Their Paid Girl

Their Paid Girl - Part 9

                                                                                           ***

          I stared hard at my textbook, eyes glazed over, not taking a single word in. It was eleven o’clock in the evening, and though the campus library was open 24/7, it was nearly deserted by now. It was just the beginning of second semester, which meant that no big tests or exams were looming, so most people were out with friends.

          Except me.

          I sighed and let my face fall onto the book, feeling my long lashes scrape the pages. I had a paper to write, but it wasn’t going so well due to the sluggish pace that my brain was working at. So I stayed where I was, content for the moment to lie there, face-first on a library desk, hidden in the labyrinth of bookshelves.

I inhaled the scent of the book – it smelled disgusting. It was a used textbook too, so I had no idea of the places it had been. But I was so tired and discouraged, and on top of that getting sicker by the minute, that I couldn’t be bothered to lift my head.

          I felt a sneeze coming and screwed up my face, but my body was so drained of energy that it ended up being a very pathetic, half-hearted sneeze.

          “Bless you.”

          “Thanks,” I mumbled automatically, face-down in the book.

          But then the voice registered, and I stiffened. Oh sweet heavens.

          All of a sudden, my brain whirred to life. Should I stay where I was and fake sleep? No, that hadn’t deterred Esther from peeling the lids back from my eyeballs, and he was just as stubborn as she was. If he needed to talk to me, there was no way I was getting out of it.

          So I did what I was good at.

          I ignored Adam.

          I felt his presence hovering over me, but I studiously refused to lift my head. Images of unlawful substances being dumped on me, or being forced out the window, flashed through my head. I was very much awake from my lethargic state by now, and was dreading the moment that I had to find out what had brought Adam to the library of all places. He probably hadn’t been in one since his kindergarten days.

          Truth was, I was kind of terrified. I didn’t know about the others, but Adam’s promise earlier today, about me regretting my actions, had sounded an awful lot like a threat. Promises for revenge.

          Suddenly I heard the soft scrape of a chair on the carpet surface, before his body hit the wood. Darn it. That sounded like he planned to say here for awhile. I felt him in front of me, mere inches away, and I still stubbornly remained buried in the book. Literally.

          There was a silence for several moments before his deep baritone carried over to me, surprisingly pleasant and low in the hush of the library.

          “You sure have an unhealthy thing for face-planting inanimate objects.”

          My scowl was wasted on the textbook, but I stayed where I was and didn’t respond.

          I heard Adam gave a frustrated sigh, which also sounded low and masculine – which was strange, because the guy was just exhaling air. My mind was wandering, and I blamed it on my stuffy nose.

          I felt another sneeze coming and quietly panicked, hating to sneeze in public. But try as I might, the resulting a-choo was very noticeable.