Page 19 of Alpha Ruined
“Of course. Green tea with honey. Trust me, I’ve seen way more complicated orders than that. Green tea with honey is nothing compared to what I’ve had to make. Someone brought in their own raw sheep’s milk for their latte.”
Bree chuckles, her anxieties from earlier easing. “There’s no way that happened.”
“Hey, I told you, this town can be a little strange. I love it and all, but yeah. I don’t recommend sheep’s milk.”
Darlene wrinkles her nose, and Bree feels a twinge ofsadness that she won’t see her after the next couple of days. She has a feeling they could have been good friends if she got to know Darlene better.
Bree takes the furthest booth in the corner, sitting on the inside of it and pulling out her notebook from her bag. She writes down a couple of questions she plans to ask Doctor Porter, different from the interview questions she already planned out.
She also dedicates a page to Erik and Ellie’s relationship.
The Alpha prisoner and Omega social worker.
Thoughts flit through her head faster than she can write them down, and her hand starts to cramp by the time her tea and sandwich are placed in front of her.
“If it’s not good, I’ll remake it,” Darlene tells her. “I added extra avocado, too.”
“But no unpasteurized sheep’s milk, right?”
Darlene wrinkles her nose. “Gross.”
The café door opens, and Darlene stiffens. “Shit,” she hisses, and Bree follows her gaze.
Her stomach sinks when she sees Eugene walk in, his gait slow and his face bloated.
“That guy came to my door the other night,” Bree mutters. “He was drunk and asking about someone named Helene.”
Darlene turns her gaze back to her, her eyes wide. “No fucking way. Eugene’s your neighbor?”
“Excuse me. I would like toorder,” Eugene says loudly as he heads to the counter.
“Yeah. He’s weird,” Bree says.
“Okay, listen to me,” Darlene says quickly under her breath. “If he shows up again, don’t answer your door. You callme. Helene is his dead wife, who everyone thinks he killed.”
“What?” Bree drops her cup, and it clangs loudly against the saucer.
“Darlene!Can I order?” Eugene yells.
“Yeah, he’s also the sheep’s milk guy,” Darlene shrugs. “I told you; this town isn’t perfect. I’ve got to help him before he throws a fit.”
Darlene heads to the counter, leaving Bree slack jawed.
What the hell?
She keeps an eye on Eugene from her corner booth, unable to enjoy the panini as he mutters to himself and leans against the pastry display for support. The other customers don’t even bother to pay attention to him.
Apparently, nobody else is phased by the town drunk that supposedly murdered his wife.
She huddles further into the booth and continues working through her notes, occasionally stopping to take a sip of tea.
She had mostly forgotten about her creepy neighbor until she glances up and sees him walking toward her.
He’s in the same shirt from yesterday, and his face is bloated and red.
He opens his mouth to say something just as the booth dips with the weight of another person, and the forbidden, familiar wash of a scent wafts over her.
She locks eyes with the Alpha from this morning, who is now sitting only inches from her, sharing the same side of the booth.