Nope. Not gonna happen. I did not just escape my asshole ex to be turned into some daytime TV special.
There’s nothing in the dark, musty smelling room that I can easily use as a weapon. It’s just a dark, musty smelling room with a shitty old couch and a ceiling fan with two broken lights. There isn’t even a proper rug and I can see water moving between the gaps in the floorboards. Is this even up to code? What the hell kind of place is this?
Shouting from the other room catches my attention. There are new voices out there, and I want to call for help. Chuck sees me open my mouth to yell and he moves towards me, hands outstretched.
“Ronnie—Don’t!” He cries out.
But I shout,”Help!” as loud as I can.
As quickly as I yell, I stop and look down at Chuck in surprise. His hands are on my chest and he looks apologetic.
“Ronnie, I am so sorry. I don’t have a choice. We have to keep you safe. For the Pod.” A different kind of electrical shock moves through me and I fall backwards into darkness.
The last thing I remember is the sound of boots on floorboards. When I wake up, I am wrapped up in a blanket with four men hovering over me. My eyes land on Darren first and I glare.
“Dude, you promised me! You promised no one would hurt me and then your buddies fucking kidnapped me? What the fuck? And who are all these assholes? Where’s the scrawny one who tazed me?”
He looks pained.
“Please, just... can we explain? I’m sorry for all of this,” he starts gently. “These are my Club brothers. You met Bryan and Trevor earlier and....the big guy over there is Earl. You, uh, bit him.”
I shift my gaze to Earl and glare even harder.
“Wonderful. So glad we had introductions. Now, that we all know each other’s names, I think I’ll be going.”
“We need you to stay here,” Darren says softly, “At least until we explain. Please hear us out?”
“Is this the part where you tell me I’m a prisoner and I have to do what you say?” I ask, glaring at each of them in turn, “I’m gonna warn you now. I’m not a naturally, shall we say, cooperative person.”
“You are not a prisoner! You are our guest!” Earl says forcefully, his voice full of annoyance.
“Oh? So I can leave. Great. Good talk. Thanks, boys.” I get up to leave and they all start yelling.
“You can’t leave, Ronnie. It’s not safe for you out there,” Bryan explains as he moves around the table to stand between me and the door.
“Right. This random little town is a hotbed of criminal activity is it? So, I’m not a prisoner but I can’t leave. Guys, I don’t know what they taught you, but guests can leave, prisoners can’t. Which is it?”
Darren looks offended and apparently his look of indignation is like catnip for my pussy because I am here for that moody intensity. What the fuck is wrong with me?
Earl gathers himself and takes the seat next to me with a thud. “Ronnie, look, can I see your necklace please?” He grits out.
I eye him carefully, calculating how far I should push him and decide this request seems reasonable enough. I dig the crystal pendant out of my pocket again and place it on the table with a long-suffering sigh. It has changed colors again. Now it’s a brilliant electric blue and pulses with light.
All the men at the table inhale at once and it sounds like a weird, collective wheeze. They crowd around to look at it but no one makes a move to touch it.
“Ronnie, do you know what this is?” Earl asks softly.
“A mood-reading crystal? Honestly, no. I got it from a friend. She said she had a dream about me wearing it so she tracked it down and bought it for me.”
“Well, the crystals on the side are made out of a rare kind of quartz. It helps enhance the powers of the middle stone. This necklace is very, very rare. The middle stone is something that we call Matestone. It has unique properties and, as you can see, once activated, it changes colors.” Bryan explains very matter-of-factly.
Huh. Color me intrigued.
“OK, so you’re telling me my friend got me a rare necklace with mystical properties? That’s rad. Why do you care? And why is everyone so hung up on Matestone? Is it valuable? Should I sell it? If I give it to you, will you let me go? Because you can have it.”
A chorus of no’s thundered out at me and I dropped my feet back down to the ground and leaned over to look at my necklace again. I’m actually glad they said no because the moment I mentioned getting rid of my silly necklace, a feeling of doom fell over me.
“Selling it would get it into the hands of a collector, yes. I am sure there are many who would pay dearly for such an artifact but I would not advise it,” Earl begins, moving his hand to tentatively cover mine. It feels weird but a part of me likes it so I allow it. “This Matestone is keyed to the one who wears it. This one is keyed to you, and your ownership of it is part of your destiny.”
I exhale and purse my lips. Ok. Destiny. Right. It’s actually not surprising at all that I would find the weirdest group of people this side of the Sierra Nevadas and get caught up in the middle of whatever this is. Destiny? No such thing. Nope. Nada. Nu-uh.
I think Earl senses my disbelief because he changes tactics.
“What brought you so far off the beaten path, Ronnie? We
