The Rose Boys

Chapter Seventeen

"You're-"

"Darren's Mother, yes I am." She said, walking down the stairs towards me. I could see where Darren got his dark eyes and wavy brown hair from. Her sharp features and high cheek bones made her beautiful. Her powerful sounding voice and the fact that she was Mrs. Johnson made her terrifyingly intimidating.

"I don't understand." I almost whispered as she reached the bottom of the stairs. "Why do this?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I wanted to talk to you without any of Darren's little friends interfering and so Mr. Johnson suggested we do it in this kind of style." She looked over at Max, who moved to her side.

"We've already had the pleasure of meeting." He said with a curt nod. "But I'm Max, Darren's Dad and this is his Mother Libby."

"Won't you join us for tea in the other room?" She asked, her dark eyes wicked.

I stood in the kitchen after taking the long walk home in the rain. The gloomy down pour and dark black clouds seemed to mirror my emotions exactly. I rubbed the empty spot on my wrist, now missing the feel of the rose bracelet against my skin.

I was washing dishes, pretending that everything was alright. My parents had been waiting for me, agitated that I'd been gone for eight hours. It took my four hours to get home but I could barely remember the walk. I looked down at the dissipating suds, like patchy clouds in a watery sky.

My Brother Ben had wanted details about what I had run off and done but I provided none. I asked if I could have some time to myself, saw the pile of dishes on the counter in the Kitchen and began to wash them.

I'd gotten through maybe half of the dishes, washing the last plate before I emptied the sink and filled it back up with fresh water and soap for the pots and the pans when the front door was flung open and Nick's voice could be heard.

"January!?"

I paid it no mind and continued to wash the dishes, the memory of what had been said was biting me, slowly eating away the part of me that loved Darren.

"January!" Nick said as he entered the kitchen. "Are you okay?"

I looked out the window at the dark sky, heard the rain pelting the window as it slid down the glass and dropped to the dirt in the droopy garden below.

Nick put his hand on my shoulder. "January, why are you wet?"

I was scrubbing at a hard spot in the pan, exerting as much pressure as I could force. Water sloshed up on the counter and onto the front of my damp shirt. My hair was still wet from the rain, stringy strands of long brown hair hung in my face.

Nick plunged his hands into the water and pulled mine out. "Ow! That water is hot!" He grimaced against the burn as I looked down at my hands, red from the wrists down. It looked like I was wearing tacky gloves.

Nick reached over and turned the cold water on, forcing me to put my hands under the icy stream. I felt numb.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He growled, yanking the towel off of the oven handle and drying our hands off with it.

I dropped my hands to my sides and couldn't meet his eyes. I stared down at my feet. "It's over."

"What?"

"They took away everything." I said, dangerously close to tears. I looked up at Nick, my eyes burning and held up my hand. "They took away the ring."

Nick's dark eyebrows shot up. "I don't understand. What happened after I left you exactly?"

I brushed my hair out of my face and leaned against the white counter behind me. "After you went into the barn, I tried to find some way to get out. The driver who had driven me to Darren's party showed up and told me that there was no time, I had to go with him and that there was a group coming to tell you the message and take you to where we were going."

"Okay, so who was the driver, do you know?"

"Yeah," I nodded bitterly. "It was Darren's Dad."

"Max? Seriously?"

"Yep, he tricked me into thinking he was Darren's driver. He drove me over to Darren's house and I meet his Mom."

Nick swallowed. Obviously he knew exactly how charming this woman was.

I thought back to the moment, seeing it as if it was just unfolding before me. Darren's parents were on a red velvet couch as I sat on the only arm chair in the room directly across from them. There were three cups of tea, steaming in fancy red china but none of us touched our cups. They were an accessory to the hurt the Johnson's were going to inflict.

"What am I going to have to do to make you stop seeing my Son?" Libby asked, her ruby lips were pressed into a red line.

I stared at her in shock. "Excuse me?"

"Your Father, he works for the Johnson Company, does he not? I've been informed that he's Max's best accountant."

Max gave a small nod. "He does seem to fit in well with my staff."

"And since he's been working here, you and your family have been doing a little better, correct?"

I nodded sheepishly.

"We would hate to drive a family to the streets but if we have to, we'll do what it takes to protect our son from girls like you."

"Girls like me?" I asked.

"Since Darren was younger, we've told the Burns family that Darren would marry their daughter. I believe she is your age and the three of you go to the same school."

Burns, that sounded familiar.

"Tiffany and Darren are going to be married and we can't have someone like you anywhere near this picture perfect coupling of the Johnson Company and Burns Incorporated."

"You two are monsters." I gasped, staring at the two before me.

"Not him sweetie, just me." Darren's mother Libby smiled venomously, pointing over at her husband and then herself.

"Why would you do this to your only Son?" I asked. "Doesn't being in love mean anything to you two."

The two gave out a chuckle. "If you think we wed out of love, then you are sorely mistaken. The Johnson Company is only as strong as it is because it's a merge of our parent's companies in one." Darren's Mom seemed to glare daggers at me.

I was snapped back into reality by Nick. "What did they do?"

"They said that I have to go. Darren's Mom gave me this." I pulled the folded up cheque out of my pocket and handed it over to Nick, who unfolded it and widened his eyes.

"That's a lot of  money." He breathed. "And I'm wealthy."

I didn't count the zeros, I didn't want to. Darren's Mother Libby handed it over to me and sent me out the door without letting me get a word in. I didn't want their money. If Darren was going to marry Tiffanie Burns, the very girl who had cost my father his job in the first place, I was not going to do anything about it. Besides, what could I do?

"So, that's it?" Nick asked, placing the cheque on the counter beside him. "You're just going to give up?"

I shrugged. "I can't do anything about it."

Nick shook his head at me. "I don't understand how any of us liked you so much if you're such a quitter. I guess Darren would be better off with Tiffanie. At least she can get the job done." He then turned and stormed out of my house, slamming the door after him.

Ben rushed into the kitchen only seconds later. "What's going on?" 

I turned to him and began to cry, waves of hot, fresh emotion pouring out of me. "I'm losing all my friends." I cried.