Bad For You - Sherilee Gray Page 0,21

with books and stumbling over my words. What was wrong with me that he still affected me this way?

After I’d served the last person, I hustled around the counter and shut the door, turning over the back in thirty minutes sign.

This was a small town, there was no budget for a second librarian. There wasn’t enough work for two people anyway. So occasionally I shut for lunch or if I had to step out.

As soon as I closed the door I became very aware of the fact that we were alone. The walls seemed to close in and my heart raced when I turned to face him. “So, what did you need to tell me?”

He pulled off his hat, ran a hand over his cropped hair, letting out a rough breath, and put the cap back on backwards. “I need you to know the only reason I’m telling you this is because I care about you.”

I frowned. “What is this, why are you here?” There was panic in my voice.

Jesse lifted his hands like he was trying to settle a fractious mare. “Fuck…I’m just gonna tell you straight. Babe, when I was out running, I saw Brooks. He was with another chick, and they’d definitely just fucked.”

“What?”

“He’s cheating on you, Lila.”

My throat went tight, like it was closing up. “How do you know that? It could’ve been completely innocent. How do you know it wasn’t his sister?”

“It wasn’t his sister,” Jesse said, expression grim.

Humiliation washed over me. What the hell was it about me that repelled men so thoroughly? First Jarod. Then Jesse. Now Brooks. “Do you know his sister?” I asked weakly, grasping at straws in an attempt to save face.

“Lila, she was in a robe and he was kissing her. And not like a sister, like a guy kisses a woman after he’s been inside her,” he said, voice rough.

Christ, the way he said things. Jealousy pumped through me, but surprisingly not over Brooks and his mystery woman but the women Jesse kissed after he’d been inside them. Of the gorgeous blonde he’d had on the back of his bike, of the way he’d held her like she was precious.

I wanted that. I’d wanted that so badly.

What was wrong with me? Why was it never me?

Stop.

I swallowed convulsively. “We…we weren’t exclusive…”

“Don’t give that fucking asswipe a pass, Lila. He doesn’t deserve you…”

“And who does? Huh, Jesse? Who out there is good enough for little miss goodie-two-shoes Lila Cooper?”

He made a rough sound and took a step closer. I knew that look, sympathy. He was going to hug me. Comfort the sad, pathetic loser. My humiliation soared higher, my face burning now. I backed up before he could reach me and spun the sign and opened the door.

Two people were outside waiting. They glanced from me to Jesse as they hustled in. Great, now people would be gossiping about me shutting myself in the library with a biker in the middle of the day.

Jesse closed the distance between us and took my chin in his rough-skinned fingers. “Bambi,” he said in a pained voice.

“I’m fine. Like I said, Brooks and I weren’t exclusive. We can both date whoever we like.”

His eyes locked on mine. “You weren’t, though, were you, sweetheart.”

I pulled out of his hold and turned away from those goddamn mesmerizing green eyes that pulled me in so easily. “I have work to do.”

I turned my back on him, quickly putting the counter between us. Ignoring how he stood there for several long seconds watching me before he finally walked out.

Why did it have to be him? Why did it have to be Jesse to see it, to tell me? The truth was, that’s what cut the most. Not Brooks seeing other people. I’d wanted Jesse to think I’d moved on from him as easily as he’d moved on from me. It was a lie, though. I hadn’t. No wonder Brooks was dating around. I’d held him at a distance. Hadn’t let him close.

I’d been keeping my options open, too, hadn’t I? Saving myself for a man who didn’t want me anymore.

The universe was really starting to piss me off.

I’d been trying my damnedest to avoid Jesse…Grifter, the last few days. I’d taken lunch to work instead of going to the café, and instead of dinner at The Mule with Addie last night, I’d taken up Kate’s offer and had dinner with her, Eric, and Maddie.

But it wasn’t working. I kept seeing him everywhere. And as I walked