Page 64 of Loving Lies (Granton University 3)

He moved deeper into the house, wanting to feel more of Sean’s presence, needing that connection more than he needed his next breath. But as soon as he stepped into the hallway, something shuffled in the back room. Sean’s bedroom.

Jesus. What was that? Rodent? Burglar? Ghost? Jonah put his crutches to work and limped as fast as he could, shoving open the unlatched door with the rubber sole of one crutch. The door bumped into something that screamed.

The shriek sounded like a woman’s, but the guy quivering before him in the fetal position on the floor, protectively covering his head, was most definitely male.

“Don’t kill me. Oh, God, please don’t kill me. You can take anything you want, just—”

“I’m not going to kill you,” Jonah muttered, nudging the trespasser in the ribs with his crutch as he narrowed his eyes. Who the hell was this, acting as if Jonah was the intruder?

Entire body shaking, the boy slowly uncovered his head to look up with bright green eyes that were outlined with thick black eyeliner.

“You’re not?” the stranger asked before he gulped. “Oh, thank you, God. Thank you.”

Irritation rising, Jonah just scowled. “Let me guess. You’re the actor.”

The cowering guy jerked back in surprise. “How did you—”

“It’s Aubrey, right?”

Aubrey’s mouth fell open. “Yeah, that’s…that’s right. How did you know?”

Jonah glanced around the bedroom. Yeah, it was in much too good of shape to have been abandoned for so many weeks. T

he two lovebirds must’ve been living together.

“I’m Jonah,” he said.

Immediately, tears filled Aubrey’s eyes. He covered his mouth. “Oh, my God. Oh…my God. He told you, then? You…know?”

Nodding, Jonah sank down to sit on the floor in the hallway because his leg was killing him. Staring at Sean’s boyfriend through the doorway, he shook his head. “He was in the middle of telling me when…when it happened.”

“And you were…okay with it? Please don’t tell me he died thinking you hated him.” Aubrey’s bottom lip quivered. “You meant the world to that man.”

Jonah closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, trying to combat the sorrow. “He died knowing I knew…and supported him.”

“Oh, thank God.” Aubrey waved a hand over his face as if to air dry his tears. “Oh, thank you, Lord Jesus. He wanted your acceptance so bad. This—thank you. Thank you so much.”

He was definitely a grateful little thing, with a wiry, thin frame and extra short hair. Jonah wondered what the heck had attracted Sean to such a timid, quivering ball of gayness. Then he decided it didn’t matter. Since he was into girls, he’d probably never get it. But it still itched at his craw that this complete stranger might’ve known his best friend better than he had.

“So, you were living here…with him?”

Aubrey stared at him from big, scared, green eyes. “No. Well, I wasn’t. I guess I kind of am now, though. He gave me a key. So, I came here to feel closer to him, you know, afterward. And I just…I haven’t been able to leave.”

Jonah nodded, understanding the feeling all too well. “Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “I don’t blame you. The place still smells like him.”

“Shit.” Aubrey buried his face into his hands and began to sob uncontrollably. “You smell him too? You smell him too?” He made the phrase a litany as if relieved he’d finally found someone to share in his grief with him.

Cursing under his breath, Jonah rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and finally let it out. A tear slid down his cheek, quickly followed by another. Quietly, the two of them sat there crying with each other as they mourned the one thing that connected them.

Chapter Eighteen

TESS DWINDLED INTO A STRANGE kind of depression. Two weeks had rolled by since the suicide of Jenner Treymore—more commonly known as Roadrunner among his friends, as she learned from watching the news—and her world only dipped to a new low. Food lost its flavor, the nights dragged on because sleep wouldn’t come, and her attention waned even during the most stimulating of conversations. Yet, throughout it all, life around her kept chugging along, and she drifted with the current, continuing on without really participating.

When early enrollment for the Fall opened, she and Bailey registered for sixteen hours apiece. Tess was quickly running out of required classes to take, though. She was going to have to think up a major before entering her second sophomore semester. But planning her future just seemed so…blah.

She hated filling in the word undecided more, though, so at the very last second, she scribbled down physical therapy for a tentative major. With a gasp, she stared at what she’d just done. Holy crap. That was perfect. She had loved watching Frenchie help Jonah. And she loved that refreshing sense of accomplishment when she helped someone. She loved feeling needed, and she loved seeing the results of her labor.

Just like that, her tentative major became permanent.

---