While I was waiting to hear back from the jobs, I decided to go to the library and check out some books to improve myself. Men were assholes, books were better.
I debated between Discovering The Goddess Within or Erotic Crocheting For Beginners in the quiet hum of the library.
This was going to be the new me. Self-improvement, start lifting weights, maybe become a powerful corporate woman.
The kind of powerful corporate woman who could buy all Abraham’s land and grind his face under my heel.
Wait,what was that noise?
I was like a Pavlov’s dog with motorcycles now, but I had to stop getting all hot and bothered just because I heard a damn engine!
Just then a bike streaked by and I instantly felt myself go weak in the knees.
Because that was absolutely Abraham O’Sullivan, and it couldn’t be anybody else.
Massive size, dark beard, the harsh cold lines of his face.
What was he even doing in this part of town? This was hardly 1%er core territory, was it?
Maybe it was a coincidence. It had to be, right?
But no, Abraham was pulling over, looking around.
Like he knew I was here.
I put my books down in a rush at the front desk.
“I’ll come back for these,” I gasped.
Damn, he couldn’t be cominginside, could he?
Why would he do that?
I edged toward the back exit just as I saw him enter by the front.
The tattoos on his powerful arms edged out from under his T-shirt, but he wasn’t even wearing his cut.
For a moment I had to clutch the shelf, because he lookedvisiblydifferent.
It had only been a few weeks, but he looked shockingly gaunt. Although he was still massively broad-shouldered and powerful, there were dark circles under his eyes and he had lost so muchweight in his face that his cheekbones above the beard looked sunken in.
He bent down to talk to the librarian at the front desk, and I had a sudden, horrifying thought.
Was helooking for me?
I turned and got the hell out of there.
What would I even say to him?
What did you say to a man you’d poured so much love into but he thought of you as a “wet hole”?
I began to walk home, wishing I had a hat to hide my hair under, or at least some back way or maybe a hedge I could crawl under.
“Polly!” I heard a voice call from behind me. “Pollyanna!”
The voice tingled down my spine, but I ignored him, clenching my fists tighter and trying to walk faster.
“Polly,wait!”
