeling blue.

That bracelet had been with me all my college years.

It was the only item I had left from my momma, and now it was gone.

I sold it.

~Hold your shit together, Ollie; you have bigger problems.~

I cleared my head and got into the car with Roger’s ring still in my hand.

“Are you okay?” Darius asked, staring at my red eyes.

“Just drive.” I looked out of the window.

Once the car was moving, I pulled the window down and threw Roger’s fake engagement ring out.