Page 28 of Chasing Secrets

I could tell Theo meant it. His hand felt warm in mine, and it was hard to ignore the little zaps of electricity that were shooting up my arm.

“But coming up here to visit him wasn’t,” I murmured. I waited until Theo’s eyes met mine and then pointedly looked at the still-healing gash on his right arm. His entire body locked up tight and he immediately released my hand. He began to climb to his feet but to my surprise he stopped, then very slowly lowered himself back down to the ground.

“Lincoln, look,” he whispered. I followed his gaze across the stream and saw that the dog had returned. It looked like it was on the verge of taking off at any moment, so Theo and I sat in silence. The dog took a tentative step forward, then another. I slowly turned my head so I could watch Theo. The smile on his face would have knocked me on my ass if I hadn’t already been sitting down.

It was real.

Completely, totally fucking real.

I was so captivated that when he looked directly at me, I was completely blindsided, and it took several whispers of my name from those gorgeous lips to draw me from my reverie. When my eyes met Theo’s, he looked down at the plastic bag that was still sitting on the ground between my legs. I managed to drag my eyes from his so I could confirm that the dog was still there and then carefully handed the bag to Theo.

He began throwing the food across the stream and the dog eagerly ate each piece. But I wasn’t watching the dog anymore. I was too busy trying to control my reaction to the pure joy in Theo’s eyes every time the dog ate what Theo tossed him.

No masks.

No lies.

No pretending.

Just Theo.

TherealTheo.

My chest constricted painfully, and it was all I could do not to lean in and capture his mouth with mine every time he looked at me. I wanted to cover his body with mine as the sounds of the forest came alive around us. I wanted to do anything and everything that would keep that smile on his face and the pain in his eyes away. I wanted to hear him whisper my name against my lips. I wanted to bury my face against his neck and finally take a breath. Not just any breath but the kind that swept through your whole system and made you feel like everything was okay.

“Lincoln?”

The confusion and hint of fear made it possible for me to snap back to reality. The bag in Theo’s hand was empty and a glance across the stream showed that the dog was gone.

Jesus, how long had I been staring at him like that for?

“We should probably head back,” I said. “It gets tricky to navigate these woods in the dark.”

I climbed to my feet and automatically held out a hand to help Theo up. He’d gone predictably quiet, which didn’t surprise me. God only knew what he thought I’d been thinking as I’d stared at him. I was glad when Theo took my hand and allowed me to pull him to his feet. The move had him nearly pressed against my chest. It was all I could do not to dip my head and claim what I knew in my heart was mine. His lips were slightly parted and he was breathing hard.

I forced myself to look somewhere else. Anywhere else. My eyes fell to the thin wrist of the hand I was holding. A sudden thought hit me and I quickly reached up with my free hand to pull my hair tie loose. Theo didn’t resist as I stretched the band over his hand. It was snug on his wrist but not tight enough to risk cutting off his circulation. I turned my eyes back to meet Theo’s so I could explain about the band on his wrist but found him studying my hair which was probably a curly mess. But it wasn’t just my hair he was staring at. His eyes moved slowly over every feature of my face and when they finally landed on my lips, I nearly came on the spot.

Because I knew I could have seized his mouth in that moment. I knew he would have made delicious little whimpering sounds as his arms went around my shoulders and his lush tongue greeted mine.

I was actually in the process of pulling him closer and dipping my head when a twig snapped off to our right. Theo jerked back so hard and fast that my arm around his waist was the only thing that kept him upright. We both turned to see whatever asshole had ruined what I knew in my gut would have been an epic moment. A flash of white bobbing a few times before disappearing behind a large thicket of bushes gave me the answer.

“Just a deer,” I said. I forced myself to release Theo entirely. His mask hadn’t slipped back in place yet, but I knew it would.

He looked down at his wrist, noticing the hair tie for the first time since I’d put it on him. “What—?”

I snapped the band hard enough that he’d feel the sting of it. He flinched and looked up at me in surprise.

“For when you need relief but aren’t in a place where you can get it.” I didn’t have the guts to be as blunt as I wanted. The band was meant to replace the razors and even his own fists. The relief might only last a few seconds but maybe, just maybe, it would buy me or whoever he was with time to intervene.

I didn’t give him a chance to respond. “We should go.”

I fully expected Theo to ignore my suggestion and stay where he was out of sheer spite but to my surprise, I could hear the leaves rustling just a few feet behind me.

It wasn’t much, but hell if it didn’t feel like the biggest victory in the world.

CHAPTERTEN

THEO

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