Serial Hottie (4 page)

I looked down to see a shadowed figure sprawled across my beanbag chair playing my X-box and, well, what else was I going to do? I screamed bloody murder. Only when I screamed it nearly made my head explode so it wasn’t all that impressive and turned into a groan rather quickly.

“You know, Ellie,” the stranger, who’s voice suddenly seemed extremely familiar, said with another laugh, “you’re going to give me a complex if you continue to scream like that every time we meet.”

I felt like I should be fearful for my life, but even in the mostly-dark room I could see him grin up at me from beneath those eyelashes that Angela would have killed for. That face should be illegal.

As I continued to lay there, mesmerized by his beauty, his grin turned a little lopsided. “You feeling okay?” he asked. “You seemed a lot more…” he searched for a word and settled on, “…
talkative
before.”

Slowly, the memory of smacking my head pieced itself together. Though it was near impossible to look away from the gorgeous guy who’d come to my rescue, I threw my arm back over my eyes. “I was concussed!” I gasped. “My brain was scrambled. Whatever I said, it didn’t count.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said, laughing. “I kind of liked the idea of being gorgeous.”

I was so glad my arm was still covering my face, because I’m pretty sure he would have taken great pleasure in watching me blush. I’d never told a boy I thought he was good-looking before, but since he wasn’t pretending I hadn’t said it, I didn’t see any way that I could deny it. “I’m sure you already know that,” I mumbled.

I nearly had a heart attack when my arm was lifted off my face. I hadn’t heard him get up, or noticed when he sat down on my bed, but my new neighbor was now smiling down at me from an alarmingly close distance. “It’s still nice to know that
you
think so,” he said in a voice that no guy had ever used on me before—like velvet and hormones mixed together. It sent shivers through me, and don’t think he didn’t notice my reaction.

He hovered above me for a minute, staring so intensely into my eyes that it was causing my heart to do strange things in my chest. When I gulped, his smile widened. “Seth Bishop,” he said with a twinkle in those deep blue eyes of his.

“Seth,” I breathed automatically, and then a second later was able to reclaim my swimming head. A little. I sounded breathless, but still managed to voice my main concern. “What the
hell
are you doing in my room?”

He was surprised enough by my question that he afforded me my personal space, but amused enough by it that he didn’t go far. “You should be nice to me,” he said, still grinning. “I saved your life.”

It was easier to concentrate when he wasn’t
right there
anymore. I started to get my confidence back. “And that gives you the right to break into my room and try to beat my
Skateboard Pro 2000
record? Which, just so you know, will
never
happen.”

Now that I could breathe again, I started to sit up. I definitely could have managed on my own but the minute I moved, Seth jumped up. “Careful.” He actually fluffed my pillow for me and then gently helped me lean up a little. When I was situated he asked, “You good? Need me to get you anything?”

I just shook my head incredulously. No guy had ever done anything like that for me before. I mean, the J’s would have come to keep me company and all if they could have, but they would still have made me do paper-rock-scissors to see who had to go downstairs to get the sodas.

“What’s the matter with you?” Seth asked, laughing at the expression on my face.

I shook my head and said the first thing I could think of. “You killed Bruno.” Random, I know. But no way was I going to admit what was really wrong—that it freaked me out to be treated like a girl.

Seth bit back a smile and plopped back down into my beanbag chair. “He tried to kill you first,” he argued lightly.

I couldn’t believe his response. It was so heartless. How could he be so nonchalant about taking the life of a big, dumb, but really sweet, and totally innocent dog?

“He was just excited to see me!” I yelled, forgetting that doing so would only cause me pain. I had to lower my voice again, but that was probably a good thing, because I was suddenly a little choked up. “It was my own fault—always take the skates off before the helmet. Bruno wasn’t trying to hurt me. He wouldn’t hurt anybody!”

“How was I supposed to know that?” Seth retorted. “I’m up in my room, hear you screaming ‘No!’ and look out the window just in time to see a big pit-bull knock you to the ground. You were bleeding all over, and he was attacking your face.”

“He was
licking
my face. And he’s not a pit-bull.”

“Whatever.” Seth rolled his eyes at me. “The dog’s fine anyways. I just stunned him is all. He was tearing up my back yard before I even got back from the hospital.”

“Bruno’s not dead?” This made me feel so much better.

“Of course not. What kind of guy do you think I am?”

“I don’t know what kind of guy you are. I don’t know you. Which reminds me. What are you doing in my room?”

He thought about not answering my question again, but then shrugged. “Your sister ditched you. I didn’t think you should be alone in your condition.”

“My
condition
? I have a headache. I’m not an invalid. I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Ellie.” His voice made it sound as if what I said was absurd. “You left me no choice. I have been dying for you to come introduce yourself to me since the day I moved in. It wasn’t nice of you to tease me like that this morning. You got my hopes all up and then turned around and went back home.”

“What?” I gasped.

“I don’t know how it works here, but out in California it’s customary for people to welcome their new neighbors.”

“My mom brought you cookies the first day you got here,” I said confused.

“Yeah, your mom. I don’t care about your mom.”

“Angela went over there to invite you to her beach party the other day.”

“Beach party?” he asked, distracted. Now he was the confused one.

“Michigan is surrounded by water on three sides,” I said. “We may not have waves, but we have lots of beaches.”

Seth frowned. “Beaches are useless without waves.”

