Page 54 of Stop and Seek
The hairpin he found in literally two seconds; they were littered all over the damn floor like a salon exploded.
But the earbuds? Those were the fucking issue. Alyssa didn’t have them in her ears, which meant they were in her car.
Wherewas the big question.
Theo snapped open the glove compartment, slid his hands over the driver’s side visor, even looked inside that little section beneath the radio and air vents.
Jack shit.
“I’m gonna give up,” he mumbled to himself. He wiped the oil from god-knows-what on his hands onto his jeans. “Screw it. Not worth the headache.”
That’swhen he found them. On the goddamn dashboard. In his defense, the dashandthe earbuds were both matte black. They blended in.
It wasn’t his fault.
Theo had one foot outside of the car, keys dangling from his thumb, when he heard that voice.
“Hey there.”
Every hair on the back of his neck stood up.
Thatvoice—too fucking familiar—hit like a crowbar to the spine. It rattled through his ribs, echoing in the hollow spots of his chest where breath used to go.
He turned his head slowly.
Maybe it wouldn’t be real if he didn’t rush it.
But itwas.
Jagger stood under the flickering parking lot light like he’d never left, all casual smile and lazy posture, hands buried in the front pockets of his camo pants, like he didn’t have blood under his nails. Like the last six years hadn’t happened.
Like Theo hadn’t spentweeksin the fucking mental hospital.Yearsrebuilding whatever scraps were left of himself.
The only thing that had changed was the hair. Jagger used to have dreads. The cringe, white-boy kind. Now? He was shaved bald.
“I figured someone would drag your introverted ass here,” Jagger said with a laugh. “Was it Rachel?”
The world tilted again. The air was too thick—wet cotton shoved in his lungs—and he couldn’t move, couldn’t fuckingbreathe.
Theo gripped the earbuds tighter so they wouldn’t fall when his hands decided to take a break from reality.
Jagger stepped closer. “Damn, you look good. New glasses?” He tilted his head, grin widening like this was just some normal run-in. Like he had a right to smile.
Theo’s fingers twitched. His heart pounded against the inside of his skull, louder than his own thoughts.
Go away.
Go away, go away, go away.
“I have to go,” he whispered.
“Yeah. No big. I can hang out with you—”
“No.We’re—we’re so far past over,” Theo took a breath. “So far past that. Don’t.”
It wassupposedto be over.
That part of his life was supposed to be dead and buried.
