Page 43 of Scar

“I might have even gone along with it if he’dtoldme beforehand that he didn’t want to tell his family until after his birthday.” Tally shrugged. “That was honestly the reason I hesitated to break up with him, but he told me he was going to tell them and he didn’t.Thatis a lie,” she informed Tom.

“Yeah, you got a point there,” Tom begrudgingly admitted. “You two wait here. I’ll go get the car.”

Tally heard Tom’s footsteps fade on the asphalt as he walked off through the parking lot. The afternoon sun felt good on Tally’s face and she tipped her chin up towards it. “Just ask,” she said to Simone.

“What? Ask what?”

“Whatever it is that has you shifting your weight back and forth like you have ants in your pants,” Tally told her. “And don’t make that face at me.”

“You’re really freaky sometimes, you know that?” Simone snapped without ire. “Fine. It’s been a few weeks since everything happened with the police and then you breaking up with Mark. I just… I wanted to know how you were doing with, um, you know…”

“My stalker?” Tally supplied.

“Yeah,” Simone drawled. Tally felt her weight shift again and knew Simone was looking around them. “I mean, is he here?”

“He’s here,” Tally said with confidence. She couldn’t sense her mystery man currently, but he’d been around earlier. “And he does work for my dad so you can stop calling him my ‘stalker’.”

“Tal, the man stands over you while you sleep. He’s your stalker.”

Tally made a face. “He does not. He’s never been inside my bedroom.”

Simone’s voice was filled with concern as she spoke. “Tally, it is notnormal. You’ve never spoken to him?—”

“He’s never spoken to me,” Tally corrected. “I speak to him all the time.”

That did not cheer Simone up at all. “That doesn’t make the situation any less creepy. I really think you need to ask your dad for a different bodyguard. It’s not right that he’s always around you, that he’s inside your apartment the way that he is.”

“He would never hurt me,” Tally told her best friend with certainty.

“What do you know about him? I mean,reallyknow about him? Do you even know his name?”

Tally’s heart panged at the reminder that she did not. “I don’t know why he doesn’t speak,” she confided in Simone. “I’ve asked him for his name, and though he’s never said a word, I can tell you that he’s very protective. I am safe with him, Si.” Which should bother her, because she could take care of herself, but it didn’t. “He doesn’t eat much. I have no idea if he’s eating elsewhere or literally doesn’t eat that much. He never seems to sleep either. I think there’s something…different about him. It’s the way people react to him initially. Like their gut instinct is to be scared of him. Maybe it’s how he dresses or something on his face, but there’s always fear in people who see him.”

Simone put her hand on Tally’s arm. “That should alarmyou, Tally. You can’t see what it is they’re seeing.”

“Or they don’t see whatIsee,” Tally contradicted. “People don’t realize just how limited they are by their eyes.”

“Tally, I think you’re being incredibly naïve.”

“Simone, I know you worry, but you need to trust me on this. He would never hurt me.” She turned her face to the left. “Tom’s coming.”

* * *

[WiseWave620: I keep waking up wondering if today’s the day I’m either going to learn you’re alive or find out you’re actually dead.]

* * *

Tom and Simonedropped Tally off outside her apartment building. They offered to walk her upstairs, but Tally waved them off. “Go. Relieve your babysitter early or take the afternoon to yourselves. I’m good.”

They left, and from the way they were leaning towards each other, they were not going to be sending their babysitter home early.

Tally felt her mystery man step up behind her. She had no idea how he got from the hotel to her apartment as fast as he did and wondered if he had a vehicle stashed in the city. “I have the entire afternoon free,” she told him. “I want to go somewhere, show you something. Will you take me?”

He stepped up closer to her, his body heat surrounding her. Yet, he didn’t touch her. If Tally took a step backwards, her back would press into his front, but Tally held herself steady. She imagined him leaning forward, pressing his forehead to the back of her head, breathing in her shampoo. Her body hummed in anticipation, despite doubting he would.

Because he never touched her. Never spoke to her. She knew nothing about him, and yet she had these fantasies about him. Hell, she’d even started dreaming about him.

Though her question went verbally unanswered, Tally had the sense that his stepping forward and crowding her was his way of telling her that he’d take her anywhere. She hoped it was true, because she said, “We’ll need a taxi unless you’re okay to walk. Actually, if you’re okay to wait while I change, I’d prefer to run. I haven’t gone for a long jog in a long time.”

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