Chapter 69

The store was only a short walk down the beach, and the sun was slowly starting to set.

As it painted the horizon with hues of dark orange and pink, our laughter echoed as we strolled along the sandy path to a nearby grocery store.

"You almost hit him in the eye!" Emily giggled as we talked about James's face from moments ago. "He looked terrified."

"Ugh, only for a second!" Victoria whined. "Stupid Alpha males and their quick reflexes."

"Hey, I think you just got James on a good day," I commented. "Usually, his reflections are subpar."

"Oh trust me," Victoria said with an evil smile forming on her face. "I plan to get my revenge."

"Please don't make that face," Emily whispered, hiding behind me. "It scares me when you're angry."

"I'm not angry, just determined." Victoria swung her hair over her shoulder as she strutted in front of us.

Emily turned to me, shaking her head before following after her. I smiled as I tagged along.

When we finally reached the grocery store, I realized that we were only wearing our swimsuits, and although we were right on the beach, I still felt a little uncomfortable.

"Is it okay if we don't have clothes on?" I asked the girls.

Emily shrugged, "We'll be in and out of here."

We browsed the aisles, hunting for drinks that would suit our preferences. As we debated between sodas and iced teas, a group of local guys approached, their careless laughter and wolf-whistles drawing our attention.

Oh no... I felt my heart sink.

"What do we have here?" one of them said, drawing nearer to us.

I gave him a cautious stare, noticing that Emily and Victoria were also both at attention.

"A couple of beautiful Alpha ladies," another one of them said, eyeing Emily and Victoria. There was an unapologetic grin starting to take over his face.

He got closer to Victoria and before I knew what was happening, his hand boldly patted her butt.

All of his friends hollered, their eyes filling with greed and an uncomfortable sense of hungriness.

"I've never touched an Alpha girl's butt before."

I could see the anger and hurt flare in Victoria's eyes, and I knew I had to do something.

"And that'll be the last time you ever do!" I shouted, grabbing his wrist and twisting it as far back as it could go.

He shouted in pain when an audible snap sounded, and his hand went limp.

"Bitch!" He cursed at me. "You just broke my wrist!"

"You're lucky that's all I did!" I shouted back, feeling my fists tighten at my sides.

The urge to hurt him more took over me.

Before I could even process what was happening, Victoria swiftly turned and delivered a well-placed kick to the spot in between his legs, causing him to yelp in surprise and pain.

"We're minors, you pervert!" Victoria screamed. "You better get out of here before we call the police on you, and you end up in prison!"

At the mention of the police, all of the guys scrambled, running outside of the store.

Once I was sure they were gone, I turned to Victoria. "Oh my God, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she said, but I knew she wasn't. She had just been completely violated and humiliated.

"We should call the police on them," Emily said, putting a comforting hand on Victoria's back. "They deserve to get in trouble for what they did."

"Well, Shana broke his wrist," Victoria said with an airy chuckle.

I could see tears welling in her eyes, and the sight pained me. She was trying to laugh through it. I hated that those men had diminished her spirits and violated her so horribly.

"I wish I could've done more than that," I said, meaning every word.

"Seriously, Shana..." Emily shook her head as she looked me up and down. "You're such a badass!"

"Thank you for doing that," Victoria said, wiping her eyes. "I was just so frozen at first and then before I knew what was going on, you had his wrist in your hand."

"You don't need to thank me," I said. "I just hate that he touched you like that. And that he just ruined our whole night..."

"Hey!" Emily said, grabbing my shoulder. "We won't let those losers ruin our night."

"She's right." Victoria nodded. "I don't want this to ruin our trip, let's just get the hell out of here."

We walked back to the beach house as fast as we could, still a little worried that those guys might come back and find us.

It was already dark outside and we were all alone.

I wished I could've had my phone on me to call Lucas or James. If anyone would be able to really protect us from those guys, it would be them.

Just thinking about what their reactions would be when we tell them, scared me.

"Shana," Victoria said, breaking the silence. "I just want to say that I'm sorry for the way I treated you the first time we met."

"Oh, Victoria, that's fine." I shook my head, trying to brush off her apology. "You don't need to apologize."

"But I do." She looked at me sincerely. "I shouldn't have said those things to you without really knowing you or your history with Lucas."

I could tell that she had more to say, so I remained silent.

"If there's anything that I learned today, it's that you're a good person. I seriously misjudged you and I shouldn't have done that. I'm no better than everyone else in our society who just judges people based on their status."

I let the shock of her words sink in. She was apologizing to me? I actually couldn't believe it.

"You're not just a good person, you're pretty amazing," Victoria continued. "I see why Lucas talks so highly of you."

I whipped my head over in her direction at the mention of Lucas.

Did that mean he talked about me often?

"Well, if we're airing it all out there," I started to say, "then I'm sorry too."

"What for?" Victoria asked, frowning. "You haven't done anything."

"I may not have outwardly said anything, but I definitely didn't have the best thoughts about you or your character."

Victoria smiled at me. "I don't blame you, Shana. I was a bitch."

The two of us started to laugh, and it felt good to get everything off our chests.

"Guys!" Emily said from beside us, a smile beaming on her face. "That was so cute! Look at us girls, coming together!"

When we opened the front door to the beach house, Lucas and James were standing around in the kitchen, cooking something on the stove.

"Hey..." James frowned when he saw us. "Where are the drinks?"

I looked to Victoria for confirmation before telling James and Lucas what had happened at the store. She nodded her head, giving me the signal to tell them.

When I finished telling them everything, both of them didn't hesitate before throwing on a pair of shoes.

"Where are you going?" Victoria asked them, confusion written all over her face.

"We're going to go beat those guys up, what does it look like?" James said nonchalantly as if he was just going to go for a quick workout session.

"They're probably long gone now," Victoria said. "It doesn't matter."

"It matters, Victoria." Lucas looked enraged. "Those guys had no right to approach you all like that, and he most definitely had no right to touch you."

"Ugh. Some guys make me sick," James' face was getting redder by the second.

"You won't find them," I said, and as much as I wanted them to teach those guys a lesson, I knew they were gone.

"Well from now on, we all stick together," Lucas said firmly.

"Are you okay?" James asked Victoria.

She looked shocked that he would even ask her that.

She was silent for a long time and realizing that she hadn't answered his question yet, Victoria stuttered. "Y-yeah. Yes. I'm okay now."

James nodded at that, somewhat satisfied that she was here and she was okay.

Then his eyes turned to me, "So, you broke his wrist? Badass."