Page 168 of Stop and Seek
“Emergency-type?”
“Shit thatcould be used,” Theo said, fingers shaking as he unbuttoned his pants. “To hurt someone.”
Noah’s eyes dropped. Eyebrows scrunched.
“Uh… there’s another pair of scissors in the glove compartment, I think. There should be a tire iron and crowbar in my trunk.”
What did a tire iron look like again?
No.
Not that.
What about a crowbar?
Theo pictured it instantly—cold steel, chipped paint, the sharp V-tip catching bone if he aimed right. Light enough to swing. Heavy enough to crush if he used both hands.
His breath stuttered, caught somewhere behind his teeth.
How easily it could tear through muscle. The wet sound of it slamming into someone’s shin orskull.The screaming. No words, only noise—splattered and choked. He imagined what it’d feel like to pull it back with somethingstuckto the end.
Something soft. Human.
He hadn’t realized he’d said anything until he felt his mouth move.
Until Noah leaned down, lips warm against his cheek.
“Tell me what you’re thinking about, baby.”
“I want to know how it’ll feel,” Theo whispered.
Noah didn’t pull back like Theo expected. Instead of recoiling, his tongue traced a line across Theo’s skin, down his neck. “Keep talking.”
Theo’s thighs tensed under Noah’s weight, hips tilting up. “When it connects,” he said. “I want to know what that’s like.”
Noah’s voice was quiet. Careful. “Which?”
“Crow… crowbar. I wanna know how it sounds when it hits someone. The noise of—of bone, or cartilage. Maybe teeth. Is it loud?”
No answer. Noah stilled, one hand pressed into the mattress by Theo’s head.
“I wanna watch it land,” Theo continued, shakier now. “I want to know what it’s like when the pain is so sudden they don’t scream right away. They just… look. And wonder,why me? What did I do to deserve this?”
He turned his head slightly. “You think I’m fucked up yet?”
“No.” Noah didn’t hesitate. “I think you’re trying to figure out what stops you from hurting. Whatever it is, I’m gonna be here the whole time.”
Theo’s eyes burned.
He blinked hard. Once. Twice. Didn’t help.
No.
Crying during sex was corny as hell.
That wasn’t happening.
He wasnotgoing to start bawling.
