Page 40 of Devil's Vengeance

MARIAH

We got to the library with plenty of time to spare. He wouldn’t let me go in without him, even though technically the library wasn’t open yet, and he made me stay at the circulation desk until he could check to make sure no one was sneaking around inside. Which was just insane. Trick was not so desperate to get to me that he’d break into the library so he could grab me. He struck me as too lazy for that.

“You know, I doubt he’s going to come here,” I said blandly as he prowled through the stacks. “And we have an alarm set. You saw me disarm it.”

“You’d be surprised what a good criminal can get away with,” he replied, appearing on the opposite side of the aisle he’d gone down. “Why doesn’t this place have cameras?”

I shrugged. “Budget cuts. This is a small town. We barely make enough to stay open. Only the fact that all three schools come here keeps us going. What little budget we had went to installing the silent alarm. The other alarm was donated to us.”

His brow furrowed. “Show me.”

That seemed like a waste of time, but whatever. At least he wasn’t being an ass. I showed him the little security pad where we input the code when we came in. It wasn’t anything fancy. It just alerted the police if someone broke in. And the silent alarm was connected to it. I wouldn’ttrust it to keep anyone dangerous out, but it might deter them from doing anything stupid.

He grunted in what I assumed was approval before moving on. Only after he was sure everything was up to his standard did he let me unlock the door. Five minutes after we were supposed to open. Luckily, there was no one waiting to get in this early on a weekday.

“When does your coworker get here?”

“Regina? Noon today. Her husband has a doctor’s appointment she needed to take him to.”

He nodded and turned to head back to the computers, but I stopped him before he could wander off. “Ah-Ah! We aren’t done talking. I want to know what your plan is. Because if asshole Chase is going to come out to play today, I want a warning so I can kick you out.”

He smirked at me as he turned to face me again. “Think you can manage?”

“I think you’d be surprised.”

Him grinning at me still gave me butterflies, but I pushed the feeling aside. I was not going to let my head drift into the clouds about this. My feet remained firmly on the ground. Nothing was going to happen with Chase.

“Kinda wanna test you on that. I think it’d make me feel better about letting you out of my sight.” He practically purred it and leaned casually against the desk. I felt my blood heat little by little.

“Are you flirting with me?”

His face fell, and he straightened again, frowning. “No. I’m not gonna be an asshole. I’ll be around, keeping watch. If Trick or any of his buddies show up, press the damn alarm. I don’t care that I’m in here. I don’t want him thinking he can get close to you.”

He walked away without a backward glance. I sat there, stunned for a minute. That reaction was… odd. I mean, I was getting used to his moods switching on a dime, but he almost looked panicked at the thought.

My mind flicked back to everything I’d learned about Chase thus far. The sweetbutts said he never touched them, and they never saw him with anyone outside of the club. The old ladies said he was their shadow, followed them everywhere to protect them. And while he flirted with meeasily enough, if I brought it up, he’d shut back down again. Like he was scared to get too close and drag me down like Trick dragged down Hannah.

That irritated me. I wasn’t a teenage girl looking for trouble. I wasn’t going to make stupid decisions for a man. I didn’t like him constantly comparing me to her. Nor did I like the idea of him hiding away and avoiding relationships just to protect the world from him, like he was the big bad wolf or something. He wasn’t a bad guy. The right woman would be lucky to have him. But he was so determined to chase everyone away, the poor woman would never get the chance.

I huffed out a small laugh. His parents got it on the nose, naming him Chase.

I had to push thoughts of Chase’s hang ups aside for a while as a class of middle schoolers started coming in to browse for books for a project. I helped show a few around, steered a few more away from sections they didn’t need to be browsing. One was watching Chase almost avidly and no amount of shooing him away would make him stop. I wasn’t worried about Chase hurting kids, not when he was already so protective, but I didn’t want that kid thinking Chase was a good reference for bikers.

Chase must’ve noticed too, because he narrowed his eyes at the kid and beckoned him closer. I watched as the kid wandered over nervously. His teacher came up next to me, a deep frown on his face.

“Should we do something about that?”

I shook my head. “He’s a friend of mine. He doesn’t hurt kids. And he doesn’t like innocents getting involved with his crew. He’ll probably steer him away with a warning.”

I said that, but I still wandered over to listen to them talking after the teacher got distracted by two arguing students.

“My brother used to be in a crew. I want to ride a bike like he did.”

Chase hummed and studied the kid. “You said used to. Did he quit?”

The boy shook his head, and his eyes dropped to his feet. “He got hit by an asshole in a minivan. He wasn’t wearing a helmet.”

My heart broke for the little boy. I watched Chase soften, just a little, before masking it with a grunt.

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