Page 108 of Stop and Seek
Theo squinted. “What color were those again?”
“Blue.”
The life savers from Monday.
“Well,” he choked back an embarrassed laugh. “Uh… also yes. Big yes.”
Alyssa threw her arms over the steering wheel.
“There werefive, Theo,” she groaned. “See? It’s like letting a kid roam free in a candy store. You get them when I give them.”
Theo opened hismouth—
Alyssa beat him to it.
“No.” She held out her finger. “Don’t start pouting. I’m immune to the puppy dog eyes. You should’ve been set for a week, not like, two damn days.”
Admitting she was right…
It was easier not to go there at all.
As soon as they were in the car—not evenpulled outof the library’s goddamn parking lot—Alyssa started in.
“I can’t believe you’re wearing that,” she grumbled, picking at the sleeve of his hoodie. “Don’t you have a change of clothes? Did Noahmentionthe word pool party?”
Not at all.
Then again, it wouldn’t have mattered either way.
Being half naked in front of a group of people? That was a sick, twisted punishment.
“I don’t swim,” he said dryly, “and you sound like fucking Rachel. Stop it.”
“She’srightthough.” Alyssa shoved at his thigh. “Ugh. Whatev. I’m not wasting my breath on your hobo-looking-ass.”
“Those be fighting words.”
She shrugged. Flipping one of his headphones around, she jammed her ear against it.
Theo pulled out his phone, handing it over to her without a word. She loved scrolling through his bands, and it was a nice change of pace from putting the thing on shuffle.
“Have you ever like, driven past the mansion?” Alyssa asked after a while.
His playlist had ended up on the song “Shut me up” by MSI, and the places Theo’s brain were going?Danger zonelevels of filthy.
He chewed on the chapped part of his lip, dragging his head out of the gutter.
“Once, maybe. It’s fucking enormous,” he said.
“Can I be honest for a sec?”
“Go for it. Give me more ammunition to make fun of you.”
“Whatever,” she laughed, nails clicking against the phone screen. “Serious face now. I’m nervous.”
Theo glanced down at the top of her dark head, eyeing the glitter in her hair. “Why? You love parties.”
“I’m not sure. Woman’s intuition, I guess. I have this like, weird feeling I can’t shake.”
