The Stranger

2566 Words
Lily, Amanda, and Bella were sitting at a table in an Italian restaurant in town. From the outside, it appeared a bit run-down, but their pizza was the best in Hood River. “Pizza is my bestest food,” Bella proclaimed with a mouth full of dough and cheese. “It’s my favorite, too,” Lily agreed. The six-year-old girl smiled at her, giving Lily and Amanda a lovely view of the chewed-up pizza in her mouth. The two of them only chuckled at Bella’s bad eating habits, finding her too adorable to be scolded. Lily already felt a million times better after being around them for less than an hour. Both Amanda and Bella had this incredible way of making her forget all her troubles. Bella was looking as cute as always, wearing a light pink dress and a white bow in her hair. It was obvious, looking at Bella and Amanda, that they were related because they shared the same wild brown curls and kind hazel eyes. Bella put her focus back on devouring her pizza, giving Amanda and Lily a chance to chat. “So, what happened today?” Amanda asked, the concern evident in her voice. Her gaze kept flicking toward Lily’s broken finger. Amanda hadn’t seemed to buy the lie Lily had repeated about the injury being from someone at school, but she also hadn’t pressed for the truth. Lily was pretty sure Amanda and Eli knew about what was happening in Lily’s home, but they couldn’t do anything about it—no one could. Going against an Alpha would most definitely end in death. “It was just…the same as always. High school kids being high school kids, you know.” Lily didn’t mention what Kyle had done to her, knowing there was nothing Amanda could do about it. Besides, she didn’t want to bring the woman into her mess. Amanda sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, looking stressed. “I really wish there was something I could do, Lily. You don’t deserve their cruelty.” “You’ve already done enough,” Lily said, taking the older woman’s hand in hers. “You, Eli, and Bella have made Hood River bearable. I don’t know what I would do without you.” “You know that we would do anything for you, right? We just want you to be happy, sweetheart.” “I know Amanda,” Lily replied with a watery smile. “Yeah, we love you, Lily,” Bella said cheerily, clearly not as occupied with her pizza as they had thought. “I love you too, pumpkin,” Lily responded. “You’re my bestest person,” she added with a wink. “Did you hear that mom? I’m her bestest person!” Bella’s voice was loud enough to draw the attention of the other customers in the restaurant, all of whom were humans. They all smiled at the sweet girl, her joy too infectious to ignore. “Yeah, sweetie, I heard,” Amanda said, ruffling her daughter’s hair lovingly. They spent the rest of the meal talking about Bella’s day at school, which was apparently much better than Lily’s. The girl loved drawing and painting, and her class had done a big art project that day. Unfortunately, Lily had to go to work so she couldn’t stay any longer once the pizza was finished. No amount of time with the Stevensons ever felt like enough. “Do you need a lift home after your shift?” Amanda asked while they were waiting for the check. “No, don’t worry. You know I don’t mind walking.” “I know, but I worry about you. Just text me when you get home, okay.” Amanda had always worried about Lily, but lately, she seemed to have been getting more concerned. “Of course.” After paying, they left the small Italian restaurant, and Lily held Bella’s hand as they walked across the street to Amanda’s parked car. She helped the young girl into the booster seat in the back of the car and buckled her in. “I’ll see you this weekend, pumpkin,” Lily told Bella before giving her an obnoxiously loud kiss on the cheek. She would be babysitting on Saturday night because Amanda and Eli had a date night planned. “Can we bake cookies like we did last time?” Bella asked, practically bouncing in her seat. “Absolutely. And we can finally watch Frozen Two as well.” Frozen was Bella’s favorite movie, and the girl had been dying to see the second one again. Lily had taken her to see it at the movie theatre when it had come out, but they had been waiting for it to be available on Apple TV to see it a second time. “Awesome!” Bella exclaimed, clearly happy with that idea. “See you later, alligator,” Lily said, using the cheesy phrase that Bella loved. “In a while, crocodile,” Bella responded enthusiastically. Lily closed the car door and walked to the open driver’s window. “See you on Saturday, Amanda.” "Actually, we'll see you on Wednesday," Amanda said with a big grin. "I'll pick you up after school, and we're all going out to celebrate your birthday." "Really?" Lily asked, even though she shouldn't have been surprised that Amanda wanted to make her eighteenth birthday special. Amanda and Eli had been celebrating her birthdays with her since she was ten, so this year shouldn't have been any different. "Of course. Do you have a shift?" she asked. "No, Maya gave me the day off." "Great. We have a lot planned," Amanda said with a smile. "Remember to text me when you get home,” Amanda reminded her before pulling out of the parking space and waving goodbye. Lily walked the two blocks to Coffee on Pine, where she worked. It was an adorable little coffee shop in the predominantly human part of town. With its rustic furniture, the coffee shop was homey and charming. It had white walls, beige sofas with baby blue pillows, and light brown wooden tables. The walls were decorated with quotes about the importance of coffee, paintings of flowers, and a large clock. There were only two tables with customers when she entered the shop, and Lily was glad her shift would start off quietly. Her boss, a pretty twenty-eight-year-old human, was behind the counter wiping down the coffee machine. “Hey, Maya,” Lily greeted her. “Hi, Lily,” she responded kindly. “Do you mind packing away the stock that was just delivered? I’ll cover your station.” “Sure, no problem.” Lily went to the back of the coffee shop and started moving boxes to the storage room. It took her a good half an hour to unpack the boxes and restock the shelves, but she didn’t mind the work. Sometimes, it was better than being at the front and interacting with customers, many of whom were students from Hood River High, and could be awful to deal with. Thank goodness very few werewolves made an appearance at the coffee shop, or her job would have been an absolute nightmare. “All done,” she told Maya. She got behind the register after donning her light blue apron, which matched the pillows on the sofas. “Thanks, Lily. I’m going to leave you to it then,” Maya said, moving toward the door. “I have some errands to run, so I’ll see you around closing time.” “Okay, see