Page 42 of Loving Lies (Granton University 3)

“Jonah has never made me cry. It’s the situation he’s in that’s heartbreaking. I’m crying for him, not because of him.”

“I don’t care,” Bailey muttered, shaking her head adamantly. “My best friend does not cry this much. She smiles and laughs and always finds the good in life. She’s optimistic, happy, and blissfully carefree.”

Yeah, well, lately, Tess’s world had been filled with fear and heartbreak. Ever since the shooting, finding something to smile about had become a lot more difficult.

“That’s it.” Bailey ripped her keys from the ignition and shoved open the driver’s side door. “Come with me.”

As she marched toward their dormitory, Tess scurried to follow. Her friend stormed all the way into the building and up the stairs, and then down the hall toward their room. Once they were inside, Bailey grabbed her arm and tugged her through the bathroom and into Paige’s room.

“I’m calling an intervention,” she announced loudly as soon as she stepped inside without knocking. “Right now.”

Tess jerked to a halt when she glanced around Bailey’s shoulder and caught sight of Paige and Logan on the bed, curled up together where they’d obviously been making out. Poor Paige’s lips were swollen, and Logan’s face was flushed. Tess tried to retreat, but her bestie yanked her forward again.

Catching the apprehension in her gaze, Bailey rolled her eyes and hooked her thumb toward the door. “But hot guy’s got to go first.”

Paige immediately scowled, pushing upright into a sitting position even as she straightened her shirt. “Hey, don’t tell him to—”

“It’s fine,” Logan cut in, setting his hand on Paige’s arm. “I don’t do girl talk all that well, anyway. And they obviously need to…girl talk.” Kissing her check, he rose to his feet, saluted to Bailey, sent Tess a sympathetic glance, and turned toward the exit.

As soon as the door shut behind him, Bailey lit in. “Jeez Louise, did the doctor sew you to him when he got his bullet hole patched back together? I haven’t seen you guys apart since the shooting.”

Paige flinched at the word shooting. “Hey, we’re no more attached than…than you and Tess are.”

Bailey made a face as if she was going to argue, but then she shrugged. “Touché.”

Scowling with irritation at Bailey, Paige tried to smooth out her tousled hair. “So, what’s up?”

Or maybe it was sexual frustration clouding Paige’s face. Tess totally understood that excited yet unsatisfied gleam in her suitemate’s eyes. She’d been experiencing some of the same sensation herself lately, pretty much every time an interrupting nurse walked into Jonah’s hospital room.

“Tessie’s lost her damn mind, that’s what’s up.” Without grace, Bailey flopped onto Mariah’s abandoned, stripped mattress to sling and arm over her head. “I don’t know what to do for her.”

When Paige lifted her eyebrows and glanced at Tess, Tess hugged her waist and cowered in the bathroom doorway, the situation making her extremely uncomfortable.

“She’s overreacting,” she said. The changes to Paige’s room didn’t help ease her anxiety either. Without her old roommate’s large screen TV, microwave, or cluttered bedding and clothes, the room looked stark and lonely, adding to Tess’s discomfort, reminding her how much the world had recently changed.

“Am not,” Bailey shot back. Pointing to Tess, she spoke to Paige. “Just look at her eyes. Can you even imagine how long she had to cry to get them that red and swollen?”

Sympathy filled Paige’s face as she finally scooted off her bed and went to Tess. “What happened?” she asked, enfolding Tess into a sisterly hug.

Bailey might be her best friend on earth and Tess would always choose her over their suitemate, but Bailey wasn’t exactly the touchy, huggy type. Tess latc

hed onto Paige’s hug and started weeping all over again into her shoulder.

“Oh, for the love of God,” Bailey exploded, letting Tess hear the underlying panic in her voice. “Here we go again. Just make it stop, Paige. Make her happy again. Tess is not meant to be this miserable.”

Paige Zukowski truly had a talent for cheering people up. Not five minutes after Tess and Bailey had invaded her room, she’d led Tess to her bed, set her down, and had her spill everything. Well, maybe not everything. Tess kind of excluded exactly how close she and Jonah had grown. She’d probably go to Best Friend Hell for that one, but she just couldn’t kiss and tell. Those stolen moments with him had meant everything. Bailey would only try to morph it into something bad and wrong. And it hadn’t been.

It just couldn’t have been.

“So, Tess tells some guy no one knows, even himself, that she’s his girlfriend to make him feel a little better while he’s in the hospital and she grows a little too close him,” Paige said, summing up the past week in one sentence. Glancing at Bailey, she asked, “But what I’m confused about is why you’re so worried about this?”

Bailey’s mouth fell open. She jabbed her pointer finger toward Tess. “Because!” she exploded. “The guy has amnesia. He doesn’t even know who he is. How could she get to know him at a time like this to know for sure whether or not he’s worthy of her? And let’s not forget that the entire foundation of their relationship is a big fat lie. He’s going to get his memory back someday, and then what?”

Paige smiled patiently. “Well, I’m sure Tess has already thought that scenario through and has a plan to explain the truth to him.” She glanced to the topic of their conversation. “Right?”

Tess bit her lip, feeling a little sick to her stomach. “Um…”

“See.” Bailey popped to her feet and began to pace the room. “She’s got nothing. She’s going into this totally blind, and she’s going to end up hurt. And I just can’t allow that.”

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