Page 43 of Watch Me
“Unless Maddie used it somewhere.”
“No.” I shook myhead.
“Then, I think so. Just pretend everything’s normal.” He parked and cut theengine.
“Except I’m about to have babysitters.”
Ethan sighed. “Yeah, but I’m going to figure this shit out.” He pulled me by my red peacoat and pressed his lips to mine. “I have something else to tell you.”
“What is it?” My heart stopped, and I was instantly worried before he yawned, which caused me to yawn and remember that we hadn’t had any coffee yet. I needed ten cups. “Can you tell me while we grab coffee before class? It’s like a ritual—or an addiction—but I get a cup every day before class.”
“Yeah, I need caffeine.”
We got out of the truck and headed toward the coffee shop. While we walked, I tried to gauge if Ethan was more at ease and less stressed. He wasn’t. Whatever he had to tell me wasn’tgood.
“The usual?” Krystal, the barista, asked. I nodded. “And for you, sir?”
“The same,” Ethanreplied.
“Do you even know what it is?” Iquestioned.
“Vanilla latte, of course.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out his creditcard.
I smiled. “Okay, you do know me.”
Ethan leaned over and whispered into my ear, “I do. Every. Fucking. Inch.”
My face heated and probably turned the color of the red peacoat I was wearing. Hedidknow every inch. And I knew every inch of him too. I was the first to run my hands, my lips, my tongue over every inch of his skin, and he was the first to do the same to me. It felt good to think of something other than what was happening aroundme.
We turned, and I came face to face with the man I’d briefly spoken to in the same coffee shop. Whiskey Neat smiled, I smiled, and then Ethan and I walked over to wait for our coffees. Even though I frequented the coffee shop five days a week, I hadn’t seen Whiskey Neat since then, not even at Judy’s, where I’d first seen him when I wanted to hook him up with theblonde.
As Ethan and I waited for our lattes, I caught Whiskey Neat staring at me. He smiled again, and all I could think about was the last thing he’d said to me:“Not to be too forward, but I wouldn’t mind you tying me up.”Could he be the murderer? I felt as though I was going to look at everyone differently now: my teachers, my classmates, Tommy, Frank, Derrick, and even Judy. The cashier at the grocery store, and the attendant at the gas station—every single person because we didn’t know who had violated myspace.
“I need to change my lock,” I stated, breaking my gaze from Whiskey Neat. I was going to tell Ethan that Whiskey Neat was the guy who had asked if I was a murderer, but I didn’t. I didn’t know why. I should have, but since the guy had been flirting with me, telling him would only lead to Ethan stressing outmore.
“Shit,” Ethan muttered. “Let me get my dad to do that.”
“I can’t let him do that. He might be busy.”
“It’s fine.” Ethan pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He dialed and held it up to his ear just as Krystal called my name to tell us our coffees were ready. We grabbed them as Ethan started to speak into his phone. “Hey, Dad.”
As he spoke, we passed Whiskey Neat. He winked, and my eyes widened. Was I going to suspect everyone forever?
We walked out of the coffee shop. My phone started to buzz in my pocket, and I pulled it out and saw Maddie’s name on the screen.Crap.“Hey, honey,” Ianswered.
Ethan raised a brow, and I mouthed that it wasMaddie.
“You called me?” sheasked.
“Yes, how was your weekend?”
“It was good. How was yours?”
I swallowed. How was I supposed to tell her a killer after me? I felt as though I was living in an episode ofHalloween,and Michael Myers was hunting me. “It was good. Ethan took me on a ride-along yesterday.”
“Oh my god, that’s awesome. Was it fun? I bet it was fun.”
I chuckled slightly. The ride-along was fun. Coming home was when it all went wrong. “It was. I can’t wait to get a job and start working crime scenes.”