you later,” Lily responded. There were no new customers, so Lily killed time by wiping down the already spotless counter and cleaning up the tables after the few customers in the shop had left. Eventually, a woman came in and took a seat at one of the smaller tables. "What can I get you?" she asked the middle-aged human. "Just a cappuccino and a slice of that coffee cake, please," the customer replied with a smile. "Of course." Lily got to work making her cappuccino and placing a slice of the delicious-looking cake on a plate. The customer thanked her when she handed over the items, so when the door opened with the arrival of another customer, Lily had a smile on her face. She turned her head to look at the new arrival, and her breath caught in her lungs when her eyes landed on possibly the most attractive man she’d ever seen. Scratch that. He was definitely the most attractive man she’d ever seen. He personified tall, dark, and handsome to a tee, and when he ran a hand through his black hair, Lily just about swooned. If he wasn’t clearly a few years older than her and certainly out of her league, she might have let herself get carried away with a fantasy of him sweeping her off her feet. A pair of blue eyes swung in her direction, and his lips tipped up in a small smile of greeting. “Hi. Can I order some coffees to go?” he asked. Lily swallowed hard. His voice was deep and a bit gruff, and it sent a pleasant shiver down her spine. “Of course,” she replied, quickly moving back behind the counter. “What can I get you?” she asked, hoping her cheeks weren’t as pink as she suspected they might be. She could sense he was a werewolf, and since she’d never seen him before, she knew he must have been from the family her father had told the pack about—the one that had asked to move to Hood River. Lily told herself he probably had a beautiful mate and adorable babies, so there was no use fantasizing about him. “Three Americanos and a latte, please,” he replied. After he’d paid and earned some serious points by putting some cash into the tip jar, Lily focused on making the drinks for him, doing her best not to let herself wander about who the four coffees could be for. It was none of her business, and she knew better than to hope she could be friendly with anyone in the pack. He was being nice to her now, but that would change soon enough. “Here you go,” she said once she’d placed the four drinks in a holder. “Thanks,” he replied with a grin that transformed his face from good-looking to downright gorgeous. Lily nodded dazedly. “See you around,” he said before picking up the tray of drinks. See you around. It was embarrassing how Lily’s pulse jumped in excitement at those words. He looked over his shoulder at her before opening the door with his free hand, and Lily’s cheeks blazed when the corner of his mouth lifted with an amused smirk. He’d totally caught her staring. Lily cleared her throat and shook her head to clear it of any more thoughts of the handsome new addition to the Hood River Pack. At least the woman she’d served had her eyes glued to her cellphone screen and hadn’t witnessed her making a fool of herself. Small mercies. The rest of Lily’s shift went by quickly and uneventfully, and toward ten o'clock, Maya came back to the shop to help Lily close up. “I’ll see you tomorrow night,” Lily said once her boss had locked the door behind them. “Get home safe,” the woman replied before walking to the car parked just outside the coffee shop. Since it was ten at night, it was dark as Lily made her way home. She was used to walking at such a late hour, so she didn’t feel bothered by the shadows and darkness around her. Like many aspects in her life, she had grown used to it out of necessity. Fortunately, it was only a fifteen-minute walk to her house from Coffee on Pine, so she reached her front door in no time. What greeted her as she walked through the door, however, wasn't fortunate at all. As soon as she entered the house, Lily could feel the tension in the atmosphere. It was as if she could sense the bad mood emanating from her father, who had clearly been waiting for her. She closed the door behind her but made no move to walk further into the house. She knew it was best to wait for her father to make the first move. “I got a phone call from your school today,” the Alpha said with narrowed eyes. He looked just as intimidating as usual, with his arms crossed across his chest. Lily avoided his eyes by looking down at her feet. She had no idea what the call might have been about, but she suspected it may have something to do with Mrs. Montgomery. “Would you like to explain to me why your English teacher thinks you’re having issues with bullying?” Alpha Mason asked in irritation. Lily knew better than to say it was because she was being bullied, so she tried to ease her father’s anger. “She asked about my hand, so I told her it was someone from school. I didn’t know what else to say,” she explained, hoping he would appreciate that she had lied for him. Not that she had been trying to protect him—more like she had been protecting Mrs. Montgomery from unintentionally angering an Alpha. His eyes lost some of their anger, but he didn’t seem completely satisfied with her answer. “I hope you don’t expect things to change now,” he said. Lily gave him a confused look, to which he replied, “You deserve everything those kids are doing to you, and the sooner you realize that, the better.” Now she understood why he was angry. He didn’t want his daughter’s bullying to stop, and he was worried her teacher would be able to improve things for her. He wanted the people at her school to be mean to her. He wanted them to be cruel. Lily knew that her dad had been aware of the bullying, but knowing that he was actually happy about it was especially twisted. “I don’t expect it to change,” Lily said truthfully. She knew that she was stuck being the punching bag of the school. “I know that this is how it has to be.” Her second statement wasn’t truthful like the first. She hated how people at school treated her, and she desperately wished it would change. “Good. I’m glad we’re on the same page.” His words belied his next move, though. He stalked toward her, grabbed her by the hair, and jerked her head back. “But you better watch your next steps,” he hissed in her face. “I don’t want any more calls from that school.” With those words, he shoved her into the front door and stormed off to the living room. Within seconds, Lily heard the sounds of a sports channel coming from the TV. She breathed out a sigh of relief. He had only added one bruise to her body from where her back had hit the doorknob, and she knew that it could have been much, much worse.
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