“Not my point.” Even though I happened to agree. I’m not much of a water fan. Unless it’s frozen, of course. “I happen to know you were home when she went over, and you didn’t answer the door.”

His eyes flashed up in surprise and it took him a minute before he could respond. I realized that I’d just admitted to spying on him, but, thankfully, he seemed to be more concerned with being busted.

“Maybe I was washing my hair,” he finally said, fighting a smile.

“You blew off Angela?”

He couldn’t hold back his grin anymore. “Maybe.”

“Are you gay or something?”

I was glad to see that my comment mildly annoyed him. “Not everyone from California is gay,” he informed me.

“You blew off
Angela
,” I repeated. “
Nobody
blows off Angela.”

“She wasn’t the sister I hoped would come see me.”

What!

“Me?” I laughed to cover up my sudden nerves. “Please.”

“Your sister’s hot,” Seth admitted, not with any real enthusiasm. “But she knows it.”

“Oh, so you mean she’s just like you?”

It was the wrong thing to say. Seth got really quiet all the sudden. Then, after a minute, he said, “Would you like me to go?”

Something about the kid unsettled me, but the thought of him leaving surprisingly made my stomach churn. “I don’t know,” I said honestly. I hoped I sounded casual. I didn’t want him to know that he both excited and scared me.

He smiled at me again, but it was less confident somehow, I think he was afraid I might actually kick him out. I relaxed a tiny bit, but I didn’t know what to say, so I waited for him to talk.

He got up off my beanbag chair and sat instead on my dresser, pulling the only framed photo I kept in my room into his hands. It was a picture of Jesse, Jack, me, and Josh all in our hockey gear. Jack’s nose was bleeding, Jesse was missing a tooth, and Josh, whose eye was purple and swollen, was carrying me in his arms. But we were all smiling as if it had been the best day of our lives.

I loved that picture. Seth seemed to enjoy it too. He studied it for a few minutes with a grin on his face, and eventually turned it towards me. He pointed to the kid holding me and said, “This is Josh, right?”

“Um, yeah.” I was startled. “How’d you know that?”

“Just a guess. Of all these guys, he seems like the one who would have all nine of the top scores behind yours on
Skateboard Pro 2000
.”

I couldn’t help smiling at that. “He’s been obsessed with beating my score for almost a year now. He’ll never do it though. If he ever does, I’ll just have to beat it ten more times and wipe his name completely off the list.”

Seth looked down at the picture some more and then lifted just his eyes as he asked, “He’s your boyfriend?”

“No!” I gasped, too appalled by the thought to blush at the question. I pointed to the picture and said, “He was just the only one strong enough to carry me home that day. I’d taken a cheap shot from a kid on the opposing team. Actually tore a ligament in my ankle.” I smiled again as I remembered the fight it caused. “As you can see, the guys didn’t take too kindly to that. I went down, and they didn’t even know I was hurt before they started punching anyone and everyone they could. It was one of the finest moments in street hockey history.”

Seth smiled at the story and pointed to the picture again. “So what about these guys?”

“Jesse, and Jack,” I clarified as he pointed them out. “What about them?”

“Are either of them your boyfriend?”

Hearing him say the word boyfriend was just as startling the second time, and this time I did blush. Not because I was in any way interested in Jack or Jesse. Dating any of the J’s would have been like dating, not my brother necessarily, but definitely a stepbrother, or a cousin. I blushed because I was embarrassed that this stranger was asking about my love life—which, of course, I didn’t have one.

“None of them are my boyfriend.”

I tried to sound annoyed by the subject instead of freaked out like I was, but it obviously didn’t work because Seth put the picture down and came back to my bedside. His smile went back to amused and slightly cocky. “Does that mean you don’t have a boyfriend?”

I narrowed my eyes at him but he still figured out the truth. He gazed at me for a moment then asked, “Have you
ever
had a boyfriend?”

I blushed again. Even deeper than before. My lack of response answered the question for me. I think this was the reaction Seth was hoping for since he leaned in really close. I instinctively tried to back away from him but seeing as how I was lying in bed, and he was blocking my escape, the only thing I could do was sink down into my pillow.

“I wonder…” he said when I could sink no lower. I was flat on my back again, ignoring the discomfort the pressure was causing my stitches. He leaned completely over me, trapping me between his hands and hovering at arms length directly above me. His eyes were still quizzical, and yet they burned, almost wild, as he stared down at me.

When he spoke again, it was a whisper. A velvety-smooth, dangerous whisper. “Have you ever been kissed, Ellie?”

I sucked in a deep breath and then held it while the blood drained from my face. I was frozen, completely terrified by this beautiful boy and what it looked like he was about to do.

When Seth leaned in and brought one of his hands to my face, I flinched so violently it startled him. Instead of kissing me—which I’m pretty sure he wanted to do—he sat back up and whispered, “Okay. Relax.” He brushed the hair away from my eyes, and then ran the backs of his fingers down the length of my cheek. “When you’re ready.” It sounded like a promise.

“I think I’d like you to leave now,” I whispered when I could finally catch my breath.

Seth pulled his hand away from me, his eyes studying mine, but the smile stayed on his face. “Don’t be a stranger,” he said and then disappeared out my window.

I listened for his retreat, but he never made a sound. When I was sure he was gone, I ran to my window and locked it. Then, after that, I went through the house and did the same to every window and all the doors too.