Chapter Sixteen
Thenextmorning,Ihad a text from Mason waiting for me when I woke up.
Mason: I'm sorry I took off yesterday. I had some things I needed to deal with. I didn’t have a chance to call.
I skimmed it and shoved my phone away, still irritated with how he reacted. I got ready for work putting on my clothes a little harsher than necessary. I wouldn’t stay mad for long, and that knowledge irritated me as much as he did. He was clearly terrible at handling his emotions, and I couldn’t blame him for it. His mom died when he was young, still in need of her guidance desperately, and his father, well, was his father. I slung my bag over my shoulder as I headed out, decided on making him wait a bit longer before I let him off the hook.
Leyla’s words from the day before came back to me, and I found myself walking to the café without giving it much thought. I loved the place, the delicious coffee, and the buttery sausage rolls, but more than that my morbid sense of curiosity got the better of me. Would the man be waiting for me, and could I possibly end this all by pointing out to him I was just Claire Green, and not whoever he was actually looking for?
I pushed the door open, and the bell overhead announced my entrance. Some people looked up, and some ignored me entirely, but none matched the description Leyla gave. When I said good morning to Leyla, she didn’t mention him again, but she did ask me if everything was okay with my handsome friend. I rolled my eyes as I told her, “Your guess is as good as mine.” She smiled at me sympathetically, and I took my latte and sausage roll to go. On my walk to the library, I forgot all about creepy men as I enjoyed my breakfast.
Mason popped into my mind at regular intervals like a sexy, irritating alarm clock that I kept pressing snooze on. I never understood how people enjoyed fifteen-minute intervals of interrupted sleep before getting up for the day, but here I was similarly torturing myself. Despite my irritation, I couldn’t fight the desperate clenching in my stomach every time images from the weekend drifted back to me. God, I would never tire of him; the guarded look on his face when he bared his soul to me, the dirty words he grunted in my ear, or the feel of him coming inside me.
Later on, I sat at my desk pushing papers around, wondering if there was a single thing the man could do to push me away. He gave me a lot to consider in our late-night confessional. His family’s sordid histories were far from what I expected when he hinted he was dangerous. The scars on his knuckles and the one splitting his brow made me think he was a fighter in his younger days. Maybe he had an explosive temper. That’s what I assumed back when I didn’t even know his name. I never asked him for specifics, and those thoughts seemed so silly now. When he confessed the ugly truth, I specifically told him I didn’t want to know. Partially, because I trust him, but more so because I didn’t want to bear the guilt of knowing that he had killed people, and I just didn’t care.
If his father was a murderer, a tyrant, then it made sense he would expect the same from his son. If I were smarter, I would cut my losses and find a less satisfying man who offered more stability and fewer demons. A nervous pit formed in my stomach as I considered what all that bad karma meant for us. Had he really killed people? He never said he did, but he never denied it either. More frightening, what did it say about me that I could easily accept a past like that? I sighed as I stamped library approval on time off requests.There’s just as much darkness in you as there is in him.
Someone knocked on the door, interrupting my musings on morality and love, “Come in.” I popped the last bit of breakfast into my mouth and chased it down with a sip of coffee.
Gavin entered dressed in a suave suit, accented by a red tie that reminded me of spilled blood. I was no fashion expert, but I was certain it was designer, and pricey. Compared to Mason, he might as well be wearing rags. I internally rolled my eyes at myself; did everything have to be about that man? “Gavin, you’re looking very nice today,” I told him honestly, if not a little suspiciously.
“Thank you, board meeting later.” He pulled out the chair opposite my desk and sat with a huff, “You needed to speak to me.” He ran his hands over his lapels, straightening his suit like my compliment made him self-conscious. He sounded friendly enough, but the stress was poorly hidden beneath his smile.
“Yeah, there are a couple of things I wanted to speak to you about, but before we get down to business, should I be concerned about this board meeting? I’m not entirely sure what responsibilities I may have when it comes to them.” I smiled at him confidently, hiding my very real nerves.
“We have some budgetary considerations to make, and I will report on your progress here, but you have done a wonderful job so far, and that’s exactly what I plan to tell them. You don’t need to have any involvement with the board so long as your job here is handled.”
“Thank you, Gavin.” His praise surprised me, but I didn’t miss the not-so-subtle hint that I should stay out of the board’s way. I didn’t know much about them, and much like his suit, his words made me suspicious.
“No thanks needed, why don’t you explain to me why you called this meeting?” His fingers tapped nervously against the armrest, and he glanced at his watch.
“After a lot of consideration, I’d like to put Emma up for the paid opening we have.”
“Do you believe she is the right fit?” He pulled a small notebook out of his pocket and flipped through the pages, barely listening.
“I do. She’s a hard worker, and quite dedicated to the library.”
“You’ve given me no reason to mistrust your judgment. Give her the job, and feel free to hire or fire as you see fit. Is that all?” My brow rose in shock but I wasn’t about to argue. My official contracts weren’t even signed yet. He glanced at his watch again and stood.
“Well, no, actually. I’m sorry to keep you, but there is something else I wanted to mention, though I’m not sure what to make of it...”
“Oh, what did you want to tell me?”
I pulled the notes out of my desk and handed them to him. “Someone left these around the library, one in the returns, and the other on the bulletin board. I hate to make a big deal out of something that is likely a prank, but I thought mentioning it to you couldn’t hurt. Maybe we should check the cameras?”
He read them over quickly, the nervousness in his expression switching to concern. “I’m glad you did. I’m not sure if this is anything to worry about or not, but keep an eye open and tell me if anything changes.” It was almost verbatim the advice I offered to Emma. “Is that everything?”
“That’s everything,” I agreed. He handed the notes back and wished me a good day as he left. I sat back down, wondering if he even heard my suggestion that we check the cameras. I considered contacting Eileen to ask her how to do it, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to go down that road. The last time I spoke to her was foreboding enough.
I opened up my various email accounts, ready to get to work for the day. One account was dedicated to general library questions, the other went to me personally, though it was still based on the main server. Most of the time I let Emma deal with the general emails, but she had a pile of returns so high it jammed the slot.
An excited giggle burst out of me as I imagined her response when I told her she got the job. She was going to be so excited. I could call her in now and tell her, but I wanted to sit on my secret for a little while longer. It struck me as more than bizarre that I had a job where I could offer jobs to others.No, not a job, a career,I reminded myself, and Gavin gave me permission to make these decisions on my own.
I sifted through the mountain of questions in the general library email. I groaned as I repeatedly copied and pasted the link to our FAQ section in response to the same inane questions. “This is a library, some reading is required,” I told the computer. I laughed out loud at a kid requesting a graduate-level essay on the Iliad when he was likely still in high school.Yeah, that’s going to fool your teacher.I nearly finished when I opened one titled “Random Meetups”. My breath caught in my throat.
“This fall I think you're riding for--it's a special kind of fall, a horrible kind.”
I’ll make you scream louder than he ever could, you worthless fucking bitch.