Page 55 of Renard's Deliverance

Ignoring the voice in his head telling him that he was being an idiot, he got out of the truck and headed toward her house.

Should he knock?

Probably not.

That didn’t stop him.

After banging on her door for a few minutes, he realized that she wasn’t going to answer.

Where the hell was she on a Saturday night? Last night, he’d gone to Dirty Delights and sat in the parking lot until Devon escorted her home.

It had eaten at him not to be the one taking her.

Why hadn’t he gotten her phone number?

Friends could call and text. So he had reason to ask, and now he was cursing himself for not doing it.

He walked back to his truck and sat in it for a moment.

A knock on his window made him startle. He glanced over to see that old shrew neighbor of Opal’s standing on the pavement.

He wound down his window. “What?”

She huffed. “Is that any way to speak, young man? Why don’t you give your elders some respect?”

He scoffed. “I’m forty-eight years old. I’m not a kid who needs to be scolded on how to speak to people. And I’ll give you respect when you earn it.”

“I’ve called the sheriff, you know,” she informed him.

“That’s nice.”

“Told him that you’re lurking around here every night, being suspicious.”

For fuck’s sake.

Why the hell wasn’t she in bed? Didn’t old people go to bed early?

“I’ll be telling him all about the stuff going on with your female friend too.”

Hmm.

“What stuff?”

If she was still harassing Opal, then he was going to have to do something about it.

He leaned through the open window and the old woman stumbled back.

He wasn’t even sorry. Because he wanted her to know he was serious about this.

“You leave Opal alone or I will make things very uncomfortable for you.”

She gasped in outrage.

Perhaps he should have felt bad. But that wasn’t something Renard felt all that often. He drove off before she could rally and reply.

Although he did turn around and drive back to make sure that she’d gotten inside safely.

He was an asshole.

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