Page 85 of Protecting Peyton

She had been such a sweet soul. It was so cruel and unfair that she’d become one of his victims, but then that had to be true of all of them.

A man came in the door and got in line behind me.

Iris, ahead of me, accepted their offer, and left with a tear in her eye. The watch had meant something to her.

I moved up to the counter.

“Hi. Welcome to B-B Pawn. I’m Beth,” the woman said.

“And I’m Blake,” the man added.

“I’m Peyton. I have these.” I unscrewed the first of my earrings and set it on the felt they had on the glass counter. “They belonged to my grandmother,” I said as I took off the second.

Blake picked up the first one and examined it with a jeweler’s loop. “These are real and very nice.”

I nodded.

“They must have sentimental value,” Beth guessed.

I nodded again. “Yes,” I squeaked. I hadn’t prepared for how hard it would be to give them up. Tears formed, but I blinked them back. I was stronger than that.

“Why would you want to give these up?” Blake asked. “They’re gorgeous.”

I sniffed. The answer was obvious. “I need the money.”

“Making rent can be hard sometimes,” Blake said to his wife.

When I didn’t agree, Beth guessed, “Is he mean?”

I couldn’t admit to my real fear, but I nodded. Mean was an understatement. “How much can I get for them?”

“Long ago, I was in a similar situation,” she said. “I ran, and he found me. I ran a second time, and he found me again. I was about to run again, but the third time, I had a strong man beside me.” She laid her hand on Blake’s.

Blake smiled down at her.

“He convinced me to stop running, and together we faced down my ex.”

“What happened?” The question came out without thinking. I should have just kept quiet. “Sorry. Forget I asked.”

“He went to prison. He died there. I wasted three years of my life trying to run from him.” She looked up at Blake and back to me. “Dear, if you have someone beside you, someone strong and honorable, it can make all the difference. It did for me.”

She’d just made the same argument as Karla, with different words.

I did have someone I could lean on—a lot more than one someone, knowing March. He’d get all of Hawk involved if I opened up to him about my struggle.

“Maybe you could step over here and think about it a bit.” Beth pointed to the side. “I’ll examine these, and Blake can help the next customer.”

“Sure.” I moved sideways and let the guy behind me talk to Blake.

“These are very well cut,” she said as she examined my earrings. “I bet your grandmother was proud of them. Did they come from someone special?”

“My grandfather.”

“They must have signified a deep love between them.”

I nodded. That’s what Nana had told me long ago.

My phone dinged.