Page 55 of Loving Lies (Granton University 3)

“Sorry? I’m going crazy over here, worried out of my—” Stopping abruptly, Bailey sighed. Rolling her eyes, she folded her arms over her chest. “Well, it’s obvious where you went. So…what happened on today’s episode of My Fake Amnesiac Boyfriend?”

Tess swallowed and then let it all out. “There is no amnesiac. You were right. He lied about his memory loss. He was Einstein’s bully. And it was his gun Einstein used to shoot all those people.”

When Paige gasped, Logan took her arm and led her away. Tess knew he’d explain the rest to her, so she only had Bailey left to worry about.

But Bailey didn’t explode with a series of I-told-you-so’s. She stared at Tess with her mouth falling further open by the second. “What?”

Tess nodded, giving her best friend more fuel to start a lecture to end all lectures. “The police were there when I showed up, questioning him about the gun. And so was Coach Whitely. Jonah confessed his memory wasn’t lost and told the police Einstein had stolen his gun.”

“Holy shit,” Bailey whispered.

Tess nodded. “He thinks I lied to him about the whole girlfriend thing to get close enough to exact some kind of revenge on him for bullying Einstein. Since I’m friends with Paige and all. Oh, and he also thinks I told Coach Whitely and the police where he was so he could get into trouble. God, he did get into trouble because I did tell the coach where he was. Not only did he kick him off the football team but the university expelled him from school completely. And he blames all that on me.”

Rubbing her hands up and down the sides of her arms because she was chilled, she kept going. “But the best part. Oh, the best part is he went along with my whole girlfriend lie so he could hurt me. Somehow he figured out stringing me along so he could break my heart was the best way to get back at me for what he thought I was going to do to him. And since I did do what he suspected I would and he did pay me back, I guess that means we’re all even now.”

“Well…” Bailey blew out a breath, and Tess could see her mind spinning. But all she did was study Tess a couple of seconds before asking, “Are you okay?”

She couldn’t imagine ever being okay again, but she nodded and turned away. “I’m fine.”

A headache pounded at her temples. She didn’t want to deal with this anymore. She just wanted to curl up in her boyfriend’s arms, let him kiss it all better again, make silly ridiculous comments, and go searching for happy buttons. Except she didn’t have a boyfriend. All she had was lies.

“But I’m tired,” she murmured. “Didn’t get much sleep last night. I think I’ll go to bed.”

Bailey didn’t mention how it was only six in the evening or how silly she was behaving over some stupid crush she’d had on a fake boyfriend. She just stood there and watched as Tess crawled under her sheets without changing into nightwear and pulled the blankets up to her chin.

She must’ve willed herself to sleep, because they next thing she knew it was morning. No one had bothered her all night. Too bad she couldn’t will away Jonah Abbott’s existence. If she’d never met him, maybe none of this would’ve happened. Maybe she never would’ve felt so betrayed. But the problem with that was, lie or not, he’d given her some of the most precious memories of her life. She could never will those away.

Chapter Fifteen

WHEN THE NURSE TOLD JONAH his physical therapist was back and ready to try walking with him, Jonah could only snort out a hallow laugh.

Walking? As if he cared about whether he could ever walk again. As if he cared about anything. His life was totally and completely over. His best friend, the only person on earth who could put up with him, was dead. Football and college were both over. His future was shot.

And Tess was gone.

On top of that, there was Einstein. Not only did he have nothing and no one, but everyone hated and blamed him for what had happened with Einstein…with very good reason. Hell, even he blamed himself.

Lying in his bed and waiting for Frenchie to show up and let what little hope he had drown some more, he closed his eyes, wondering what would’ve happened if only he’d done everything different with his roommate, if only he’d taken that damn gun back to Sean’s house the night of the target shoot. Why had he let the freaky kid get to him, why had he fought back every time Einstein had done something to piss him off?

Shit, why had he always fought back when his dad had hit him?

Maybe if he’d just sucked it up and let it all roll off his back, none of this would have happened. He just always had to fucking push back, didn’t he? Especially yesterday when Tess had slapped him and yelled at him. He’d yelled back and let her make assumptions when—

“So, you ready for day two of the walking trials?” Frenchie asked, breezing into the room with a big grin, only to pause and glance around. “Where’s the redhead today? I liked her.”

Jonah’s gut clenched. He’d liked her too. More than he should have.

The first day she’d come into his room, claiming to be his girlfriend, he hadn’t known any better. The second day, when he did know it wasn’t true, he’d played along because he’d wanted it to be true. Sure, he’d been mildly curious what her ulterior motive was, but most of all, he’d just wanted her to stay.

Over the course of the week, however, it had become true. She had become his. His girlfriend. His entire life.

That was why he’d confessed to not knowing her to the police. Afraid they might slap an accessory charge on him because of his gun, he hadn’t wanted any of that shit to fly in her direction. No way was he going to let her feel any kind of blowback from his actions.

He’d already realized she wasn’t guilty of the things he’d accused her of doing yesterday, not unless she was the best actress on earth. Every action, word, and breath she’d breathed had told him how genuine and altruistic she was. There was no way she’d made up the girlfriend story as a means to torture him. He still wasn’t sure why she’d made it up, but no way had she meant anything nefarious by it. And even if she had told his coach where to find him, she couldn’t have known it would go down the way it had.

So, why had he accused her of just that?

Because she’d pushed and accused and glared at him like the scum he already knew he was. The pain and betrayal in her stunning blue eyes when she’d asked him when he’d gotten his memory back had sliced into his guilt until he was running from it and lashing back with his own hastily thought up accusation.

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