(ZANE)
"Hey, Zane?"
I squeak and turn around.
Dante lets out a suppressed laugh. "Um, you okay?"
"Y…yeah. What's up?"
"The lady up front offered me three seventy five for the chair. The tag says four hundred. What should I tell her?"
"Make the deal." I say, my heart still hammering in my chest. "That chair has been sitting out front for a year."
"Alright." Dante begins to walk out then steps back into the room. "Are you sure you're okay? You look kind of pale."
"I'm alright." I think.
Dante looks me up and down. "Mmkay, if you say so."
I place the box on a shelf against the wall, putting it out of my mind for now. I finish up sorting through the rest of the inventory and log some of it into the computer then join Dante at the front counter.
As the day goes on, I begin to feel silly at how I acted. It was just an old lock. Maybe it loosened up when I jiggled it then it popped open because the mechanism was broken. Yeah. That is the only thing that makes sense. Ghosts, angels, demons… none of that is real.
My overactive imagination though, that has to be real.
Minutes later after lunch, Dante and I begin to place some items on the shelves when the bell above the door dings.
"Holy shit." Dante says, muttering beside me with his eyes going wide.
I turn around to see what he is gawking at and nearly snap my neck to a double take. The man is a giant. He is so tall that he literally has to duck his head to get through the doorway. And fuck, he is sexy. He has short dark brown hair that is long at the top and muscles that I want to trace with my tongue and legs for days. He steps further into the store and glances around.
I clear my throat and step towards him. "Uh, good afternoon. Can I help you find anything?"
His light grey eyes move to me. "Perhaps."
"Shit. His voice is just as sexy as the rest of him. Deep and a little gravelly.
"Well, we can always find a little bit of everything in here." I say, chuckling like I always do when I'm nervous. I hear Dante snicker lightly behind me, and I have to force myself to not elbow him. "What are you looking for?"
The man comes closer to me, and I have to crane my head to look up at him.
"There was an auction last week, in the Lockwood mansion." He says, eyes trained on me. I'm both slightly unsettled but also turned the hell on. "I'm curious if you bought anything from it."
"Y…yes." I stutter, motioning at the shelves. "We were just stocking some new stuff."
The mansion must be more popular than I thought, because it is already bringing customers to my shop. The man briefly looks at the shelves then returns his attention back to me. "is this all of it?"
"No. There are still some at the back that I haven't logged yet."
"Can I see?"
"I usually don't allow customers into the storage room." My gaze averts to the rug beneath me, staring at a fray on the edge. "There is a process, you see."
"A process?"
"Mmh." I chance a peek up at him. His gaze is still pinned on me, making my gaze still pinned on me, making my heart rate turn up a notch."
He smiles. "Can you make an exception this one time?" he takes a step closer and tingles rush up my skin as he brings the heat of his large body towards mine. "I promise. I won't tell."
My mind goes blank and for a moment, I forget how to speak. I forget how to do anything but stand there and stare at this giant of a man who is too hot to be real. Maybe because all the blood rushed straight to my dick.
"I can't. I'm sorry." I finally answer. "But if you come on Monday, everything should be sorted."
His jaw tightens, and anger sparkles in his eyes. The flirty smile from earlier is definitely gone now. "I insist that it be today."
"And I insist that you wait." My voice comes out steadier than I thought it would. "If you leave your name and number at the front, I can call you when―"
The man turns and exits the shop, slamming the door a little hard behind him.
I blow out a breath. "That was interesting."
"He could be an art thief for all I know, or a member of some secret crime organization." Dante says, walking over to the door and peeking through the glass. "maybe he is searching for some invaluable artifact the lady who died had in her possession."
"You watch too many movies. There's no way that is true."
"Sure. Okay." Dante steps away from the door and shoots me a look . "Explain it then. That guy was like seven feet tall and was wearing combat boots. He isn't your average Joe looking for an antique table to complete his living room set."
"You don't know that. Just because he looks like a guy who snaps people's necks in his free time doesn't mean he won't appreciate a little piece of furniture. And maybe a lamp to go with it."
Dante throws his head back with a laugh and goes over to answer the phone.
I go back to the storage, only paying enough attention to what I'm doing. I can't get that guy out of my head. How his grey eyes watched me. How pissed he was when I said that he couldn't go to the backroom. I have a feeling that he isn't used to people telling him no.
What is he after?
My gaze lands on the box.
Curiosity gets the better of me and I grab it off the shelf. My hand trembles a bit while I take off the lock and touch the lid. But I hesitate.
"Just do it." I mutter to myself. "It is just a stupid box."
When I open the lid, my heart thuds hard against my rib. My hair ruffles up a bit, but that's probably the heater kicking in. I peer into the box and see a red satin cloth covering something.
Then I lift the cloth.
A ring.
It looks very ordinary. Well, ordinary but in an antique way. The gold band has a faint etching on the sides, and at the centre sits some dark green stone, with smaller red stones around it.
I whistle underneath my breath as I study it. The thing looks damn expensive. I have to check to make sure that it is real gold before I put it out for sale. And to figure out the kind of stones that were used to make it. They look like crystals of some kind.
"This is some Lord of the Rings shit." I mumble as I examine the markings along the band. It looks like words, but in a language that I have never seen before.
As I stare into the green stone, it looks almost like something is moving inside it. Like swirling smoke. I blink and hold it closer to my face then wait. I let out a soft laugh at myself for being ridiculous.
I place the ring back in the box then close the lid. I'll deal with it later.