Page 47 of Just My Luck

When the first sales clerk stepped out carrying two large orange boxes, I walked over and watched as she carefully pulled out the bags.

Both were the exact bags in the photo. One had silver hardware and the other gold.

I told the woman about how my father had spent too many years putting off getting my mother the bags she’d wanted. We talked about Nova’s likes and dislikes for a few moments.

“I couldn’t tell from the photo and figured I’d bring both out,” she said, showing me both bags side by side.

“What do you suggest?”

She smiled at me. “I always say that it depends on the rings she wears.”

“Rings?” I frowned.

“Honey, if a man is buying a woman her first Birkin, there is definitely a ring in the future somewhere.”

Suddenly, my mind was so clear. The scene of Rick showing me our grandmother’s ring. His confession of how he was going to ask Sofia to marry him.

Of course I was going to ask Nova to marry me. Hell, I should have asked before instead of just seeing if she’d move in with me.

Once again, I’d been so blind.

“This one,” I said, pointing to the bag I wanted. “Can you wrap it up and then point me in the direction of the nearest jewelry store.”

The woman laughed and nodded.

Thirty minutes later, I was almost floating as I stepped out of the elevator on our floor. I had a solid plan, at least in my head, of my next moves.

I stopped when I rounded the corner and saw that our hotel door was propped open. Was the maid working on our room? I glanced up and down the hallway, not seeing any sign of the carts they used.

I stepped to the door and called out as I went inside. “Nova?”

I set the bags down just inside the doorway and had taken two steps inside when I saw a young brunette woman sitting on the edge of our freshly made bed.

“Who—” I started to ask, instantly on guard.

Before I could finish my sentence, the adjoining room door flew open, and I was tackled by two large men dressed in all black.

I hit the floor and started to fight back. When I saw the badges on their chests, I froze.

Over the next hour, I was handcuffed, shuffled down a back hallway and out the back of the casino, stuffed in the backseat of a cruiser, and hauled to the police department. There, I was photographed, fingerprinted, and strip searched.

By the time I was sitting in a cell with at least six other men, I had figured out exactly what had happened.

I was pissed.

I was finally allowed my first phone call six hours later. I had debated on who to call.

I knew for sure that Nova would know what had happened by now and was one hundred percent positive that she knew of my innocence. Which meant she would have called for backup. If my brother wasn’t already here, I was sure he was on his way. I also knew that in desperate times like this, Nova would have called her mother.

Which meant my phone call was pretty much a toss away. With help on the way, I only needed to talk to the one person that mattered the most.

Her phone rang twice.

“Jax?” Just hearing Nova’s voice had my eyes closing with pain.

“Are you okay?” I asked in a low tone.

“Yes, you?”