Chapter 2 2

The stranger in the hoodie stood as still as stone, watching me go.

I drove across Hade Harbor toward Eve’s place. My dad didn’t like me driving to Eve’s house. It was on the so-called bad side of town. I wondered what Coach Williams would think about meeting the most intimidating guy right in the good part. He had a whole list of things he was overprotective about, starting with my friends and ending with scaring away any potential boyfriends who might have been out there.

Sure, I didn’t flatter myself that guys would be lining up to ask me out, even if it wasn’t for my dad, but being the only child of the school ice hockey coach had to be off-putting.

Yep, that’s right. I was Lillian Williams, and Coach Williams was practically a celebrity in our little Maine town. Ice hockey was big here, and my father had big dreams. As a teen player at Hade Harbor High, he’d been heading toward the NHL, already a state champion, but that had all changed when I’d come along. My mom had had a difficult pregnancy, and my dad had missed out on the offers he’d been given from colleges while looking after her. The timing hadn’t been right, they’d told me. Now, at HHH, since my father had taken over the team a few years ago, they’d been steadily improving. This year, he had his heart set on becoming champions again, but how they were going to get there was still a mystery.

I pulled up outside Eve’s small house, sitting on a slightly run-down street. I hadn’t had a chance to turn off the engine before her door opened and she scooted out. She practically ran to the passenger side of my car and jumped in.

“Let’s get out of here!” She sounded breathless as she tugged her seat belt on and grinned at me.

“What’s the hurry?”

“No hurry, Asher’s getting ready to go to the party, too, and I don’t want him to see me. He’s such a buzzkill.”

“And you don’t think he’ll see us at the party? Let’s stop to get dinner. I’m starving.”

“Sure. And no, I don’t think Asher will see us, because if he does, I’ll have to come home.” Eve slid down in the seat and frowned out at the rainy street. “He’s so controlling.”

“I suppose he worries.” It was a poor attempt to comfort her.

Asher—her hot, ice hockey-playing older brother—was terrifying. I tried my best not to be in the room with him when he blew through. Eve was right to worry. He didn’t like his sister going to parties. He was overprotective as hell. Luckily for him, Eve had never been invited to many. Fear of Asher ran deep at Hade Harbor High.

We stopped at a local fast-food place. Eve dramatically clamped a hand over her mouth when I got out of the car.

“Holy shit, what happened to you?”

“I fell over on the way to the car.”

“Classic Lily. You look like you tried to swim in a puddle. Thank God I brought you a change of clothes. Just call me Eve, fairy godmother to the hopeless.”

“Sure. A fairy godmother who forces me to go to crappy high school parties where we’ll have to hide from your brother the entire time.”

“You love me really,” Eve said breezily.

We headed inside and ordered. Eve waited for the food while I went to the bathroom to change. Inside, I deliberated for a moment, checking the time before calling home. At this hour, it should be my mom who was nearest to the phone.

“Williams’ house,” a deep voice spoke.

Damn. My dad was the hardest to get around.

“Hi, Dad, it’s me. I’m going to be a bit late. I’m with Eve, and we’re going to the movies,” I improvised.

If Eve thought Asher was protective, she had no idea what Coach Williams was capable of.

“Is that right? What movie?”

“Um, we haven’t decided. Something scary.”

My dad was quiet for a long moment. “Well, as long as you’re really going to a movie and not Beckett’s party.”

“Is Beckett having a party? I wouldn’t be invited to that anyway. I’m not a puck bunny.”

“Damn right you’re not. My daughter will never be a puck bunny, will she?”

I gripped the phone tight. The entire conversation-from my father's trusting tone to all the lies I was telling-was making me squirm. At least I could be honest about the puck bunny thing. Hockey guys weren’t my type. They were way too confident, arrogant, and fit, for a start. And Beckett Anderson was one of the worst offenders of the entire team. Not only was he gorgeous and a skilled player, but he was rich, too.

“No, Dad. Don’t worry. I’ll be home after the movie, okay?”

“Okay, Lily. I trust you.”

Guilt flooded me at his parting shot. I hated lying, but I’d hate being forbidden from going even more.

I hung up and pulled Eve’s dress from the bag. A quick change later, and I stared, aghast, at my reflection. She’d given me a little black dress to wear, emphasis on the “little.”

It had off-the-shoulder straps and a hem that sat higher on my long body than it would on my best friend’s. I seriously considered putting my dirty jeans back on instead. I never wore revealing clothes. It didn’t seem right that the off-limits Coach’s daughter, a complete bookworm and science nerd, should care what she wore. I’d learned the hard way that even if I made an effort, no one noticed. I washed my hands and balanced my contacts case on the edge of the sink, quickly swapping my glasses and tucking them away in my bag.

I headed back to our table, the thought of food too good to resist. I decided I could always keep my jacket on at the party. Everyone thought I was weird, anyway. One more quirk wouldn’t matter.

Eve froze when she saw me, dramatically pausing with her burger halfway to her mouth. “Jesus, you look so hot.”

“My dad would kill me if he saw this outfit,” I muttered, sliding into the booth and grabbing my bag to lay it over my knees. I’d checked inside it already, and my notebook had somehow escaped getting too wet.

“He’s not going to be there, and you deserve a night of acting like a normal seventeen-year-old.”

“Whatever you say. We agreed on one hour, don’t forget.”

Eve grinned. “Let’s just play it by ear.”

“Sure, let’s. After an hour I might just run into Asher, in that case.”

Eve’s brother would make sure she went home if I couldn’t get her to leave when she said she would.

She narrowed her eyes at me. “You wouldn’t.”

“I wouldn’t test that theory.” I smiled as I started on my fries.

The hot, salty goodness soothed my ragged nerves. I decided not to tell Eve about the weird incident in the parking lot. I didn’t feel like I came off very well in it. It left me unsettled, like a jagged tooth I couldn’t stop running my tongue over. Eve didn’t notice that anything was up as she filled me in on the latest gossip about the popular kids in our grade. I might not talk to half of them, but I knew who they were. I laughed until my sides ached. I wished we could just stay here, eating fast food and talking shit. I didn’t want to go to a party where I’d feel awkward and weird. I didn’t want to creep around, avoiding Eve’s brother. I didn’t want to wear this dress.

Stop being a buzzkill. It’s only an hour.

Right. I could do anything for an hour. Right?

Maybe if I kept repeating it, it would come true.