Meet Me by Dawn (By Dawn series book 1) ✓

Chapter 8

"No," he said, then he added, "well, I live with my brother."

"Brother?"

"Not blood-related."

That sounded familiar.

"What about you?" He closed the wardrobe doors. "Any more family?"

"No, it's just my grandpa and me." I began to collect the mess and cardboard lying all over the floor and said, "Thank you for helping me, Atticus. I think I overestimated my own abilities." He lifted his chin and laughed.

"It seems so, and my pleasure. As you can see, I came as soon as I had a reason to get to know you better, since you are so reluctant to go on a date with me." Atticus gave me a wink, and I couldn't help but blush a little. What was it with this man? Who was he to make a rather cold-hearted notorious killer blush? I rolled my eyes to let him know I wasn't going to bite. Although, dating him could give me some insights, but I would rather date someone I wasn't this attracted to.

When finished, he helped me carry all the garbage outside, and then I went to sit down on the porch; he joined me on the steps. I watched him as he watched the surrounding area and my car.

I was the creep, not him.

"So, what do you like so much about literature?" He turned to me, his eyes bright blue in the daylight, and hair ruffled after the last two hours of sighing over the monstrosity he had assembled, and had he dragged his hands through it in annoyance a few times.

"I'm no good at literary conversations. I don't know; I just like it," I replied. "But I like writing essays about literature, but no talking. My brain has this thing; it can't keep information in, so whatever smart I muster up to say about literature, it disappears before I'm able to utter a word," I said, and Atticus' frown deepened with each word. I realized that all I could have said was that I liked stories and writing about those stories.

"Okay, uhm, could you tell me your favorite book?"

"The Divine Comedy; you are from Italy, so you have probably read it or heard about it?" Atticus frowned again, and I almost asked what the problem was.

"Divine Comedy?"

"M-hm."

"Your professor is going to love you," he then chuckled out a laugh. "You are a first-year, right?"

"Technically somewhere in the middle. I had to break off my studies right before my exams, so I have to start over again."

"I see, well as I said, going to love you," Atticus laughed. I couldn't keep my questions in and asked, "Why do you keep saying that?"

"I just know the faculty," he said and stood, and right then, his phone began to vibrate. "Sorry," he said and checked who was calling, then strode a bit away from me as he answered. "Ciao bella." His tone was chipper, right after he laughed at the faint woman's voice I was able to catch.

Ciao bella?

If he had a woman, what was he doing here then, and obviously flirting? An unwelcome feeling of envy struck me, and I took a turn on the porch as he spoke. Now and then his gaze wandered up at me, and eventually, he hung up before agreeing to meet up with the woman. I tried to wipe off the disappointment from my face when he hung up, and we turned to face each other.

"I got to go; Linda needs me to come down to sign some papers, and there is some trouble apparently only I can fix."

"Hardware store?"

"No, at the garage."

"Alright, thank you for helping me. Let me know if you need me to assemble an easy chair for you," I replied.

"Stop thanking me, and I sure will do. But there is another way you could show your appreciation..." a smirk formed on his mouth, and I was not going to let him finish that sentence.

"I knew it," I threw up my hands. "No, I will certainly not go on a date with you," I said in pure annoyance; then he began laughing and walked up to me.

"If you had let me finish, Ace, I was going to say that you would help me by letting me fix that scratch on your car, and I also need someone to hand me my tools, unless you have other more exciting plans today, like cleaning your hair?"

Ace?

I pondered on it for a few moments; he had helped me, and I couldn't say no if he could fix my car at the same time. That would be too selfish against my baby to refuse him to fix her. I went inside and got my jacket and keys. I found Atticus leaning against the passenger door on my car, intently watching me as I descended the stairs, eyes me up and down as I made my way to the car.

"What?"

"Do you like to ride bikes?" He asked.

"On occasion." I opened the car and jumped in, hoping he wasn't the prying type, because I did have a Glock in the glove compartment, including a bag of weed and a bag of pills that could kill someone in mere seconds. Atticus sat down inside, and I turned the key.

(This is not the last chapter, more will be more published soon. I have taken down the book to edit it.)

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