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Glancing at me, he motioned after them. “Did you see that shit? They do it all the fucking time too. Just go off in their own little world as if no one else exists. It’s plain rude is what it is. I mean, it wouldn’t be so bad if she’d sleep with me already. But no…”

He lifted his hands and shook them as if feigning fear.

“We can’t have that. Sex with Dugger is some kind of big, taboo no-no.” He sniffed. “Who cares about the fact I could totally rock her world? Just ask that chick right there. I got her off three times in one night.”

As he motioned at some girl who’d entered the library and was heading toward the computer lab, I frowned in jealousy.

“ Sasha knows how good of a lay I am. Don’t you, baby girl?”

When Sasha glanced over at her name being called and saw him, she grinned and waved, blowing him a kiss.

He winked at her and went right back to talking to me. “Xander’s just prejudiced. That’s what she is. She clearly has something against guys who’re good in bed.”

As he ranted on about the fact that Xander wouldn’t sleep with him, and she was stealing his best friend right out from under his nose, my phone vibrated in my pocket with an incoming message. I pulled it free to check the screen, only to find a text from my mom.

Hey, sweetie. Dad and I are heading out of town for the weekend to see a show in Houston. Don’t forget to pick up Gates from the sitter. He can stay awake until ten, but no popcorn, remember. It’ll get stuck in his braces. Thanks, love you. We’ll be home Sunday night.

Ugh.

I knew the message shouldn’t bother me since babysitting actually gave me something to do, but her words made me feel crappy, anyway.

Because she didn’t even ask anymore if I could watch my brother.

She just automatically assumed I had no other plans.

No life. Nothing to do but serve her however she needed.

It was completely beside the point I never did have any plans and I, in fact, had no life whatsoever. It’d still be nice if she’d at least ask and make me feel as if I might have some semblance of a social calendar.

I mean, what if I’d said yes to Xander’s invitation to go to her party?

What would Mom have done then?

She and Dad were probably halfway to Houston by now, too, just completely taking me for granted.

“Hey!” A palm smacked down in front of me with a loud thwap, making me jump. “Are you even listening?”

I scowled over at Keene, who was still sitting on the counter of the damn checkout station as if he owned it.

“What is wrong with you?” he demanded irritably.

I narrowed my eyes. “Nothing. Will you get off from there already,” I snapped. “It’s a counter, not a damn chair. And throw that away.” Motioning to the apple core in his hand, I said, “There’s no eating in this section of the library.”

“ There she is,” he murmured as if relieved I was back to my usual, crabby self again.

“That’s more like it.” Aiming at the trash can located behind my desk, he took his shot, and the apple remains flew through the air before landing perfectly in the basket.

“And it’s good!” he cheered, lifting his arms to boost his own ego.

I sighed dryly. He seriously had to be the most immature, idiotic, hound dog of a genius I’d ever met.

It truly perplexed me why my body had any interest in him at all.

Until his proud grin veered my way, making my stomach do that dippy thing again, sending a ripple through my insides that made me want to shudder and curl my toes.

“Happy now?” he asked.

As long as he stayed right where he was, looking just as he did, then yes. I was happy—er, as happy as I ever got, anyway.

But I scowled back instead. “Ecstatic,” I muttered.

Keene was definitely one of those super-hot boys.

His dark hair was styled with a short cut on the sides and a tad bit longer up top.

And his jaw was covered by a sexy amount of scruff—too much to be considered a five-o’clock shadow but not enough to be called a full beard.

His lashes were long, his eyebrows expressively attractive, and his lips…

I found myself looking at his lips way too often.

It was no wonder why he never had any trouble finding bed buddies.

He was absolutely beautiful. And he was always on the hunt for some new girl to sleep with him.

The jerk chased after absolutely everyone.

He didn’t seem to discriminate either. As long as she had a pair of double X chromosomes, he was on her case.

Keene Dugger had to be the horniest person I’d ever met. A grade A fuckboy.

Which might be the biggest reason why I hated him. Because the one and only girl I’d ever known for him not to try to sleep with was me.

It was humiliating and painful and constantly reminded me I was absolutely no one.

The sting of his rejection might not have been so bad if he hadn’t even known I existed.

Then there would’ve been a valid reason for his apathy.

