Page 40 of Players and Pages
If only I could stay out of my head.
A WEEK LATER
My stomach churned as I stared at the window of the shop in front of me. The business my friends and I had worked our asses off to create, had been targeted.
I guess they weren’t satisfied with simple emails anymore.
It had been a week of my inbox being flooded and I’d blocked so many senders I wasn’t sure I could continue.
I hadn’t found the right time to tell anyone about them, but I guess the time of my silence was over.
“What the actual fuck?!” Bea gasped. She took out her phone and snapped a picture.
They’re out of your league, bitch!
The message was clear. In their eyes, I wasn’t fit for my pack, and I needed to learn my place.
Etta, the older omega running a jewelry store next door, walked over to join us, hand over her heart.
“Oh my. Someone was jealous of your success I see,” she tsked.
“I think it’s my fault,” I whispered, the horror in my voice had all three omegas turning my way.
“Absolutely the fuck not,” Taryn growled. “No one but the assholes who wrote that get to take that blame.”
My eyes flickered back to the angry, blue letters on our windows. The same shade of blue as the Knuckleball Knockouts logo and uniforms. A fact that wasn’t lost on me.
With shaking hands, I took a picture to send to my pack later. I couldn’t face them quite yet.
Etta’s footsteps hurried off without a word. We were confused until she came back a few minutes later with her pack in tow, each holding tools to scrape and scrub off the offending message.
“Let the sheriff get over here first,” her alpha warned as she started to head for the words. She nodded once, but gave me a grim smile.
“The moment they take their notes, we take care of it. This isn’t something we let slide in this town. You’re one of us.”
That camaraderie was exactly why I loved this town.
I was in such a daze, staring at the words, that I didn’t notice anyone calling the police. But there the sheriff was as I blinked my eyes open, frowning at the sign and taking statements. It was as if they all realized this was aimed at me and suddenly it felt like the world was closing in.
Then I was surrounded by arms, and the scent of rain, light citrus, and sage. Calm. Steady. Reassuring.
“What’s going on, peach?”
When I couldn’t answer, he let me go and walked around to face me, his fingers wrapping gently around my chin and forcing my eyes up to his.
“Talk to me.”
I tried. I really did. But I couldn’t suck in a normal breath to force the words out of my mouth.
“Hey, hey, what’s going on?” Jackson’s voice joined the gentle words, mountain air and cypress wrapped around me, a sweeter edge to mix with Cy’s steady scent.
“What the fuck?” And there was Griff. His anger was palpable as he walked up, first eyeing me, then his anger flaring all over again at whatever he found on my face.
“It has to be about you guys,” Bea said bluntly. At least it wasn’t an outright accusation. “Any jealous exes we should know about?”
“Try every thirsty woman in the age range,” Taryn snorted, though it held very little humor. “I’ve seen the comments on their socials.”
I winced, which drew their attention to me.
