by Ally Blue
“Okay.” Adrian forced the word out past the mingled excitement and terror clogging his throat. “Sure. I’d love to go out with you.”
Greg beamed. “Awesome. Does Thursday work for you? We get out of haunted house practice early, we could go get changed then head over to Top of the Hill after. I’ll make reservations for seven, that sound okay?”
Adrian mentally rifled through his bank account. Could he afford to splurge on dinner? Would he even be expected to pay for his own meal or would Greg pick up the tab? He felt stupid for not knowing the rules, but he’d never really dated before. He and Christian hadn’t gone on traditional dates, and there’d never been anyone before that. The few times he’d been out after Christian, he and his date had agreed beforehand to each pay their own way. Hopefully Greg wouldn’t hold his lack of knowledge against him.
“Uh, yeah. That sounds great.” Adrian watched from the corner of his eye as a group of three boys entered the dorm, deep in conversation. “Listen, why don’t I come by here and pick you up? My apartment’s off campus and I don’t want you to have to walk there alone in case that crazy bastard’s still stalking you.”
“I’d appreciate that.” Greg’s wide smile mellowed into a softer expression that for reasons Adrian couldn’t understand made his pulse race. “Okay. Well. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow at the castle.”
“Yeah. See you then.”
Still watching Adrian’s face, Greg backed the few steps to the door and pressed his thumb to the pad. The green light blinked and the lock clicked. He swung the door open and stopped just inside, the hall light illuminating his profile. “Good night, Adrian.”
Adrian smiled at him. “Good night.”
Once his knees stopped trembling, Adrian pushed away from the wall and began the trek back to his apartment. By the time he got home, the sense-memory of Greg’s body curled against his side had turned the ache in his crotch into a full-blown erection.
He didn’t even bother to strip, just yanked his jeans halfway down and fell backward across the bed. Eyes screwed shut, he jerked off to the mental picture of Greg’s beautiful lips wrapped around his cock, Greg’s naked body spread out beneath him, Greg’s face flushed with orgasm. Adrian clamped his mouth closed and swallowed his cries when he came.
Afterward, he lay panting on the mattress with semen soaking into his sweater and trickling down his side and wondered if his fantasies would ever become reality, or if he’d manage to drive Greg away before they ever got that far.
Don’t think about it. Not yet. At least go on one date before you start worrying about how you’re going to make him hate you.
Adrian snickered. For once, his inner Sean was completely right. Forcing himself to his feet, Adrian headed into the bathroom to clean up before going to bed. He could worry—if necessary—later. Right now, he was determined to enjoy whatever happened with Greg while it lasted.
Chapter Five
Wednesday’s classes went by in a blur. Adrian gave himself a mental pat on the back for having read ahead in Quantum Mechanics, because otherwise he wouldn’t have had any idea what they covered that day. All he could think of was Greg. What had happened last night, and what he hoped might happen tomorrow night.
At least he didn’t have class with Ryan today. He wasn’t sure he was up to explaining why he wouldn’t be attending any more parties.
His last class didn’t end until four. By the time he arrived at Groome Castle, most of the cast and crew were already there, huddled in the spacious foyer. He set his laptop bag beside the front door along with all the others and scanned the crowd.
He spotted Greg on the other side of the room, deep in conversation with Marisa. Adrian stood still, heart pounding. Things had changed since this time yesterday. How should he greet Greg? With a simple hello? A handshake? A hug?
And how sad was it that he was standing here frozen with indecision over how to say hello to someone?
Before he could overcome his paralysis, Greg turned his head and spotted Adrian. Even from fifteen feet away, Adrian saw the way Greg’s eyes lit up. Cutting Marisa off mid-sentence, Greg jogged across the floor to Adrian’s side, a wide smile on his face.
“Hi, Adrian.” Greg took Adrian’s hand and gave it a quick squeeze. “Where’ve you been?”
“Math class. It doesn’t let out until four.” Adrian reluctantly let Greg’s fingers slip from his. “So. What are we doing today?”
