Until May (Until Her/Him #11)(13)

“Or you can come wait inside.” He urges me up the stairs, then plugs in the code to get through the door. He pushes it open for me to go in before him, and closes the door behind us. “Be just a second. Make yourself comfortable.”

I nod and watch him wander off but don’t make a move to go farther inside. Really, I’m starting to wonder if I should be going somewhere with him alone. I have no idea who he is besides his name, and I’m pretty sure this is how every unsolved murder mystery starts. “Got it.” He comes around the corner, dangling a set of keys between his fingers.

Feeling my jacket pocket for my cell so I can message my cousins to let them know what I’m doing, I cringe when I don’t feel it. “Darn,” I mutter as we step outside. “I forgot my phone.”

“It’s all right. I have mine, and the place is just down the road, maybe five minutes.”

“Right.” I bite my lip as he opens the passenger door of a simple black car and waits until I’m seated before he closes me inside. I watch him walk around the hood, and as soon as he’s seated inside, his gaze comes to me.

“Ready?”

“Yep.” The word pops while I think about how stupid I’m being right now.

“What are you thinking about?” He looks over at me as he backs out of the driveway with his hand on the back of my seat.

“Just wondering what the title for my murder documentary will be,” I tell him without thinking.

“What?” His brows drag together as he lets out a low chuckle.

“Well, I don’t have my phone, I hardly know you, and now I’m in your car, and no one knows where I am.” I shrug one shoulder. “They’ll probably title my story The Lost Librarian.”

“You’re safe with me.”

“I’m sure that’s exactly what most victims hear before they’re murdered.”

“Do you want me to stop so you can get your phone?” he asks, sounding amused, and I shake my head.

“No, but you should be warned—I’m a gold belt,” I lie, because I have no idea how to fight. Even when I was little, my dad signed me and my sisters up for taekwondo, and I cried the entire time because I didn’t want to hurt anyone.

“A gold belt in what?”

“Don’t worry about that. Just know that if need be, I can kick your ass.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He smiles. “So you’re a librarian?”

“I am.”

“I can see that.” His fingers tap the steering wheel to the beat of the song that is playing softly on the radio.

“Can you?”

“Yep.” He glances over at me. “Do you wear glasses?”

“Not all the time.” He turns into the parking lot for the restaurant as his phone starts to ring with the da-dum, da-dum, da-dum sound from the movie Jaws.

“Are you a Jaws fan?”

“No, that’s the ringtone for my mom.” He pulls his phone out after he parks and presses Ignore on the call. Even though I really want to, I don’t tell him that he should have answered because you never know if it’s an emergency. I also don’t ask him what his mom did to deserve that ringtone. “I’ll be right back.” He looks around the dark lot in front of the small restaurant, then frowns slightly. “Or maybe you should come inside with me.”

“I’ll be okay.” I roll my eyes.

“All right, then I’ll leave my phone with you.” He passes it over. “The code is…”

“Six-seven-two-nine,” I cut him off. “I still remember… well, unless you changed it.”

“It’s still the same.” He gets out of the car but stops, ducking his head to look inside at me. “Be right back.”

“I’ll be here.” I watch him shut the door, then head to the restaurant. When he gets there, his eyes come to me for a moment before he disappears inside. With the car still running, I look at the screen of his cell and tap it so that it comes to life. Along with the missed call from his mom are a few texts, but I can’t see who they’re from.

I bite my lip to keep myself from typing in his code and snooping, because that would be a complete breach of privacy. Right?

Right.

I click the side of the phone, which turns the screen off, and then jump when the driver door is opened.

“Didn’t mean to scare you.” He slides in behind the wheel, and I take the bag of food before he can put it into the back seat through the space between us. My stomach growls from the familiar smell, and my mouth starts to water. “Hungry?”

“I wasn’t, but now I feel like I’m starving.” I laugh as he drives out of the lot.

“Do you want to eat at your place or mine?”

“Probably mine, so I can get my phone in case anyone is trying to call me,” I tell him, and comfortable silence fills the space between us.

When we get to the house, he parks in the driveway and tells me to wait to get out, then he opens my door and takes the bag of food from me. I expect the house to be quiet when I let us both inside, but it’s not. Instead, I can hear people talking.

“Fuck,” Aiden mumbles, catching my gaze, probably realizing like me that while we were gone everyone came home.