This was two chance encounters in a row, Lily realized. She was starting to wonder if fate was real and if it was trying to point her toward this man. Only moments before, she’d been lost in thought, going over every moment she’d spent with Brock.
Rodrigo’s presence was a boon. She wanted to lean into him and feel his warmth again. Would it be bad of her to ask him out? Maybe what she felt would be only a rebound, but was that bad? It couldn’t be all that harmful to enjoy herself for a few blissful moments.
She opened her mouth to ask Rodrigo out when her floor manager called over the walkie talkie attached to her hip.
“Lily? Where are you? Register is backed up and I need someone to look up a book for a customer. Possible online order.”
Rodrigo seemed to pull away, as if that was his signal to run. She wanted to ask him to stay, to meet her for drinks later, but her words were lost as the floor manager called for her again.
She sighed, resigning herself to her job.
“Sounds like they really need you,” Rodrigo said. He’d taken another step back but hadn’t turned away.
Should she give him her number? Was there something she was supposed to say? She hadn’t flirted or dated in a very long time. What were the conventions? She felt lost and could hear the waves of loneliness creeping up behind her again. There was no time to ask Rodrigo anything.
Her mind went blank. The walkie talkie buzzed to life again. This time the manager was urgent, clearly annoyed.
“Go,” Rodrigo urged.
She felt dumb, unable to find words. Everything seemed so much easier in the books. Flirting in real life was much more difficult than she remembered. Like she’d ever tried all that often anyway.
She would be alone for the rest of her life.
Lily helped a very confused customer order a book with only a description of the cover. It took Lily and the customer upwards of twenty minutes to figure out which book the customer wanted, but they both believed they had found it in the end. After that, Lily helped her floor manager clean the check out.
The rack of novelty bookmarks was crooked and disorganized. Plus, Lily didn’t want to go back out onto the floor in case Rodrigo was still there. She didn’t know how to interact with people who weren’t customers. It was all to easy to plaster a fake smile onto her face and remain patient when she knew she’d only ever see the people a few more times in her life.
Dealing with people outside work, especially hot men like Rodrigo, was a whole other story.
“Thanks for finally coming along to help,” the floor manager said. “I understand why you took so long now.”
Lily looked over her shoulder. The floor manager passed her a book with a yellow note stuck to the cover and a receipt tucked inside. She scowled, confused.
“Take it. It’s yours.”
“No, I didn’t buy a book. And it’s not time for Secret Santa yet.”
The floor manager grinned, the light catching his glasses as he pushed them up his nose. Once more, she was reminded of an anime character. Maybe Lily watched too much television in her spare time. She had been bingeing it in Brock’s absence.
She took the book, finally. On the yellow note was unfamiliar handwriting. Her stomach flipped when she saw Rodrigo’s name at the bottom.
I know I can’t replace a book that isn’t out yet,
but I hope this can hold you over until then. I know
you wanted to find out what happens between Giorgio
and Lady Violetta, but you can meet this lone ranger
wannabe and his dope girlfriend in the meantime.
Rodrigo.
On the cover was a dark-skinned man with a black mask tied over his eyes. In his arms was a swooning woman, dressed like she’d been rescued from a brothel. It wasn’t what Lily would have normally picked for herself, but she figured she could give it a try. It wouldn’t hurt.
“Oh boy,” the floor manager said as he fanned himself. “I see what Vivian means about Tall, Dark, and Handsome. Is that who you met the other night? Because I’m telling you as your boss that you need to hook up with him.”
Lily’s cheeks reddened. The door swung open and Vivian breezed in.
“Did I hear someone say Tall, Dark, and Handsome? Has Rodrigo come to sweep our Lily off her feet?” Vivian’s hair was swept into a faux mohawk, the tips sprayed a dusty rose color probably much lighter than Lily’s face.
“No one is sweeping me off my feet,” Lily argued. “He was simply giving me something to read because he inadvertently ruined my last book.”
