Page 84 of Stop and Seek
The kind of headline that gets buried under celebrity breakups and football stats. They wouldn’t even say his name for a few pages.
As soon asthey parked, Kyran bolted like the seat burned him. He yelled something that sounded like a quote. Probably a Disney movie.
Whatever. Noah wasn’t listening.
“You want to stay in the car?” Max asked, blowing out a thin stream of smoke. She didn’t look at him, her eyes fixed on something outside. “You still haven’t collected. You could go back to the hotel, maybe open up the monitors instead of your phone—”
“And miss all the fun?” Noah interrupted. “It’s the last day of festivities. Are you putting me in time-out?”
She flicked ash out the window and shrugged. “I should.”
“Don’t be so sour. I’ll apologize if you will.”
“Excuse me?”Her head snapped toward him. Mouth open, eyebrows climbing. “What—what am I apologizing for, Noah?”
Oh, hedefinitelysaid the wrong thing. Whoops.
She was waiting, still as a statue, with that one eyebrow doing thething—the one that usually meant someone was about to lose their kneecaps. He could’ve backed off. Smoothed it over. Said something charming.
Not this time.
Max tossed the cigarette onto the grass and shoved open the passenger door.
“Forget it, I don’t want to know. When you decide to get yourhead out of your ass,yourfriendswill be inside.”
Noah watched her slam the door and march off.
Fine.
Let her be pissed.
She wasn’twrong,but she wasn’trighteither.
Yeah,maybehe grabbed her too hard.Maybethe car swerved a little.
But she acted like he was crazy for caring.
Like he was being ridiculous for needing—needing—to keep Theo safe, even if it was just hisnameon a screen.
If she wanted him to be the villain? That’s what he’d be.
It always smelled like salt. Noah had been in the gym off and on since Tuesday, and it still caught him off guard. Not gym sweat or cologne, butsalt-salt. The kind that clings to winter boots and crusts over sidewalks.
Man, he missed the snow.
Max hated it. Anytime the weather dipped below perfect, she dragged him to Maui or Adelaide. Maui was okay, but Adelaide had great beer and even better beaches.
Snow meant coats and mittens and warm drinks.
Theo would lookstupidlycute in scarves. With fog on his glasses and red cheeks and ears—
The image made his heart swell.
Noah dropped onto the bleachers, letting his arm stretch behind him as Max and Benji bickered about something he wasn’t fully paying attention to.
“It’s a good place,” Max said. She shot Noah a look. Rolled her eyes and turned back to Benji. “Tell her.”
Benji shook his head, all slow and dramatic. “The waiting list is five years, Max.”
