by Evelyn Glass
Bank statements from a bank they didn't bank with for a card she knew nothing about. Telephone statements for a number she didn't know. A ring with a strange sign on it that she'd never seen before. A bunch of letters with loopy handwriting on them. A woman?
She opened the first letter. Her fingers trembled when she did. She moved to the bottom of the letter. It was signed 'Love, A.' with a heart next to it.
Kylee's heart stopped. Was he cheating on her?
The doorbell rang, shocking through her, ripping her back to reality. She felt like she'd been caught in the act. She shoved all the papers and letters back into the file and returned it to the drawer under the book.
In her room, she stepped into kitten heels and looked in the mirror. Perfectly put together besides the haunted look in her eyes. She practiced a smile before walking to the door.
She kept that smile plastered on her face and opened the door. A man stood on the other side. He wore a brown suit with a mustard tie. He was handsome in a way that suggested he wasn't sure what to do with it.
"Mrs. Strickland?"
Kylee nodded.
"I'm Francis Roberts, your husband's lawyer."
She’d never heard of this man in her life. She wasn't aware they had a lawyer.
"Yes?"
"I was instructed that if your husband disappeared I was to collect a document from the home."
"Disappeared?" The lawyer was too calm about this.
"Yes, ma'am. Do you have the document for me?"
"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."
He frowned slightly. "That's strange. You are Annie Strickland, aren't you?
Blood drained from Kylee's face and for a moment the world went black.
I closed the manuscript and leaned back. Holy shit. This was more of a mystery than anything I'd ever read or studied before. And Selena had thought of it all. This just made me that much more determined to read it all and to get to know the woman that had written it. I opened it again and carried on reading, not caring about the time and all the other things I was supposed to be doing before I met her for lunch at twelve. I still had time. I could do it later.
Much later. I was the boss, right?
Chapter 5
Selena
It was impossible to concentrate. I had my book open in front of me and I was trying to write, but I knew Logan had the printed out manuscript and it was driving me crazy.
The only person I'd shown my work to at all were the ladies at the book club, and that was only because those were the rules. They showed their raw side and, in return, I did the same. It was different when the drop dead gorgeous biker I was thinking of using as a character was reading my stuff and judging me by it.
Every writer poured parts of her soul out onto the paper. We used our past and experiences. We didn't write them exactly but we liked to use them as inspiration. People who didn't write didn't understand that. There was a lot of mystery and murder and betrayal and lies and confusion in my book. I didn't want Logan to think any of that was part of me.
God, I shouldn't have cared what he thought about me at all. That had been easy when I'd been able to hide the sides of me I wasn't willing to show the public. It was different now that he was reading my work. I could see it like my diary - not the content but the fact that this was as much a key to my soul as anything. And the truth was even though I didn't care what he thought about me, I would have liked it if he thought something nice about me, at least. I wouldn't die without it but it really wouldn't have hurt, either.
It was a slow morning at the library. When my mind was this troubled I needed a lot of work to come in so I could distract myself. There was nothing. I'd already packed all the books back that had been checked in. I'd organized the entire biography section and I'd issued two new cards. And it was only twelve-thirty.
Alicia came into the library looking chipper. I glanced at her.
"Good morning, Selena," she said in a sing-song voice. "I got the notification that you sent a message concerning a wallet?"
Of course, Alicia automatically got all messages sent on the bulk line.
I nodded.
"And has Mr. Frost been back to retrieve it?" She tried to make it sound like a normal question but there was hope in her eyes.
I nodded again. "First thing this morning."
She looked slightly disappointed but forced a smile. "That's good. I'm glad you're so on top of things."
We both knew this wasn't about me at all, but whatever. I smiled at her, one that was completely fake, and she disappeared into her office. No doubt she wanted to see him again. I knew for a fact she wanted to do more than just see him. And here I was, about to go to lunch with him. Wasn't that just great. Of course, I wouldn't have gone if it hadn't been for the fact that he'd stolen my manuscript, but, of course, that was beside the point.
It was still an hour and a half until I could go and get my work back. An hour and a half until I could see how much of my dignity was stripped away after he told me what he thought of my book.
Finally, the time came for me to go to lunch. I popped my head into Alicia's office. "I'm taking lunch now. I'll be back in an hour."
She nodded without looking up at me. She would man the front desk if it came down to it. I walked out through the front door and to The Crepe Place. It was only two blocks or so, easy to reach by foot.