“Oh, right. The close encounter with the truck,” Vivian said with a nod. She glanced over her shoulder like Rodrigo would be right outside the doors. Her shoulders fell when he wasn’t. “Did you get his number at least?”
Lily shook her head and covered her face. This was too much. She wanted to run and hide. The floor manager seemed to understand. He told Vivian to hurry up and clock in so Lily could go on break. She spent one more moment, running her hand over the note and book cover in wonder. Had Brock ever done something so nice for her? She couldn’t remember, and when she tried to think back, only visions of him and the fitness instructor came to her.
She shook herself, but as she did, the note fluttered to reveal writing on the other side. Before, she couldn’t have imagined her face any hotter than it had been. Now it was flaming. Rodrigo had left his phone number on the other side. She never even had to ask. Lily stood and set the book on a nearby counter, a low wall that made the check out counter an L shape.
A customer stepped up to the Wait Here sign. She called them forward and got back to work. When the door chimed, she didn’t look up. When someone approached the counter where she’d left the book, Lily didn’t notice.
Once Vivian returned from clocking in, they traded places. Lily reached for her new book but paused when she noticed that the yellow note on top was gone. She asked Vivian if she’d taken it, but Vivian swore on her life that she wouldn’t do such a thing. The floor manager searched every nook and cranny behind the counter for her, but the note seemed to be long gone.
Along with Rodrigo’s phone number.
She felt horrible. She’d only turned her back on it for a moment. Was this another sign? Lily had ignored every other sign in her life, trusting in those around her. Now that she was alone, she tried to be aware of everything, every small signal left by the universe. She thought that running into Rodrigo twice now meant something, but losing his phone number couldn’t have meant anything good.
When she went to lunch and checked her phone, there were four missed messages from Brock. Her stomach churned and she lost all appetite for lunch.
Chapter Five
Rodrigo’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He grinned, despite having been prowling the streets for two hours in search of a kidnapper. Thoughts of Lily brightened his mood. Leaving her his number might have been stupid, but he wanted to keep in touch with her. If he took too long to find this kidnapper and Lily moved on, he would kick himself.
He held the phone to his ear, but the breathing on the other end sent chills down his spine. He stopped dead in his tracks.
“Who is this?” If it was Lily, he would feel like a total ass for snapping, but the way his hair stood on end worried him. “Tell me who you are before I hang up.”
“She’s awful pretty,” an unfamiliar voice said. The sound was changed by some sort of modulator. He couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman on the other end. “I think I preferred the flamingo shirt from yesterday, but she looks like a cute little librarian today.”
His gut chilled like someone had poured him full of ice. It pumped through his veins.
“If you think you’re going to find me, you’re mistaken. Continue to search for me any longer and I will hurt her. She will beg for death before I’m done. Do you hear me?”
Rodrigo didn’t have any words. His beast clawed through him. He bent double and the phone clattered to the ground. His spine twisted, th
e change coming on too fast. The beast was forcing its way out. Panic drove it, pushed it to tear its way out of him.
He lurched for a nearby alley, away from prying eyes.
The hyena broke free of him with a whimper on its lips. It raised its head and found Lily’s scent in the air. Rodrigo knew a hyena his size running through town was suspicious, that anyone looking would know that he was a shifter, but the beast threw all caution to the wind. Its only concern was for Lily.
Unfortunately, the beast never made it there.
A truck pulled up on the side of the road. A man leapt out. Rodrigo dodged the man, but he was too fast. He twisted and snarled, trying to bite the man, but the man wouldn’t let go. The man scowled down at Rodrigo before shaking his head in disappointment.
***
Lily got off work at four. The rest of the day was open before her, but she didn’t know what to do with it. She walked home and tried to lose herself in the book Rodrigo had bought for her, but she kept envisioning Rodrigo and herself as the hero and heroine. Every time she realized what she was doing, her thoughts would drift back to him.
