Page 69 of A Series of Rooms
But maybe he was alive.
He pressed the phone to his ear. “Hello?”
There was a pause, probably not a long one in reality, but one that stretched an eternity as Liam listened for any sign of life on the other side. Then someone cleared their throat.
“Liam? It’s me.”
CHAPTER 31
Liam
The flicker of blue from the television was the only light in the room, giving a dreamlike glow to the scene: Jonah in a hospital bed, bruised but alive, and Liam in a chair at his side.
He was holding Jonah’s hand.
Liam had scarcely let go of him since arriving a few hours earlier, sure that without the anchor of physical touch, he would wake from the dream that Jonah was here with him, safe and alive and real. Every few minutes, Liam felt himself hold on a little tighter, just to reassure himself. He took great comfort in the fact that Jonah returned the squeeze, every time.
Nearly every channel was playing back-to-back Christmas movies. It provided both a familiar backdrop and an unsettling reminder that the world continued to spin, even as their own stuttered to a halt, stuck in this quiet moment, just the two of them.
A glance at the clock told him that in just a few minutes, it would be the morning of Christmas Eve. He was sure this was one he would never forget.
It had taken some convincing for Liam’s mom to drop him at the hospital entrance. She had offered to stay, to come up to the room with him or find somewhere to wait, but Liam had decided, before Jonah had ever hung up the phone, that he would stay with him for however long he needed.
He didn’t know how long that would be, and his mother had already gone so far out of her way for him. Liam assured her, with a tight hug across the center console of the car and a kiss on the cheek, that he would be alright from there. That he wouldn’t be alone.
The moment he had laid eyes on Jonah from the doorway of the hospital room, he knew he had made the right call.
He still didn’t know everything. There were so many questions Liam wanted to ask, but the last thing Jonah needed in his state was an interrogation. Liam had gotten just enough information to understand the basics of how Jonah had gotten here: that the man who hurt him was dead, and that the fuckingFBIhad been involved in getting him out.
And hadn’t that been a shock—arriving to find the man he had thought to be Jonah’s abuser sitting in his hospital room? Liam had nearly re-opened his split knuckles before Jonah could explain.
Beyond that, Liam could only glean information from what he saw with his own eyes, and that was bad enough.
He watched Jonah’s face in the muted lighting, no room left within himself to be guarded in the way he looked at him. Probably, he’d leapt past the point of no return long ago.
Every few seconds, the screen would flash brightly enough to illuminate the bruises on Jonah’s face. Even on his worst day, Liam had never seen Jonah so badly injured. His face and neck were mottled in shades of red and purple, swelling one eye shut almost completely.
Jonah must have sensed him staring, because he rolled his head along the pillow to meet his eyes.
“Did Nathan do this to you?” Liam whispered.
Jonah blinked with his one good eye, looking a little more aware. “He told you?”
“Not in so many words,” Liam said. “It’s a long story, but I know he saw you Friday night. Did he really do all ofthis?”He gestured at the mass of bruising covering Jonah’s face.
Jonah watched him through dark eyes.
“Not all of it,” he said finally. “Liam, there’s something I haven’t told you. About Nathan.” He hesitated, turning his eyes forward again. “I knew him for months before I met you. That night we found each other in the bar, I was there because Nathan asked for me.”
Liam was sure he wasn’t understanding. “For my birthday,” he clarified, not quite a question.
Jonah shook his head. “No. The overnight with you wasn’t part of the original plan. He wanted something quick and discreet at the bar. I had to borrow his phone to get permission for the rest.”
Liam felt dizzy. “You were crying that night,” he recalled. “And at the diner, you...” Horror swelled in him.“You didn’t look at him. Oh, god. Jonah, I’m so sorry. I had no idea he was... I never expected...”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Jonah said. “Nothing he did had anything to do with you. I know that.”
“I should have known something was wrong by the way he acted that night we saw him together. I might have never known what he did if it weren’t for the giant fucking gash you left on him. Good on you, by the way. Made it much easier to break his face open a second time.”
