Chapter 16
DEREK SLEPT like crap. In the morning his eyes felt gritty, and he wished he had asked Harm to stay.
He kept waking up to every sound in the house and was jumpy as all hell.
He knew it was because of the break-in, combined with the fact that William was still out there and could have been watching his place for all he knew.
The only reason he’d slept much at all for days was because of Harm.
As long as Harm was with him, he was safe… or at least he felt safe.
Derek rubbed his eyes and forced himself out of bed before peering out the window.
Snow covered everything. They must have gotten six inches of the stuff, which meant that it was enough to cover everything and he was going to need to shovel the walk.
The backyard was pristine, which was a relief, because that meant no one had been back there.
He shivered and backed away from the window before heading to the bathroom for a shower.
Thank god he had plenty of hot water, because he needed it this morning.
It seemed like the only thing that could warm him up with Harm not there.
He got under the water and imagined that Harm was there with him, holding him, washing his back, the water running over both of them.
It grew warmer, and Derek’s heart beat faster as excitement built, his imagination taking over.
Harm’s touch, even imagined, was enough to make his pulse race.
He could feel his arms around him, his hands sliding over his chest.
A knocking from downstairs pulled him out of his reverie, and he turned off the water, grabbing a towel and then his robe before racing downstairs. He peeked out of the window and then opened the front door to Harm. “Is something wrong?” Derek asked as Harm came inside.
Harm held up his phone, showing him the time. Then he messaged him. “I have to be to work soon, and I thought I’d give you a ride to work.” Harm closed the door and turned back around, his gaze growing heated.
Derek squeaked and sped back up the stairs. He dried himself off and raced to get dressed. He really needed to get his phone replaced.
Harm sat on the side of the bed as Derek pulled on his shoes.
“I’m almost ready.” He grabbed his keys and wallet.
“Thank you for coming to give me a ride.” Derek sat next to Harm and kissed him.
“I wish we didn’t have to go into work today.
” Harm nodded and hummed, his hands sliding over Derek’s cheeks.
He knew Harm was saying that he agreed with him.
“But we’d better go.” Or else Harm was going to be late, and it would be his fault.
Derek got his coat and locked the door behind them.
Then he climbed up into Harm’s truck, which was still warm.
After the short drive, he thanked Harm and kissed him before getting out and unlocking the door to the library, deactivating the alarm.
He took off his coat and shivered. It was cold inside, cooler than normal.
He went to the office and checked the thermostat.
It was too cold. Everything was supposed to be on timers.
He manually raised the temperature and listened for the heat to kick on, but it didn’t.
With a groan, he went to the electrical room and found a tripped breaker.
He shifted it back on, and the heat kicked on.
At least it was warming. But still, he placed a call to the heating company, explaining what had happened, and they said they’d send someone out to look into it.
It was always something, even in a building that was less than ten years old.
The others arrived just before opening, and Derek checked with everyone before unlocking the main doors.
“I got our proposal together,” Connie said as she set down her things behind the desk.
“Excellent.” He and Connie reviewed it as the first patrons came inside.
The room was still coming up to temperature, but it was a lot warmer than the air outside.
As usual this time of the year, the first people through the doors were some of those who lived on the street.
He smiled and greeted them, feeling strongly that the library should be a safe place for everyone.
Then he returned his attention to her proposal.
“You’ve set it up for August, as we talked about. ”
“Yes, right before school starts. I figured we can try to have two sections, one of then specifically for children’s books.
We could set that up in the children’s area and the upstairs lobby area.
The rest would be down here. I have a list of possible authors.
” She flipped the page. “And here is the application that I’d like to put on the website.
The tough part was payment, but I think we can either run that through the Bookery, or use the library online system as long as we carefully link the payments to the applications. ”
“This is really good.” He went through a few things for her to clean up. “The board meeting is next Tuesday, and I’d like you to present this to them.”
Connie paled and shook her head. “No, I don’t want to get up in front of them. You present it.”
Derek met her gaze. “This is your work.” He intended to give her credit for it regardless, but he wanted her to have a chance to be in the spotlight.
“You present it.” She took a step back.
“Okay.” He didn’t want to force her, and she seemed to relax. “I’ll bring it to the board. But it’s going to have your name on it.” He wasn’t going to take credit for her work.
“Thank you,” she breathed, and then they went over the details. “I’d like to get this up on the website quickly so we can start to get author signups.”
“Okay. I’ll make sure that the board gives us approval, and we can get everything up and ready to go next Tuesday.
” Under normal circumstances, the library director would be able to give permission, but since he was only the interim director, he needed the board’s approval for something like this.
“Make sure everything is ready, and as soon as we get the okay, we’ll move forward. I have some other ideas.”
“What are you thinking?” Connie asked.
“Maybe a fun fair as well? Maybe we can get permission to use the school parking lot for the day and close ours for games and things. Like a literary carnival of some sort.” His mind was running a million miles an hour.
“Let’s take things one step at a time. If it’s a success, then maybe we can add to it. ”
“Good idea,” Connie agreed. “But I can add a section for possible future additions.”
“Sounds great,” Derek said. “Thank you. This is really good work.” He took what she had sent him and saved it off. Then he continued through his emails, answering what he needed to and forwarding others on to those who handled those issues.
The library was growing busier as he finished his emails and checked on everyone. The Bookery had opened, and thankfully the heat hadn’t cut out again. Snow fell outside the windows, and he settled in for a wintery day.
“What has you looking so wistful?” Maria, an intern from Dickinson College, asked after she helped a young patron get her first library card.
“I don’t know. I’m just thinking….” He smiled just as the front door opened and William strode inside.
“I got him,” Maria said as she came around from behind the desk, approaching William as he headed over.
“What can I help you with today?” Maria was great.
“Did you like the books you got the last time?” She made it sound like she was interested, and there was no way William could get away from her without being mean.
Derek smiled as she led him upstairs to the reference section, though he figured that he’d be back to try to talk to him as soon as Maria left him alone. And that was exactly what he did.
“Trying to pawn me off on others now?” William ground out between his teeth.
“Do you really think that will keep me away? I know you and I are supposed to be together, and if you don’t understand that, then you’ll be made to understand…
and you’ll regret what you did.” He leaned over the desk.
“I’ll make you.” His face was contorted in rage.
Derek glanced around him, trying to see if anyone was nearby, but everyone was busy.
He couldn’t see Connie at the moment, but he figured he had to go for it and try to provoke some sort of outburst that no one in the library could miss.
“You can’t make me do anything,” Derek told him, meeting his gaze with all the strength he could muster. “My life is my own, and you need to get that through that pea brain of yours.”
William’s gaze narrowed. “I’m not dumb. It was so easy to get someone to break into your house.
All I had to do was make it known that the place was empty.
I set a fire, I sent you notes, and I even got to the members of the board.
I can make any part of your life a living hell at any time.
You’re mine and you know it. You can have that idiot giant of yours staying with you.
What is he going to do, call for help?” William laughed.
“I’ll get him out of the way, and then I can come for you any damned time that I want.
” His eyes were wild and bubbles of spit formed around his lips.
Derek wished to hell that someone could hear all this. It was exactly what Harm had been talking about. This was the admission he needed, and here it was coming when no one could hear it.
“Really? You just admitted to everything. It was easy to get the board to dismiss your little poison pen letters. All I had to do was tell them that you’re my crazy idiot stalker.” He forced a smile. “So you got nowhere. Your little tricks amounted to nothing!”