Page 41 of The Executioners Three

For several seconds, Freddie had no idea what to do. Theo Porter was Sheriff Bowman’s nephew. He knew where Freddie was now, which meant he could tell his aunt. Maybe he’d already told his aunt.

But no, no. That didn’t make sense. Freddie had only just arrived here, and Theo seemed as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

She forced a smile from her spot, half squeezed through the open door. “Just a sec!” she shouted, then she slipped inside and let the door swing shut behind her.

She would have to go back out there. She would have to talk to Theo, even if she didn’t know what to say. Hey, your family has some scary stuff happening. Any idea why your grandma has a secret murder room? Also, is your aunt possibly working with or hypnotized by a serial killer?

Plus, the truth was, if not for whatever had just happened at his grandmother’s house, then Freddie would have wanted to go see him. She would have been giddy and buoyant and flushing all the way to her core that Theo was right over there and smiling at her.

Freddie’s hands trembled slightly as she removed Xena from her neck and hung the camera on a coat rack by the door.

Snow melted off her boots and onto the linoleum.

Next, she withdrew the film canister and Sabrina from her pockets, then placed both items on the flat top of the coat rack.

The power on her phone was still off, but she was afraid to change that.

As if, even now, the ringing might alert the person from the attic of her whereabouts.

She exhaled thickly, smoothed at her too-tight uniform and her hair, then finally Freddie thrust back into the dregs of a gray sunset.

The parking lot swept against her in a slurry of cold and snow and drifting white.

Yet standing stark against it was Theo. He still waited by his car, the driver’s door open and the plastic bag no longer in hand.

“What are you doing here?” he called as Freddie hurried toward him. His blue eyes were bright, even the swollen one, and his lips were quirked handsomely to one side. Despite the fading bruises, he looked polished, he looked poised, and he looked…

Happy.

It was strange, actually. So completely at odds with the Theo that Freddie had kissed only that morning. The one who had needed distraction because his life was a mess right now.

“Why are you here?” Freddie countered, hoping he wouldn’t catch her blatant deflection.

She was just her Usual Self: Frederica Gellar, obsessed with Lance Bass, The X-Files, and any mystery that might need solving.

This Freddie had not just found a secret room in Theo’s grandmother’s house, and this Freddie had not just fled someone who was probably a serial killer or controlled by one.

Freddie came to a stop several paces from him. He still wore his Fortin Prep uniform, but no tie now. And he’d loosened his shirt collar, which looked good. Like, really good, with just that glimpse of a collarbone and pale skin.

“Beef jerky,” he said simply.

Freddie kicked up an eyebrow. “Huh?”

“Beef jerky,” he repeated, and this time he nodded toward the open car. “My grandmother’s awake, and she has a hankering for it. So I just stopped in the drugstore before it closed.”

For half a breath, Freddie didn’t react to this statement—because how should she react? “You, um… you must be so happy,” she said eventually. Not an admission of having met Mrs. Ferris, but also not a denial.

“I am indeed.” Theo’s head tipped sideways. “But didn’t the hospital call you? I gave them your number.”

Oh. Right. He knew about that part because he’d set it up.

Freddie’s lips compressed. Then parted. Then compressed again because the reality was that she sucked at this. She wasn’t good at gauging whether a lie would make things better or worse. And she was also stretched so thin by adrenaline she didn’t think she could manage a lie anyway.

So Freddie did the only thing she could think of to sidetrack Theo: she marched up to Theo, grabbed his blazer collar, and kissed him.

It was a simple kiss. Freddie’s lips against Theo’s, and nothing more. Or that was the plan, at least—the haphazard, slapped-together plan of a terror-crazed mind. She would kiss Theo Porter; then she would flee back into the Frame it was on fire in a Very Bad Way Indeed.

“And look, I don’t care if you don’t feel the same way about me. ”

“Freddie,” Theo said. Cold sunset swept over his face.

“Actually, that’s not true,” she amended. “I do care if you don’t feel the same. But no matter what happens, I need to tell Divya the truth. Because best friends aren’t supposed to lie to each other, you know? And I did. I lied by omission.”

“Freddie.”

“God, I bet this is what Y2K feels like.” She shook her head.

“Freddie,” Theo repeated again. Now he looked slightly annoyed.

“Don’t say anything. Please.” She lifted her hands, half-beseeching, half-defensive. “In fact, can we just pretend this conversation never happened? I’ll go my way and you can go yours. And… I’m sorry,” she finished. “Really, I am.”

Freddie shifted, ready to bolt. Theo’s voice cut out, “Wait.” He had also removed his blazer and was holding it out to her. “Here,” he said curtly.

“Um.” She frowned. “What should I do with it?”

“You should put it on.” He shook it at her. “You’re freezing.”

“Oh.” She swallowed. Then shrugged. “It’s fine. I’m going inside now, so I don’t need it.”

“You do need it,” he insisted.

“Why?”

“Can you please stop asking questions and just put on the jacket?”

“Absolutely not.” She’d just plumbed the depths of her soul for him, and now he had the nerve to look annoyed? “That’s how people get murdered, Mr. Porter.”

“By school uniforms ?”

“By doing what strangers tell them to do!”

“I’m not a stranger.” He scowled. “You just told me how much you liked me.”

“And you didn’t respond!”

“Um, I tried to respond, but you were like a freaking freight train going over a cliff. Now please put on the jacket.”

“Why?”

“Oh my god!” He flung up his hands—and the blazer. “I want you to put it on because I’m going to kiss you for a very long time, and I don’t want you to be cold.”

Freddie’s eyes widened. Her mouth fell open. Because this was definitely not what she’d expected Theo to say—although it was definitely something she’d hoped he would say.

“I had all these plans to be super smooth,” Theo continued, stepping in close. “You were going to put on the jacket and I was going to tell you that I finally understood that stupid NSYNC song.”

“You mean… ‘Tearin’ Up My Heart’?”

“Obviously.” He opened the blazer and swooped it around Freddie’s shoulders. It smelled like newspapers and detergent.

And it was warm.

She slid her arms into the loose sleeves.

“But of course,” Theo went on, “you refused my jacket because you’re stubborn—”

“Because you didn’t ask nicely .”

“—and now the moment for my smooth words has passed.”

“Oh.” Freddie blushed.

“Yeah. Oh .” He eyed her for several seconds, tongue running over his teeth and hands still holding the blazer collar. He was close enough for Freddie to kiss him. For her to rise onto her toes and resume what she’d begun.

“Theo,” she said softly.

“Freddie,” he replied, moving closer by a single inch. Close enough that Freddie had to tip her head back to hold his gaze. And close enough that she could feel the heat off his body and see how large his pupils had become.

Then that was it. The point at which the air between them shifted, and suddenly they were kissing again.