The kids all shouted together, "The second goat!"
"That's right It's me, the second Billy Goat Gruff,' said the goat. 'I'm going to the meadow to eat grass for winter."
"You can't cross my bridge," Logan said in a loud voice. This time I expected it and it didn't startle me. "I'm going to gobble you up."
"'Oh, no. You can't eat me. I'm not nearly big enough,' the second Billy Goat Gruff said in a voice that was a little deeper than the first Billy Goat Gruff's voice. 'Wait for the third Billy Goat. He's much bigger than I am. I still need to get fat.'"
"Fine," Logan huffed.
"The third Billy Goat Gruff came over the bridge," I carried on. "Trip, Trap, Trip, Trap."
"Who's tripping on my bridge?" Logan was really into it now.
"It's me, the third Billy Goat Gruff and I'm going to the pasture to eat.' His voice was strong and loud and fearsome."
"Oh no you don't. I'm going to gobble you up," Troll Logan said.
"The third Billy Goat Gruff wasn't scared because he was big enough. He bleated loudly and his voice was like thunder. 'You're not going to eat me. If you try I'm going to poke your eyes with my horns and I'm going to crush you with my hooves.'”
"I'd like to see you try."
"The troll came out of his lair under the bridge and tried to eat the third Billy Goat Gruff, but just as he'd promised, the third Billy Goat Gruff poked the troll in the eyes with his horns."
Logan clutched his eyes and stumbled around. The kids were hysterical laughing at it.
"He trampled the troll with his hooves and the troll fell down the mountainside and into a ditch where he couldn't reach any goats to eat them anymore. For all his meanness, all the troll had left now was pain."
Logan had rolled onto the floor and played dead. He peeked at me with one eye. I wondered if he caught the double meaning to my story. When he sat up the kids all clapped their little hands and smiled and I had to admit that entertaining them and making them smile really was a great feeling. Logan got up and dusted himself.
"Do you guys think I'm a bad troll?" Logan asked.
"Yes!" The kids cried in unison.
Logan feigned offense and they laughed. The other bikers were laughing, too. The one that had been standing next to Logan with the serious eyes looked at me as if he was trying to size me up. I wasn't sure what his deal was. I had the feeling he was measuring me to see if I was found wanting. I wished I knew.
"Isn't she amazing?" Logan asked, putting an arm around my waist.
"She is your girlfriend!" One of the boys shouted.
Logan laughed and nodded.
I stepped away from him and smiled but I felt uncomfortable. I still didn't know how I felt about everything that had happened. We still needed to talk. I didn't want to be seen as his girlfriend without us talking about what happened, without him even asking me officially. Sure, they were just kids, but his friends were here, too. Call me old-fashioned but I wanted it done the right way.
The caregiver came out and called the kids in for a movie. The bikers started clearing their bikes and equipment and I helped, closing the books and stacking them in a pile by the door.
When everything was packed away Logan walked toward me. "Thanks for doing this. The kids loved the story."
He leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine. The kiss was unexpected and I was still angry but I didn't push him away right away the way I should have. He still had that seriously magnetic pull to him that made me want to kiss him back and keep kissing him until there was no kissing left to do.
I managed to break the kiss after a moment. I raised my eyebrows at him. "It was a pleasure doing it for them, but you didn't really give me much choice."
"I wanted to surprise you."
I nodded. "You did. I was very impressed when the address brought me here. I was less impressed with you volunteering me for something, volunteering a relationship status that's not necessarily true."
Logan frowned for just a second before smiling again, the kind of smile that made me melt all the way into my shoes. Stop it, I willed without saying anything out loud. At this rate he was going to woo me right back into his bed without talking about anything at all, and that wouldn't do.
"I'd like to talk about last night," I said.
Logan nodded. "Let's do it over dinner."
I shook my head. "You're not going to get me like that again. Did you think I was just going to have dinner with you, a repeat of last night without us fixing this?"
He shook his head. "I would love to have a repeat of last night, but I really just want to spend time with you." His face was open and sincere, none of the arrogance and charm I knew he could use on me. I would accept it.
"If you want to spend time with me you're going to have to come to the library. I have to go back. I have the evening shift tonight."
Logan nodded. "I'll follow you there. I have nowhere else to go after this and those books need to be returned." He cocked half a smile. "Before I get a fine."
I rolled my eyes but couldn't help smiling. "Let me call a cab. You can follow me there."
He nodded and walked to his bike while I dialed a car to come pick me up.
He waited with me, sitting on his bike. The others all said their goodbyes with claps on his shoulder and manly handshakes and drove off with a roar. I frowned, looking after them.
"You didn't introduce me to them."
He looked at me, grinning. "I didn't think you wanted to be introduced to them. I thought you wanted to talk about where we stand first."
