Sierra came up beside me and pointed at a pair of earrings in the box.
“That set,” she said. “Just studs. I think it’ll look perfect.”
I swallowed hard at the diamond studs that she’d pointed out, remembering a day years ago when I’d gotten them.
They look good in your ears, honey. It makes me want to nibble on your throat, run my tongue along the shell of your ear.
“Umm, I don’t usually wear those,” I admitted.
And I didn’t.
They were too freakin’ expensive to wear out of the house.
At least, in my honest opinion.
After finding the receipt in my bag—along with a marriage license—I’d nearly shit myself.
They’d been eight thousand dollars.
Honestly, thinking back, I was surprised that my new husband’s card had gone through for that much money. Didn’t they have a daily limit? I was fairly sure mine was fifteen hundred or something to that nature.
“Nonsense,” Sierra said. “These. They’re perfect.”
I reluctantly allowed myself to pick them up and put them in my ears for the first time since I’d put them there the day after I’d been given them.
I swallowed hard at the memories it evoked, then shoved them down deep into the box labeled ‘Nathan - STAY FAR AWAY.’
“Wow, what a beautiful ring,” Sierra said on a gasp. “Where’d you get that monster?”
That ‘monster’ was my wedding ring. The piece of jewelry that I would never, ever wear again.
“Umm,” I started to say, but the alarm on my phone went off, indicating it was time for me to leave or I’d be well past fashionably late and into rude territory.
“Shoot, you need to go,” Sierra said, backing away.
I gave my wedding ring one last long look before carefully shutting the box, and the idea that things could be different, with it.
I walked right up to Sierra and gave her a hug.
“Thank you so much,” I whispered. “I really, really appreciate it.”
Sierra patted my hand and walked with me outside, her face a mask of disgust when a few wolf whistles rent the air.
“I can’t believe you live here,” she said in disgust.
I wished I didn’t have to.
But when you were a dumbass when you were a teenager and racked up your student loan debt, beggars couldn’t be choosers.
“Hopefully I only have to do it for a few more years,” I admitted.
My gaze lit on the man that was lingering close to my car, likely smoking a joint like he always was.
“Who’s that?” she murmured.
I felt more than saw the man she was talking about.
He really, really gave me the creeps.
He also fancied himself a big time badass when in reality he was just a creepy drug dealer that nearly always got his way.
“Can you hold on for just one more second?” I asked. “I forgot something inside.”
I wasn’t sure what made me do it, but I had this irrational fear all of a sudden that I should go inside and move a few of my more expensive things to my car.
I wasn’t sure why, but I usually tried to follow my gut.
And my gut was screaming at me to take my shit with me this time.
Based on where I lived, with the scum of Kilgore who paid much more attention to doing drugs than doing a job, I usually tried to follow my instincts.
Sadly, my instincts were screaming at me to go grab my computer and my jewelry box. So that was what I did.
Running back inside, I shoved my computer into my large tote bag that I used as a purse and grabbed my jewelry box and shoved it in there as well. I did pause to slip out the diamond ring and shoved it into my pocket, though.
Yes, my dress did have pockets.
It was the best thing about my dress.
I arrived back outside to see Sierra staring down at the man near my car, her eyes narrow.
“Don’t,” I murmured as I touched her hand. “It’s not worth it.”
“That guy just made a drug deal. Right in front of me.” She paused. “My brother’s a cop. My dad’s a cop. My uncles are cops. I can’t believe I just saw that.”
I could.
“Darius isn’t afraid of the cops,” I admitted. “The one and only time that I called the cops on him for what I saw, he only moved his operation more into the open so that I could see better what was happening. When the cops showed, he was long gone. But he made sure that I could see him every time from then on.”
She sighed and walked with me down to the car, studiously ignoring the man that didn’t bother to move from his too-close position.
“Now,” Sierra said as she got into her own car and waited for me to get into mine. Once we were both in with our windows rolled down, she said, “Take care tonight. Let me know if you need anything, and even if it’s just to talk, I’m okay with that.”