Ditched Cheating Alpha, I Led My Daughter to Life's Peak novel Chapter 13

Michael looks at the two of us at his side and Charlie in his arms and decides to bite his tongue.

"Excuse me?" Another one of them asks.

I'll say what he's unwilling to. "You're excused. There's a line," I say in my commander voice. "You could try standing in it."

They look at me as though this is the first time they've registered I was even there. It's a stare unlike all of the other stares before. I think they're looking into my soul, and I don't know how to feel about it. I'm at a loss for words. I feel like I'm standing there naked in front of them, like they can see... everything. Megan tightens her grip on my hand. Their eyes go to her and I push her beside me, on the far side away from them.

Their eyes go back towards me and they say, "There is. Sorry."

They turn around and stand behind us. The people in front of us, even the cashiers, assure them that it's fine, they even try to let us go ahead so that they can too, but the mysterious triplets shake their heads and the conversation's over.

"We're not the only people you skipped, though," Michael says, getting ahead of himself.

They growl at him. Like, I know it's probably not possible, but I think they literally growled at him.

Michael jerks back. "Jesus Christ. What's wrong with these people?"

"So... You're new around here?" It's impossible to tell them apart physically because honestly, they're all completely identical, but their clothes give them away. The one in the black hoodie waits for me to answer his question.

I nod. "Yeah, we just got here," I start. Michael gives me a look. I keep going, "But I think everyone around here knows that already."

'Black hoodie' raises an eyebrow. He looks around and a few heads turn away, caught in the act. He laughs. "The staring?"

"Yes, the staring," Michael says, taking another step forward as the line moves up.

"Well that can't be helped."

I raise an eyebrow at that. "Why?"

He opens his mouth. Closes it. Opens it again, then says nothing. He looks like he's afraid he'll say the wrong thing or too much, which doesn't give me any reassurance.

He looks to his brothers, and the on the left with the grey hoodie answers. "There's been word that one of our elders had an... encounter with a foreigner recently." He looks at Michael the same way he did before, like he's the dirt beneath his feet that he can't be bothered with.

It pisses me off, and that coupled with the use of the word "foreigner" has me about ready to pop off at this dude. That is, until I really consider what he's saying. Elder? Encounter? He can't be talking about the old lady in the parking lot, right? Because that literally just happened two seconds ago. Unless this whole town has groupme, there's no way they could know about that, right? Not all of the people in this store at least.

Then again, Michael isn't exactly discreet about his traffic violations. But still...

Michael gives grey hoodie a side eye that could rival his own stare, and then saltily grumbles out. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Grey hoodie clenches his teeth, but still looks as calm as a cucumber. He seems like the kind of person who needs to be in control. That's not gonna work with Michael. "I'm sure you don't, but it should be advised that, as you've probably noticed, this neighborhood is very close. The safety of all its residents is the highest priority."