Learning to Trust - M.A. Innes Page 0,3

hide it?”

What the hell was he on?

I probably should’ve tried to cajole him, but that wasn’t my default mode. I ended up snapping at him in a frustrated tone. “You are out of your mind. I did not steal anything from you. What did you take?”

That didn’t help.

I probably shouldn’t have been surprised.

“How did you know I took something?” His eyes darted around the room again. “Who told you?”

I swore to myself that if I made it out of there without the crazy drug addict stabbing me or something, I was going to have it out with Housing.

Taking a step toward my bed, I leaned over and grabbed the duffel bag I used when I was going home for the weekend. It’d somehow ended up on its side next to the bed, but I was going to count that as lucky since I didn’t have to search for it. “No one knows anything. I’m going to see my parents for the weekend, remember?”

The question seemed to startle him because he froze.

“You said you wanted the room to yourself for the weekend, so I was going to head home for a few days. I was doing you a favor, remember?” It was only Wednesday, but since he didn’t seem to realize what planet he was on, I didn’t feel bad.

More panicky sounds were coming through the phone, but I ignored them as I looked around the room. If I could get a few changes of clothes and my books, I might be able to pull off the visiting-my-parents thing and inch out the door.

Unfortunately, what he lacked in logic he made up for in paranoia.

Turning my back to him had clearly been the wrong way to handle the situation. Of course, I didn’t realize that until pain slammed into me from what seemed like all directions and my world went dark to the tune of Destin’s screams in my ears.

Chapter 2

Morgan

“Roommate is not synonymous with psycho.”

Repeating it over and over wasn’t helping my anxiety—but that was probably because I hadn’t said it enough.

“Roommate is not synonymous with psycho.” Trying again didn’t help either, and unfortunately the knock on the door said I’d run out of time.

It was going to be fine.

Walking through the empty living room, I repeated it again in my head and took a deep breath. Cleaning the apartment and getting a few groceries had kept me busy enough not to spend all day worrying, but I was starting to wish there’d been a few more hours in the day for me to relax first.

I couldn’t fake a smile well enough to try, so as I opened the door, I aimed for pleasant instead. Judging from the frown on the guy standing in front of me, I hadn’t succeeded.

“Hello.” Before I could say more than that, the bouncy ball of energy that was Destin slammed into the frowning guy.

Destin’s head popped out around the back of what I was assuming was my new roommate. “Morgan, this is Leon. Leon, meet Morgan. I can’t wait until we can all hang out together.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that—my usual reaction to Destin.

Thankfully, Detective Davison showed up quickly behind him. “Don’t railroad Morgan. Help with the boxes.”

With instructions, Destin beamed even wider as he turned to his boyfriend. “I was making introductions.”

Still smiling, he shifted back in my direction. “I’ll be right back.”

It wasn’t until he started bouncing down the stairs that I realized Leon was holding a box in his hands. Blushing, I stepped back. “Sorry, come in.”

As strange as it was to have someone else in my space, I had to remind myself that it was going to be his apartment too.

For some vaguely explained reason.

But I didn’t mind vague because that meant in all likelihood someone had been just as vague about me.

As both men walked into the living room, they headed to the small counter that worked almost like an island between the kitchen and the living room and set their boxes down. Detective Davison smiled, trying to appear nonthreatening. He was good at it, but it really was his confident dominance that I found relaxing.

Not that he’d probably understand that after everything I’d been through.

He smiled, gesturing around the room. “How about you show us around?”

Nodding, and glad to have something to do, I pointed toward the small hallway on the other side of the room. “The bedrooms are this way.”

As we walked across the empty carpet, awkward silence filling the room, I pointed to