Page 67 of Players and Pages
"What? No," Taryn told her, just as confused and a little concerned. “Why?”
"Then who's that at the window?" she countered and pointed behind us. We spun around, the entire group looking at the man from my nightmares.
Henry was here.
My blood ran cold as his eyes bored into mine. There was a twisted glee on his face. Like he had already snapped and was loving making me scared.
"That's the asshole that cornered me," was all I could get out. My voice was shaky and I knew the blood had drained from my face. Dolly and Pearl jumped up faster than their age should allow, purses in hand, and ran out the door screaming about peeping toms.
Panic was already rushing through me, pulse thundering in my ears and vision darkening. The logical side of me knew they were chasing after Henry and I needed to protect them, but my feet wouldn't move.
Bea cursed and ran out after them but Taryn stayed by my side. She had her phone out, hissing something into it before giving my hand a squeeze.
"Are you okay?" my bestie asked. Even Taryn was shaken. Her hand just as clammy as mine, her voice wobbling with nerves.
“No, but we need to make sure Pearl and Dolly are okay,” I said in a weak voice as I forced myself to stand. She hooked her arm in mine as the rest of the group was rushing out the door behind them.
He’d messed with the wrong betas and omegas it seemed. Not one of these ladies was letting this go.
Was it reckless? Oh yeah.
But I couldn’t help but be a little touched. They were doing all this for me. How sweet was that?
Henry didn’t seem to think the same thing.
Dolly and Pearl had Henry cornered in a store alcove. They were swinging their purses, Henry’s curses and groans echoing out of the small space as they wailed on him.
When Dolly noticed that I was here, she gave him one last hit and smiled up at me, "We got this bastard. The sheriff will be here in a few minutes to deal with him."
"You two are my heros," I said as I watched him cower, trying to cover his face.
“I carry this bag for a reason. It’s the same reason I load the bottom with rocks. It keeps up my strength and comes in really handy sometimes.”
“At least she admitted that before the cops got here,” Taryn said under her breath.
Pearl hadn’t stopped whacking Henry, each thud loosening anxiety’s grasp a little more. I could intervene, or try to get them off of him, but I was enjoying this far too much to stop them. Plus, he wasn’t even trying to fight back.
Who knew old ladies packed such a punch?
Bea’s laughter burst out as Dolly swung around, using momentum to knock Henry down. He fell on his ass with another string of insults and curses.
“I think Miss Dolly and Miss Pearl have earned special prizes for tonight. What do you guys think?"
The rest of the group shouted their agreement, hovering on the edges, ready to intervene if they needed to. Before anything could escalate, the flicker of blue and red lights appeared.
"Ladies," Sheriff Greg said with a tip of his hat as he got out, eyes swinging around. "I hear there’s a disturbance. What seems to be the issue here?"
I moved to the side and he spotted Dolly still swinging her bag at Henry. The sheriff pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh before rushing forward.
"Grandma, please let go of this gentleman," he ordered, grabbing the older lady's arm that was cocked back for another whack of her purse.
"He’s a peeping tom and he’s getting what he deserves," she said, giving Henry one final smack before she let her grandson pull her back.
"Can one of you tell me what is going on?" he asked, turning to us but not letting go of the feisty old lady he was still holding back. “I can’t arrest this young man for just being here and looking into an open store’s windows.”
My heart slammed in my chest at the realization he’d just walk away. Stalking always went like this until it escalated to the point of no return.
“He shoved me!” Dolly yelled, almost frantic. “Pearl saw the whole thing.”
