Capture (Seaside Pictures 1)

"Why aren't we moving?" I asked Dani.

She stared at the seatbelt.

I sighed. "You do realize Demetri lives about a mile away from here?"

Arms crossed, she glared, her bright blue eyes flashing.

"Right, then." I buckled my seatbelt. "Someone's prickly this morning. Then again, that's my fault, so yeah, sorry about that."

Silence.

My breathing was loud. Too loud. Damn, the girl had me wanting to hold my breath and jump out of a moving vehicle.

"So," I said once we parked in front of Demetri's townhouse. "How was the drive over—"

Her car door slammed.

"She's really gotta stop doing that," I muttered under my breath as I hurried to follow after her.

Taking the stairs three at a time, she was already inside the house before I made it to the top of the stairs.

"Dani!" Demetri shouted. "Long time no see, little sis, and why the hell did you drag this loser with you?"

"Nice to see you too, Demetri." I held out my hand.

He stared at it. "Still pissed you put that video of me getting set on fire on YouTube."

"It was funny," I pointed out. "And you would have done the same thing."

"True." He took my hand then pulled me in for a hug. "So, how lucky is it that you needed a new assistant, and Dani's a little miss smarty pants and doesn't need to go to school this fall?"

"Super lucky," I croaked out while Dani met my gaze with one of absolute annoyance. The last time I'd received a look like that was in the fifth grade because I didn't want to play spin the bottle with the girls in my class.

"Dani…" Alyssa gripped her hand. "… I went ahead and put a crap load of clothes in your room at Jay's. I hope that's okay?"

Dani nodded vigorously and wrapped Alyssa in a tight hug.

A twinge of jealousy shot through me. No idea why the hell I was jealous of two girls having a good relationship. Maybe because I'd botched whatever chance I had with Dani that morning.

"You need something to drink?" Demetri asked, stealing my attention away from Dani, and the way she clung to Alyssa as if she was her lifeline.

"Nah." I licked my dry lips. "I think we're going to head back to my place soon anyway. I'm a slave driver and all that — need to get shit done before tomorrow morning."

Demetri swiped a bottled water from the counter. "I heard Jay has a five a.m. call time. Yours just as bad?"

"Yeah." I sat on one of the barstools. "The good news is I have this crazy awesome assistant who can fetch me coffee so I don't fall asleep in the makeup chair."

Dani made a face in my direction.

"I think she likes you," Demetri joked.

"Wouldn't surprise me at all if she has a poster of my face in her room." I nodded.

Dani rolled her eyes, then stuck her finger in her mouth and made a gagging motion.

"You know, in some countries that's a term of endearment," Demetri said in an optimistic voice.

"Yeah…" I cringed. "…but in America it just means she'd run me over with her car, even if I had an orange reflective vest on."

"What did you do?" Demetri whispered just so I could hear. "She looks like she wants to actually knee you in the balls — more than once. Which isn't her typical MO. She's always been a bit more gentle than that. Seriously, she saves ducks crossing the road."

"She saves ducks?" I stared at the girl as she threw her head back and laughed freely at something Alyssa said. "You sure about that?"

"Positive," Demetri said with a soft chuckle. "You must have done something to ruffle her feathers, because the last time I saw her glare at someone was never… Good work, way-ta take the sweetest girl I've ever known and make her hate men everywhere." He slapped my back.

Grimacing, I turned toward him. "I may have overheard her talking to her dad's voicemail on her phone, and I may have then assumed she was faking."

"Oh, shit." Demetri collapsed onto the barstool next to me. "You're an idiot, you know that, right?"

"It's not like anyone told me!" I hissed. "Jaymeson should have said!"

"Because Jaymeson doesn't know!" Demetri glanced behind him to make sure Dani wasn't eavesdropping. "She tells one person everything. Guess who that person is?"

"You?" I offered.

"Me, or sometimes on rare occasions, Alec, take your pick. We were there when she got hurt. She talked then…" Demetri sighed. "… and then—"

"You guys should probably get going if you want to hit the grocery store and run errands before school gets out," Alyssa called out behind us. "It gets kinda crazy downtown with all the bus traffic."

"Seaside?" I frowned. "It has traffic?"

"You have no idea," Demetri muttered. "It's ridiculous sometimes. P.S., have fun at Safeway."

"Safe what?" I repeated. "Is that a hospital?"

"Grocery store." Demetri nodded. "It has a Starbucks, though, so we forgive it for having a really small organic food section."

"Says the guy who eats French fries for breakfast." Alyssa sighed.

"Dude…" Demetri held up his hands. "…last I checked, people eat potatoes for breakfast."