Page 36 of Stop and Seek
“I think you pulled my arm out of the socket,” Theo muttered, tugging off his glasses. He shook out his hair, little strands of red floating in the air before they settled on the radio knob.
“I should tell Alyssa.” Theo’s lips twitched. “File a discrimination case.”
Noah rolled his eyes. He dragged the hem of his soaked shirt over his face.
But Theo was grinning—cute, lopsided—and Noah had to remind himself not to stare.
“It was a fucking joke.”
Noah snorted as he started the engine. “My humor is balls deep in a puddle.”
The dashboard flickered to life, headlights cutting through the rain.
Yeah.
He could get used to this.
This easy pull that dragged them closer together.
How damngoodTheo looked in his car, like he belonged there.
“I haveto be tripping,” Theo said as he adjusted the seat belt. “It can’t be two already.”
“Didja lose track of time? Got somewhere to be?”
“Yeah… no.”
“So you wouldn’t mind if we stopped to get food, first?” Noah asked, squeezing the steering wheel to keep the excitement controlled. “I’m running on empty—”
Theo’s lips pressed into a thin line. He turned to the window, neon light of the dashboard catching the sharp edge of his jaw. “I just wanna go home, Noah.”
Twenty minutes later, and Noah still had no idea what he’d done wrong.
Not even the faintest clue.
One second, they’d been joking, laughing—connecting—and the next, Theo was sulking like a gloom had followed him inside, settling over the passenger side and poisoning the air.
Noah could figure it out later.
He would—because there wasno wayhe was letting it go. Not when Theo looked so perfect next to him.
But right now, he was fighting for his damn life on the highway.
Rain hammered the windshield in thick sheets, drowning out the road. It felt like he was drivingunderwater, and even his new tires were having trouble not sliding into thenext lane.
He’d turned on his playlist—familiar enough to ease the tension. Will Wood’s fun, fifties-style voice spilled out of the speakers. Gave him something to focus on.
“Theo.”
Nothing.
“Theo,” Noah repeated, louder this time.
Still nothing.
Theo kept staring out the window, head lolling to the song.
Noah looked back to the road, the wipers going full speed.
