Stone smiled. He could understand Soph’s reasoning. Hagar had stripped her of her defenses and left her vulnerable and in fear for weeks. It seemed fair she return the favor.
“You coming?” Jack asked from the door.
“Yep.” Although now that he knew Sophie was okay, he didn’t feel the urgency of the last six hours. The longer they took to get to her, the longer she got to mete out her own brand of justice.
***
Sophie couldn’t wait to get out of the sun and have a cold drink. The warm water she’d found in Hagar’s stash of supplies had done little to alleviate her thirst and the hour walk in the late-afternoon sun hadn’t helped at all either.
She’d almost given in and let the policeman take them to town, but she’d come this far, and even with the miles she’d forced Hagar to walk naked, he hadn’t suffered enough. No. She wanted him to have to walk through the middle of town, where all the people attending the festival could get an eyeful.
At first she’d made him strip just because she could. The fear he’d obviously felt when he’d come too and discovered she’d turned the tables and held a gun on him hadn’t been enough for her. She needed him stripped bare, and it made sense to take his clothes, to remove that outer protection.
Her desire for revenge took her by surprise. She’d never been deliberately mean to anyone before. Maybe this whole stalker experience had strengthened her spine, because she wasn’t going to be putting up with other people’s bad treatment any longer.
Sophie was going to stop letting people take advantage of her.
Starting with her parents.
Sophie’s parents had only ever been interested in the money she could give them—that she ‘owed’ them—and even though they obviously weren’t on the same level as Hagar, they had, in their own way, bullied her over the years.
She’d even allowed her manager to talk her into doing things she wasn’t comfortable with.
Frowning, she recalled the last argument they’d had, the one she’d refused to lose. She’d gone to Reginald about the strange man following her and he’d freaked out and wanted to get her twenty-four hour protection. They’d argued for hours. She’d finally buckled and allowed him to have a security company install a new alarm system at her house and investigate the man she’d described.
Then again look where she’d ended up. Maybe she owed Reginald an apology for that argument.
Although it did seem as though she’d gotten out of this situation on her own in the end. Though she couldn’t deny the moves Stone had taught her had saved her life. She’d done exactly as he’d shown her; hit the soft spots on a man’s body he’d told her to hit.
She smiled when she remembered the way Hagar had groaned, his hands cupping his groin after she’d kicked him with all her might with her four-inch wedge heels. The same heels now rubbing her feet raw. Perhaps she should have accepted a ride from Officer Davis.
“Soph.”
Her head snapped to the side, her gaze colliding with Stone’s smiling hazel eyes.
“You still can’t do as you’re told, can you?”
“What?” She glanced around and noticed there were more men with Stone. Jack she recognized, as well as Ford Moreland. “Mr. Moreland.”
He tipped his head. “Ms. Collins.”
“I definitely remember saying you weren’t getting your hands on a gun, Soph.”
She bought her gaze back to Stone. “Well, no, you said I wasn’t getting my hands onyourgun, but this isn’t yours, and to be honest, I think I can be forgiven for disregarding that particular instruction.”
Stone nodded but other than his sparkling eyes, his expression remained serious. “Did he hurt you?”
Frowning, she looked over at Hagar. Someone had thrown a blanket around his shoulders. “Hey. He’s still got to walk through the town square to the station.”
“I understand why you want that to happen, Ms. Collins, but I’m afraid I have to object. There are a lot of children at the festival and I’m sure you can appreciate the necessity of covering him up,” a policeman said. He wasn’t the nice office who’d spent the last few minutes following her in his car, but he seemed as though he was really sorry to ruin her punishment for Hagar, and hedidhave a point.
“Oh. I never thought of that.”
“Soph.” Stone had moved closer.
“What now?” she huffed in frustration. This wasn’t the way she’d planned things, and really, she just needed a drink of water.
“Give me the gun.” She stared at his outstretched hand then down at the weapon in hers.
