by Riley Storm
“Agreed,” he said in that deep and gravelly voice that seemed to reach right down into her core.
Lilly smiled and looked around. The silence lingered for several minutes, neither of them sure of what to say.
Oh god, this is so awkward. Please, something interrupt this. Stop it. Spare me!
The front door jingled as someone else came in.
“That’s not what I meant,” Lilly moaned.
Trent frowned, glancing over his shoulder at the door. “What’s the problem?”
Before Lilly could reply, her mother’s gaze landed on her. She saw her mom elbowing her father, and then he too looked over and saw her.
“Lilly!” her mother exclaimed happily, coming over and leaning down to give her a hug. “It’s so good to see you.”
Her father walked over. “Yes. Very good to see you.”
She hugged him as well, getting ready to introduce Trent. How the heck do I introduce him? As the dragon who damaged my shop?
Her father glanced down at Trent, and Lilly was surprised to see the disappointed look on his face that followed.
“You tell us that you’re working so much,” her father said. “Is this what you mean by working? Have you been spending all your time with him instead?”
Lilly gaped. What was her father’s problem?!
Before she could say anything, her mom chimed in. “I thought you were getting ready to open the store soon? Shouldn’t you be there?”
Lilly sputtered, searching for her voice. Just as she found it, a third person chimed into the conversation.
A chair skidded back across the floor, and Trent rose, towering over her parents. His broad shoulders blocked out much of the light from the windows and cast a shadow over them both.
“For your information,” he growled, his tone making it very clear that he was unhappy with them. “Lilly has been working extremely hard to get the shop ready to open. Unfortunately, she hasn’t had it easy, because others have casually vandalized it, making life harder for her. But believe it or not, people are allowed to eat, and a half hour out of her day to provide sustenance for her body does not mean she isn’t working hard.”
“Lilly,” her mother said, glancing up at Trent. “You never introduced us to your friend.”
“Nor should she, after the lack of manners you have displayed here,” Trent growled.
“Um, is this a bad time?”
Lilly winced as the waitress approached with their pizzas, steam still coming off them.
“No, it’s fine,” Trent rumbled. “We’ll take them to go, thank you very much.”
The waitress, grateful for the excuse to leave, turned and hurried back to the counter, grabbing two boxes from a nearby stack.
“I guess we should get back to work, Lilly,” Trent said, extending his hand to her, his tone making it very clear he was aiming those words sarcastically at her parents.
Could he know who they are? Does he even care?
Lilly only hesitated for a moment, then she took his hand and let herself be pulled between her parents. Trent grabbed the boxes, tossing enough bills down on the counter to make the waitress double-take, then led her from the store.
As soon as they were around the corner, he looked down at her, concern on his face.
“Who the heck were they?” he rumbled angrily. “Your parents?”
Chapter Eleven
Lilly
“Sorry again for any trouble I might have caused,” Trent said as she locked the front door behind her, comforted by the sounds of the alarm beeping in the background once more as it counted down until it armed itself for the night.
Power is back!
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” she said, waving off his apology. “I know they love me, but they needed that, I think.”
She’d explained to Trent who they had been, enjoying watching the dismay grow on his face as she confirmed he’d just told off her parents. It had been just the comedic relief she’d needed.
Of course, tonight might be a bit more difficult once I get home, but…oh well.
“If you’re sure,” Trent said, watching her face carefully.
“I’m positive, thank you,” she said, reaching up to pat his chest without thinking, her fingers bouncing off the solid muscle of his pec.
Trent glanced down at her touch but he didn’t otherwise acknowledge it. “I would stay and chat, but I have to get going,” he said, grimacing unhappily.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?”
He nodded. “Of course.”
Both of them looked at one another. Lilly wondered if he was going to come in and hug her or what his plan was. Judging by the look on his face, it seemed Trent was deciding on what to do as well. The question of whether or not lunch had been a date still hadn’t been decided, though the interruption by her parents and them ending up eating lunch on the floor sort of put a damper in that conversation for the time being.
“Take care, Lilly,” he said, gracing her with a smile before he turned and walked off.
Still, despite the repeated awkwardness of the situation, Lilly knew she would be lying to herself if she said she’d been anywhere but walking on cloud nine all afternoon.
Nothing had happened, and yet…yet still her stomach floated with butterflies every time she’d caught him looking at her or he’d made her laugh.
Who cares if it was or wasn’t a date? You had fun. A lot of fun. Your face hurts from smiling. There’s no need to put a label on that.
They’d also worked hard after the food was eaten and properly digested. Trent had finished repairing the breakers, and she’d used up the few spare bulbs she had to inject some semblance of light into the store.
There was more to be done, and some of the wires Trent said would have to be replaced, which meant opening some walls, but he was adamant he could have it done in time for her to open next week.
A surge of excitement raced through her at that. Next week! She would finally open. Her dream would be realized, and maybe, at last, she would see a real path to rebuilding her life.
Giddy with excitement, she reached for her phone to check it.
“Oh shoot,” she muttered, realizing she’d left it in the store.
Grabbing the keys, she unlocked the door and raced for the alarm, disabling it before it went off. She went into her office and grabbed her phone and then headed back to the alarm to re-arm it.
