Page 164 of Stop and Seek
Glenn flipped his notebook shut. “If anything comes back to you, give us a call. You’ve got our card.”
The chair scraped as Theo stood, legs numb beneath him.
“Yeah,” he said hoarsely. “Okay.”
As soon as the door shut behind them, the world snapped back to normal.
Sort of.
Theo stood there for a second, staring at the empty chairs, heart thudding so hard it made his fingertips tingle.
They were gone.
Poof, as Alyssa would say.
And he hadn’t slipped.
Hadn’t stuttered. Hadn’t given them anything but the version of events he’d knownbeforeNoah broke into his house, drunk and ranting.
God.
He wasbuzzing.
He shoved open the break room door too hard—it banged against the wall, loud enough to make Mrs. Rosario glance up from the circulation desk.
“Everything okay, Theo?”
“Peachy,” he said, breathless as hell. “Nothing to worry about.”
Ducking behind the nearest bookshelf, Theo dragged in a deep breath. Held it. Trying to trap the adrenaline and keep it there. Hefeltevery ounce of static, every edge of the bright, sharp world under his shoes.
He pressed his palms to his cheeks. They were hot. Burning.
Holy shit, calm down.
Calm down right-fucking-now.
Except hecouldn’t.
Instead, he went back to the table and grabbed the stupid fake flowers from the box. Ripped them out by the handful. A few of the plastic berries scattered across the floor, knocking against his sneakers.
He laughed. Once. Quiet and short. But it didn’t feel normal. It was the kind of laugh right before the panic attacks. Half a second before he threw up or debated running into traffic.
The cops really looked him in the eye and told him the thing he already knew like it was new.
The bell above the door chimed again—another person, another thing to keep him busy for the next few hours before the clock finally set him free.
Theo shoved some semblance of a bouquet into the glass vase. Stood back. His foot must have caught the edge of the table cloth because the whole thing came crashing down.
Oops.
“—popular today.” Mrs. Rosario’s voice floated through the air. “He’s over there.”
“Thanks,” the person replied, and that voice—
Yeah. That sounded alotlike Noah.
Peering around the bookshelf, Theo caught sight of him. No signs of a bad hangover frommodel-perfectNoah. His hair was done, skin fucking glowing—wearing another one of Theo’s shirts thatdid notfit him in the best way possible.