At least she wasn’t thinking of Brock anymore. Not while Rodrigo kept strutting into her thoughts with that superstar grin. She almost wished she had invested in some sexy time toys in the past years, but Brock hadn’t been interested in using them together and hadn’t understood a need for them when he visited every other weekend. Plus, she’d been too embarrassed to go into a shop and buy one for herself. Even adding one to her cart online had filled her with regret.
Now, she was alone and aching for something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. She’d already tried her fingers and they just didn’t have the same effect. Not when she wanted warmth and affection.
She dragged herself to the kitchen and threw open the cupboards. There were cans of soup, bags of rice, and boxes of macaroni and cheese. She pulled out a box and stared blankly at it. The thought of sitting at the table alone with a bowl of cheap macaroni and cheese didn’t sound appetizing in the least. The waves of loneliness threatened to crash over her and drag her into the sea again.
She couldn’t spend the whole night like this. It would drive her to tears.
With nothing else to do and this restless energy coursing through her, she made a last-minute decision. She would go to the shifter bar again. It hadn’t been all that bad of a place and if Brock followed her again, she would have Rodrigo throw him out. Maybe then she would be able to get Rodrigo’s number again.
Lily didn’t bother with a fancy dress this time. The bar wasn’t the kind of place to wear cocktail dresses. She chose a pair of high waisted pants and a vintage top instead. It was far more comfortable. And when she unbraided her hair, it fell in waves around her shoulder. She pinned the upper half back with a vintage barrette and grabbed her phone, ordering a driver from an app.
Maybe this was a dumb idea, but she didn’t want to sit around the house by herself.
The driver left her at the front door, speeding off like she’d asked him to dump her in the shady part of town. She shook her head before letting herself inside. The bar wasn’t as busy as it had been the last time. She realized that was because it was Monday. The other time she’d visited had been a Saturday, when all bars were busy.
Now, as she walked across the room on her own, she felt like all eyes were on her. She yearned for Vivian to come and steal the show, but Vivian was at work. Lily had made the decision, and now she needed to live with it.
She scanned the room after grabbing a table. The blonde shifter was behind the bar again, lazily wiping the bar counter. The pack’s alpha was nowhere to be seen. Lily liked to imagine he was with his human mate, probably having a mundane dinner of homemade macaroni and cheese.
Even if she and Brock had still been together, she would have been alone tonight. He only ever visited every other weekend. All of his time was spent on campus while he studied to become a doctor. She’d been willing to wait for him, knowing that this was a big future and he needed to be prepared for it. She hadn’t realized just how lonely eating boxed macaroni and cheese truly was until now.
Unfortunately, it was just as lonely as sitting in the corner of a bar where she didn’t know anyone. She sat on the edge of her seat, wishing Rodrigo would walk through the door. Her foot bounced nervously. It made her knee jiggle the table, her drink threatening to spill.
As time went on, the bar became increasingly crowded. Lily thought that it’d been empty because it was a weekday, but it looked like she was wrong. Shifters drifted from one table to the next and on to the billiards. A woman smacked the broken jukebox in frustration. Another woman prodded a man with the pool cue, taunting him before it was his turn at the table.
Lily could find no familiar faces in this sea of people. It was so painfully obvious that she didn’t belong in this world. She didn’t belong anywhere. The only place she’d found any kind of solace recently had been work, but she couldn’t hang out at the bookstore all day. The managers would get tired of her interrupting people on the clock.
Resigning herself to a lonely night with a box of macaroni and cheese, Lily stood. She wrapped her arms around herself and turned toward the door when a hand touched her shoulder. Hope brightened her chest, but it was only the blonde bartender.
He towered over her, but there was a smile on his face that made him seem like an old friend. “Would you like to sit somewhere more private? We recently remodeled the basement into a lounge. You’re welcome to try it out tonight.”
