Page 66 of Hero's Prize

“Yeah,” Susan/Sarah said. “He grew up here, but he’s not around very often.”

“He’s super hot.”

Maybe this womanwasthe stalker. She was definitely honed in on Colton. Maybe she had befriendedSamantha—yeah, that was the grocery clerk’s name—to have a legitimate reason for being at the Eagle’s Nest.

Ella squinted at her through the crack in the stall, trying to force her brain to remember if this could’ve been the person in the black hoodie. It was possible. Ella tried to memorize as many of the woman’s features as she could this time. Brown hair, freckles, wide-set eyes.

“Yeah, he’s hot,” Samantha agreed. “But he always hangs out with his group of Linear Tactical friends, so I wouldn’t get your hopes up about anything happening.”

“Who’s that woman he’s eating with? His sister?”

Samantha chuckled. “You wish. That’s his date. Her name is Ella.”

The other woman’s eyes got wide. “Really? That’s hisdate? That woman—all plus-size of her—is not who I expected Colton Harrison to be taking on a date.”

Samantha smacked at her arm. “Jesus, Crystal, be nice.”

Crystal. Ella tried to focus on getting as many details of Crystal’s appearance as possible and not on the woman’s unkind words. That wasn’t what was important.

“Don’t tell me that everybody out there wasn’t thinking the same thing.”

Samantha shrugged. “From what I’ve heard, Ella has had a crush on him, like, forever.”

Ella could feel her face heating for an entirely different reason now.

Crystal pulled out some lipstick and dotted it on her lips. “It’s so nice of him to take the time to go out with someone like her. I mean, I guess it makes sense while he’s here in this tiny town to give the ordinary girls some attention too.”

“It looked like they were having fun.”

“Oh, I can imagineshewas having fun. But Colton? I mean, he’s basically an actor, right? So maybe he’s using this as practice for facial expressions in future stunts. You never know when theI need to pretend like I’m interested in this not super-attractive personlook is going to be needed for a stunt.”

“Jesus, Crystal, you’re such a bitch.”

Ella watched Crystal put her lipstick away. “I just call them as I see them. Colton’s being nice to that woman now, but I’m sure he’ll be back to his normal caliber of dating as soon as he is out of this town and has more options. That Ella person won’t keep his attention long.”

The women finished their makeup touch-ups then left.

Ella stayed where she was long after they were gone, even when other women came in and out.

Was this what people thought about her and Colton?

Even more importantly, was it the truth and she was just blinding herself to it? Would he be back to dating his normal “type” as soon as he was gone from Oak Creek?

It was only the thought that Crystal could possibly be the stalker that finally had Ella leaving the bathroom. She washed her hands then immediately went to find Lilah.

“Damn, girl. Are you okay? You were in there a long time.”

Ella spotted Samantha and Crystal then twisted around until her back was to them and Lilah would be able to see them over her shoulder. “Do you see those two women behind me? I’m wondering if one of them, her name is Crystal something, could be the stalker. She was talking about Colton in the bathroom.”

Lilah pressed the comms unit at her ear. “Lincoln, are we sure that the Crystal woman you ran earlier is clean? She was talking about Colton in the bathroom.”

Ella couldn’t hear Lincoln’s response, but Lilah shook her head. “We’ll dig into her more deeply, but Lincoln is fairly certain she’s clean.”

Lilah made a face at something that was said in her ear. “Lincoln would like to state for the record that Crystal is not the stalker. Evidently, his software is God and knows all things.”

Lincoln obviously had something to say to that in Lilah’s ear because she rolled her eyes.

“Okay. I just wanted to make sure,” Ella said. Her shoulders slumped. She couldn’t help it. If Crystal had been the stalker, then maybe she could’ve written off what the other woman had said.

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