She nods. “What brings you to our little slice of the world?”
Dolly doesn’t ask like she’s prying, more like she’s just making conversation the way someone who runs a business in a small town is used to, but it sets me on edge either way. This is already way too much attention, more than I ever wanted when we walked in here, but there’s no real way for me to tell her to mind her own business without making a scene.
People aren’t staring, but I catch curious glances thrown our way as diners go about their meals or walk up to the counter to pay, and that’s the problem with towns this small and rural in a nutshell. Everybody knows everybody, so when someone’s out of place, everyone immediately knows it. Worse, they’re nosy about it.
No one’s being rude or too overt, but I can feel their eyes on us, and I hate it.
“Had some car trouble on the highway,” I force myself to say, keeping my tone light. “We ended up here because it was the closest place to get a tow to.” I don’t mention Cash because I’m sure she knows him.
“Well, let me know what I can get you two,” Dolly says, not pressing any further. “We’ll get you fed before you get back on the road.” She puts a menu in front of me and another in front of Cora and heads off with another wink.
My stomach churns with hunger and dread as I pick up the menu and flip it open. The sad thing is nothing here is even that expensive. Ten bucks for a huge stack of pancakes with eggs and bacon isn’t enough to be a blip on most people’s radars. But I’m doing my mental math and it’s just too much to pay for one meal. Especially since I still need gas for Lettie and to pay for however much the parts Paul needs are going to be.
Food comes first, especially for Cora, but if I spend the last of the little reserves we have, we’ll be stuck here.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fucking fuck.
Of course Cora has her menu open and is staring at the pictures with wide, hungry eyes. It feels stupidly cruel to show a four year old pictures of waffles with strawberries and whipped cream and then be forced to tell her all she can have is toast and maybe an egg if we’re lucky.
I’m running another calculation in my head, trying to see if there’s any way to stretch the money I have, when the door to the diner opens and the atmosphere shifts immediately.
Two men walk in, and I know immediately that they’re Alphas. The way they carry themselves, the way the entire presence of the place seems to shift to accommodate them… there’s no hiding it.
One of them steps in first, and I take him in from under my lashes. He’s wearing a sheriff’s uniform, and he moves with the authority that the job entails. Everything about him screams controlled intensity, like there’s an energy just under his skin that he’s keeping reined in. His eyes are dark, and they flick around the diner, not missing a thing. I silently hope he doesn’t notice me.
The second one comes in after him, pale where the sheriff was dark. He flicks sandy hair out of haunted blue-green eyes and then shoves his hands back into his pockets. His face is set into broody lines, and where his companion seems to be taking in everything, this one doesn’t seem to look at anything at all in particular.
They’re both built like they could toss me over their shoulders without breaking a sweat, and I swallow hard, trying to quietly slouch down in the booth to avoid being noticed.
But of course, Dolly gave us the best table in the diner, so they notice me immediately.
Even the broody one looks over, and I feel caught. Fuck. Can this morning get any worse?
I duck my head, pretending to study my menu intently, willing myself to go invisible and be uninteresting enough to escape them noticing me further. Even with my head down, I can feel their scrutiny though. There’s no hiding from it.
Worse, having two Alphas staring me down makes my Omega instincts go haywire. Part of it is fear. There’s a pricklingunder my arms as the stress sweat starts up, and my heart is pounding in my chest so hard I worry they’ll be able to hear it. The rest is that pull though. Even with suppressants, there’s always that pull. Alphas are magnetic, electric in a way that my instincts are so drawn to. While everything in my head is screaming at me to ignore them, to disappear and stay away, there’s something in my body that pokes its head up to ask ‘but what if we didn’t?’.
It’s stupid and dangerous, and I try to squash it as firmly as I can.
Dolly comes swooping back over to us, pulling a pen out from behind her ear.
“Everything all right over here, loves?” she asks.
“Um,” I manage. I lean in and drop my voice. “Who are those two guys? Who just came in?”
There’s apparently no such thing as privacy or quiet here, because she turns her head to look at the two Alphas and answers at full volume. “Them? That’s Sheriff Everett Kane and Lincoln Daniels from the fire department,” she says. “They’re good boys. Salt of the earth people, you know?”
Whatever ground I’d gained from pretending to be invisible is definitely gone now, and both Alphas are looking at us all over again.
“Why?” Dolly asks, one hand on her hip.
“Oh. Just, um… I was just wondering.”
She smiles at me. “I get it, honey. When I was younger, I would have had my head turned by men like that too.”
My cheeks flare with heat, and if it wasn’t for needing to feed Cora, I would walk right out of here as fast I could.