Page 120 of Stop and Seek
Noah’s throat closed up.
Did he? No, not when Theo needed him like this.
But also, yes.
Maybe?
Maybe not.
Fuck.
He couldn’t get his thoughts in order, and Theo’s words came out too fast.
“I probably sound like a freak, right? God. I’m sorry. I’m just—I’m a wreck right now. Forget it. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot like that.”
The second Theo started to move away, every part of Noah’s body screamed. Cold air rushed in where Theo had been, and the blood came roaring back to life in all his limbs like a thousand tiny knives stabbing him awake.
“You don’t,” Noah gritted out. “There’s nothing to apologize for, baby. I swear.”
“Are you uh… you good?” Theo asked.
Noah winced as Theo shifted and all the pins and needles lit up at once. “Oh, parts of me I forgot existed are asleep.”
Grin through the pain.
Theo’s laugh caught him totally off guard. Sweet. Sudden. It broke through the storm cloud Noah didn’t realize was hanging overhead.
How broken wasreallyfucking broken?
Theo’s poor phone, for one. Noah had managed to collect most of the pieces—including the SIM card—when everything exploded the other day.
Theo shoved the cracked remains around with his finger, the migraine blurring his already shit vision and turning colors into smears of white and blinking dots.
The clerk at the electronics store was busy with another customer and he’d been waiting for almost an hour. The wait wasn’t helping.
“The whole thing pisses me off,” Rachel said. She propped her chin on her hand. “I’ve half a mind to knock all of them stupid.”
“It’s not everyone’s fault. Max and Decker’s, mostly.”
“No surprise there but,” she looked over, slapping her free hand over his; the noise made him flinch. “You seriously don’t believe him, do you?”
“Who? Jag?”
“No, Teddy.Noah.”
The butterflies were still there.
Theo dropped his head onto the glass counter. “Kind of.”
Rachel straightened and turned towards him.
“Kind of,” she repeated, like it was fucking blasphemy. “Alright, Theo. Sure.Okay. There is zero way that the guy involved with the peopleplanning ithad no clue.”
“Can you not? I feel like death warmed over.”
“I know…” she mumbled. “I know. I’m sorry. I hate seeing you suffer. Is Jagger still texting you?”
“Yep,” Theo popped thep.“I’ve blocked him, and it turns into this bigger deal.”
