As if that matters, at-freaking-all. Nice, Lilli. Real nice.
Cocking his head, his eyes roam my face before dropping to my mouth. When they move to my chest, I freeze, as he says, “You look just like her, except you’re…firm…ripe. All that pretty hair, too.”
What?
I don’t know what to say and I can only stare as his lips tilt into a dirty smirk, and he says, “Tell her I dropped by.”
As soon as he’s gone, I cover my face. What just happened? I don’t even know how to describe it, but it leaves my skin crawling, and I have the sudden urge to douse myself in hand sanitizer.
“You, okay?” The deep rumble brings me around and I stifle a gasp when I find Wolf standing over me with the fiercest scowl I've ever seen. I shrink away at that because I’ve never seen him look so, well…dangerous.
“Wh-What?” I ask and his brows flicker before he looks over his shoulder. His searing gaze sends a tingle down my spine as he glances at Mercy behind me before saying, “The sheriff bothering you?”
“Oh, uh….” I don’t know what to say. Did he bother me? Yes, but it was nothing more than sexual innuendo. He didn’t threaten me, he just made me feel…gross.
Darcy’s insinuations about the sheriff dance through my head though and it’s on the tip of my tongue to ask him about it whena pretty, young woman in tight pants and an MC shirt appears behind Wolf.
She snuggles into his arm and I back away, averting my gaze. My chest burns with a feeling I refuse to acknowledge, and I desperately want to flee but I’m stuck in this infernal booth until Mama says I can leave.
“Baby, come look over there,” she says in a breathy voice, and I raise my gaze to Wolf, with no doubt wide eyes.
His jaw twitches but he ignores her and my devastation, saying, “What did that fucker want?”
“He was buying soap,” I say, lifting my chin. Maybe I should tell him that I felt uncomfortable, and something didn’t sit right with me, but I’ll walk over hot coals before I do.
Stupid, stupid pride.
“Soap?” he growls.
“Lillith Anne? What’s going on?”
I turn to Mama coming up behind the booth and exhale quietly. It’s a sad day when I’m relieved to see her but she’s a godsend right now. Maybe Daddy’s belief in a higher power isn’t as off base as I’ve wondered over the years.
Wolf steps back and eyes me strangely. Mustering a no-doubt hideous smile, I watch him walk away withher, admiring his butt in his jeans as he does.
“Lilli?”
“Yeah, Mama?”
“Who was that?”
“Just someone buying soap.”
Spring break ends with a bang, when I come home from a walk around the neighborhood to Mama huddled in the living roomwith Daddy. They barely spare me a look and I stop outside in the hallway, leaning my head against the wall.
Anymore, I find I don’t like being in the dark and if that means eavesdropping, so be it.
“I saw her,” Mama hisses.
“What do you want me to do about it?” Daddy says.
“She’s showing. It’s embarrassing.”
So, they do know about her pregnancy which makes their behavior that much more sickening.
“We kicked her out. Everyone knows we don’t approve.”
“We need to do more,” Mama says.