Page 171 of Stop and Seek
Tugging off the damn, green, monstrosity, Theo slipped the new one over his head. Noah’s shirt. Hanging off him. The V-neck dipped low enough to expose the scar tissue on his chest. The sleeves didn’t hideanything.
Maybe he could use it as a flotation device.
He glanced up. “Can I keep it?”
And Noah lit up like someone told him he’d won the lottery. That giant-ass grin cracked across his face and Theo couldn’t help but smile back, even if it felt crooked. Even if something inside him was still burning, twisting itself into knots.
“Yeah—yeah!” Noah laughed. “Of course.”
Theo wrestled his pants up, stood, and—
Ow.
His damn knees popped and every step to the bathroom pulled at the soreness deep in his muscles. He flipped on the light.
Too bright.
He squinted at himself. Shadows under his eyes. A strip of torn skin along his lip where Noah’s teeth hit. He gripped the edge of the sink, hands trembling.
This is what you wanted.
This is what you’ve been too fucking scared to admit.
The frame creaked when Noah leaned against it.
“You sure you wanna do this?” he asked.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
Theo nodded once. “We’re going.”
Whether he was talking to his reflection or Noah—he didn’t know. But they had to. Or else his mind was going to catch up and start spinning in the right direction.
He had to get started before reality hit harder than his fantasies.
Akron should’ve been farther away.
By all accounts, itshould have.
If it took forty-five minutes to get to Cleveland, it should’ve taken at least an hour and a half to get to Akron.
That was how math worked.
It tookfifty.
Fifty minutes that evaporated into nothingness. Theo looked out the window and there wasn’t a highway anymore. There were sidewalks and strollers and some kid riding a scooter past a mural that had probably been done for Pride.
The sun wasstill up.
Birds chirped like this was some wholesome late evening errand. The scent of fried chicken grease curled into the open car window. People were walking dogs. A woman crossed the street with a toddler in tow.
Nothing about the world looked like it was about to break open.
Noah pulled the car around the back of an apartment complex, tires too quite on gravel. He parked in the shade between an overhanging tree and a dumpster reeking of old meat.
