Page 61 of Loving Lies (Granton University 3)

“I need your keys. Now.”

“And where…do you think…you’re going?”

“Remember what you said to me the day that bully was harassed for picking on Einstein?” Yeah, Tess just said that name. But at the moment, she was too panicked to care about bad juju or anything else. Jonah’s life was in danger. “You said, ‘at least he wasn’t the head bully.’”

Bailey’s eyes widened.

Tess shivered and hugged myself. “What if Jonah hurts himself?” She may want to hate him for using her and taking liberties with her feelings and her body, but no matter how much she could wish for a thing, it didn’t automatically turn off her true feelings. And her true feelings didn’t want to see Jonah hurt.

Bailey straightened, held up a finger to ask for a second to catch her breath. “I’m driving.”

For once, Tess was glad her buddy drove like a madwoman. They made it to the hospital in record time. She didn’t even wait until Bailey had thrown the car into park. As soon as it came close enough to a stop, Tess threw open the door and leapt out. She ran all the way to the front entrance and took the stairs because waiting for the elevator was more than she could handle.

The door to his room was closed, but she pushed her way in and was nearly to his bed before she realized it was empty. Tess skidded to a halt and stared at the spot where she was used to seeing him. Why wasn’t he in his bed?

She was still frozen in the middle of his room, gaping at his stripped hospital mattress when a breathless Bailey blew into the room behind her. “Damn. I had no idea you could run so…Hey, where is

he?”

Tess shook her numb head. “I…I don’t know.” She turned to look at her friend, and seeing Bailey’s thoughts mirror her own worry made Tess freak. “Oh, God.”

“Excuse me, ladies.” A nurse poked her head into the open doorway of 312. “But this room had just been sterilized. I need you both to—”

“What happened to him?” Bailey asked, pointing toward the empty bed. “Where’s Jonah, the patient who was in this room?”

The nurse blinked as if she didn’t understand the question. Then she simply said, “He’s gone.”

Tess whimpered. Gone? When her knees gave out, Bailey lurched forward to catch her. The two clutched each other as a wide-eyed Tess whispered, “Gone?”

Bailey scowled over at the nurse while she propped Tess back onto her feet. “When you say gone, you mean…?”

Keeping up with the whole clueless expression she was perfecting, the nurse scratched her hair. “I mean gone, as in gone. He checked out this morning.”

Tess’s fingers gripped Bailey’s arm harder.

“And by checked out, you mean released, right?” Bailey pressed. “He was free to leave the grounds? Not that he…died or anything.”

“Why would he be dead?”

“Oh, my God, lady. It’s a hospital! People die here. And he was shot three freaking times. Why do you think we were worried he might be dead?”

“Well, you don’t have to get snippety with me, young lady. If you didn’t know where your friend was, you should’ve kept better track of him. Now please get out of this room. We’re already going to have to re-sterilize for the next patient because you two barged in.”

“Where did he go? What time did he leave?” Bailey asked as she gently took Tess’s arm and led her from the room. “Do you know how we can find him?”

Sending them both a bitter smile, the nurse said, “I don’t know, and if I did, I still couldn’t tell you.”

“Let’s go,” Tess said, tugging on Bailey. She’d learned everything she was going to learn here. Relieved Jonah had been alive the last time the nurse had seen him and glad he’d been well enough to be released from the hospital, she started toward the elevator at a slow, sluggish pace.

“We’ll find him,” Bailey assured her as she pushed the button for the doors to open. “I’m sure—”

“No.” Tess felt hollow as she shook her head. They wouldn’t find him. Because they wouldn’t even look. If he’d wanted anything to do with her, he knew how to find her. “He’s gone, Bailey. He doesn’t want to be found.”

And he didn’t want anything to do with her.

Chapter Seventeen

JONAH SAT ON HIS HOSPITAL BED, his feet flat against the floor as his fingers toyed with the cloth of his blue jeans. The nurses had bought him one more outfit to wear and had even asked him his size beforehand this time. But he must’ve lost weight because the shirt and pants fit him too loosely.

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