The front door had an awning over it that said The Crepe Place and I opened it. Friendly faces greeted me when I walked in.
"Hello, Selena." Paulie was a waiter I saw every time I went there for lunch. He had floppy hair that fell over a geeky face and glasses that were the only reason his hair wasn’t permanently in his eyes. "Table for one or are you just grabbing a takeaway?"
"Actually, I'm meeting someone."
He looked around.
I followed his gaze and saw Logan sitting at a table in the back. "There he is, thanks."
Paulie's face fell and he nodded. I walked through the tables. The Crepe Place was a homey kind of place you could take your whole family. The walls were all wood, one of them covered with pictures. The bar at the back had a whole counter with alcohol on the back. This was the kind of place for anyone and everyone.
I walked to the table where Logan sat reading my manuscript. My stomach flipped a little. I really didn't like it when other people saw my work. It really wasn't anywhere near good enough.
He looked up when I stopped in front of the wooden table and smiled when he saw me. He smelled like cigarette smoke but I hadn't actually seen him smoke - maybe he was one of those guys who wouldn't do it in front of a lady. Imagine if men still had manners like that.
"I knew you would come."
"You didn't really give me a choice, did you?"
"You always have a choice."
I snorted. "Right. I'm going to let you hold onto that." I held out my hand. "I'm here now, just like you wanted. You can give it back. That was our bargain."
He blinked at me, not making a move to hand anything to me. It was irritating. My fingers were itching. I needed that manuscript back.
"What happens in the end?"
I looked at him with a slight frown. "What?" I reached over the table and put my hand on the manuscript. I slowly slid it toward me. He didn't make a move to stop me. Thank God. I pulled the manuscript slowly across the table until it was right in front of me, and then I could relax. It had been horrible having it in someone else's possession. "I don't know what happens in the end yet."
He frowned. "You don't have some kind of plan?"
I shook my head. "This might be where my writer's block comes from. I don't have a set plan. I have an idea where I want it to lead but I don't know what the characters are going to do until they do it."
"Right now she's stuck with a gun against her head."
I nodded. I hadn't printed out the bit with the scalpel yet; I wanted to do some major editing.
"Let's hope she gets out of it alive. It would
suck ending the story there."
He pulled a face. "You're really a good writer."
"God, don't say that."
Paulie arrived with two menus. He put one down in front of each of us. "What can I get you to drink?"
"Just water, please, Paulie," I smiled up at him.
He nodded and looked at Logan. He looked slightly irritated but whatever.
"Coffee, please."
Paulie scribbled something down. "I'll come back once you decided what you're eating." He turned away.
"Friend of yours?"
I shrugged. "If you pay attention to the people around you, you'll find there are a lot of friends to be had."
Logan raised his eyebrows. "That's not how it works in my world, sweetheart."
"Well, your world must be a very lonely place."
He thought about that for a moment and his face changed, emotion flickering across it too fast for me to read.
"I want to know how it ends, though. Will you let me read the ending?"
I folded my arms over my chest. Paulie came back with the coffee and water. I watched Logan stir in sugar and milk.
"I didn't realize I had a choice in the matter."
He sighed. "You didn't before because I know you probably hate your own work. Also, I wanted to see you again and you were probably going to say no. It was a double whammy. But now that you know I think it's a great book and I want to read more maybe you'll let me."
The girls at the writing club didn't do a lot of complimenting. We pulled each other's writing apart on technicalities. It was one of the reasons why it worked so well. No one else had read my stuff, which meant no one else had ever commented on my writing. I hated it but that was just me.
"Do you really think it's that good?"
"Really."
I narrowed my eyes at him. He wasn't joking. His face was serious, his eyes sincere - if that was something that was possible at all.
I put my hands flat on the table and stared at them for a moment. I didn't want to sound like I was fishing for compliments but I wanted to know what he thought. Precisely. "What did you like about it?"
I looked up at him after I asked the questions. He smiled at me and it was genuine, lighting up his face and going all the way to his eyes.
"The way you set up the mystery is great. Kept me hooked all the way through. And your style is easy to read. Conversational. I love books like that."
"You read often?" It was a very educated comment.
He shrugged. "I've read a couple of books."
"Only a couple?" Somehow I didn't believe him. He talked like an avid reader, not like a biker who was next to illiterate.
He shrugged. "I love your main character. She's feisty and strong, but unassuming. She sounds like she could be a stunning person to hang out with. A lot like you."
