Cupid's Guide to Murder

Chapter 28: Only You

"Jeremy?"

I stared at Fairview's favorite blogger, standing at the door frame in cartoon pajamas with a cup of cider in his hand.

He grinned, moving his floppy hair out of his face. "Yo, whassup Havinator!"

Aside from the fact that you're not the boy I'm supposed to be confessing my feelings to?

"What are you doing here?" I said, looking past him into the empty room.

He widened the door as if to invite me in, glancing back at me.

"Uh, this is my room?" His voice rose in question.

I followed him inside and looked around at the white and coffee brown decoration and half-opened suitcases. "Candy?" He offered me a little bag filled with peppermint candies, and I took one.

"I thought this was Griffin's room," I admitted.

An accusatory expression crossed his face, and he widened his eyes. "Holy shit. Did you come here to have sex with him?"

"No!" I exclaimed, horrified. "I just needed to talk to him." He looked at me as if he didn't believe me and I blushed.

"Talk. Right. Well, he's my assigned roommate," he explained. "But I'm not staying here, anyway."

"Where are you going?" I said.

It was his turn to wear a sheepish smile. "Spending the night at Taylor's. Thanks for putting in a good word for me, by the way."

"Oh, my god!" I squealed. Taylor definitely had a lot to update me on — I guess I hadn't realized how well the two of them had hit it off on the bus ride and during skiing. And considering Taylor rarely gave guys the time of day, Jeremy must've done something right.

"Ow," he complained.

"I'm so happy for you, Jeremy," I said, beaming. "Uh, just, you're wearing that?" I looked at his choice of PJs.

He shook his head, laughing. "No way. I'm going to change and then head out. But if you are looking for Griffin, he grumbled something about going to the veranda."

"With Lindsey?" I said, not wanting to hear the answer.

His knowing gaze fell onto mine, and he smiled. "Nah. He barely even said bye to the girl he was with before he stormed in here. He looked all broody, though. I said hi to him and he looked like he wanted to beat me up for no reason. I thought he just had anger issues, but now," he said, his eyes gleaming as he looked at me, "it all makes sense."

My cheeks grew warm with his implication. Jeremy continued with a smile, "Guess someone officially broke the heartbreaker. But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

My heart fluttered at the sound of that.

"I should get going, but good luck tonight, Jeremy," I said, standing up and adjusting the hem of my dress.

"Good luck to you too," he smirked, waving at me as I walked down the hallway. My hands grew clammy as I found the door to the veranda, pushing it open and shivering slightly as the breeze hit me. Sure enough, I saw Griffin with his back to the door, arms folded together in a long-sleeved black shirt.

"Pretty night, right?" I called.

Griffin turned around, his hands still in his pockets as he surveyed me. The way he looked at me almost mesmerized me. "Real pretty," he said, giving me a once-over and suddenly I didn't know if he was talking about the night.

"I know where Toby is," I said, approaching him with my arms crossed across my chest.

"Toby?"

"The stuffed lizard you won me at the boardwalk. I know I said I didn't know, but I remember exactly where he is. He's in my closet, actually. Good friends with Louie the lion & Ella the bear."