I shook my head, irritated. He was right, I was falling around a little bit, but if the same thing happened and it was me and Joanne I would have introduced her to him and vice versa.
"I'll introduce you to them when the time is right, but the boys are all a little rough around the edges. Just give it time."
I shrugged. I wasn't sure what that meant but the fact that he was asking for time in our relationship - or whatever it was - made me feel like we were on the same page about something, at least. We were going to give it time and see how it went. That was what I got out of it and it made me happy.
The car pulled up and I got in. I waved at Logan through the window and gave the driver the library address. When we pulled off I heard the growl of Logan's motorbike behind us. I looked out the window at the passing scenery. My life had been drab and dull for so long, this adventure with Logan in the picture was a thrill. I was still skeptical and unsure about him, but this was already a hell of a lot better than what I'd had before. I'd had some guys in my life but most of those relationships had either been awkward or very one-sided. Whatever this was with Logan - given that what happened last night had just been a mistake - was already so much better than before.
At some point along the way I realized I didn't hear the motorbike anymore. I looked over my shoulder out of the back window. He wasn't behind us and he wasn't a number of cars back, either. I thought about the call before we'd gone to the restaurant and the fact that he'd asked me to meet him there. That, combined with the message he'd gotten and my theory that he might have been with someone else before he met me surfaced again and I was suddenly pissed all over again.
Who the hell did he think he was? He asked me to meet him on my time, but I couldn't ask the same with him. He told me to come and when he did I had to come as if I was summoned, but in return he did whatever he wanted and he kept me waiting until after he was done with whatever he felt like doing.
This was bullshit. Why the hell did I always end up with losers? Did I have some kind of sign on my back asking people to take advantage of me and discard my feelings as a human being?
I huffed, folding my arms over my chest and glaring at any pedestrian we passed. There was no way I was going to be give Logan the time of day anymore. He was going to bring to books to the library tonight - after he was done with whatever he was so busy doing he couldn't accompany me to the library like he'd said he would - and then I was goi
ng to treat him like any other customer and not someone more than that, something special. I definitely wasn't going to treat him like the person I thought he could be in my life.
No, no one messed with Selena that way. I was pissed off and tired of being messed around. I was good at being alone. I had books and writing and the few people I dared call friends. I didn't need some asshole to fill in the gaps only to break my heart later. Or sooner, given how quickly I fell for Logan.
Of course, my falling for him had just been because of his charm. Maybe it had felt like some kind of feat to win him over, take him away from Alicia. I had just been fooling myself, obviously. The only person playing this game the right way was Logan. The rest of us were being played and he got away with it with a cocky grin and drowning deep eyes that made me forget about all my resolutions when it came down to it.
The car pulled up in front of the library and I paid the driver. I got out and walked up the steps. A new lady was behind the counter and she smiled at me when I walked in.
"You're just on time," she said and hurried out the door.
Well, that was my shift, then. Another lonely night where I was going to have way too much time on my hands to think about the son of a bitch that had the nerve to mess me around.
Logan. What an appropriate name.
Chapter 14
Logan
Just following her back to work seemed so empty. I wanted her to realize how much she was worth and how much I appreciated what she'd done today. Those children had eaten her story up - even though there was symbolism of me being a selfish ass in it with her making me the troll - and I wanted her to understand how special she was.
Halfway to the library, driving behind her, I decided to do a detour. I turned off and drove to a flower shop. I knew the owner - her husband was in my gang and whenever I bought I went there to support them.
"Hello, Logan," Vicky said when I walked into the shop.
"Vicky, beautiful as ever." He held out my hands and then hugged her. "I'm here to bring you some business."
She nodded and looked around. "Well, you can see what I have here. What do you have in mind?"
I looked around, too. Roses, tulips, daisies, lilies, you name it, Vicky had it all.
"It's for a special lady and I want to buy as much of it as I can carry on my bike. She's at work now. I want to surprise her. She might or might not be upset with me."
Vicky put her hands on her hips like a mother would do. "Upset? With you?" She smiled teasingly. "I can't imagine why a woman would be upset with you."
I laughed and shook my head.
"Is she a friend or a lover?"
I hesitated. She was a lot more than just a friend but a lover wasn't the right word for Selena. The fact was that the more I thought about it, the more I wanted her to be a more than a lover, too.
"That complicated?" Vicky asked. "Or that serious?"
I looked at her and she nodded, knowing.
"I would suggest all red roses, then. They're for love, you know."
"And if it's not love yet?"
She eyed me. "Do you want it to be?"
I would never had admitted something like this to any of the boys, not even Saul in so many words, but Vicky was a woman. She knew what our lives were like, she knew me, and she would understand.
"I really do."
