But once again, Thad beats me to the punch. “Her smile,” he says without missing a beat. “Her warmth. Her kindness. The way any room gets brighter when she’s in it.”
Another chorus of awws follows his answer, but I’m so surprised I hardly notice it. For the first time since sitting on his lap, I turn so I can look directly into Thad’s face, searching his expression with a quizzical smile. “You didn’t really think that,” I say quietly, just to him.
He doesn’t say anything, but his eyes burn into mine, so intense I have to look away, flustered. He is very good at pretending, I’ll give him that much.
“And what drew you to him?” one of the girls asks. “I mean, besides the obvious.”
A round of laughter follows this, and I play along with it, trying not to let on how much the question flusters me. “He is very handsome, isn’t he?” I wet my lips as I think of the best way to answer, before deciding to go with Thad’s method—the truth, or at least a version of it. “I never thought he’d be interested in me in a million years. We’re from different worlds.”
The girls are fully invested now in the love story, many of them literally hanging off the edge of their seats. Of course, that might also be because of the tequila shots I saw them taking a few minutes ago. “Opposites attract though,” Cassie speaks up sagely, in the manner of a girl who is wise beyond her years, or at least trying to sound that way. “Sweet and sour. Naughty and nice.”
“That might be it,” I agree, conscious of Thad’s eyes watching me closely as I answer. “But I don’t think so. I think we’re actually not so different. Not where it counts. The more I’ve gotten to know him, the more I think we’re both people who’ve been hurt before, and who are a little scared of letting other people see us for who we really are. We might just have different ways of showing it.”
I don’t know when this turned into a counseling session, or why I’m being so honest with these Delta Gamma girls. Maybe it’s because I know I’ll likely never see them again. Maybe because it’s easier to say these things when I don’t have to look at Thad.
“So is it true love?” another girl pipes up.
The question catches me so off guard, I’m startled into looking at Thad. We stare at each other for a long, silent moment, and I don’t know how to read the intensity of his gaze. I’m both completely aware of our audience, and sucked into this vacuum of a moment, where it’s only Thad and me, our faces mere inches apart, our eyes holding in an unspoken exchange. He gives a slow swallow, looking down at my lips, causing them to part as I take in a sharp, expectant breath.
“NOLA!”
The shouted exclamation from the group of girls pulls me right out of the moment. I look back, surprised to see that we appear to have reached the city. Many of the girls are suddenly standing on their seats, crowding together to try to stick their heads through the sunroof.
With all the happy, frenetic optimism of youth, they’ve forgotten about us in an instant. But my heart is still hammering in my chest, and I feel Thad’s thudding in response behind me.
Chapter 34
Helen
After the party bus drops us off at the Four Seasons (of course Dean wouldn’t use Aunt Linda’s credit card to book a Motel 6), I let Thad work his bounty hunter magic with the clerk at the front desk to see what information he can find out about Dean’s comings and goings. As I wait for him, I scroll through the photos on my phone of Aunt Linda’s credit card bill, trying to put together a little map of all the places that Dean’s been making significant charges. He seems to be staying within a pretty small radius, with most of the charges going toward take-out food, although there are a few places that stand out to me as being unfamiliar. When I do some digging, I find out most of those unfamiliar locations are casinos.
I shake my head. Typical Dean. He breaks his bail, which my parents will likely have to take out a second mortgage to pay, then goes on the lam, using Aunt Linda’s credit card to rack up charges at fancy hotels and casinos like it’shismoney to blow through. Of all the inconsiderate people in the world, I think Dean might very well be at the top of the list.
There’s one final charge from a place that I don’t recognize. When I pull up its information online, my eyes widen.
This is it.
Thad rejoins me, looking flustered. He’s doing that thing where he keeps running his hand over the back of his neck, and it makes my heart warm. I feel like I’m looking at the little-kid version of him instead of the tattooed bounty hunter man.
“The front desk clerk was no help. Refused to divulge any information about customers, blah, blah, blah.”
I refrain from reminding him that it’s part of that poor woman’s job not to give out information about customers, since he looks so put out by the rejection. “Aww,” I tease him, unable to help being amused by his predicament. “I bet you’re used to batting those blue-gray eyes and getting whatever you want.”
Those blue-gray eyes narrow in on me, at first looking a little annoyed with my teasing. But then his expression shifts as something seems to occur to him. “Blue gray? Is that what color my eyes are?”
Too late, I realize that this is the exact color I used to describe Axel’s eyes, when I read my chapter out loud to the writing group. Axel, who is not-so-loosely based on Thad himself. It didn’t occur to me until right this moment that Thad wouldn’t already know his eyes were blue gray, but I guess you don’t really think of your own eyes in those terms, since you don’t spend a long period of time staring into them, getting lost in them…
“Um,” I hedge, averting my own eyes. “They’re in the blue category, for sure.”
When I dare a glance back at Thad, he is studying me with a ghost of a smile on his face. “Believe me, blue-gray eyes or not, I don’t get everything I want. Not on the first try, anyway.”
What doesthatmean? I’m not entirely sure, but even so, I feel like someone has just sent an electric jolt straight to my core.
Flushing, I avert my gaze to the screen of my phone, trying to steady myself. This is why we’re here. To find Dean, not to do—whatever we’re doing.
“I found something,” I tell him briskly, trying to keep my tone businesslike. I start to hold out the phone for him to look at it, but instead he comes over, right behind me, his chest pressing up against my back, his closeness making every nerve in my body stand on high alert. Shaking, but trying not to show it, I angle the screen up so he can see it. “Dean’s made multiple charges to something called the Carolina Belle. When I looked it up, this is what I found.”
“A floating casino,” Thad murmurs, and he’s so close to me I can feel the words vibrating through my skin.
