Page 10 of Demure
Aodhan must’ve heard her approach, as he turned toward her even before she was standing next to him. She held out the book, ensuring she was a full arm’s length away, keeping her eyes on the book so she didn’t have to look at his face. “Can you let me know what subject this book is?”
Aodhan didn’t even blink. “It’s a religious book,” he replied, turning back to the book in his hands.
Sierra didn’t know what to think. First, she found out he knew how to read a language that had been dead for over 1400 years, and he didn’t even take time to study the title. It was like he just inherently knew it.
Not willing to talk to him more than necessary, Sierra turned to head back to her cart.
“Wait, can you tell me where this book goes?” He held out the book in his hands, his face as impossible to read as always.
Sierra plucked it from his outstretched hand, careful to avoid her skin touching his, noticing the cover label had worn off, just like the religious book she had brought to him. She flipped the book open to the first page.
“It’s an astrology book. I’ll take it to get relabeled, and I’ll reshelve it.”
Sierra figured that was the end of their conversation. But before she exited the aisle, she heard Aodhan say, “What’s astrology?”
Sierra spun back around, checking to ensure her mouth was hanging open. “You seriously can’t tell me that you can read old Gaelic but haven’t ever heard of astrology?”
In typical Aodhan fashion, he shrugged, turning back to the shelves, his face completely passive. Sierra didn’t bother to explain, choosing instead to go back to the front desk to have Mona relabel both books. Aodhan could figure out what astrology was on his own.
Chapter Seven
Sierra managed to avoid Aodhan the rest of Saturday, however, when she clocked in for her Sunday shift, she wasn’t so lucky. Aodhan was leaning against the wall right by the carts, clearly waiting for her when she arrived.
Ignoring him, Sierra went to grab a cart, only for Aodhan to wrap his fingers around her arm.
“Why are you so mean to me?” he demanded, his green eyes appearing darker than normal. His lips were pressed into a frown, which normally wouldn’t bother Sierra, but she had never seen him express anything but passivity, so this was something new.
Sierra looked down at where his hand encircled her forearm. His grip was warm and firm, and she could get away if she wanted with his arm in this position, but she was itching for a fight after having not slept well the night before, for the second night in a row, and decided to answer him instead.
“Why am I mean to you? You have been nothing but rude to me since we met! You act as if I’m nothing, and you basically called me stupid yesterday. You can’t seriously be suggesting that you don’t know why I don’t like you.”
Aodhan didn’t say anything for a moment, his green eyesassessing hers. He appeared to be having an internal debate. Finally, he said, “That doesn’t mean you have to be rude to me. I deserve respect.”
Sierra couldn’t help herself, she burst out laughing. “Oh my god, what century are you from, Aodhan? This isn’t 1750 anymore, women have rights. You don’t get the respect of a woman just because you were born a man.”
This seemed to confuse him, and he tilted his head to the side. “I still think you should respect me.”
Sierra shrugged. “Well, that’s just too damn bad. I’d love to not be a poor university student with no direction in life, but here we are. You don’t always get what you want, okay?” She looked down at where his hand was still on her arm. “If you would let go of my arm now, that would be great.”
His eyes narrowed, but he dropped her arm and Sierra quickly pulled her sleeve over her wrist. “You don’t like me? Well, I can assure you, the feeling is mutual,” he snapped.
“Good. If you don’t like me, then stay away from me,” Sierra retaliated, entirely unsurprised to find out they shared a mutual distaste for one another.
Aodhan opened his mouth to say something else, but Tyler chose that moment to arrive and dump his happy attitude on everyone in the vicinity.
“Hey, Sierra! Happy Sunday!” His grin was infectious, and Sierra couldn’t help but return it as she maneuvered the cart out from the wall, around Aodhan, and began to walk toward the other side of the library. Tyler fell into step beside her.
“Tyler! How was your Saturday?”
Tyler smiled. “Excellent. Went to a football game. You should’ve come.”
Sierra shook her head. “I told you that football wasn’t my thing. Plus, who else would shelve the books in your absence?”
Tyler laughed, opening and holding the door as she passed through with the cart. As Sierra turned around to face Tyler, shesaw Aodhan over his shoulder, still standing where they left him. But unlike before, when his eyes had been curious, they were now filled with rage. And he was looking right at her.
The morning portion of work went without incident, but as Sierra went to eat her lunch, Aodhan was once again taking up residence in the staff room at the table they all had to share. She grabbed the sandwich she had remembered to bring from home for once, and her jacket, before heading outside to lean against the wall and eat. At least it wasn’t raining cats and dogs today.
In between bites of her sandwich, she scrolled through her Facebook feed, silencing a call from her mother when it rang. She didn’t want to deal with her mother’s dramatics, not today. She had enough other things on her mind.
