Learning to Trust - M.A. Innes Page 0,1

new roommate is insane.” His voice was light and teasing, but the guy really was strange.

For one thing, his name was Ralph but I was supposed to call him Rad, and that was just the beginning. I just wasn’t sure Destin realized that I wasn’t overreacting. “Last week he went two days without sleeping and he thought he was being followed.”

It’d gotten so bad I’d called student services, but they’d downplayed it and I’d hung up thinking I was the one with the problem…that was, until he’d done a complete one eighty and slept for two days straight. There was something wrong with the asshole beyond simply being a dramatic asshole—because I’d earned a black belt in being a dick and this guy was leagues above me.

“Is there anyone you can call?” His tone said he was starting to take me seriously. “Maybe Avery can help?”

“This isn’t some kind of…unique relationship that’s gone wrong. It’s mental or something, and I don’t know what to do.” Patience with assholes—especially ones who needed psychiatric help of some kind—was not my strong suit.

“There has to be someone who can help.” He paused for a moment. “Oh, let me call Beckett. He’s a professor and has to have seen it all. He’ll know who to call and he can keep it quiet.”

That might work.

Normally I did my best to steer clear of Destin’s new friends, but in this case, I’d make an exception. “Okay, that sounds reasonable.”

They’d have to take a professor seriously, right?

I wasn’t a complete dick. I was worried about the guy, but I was also worried about myself. I hadn’t gotten a full night’s sleep in days, and being anywhere near my room was getting to be increasingly stressful. Hell, simply walking up to the building was making my stomach start to roll.

Destin piped up again as I got closer to the building. “Hey, what about the RA? He was nice before. Did you get a new one?”

I couldn’t help snorting as I walked through the door. “If he sees me coming, he turns in the opposite direction.”

He acted like the mob was after him instead of a pissed-off college student. It was starting to feel like a conspiracy, but just saying that in my head felt like I was losing my marbles. The entire experience was giving me a lot more sympathy for people on the news who kept saying they tried to get help but no one listened.

I’d always thought that was a cop-out, but now I wasn’t so sure.

“Did you growl at him or something?” Destin’s cheerfully asked question made me want to throw something at him.

Which was an overreaction even from me…and the point where I realized I was getting too wound up.

I really wasn’t getting enough sleep.

“No, I did not—and that’s a ridiculous question.” I must have sounded more frustrated than I thought because Destin laughed just as two girls who were coming down the stairs gave me startled glares.

I tried to smile, but it didn’t fix the issue. They just hurried their pace, giving me a wide berth.

Shit.

As much as I had no desire to date, because god knew that was a confusing mess, I didn’t want to be known as the creepy asshole of the building. My current roommate held that position, and there was no reason to fight him for the title. As it was, they’d labeled me as some kind of hermit or closet case.

I’d heard several versions, none of them terribly polite.

“I’ve been very patient, but that’s not going to last much longer.”

Heading down the hallway, I had to fight off a yawn. I hadn’t even had dinner yet, so it was too early to go to bed, not to mention I had a pile of shit to do. “Listen, I don’t mean to be pushy, but could you call your professor friend early tomorrow?”

Destin giggled. “If you’re being polite, I know it’s serious.”

Before I could do more than sigh as I reached for the door handle, he spoke again. “I shouldn’t poke you. Not when you’re already a bit stressed. I’ll wait until you’re at full power. But yes, I’ll—”

I cut him off with a quiet, “Oh shit.”

“What?” There was no trace of teasing in his voice that time.

Looking at the chaos in the room, my clothes strewn all over the place and even the bedding nearly stripped off the mattress, I swallowed. “I think Avery might be a good idea after all.”

He might have been a cop who specialized