Page 155 of Wish You Were Mine
“You didn’t get it?” I blinked up at him. “I texted it to you last night.”
“I didn’t see it.” He frowned and pulled out his phone. After scrolling through it for a moment, he turned the screen so I could see our text thread. Our texts from yesterday morning were there, but nothing after that.
“That’s strange.” My brows pulled together. Had I just imagined texting him then?
I opened my photo app, selected the picture again, and hit share, choosing his name from the airdrop list.
A second later, his phone buzzed.
“Got it,” he said, showing me the photo of us on his phone.
“Glad it worked,” I said, setting my phone on the tabletop. “Though I could have sworn I sent it last night.”
“Hopefully, you didn’t accidentally send it to some random stranger,” he teased, tucking his phone back in his pocket. “It could be bad if a photo of us got out.”
We both froze as soon as his words were out.
Oh no.
I felt the blood drain from my face as I picked up my phone again and opened my messages. And even though I hadn’t texted my brother for a week or so, at the top of the list was Theo.
A contact namesoclose to “Theo’s friend.”
No, no, no, no, no.My stomach dropped as I tapped the thread.
And there it was. The photo. Me nestled against Owen’s chest on the train, both of us smiling.
“I’m so sorry, Owen.” My voice came out in a whisper as I turned the screen toward him. “I must’ve tapped Theo instead of Theo’s friend.”
Owen’s eyes flashed wide with panic, and he leaned in, studying the screen. “Okay, wait. It says ‘Delivered’ but not ‘Read.’ So that means he hasn’t seen it yet, right? So we might still be okay…”
“Yeah.” I nodded quickly, grasping onto that thought like a lifeline. “He was probably already asleep when I sent it. And he’s probably been busy in court today. So maybe we have time to fix this…”
Which was how? I didn’t know.
I stared at the photo like it had the power to explode everything we’d been careful to protect.
“I wish there was a way to magically delete the photo from his phone,” I said when no other ideas popped into my mind.
“That would certainly come in handy right now,” Owen said, dragging a hand through his hair. “Is there any chance you could, I don’t know… sneak into his office and delete it?”
“You want me to drive to New Haven and Mission Impossible his phone?”
“If it saves our lives and my career, it’s worth a shot, right?”
But before I could respond, a bubbling hiss behind us made us both jump.
“Oh shoot—” I rushed back to the experiment, turning down the heat beneath the beaker just as Owen grabbed the flask beside it and added a splash of water to bring the reaction back under control. A few seconds later, the bubbling slowed.
Once it stabilized, I looked at Owen and said, “Maybe I could text Theo’s assistant. See if she could get into his phone and delete it. I think she likes me.”
“Might as well try, at least.” Owen nodded.
I pulled up my messaging app, scrolling to find a text thread with Theo’s assistant. I was sure I hadn’t deleted it after planning his surprise party.
But before I could get to it, a new message popped up on my phone.
From Theo.
