Page 10 of Off Limits

“It is. I found it at The Book Nook.”

“The used bookstore downtown?” he asked, scanning the page. “The one in that old Victorian-style house off Market Street?”

“Yup. I found most of those there.” I motioned to the boxes. “Have you read it?”

The book in question was an older Ursula LeGuin title that was one of my comfort reads. Not many people I knew had even heard of it, even though it was a cult classic.

“Years ago,” Zander said, absently flipping through the pages. “I loved it.”

“I think he’s found his next read.” Luka grinned.

“You don’t mind? This could be a collector’s item.” Zander asked me.

“Of course not. I don’t buy books to look at. They’re for reading.” I smiled, feeling more relaxed than I had in days.Talking about books had that effect on me, but outside of Zander, I didn’t really have any other book enthusiasts to geek out with. “Just don’t dog-ear the pages.”

“I’d never do that,” he promised. “Only sociopaths dog-ear pages.”

“Does that mean fold the page over to keep your place?” Luka asked, glancing between us. “Because I do that.”

Zander and I gaped at him.

“What? Why are you staring at me like I just confessed to sacrificing puppies?” Luka asked.

“Because they invented bookmarks for a reason,” I said.

“Who actually has bookmarks lying around?” Luka asked.

I raised my hand as Zander pointed to a metallic feather bookmark on one of the shelves of his bookcase.

“Okay, so I was today years old when I learned that folding the pages of books is bad.” He put up his hands in mock surrender. “I swear I’ll never do it again.”

“I’m holding you responsible for any folded pages,” I said to Zander. “You’d better keep your boy in line.”

Luka’s cheeks flushed pink, and Zander shot me a smirky grin. “I’ll make sure he behaves.”

The tension between the two men was so thick it was almost palpable. And something told me the blush on Luka’s cheeks wasn’t just from my comment.

Yup, that was my cue to leave.

“Thanks again,” I said to Zander.

“It’s not a problem.” He followed me to the front hallway. “Let me know if there’s anything else you need or if there’s something we can do to help.”

“I will,” I said, once again lying through my teeth. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See ya,” Luka said.

“Have a good night.” Zander’s expression told me he knew I wasn’t being completely honest about what was going on, but he thankfully didn’t push me on it.

Once I was back in my car, I cranked the engine and was about to pull away from the curb when my phone vibrated with a notification.

Throwing the car into park, I dug my phone out of my pocket and checked my texts. My dad had finally gotten back to me. I quickly unlocked it and opened our message thread so I could catch him before he put his phone down.

Asa: can I stop over to talk to you about something?

Dad: sure. How about Thursday around seven?

I pursed my lips. Thursday was eviction day. I needed answers before I found myself on the street.

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