Learning to Trust - M.A. Innes Page 0,2

in weird cases like BDSM relationships gone wrong, but he was still a cop. Hopefully that meant he’d know what to do.

“What’s going on?” I was probably quiet too long, just taking in the mess, because Destin’s voice rose to a startling pitch. “Leon, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.” Realizing that wasn’t helpful, I kept going. “My stuff is everywhere.”

Again, not helpful. “I just got back to the dorms. My stuff is all over the room and it looks like it was searched by TV cops and they threw things everywhere.”

Then I realized something. “And it wasn’t locked. The door, I mean.”

I clearly was not concise under pressure.

“That’s not good. All of it. Not just the door, but that’s bad too.” Neither of us was articulate under pressure.

“I think talking to Avery would be a good idea.” I was starting to think this was only the tip of the iceberg.

What had he been looking for?

Was he pissed at me or had he gone off the deep end?

Why would no one help me?

There were hushed whispers coming through the phone. For about thirty seconds, I stood there stunned, waiting for something to give me a clue about what to do next. My clothes and books were scattered everywhere. I didn’t even know where to begin cleaning it up, or if I even should.

Was it a crime scene or had my roommate finally snapped?

There were always horror stories about kids who couldn’t handle the pressure and lost it when they got to college, but he wasn’t a freshman. He’d said he was transferring from a community college because he’d started there to save money.

That should’ve made a difference, right?

He wasn’t some young kid who’d never taken a college course and couldn’t figure out how to feed himself without an adult following him around. He’d seemed odd but like he knew what he was doing.

I’d also thought the community college thing had been a sound financial decision, so it hadn’t set off any alarms for me. But I was starting to think I should’ve asked more questions about his past.

Destin came back on the phone. “Avery said to stay there as long as it’s safe and he’ll be right there. Ray’s on the phone with him and he said Avery is right around the corner. He’s going to take some pictures and then you’re going to pack stuff up and come stay with us.”

He sounded almost like a kid playing at being a drill sergeant. Just the image of that had me smiling. “I feel like I should salute you.”

It was the wrong time to be making jokes, but I felt lighter knowing Avery was coming. It felt like I was drowning trying to handle it all on my own. I was good with decisions and I’d managed to turn Destin into a somewhat functional adult, so a new roommate shouldn’t have been this hard.

“You can call me Sir if you really want to.” The teasing, hypersexualized tone made me shake my head.

“Stop that.” I couldn’t tell if he was trying to make me insane or if he was serious.

So many odd things had come out of his mouth the first year I’d known him that I now questioned everything. In conversations, he’d bounced back and forth so fast between asking about cartoons and sex positions that keeping up with his train of thought had been a full-time job.

His giggle said he was probably teasing. “It’s going to be like living in the dorms again but better. No assholes partying all night and I get to cuddle with Ray and Avery whenever I want.”

Groaning, I started to say something sarcastic just to poke at him, but footsteps pounding down the hallway distracted me. Turning around, I saw Ralph standing in the doorway, eyes darting around the room. “You stole it, didn’t you?”

Shit.

Whispering into the phone, I tried to decide what to do. “You might want to tell Avery to hurry.”

Destin must have heard Ralph because more frantic, low whispers came through the phone as I focused on my roommate. “What did you lose?”

My thought was that if I seemed to be taking him seriously, he’d calm down.

That was clearly an incorrect assumption because he seemed to take it as an admission of guilt. He took an angry step forward and his voice got even more intense. “You can’t steal shit. Give it back. I still owe Angel for it and I’m not going to owe him twice. Where did you