Serial Hottie (27 page)

Seth’s face suddenly flushed with so much anger that he actually sneered in disgust. “He doesn’t even know, does he?”

I had no idea what Seth meant, but the question sounded rhetorical.

“He doesn’t have any clue that that was your first kiss.”

I treated that statement as rhetorical too.

Seth’s anger vanished as instantly as it had come. “It shouldn’t have been like that,” he said.

I thought I’d put a ban on the sexy voice back in Seth’s bedroom, but it was back and bringing a whole bunch of tension with it.

“In front of all those people,” Seth continued. “And with someone you didn’t even want to kiss.”

“If I remember correctly, you thought I wanted to kiss him,” I said, swallowing hard. Was it my imagination, or was Seth getting closer?

“But you didn’t, did you?” He was definitely leaning in. “I saw the look on your face afterwards, Ellie. Why do you think I was so mad at Angela?”

I frowned. “If you knew that kiss didn’t seal the deal with Dave and me, how come you left?”

“I didn’t think killing one of your friends would help me win you over.”

It didn’t seem like Seth was exaggerating.

“I wanted to kill him, Ellie. I came close. Too close. So I left before something bad happened.”

Nope. He wasn’t kidding. Not at all.

Cut him some slack. He watched his mom get murdered. That’s bound to screw a guy up.

Seth noticed my unease and grimaced. “Creepy?”

Wincing, I held up my thumb and index finger about an inch apart. “Little bit.”

Seth let go a frustrated sigh and started with the knife flipping again. “I don’t know how to fix it,” he said. “I hate seeing you with other people. Whether it’s talking on the phone with your best friends, or playing hockey at the park, or even just bickering with your sister. You’re so natural with everyone—so relaxed. You’ve never been that way with me. Not once. If I knew how to be normal for you Ellie, I would. Even if it meant being more like that idiot, Dave Holcomb.”

I smirked at the “idiot” comment. Seth didn’t even try to hide his jealousy. I’m amazed he didn’t tear Dave to pieces with his bare hands when I introduced them yesterday.

“Seth,” I said. “If you were normal, you would have moved in and immediately fallen in love with Angela like everyone else. If you were normal, I would treat you the exact same way I treat every other guy I know. Think about that. You do not want that. Trust me, if you’re looking for anything other than friendship from me, being more like Dave would not be the best idea. He’s not an idiot, though.”

“Is too,” Seth muttered.

“Whatever. My point is, don’t worry so much about being normal.”

Seth narrowed his eyes at me, unsure where I was going with this. Where I was going was probably the last place he ever expected, and it took me a minute to spit out my next words. “So long as you’re not scaring me senseless,” I said, blushing as I shrugged my shoulders, “I kind of like that you’re different.”

Once Seth got over his shock, something dangerous flashed in his eyes and for once it wasn’t anger. It was… it was… I don’t know. But it was scaring me in a really exciting way.

“Ellie,” Seth said, slipping off his stool. That’s all it took for him to be standing over me.

I knew what he wanted. And I knew that this time he wouldn’t stop himself. I could see it in his eyes. I could practically
feel
it. This was already a better kiss than Dave’s and Seth wasn’t even touching me yet.

Seth took my face in his hands. “I’m going to kiss you now,” he warned me, his whisper so smooth it gave me goose bumps. “You may not like it, but I’m afraid it has to be done.”

Uh, pretty sure I’m going to like it.

Seth grinned as he lowered his face to mine. “You’re thinking out loud again.”

I started to gasp in horror, but the instant my lips parted Seth threw his mouth on mine, literally stealing the breath from me. It made me want to gasp all over again from the sheer pleasure I was feeling.

His lips were light, but moved with such urgency it felt like he needed this kiss in order to stay alive. I lost all sense of anything but the feel and taste of his lips, except I’m pretty sure that at one point his hands were in my hair destroying my ponytail.

The whole experience left me feeling lightheaded, and when it was finally over I woke up to find that I was no longer sitting on my stool, but standing in Seth’s arms. It was a very good thing he was holding me up because my knees had given out.

We were both panting slightly as Seth leaned his forehead against mine. “
That
should have been your first kiss,” he said.

“Wasn’t it?” I asked, dazed. Whatever Dave did last week, it was nothing even remotely close to what I’d just experienced. Seth had just completely wrecked me.

There was a smile in Seth’s voice as he asked, “You okay?”

The fog wouldn’t lift from my brain entirely, but I managed to bring my eyes into focus. “Huh?”

Seth was watching me, more amused than I’d ever seen him. His whole countenance was different—like a weight I’d never known was there had suddenly been lifted from him.

“Do you need to sit down?” he asked me.

That sounded like an excellent plan. When I nodded, Seth dragged me back into the family room and pulled me down to the couch with him.

“My knees feel like jell-o,” I said. “Is that supposed to happen?”

The only answer I got from Seth was a laugh and him going, “Oh, Ellie,” with a happy sigh.

It looked as though he was content to just sit there with me tucked into his side for the rest of his life, but the fluttering in my stomach was quickly turning to nerves, so I interrupted the peace with another stupid question. “So, um, what happens now?”

“What do you mean?” Seth asked. He was busy winding his fingers in my hair.

“I don’t know. It just feels like we should be doing something.”

“We are. We’re babysitting.”

When I frowned, Seth laughed. “You’re just feeling restless because normally you’d be running away from me by now.”

This was true. “If I didn’t have Cameron to worry about, I still might.”