She smiled. "I'll start loading them into your saddle bags and let you know how much it comes to."
I smiled at her. "You're a saint, Vicky."
She moved in and out of the shop, choosing flowers from buckets, disregarding ones that looked a little limp. She walked in and out about six times before she came in, wiping her hands on her apron. "That's it. I don't think you'd be able to do any more unless you're holding one in your teeth."
I grinned, thinking about it. That would make a statement but I shook my head. "I think this should do."
I paid her with my card. When I went to my bike I laughed. There were flowers everywhere. My mean bike had red roses spilling out of every possible bag and it looked like Valentine's day and Highway to Hell had collided. I got onto the bike, started it up and drove back to the library. I drove a lot slower so I didn't damage the flowers.
When I parked in front of the library I took out the flowers and bunched them in my arms. Thorns stuck into my skin and I swore under my breath but I was going to do this. I walked through the door. An old lady was just on her way out and she ogled me like I'd escaped from the circus. Maybe I really looked like it. A biker with a bunch of roses could easily be classified as a clown.
I could just see Selena over all the roses. She looked up at me and she looked pissed. Her blue eyes were dark and dangerous and she wore her don't-fuck-with-me face. When she saw me, though, she burst out laughing. The sound of her laughter was beautiful and her face lit up like a Christmas tree.
"What are you doing?" she asked, her hand over her mouth so the words were a little muffled.
"I'm bringing you flowers." I put them all on the counter and rubbed my bare arms. There were red splotches everywhere the roses had scratched me.
Selena extended a hand to the flowers and touched them. "They're beautiful."
The office door opened and Alicia stepped out of her office. When she saw me her face changed and she looked genuinely happy to see me. Oh boy. She looked at the roses and her face fell, and then she looked at Selena, smiling, and anger replaced everything else. "What the hell is going on here?"
She marched toward us and I caught a glimpse of the woman Selena reported to, not the one that had waived my fines.
"I brought Selena some flowers," I said.
She glared at me. She turned to Selena and put her hands on her hips. It was so different from what Vicky had done in the shop not half an hour ago.
"You're really starting to slip, Selena. You were always such a good employee but lately you're really messing up. First, you're late to open the library this evening and then this? This is not personal time; this is your workplace. If you carry on this trend I'm going to have to give you a written warning. I should do it right now, in fact."
Whoa. She was going a bit mental. Was this her being a normal pain in the ass or was she jealous? I was willing to bet I was staring into the face of the green monster.
"I've been doing everything the way I should. There are no complaints," Selena said calmly. I had the idea this happened more often, judging by her reaction.
"It's bad enough you write on my time."
"Please, Alicia," I started but she talked right over me.
"You better make sure this mess is cleaned up before another card holder comes in. This is not a dating club; this is a library.
"I'll help her clear it up," I said.
Alicia ignored me. She really was being a bitch.
"I'm going home. If you don't pick up your socks, you and I are going to sit down and have a chat about your future at the library. Your review is coming up. It would be best if you kept that in mind." She turned on her heel and marched out the door.
I looked at Selena, eyebrows raised. "That was intense."
Selena sighed. "She has her moments. She's the queen of this little world."
"The Queen of Hearts?" I asked.
She smiled and touched her neck. "Off with my head."
She helped me bundle up all the roses again and we put them back in my saddlebags. I promised I would take them to her home for her a bit later so Miss Bitch wouldn't get her panties up in a twist again. More customers came in. Some checked out books after deciding. One of them asked Selena about a book and she disappeared between the shelves to help the gentleman. I leaned against the counter, looking over all the papers that were in the in and out trays. How she worked here day in day out was beyond me. I would be bored to death.
Then again, she had her worlds to escape to, writing every day. That was something I could see would be interesting. If I had the time and patience, if my life had been different, something like that would a
ppeal to me. Of course, it was a lot sexier that Selena was the writer who worked in a library and was completely unassuming. She had no idea what effect she had on me, even when she was scanning books.
She came back to her desk. I watched her walk, watched her hips sway from side to side and I had to readjust my pants. I knew she'd forgiven me after she'd accepted my roses, but that didn't mean that doing it in the public library would be any good.
Although...I looked around. There were storage rooms in place like these, right?
"What are you thinking about?" Selena asked.
I looked at her without saying anything. After a moment she smiled, understanding, and her cheeks colored. I was halfway there. Now, if only it was something she wanted...she turned her attention back to the book she was busy with on the system. I watched her intently. She bit her bottom lip - the telltale sign of a lot of women that they liked the idea that man was thinking about them naked and maybe they were thinking about it, too.
Hard Ride: A Motorcycle Club Romance (The Fallen Thorns MC) (Whiskey Bad Boys Book 2) Page 11
