Love, Like Ghosts: A Bay City Paranormal Investigations Story

had to talk to you.”
Adrian studied Greg’s face. His skin was deathly white, gray eyes wide and glazed. Worse, Adrian thought he saw…
Forgetting all about his own wounded heart and the two weeks of hell he’d endured after the breakup, Adrian gently pulled aside the collar of Greg’s jacket. What he saw made his chest constrict.
“Oh, my God.” Adrian stroked his fingertips over the purple bruises marring the skin of Greg’s throat. “What happened?”
“Harrison was waiting for me outside my dorm this morning.” Greg dropped his gaze to the floor at his feet. “He tried to kill me.”

Chapter Seventeen
    Anger stained Adrian’s vision red. He breathed it away. Greg needed him calm and gentle, not enraged, regardless of the target of his fury.
Resisting the urge to take Greg’s hand, Adrian walked to his apartment door on trembling legs. “Let’s get inside. I still have some of that mint tea you like. I’ll make you a cup and you can tell me what happened.”
Greg followed him inside without a word. He sat in the armchair while Adrian filled a large mug with water, stuck a mint teabag in it and popped the whole thing into the microwave. They waited in silence while the tea brewed. When the microwave beeped, Adrian took the mug out and stirred in a dollop of honey. He handed it to Greg, then dragged a chair over from the dining table.
“All right.” Adrian settled into the chair, all his attention on Greg. “First of all, please tell me that bastard Harrison is behind bars right now.”
The corners of Greg’s mouth curved upward. “Yeah, he is. Steven sat on him until campus security got there, and the cops showed up not long after that. They carted him off to jail.”
“Good.” Adrian clasped his hands together. The temptation to pull Greg into his arms and hold him was hard to resist. “What happened? You said he was waiting for you when you left your dorm, right?”
“Yeah.” Kicking his shoes off, Greg curled his legs beneath him. He took a sip of tea. When he lowered the cup, his shaking hands caused the liquid to slosh almost to the rim. “I don’t know where he was, exactly. Maybe behind that big oak tree. Steven and Sandy were with me when I left the dorm, but none of us saw him until he attacked me. He ran at me and tackled me from behind, got me on the ground and started strangling me. He was yelling something at me, but I couldn’t understand him.” One of Greg’s hands went to his throat. His eyes took on a haunted look. “Steven and Sandy were both trying to get him off me, but they couldn’t. I could hear Sandy screaming for help. Finally, Steven kicked him in the face just when I thought I was going to pass out. That made him let go. Steven pinned him to the ground and literally sat on him while Sandy called nine-one-one. By that time other students had noticed and someone had called campus security too. I don’t know the time frame, but I know it wasn’t long before security got there, then the paramedics and cops showed up. It’s all kind of a blur after that.”
“I bet.” Adrian eyed the bruises on Greg’s neck with concern. “Are you all right? I assume if the paramedics were there they at least checked you over.”
“Oh yeah.” Greg let out a hoarse laugh. “They took me to the ER, and I got scanned and X-rayed and prodded within an inch of my life. The doctor said I have a little bit of swelling in my windpipe and vocal cords but it’s mild. She said the bruises make it look a lot worse than it is.”
Relief brought a genuine smile to Adrian’s face. “Still, I’m surprised she didn’t want you to stay overnight, just to watch you and make sure it didn’t get worse.”
Greg’s pale cheeks colored. “Um. Actually, she kind of did.” He lifted his mug and took a long swallow of tea.
“But you refused.” Adrian shook his head. “Why? I thought you had better sense than that.”
One of Greg’s shoulders hitched up in a falsely casual shrug that didn’t fool Adrian for a second. “I don’t like hospitals, that’s all. Waking you up to give you a sleeping pill and that sort of crap. And have you seen those stupid beds? It’s like they’re designed to keep people from getting a good night’s sleep.” He stirred his tea with one finger, watching the swirling liquid as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world.
Warmth suffused Adrian’s insides. The fact that Greg had come here—not his dorm room, not any of his friends’