Page 78 of Stop and Seek
Perfect silence.
“Noah.”
He cracked one eye open.
Max.
“You need to get your shit together,” she said. “That stupid cunt mademy lifehell, and if you lose it again, over someone like Callie—”
If he wasn’t so tired, he would’ve thrown something at her.
“Don’t—” Noah swallowed a yawn. “Don’t talk about him like that.”
Max hesitated. “You always think you’ve got it under control, but you don’t. We have Venice Beach next week. Anactualvacation that isn’t our damn job. LouLou, Whaler…”
He didn’t care.
Theo wasn’t in California.
Theo needed him here, but wouldn’t say why.
Thatwas the only problem worth solving.
Max kept talking. Noah tuned it out.
He’d figure it out. He always did. This wasn’t a battle he was going to lose.
Not when Theo was the first person in forever who made him feel like he’d won something just by beingseen.
Noah’s phone wouldn’t stop buzzing against his chest. For a second, he wasn’t sure if it was the vibration or his own heartbeat slamming into his ribs.
He groaned. Dragged the charger free. The screen glared back at him, too bright. Rolling over, he shoved the phone between his cheek and the pillow.
“What,” he grumbled, low and scratchy. Clearing his throat didn’t help.
The silence on the other end stretched. But it wasn’t awkward. It was kind of... nice.
White noise, lulling him back to sleep.
“You suck.”
Noah jolted upright, instantly awake. His blood spiked like ice water in his veins.
“Theo,” he breathed, and holy hell, just saying his name made the hairs on his arms rise. “What time is it?”
There was a rustling sound on the other end, followed by a groggy, slurred, “Fucking… late, I dunno.”
He fumbled for the clock.7:14a.m. The sun was already up. Morning? Seriously?
Switching the phone to his other hand, he tried to shake the feeling back into his fingers.
“How did you—ow,shit—how’d you get my number?” Theo asked.
Noah couldn’t help the dumb smile. “You called me. Are you okay?”
“No.You texted me first.Answer the question, Noah.”
Hearing Theo say his name made this wild, unexplainable fluttering fill his chest withliteralsound. That was new.
