Page 8 of Triple the Secrets
“Sure,” Rogue said with a shrug. “You got some you want too?” he asked Gabe. Gabe nodded. “Let’s go check them out and we’ll go grab some ice cream before we go back to the compound.”
“Okay,” Ronin chirped happily. He skipped back to the desk, with Gabe and Rogue following behind him after Rogue grabbed the books he had on the table. “Can I take these, Ms. Scarlett, please?” he asked politely, giving her his most charming smile.
Scarlett grinned at him. “You sure can, Ronin. Do you have your library card with you?”
His face falls immediately. “No,” he said sadly.
“That’s okay,” Scarlett rushed to assure him. “We can just look your name up on the computer. How’s that?”
He immediately brightened and he smiled again. “Yes, please.”
“I brought mine with me,” Gabe said, putting his books up on the counter. “You can put them under my name if you like.”
Scarlett smiled. “Sure, we can do that.” She looked at Rogue. “Did you want to check out your books as well?”
Rogue shook his head. “Reading’s not my thing,” he said as he set the books down.
“Do you work on cars?” one of the twin girls asked him suddenly.
“No,” Scarlett said sharply, glaring at them. “You are not learning to drive right now. You have a year before you’re old enough to do your test.”
Both girls ignored her and watched him expectantly. He arched a brow at them. “I run a mechanic shop, so yes, I work on cars. Anything with an engine.”
“He’s the best mechanic there is around here,” Gabe chimed in. “My Papa said so.”
“So, could you, like, upgrade an engine to make it go so fast that not even the cops could catch you?” one of the girls asked curiously. He mentally called her Braid-Girl, because she had her hair in a braid, while the other had it in a ponytail. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to tell them apart. Even their clothes were the same.
“Don’t answer that,” Scarlett warned him as she scanned through the books. She glanced at him and the look in her eyes told him she would make him regret it if he did.
Deciding not to piss her off too much, he looked back at the girls and answered, “Never have before,” he told them. “Could be possible, but I wouldn’t be trying it out.”
They frowned at him. “Well that’s not exciting,” one whined.
“Scarlett got him with the look,” the other supplied, glaring at Scarlett.
“Don’t you mean Mom?” Scarlett said pointedly.
Both girls winced. “Sorry, Mom,” they said in unison.
Rogue eyed them and then slid his gaze to Scarlett. She held his stare briefly before looking at Gabe and Ronin. “Here you go, boys, you’re all set,” she told them with a smile.
“Thanks, Ms. Scarlett,” they both replied, with smiles of their own.
“Let’s go,” Rogue said to the boys. He nodded at Scarlett. “Ms. Scarlett.”
“Mr. Rogue,” she replied, her lips pulled back in a smirk.
He pinned her with a narrowed eyed glare. The one that normally had grown ass men backing down. She just pulled her lips up into a taunting smile. He didn’t know why, but her little acts of defiance amused him. Instead of answering her, he turned and led the boys outside to the SUV.
“Where are we going for ice cream?” Gabe asked as they climbed in, and he helped Ronin get buckled into his booster seat. “Jeanie’s?”
“Sure,” he agreed, though his mind was still on the sassy woman inside.
Those women were hiding something, and he wanted to know what, despite his resolve to not get involved. So he’d be having Code check in to her and see what he could find.
He pulled out of the lot and headed for the ice cream parlour. Right now, he had two hungry boys to feed, and he was more than happy to spoil their dinner and rile them up on sugar before sending them back to their parents.
That would teach them to pull this kind of stunt again.
