I gave him a tight smile as I bent to shove my stuff into my bag. “Congratulations on the win! That was an exciting fight.”
Doug’s eyes narrowed. “That was an annoying fight. That idiot has been working out. And training. He got a lot better practically overnight. Who the hell does that besides Captain America?”
“It wasn’t exactly overnight. He’s had months to work on it,” I said in a mild voice to calm his ruffled feathers, in spite of my resentment at the ‘idiot’ remark. The mellower he was, the better this would go for me. “You were more than prepared. You won, after all.”
“It was a technicality. I didn’t really win. It was close. Too close for my comfort. And he took some cheap shots.”
“I’m sure he didn’t mean to hurt you. He seemed on edge.”
“Yeah, I figured that out after the first bout. He’s such a moron that he admitted to me that the crowd freaks him out. Naturally, I used that to my advantage.”
My throat burned with bile. “Speaking of cheap shots…”
His eyes widened. “Hey, I followed the rules. He broke them. I won fair and square.”
“On a technicality.”
His face darkened and he pulled off his sweaty shirt, wiping his face with it. “Whatever.” Shit. My mouth had gotten ahead of me and now he was annoyed. Stupid move, Jenna.
I buckled up my satchel. I’d been prepared to flee after the fight, so I was pretty much ready to go. All I had to do now was deliver the speech.
No big deal. I’d done this before…just change the specifics and convey the generic message I’d resorted to in the past.
“So, Doug…we need to talk, and I figure now is as good a time as any.”
He dropped his shirt and looked at me. “That sounds kind of serious.”
“Well, you know that I’m getting ready to travel with the Renaissance Faire when it starts up for the season. I thought…I thought it would be best if—”
He held out a hand to cut me off, green eyes glittering. “Wait…what? You aren’t breaking up with me, are you?”
I hesitated, watching him.
His hand fell back to his side, tightening into a fist. “I can’t believe this! I just won that duel. I was going to convince you not to leave with the Faire people. To stay with me.”
I set my jaw. “Oh? And how were you going to do that?”
He started counting on his fingers. “I’ve helped you out a lot, Jen. Even when you didn’t know I was. Every time we went out together, I’ve paid for everything. I’ve bought you stuff—”
Gross. I wasn’t feeling so bad about doing this now. “Stop right there, okay? You can’t buy me, and you can’t convince me to do something by using your money.”
He smirked. “Oh really? So I guess you wouldn’t care if, say, I bought back a certain little bauble that you so callously hocked and decided to keep it instead of giving it to you as something nice that—you know—a boyfriend would do?”
My insides froze. The tiara? What the hell? He bought out my loan? Doug, as he was often quick to remind me, had a fantastic, secure job as an engineer and more money than he knew what to do with. Could he be telling the truth about this? And would he have the balls to hold the tiara over my head even if he had bought it back?
“You’d better be joking, and if you are, that’s a goddamn awful joke.”
He shook his head. “Not joking. I was going to give it to you tonight at dinner to celebrate my victory.” He turned away from me to grab a towel. “But now I’m not so inclined.”
Shock yanked the breath from my lungs and my blood roared in my ears. My fists tightened. “I want it back.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have hocked it to Tim.”
Doug’s uncaring words stabbed my heart. His judgment had been silent but obvious when he’d driven me to an acquaintance’s shop. It was always easy to judge someone else’s desperate measures where money was concerned when you had more than you needed yourself.
“You’re lying,” I huffed. “Tim wouldn’t have sold it to you. I signed the papers, and he promised he’d give me six months to buy it back before anyone else could.”
Doug shrugged. “You were late on your last payment and I figured I’d just buy it back. I was embarrassed enough that you were late. I didn’t want you to default.”
“I was four days late! I needed to wait ‘til my paycheck—”
“I was doing you a favor.” He sneered. “ Some gratitude you have.”
I wanted to howl in frustration. When I’d mentioned needing to hock the tiara, Doug had offered to lend me the money. Even then I’d known that was a bad idea, so I’d politely declined his offer. That was when he’d mentioned this jewelry broker he knew who could get me a better deal than a pawn shop—and who would hold on to the item for me until I could pay him off.
Stupid, stupid Jenna. Why did I do this to myself?
“Please…” I squeaked. “Do you really want things to end like this?”
Doug fumbled in his bag for a clean shirt and then straightened. “I don’t want to end this at all. I told you, I was going to convince you to stay.”
“By holding the tiara over my head?” That sick feeling in my stomach was increasing by the moment and tears poked the backs of my eyes. “You’re a bastard. You don’t even know what that tiara means to me. It’s…it’s…” I stopped myself. He didn’t deserve to know those precious, private emotions attached to that inanimate object…memories of the hopes and fears of a scared little girl on a plane clutching it to her chest as she landed in a brand new country where she didn’t even speak the language.
He shrugged. “You’re the one who wants to break up. Like I said—”
“So you’re saying if I don’t break up with you, I’ll get the tiara back.”
“Sure…eventually.”
I wanted to beat the shit out of him with his own weapon. “What do you mean eventually?”
“I mean that I was in the mood to celebrate tonight, and I was going to give it to you. I made reservations at La Terminale and everything. I take you nice places, Jen. You’ve got to admit—”