His throat bobs as he swallows, drawing my attention to the sharpness of his jawline, but I rein myself in before he can catch me staring.
“And you could be a creep, for all I know,” I add, pursing my lips. “This is very serial killer of you. I’m just supposed to let you drive me? Alone?”
He frowns. “Well, no… You don’t have to.”
I can’t stop myself from snorting this time. “That was another joke. You know,ha ha?”
His head drops as his lips curve into a timid smile, and that’s when I see the dimples in both cheeks. The sight makes my stomach flip. This guy is almost so pretty that my lungs feel tight as they search for air, and it’s like he’s completely oblivious to it. Normally, pretty guys are confident, obnoxious even, and oozing with an ego too big for them.
“I’m going to California,” I say.
He lifts his head, nodding. “Okay.”
“You’d drive me to California? All the way from Pennsylvania?” My eyebrow quirks skeptically. “Across the whole country?”
“Yes.”
My gaze narrows. “You don’t have anywhere to be for Christmas?”
He shakes his head tentatively. “No. Nowhere.”
“I’ll tell you what. Meet me here every day this week at four o’clock. We’ll talk and then, if I decide you’re not some psycho, we’ll leave after finals. Deal?”
“O-only one in twelve thousand people get murdered every year,” he says, licking his lips as his eyes meet mine briefly, “but it mostly depends on where you live. And, uh, you’re more likely to get killed by s-someone youknowthan…”
He trails off as he looks up at the dumbfounded expression that’s taken over my face.
Scratching at the back of his neck, his cheeks resembling little tomatoes, he says, “Deal.”
A snicker leaves my lips as I set my coffee on top of the books stacked on my arm, reaching my hand out to shake his. Sealing this deal.
“I’m Maeve.”
He puts his warm hand against mine. “Tatum.”
“Tatum,” I repeat, pulling my hand away as I turn to leave again. “See you tomorrow. Four o’clock.”
“Four o’clock.”
Whatam I doing?
Am I really so desperate to get out of here that I may be willing to take this stranger up on his offer?
Tatum doesn’t seem like an axe murderer; he doesn’t seem like he’d even hurt a fly, actually. He’s all soft and warm and shy, like a teddy bear. Teddy bears don’t murder people. But clearly, I’ve never been the best judge of character. I’m too quick to trustpeople, too quick to give them the benefit of the doubt. That’s how someone like Landon managed to weasel their way into every aspect of my life and take it over, like a poison.
I won’t let that happen to me again.
I’ll suss Tatum out this week, and if I get any sort of weird vibe at all, I’ll just tell him that I decline his offer. Simple as that.
Everything is okay.
CHAPTER TWO
TATUM
Tuesday, December 14th
Maeve.
