Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 129980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Carlton sighed very loudly. “Someone has to keep you in line, Penny. The statements you make have grown outrageous.”
Penny’s eyebrow shot up. “Now you’re my keeper?”
Doug and Carlton exchanged another look. It was Doug who assented with a nod of his head. “Yes, Penny, we look after you, China and Blanc. Your antics could get you in trouble. You perform at that seedy little theater the three of you seem to love. It’s not in the best part of town. You’re attractive, funny and very vocal. It isn’t like anyone could ignore your presence. Each of you lives alone, and if someone follows you home and breaks in, what then?”
The merry widows had mixed reactions to Doug’s revealing statement. He sounded very matter-of-fact, but it was clear the two men knew the women’s habits intimately.
“Do you follow us around?” Blanc asked. “Like stalkers?”
Azelie decided it was time to intervene before the merry widows worked themselves up. She leaned across the table toward Doug. “That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.” Smiling at the women, she indicated the two men. “It sounds like they’re your personal bodyguards. Coming from their backgrounds, you three are so lucky to have them. And you don’t even have to pay them.”
The women closed their mouths on a protest, looking mollified. China was the first to recover. “Now that you put it that way, Azelie, you’re right. We are lucky. Thank you, Doug. Carlton. It can’t have been easy keeping track of us.”
“You really were being sweet,” Blanc added.
The door opened, bringing in a draft of cold air. Andrew McGrady waltzed in as if he owned the coffee shop. Azelie’s heart dropped. They couldn’t continue their conversation in front of him.
“Stop,” she whispered. “Don’t talk, not with him here.”
Both Doug and Carlton had already noted him the moment McGrady opened the door. They seemed to always be on alert. The merry widows ceased their laughter, heads coming up, eyes following Billows’ man’s progress as he sauntered to the counter. The entire length of the room, McGrady kept his gaze fixed on the table where Azelie sat with her friends. He had the expression of the cat that ate the canary.
Azelie’s first inclination was to get up and leave, hoping McGrady would follow her out. She bunched the straps of her backpack into her fist in preparation. McGrady pulled out his cell phone, held it up and began taking photos of the merry widows, Doug and Carlton and her together at their table. Her heart went into overdrive.
“I’ll see you later,” she told the others and dragged her backpack from the floor. If McGrady didn’t follow her out, she could always return on the pretense she’d forgotten something. She was determined to have a few words with him one way or the other.
“Put that away,” Doug snapped. “You have no right to take our pictures.”
“Shut up, old man,” McGrady ordered.
Azelie rose instantly when Doug and Carlton stood up. “Don’t you dare talk to them like that.”
McGrady’s laughter was sneering, not at all humorous. He sounded as if he was deliberately goading the older men.
“You need to leave this establishment and not come back,” Shaila declared.
Shaila’s husband, David, came from the back room to stand beside his wife. He held a cell phone in his hand.
“I’ve got 911 on speed dial,” he told McGrady. “If you don’t leave, you’ll have a police escort to help you off the property.”
“You ban me from your coffee shop and when it mysteriously burns to the ground because you don’t have protection, you’ll know you caused it.”
Azelie stormed up to him, snatching his phone from his hand while his attention was on the shop owners. She backed up several feet from him while she found his photos and quickly began to delete the pictures of the merry widows, Doug, Carlton and herself.
“You little bitch.” McGrady crossed the distance in two long strides. He brought up his fist.
“Go ahead,” she taunted, holding her own phone up. “I’m sending to Billows everything you’re doing. You hit me and you know there’s going to be hell to pay.”
McGrady’s face twisted into a maniacal mask. He couldn’t seem to stop his aggressive behavior. At the last moment, he opened his fist, so it was his palm that hit her in the face.
“You dare threaten me? When Billows is tired of you, who do you think he’s going to give you to? I’ll remember this and treat you accordingly. I always have access to his women when I want them.”
Everyone in the coffee shop stood up as Azelie reeled backward. She might have gone down, but Doug caught her before she fell.
“I’ve called the police,” David announced.
“Got it on video,” several voices claimed. “We need to keep him here until the cops arrive.”
“Try it,” McGrady snarled, already moving quickly to exit the shop. He shoved Doug and Azelie out of his way as he stalked out.