Page 10 of Loving Leo

“I think the ceiling is caving in though, so that’s new.”

He sighs and flops down on my bed. “Yeah, and I’m pretty sure that the neighbor is a murderer.”

“What?” I say, spinning in my chair. “Why do you think that?”

“He has murdery eyes. Probably stuffs bits of people into the air ducts.”

“Jesus,” I say with a mortified laugh. “That’s terrible. You’ve been watching way too many murder docs again.”

“I’m never giving up my murder docs.” He laughs and then shrugs, like his assumption about our neighbor isn’t the least bit terrifying. “Anyway, besides the ceiling caving in, we could also be breathing decomposition.”

“I mean, you do that anyways on a daily basis.”

“I do,” he says with a sly grin. Asher is working on getting his degree in forensic anthropology with the hopes of eventually working in criminal investigations. Don’t know how he manages it, but his obsession with all things dead is a little creepy. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he had a little crush on our murdery neighbor. “Today was very cool, by the way. We’ve been studying the decomposition of bodies in a bog.” He lifts up his arm and shows me a few swollen bumps on his arm. “Got bit by some nasty bugs. They itch like hell.”

“Maybe you should ask our neighbor if he has any ointment he can apply to it. While naked.”

He rolls his eyes. “I will not be doing that. I don’t want to end up dead. I just like studying the effects of death on the human body. It’s so fascinating.”

Iarch an eyebrow at him, not sure how the two of us became friends. We’re so different. But we do have a few things in common. Like our love of romance novels, cheese and red wine.

Speaking of, I head toward the door leading out to the small kitchen, with the peeling counters and unhinged cabinet doors. “Look what I got the other day,” I say as I pull open the fridge. Inside is a box of discount wine and I waggle my eyebrows when Asher sees it.

“Oh, can we break it open?”

“Yep, I could use a drink. How about that?”

“Perfect,” he says and then leans against the counter and rubs at his tired eyes. “Anything new with the hottie with the body at the office?”

“Nope, we’ve just been leaving each other notes. It’s kinda fun to irritate him.”

“Oh I bet. Maybe I’ll leave a note for our neighbor.” His eyes flash in anticipation and then he taps his fingers on his lips. “Yeah, I think I will. See what he’s doing over there. Open a dialogue.”

I let out a huff of laughter. Yeah, that’s something, I guess. A dialogue. That’s not really what Heath and I are doing, but it sure is fun.

I don’t want to stop.

Asher stands up and grabs a piece of paper and scribbles something on it before striding to the door.

“Wait, you need tape!” I call out and he doubles back.

“Right. Right,” he murmurs to himself as he grabs a piece of masking tape and slaps it on the top of the paper.

“Be right back. If I’m not back, check the air ducts in his apartment.”

I let out a snort as he disappears, holding my breath. His fascination with our neighbor is a little weird, but I mean…I’m also jacking off in a stranger’s office at night. So I really can’t judge.

Suddenly, Asher reappears, slamming the door loudly and leaning against it.

“I taped it to his door just as he was walking out!” he squeaks.

I gasp and run toward him, flinging the lock shut and peering through the peephole. I can make out an oversized gray sweater and dark jeans. The guy is just standing there, his fingers stuffed in that sweatshirt of his.

“What’s he doing?” Asher asks, his voice nearly inaudible.

“Reading your note. What did you write?”

Asher swallows and lets out a mortified laugh. “I asked him to please stop grinding bones to bits in the middle of the night.”

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