Someone knocked at the front door. Turning to look through the glass, Lilly gasped in recognition.
“Claire?” she exclaimed pushing the door open. “Claire, what are you doing here?”
An even shorter, rounder, redheaded ball of energy flung herself at Lilly, and the two best friends wrapped each other in a big hug, bouncing from side to side as they squeezed.
“It’s so good to see you, Lil!” Claire said, giving her one big squeeze and then stepping back.
“But what are you doing here? I thought you were up in Kennewick Falls still?” Lilly hadn’t seen her best friend in months.
She missed the days when they lived a few streets apart. That was back when Lilly lived in Kennewick Falls. When she was still with Randy and still had her business. Back when her life was so very different than it was now.
“Oh, come on. I just had to come back and visit after all this dragon craze came out. Took me ages to get a weekend off, which is why I’m just back now. Had to see the parents too, of course. But I needed to make sure I could stay with them, so they knew I was coming. I wanted to surprise you and come see the shop!”
“Come in, come in!” Lilly said, giddy with excitement. “Let me show you around.”
She brought Claire inside, locking the door behind her and flicking on the working lights to give her best friend a tour of the place.
“Lilly, it looks so good. And you…you look so happy!” Claire said, hugging her again.
“Thank you,” she said, admiring the store for herse
lf. “It’s been tough. But it’s coming together. The past few days we’ve put in a lot of work too.”
Claire raised her eyebrows. “We?” she asked suspiciously. “Lilly, are you holding out on something?”
“What? Nooo, not that kind of we,” she started to say then stopped. It wasn’t that sort of ‘we’, was it?
“Who is it then?” Claire asked, thankfully missing Lilly’s sudden confusion over just what she and Trent were. If anything.
We’re nothing. We kissed once. Touched hands once. That’s it. That doesn’t make us anything.
“Lilly…” Claire said when she didn’t immediately respond. “Out with it. Who is it?”
Lilly sighed, breaking down without any further prodding. She knew Claire would get the story out of her eventually. So she told her about meeting him randomly on the cliff edge and then him showing up to fix damage he wrought.
“You met a dragon man?” Claire asked in open-mouthed surprised. “That’s so cool! And you got to see him as a dragon too?”
Lilly nodded eagerly. “Yes, that first night he flew off in dragon form. It was cool, Claire. So cool. And beautiful too. Such majestic creatures, really.”
“And that’s it then?” Claire asked. “He just helped fix some bulbs and some electrical stuff?”
“Yeah, that,” Lilly said, wincing. “And we maybe kinda, sorta, kissed.”
“You what?” Claire yelped, stepping back in astonishment.
“And then today we might have gone on a date. I don’t know. Maybe. It was weird. It wasn’t one, but maybe it was? Like it could have been one. It kinda felt like one. But probably not.”
“Right,” Claire said wryly. “So is that why you’re grinning like an idiot right now?”
“Shut up,” Lilly said, swiping a hand playfully at her friend. “Okay? I don’t know what it is.”
Claire laughed. “Right. But look at this store!”
Lilly smiled, grateful for the momentary—Claire wasn’t done, she was sure—reprieve on the Trent topic. “Thank you.”
“You’re going to kill it, Lil. I know it.”
“Thank you. There are other competitors coming. I’ve seen two more getting ready to open, but they’re at least a week behind, if not two. Plus, I think I’ve got the edge. Especially with Trent. Hopefully, I can ask him some questions, get his advice on things. Maybe that will give me a leg up.”
“You’ll be fine either way Lil, I’m sure of it. This is going to work.”
Lilly smiled tightly. “We thought the last one was going to work too.”
Claire snorted. “That one did work. You just got crushed by someone bigger who was pissed you wouldn’t sell to them. That’s pure jealousy. This though, this will work. It might not provide a high-flying lifestyle, but it will work.”
“As long as I can move out,” Lilly said, sighing.
“That bad?” Claire said, wincing in sympathy.
Lilly nodded. “You’ll never guess what happened today.”
She told Claire all about her parents walking in on her and Trent at Cerino’s and the way Trent had told them politely to back off on their criticism of her.
“I like this guy!” Claire said. “I like him already.”
“Thanks. But going home is gonna be tough.”
“Then don’t,” Claire said. “At least, not yet. Come with me. Have some drinks. Let’s celebrate!”
“I don’t know Claire, I…”
“They’re on me you jerk. I know things are tight for you right now. Let me celebrate you, okay? This one time. Once you’re up and running, you are more than allowed to pay me back.”
Lilly laughed. “Okay fine. It has been ages since I’ve seen you. Lead on, wild girl!”
Claire laughed, throwing up her hands in victory. “Whooo!”
Echoing her friend’s cry, Lilly went and turned the alarm back on and then began shooing her friend out the door.
She hoped Claire was right, that this would work.
It has to work. Otherwise, I don’t know what I’m going to do. Everything I have is invested in this…
Chapter Twelve
Lilly
“Thank you so much for this by the way,” she said, blinking twice as a car drove by, the bright headlights messing with her vision more than normal in the darkness on the sidewalk.