I felt myself blushing and couldn't help but smile. I'd come here expecting him to be an asshole, thinking he would probably say something offensive. I knew he was charming. I hadn't expected to respond to it. He made me feel warm inside.
When I looked at him again he was smiling, too. He knew he'd gotten me. I wanted to get annoyed about it but I let it go. So he was charming. So it had worked. It was once. It was all right.
"What else did you think?"
He looked at the manuscript in front of me as if he could picture the pages again. Before he could answer me I asked another question.
"Did you read the entire thing?"
He nodded. That was some damn fast reading. It confirmed to me that he didn't just read 'now and then' like he'd said. This man read a lot more. A sexy biker with tattoos all over his arms and the side of his neck and leather all over the place that read a lot. I could understand why he was trying to deny it.
"It wasn't finished," he said like that was some kind of excuse for him to have read almost two hundred pages in one sitting. "And the main character is well developed but I don't like the male lead character. That little lawyer. She needs someone stronger and more confident."
"Like who?"
He leaned back and flashed me a skew grin. "Like a biker."
Of course. I rolled my eyes but smiled. "Because a biker is the best type of guy, right?"
"If your life needs some spice and you're way too good for what you do, yes."
I wasn't so sure we were still talking about my main character. It felt a little like he was maybe referring to me.
"Will you let me read more when I come to the library to check out my books?" He looked at me with puppy dog eyes that should have looked stupid on a biker but that he managed to pull off.
"You still have fines to pay. You can't check anything out until they're paid."
"Come on, your boss made sure they went away."
I shook my head. "She made sure I made them go away. And it's not like I'm just going to let this slide. It's the principle of the thing."
He grinned at me again, making me feel like I was going to falter.
"Why did you have such a big fine of children's DVDs - of all things - in the first place?"
He shrugged. "Isn't what I check out supposed to be personal?"
"Isn't someone's manuscript supposed to be personal?"
He nodded at me. "Touché."
I folded my arms over my chest again.
"How about I tell you if you come out with me."
"What?" He was trying to force me to do things all the time. "Isn't this getting a little old?"
He shrugged. Maybe it wasn't getting old for him. Maybe this kind of thing worked for him all the time. The problem was that it had worked even with me, but I had to get my manuscript.
"If this is how you go about getting girls I'm surprised you're so popular. Manipulation isn't attractive on a man."
"Yeah, you say things like that all the time. Manipulation isn't attractive, a man who loves himself too much isn't attractive...do you have a list you're working through?"
I shook my head. "Just standards."
He made an O with his mouth and shook his head. "You're something, you know that?"
I shrugged, fighting another blush.
"Of course, you're the master and commander of words, so it makes sense that you can put me back in place with them so easily."
I was blushing again, dammit. "Are you always this generous with compliments, Logan, or is it just with me because you're pretty sure I don't like you?"
He grinned. "What? You don't like me?"
I couldn't help but smile. He was really attractive, funny, and his confidence just added to it. The fact was that I did like him, but I didn't want him to know that. I didn't want him to think he could do all of this and think it would work to make me see him. Even though it already did.
"Come out to dinner with me. Let me take you on a real date."
"For information, right? Because nothing here is for free."
He grinned and nodded. "To know why I had five DVDs on my name. Children's DVDs."
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He wasn't going to let this one go. And I didn't want to let it go either. I really did want to know. There was something about this guy that was just completely different from what he seemed to be when I first met him. He read he had comments on writing that were quite well informed, and he had secrets like Children's DVDs that didn't add up. And I was a sucker for mysteries.
This was the biggest mystery I'd ever seen.
"I thought you were interested in Alicia," I said, trying to steer the conversation away from the obvious answer I was about to give. I needed a reason not to be interested in him, and knowing he'd been with other women was enough to kill my attraction to him.
He shook his head. "Honestly? That was just because I wanted to get out of those fines. I can, so I did."
"So you didn't take her home with you? You two left the library together."
"God, no." His answer was so quick and so strong I was willing to believe him, but he carried on. "I know I'm a fast worker but there woul
dn't exactly have been time to go to my place, have at it, and get back to pick up my wallet - just after closing time." He emphasized the last bit. I had to admit I'd been a pain in the ass there. I would do it again, too, if it came down to it.
"So, you just used her?"
He sighed. "Do you want me to say yes? Because I'll say it. I used her shamelessly to get out of a couple of dollars for a fine. Are you happy now?"