Nearly everyone looked right past me, not even seeing me.

But Keene saw me. He acknowledged me. He even talked to me, which was probably reason number one why I had such a big, dreamy crush on him in the first place.

My hormones really could not handle that level of hotness looking directly at me and saying words to my face.

But since the moment he laid eyes on me last year at this very counter, he’d never once hit on me or done anything flirty in my direction.

Deflating at my scowl, he frowned right back. “Seriously, are you ever going to tell me why you hate me so much?”

I scoffed. “If you can’t figure it out, you don’t deserve to know.”

“Jesus, Frankie. You’re no fun.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s too bad since entertaining you is what I live for. And stop calling me that. You’re not allowed to use that name. That’s Xander’s nickname.”

I wasn’t even sure I wanted Xander using it. Except I kind of did. It made me feel…seen. Which I usually didn’t like. But when she saw me, I liked it.

In front of me, Keene’s gaze lit with challenge. “Oh, that is the only thing I’m going to…” His voice trailed off as something behind me caught his attention. When his eyes flared slightly, I started to turn to see what he was gaping at because I was the only one currently working at this station.

But he clapped his hands suddenly, making me jump and jerk back to see what his problem was.

“Frankie Frank,” he taunted. “ Library Girl is a thing of the past. I officially dub thee Frances Franklin Franks, aka, Frankie.” He swirled a hand around as if using an imaginary sword to tap the tops of my shoulders and make the title official.

I had to admit I wouldn’t miss Library Girl.

That was a moniker that made me feel about as low as a person could.

I mean, could no one remember Waverly ? I knew it took up three whole syllables to say, and who could be bothered with a mouthful like that?

But Library Girl took up four syllables, dammit.

Still.

Frankie?

Surely, there was something else better out there.

Anywhere.

Blinking at Keene dryly, I deadpanned, “Joy.”

He pointed. “See. I knew you’d come around.” Smirking as if he’d actually won that round, he jumped off the counter to leave and bounced his eyebrows at me. “Catch you at the party later tonight,” he said, only to snicker. “Oh, wait. No, I won’t.”

And chuckling to himself, he turned away to stroll off in the direction Alec and Xander had gone.

“What an ass,” I muttered to myself as I scowled after him, only to heave out a sad sigh.

Because seriously, what an ass . It was the perfect taut roundness that shifted in a way with every step he took and made my mouth start to water and my fingers itch with the need to grab. But I’d never be allowed near it because Keene Dugger had no interest in me whatsoever.

Most of the time, I didn’t mind being a drab, dull nobody that people tended not to see or hear because I really did hate an overabundance of attention.

It made me nervous and twitchy. My thoughts blanked out, my mind liquefied to mush, my tongue stopped working, and I turned into a complete ninny.

I liked being left alone so I could do my own thing in blessed peace and quiet.

But this was one of those times being a dull, drab no one did not work in my favor, because it meant I’d never get a taste of Keene Dugger.

I was so going to grow old, alone and unloved, with no one to blame but my own timid, introverted self, who was too afraid to reach out and simply connect with someone else.

I truly hated life.

Life was hard.

Depressed, I turned back to focus on my work.

Remembering I’d been cataloging call numbers before all the interruptions, I blinked at the cart of books I’d been organizing, only to squint in confusion.

Wait a second.

Tilting my head, I read the call numbers once, only to read through them again.

But I could’ve sworn I hadn’t finished putting them in the Dewey Decimal order yet when Xander had arrived to interrupt me.

Except, there they were, in order.

What was worse, when I turned back to the counter, all the books both Xander and Keene had just returned were missing.

Whipping back to the cart, I found them there, slotted in the row, right where they were supposed to go.

“What the hell?” I whispered under my breath, as a cold rush of fear raced up the back of my neck.

This wasn’t the first time something unusual like this had happened to me at work. More than once, I’d been working on a project, only to turn away for a few seconds and return to find everything fixed and completed.

And it always seemed to happen right after I had an encounter with Keene Dugger.

Glancing out in the direction he’d gone, I didn’t find him anywhere in sight, but my eyes narrowed anyway.

I don’t know how he was doing this, but I wished he’d stop already. Because it was starting to freak me out.