“No,” Theo said like he was explaining a difficult passage. “I wasn’t. Anyway, my point is that you could have hit another car, you could have crashed into pedestrians on the sidewalk, you could have hit a tree or a building and killed yourself and Robert.”
“I don’t need another dad, for the love of fuck.”
Theo’s blond eyebrows arched slightly. The hum of the computer’s fan sounded like a tornado.
Auggie let his gaze slide back to Theo. “Look, I get it. I screwed up. It’s not going to happen again. I’m here to get my life back on track; I’m not going to let it happen again.”
“Get your life back on track? What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
“If I’m sticking my neck out to help you on this, then it means something, and I want to know.”
“Who the fuck asked you to stick your neck out?” Auggie couldn’t help it; his voice slid into a mockery of Theo’s tone on the last words.
“You did, when you barged in here and said something like ‘Please don’t let them kill me.’”
The heat in Auggie’s face flashed into pinpricks. “That’s not what I said. But, yeah. Ok. Thank you, again. And . . . and I’m sorry. I’m freaking out.”
“What do you mean, get your life back on track? Were you involved in some kind of trouble back home? Could these guys have followed you here?”
“No. Look, I’ve got this . . . business, I guess. On social media.”
Theo’s expression was blank. “Like, Facebook?”
For the first time in what felt like days, something loosened in Auggie’s chest, and he laughed. Pulling out his phone, he opened Instagram and passed it over. “Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. There’s a new one called Snapchat, and I think it’s about to explode. Here, this is one of our most popular videos ever.”
Theo watched it and said, “You’re a pretty good dancer. Who are these other guys?”
“Oh, my buddies Logan and Devin.”
Scrubbing a hand through his thick beard, Theo said, “How do I watch it again?”
Auggie tapped the screen.
When it finished this time, he said, “I don’t get it.”
“There’s nothing to get.”
“You try to eat a slice of pizza. Then your buddies drag you away before you can get it. You guys dance to ‘Walk Like an Egyptian.’ Then you eat pizza and pretend to spill it on each other. Then it shows an empty pizza box.”
“Yeah.”
“And that got six hundred thousand likes?”
“Yeah, I told you, it’s one of our most popular.”
“What in the world?”
“Ok, well, some people like it,” Auggie said, snatching the phone back. “And I was on track to get this huge sponsorship deal in South Korea—I’m really big in South Korea—and then, um, something happened.”
“What?”
“Can we not talk about this? I promise it’s got nothing to do with these guys showing up or Robert or drugs or whatever the hell this is about.” Auggie blew out a breath, wagged the phone at Theo, and said, “Old guys aside, a lot of people actually like what I do, so I’ve just got to keep my name out of the news, build my brand, and my agent is sure we’ll get that deal in the spring.”
“You swear you’re telling me everything about Robert? You met him by chance at the bid party, you guys decided to do something stupid because you were drunk, that was the end of it?”
“That was the end. I haven’t seen him since. I thought about blocking him, because he said he followed me, but I couldn’t figure out which handle was his. That’s it.”
For a moment, Theo just scratched his beard. Then he said, “The responsible thing to do right now, the right thing to do, is tell you to take this to the police. I know, you already told me you don’t feel like you can do that.”
“That guy was not joking. He’ll know. And he’ll kill me.”
“I said I know, but I’m also telling you, I still feel obligated to say you should go to the police.”
Auggie’s heart had begun to thump. He scooted closer in the chair; his knee bumped Theo’s.
“But?”
“But I was married to a cop for almost five years. And Ian was really frustrated by the fact that police work is almost always cleaning up after the mess happens.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning this guy might be telling you the truth.”
“Wait, you were married to a cop?”
“Yes.” Theo rolled his eyes. “Believe it or not, not everyone finds me so boring they fall asleep on the first day of class.”
“I didn’t fall asleep, I just—if you were married to a cop, you know how to do stuff like this. You can help me find Robert and get these assholes off my back.”
“Oh, sure,” Theo said. “Just like if I’d been married to a surgeon, I’d be fully qualified to take out your gallbladder.”
“Theo, I swear to God, if you help me with this, I will do whatever you want. Please. You’re smart, you saved my ass, and you’re literally the only person who can help me with this.” A flash of inspiration washed over Auggie like goosebumps. “And they might come after you too. You’re tagged in that video, right? And you beat the shit out of those guys today; they’re not going to forget that.”
“We can go to the police together, Auggie. That’s what we should do.”
“Please,” Auggie said, crowding closer. He could smell something that Theo must have put in his hair and beard—a musky, woodsy scent. Cedar and moss. Heat coiled like a spring in Auggie’s gut, and he heard himself saying, be careful, be careful, and then he put a hand on Theo’s thigh, a little too high on his leg to be mistaken for anything else, and said again, “Please?”
Theo’s face was neutral as he leaned forward, caught Auggie’s wrist, and moved
