Sell Your Soul

Hannah took a deep breath as she pushed open the door to the pawn shop.

“Hello.” The gruff voice behind the counter greeted her.

“Hi.” Hannah smiled and walked over to the counter.

“What can I do for you?” The man grinned. Hannah felt self-conscious as the man’s eyes washed over her.

“I’ve got this ring –“ she pulled it out of her pocket.

“Are you looking to pawn or sell it?” He asked taking it from her greedily.

“Sell it. I just want rid of it.”

The man grinned. Hannah knew he was going to cheat her out of the money it was worth. But honestly she didn’t care. She never wanted to lay eyes on that piece of metal again.

“When you’re eighteen you will be my wife.” He smiled down at her.
Hannah’s stomach felt sick.

“Isn’t this great Hannah!? Did you hear him! He wants you! Can you believe it?” Her mother gushed.

“What if I don’t want to marry you? What if I don’t want to marry anyone?” Hannah spoke without thinking.

Her mother slapped her across the face.

“Anyone would be glad to marry you Father Brinks. She’s not thinking straight. She hasn’t been sleeping well at night. She doesn’t know what she is saying.”

“I understand. I’ll take her to the chapel after dinner. We’ll have a special prayer session for her.” Father Brinks told her parents.

Hannah was going to vomit. Everywhere.

“Did you hear me?” The man asked again.

“Sorry, what?” Hannah pushed the thoughts away.

“I’ll give you three hundred dollars for it. The silver is real but the stone isn’t.” The man said quickly.

“That’s fine. Thank you.” Hannah agreed.

She filled out the paper work, took her money and nearly ran out of the shop. She had to get home before Johnny did. If any of the guys caught her alone they would freak. But what was she supposed to say ‘hey I’ve got this engagement ring that I need to sell, not because I need the money just because knowing it’s here makes me nauseated and gives me nightmares’? Yeah Hannah didn’t think so. She wanted to keep her past as far away from her present as possible. She had to let go of it so she could focus on her life with Johnny.

She was sneaking in the back door, but found herself right in the middle of a yelling match between Andrea and Charlie.

“I don’t give a damn about your turf or loyalty or any of that bullshit! All I care about is the fact that you’re all putting your lives in danger! Hannah will agree with me! Won’t you Han?”

Hannah’s eyes went wide.

“Uhh, I have no idea what’s going on.” She admitted. Hoping no one had noticed her absence.

But Johnny caught her eyes, the look on his face told her that he noticed and he wasn’t very happy about it. She looked away.

“I found the plans these idiots made to retaliate against those thugs from Huntington Beach!” Andrea was livid. Hannah felt her heart jump forward. She had been praying that they would drop that whole thing, but deep down she knew that Johnny and the boys wouldn’t stop until they got their revenge.

“Look if the two of you don’t want your precious boyfriends to risk their pretty faces in this they can stay home. But the rest of us have a reputation to protect – there is already talk on the street about how we’ve gone soft. All hell will break loose if we don’t keep this contained!” The entire time Hannah had known him that was the most she had ever heard Kurlz say.

“Why is it so imperative that you guys do this personally? You have people to do your dirty work. Send one of them.” Andrea snapped. Danny was trying to calm her down.

“Fine.” Johnny spoke up. “Now, this conversation is over for good.” He took Hannah’s hand and lead her into his bedroom closing the door behind him.

But before he could open his mouth to ask her where she had been, Hannah pressed her lips to his quickly and passionately. It caught Johnny off guard, Hannah had never made such a bold move. But he wasn’t complaining. He kissed her back, knotting his hands into her blonde hair. He pulled her onto the bed on top of him. Hannah smiled down at him.

Johnny chuckled and rolled himself ontop of her.

“You’re not getting off that easily. Where have you been pretty girl?” He asked moving a piece of hair out of her face.

“I had to let go of something.” Hannah answered simply. It was the truth. But she knew it wouldn’t be good enough for Johnny.

“Lets try this again. Where did you let go of something?” His eyes locked on hers. He wasn’t concerned with Hannah being unfaithful, he was concerned with her safety and the fact that there was something important enough that she snuck away to take care of it.

“I went to a pawn shop.” Hannah admitted, hoping that Johnny would leave I at that. He wasn’t usually one to push.

“You don’t have to sneak around Hannah, I’m not going to have someone following you all the time. I’d just like it if you told someone when you were leaving and where you were going incase something happens. I’ll buy you a cellphone so you can call for help if you need it.”

Hannah pressed her body into his.

“I wasn’t trying to sneak, I – I just want to forget where I came from. I want to focus on where I am and my future with you. I wanted to get rid of something that held a lot of bad memories for me, and
everyone looked busy when I left. I didn’t want to burden anyone.”

“Hannah you’re not a burden to anyone here. We’re a family.” Johnny told her. He moved off her and sat up on the bed.

“Yeah, but Charlie and the Kurlz don’t seem to happy with me and Andrea right now.” Hannah said finally.

“They still love you two, either of them would take a bullet for either of you. They’re just worried about the repercussions of us not fighting back.”

“I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.” Hannah admitted. She couldn’t believe that Kurlz, or Charlie cared enough about her to take a bullet for her. She could imagine Johnny doing so though, and that thought terrified her to her very core.

**

“Andie, you have to let this go baby girl. I know you don’t want us to go near the Huntington Beach boys but we have to prove that we’re still in control. If they think for a second that they have the upper hand they’ll sweep this area and try to take over. This isn’t just some ‘turf war’ this is serious. All they care about is power and control, they could care less who gets hurt in the process.” Danny held Andrea’s hands in his.

“Danny, I know exactly what kind of people those guys are. I probably know better than you do. And believe it or not I understand exactly why you guys have to fight back, part of me wants to cheer you on. I’d like nothing more than to run into them guns blazing because I hate those fuckers. But there is another part of me that doesn’t want you to go anywhere near them. Because honestly I can’t even bare to think about thinking about something happening to you.” Andrea looked away. She hated being vulnerable and girly, but Hannah was rubbing off on her.

Danny couldn’t stop himself from grinning like an idiot. He knew that Andrea was baring her soul in a serious manner, but all he was hearing was that she cared about him. Which was all he had ever wanted to hear.

“Ugh I hate you stop grinning like that.” Andrea jerked her hands out of his and punched him.

“So what you’re saying is you would be upset if something happened to me. Which would imply that you care about me.” Danny smirked matter-of-factly.

“I do care about you.”

“Do you loooove me?” He asked in a sing-song voice. It was hard for him to be serious. He was too happy.

“Yes. Danny. I love you. But I am being serious! I don’t want you guys to personally go and retaliate against those thugs. Send some expendables.” Andrea said quietly.

“Ah baby don’t worry about that. We’ll take care of it, and we’ll all be fine.” Danny said kissing Andrea on her cheek.

**

“Hello. Mr. Brinks? This is Clarence Claymore of C.C. Pawn Shop. I am calling in regards to a ring that you reported stolen.”

“Yes?”

“A young girl came in today and sold me a silver ring with a diamond cross much like the one in your report. I’m located in Hollywood, California if you would like to come and identify it.”

“Yes I would, thank you very much. I am more interested in the girl who sold it to you. She is a runaway who was in my care and I’m very concerned about her safety.”

“I’ve got both her home address and the address to her job right here if that will help you.”

“That would help tremendously! Let me get some paper.”