Serial Hottie (25 page)

Seth’s cool expression never faltered and he said, “From where I stood, it looked like you guys were starting that rumor together.”

Dave bust a gut with laughter, but I couldn’t tell if Seth was giving me crap or if he was just really jealous. Either way, I didn’t need it. If he was going to be like that, then I wasn’t going to go out of my way to be nice to him.

With a groan, I whirled around to go take my skates off and Dave said, “Lighten up, Westley,” but it was Seth who grabbed my wrist to keep me from leaving. The reaction was instantaneous. My arm tensed beneath his grip to keep a shudder from exploding through my whole body. I tried to ignore the feeling.

“Whatever,” I said, and blew some of the loose strands of hair out of my face. In an attempt to change the subject I looked at Seth. “Did you still want to learn how to play hockey? Dave and I were just playing a little one-on-one. We can teach you if you want.”

I glanced at Dave for confirmation and was horrified to see him looking at Seth’s hand. Because Seth was still holding on to my wrist.

“Actually, I gotta get going,” Dave said in a way that made me blush. He smiled again at Seth and added, “You don’t need me to teach you, anyway. Ellie really is the best in the neighborhood. If you figure it out, come with her to the park in the morning. Game starts at seven thirty.” He turned to me again. “Don’t punk out this time.”

I rolled my eyes, but said, “I’ll be there.”

The minute Dave turned to go—which would, of course, have left me alone with Seth—Angela conveniently wandered outside. Yeah, she hadn’t been watching us out the window or anything. Seth glanced over at me, curious of the disappointed sigh that escaped me when Angela walked toward us.

“Having a party out here and nobody thought to invite me?” she said cheerfully.

Only Dave laughed at the lame joke.
Oh, brother.
“Five bucks says Dave doesn’t have to get going anymore,” I muttered so low that only Seth heard.

Seth chuckled and slid his grip down to my hand, lacing my fingers in his. The action didn’t exactly go unnoticed by anyone. My face paled a little, but I didn’t pull my hand away, and, uh, yeah, that didn’t go unnoticed, either.

“We could make it a party,” Seth offered suddenly to the group. “We could double tonight. Go to dinner. Maybe catch a movie or something after.”

Double? As in double date? I’m being asked out on an actual date?

Obviously another first for me. But could I do it? Could I go on a date with Seth after watching him take files from dirty cops and creep around murder scenes?

I felt Seth squeeze my hand, and when I looked up he said, “What do you say?” with that smile of his. And those eyes…

“Um...” Holy crap his lips looked really kissable. “What?”

“Sounds good to me,” Dave said with a hopeful expression. The poor guy. He might be able to snag half the seniors in school, but I’m fairly certain Angela Westley wasn’t in that half.

“I’m down,” I finally said.

Angela glared at me when I agreed to the date. I gave her a what-was-I-supposed-to-do look, but it didn’t matter. She was going to rip me a new one the minute we were alone.

“Oh,” she said, turning her fake smile on Seth and Dave. She pulled me away from Seth and locked her arm through mine. “That sounds like a lot of fun, but Ellie and I can’t go. We already have plans.”

“What are you talking about? I don’t have any plans.” Now she was really going to kill me, but I just couldn’t help myself.

“Don’t you remember, Ellie?
The sleepover at Brooke’s house
?”

“Ooooooooh. Right.
The sleepover.
How could I forget?”

Angela elbowed me, but it didn’t matter how sarcastic I was being. Both Seth and Dave knew she was making it up anyway. It looked like Seth was going to call her on it, except that Lady GaGa started singing Poker Face and Angela spazzed. “Is that my phone?”

I laughed at the longing in her voice. “The freaking thing has been ringing off the hook for a week.”

“Well, did you ever think to answer it?”

“Why would I? None of my friends have the number. I don’t even know the number.”

I could tell the phone was about to go to voicemail because Angela looked like she was ready to tackle me. “Knock yourself out,” I said, handing her the phone.

She squealed as she snatched it and took off across the lawn for some privacy. I quickly turned to the guys. “I apologize for my sister. I’m pretty sure she was dropped on her head as a child. A lot.”

“Ellie!” Angela yelled behind me.

“What?” I asked defensively, but she hadn’t heard my insult. She was handing me the phone.

“It’s for you.”

“It can’t be. I told you I don’t—”

“He’s asking for you.”

“He?” Seth asked while Dave said, “How many boyfriends do you have, Westley?”

I glared at Dave as I answered the phone. Angela, Seth, and Dave all watched as if it were the most interesting thing I’d ever done. “Hello?”

“Ellie, there you are! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all week.”

“Who is this?”

“Travis.”

“Travis?”

“You spilled Coke on me at your party last week?”

“I know who you are. How’d you get this number?”

“You gave it to me.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Sure you did. Listen, we never got the chance to set up a date last week. Do you want to go out tomorrow night?”

“No can do, dude. Sorry. Can’t go out on Saturday nights right now. Serial killer on the loose and all.”

“That’s cool,” Travis said. “We don’t have to go out. We can just hang out at my house. My parents won’t be home, so we’ll be able to chill.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure. Sorry. I’m actually babysitting, so even if I wanted to, I can’t.”

“Okay. Well, I have to work tonight, but we could hang out sometime this week. When are you free?”

