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“Hey,” a deep voice spoke, a voice I didn’t recognize.
I stopped what I was doing, measured in turning my head to see a tall, muscular guy wearing a Letterman’s jacket standing there. He wore a tiny smile, his face clean-shaven, a mop of blond hair on his head. “Uh, hi.” He was in a few of my classes; I couldn’t remember his name, but ironically enough, he was the guy I’d told Erin I’d be interested in when she’d pressed me on the subject.
“Brianna, right?” He spoke my name with an easygoing smile, small dimples on his cheeks.
“Yeah. You’re…” I trailed off, hoping it wasn’t too rude that I’d forgotten his name. I’d been so wrapped up in the whole Erin thing that learning everyone’s name hadn’t been a priority. He probably wasn’t used to girls not knowing his name. With how cute he was, I bet he was more accustomed to girls tripping over their own feet in his vicinity.
The smile on his face didn’t waver. “Neo Banks.”
Ah, right. Neo Banks. Football player extraordinaire. It was way past football season, but that didn’t stop him from wearing that jacket and acting like he owned the school. He didn’t seem too smug about it, though, so I guess that put him a few levels above Gareth, at least.
“Neo,” I repeated his name, slowly zipping up my bag and hauling the strap over my right shoulder. I was still wearing long-sleeved shirts, but I’d taken off the bandage on my left wrist. The stitches remained, so I had to be careful. “What do you want?”
He chuckled. “Straight to the point, huh? I like it.” He leaned against the locker beside mine, obviously having mastered the leisurely stance. “I wanted to ask if you were going to the basketball game tonight, and if you aren’t, maybe I could change your mind.”
“A basketball game?” All I could seem to do was repeat important words he spoke.
“Yeah, it’s a home game. I could pick you up if you want. We could grab something to eat before—or after. I’m down for whatever.” He flashed me a set of perfect white teeth, not a single thing about them crooked or flawed. “I’m dying to know more about Eastcreek High’s newest student.”
I couldn’t believe this. Was he really asking me out? With everything going on? I mean, I guess Neo didn’t know everything that was going on with me; to him, it was just another Friday, nothing out of the ordinary about it. But… why me? Why not someone else?
Did he just want to lay it on me thick so I’d fall into his trap, spread my legs for him, and let him get a taste? My suspicious nature couldn’t turn off, and though my initial instinct was to tell him no, I wondered if, perhaps, I could use Neo to get at Gareth.
Flaunt my date with him to Gareth, make Gareth go crazy, and maybe, with any luck, get Gareth to revert to his typical tendency of murdering anyone who annoyed him. I’d be putting Neo in danger by doing so, but if anyone could take care of themselves when it came to Gareth, it was the six-foot-tall, beefy as hell school quarterback.
So, even though it was probably the worst thing to do, I said, “Okay, yeah. Let’s do it.”
Again, he flashed me a smile, and he pulled out his phone, unlocking the screen and handing it to me. “How about six? We can grab dinner before.” He didn’t tell me to put my number in his phone, but I assumed that’s what he wanted, so that’s what I did.
“Sounds good,” I told him, giving him a smile I hoped was flirtatious. Truth be told, I was shit at flirting. The one time I’d tried to flirt, I’d ended up in a lip-lock with the man who was apparently Gareth’s uncle and Alistair’s ex-brother-in-law. Not a good track record.
I handed him his phone back, and he grinned a cute, boyish smile. If I wasn’t so rolled up in Erin being missing, that smile would’ve let loose a flurry of butterflies in my stomach. He was cute, I’d give him that. Definitely crush material.
“Cool,” he said.
“Cool.” Again, I echoed him, and we both laughed. He gave me a look that told me he couldn’t wait for tonight, and then he wandered off, joining some of his friends as they happened to walk by.
I turned to watch him go, wondering what the odds were that he’d want to hang out tonight, of all nights. Whatever. I couldn’t linger on how ironic the timing was when I should’ve already been at Kaity’s car.
By the time I made it outside, the lot was chaos. It was the only reason I was able to slip to the side of the parking lot and meet Kaity near her car without Gareth seeing. Once Kaity and I were safely in her old, rusted vehicle that had certainly seen better days, I messaged Gareth to tell him I had to work on a project with Kaity. He definitely didn’t need to know that we were going to the police station.
Would Rick keep quiet about it, or would he go tattling to Alistair and Gareth about this visit? It wasn’t just me worried about Erin. Her other friends were, too. He couldn’t pin the whole thing on me—and, anyway, if he wanted me to search the house for stuff that incriminated him or Alistair in other illegal things, he’d keep his mouth shut.
“Angelina and Cherith already left,” Kaity told me, starting her car up and pulling out into the mess of cars trying to leave the school parking lot.
“Sorry. I would’ve gotten here sooner, but Neo Banks asked me out.” The way I said it, it sounded like I still couldn’t believe it. And I couldn’t. Did this mean the whole time I’d been here, Neo had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to ask me out?
“Shit, girl, really?” We were stuck in a line of traffic, everybody trying to turn left onto the road—which was only made more difficult due to the constant flow of traffic on the road. Since the high school didn’t have busing of its own, everyone had to get picked up one way or another. “Be careful with that one. I hear he only likes girls until he bangs ‘em, then he drops them like hot potatoes.”
Well, it was a good thing I didn’t really like Neo, then. It was a good thing my conflicted heart had already decided it belonged to someone else… someone who I hated, ironically enough. “Yeah, I’m not looking for anything long-term. It’ll just be nice to get out of that house for a while.”
Kaity was probably thankful to talk about something other than Erin and her family’s possible disappearance. “That bad, huh? I figured living with Gareth would be miserable. Erin always loved him, but I never liked him at all. There’s just something about him that doesn’t sit right with me. Like he’ll be the first person to snap and go on a mass-murdering spree.”
She wasn’t wrong there.
Speaking of Gareth, I looked in the mirror to make sure he wasn’t behind us or something. The last thing I needed was him following us to the police station and inserting himself in something he had no right to. It was bad enough he was likely the culprit here; I didn’t need him butting in and prolonging this.
Why wouldn’t he just tell me the truth? Did he think I’d try to hurt myself again? Cutting my wrist had only given me a temporary win; the moment I’d woken up and faced Alistair and Gareth, I knew there was only one end to this game.