“I guess you tech types are working on the effects. The rest of us are doing a dress rehearsal for the ghosts and such. Which means I need to go get the makeup on.” Greg glanced over his shoulder to where his fellow actors were filing into the main hall. “Will you walk me back to my dorm again tonight after rehearsal? I know it isn’t all that far, really, but the road back to campus is pretty dark and I’d rather not walk it by myself.”
The sparkle in Greg’s eyes told Adrian that fear for his safety wasn’t the only reason Greg wanted an escort tonight. But the bruise on his face provided a stark reminder that, all flirting aside, Greg shouldn’t walk alone after dark.
Before he could think about it too hard, Adrian lifted his hand and brushed his fingertips over the purplish swelling on Greg’s jaw. Greg’s breath hitched, and Adrian smiled. “I’m glad you asked, because I was going to walk you back anyway.”
“Cool.” Greg leaned into Adrian’s touch for a moment before backing away. “I have to go. We can meet up in the foyer at eight if we don’t see each other again before that, how about it?”
“Sounds good.”
Greg’s smile kicked up a notch. He turned and hurried across the room. Adrian watched him until he was out of sight. God, his ass looked good in those snug, faded jeans.
“Damn, he’s got a great ass.”
Startled, Adrian whipped around to face Chelsea, who stood behind him. “Oh. Uh. Hi, Chelsea.”
“Hi.” She flashed an evil grin. “You’re aware that you were staring at Greg’s ass like you wanted to eat it raw, right?”
Adrian lifted his chin and held her gaze in spite of his burning cheeks. “Yep. What’s your excuse?”
Her jaw dropped open, then she burst out laughing. Hooking her arm through Adrian’s, she pulled him in the direction Greg had gone. “Okay, you have to tell me what happened.”
“What makes you think anything happened?”
“Hm, let’s see. Maybe because yesterday you were ignoring each other, and today you’re holding his hand and staring at his butt?”
Adrian laughed. “I see your point.”
They walked into the main hall. Pushing open the black plywood door they’d built to cover half the opening into the room, Chelsea led him into the backstage area they’d created. “So?”
“So, what?”
“So what happened?”
Snickering at the frustrated growl in Chelsea’s voice, Adrian followed her to the opening into the hallway leading to the back of the house. “I ran into him last night when I was leaving a party, and he asked me out.”
And I want to go out with him, God, do I ever, but I’m scared to death, because I want him to keep liking me as much as he does right now, and what if he doesn’t once he gets to know the real me? The freak? Adrian fought to keep the sudden flash of panic from showing on his face. He drew a deep breath, then another.
Chelsea’s eyebrows shot up. “Really?”
“Yes, really.” He nodded at Linda as she passed by on her way to the foyer. “Is that so surprising?”
“Hell, no. I was starting to think he’d never do it.”
He studied Chelsea’s face. If she’d noticed his momentary agitation, she showed no sign of it. Relieved, he shrugged some of the tension from his shoulders. “What do you mean?”
“He’s been drooling over you since day one.” Chelsea pushed open the door of the bedroom the tech group had chosen for equipment storage. “Don’t tell me you hadn’t noticed.”
Adrian grinned. “Well, I might have noticed a little bit o
f interest on his part.”
Chelsea snickered, but didn’t say anything else since Erin entered the room at that moment with two other tech team members at her heels.
Adrian turned to his work with a smile on his lips. For the first time in ages, it looked like he might actually be developing a social life. Sean would be thrilled.
~ * ~
Adrian hadn’t meant to go to the tower room that night. He had an actual date, with a real live man, in less than twenty-four hours. A date he was bound and determined not to be overly nervous about. Seeing Lyndon again, feeling the spirit’s energy inside him, would only set him back.
Then he’d seen Greg in full makeup. The startling resemblance to the real thing loosened his tongue, and the resulting “you look exactly like him” set off a chain reaction of questions which ended up with Adrian, Greg and at least six other students climbing the narrow stairs to the little octagonal room which Lyndon Groome haunted.
