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Owen came a few steps further and peered around some boxes, and he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun. It was a gigantic, two-barrel shotgun, and the woman standing at the other end of it was fierce-looking and upset, seeming like she would not hesitate to pull the trigger. Owen was startled and he stepped back, halfway out of her sight.
"Don't you move!" she called, stepping toward him.
He paused, keeping an eye on her. "I think there's been some kind of misunderstanding. I'm just a customer of this store."
"I don't really care what you're a customer of. You were calling my daughter's name when you came in here. You've been communicating with my daughter on her phone."
"Y-yes, I have. I'm actually, that's why I'm here is because I am, uh, could you possibly put the gun down? I'm not going to hurt anyone, and I don't want to get hurt."
She didn't put it down. "I need to make something very clear to you, young man."
She paused and glanced out of the window for a brief second before looking at Owen again with a satisfied smile. Owen turned just in time to see a big, burly man walking into the store.
"We got him," she said to the man.
"We got him?" Owen said, looking at her in confusion.
"Yeah, you need to be informed of something," the man said. "Corey Jones is not here for your enjoyment. She is not available as a woman you can talk to."
"My daughter is not available for any sort of relationship," the lady said, still holding the gun, pointing it at Owen in a jerky way to get his attention. "She never wants to see you again."
"Did she say that?" Owen asked, feeling stunned.
"What did you say?" the man asked in a hostile tone. He took a step closer to Owen. Owen should have felt threatened, but he didn't. He should have left right then. He should promise them that he would leave Corey alone and never contact her again. But he couldn't do that.
He held out his hands and turned to face the man, to look him in the eyes. He knew it was John, and he was annoyed instantly, but he remained cool. He turned to glance at Betty and then at John again.
"Corey is an adult. Was it Corey who said she doesn't want to speak to me anymore? Is she here? Could she tell me that?" Owen craned his neck, trying to see around the boxes.
"Get out of here and don't come back!" Betty said, yelling.
"You heard the lady. This is private property, and we have the right to refuse service to anyone."
"The store is closed for business," Betty added. "It's about to be posted on the door. You can buy this same jewelry online."
"Where is Corey?"
"She's not here," the man answered. "We've told you the store is closed, and you're not welcome here. There's nothingelse to say. It's time for you to leave these premises and not come back."
"It's time for you to be on your way," the woman added, nudging the gun at Owen.
He began carefully backing toward the door. He had a kind smile and a winning personality, and it was honestly really rare for him to encounter people who didn't take to him right away. It was an odd feeling for him to encounter someone who was looking at him with a face of pure disgust even though he had done nothing to deserve it.
"I do not want to hurt your daughter," Owen said, aching to talk some sense into the woman. "I like her, and she likes me. I definitely would never want to—"
Owen was about to say that he would never hurt Corey, but he heard the man interject, calling him an explicit name. The exclamation made Owen look his way, and that was when he felt a blow to his jaw. The man punched him in the face. It was a swift, short jab that he wasn't expecting. Owen was not braced for it, and his head snapped back, but he did not stumble. He stood up and squared up with the guy, ready to fight. Owen had spent some time in the gym, and he had done some boxing. Plus, he was a great actor, so he pretended to be calm and collected, ready for a fight. He stared at the man.
"Get out!" Betty yelled, cutting through the intense gaze that the men were locked in.
"You heard the lady with the gun," John said, smirking. "This is her place of business, and she said she wants you out of it."
Owen was speechless even though he wanted to say ten different things. He wanted to tackle the man and he could barely stop himself from doing it. He was outnumbered and they had a weapon, and even still, it took all his strength to slowly take a step toward the door. He felt like if he didn't do something now, he would never see Corey again.
There was nothing he could do, though. Corey's mom stared at him from the other side of that gun, and she didn't flinch or move the weapon out of the way. She held it steady, trained on him the whole time he backed away.
He had been hit in the mouth by that guy, and he tasted blood. It hadn't been a crushing blow, but his lip was swollen and bleeding. Owen's adrenaline was flowing, and he ached to fight. But there was a gun trained on him, and he actually thought she was scared enough to use it.
Owen had never stared down the barrel of a gun before. He focused on the round barrels and gazed down into the darkness of them as he backed away.
