Falling For My Alpha Stepsister (GL)
Chapter 8: Recommending A Book

Chapter 8: Recommending A Book

Well, it’s a good thing that Katie is the one attending to Angel. I don’t know what she is doing here, and I do not care.

I turned my back to the entrance completely, forcing my fingers to pick up a stack of library cards and shuffle through them as if my life depended on it.

While I was busy, minding my business, Katie returned to the counter looking grumpy.

She slammed a book end onto the surface with a loud, sharp thud that made me jump slightly behind my glasses. Her shoulders were slumped, and she was tossing a plastic pen from hand to hand with a massive scowl on her face.

"Looks like the bad girl has a type," she said lazily.

"What does she want?" I asked because Angel wasn’t leaving. She still happened to be standing there, waiting for God knows what.

"She wants a book recommendation. I recommended a few books, but she said she was looking for something romantic. She wants you to recommend a book," Katie said.

She rolled her eyes toward the ceiling, letting out a heavy, dramatic sigh that showed exactly how much her pride had been wounded by the rejection.

"Why me? I’m not the only one here," I asked.

"I don’t know. You should attend to her before she makes a complaint to the manager. And please do help me collect her phone number. I’m going to try my luck on that Alpha baddie."

Katie gave me a gentle nudge with her shoulder, her grumpy expression shifting into a desperate, hopeful grin as she pointed toward the desk log.

I looked at Katie.

I stared flatly at her bright, enthusiastic face, my mind racing through all the absolute chaos that would happen if I actually let her near my house.

If only she knew that the girl she was crushing on happened to be the stepsister I had been complaining about.

I’m sure she would start throwing stones at her.

Katie always had a thing for people who showed off their muscles, had tattoos, and mostly pierced skin.

She had an absolute weakness for the wild, dangerous look, which meant Angel was basically her ultimate dream girl walking around in real life.

I did not want to meet Angel, but I had no choice.

The manager’s office door was just a few feet away, and the last thing I needed was another lecture about customer service.

It was my job, and even if it was my greatest enemy, I had to smile and be nice to the patrons.

But Angel is not one.

She wasn’t a normal patron looking for a quiet place to study or a good story to take home for the weekend.

She doesn’t even like books.

The only things I had ever seen her read were fitness magazines or the notifications on her phone while she lounged around the house.

I have lost count of how many times she has mocked me for reading too much.

Every single time she caught me on the living room sofa with a novel, she would roll her eyes and make some loud, annoying comment about my lack of a social life.

She even nicknamed me Book Ghost.

There are so many names that girl has given me.

Four Eyes, Nerd Baby, Freeloader, each one felt like a small, deliberate attempt to keep me under her thumb and remind me of my place.

I stopped exactly three feet away from her, clasping my hands tightly in front of my waist and plastering the most corporate, fake smile I could muster onto my face.

"Good afternoon, dear patron. Welcome to The Everyday Library. Here you can find any book you desire. Which book would you like me to recommend for you, ma’am?" I said in the politest way possible.

She took a deep breath and let it out, folded her arms, and put a finger on her chin, speaking in a lazy tone.

Her crimson eyes tracked the rigid line of my shoulders, a slow, familiar amusement flaring up in the dark red depths.

"What kind of book do you recommend for someone who is trying to make a girl fall in love so they can beg to be fucked?"

"....."

I froze completely, my fake smile locking into a bizarre, stiff mask as my brain tried to process the sheer audacity of her words in public.

"Are you listening?"

She leaned forward slightly,

"Please do not bring your nonsense to my place of work. If you don’t have any reasonable thing to say, leave," I said in the politest way possible.

"I can’t leave because I am not satisfied yet. You haven’t given me what I need. So find me a book about what I asked for."

She didn’t back down an inch, her tall frame towering over me as she tapped her finger against her chin with a stubborn rhythm.

"There is no such book here."

I gritted my teeth, my fingers digging into the fabric of my cardigan as I tried to shut the conversation down before it got completely out of hand.

"But you just mentioned that I can find any book I desire. Look at the young boy over there reading a very enticing lewd book, and the other girl said there are many books about seduction. So why are you not doing your job properly?"

She gestured broadly toward the study tables, her voice rising enough to make an elderly woman at the research desk look up with an annoyed frown.

She was getting louder with her words, and people around us kept staring.

I did not want my manager to come out and ask what the problem was because I knew Angel was so shameless that she wouldn’t mind telling him exactly what she needed.

She would say the exact words right to his face without a single blink, and I would be the one getting fired for causing a massive scene at the front desk.

So I went over to the bookshelf, picked a random book, registered it, and gave it to her.

"The Art of Seduction. This better help me on my mission. If it doesn’t work, I’m coming back to give a very bad rating, and that won’t be good for you and your job."

She gripped the spine of the book, her thumb sliding over the title as she gave me one last, lingering look full of that arrogant, wicked promise.

I watched Angel leave the library.

Was she really going to read the book?

And what was she actually going to do?

She was completely unpredictable, driven by a stubborn need for revenge that seemed to grow more insane with every single hour that passed.

She better not make my life more miserable than it already is.

I let out a long, ragged breath, my shoulders finally dropping as the tight tension in my neck began to loosen just a tiny fraction.

I sighed, trying to settle myself.

"So, did you get her number?"

Katie bounced back over to my side instantly, her eyes wide with a frantic curiosity as she looked down at the empty counter space.

"Katie, check the register and don’t bother me," I snapped.

I grabbed the barcode scanner, shoving another book into the return cart with way more force than necessary, my voice sharp and bleeding irritation.

"Easy, girl. I know she’s not your type because you always say you hate Alphas and they are the last kind you will ever end up with, but... that Alpha looked like she was interested in you. The way she was staring at you... wow. I’m sure she likes you."

I snorted.

The sound escaped my nose before I could stop it, a harsh, mocking laugh that felt entirely cold and empty inside my throat.

Angel interested in someone? Impossible, very impossible...

The idea was completely ridiculous, a total joke compared to the harsh reality of how she actually treated people who entered her orbit.

Angel only gives her attention to people she wants in her bed.

She was a predator looking for a dynamic shift, using her dominant personality to push people around until she got exactly what she desired.

And that is why she was trying to get me into her bed.

It was all just a massive, twisted game of payback for the kick in the living room, a way to break my pride and make me submit to her power.

But that will never happen.

When she sees that I’m not giving in, I’m sure she’ll get tired and find another target.