THE PRINCE'S QUEEN | J.MAYBANK

[14]

"He said it looked something like this," Kiara pointed to a sketch of the well that Pope drew later that day while in the Twinkie.

"So . . . ." I trailed off, shooting her a puzzled look.

"That's 50 feet down, and they're using a 100-feet rope. So I guess this little wagon will go," Kiara said, and Sarah and I laughed. "-Straight to the gold room," she finished.

"Who drew this?" Sarah teased.

"Who do you think?" Kie joked and glanced around her shoulder to see Pope talking with John B. He looked at her and smiled softly. I noticed a small blush crept onto her cheeks.

"Kie! This better work," JJ proclaimed and threw the three bars of gold on the floor of the Twinkie. "We can't pawn this if there's a giant wheat symbol on it," he stated.

Kie grabbed the blow torch and smirked at him. "It's gonna work," Kie argued, and JJ rolled his eyes before walking over to a pot that sat on a metal burner. Kie and I followed him over, and I dropped the gold bars into the pot.

"Let's do this thing!" I exclaimed, and Kie lit the blow torch. It started melting the gold, and we grinned at each other widely.

"We did it!" She cried, and I hugged her side. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, don't wanna burn ya with a blow torch," she warned, and I stepped back with a chuckle. JJ did the Pogue handshake with Pope and wiggled his eyebrows at me, making me blush but cover it up with a smirk.

~:*:~

The Pogues and I were all in the Twinkie on our way to a pawn shop. JJ was inspecting the gold with me in between his legs. He had his eyebrows knitted together as he stared at the heavy nugget.

John B pulled up to the raggedy old pawnshop, and we all got out. JJ still had gold in his hands as he was the first to hop onto the ground. "Hell of a job melting it down, Dr. Frankenstein," he called to Kiara sarcastically.

"Like you could've done better," Kie argued.

"I could have. I took a welding class," JJ lied.

"When?" Kie snapped, and I held in a laugh at how they were fighting over the most stupid of things.

"Whoa, whoa. Hey. Sh! Chill out, okay?" John B said and stepped in between them.

JJ gritted his teeth and spat out, "easy for you to say. You're not the one that has to pawn this piece of shit off. How did I get this job anyway?"

"'Cause you're the best liar," Pope said almost immediately after JJ asked.

We all walked inside the pawnshop with the shop bell ringing when we entered. "Afternoon, ma'am," JJ greeted the women at the front counter.

"Afternoon," she said with skepticism.

"I see you buy gold," JJ stated and wrapped his arm around my waist as we made our way over to the clerk.

"That's what the sign says, don't it?" She replied with a certain snarkiness that sent me on edge.

"Well, I sure hope you buy a lot of it because I'm about to blow your mind," JJ smirked and removed his backpack from around his shoulder. 

"I ain't got much mind left to blow, so have at it," the women said, and JJ pulled out the chunk of gold we had attempted to meltdown.

"How about them gold apples?" JJ said, a smile peaking up onto his lips.

The women laughed at us, and my jaw clenched, looking her up and down with a glare. JJ's grip around my waist tightened, and he started tapping his finger on my jean shorts to calm my irritation. "That ain't real," the women chuckled.