Page 99 of Stop and Seek
“What’s the one thing you regret most?” Noah asked.
Theo swallowed, eyeing the bright green can in his hand. The soda wasn’t helping.
“Does my entire life count?”
It wasn’t a joke, even if it sounded like one. His face was on fire.
The questions felt a littletoopersonal. Lessicebreaker, morethird degree.
“Do you still play football?” he tried. If he could steer the conversation somewhere else—anywhere else—he’d feel a hell of a lot better.
Noah rolled his bottom lip through his teeth. Shrugged. “Not for years. Things went south for me in college and then my life blew up in my face. I don’t have the best luck. What’s the worst thing someone’s donetoyou?”
“Lie,” Theo muttered. He slumped back, the can caught between his knees. “I guess that’s the short of it. Are—are yousureyou don’t want to do something else? I got console games.” He moved the soda to the floor, his heart pounding so loud he was sure Noah could hear it.
Everything was just fuckinghot.
No air conditioner. His hoodie waskilling him—
He knew it wasn’t from the food.
Noah didn’t respond right away. He slid closer until his knee lodged against Theo’s thigh. One hand splayed against Theo’s leg, and Theo didn’t fuckingdaretake his eyes off it.
The sexual tension was almost more than he could handle.
“Why is getting to know you such a big deal?” Noah asked after a minute. “I ask you a real question and you freak.”
Not expecting that one.
“It’s not,” Theo mumbled, but even he could hear how fake it sounded. That was a new sort of embarrassing. “Ask me something. I’ll answer.”
Noah’s grin was all teeth and it sent a shiver down his spine.
“Tell me your deepest, darkest secret. Think of it like,” Noah’s hand slid farther up Theo’s leg, thumb rubbing against the inside of his thigh. “A free-fall exercise. You trust me, and IpromiseI won’t let you fall.”
Falling was probably at the bottom of Theo’s concerns at the moment.
His mouth had gone dry, tongue too thick to move. Stuck somewhere between bone-shattering anxiety and the urge to beg Noah to fuck him again. Both options sucked. At least the second would stop the nosy questions.
“You…” Theo started. He licked his lips. “Do you remember Aaron Donaldson?”
Noah leaned in, close enough for Theo to catch the sugar-and-citrus tang of the soda on his breath. Theo didn’t move—he couldn’t.
“Running back Aaron?” Noah asked quietly. “High school?”
Theo nodded. Once.
Bad move. Bad,badmove.
His mouth brushed against Noah’s and all his damn thoughts spiraled straight to his dick.
Except, Noah didn’t kiss him. He smirked—cocky and annoying and hot as hell.
“Keep talking, Theo. I like listening. What about Aaron?”
God.
Dammit.
