Conception (The Wellingtons #4) - Tessa Teevan Page 0,30
and clear.
“I told you I would. I just didn’t know I’d be fighting with some random book for your attention,” I tease. “Let’s see, what’s this one about.”
She hops up from the spot between my legs and tries taking the book from me.
I hold it up and away from her while I read the synopsis on the back. “The Gloryhole Killer has struck again. Can Detective Cochran and Dr. Roscoe hunt down the depraved maniac before another hole is violently violated beyond repair?” My composure slips, and when I get to the last line, I howl with laughter. “Holy hell, what is this?”
With a huff, Amelia takes the book from me then glares while I’m clutching my stomach from laughing so hard. “It’s a pleasure novel!”
“I’ll say!”
“Ugh, that’s not what I mean! It’s just a book to read for fun. You can’t always read the classics, you know. Summertime is for beach reading. And I’ll have you know it’s quite compelling. You see, it started out at some small dumpy truck stop outside of in the middle of nowhere. A trucker found one of those cheap glory holes, you know, looking for a good time. Only once he stuck his…umm, thing”—she pauses, a cute blush creeping on her cheeks—“in the hole, someone cut it off. The man passed out from blood loss and was found dead hours later. Detective Cochran thinks the killer used shears, but Dr. Ro disagrees. They bicker back and forth, and it makes the book a bit more lighthearted… Anyways, they thought it was an isolated event until more reports came in, all the same M.O. as the first. A glory hole serial killer. Can you imagine?” she asks, her eyes wide now.
Fuck no. My cock hurts just thinking about it; not that I’m about to tell Amelia that. Instead, I grimace, shaking my head, fighting the urge to cover my junk. Let’s hope she’s not as bloodthirsty as the villain in her book.
Oh yeah, without reading the thing, I already know the killer is a woman. Lopping off dicks with gardening tools? That has estrogen written all over it.
“Oh, Lord, here she goes again,” Sunny quips, causing Amelia to toss her a dirty look. Sunny ignore her and smiles at me before she flings an arm around her best friend’s shoulders. “Amelia here hasn’t met a B-horror movie or book she doesn’t like. The gorier the better. The only thing she loves more is true crime.”
Amelia shrugs. “It’s true. Even though most nights I can’t sleep after reading or watching something scary, I can’t help myself. It’s an addiction.” The sheepish smile on her face is cute as fuck, especially the way she’s nibbling on her lower lip.
Upon rising from my place in the sand, I take Amelia’s hand and use my other to brush a strand of hair behind her ear, hoping she knows I’ve just been teasing her. “So…you’re into horror? Scary shit?”
“So what if I am?”
I grin down at her. “Then that’s good news for me, ’cause I live for it.”
Her nose wrinkles, and she gives me the side eye, as if she doesn’t quite believe me. “You do?”
“Are you kidding? I was seven when Dad let me watch The Brain That Wouldn’t Die. Scared the crap out of me, got Mom angry. Didn’t matter though. I was already hooked.”
Amelia’s eyes go wide. “That movie is so terrible it’s fantastic! And weirdly romantic in a really twisted kind of way, if you think about it.”
“I’ve never thought of it that way, but now that you mention, what’s not romantic about a guy going on a killing spree to find a body for his dead girlfriend’s still-living brain?”
She laughs, in a cute, melodic way that makes me want her more. “For me, it was Attack of the Crab Monsters. I had a crush on Richard Garland for most of my childhood after that.”
“I don’t know that I’ve see that one.”
“You can’t claim to love B-horror movies and not have seen Attack of the Crab Monsters. It’s a classic!” she insists.
“Then I guess we’ll have to watch it together sometime. Though I’m not sure I want to watch you making eyes at Richard Garland the whole time.”
“That unsure of yourself, are you?” she asks, and I love the fucking challenge she’s presenting.
I take a couple of steps back and rake my gaze over her body from head to toe. “Oh, I’m sure, all right. I just want to make sure you are, too.”