The Reincarnated (Book 2A of Wolfcreek Series)

Chapter 30

"Look who I found," Bill said while he and I walked over to the table that my parents sat at and placed a hand on my shoulder. He smiled at my father and nodded in greeting. "Hal," he said. "It's good to see you. How are you?"

"You too, Bill," my father said while I sat down after smiling at Bill. "And good." He looked at me before he looked at him. "Has she behaved herself?" He raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"Oh, she has," Bill replied with a chuckle and nodded. "I thought I'd come over and greet the table before Alessandra brings the food." He smiled and dipped his head towards my mother. "Annalisa, how are you?"

"I am good," she said. "How are you and everyone?"

"Good," he replied. He sat down at the table next to us and cleared his throat. "Lucy'll be upset that she missed you all. However, there had to be someone at the other store while Ales and I were over here."

"Why did you make another one?" I asked curiously, and Bill shrugged while he looked at me.

"Business," he replied. "I saw a business opportunity and took it."

I slowly nodded and stayed silent. I had no idea why Bill said that he worked with my father when he owned two businesses and wondered if these businesses were his side gig.

If so, then what did he normally do if he wasn't here running them?

"This is my side hustle," Bill said as if he noticed me going silent. He smiled and winked. "I help make the software and weapon designs for the same company that Hal works with," he explained, and I knew that he was hiding something else but couldn't tell what.

I opened my mouth to challenge him about what he had said but was interrupted at that moment by Alessandra bringing over a thirty quart bowl of cheese fries along with a huge burger that looked to be the size of my head.

Bill laughed when I looked at the stuff with a wide opened mouth and cleared his throat to hide a chuckle. "Sorry, sorry," he said when he looked at me. He cleared his throat again, his eyes bursting with amusement. "You just looked so shocked to see that."

"I am," I said and pointed at the stuff while I looked at him. "And you want me to eat that in an hour?"

Bill nodded and smirked. There was a challenge in his eyes while he looked at me before they started to dance with merriment. "What?" he asked in a tone that had me scowling at him. "Do you have a problem with that, Hoss?" He raised an eyebrow, and his smirk deepened.

I scowled and narrowed my eyes further, and his smirk turned into an amused grin as if he knew that I was about to say. "Bring. It. On. Old. Man," I said. "Bring it on."

***

My father bit back a laugh while Bill looked at me with a shocked expression on his face. He didn't say a word while he watched his friend splutter.

"Old man?" he asked and looked at me, shocked. "What do you mean by old man?"

I lifted my chin and grinned, daring him to say something different. "Just what I said," I replied, earning a laugh from Alessandra. "You are an old man."

Bill narrowed his eyes teasingly and scowled. "Then what about Alessandra?" he asked and gestured towards her, and his daughter raised an eyebrow and scowled.

"Ex-cuse me?" she asked in a tone that had me biting my lip to keep from laughing. She narrowed her eyes and scowled at her father, but she wasn't able to hide the amusement on her face while her father's eyes grew wide in mock fear. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Uh... nothing, nothing, Dear," Bill said, trying to calm his "fuming" daughter. "I didn't mean anything by it."

Ales narrowed her eyes further, and her scowl deepened. "Un huh," she said, and he gulped because it started to look like she wasn't playing with him. "Shall I tell Mom?"

I leaned further back in my seat and folded my arms across my chest while I stared at the father and daughter duo, amused. "I mean... he isn't wrong..."

Alessandra looked at me so fast that I was surprised her head didn't fall off, nor did she suffer from whiplash. She narrowed her eyes at me, and my grin grew wider. "You better be glad this food is for your challenge," she said and set the cheese fries and burger down in front of me before she gave my parents their fries. "If not, then y-" She didn't finish her sentence and looked at my parents with wide eyes, silently realizing that she wasn't in the presence of only her father and "my group..." whatever that meant.

My mother leaned back in her seat and smirked while she folded her arms across her chest and tapped one arm with a slender finger. "That's right, Dear," she said while she looked at me. "If you weren't doing this challenge for Bill, then you'd be wearing the food all over you."

Alessandra relaxed, and I could see a small bit of relief flicker through her eyes while my mother said that. She nodded and cleared her throat while she looked at me. "Ya, what she said."

I rolled my eyes and scowled, amused. "Gee, thanks, Mom," I said sarcastically. "Aren't you supposed to be on my side?"

My mother smiled and shook her head, no. "Not on this, I am not," she replied. "You were the one that said she was old."

I widened my eyes and gestured to Alessandra. "But she is," I said, and Alessandra gasped mockingly. "She is older than me."

"You don't comment on a female's age, Cassidy Anne," my mother said. She gestures to the food that was in front of me. "Now, let's go ahead and start this before I do allow her to dump it on you."

I held back an eye roll and looked at Bill. "Do you have a timer?" I asked, and he nodded in confirmation and took a timer out of his pocket.

He set the timer for an hour and set it on the table. "Are you ready?" he asked and raised an eyebrow while he looked at me.

I nodded and looked at the food, putting my hands out and over the food, ready to grab it when he said go. "Ready," I said, looking at it.

Bill nodded. "Good," he said. "And your time starts..." He started the timer. "Now."

And with that, I started to eat the food with the intention of beating the timer and winning this competition.