Lib Novel Page 109
It bothers me. I feel like I’m staring at a puzzle. All the pieces are on the table, but I simply cannot put them together.
However, I can’t waste time dwelling on this right now. It is already half past one. I have to get my things and then go break into the archives room.
When I come back inside the building, I see Eve standing at the end of the hallway. She’s watching me with a strange expression on her face. I don’t want her to get suspicious, so I smile at her. “I just went to get some air.”
She doesn’t smile back, a troubled look forming on her face. Without a word, she quickly walks away, leaving me staring after her.
I don’t know what to make of that.
The changing room is empty when I get there. I grab my bag from the locker and change into my street clothes before leaving for the library. The streets have emptied; the one or two stragglers I do come across ignore me.
Still, I know that there is always somebody around. I slip into one of the alleys and take a shortcut out of sight of the main road.
I’m not dumb enough to pick the lock of the front entrance of the library. Instead, I sneak into the back garden. I pull out a few of the sharp hairpins I wear out of habit and study the lock.
It’s a pretty simple one.
I take out my cell phone and turn on the flashlight, balancing it on my bent knee. Hairpins at the ready, I’m peering at the lock to begin working on it when, suddenly, a heavy hand falls on my shoulder.
Chapter 21
Sophia Hope
A startled cry leaves my lips before the same hand clamps over my mouth.
“What are you doing out here?!”
I recognize Alex’s voice, and I look up at him, my heart pounding.
“Me?!” I glare at him, trying to ignore the way his hand feels as I push it away. “Are you trying to get me caught?! Stop sneaking around!”
My mate studies me with an amused look. “I’m not the one sneaking around, Sophia. And who breaks into a library?”
I flush. “Maybe I have the urge to read. Ever think about that?”
“At two in the morning?” Alex asks drolly. “Must be some reading material.”
I poke him in the leg with a hairpin. “Why don’t you scream and alert everybody in the damn vicinity while you’re at it!”
“I wasn’t—”
“Stop talking and go away. I’m busy.”
In response, he crouches next to me, silently refusing to leave.
I curse under my breath, and he whispers, “You’ve got a dirty mouth.”
I close my eyes, trying not to lose my patience by counting to ten.
“Are you stalking me, Alex?” I demand.
“No. I saw you leave the bar, and you weren’t heading home,” he replies steadily. “You looked like you were up to something.”
“No, I didn’t!”
He gives me a pointed look, inclining his head toward the back door of the library that he found me trying to open. “You’re right. It was just my imagination.”
He’s acting way out of character. And my urge to strangle him is growing stronger by the second.