The hotel was downtown. Penelope had planned to just drop Norton off and head back to the restaurant, but then she saw him slip a brick into his bag.
Worried he might do something reckless, she had no choice but to follow him inside.
The room was on the third floor, its door wide open. Several of Norton's friends were already there, also providing backup.
Norton rushed over and peeked inside. His friend was sitting on the floor, holding his head in his hands and sobbing. The fiancée was wrapped in a bedsheet, smoking a cigarette with a bored expression, her hair a mess. The other man, a muscular guy, was trapped in the room by the crowd of young men and was now furiously calling for his own reinforcements.
Penelope tried to get a look, but Norton covered her eyes.
"The guy's naked."
"Really?"
"Why do you sound so excited?"
"I'm not! Don't be ridiculous."
"Careful, or I'll tell Theodore."
One of Norton's friends turned to him. "Who's the beautiful lady?"
"This is my sister-in-law, Penelope."
The friend immediately called the others over. They all stood up straight and greeted her in unison with a respectful, "Penelope."
"You can call me Penny, actually," she joked.
"Penny!" they all chanted back.
They were at that boisterous age, and they immediately took to the new nickname.
Norton rolled his eyes. He felt like he'd just let a wolf into the sheep pen.
"What are we waiting for? Let's just beat the crap out of him," Norton said.
"We're definitely going to beat the crap out of that scumbag, but that won't solve the problem," one of the friends replied.
"So how do we solve it?"

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