“That’s a nice offer and all…” Lily opened an app to request a driver. The screen told her there was no one who could pick her up. Not for another half hour.
She swallowed her whimper.
The blonde bartender gently turned her toward a door, one off to the side. A sign over it read Private. It seemed ominous until he opened the door and a soft glow greeted her. The lounge below was brightly lit, revealing a sectional couch with pillows and an ottoman. The light shifted and danced along the floor, possibly from a television playing somewhere out of sight.
“You can chill in the lounge until your ride arrives,” the blonde bartender offered.
Lily let out a sigh of relief. She hadn’t realized just how smothering the crowd of people had been. Their boisterous voices and rough antics had made her tense. Each step down into the quiet lounge eased the ache between her shoulders. She sank into the sectional couch and pretended to understand what was happening on the television. It was some sort of sport that she’d never seen before.
How many ways could a man throw a ball around?
The blonde bartender returned, a drink in hand, and offered his name.
“Van? Like, as in Mom Van? Is that a nickname the pack gave you?”
He let out a tired laugh. Lily realized it was probably a question he got a lot and felt bad for putting him through it once more.
“It’s an old Hebrew name. Something about God being Gracious.” He looked unconvinced, as if he was fighting against his own name his whole life. Then, his eyes rolled to the ceiling.
Lily wondered if he was having a private conversation with God, but she wouldn’t ask. His thoughts were his own and she didn’t come here to chat up the blonde bartender. Lazily, she stirred her drink and wondered if she had any right to ask about Rodrigo. They’d only met a couple of times. They were barely even friends.
But he’d bought her a book. That had to be some kind of marker for friendship. Right?
Before she could ask, Van stood upright and left her alone. The quiet surrounded her. Soon she became aware of the low rumble of footsteps and voices above her. Then a rustle came from behind a nearby door, at the corner of the couch.
Her heart thumped, cautiously as if someone might hear if it beat too fast. She strained to listen for the source of the sound. A thud against the wall made her jump. Her drink sloshed over her hand. She cursed and set it on the table, only belatedly realizing that she would leave a mess on the table.
“Great,” she mumbled at herself. “This is what you get for enjoying sickly sweet drinks. Could you order a dry martini for once? Maybe try not to spill daquiri all over yourself?”
There was a laugh from behind the closed door.
She slapped her hand over her mouth before realizing it was indeed sticky and peeling it away from her face. “Who’s there?”
“What are you doing at a bar on a weeknight?” Rodrigo’s voice asked from the other side of the door. “I thought I gave you my number. You could have just called me.”
She realized it was coming through an air vent near the corner of the couch, right by the door. Hesitantly, she sat on the edge of the couch cushion and tucked her hair behind her ear.
“I may have lost your number already,” she confessed.
There was a soft growl on the other side of the vent that made her lean away from the door. Her heart thumped nervously again. Was this what Lady Violetta felt every time Giorgio entered her bedchambers?
“Are you mad at me?”
There was a silence, stretching on a moment too long. When he answered, his voice was strained. “No. Not mad. I’m having a rough night, is all.”
She relaxed back into the couch. “How so? If you don’t mind me asking.”
Again, her question was met with silence. If she held her breath, she could hear the soft groans on the other side of the vent. She reached out and touched the grate before she realized what she was doing. Her heart ached for him and whatever he was going through. He didn’t seem to be in any shape to talk, but she had so much to unpack that she curled into the couch cushion and started to let it all spill out.
“I caught my ex cheating on me about a week ago,” she confessed. It was so much easier to say it with no one else in the room. She didn’t have to fend off the looks of pity or the fake outrage. Her friends never liked Brock, so telling them he’d been fucking the fitness instructor hadn’t surprised any of them. “I ended the relationship, but we were together for so long that I don’t know what to do without him. It’s like I’ve been dumped into a whole new life and I don’t like it. What do I do? How to I move on?”
The Hyena's Hope Page 4