At the top of the steps, Adrian paused and took a couple of seconds to calm his racing pulse. Part of him wanted very much for Lyndon to make an appearance. A larger part didn’t want to share, even if no one but Adrian knew the ghost was there.
Squaring his shoulders, Adrian pushed open the heavy wooden door and walked inside. “Don’t be disappointed if you can’t see him. Not everyone can.”
“But you can.” Erin sidled a little too close, beaming up at him. “That’s so cool, that you can see ghosts.”
Greg insinuated himself between Erin and Adrian. Taking Adrian’s hand, he led him across the floor to the window in a movement that managed to look casual even though Adrian knew damn well it wasn’t. He raised his eyebrows at Greg and got a sly grin in return.
“Why is it that we all can’t see the ghost? I mean, either it’s there or it isn’t, right?”
Shaking his head, Adrian let go of Greg’s hand and turned to face Colin McCormack, one of the other actors. The boy was by far the most obstinately skeptical person Adrian had every met. He suspected the only reason Colin had come up here at all was because of Chelsea, who he put the moves on at every opportunity in spite of her obvious lack of interest.
“If an apparition is fully manifested, then yes, everyone would be able to see it,” Adrian explained. “But if it isn’t fully manifested, then only those who are sensitive to particular…” He fumbled for the right words. “Well, particular levels of energy, I guess you’d say, would be able to see it.”
“And you’re sensitive to those things.”
The transparent scorn in Colin’s voice stung, but Adrian ignored it. After the abuse he’d suffered in middle school and high school, this minor passive-aggressive ridicule was easily brushed aside. “Yes, I am.”
Colin snorted. With a cutting glare at Colin, Chelsea moved to stand beside Adrian. “So, is he here? Lyndon, I mean. The real one.”
Adrian shut his eyes and let his senses seep through the stone of the tower walls. The residual warmth of Lyndon’s energy flavored the air all around, but it felt weak. Scattered. The potential crackled in the atmosphere, but it wasn’t enough. Lyndon wouldn’t manifest. Not right now, anyway.
Feeling strangely relieved, Adrian opened his eyes. “He’s not here tonight.”
“Well, dang.” Susan Richards, one of the actors who’d been particularly anxious to see the phantom, let out a deep sigh. “Oh well. Maybe another time.”
“Or not, since we’re really not supposed to be coming up here at all.”
Adrian shot Greg a surprised look. They didn’t know each other very well, but he wouldn’t have pegged Greg as a stickler for the rules.
On the other hand, keeping the rest of the cast and crew out of here meant keeping Lyndon to himself.
You’re not supposed to be coming up here either, remember? You promised yourself you wouldn’t. And now you have a date with Greg to look forward to.
The reminder made Adrian’s stomach lurch with equal parts dread and excitement.
He forced himself to meet Greg’s uncharacteristically hard gaze with a smile. “You’re right. We really shouldn’t be in here. We’re going to get in trouble. Let’s head back downstairs.”
Greg tried to hide his relief, Adrian could tell. But his eyes lit up anyway, and Adrian wondered why he was so anxious to get out of the tower.
The whole crowd filed toward the exit, all talking at once. Adrian trailed behind Greg at the rear of the group. Just as he reached the door, he felt an electric surge behind him.
Heart pounding, Adrian spun around. Lyndon hovered in midair, wide eyes fixed on Adrian’s face. The warm pulse of his presence slammed into Adrian’s mind before he could shield against it. Images hit Adrian’s cerebral cortex in a rapid-fire barrage that lasted only a second and stopped before he could make sense of it.
“Adrian?”
Greg. I’m here with Greg. Gotta say something.
Adrian blinked. In the time it took for his eyelids to sweep down and back up again, Lyndon had vanished. Shaking, Adrian turned to face Greg. “Yeah?”
Greg regarded him with mingled amusement and concern. “You totally zoned out just now.”
“I did?”
“Yeah, you did.” Moving forward, Greg laid his hands on either side of Adrian’s waist. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be okay. I just, uh…” Adrian laughed. “Lyndon showed up after all. Just for a second. He seems to like me.”
