Free Chasing Serenity (Seeking Serenity) by Eden Butler

here, I’m not needed, am I?” Declan says, pausing just before he reaches the door.
    “You need to learn humility.” Tucker pats a box on the table. “Getting filthy in the library will serve that purpose.”
    “Humility? You uppity bollocks—”Declan starts toward Tucker, moving his neck side to side, as though he’s gearing up for a tussle.  
    It’s my classroom all over again. Nose to nose, chests out like idiots as if we’re in the center of a cage match and not in a hundred year-old library surrounded by nerdy academic types. For the second time in a week, I wedge myself between Declan and Tucker as they look eager to pounce on each other.
    “That’s enough.” I turn to Sayo. Her eyes gleam with laughter. I know she’d like nothing more than to see Tucker’s face smashed in. “Why don’t you get Declan to bring in those boxes from the donation room?” She nods, her mouth twisted into a disappointed pout, but she pulls on Declan’s sleeve and they disappear out of the room. Mollie and Layla grumble between each other, clearly disappointed that Tucker and Declan didn’t turn the Reference room into a makeshift MMA fight, but as Sayo and Declan left, they return to the books in the corner.  Satisfied that I’d distilled the tension, I glance at Tucker. There are hard lines creased on his forehead and his arms are tense in a cross over his chest. “I appreciate the offer, but you can’t be here.”
    “Why not? Because Sayo doesn’t like me?”
    “Because it’s her library. Besides, I think you and Declan in a room together all day would be a disaster.”
    “He’s an asshole.”
    “Yes, well, you’re supposed to be his captain, aren’t you? Be the bigger man.”
    He rubs the tip of his boot against the carpet, seems to agree with me. The wrinkles disappear and his fingers hang loose on his hips. “Autumn, we still need to talk.”
    I don’t know what he expects from me. This isn’t really the time or place to have a heart to heart, not that I’m at all interested in that. Our relationship was always one-side, always about him, and now that he’s back and he sees that there are other concerns in my life, it must shock him. I find it hard to care about his feelings and just want him gone.
    “No, we don’t. What I need to do is go through these books and you need to walk away. You’re good at that, remember?”
    The tension that stiffened his body moments ago is back. He doesn’t bother to respond. Tucker simply backs away and tosses our neatly stacked books off the table, scattering a couple onto the floor as he passes. I close my eyes for a second, unsurprised by his temper. As Sayo and Declan return to the room, Tucker pauses, lets the Irishman walk through. They exchange glares and I think I might need to break them a part again, but Tucker leaves and Declan comes fully inside with a large box weighting down his arms.
    “What did he want?” Sayo asks. Declan’s head tilts toward us as he listens. He doesn’t need to know my business.
    “Later,” I tell Sayo, giving her a glare of warning as I nod my head in Declan’s direction.
    “Don’t let me stop you, McShane.” He doesn’t look up from the box he drops to the floor. “If you want to go on about that amadan, by all means—”
     “No one was talking to you.” Half an hour in and he’s already pissing me off. “You’re here to work, not listen in on our conversations so unless you want me to call Tucker back.”
    “Call him. I don’t give a shite.” He kicks the box away with his feet. “But the day would go smoother if you lot wouldn’t sit around yammering on about Morrison.”
    Sayo sighs and steps behind Declan to shove the box he kicked onto the table.
    “What did he ever do to you?” I ask Declan, wondering what could have made him hate my ex so much.
    “Why do you care?”
    “You really are an asshole, aren’t you?”
    “Jaysus, McShane, you wound me.” Declan makes his accent inflate. He