“For what? Getting you drunk?” Claire giggled.
“I am not drunk,” Lilly pronounced, lifting her shoulders. “Though I am definitely not sober. But no, I meant for letting me crash at your parents’ place.”
“You know how big their ‘guest area’ is,” Claire told her. “Sometimes the whole basement area feels scary empty without someone else there. You’re practically doing me a favor.”
Lilly knew that was a bit of an exaggeration, but Claire’s parents did have a large guest apartment in their basement with its own separate door and everything. It was perfect, because Lilly really did not want to go back to her own parents tonight.
I just need some space.
“I already did you a favor,” Lilly said, following it up with a giggle. “At the bar, remember?”
Claire groaned. “Why did you have to remind me? That guy, what was his name? Something Russian.”
Lilly frowned in deep concentration. “Pietro!” she cried proudly, having remembered his name.
“Yes. Pietro! He was nice, but he is not the one for me, that’s for sure,” Claire said, giggling.
“I dunno, he seemed handsome enough to me, I guess.”
“Yeah, but he was the type that you take home to your parents. Not the type you take home to bed,” Claire said. “Not quite aggressive enough for me.”
Lilly laughed. “You’re sharing your bed with me tonight girl, remember? You aren’t on the prowl.”
“Exactly why I had you save me from Pietro!” Claire cried.
They arrived at the shop then, and Lilly fumbled with her keys.
“Speaking of taking guys home to bed, is that what you’re going to do with Trent? Let him take you home?”
Lilly hissed at her friend. “It’s not like that!”
Claire laughed. “Right. You don’t actually think he showed up the second day, and is going to show up tomorrow, just because he wants to fix damage, do you? If he’s a dragon, he has the money to do it himself.”
“He does?” Lilly asked, the door forgotten about for the moment.
She’d explained everything in detail to Claire while they drank until her friend was completely caught up on every awkward moment.
“Um. Dragons have treasure? Did you never read a book?” Claire said. “Sheesh. He could just pay for it all and be gone. He’s coming back for you.”
“I don’t think so,” Lilly said, automatically denying it, though she was now forced to wonder if there was any truth to it.
“He kissed you once already. He asked you if you wanted a date tonight. Come on Lilly. How blind do you have to be?”
Lilly groaned. “I don’t know. He’s a dragon, remember?”
“Which is so much cooler!” Claire gushed. “I wish a dragon would sweep me off my feet.”
“Hey, we’re talking about me here,” Lilly said, sticking out her tongue and going back to unlocking the door, her limbs responding properly this time. “Come on, get inside, I need to shut off the alarm before it goes off.”
“I’d talk about you, but you’re being a wuss about it all,” Claire said.
“I am?”
“Of course! This guy kissed you already. Yet you’re wearing old saggy jeans and a loose black t-shirt.”
Lilly frowned, looking down her outfit. “What’s wrong with that? It’s comfortable.”
“It’s not flirtatious at all. You need to give this guy some openings. See if he makes a move.”
Lilly sighed. “I don’t even know if I want him to make a move,” she protested.
“I’m not saying you need to whore it up,” Claire chided. “Though it would be fun to see. But jus
t…tighter clothes. Maybe show more skin. Some makeup wouldn’t kill you either. You’re going to want to get in the habit of that anyway.”
“What, why?”
Claire rolled her eyes. “You’re going to be running a store. People are dumb and brainwashed. The prettier you look, the more likely they are to buy from you. It’s basic social science stuff, even if it’s ridiculous and shouldn’t be that way.”
“Ugh, whatever,” Lilly said, punching in the alarm code. “I don’t want to change for him. Or for anyone.”
She frowned at the alarm system. Her brain was trying to tell her something. Had she punched in her code wrong? She hit the buttons again.
“I only met him twice now,” she said. “Well, I guess three times, but still. I don’t know if I want it to go anywhere.”
“You spent all evening talking about him, Lil. Cut the denial.”
Lilly was about to respond when she realized what was bothering her. The machine wasn’t accepting her code. It was already deactivated.
“Huh, that’s weird,” she muttered.
There was no reply from Claire.
“Claire?” she called. “Eep!”
Lilly froze as someone stepped out of the shadows, a pistol pointed directly at her. She could barely make out any details about him given the dim lighting of the emergency lights, but the gun was enough to gather her full, undivided attention.
“Don’t move,” the man said quietly as someone else stepped up next to Claire, who stood frozen with terror.
“What the hell?” she moaned, the alcohol overriding her thoughts of being quiet. “Why do you keep doing this to me? Isn’t a gun a bit much for spray painting the store? And how did you get inside anyway? I didn’t do anything to anyone!”
Her protests were rambling, but the man didn’t seem to care. He hissed at her, though his face was hidden behind sunglasses and a facemask.
“Fuck the dragons,” he snarled. “And anyone who supports them. They need to get out. They aren’t welcome here, and neither are their sycophants.”
“S-Sycophants?” she stammered. “What do you mean?”
“People like you,” he sneered derogatorily.
Just then the emergency lights went off too. There was a scrape of something against the tile floor.
