Page 110 of Stop and Seek
“I wanted to see if you knew where we were going, gosh. I thought it wouldn’t shock your system as bad.”
That was the understatement of the year.
Theo didn’t belong.
The nicest place he’d ever stepped foot in was The Cheesecake Factory when he’d visited Indiana with friends years back. That was a luxury.
This was a different planet with its own orbit.
“If you’re going to be sick babe,” Alyssa said, “there’s fifteen bathrooms.”
She tugged him around the side of the house, oversized trees and rosebushes bracketing the path.
The backyard had to have been four times the size of the front. And in the middle of the Olympic sizedswimming pool? Decker’s tall ass. Reclined on one those ridiculously large unicorn floaties.
“Hey broski!” he called, lifting the sunglasses up.
Theo turned, the instinct to bolt overriding sense, and Alyssa yanked him around so fast he almost crashed into her.
“The rich peoplewill noteat you, I promise,” she whispered.
“Yeah, well, I don’t fucking trust that not to happen, okay?” he hissed back.
“Then why are you here?”
There was only one word Theo could think of.
One name.
And there went a child.
Wait.
What?
Theo’s brow scrunched, and Alyssa had the same expression plastered on her face.
They both looked down.
The tiny brunette child went flying by a second time, skating very close to the pool before she ripped off into the open patio doors. She looked like a miniature hurricane in a dress.
“It’s cool,” Decker said. “Don’t sweat it.”
There was a splash when Decker rolled into the water and treaded over to them.
“That’s Belle. Ben-Ben turned into a big sappy tree last night, and now we all get Capri Suns.”
Theo’s brain had packed up and left, or he was hallucinating so hard that not a word out of Decker’s mouth made sense.
“One more time,” he said slowly.
Decker grinned, folding his arms over the black edge. “Belle is Benji’s kid. She’s a maniac, and I dig that for her. He had a mini meltdown after a work call because he missed her, now she’s here. She’s got a nanny. No babysitting is involved.”
“What,” Theo cleared his throat. “What about the Capri Suns?”
“They’re in her inventory.”
God, just kill me.
