Page 57 of Loving Lies (Granton University 3)

Dry eyes burning, Jonah could only stare as the scene cut away from Harmon and returned to two reporters sitting at a desk.

“Shot with his own gun.” The woman reporter shook her head and turned to the man. “Well, if that isn’t justice, I don’t know what is. Bob?”

Then the reporters suddenly sported bright smiles like they’d clicked an “on” switch, moving on callously to the next story, and Jonah muted the volume. But he could still see the two of them; they’d been pleased to hear that he’d gotten what he deserved.

This changed everything.

Jonah tore his gaze away. He tried to swallow, but it hurt, so he grabbed his water and took a sip through the straw to realize it was empty. The steam from his supper tray wafted up and made him physically nauseated from the smell.

Closing his eyes, he concentrated on breathing in and out through his mouth and not having a panic attack. But his chest heaved like crazy. When he heard footsteps as someone entered his room, he shook his head, unable to take anything else. He’d go insane, he’d freaking lose his mind, if he had to deal with one more problem right now.

A throat cleared, and he stole a couple of extra seconds, ignoring it, before he opened his eyes and lifted his face. “Oh…Jesus.”

“Not quite.” The girl next to his bed merely narrowed her eyes and set her hands on her hips. “You don’t know me. My name’s—”

“Bailey,” he answered for her. He remembered seeing her with Tess the few times he’d ever seen Tess. The short, straight, multicolored locks that swung around her face and brushed the tops of her shoulders were almost as memorable as Tess’s flaming red hair. “I know who you are.”

That seemed to throw her off her game. She shifted, readjusting her pissed-off stance, and pinched her mouth up even tighter. “Then you know why I’m here.”

“To put me out of my misery?” he asked hopefully.

She blinked. “What? No. I mean, I wish, but…” Frowning at him, she demanded, “What the hell is wrong with you? Your face is turning freaking purple.”

“Panic…attack,” he gasped, clutching his chest, and he tried to regulate his breathing, holding it for five seconds and then releasing. “Maybe a heart attack,” he added on the next breath. “Hope it’s a heart attack.” Anything to stop this agony would be welcome.

“Well, stop it,” Bailey demanded. “You’re skeeving me out.”

Gritting his teeth, he sent her a look of pure frustration. “I’m trying.”

“Oh, my God,” she muttered. “I came in here to chew ass, not play ‘Kumbaya’ to some asshole who hurt my best friend. Now calm down.”

Even though it killed him to hear how hurt Tess was, hurt enough to send this girl storming into his room, he barked out a short laugh. “Jesus, no wonder she likes you so much. You can be as sour and sarcastic as—” When he realized he was about to say Sean’s name, his eyes flooded with tears.

There was another issue he’d been refusing to think about. But he couldn’t repress his sorrow any longer. His best friend on earth was gone, and it was his fault.

He hated crying in front of others, but after hearing those reporters on national news say he deserved what had happened to him, he was already in tatters. He shouldn’t care if someone saw him sob. But he covered his face with his hands anyway, hiding his scorching hot cheeks as best as he could.

“How bad off is she?” he managed to ask.

He lowered his hands enough to see Bailey’s mouth open and close a few times before she quietly answered. “She’s devastated.”

Another sob hurled its way up his throat. He sniffed back a couple tears and wiped at his face.

“Why did you push her away?” Bailey asked, her tone almost calm.

“What?” he blinked at her and frowned. “I didn’t. She’s the one who stormed off. And it wasn’t like I could go chasing after her, now, could I?”

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“Why the hell did you accuse her of all that revenge bullshit, then? If you’ve spent five minutes with Tess, then you know—”

“I know.” He groaned and ran his hands through his hair as he closed his eyes, regretting pretty much every part of yesterday’s conversation. “I messed up, okay? When she got mad, I got mad right back. I had to accuse her of something when she looked at me like I was…Jesus, I just wanted her to stop and think she wasn’t completely innocent either. But compared to me, she was, and I should’ve just…I should’ve been honest.”

“So…you never thought she purposely wanted to destroy you?”

With a snort, he shook his head. “Tess Simpson isn’t capable of that kind of malice.”

“Then why did you let her keep lying all this week? She hates to lie!”

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