Ugh. Some people are too dense for their own good. “Uh, Travis? Learn to take a hint. You’re a tool, and we’re not going out. Ever. Go drink a protein shake or something.”

When I hung up Dave laughed so hard he cried. “Go drink a protein shake? Dude, that was harsh.”

I just shrugged. “I tried to let him down easy.”

“Did you really not give him your phone number?” Seth asked. Unlike Dave, he was not laughing.

“I told you. I don’t even know the number to this phone. He had to have asked around or something.”

“He wanted to take you out tomorrow night?” Seth asked again, getting more and more irritated by the second. I was beginning to understand what Angela meant earlier when she said he interrogated her.

“Yes to tomorrow but no to the going out part. He wanted me to come over to his house, because his parents weren’t going to be home.”

“Ew,” Angela said. “He actually said that? He could have at least pretended he wasn’t trying to get into your pants.”

“Agreed,” Dave said. “The guy’s a tool. Why do you hang out with him?”

“I don’t. I just met him for the first time that day at Rachel’s beach house. Now he won’t leave me alone.”

“I don’t like it,” Seth said.

“Well, of course
you
don’t.” Angela grumbled.

I was shocked to see the nasty look she gave Seth. I think it startled Dave and Seth, too. Seth glared back at her and then went in his house without saying another word, slamming the door behind him.

“What?” Angela snapped at me, even though Dave was the one staring questioningly at her. “He’s too possessive of you. You guys aren’t even going out.”

“If you’re so worried about it, do you really think it’s smart to piss him off?”

“I wouldn’t have to if you’d quit making it worse. Letting him hold your hand and agreeing to go out with him? What were you thinking?”

“Um, I’m gonna go now,” Dave said, backing away slowly from our fight. “See you tomorrow morning, Ellie.”

“Yeah, later,” I said, then took the fight with my sister in the house, where Seth wouldn’t overhear us.

“Whatever it is you guys are looking at me like that for, I didn’t do it,” I said automatically when I came in the house Saturday evening and my parents looked up from their hushed conversation with grim faces.

My parents both eyed me warily. “You know about the city curfew, right?” my mom asked.

I looked at the clock and frowned. “Unless it got bumped up five hours, I think I’m good.”

“We don’t need your sarcasm, Eleanor.”

Mom only used my full name when she was really upset. I tried to recall the last few hours. I hadn’t done anything that I could think of worthy of being busted. “Well, what are you mad at me for? It’s not
my
fault some psycho wants to snatch me up and stab every square inch of my body.”

Mom’s face blanched. “Ellie, please!”

“We aren’t mad at you,” Dad said, sighing. “We’re just worried. We’re going to cancel our trip.”

Well, it’s no wonder you’re cranky.
“No! No way! You are not canceling your twentieth anniversary because of me.”

“It’s not because of you,” Dad said. The look on his face didn’t agree. “Okay, it’s not only you. It’s your sister too.”

“Oh, yeah, because the Saturday Night Slasher’s been going after so many blonds.”

“Eleanor!”

“What? I’m sick of everyone making such a big deal out of this! He’s never gonna find me. He grabs up drug addicts and runaways. He stalks nightclubs and dark streets downtown. Tonight I’m going to be sitting in the Haskins’s house with the doors locked, eating frozen pizza and watching some lame action movie. Nothing bad is going to happen!”

I stomped up to my room, but could still hear the tail end of my parent’s conversation through the vents. At this point they’d decided not to cancel anything, but they were still pretty worried. I hoped they’d just get over it already. I mean, yeah, it’s a little disturbing to know that someone is out there in my city killing girls that look like me, but the more paranoid my family got about it, the more I believed the hype was just stupid.

By the time I walked down the street to the Haskins’s house at seven and the sun was starting to set, I wasn’t even creeped out. Much.

And then I was right—so far, nothing bad
had
happened. The night was going exactly as I said it would all the way down to the cheesy action movie. Of course, this big summer storm hit, so the wind was howling and the thunder was cracking. Plus, I’d happened upon
Kiss The Girls
before finding
Delta Force
, so when the Haskins’s doorbell rang about fifteen minutes after I’d put Cameron in bed, I admittedly felt a tinge of fear.

Without turning on any lights in the front room, I tiptoed to the front door and peeked out the peephole. Standing there, bathed in the harsh light of the front porch, was my extremely hot neighbor, soaked from head to toe. My heart and my head screamed at me simultaneously.

I definitely shouldn’t answer it.

I opened the door.

Amazingly, I was met with a smile every bit as grim as my parents’ had been earlier.

“You shouldn’t be opening the door for strangers on Saturday night,” Seth scolded instead of greeting me.

“I didn’t open it for a stranger. I opened it for you.”

Seth’s frown turned suspicious. “You knew it was me and you still opened the door?”

Not sure why my face was heating up, I shrugged. “I was feeling generous.”

“Do I dare press my luck and ask if I can come in?”

I debated. It was hard to forget that image of him sitting in the park where that girl was killed. At least it was until he looked up at me through his wet eyelashes. “I promise I’ll behave,” he said. But it didn’t matter. I was already throwing the door open for him.

Seth immediately closed the door and locked it behind him. The deadbolt slid into place with a click. Gulping, I took a step back.
Now who’s being paranoid, Ellie?
“So, what are you doing here?” I asked as I led him through the house to the family room, grateful for the bright glow of the television.