Greg’s expression went blank, and Adrian cursed for the millionth time his inability to lie. Why couldn’t he have just said he was all right and leave it at that? Greg hadn’t asked about the ghost. Why the hell had Adrian felt compelled to mention it?
“Let’s get going. I need to get this damn makeup off.” A smile softened Greg’s face. “Then it’s time to leave, and you did promise to walk me home.”
Adrian’s tension eased with the familiar curve of Greg’s lips. “I did, yes. Let’s go.”
Still smiling, Greg started down the stairs. Adrian followed a few paces behind. He ogled the flex of Greg’s muscles beneath his snug jeans without shame. After all, there was no one else to see, and he didn’t think Greg would mind anyway.
~ * ~
After a sexually charged walk with Greg followed by another fast and furious masturbation and a quick shower, Adrian sat hunched over his laptop attempting to study. It wasn’t going well. Instead of concentrating on his Electricity & Magnetism homework, his mind insisted on replaying the images Lyndon had sent him. The few solid impressions Adrian could glean from the disjointed flashes—a man’s face, a bolt of lightning, someone’s embroidered collar—didn’t make any more sense now than they had then, and Adrian wished his brain would let it go already and get back to work.
Frustrated, Adrian leaned back in his chair and shut his eyes. Maybe if he spent a few minutes focusing on what he’d seen, he’d be better able to pay attention to his studies.
He drew a long slow breath through his nose. As he blew it out, he imagined the solid world around him falling away, his mind shrinking inward toward a stack of photographs representing the mental images Lyndon had projected toward him. He took another breath, then another, until he’d reached a half-trance in which his conscious reasoning relaxed enough for his subconscious to take over.
Adrian’s psychic projection of himself rifled through the snapshots in his head. He saw Groome Castle, new and resplendent with crystal, tapestries and expensive furniture. The corner of an old-fashioned classroom desk appeared in one photo, the leafy branches of an oak tree against a deep blue sky in another. One looked out across the old cemetery from the gazebo at night, the view tilted and partially obscured as if the observer had his head on someone’s shoulder and that someone in turn rested a hand on his forehead. Most were faded and distorted, as if Lyndon couldn’t quite remember how things had really looked so very long ago.
Only two of the images stood out stark and clear—the collar, and the man’s face. A sense of finality and anger clung to the first on
e like an oily film. Around the vision of the dark-haired young man, however, Adrian felt a sadness so sharp and immediate it almost brought tears to his eyes.
Cassius. His name is Cassius.
Adrian had no idea how Lyndon had imparted that knowledge to him, but he felt the truth of it deep in his bones. The question was, why had Lyndon shown him these things?
Whatever had happened to Lyndon Groome, there must be more to it than what the stories said. Adrian swore to himself that he’d learn the truth, and put Lyndon’s spirit to rest.
Chapter Six
Thursday night arrived before Adrian was ready for it. He stood in front of Winston Hall at six forty-five, knees knocking and heart thumping so hard he thought he might throw up.
Never mind that he’d spent three whole hours that afternoon exchanging smiles and heated glances with Greg as they went about their work at Groome Castle. Never mind that they’d walked to Greg’s dorm together only an hour and a half before, talking like old friends the whole time. It didn’t matter. The dynamic between them had officially shifted from “hanging out” to “on a date”, and Adrian had never been more nervous in his life.
When the front door swung open, Adrian nearly jumped out of his skin. A group of three girls and three boys spilled out into the night air. Adrian managed a smile and a nod when one of the girls gave him an odd look. She rolled her eyes.
Adrian waited until the group rounded the corner of the building, then pressed the intercom button beside the door. “Can I help you?” a girl’s voice lilted.
“Yes, I’m here to pick up Greg Woodhall.” Adrian sounded much calmer and more confident than he felt. Now if only some of that fake confidence would work its way inward.
“He’ll be right out.”
Was it his imagination, or did the girl on the other end of the intercom sound amused? “Okay, thanks.”
“Sure. Have fun!”