“Well, lucky we have Cameron then.”

Seth laughed so lightheartedly that I nearly forgot why I was supposed to be scared of him in the first place. He pulled me close long enough to kiss the side of my head, then let me go. He settled for holding my hand, which I think was another physical restraint on his part in an attempt to make me more comfortable. I was grateful for it.

“So, what are we watching?” he asked, turning his attention to the TV. When he saw what was playing he went, “Ellie, you are
not
watching old Chuck Norris movies.”

Seth stayed with me until the Haskins got home at twelve-thirty, and it never occurred to me that the Haskins might not like that until I heard the garage door go up. Of course, Seth had it all smoothed over with one sentence. “I’m sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Haskins, but I didn’t think it was safe for Ellie to be all alone on a Saturday night with a serial killer on the loose.”

Mr. And Mrs. Haskins actually thanked Seth for being so thoughtful, then went off about how much all the dead girls look like me. “This is a fascinating conversation and all,” I said, interrupting them. “But I’d rather not have nightmares tonight. So do you mind if I go home now and don’t talk about the fact that there’s a creep out there who would slice me up if he had the chance?”

“Oh, goodness. I’m sorry, Ellie. I never thought of it like that. I’ll just take you home now,” Mr. Haskins said as he grabbed his keys again and headed back toward the garage.

“Mr. H. I live eight houses down the street. You don’t need to drive me.”

“Ellie, Seth is right. There is a serial killer out there.”

“I can get her home safe, Mr. Haskins,” Seth offered. “I don’t mind. I’m going that way anyway.”

The next thing I knew, I was walking down a deserted street in the middle of the night with my extremely hot neighbor who is an extremely good kisser. The storm had settled to just a light drizzle and we walked down the middle of the street to avoid the downed tree branches and flooded gutters.

Even though we’d just spent the last couple hours alone together, the TV had been on, and the storm had been noisy. Now it was really quite. Too quiet. “Did you know our street was originally called Chuck Norris Drive?” I asked just to break the silence.

Seth gave me a look. He’d watched the end of the movie with me, but he’d laughed all the way through it.

“It’s true,” I went on. “But they had to change the name because nobody crosses Chuck Norris and lives.”

Seth tried not to laugh, but he failed. “I can’t believe you’ve never had to fight off admirers before,” he said. “There’s no way that at least half of the guys you hang out with aren’t madly in love with you.”

“Believe it,” I said, trying to avoid the awkwardness of his statement. “Until you came along, no guy ever even called me by my first name. Well, I guess you and Travis. But you were first, and he doesn’t count because when he met me I was wearing Angela’s stupid bikini.”

Seth frowned when I mentioned Travis’s name. We’d reached the street between our houses and as I headed for mine, Seth grabbed my hand. “Come home with me tonight.”

“Excuse me?” I was shocked and had to work to control my sudden anger.

“I don’t mean it like that,” Seth said. Lucky for him, he looked sincere. I’ve punched guys’ lights out for asking a lot less. “Just tonight—Saturday night. Just so I can keep an eye on you.”

“You weren’t lying to Mr. H. earlier,” I said, astonished. “You really did come over tonight because you were worried, didn’t you?”

“Ellie, you have no idea what Saturday nights have become for me. I have to go find ways to distract myself every weekend in order to keep from breaking down your door.”

“Okay, am I supposed to be pointing out the times you do or say something creepy? Because now would be one of those times.”

Seth ignored me. “Stay with me tonight,” he said again.

“Seth, I’ll be fine. Come over in the morning and check on me if you must, but I cannot go home with you. End of story.”

Seth didn’t look thrilled, but he didn’t argue with me. “Fine,” he said and walked me up to my house. He quieted his voice to a whisper as he walked me to the door, probably thinking the same thing I was—that my overprotective father was no doubt waiting up for me and wouldn’t like Seth bringing me home instead of Mr. Haskins.

“Goodnight, Ellie,” Seth whispered, then surprised me by leaning down to press his lips quickly to mine. All that did was make me want to grab him and try to recreate our kiss from earlier. I wondered if he could read my mind, because he flashed me a wide grin. “See you in the morning.”

I rolled my eyes. “And I promise I’ll be very much alive.”

“Dad, I’m home,” I said, shaking my father. He’d fallen asleep in front of the TV. I guess Mom was able to calm him down a little after I left this evening. I figured I’d find him pacing the kitchen when I got home. Hopefully that meant both he and my mom would be in better moods from now on.

Dad wiped the sleep from his eyes and smiled at me. “Good,” he said. Then he kissed the top of my head, double-checked to see if the front door was locked, and disappeared up to bed.

I was exhausted, too, but the emotional roller coaster I’d been on tonight had my mind reeling. There would be no sleeping for Ellie Westley tonight.

I threw on my pajamas, turned on my TV, and had just settled into bed when I heard the tiniest knock on my bedroom window. At first I thought I’d imagined it, but then I heard it again. I muted the TV and crept quietly along the wall to the edge of the window, listening hard for evidence that I wasn’t crazy.

“Ellie!” someone whispered from the other side. “It’s me.”

If the voice hadn’t been so familiar, I would have screamed loud enough to wake the dead. “Seth?”

“Yeah. Open up.”

Angela would have been disappointed in me on multiple levels if she’d seen how quickly I obliged him. I cracked the window open, but before I could finish saying, “What are you doing here?” he let himself in and locked the window.