Page 15 of Undefeated Love
The media host must have glanced their way because she squealed, “Oh, my God. Is that a diamond?”
What the fuck? Alex looked at the ring in the box. What the hell was JJ doing caring around a diamond ring? A rather gaudy ring in his opinion. He looked up to her for answers.
“Of course I’ll marry you, Alex,” JJ gushed, clasping her hand to her nearly bare chest.
What the hell?
When Alex stood, JJ slipped the ring on her finger and went on tiptoes. At the last second, he moved his head slightly, so she only got the corner of his mouth with her kiss. She grabbed his face in both hands and gave him a quick peck on the lips before turning to the hordes of cameras.
Alex tried to step back but she pulled him even closer. She then turned and set her left hand on his chest flashing the huge diamond ring. Then she threw her arms around his neck and kept her mouth on the opposite side, away from the cameras.
“Alex, please go along with this. Please. Don’t embarrass me now.”
“You saw it here, first, live on…” the host droned on, hyping her TV talk show. “JJ, how are you feeling right now?” She shoved the microphone in front of JJ.
“I’m so thrilled.” She pulled Alex in closer. “Alex and I have known each other since we were children. He helped me with the fight scenes in…”
Alex couldn’t believe what was happening. He stared at the ring on her finger.
“Right now, I need a minute alone with my fiancé.” JJ all but dragged him into the lobby of the theater, then pulled him into a dark corner.
“What the fuck, Jae?” He lifted her hand with the huge ring covered in diamonds. “Why the hell are you carrying around a diamond ring?”
Jae stared at the patterned commercial grade carpet. When she finally lifted her eyes to meet his, all he saw was embarrassment. “I bought it because I always wanted a big flashy ring. You know how we grew up. Nobody in our neighborhood, not even the pimps and drug dealers, could afford a ring like this. I promised myself way back then that if I ever made it big, I was going to buy a big fancy diamond ring and wear it everywhere. I knew if this movie was a hit, that I’d made it big.”
She looked down at her hand and twirled the ring around her finger. “If the movie was well received at this public premiere, I intended to slip it on my right hand and wear it there forever. Everywhere.”
She looked up at him accusingly. “You always drive around in cars costing tens of thousands of dollars, dressing in thousand-dollar designer suits. You just flash in other ways. I wanted to flash with my new bling. This fucking ring cost me a fortune. That’s why I wouldn’t let Meredith take my bag.”
Alex completely understood where his old friend Jae was coming from. “Do you think many people are going to see that clip?”
Meredith came trotting up, more excited than her usual self. “I’m so mad at you two. Why didn’t you tell me you were going to get engaged on the red carpet? I would’ve set it up with all the big media.”
“Because we’re not engaged.” Alex picked up JJ’s left hand with two fingers. “I didnotgive her this ring.”
“Of course you did. Everybody in the world saw it,” Meredith insisted.
“What do you mean everybody in the world saw it?” All the blood left Alex’s face as the pit of his stomach hit his feet.
Meredith flipped her phone around so Alex and JJ could watch the numbers scroll. “You’re trending on every media. Photographs of Alex on his knee in front of you are all over Instagram. Somebody got the whole thing on video and is trying to sell it to the highest bidder in an online auction. The TV show you were standing in front of is already using it as a tease for tomorrow’s show. Since you didn’t give them much of an interview tonight, they want you both on the show tomorrow morning.”
Alex dropped his head. “I am so fucked. Katlin will never come back to me now that she thinks we’re engaged.”
Meredith smiled ear to ear. “The whole world thinks you’re engaged.”
CHAPTER7
That Evening
Katlin had driven as fast and far away from Guardian Security as she could. She’d immediately flipped on the new program that would override her embedded tracker. Lei Lu had created it so Jack didn’t always know where they were. Since he was gone, she hadn’t used it in months. Twice, while at a stoplight, she opened the door and threw up in the middle of the street. The pain in her heart was so strong it emptied her stomach.
The traffic GPS kept rerouting her because of the congestion caused by the premiere. It was one more reminder of Alex’s betrayal. She’d done the right thing by not telling him her news.
The information she’d gotten that day from the doctors was far from terrible. Depending on how you looked at it, it could be very good because they’d caught it early. At least they’d identified exactly what was causing her physical problems. At first, she hadn’t been sure whether she would tell Alex or not. She hadn’t decided how she was going to handle her situation, her job, and him. At times, it seemed too much for her to cope with. It was one more thing on top of her TBI recovery.
As she drove too fast down the interstate to be distracted by the decisions she needed to make, she smiled. One of those worries had just been eliminated. She was glad now that she hadn’t said anything to Alex. He wasn’t ready to hear it. Besides, she didn’t need his overprotectiveness, or his pity, now that she had to handle everything on her own.
Her stomach continued to flip over and over even though she’d taken medicine back at the penthouse. It should have taken effect by then and probably had. What she was now feeling was caused by a broken heart.
