ForsakingEternity Read Free Page A

diligent enough for
evening courses were in class.
    The two of them had been fast friends since the day Adam had
first come to the college. He’d been inexperienced, cornered into masking his
sexuality by a conservative faculty who did not approve of homosexuals in the
classroom. As a man who had just learned to accept himself with pride, it had
been a terrible blow to Adam’s self-confidence.
    As the only other out-of-the-closet gay man on staff, Tom
had been quick to befriend Adam and help him negotiate the tricky politics of
campus hierarchy and policy. There was no one he trusted more than Tom, and yet
he found himself reluctant to talk about Ren with his friend.
    “Talk about what?” Adam shoved his hands in his pockets and
fiddled with his keys. Staring straight ahead as they walked, he pretended not
to know what Tom was talking about. Not that he’d have much luck with that.
Damned thing about best friends. They tended to know you too well.
    “I thought you’d sworn off unknowns after Darius.”
    “That was a long time ago, Tom. I’ve moved on.” Adam pushed
the door open and headed for the parking lot, anxious to get home. Anxious to
get to Renatus.
    “Five years. It was bad enough for you to completely change
your dating habits. You’ve barely dated since him.”
    “I didn’t meet anyone interesting,” Adam lied. He’d avoided
interesting. That was what attracted him to Darius, a man who’d promised him
forever, complete with kids and a white-picket fence. What he’d gotten was a
two-year relationship with an emotionally abusive cheater.
    Adam could live without interesting.
    At least that’s what he thought until he’d seen Renatus.
    “Stop jingling your keys and talk to me. What the hell are
you thinking?”
    “He’s not Darius.” Just thinking about his ex had Adam’s
stomach tightening into knots. Nothing like that would happen again. Ren wasn’t
forever. Ren was safe.
    “That’s it?” Tom wrapped his fingers around Adam’s elbow and
pulled him to a stop. “Five years of watching you shy away from anything
resembling a relationship. You are so cut off that the sweet young things
coming through your classes don’t even bother flirting anymore. When cute boys
don’t flirt with their professors, there is something wrong, Adam. Now you meet
this guy and it’s all just peachy, just like that?”
    “I don’t know.” Adam took a breath and started walking
again, fast this time, forcing Tom to keep up. “I don’t know what to say.
There’s something about him, something worth exploring.”
    He reached his car and got in. Wrapping his fingers around
the steering wheel, he squeezed until his knuckles whitened and the skin felt
stretched tight.
    The passenger door opened and Tom slid in. “You talked for
five minutes in a coffee shop. For all you know he won’t even be around next
week.”
    “He won’t.”
    Silence fell between them. He could almost feel Tom’s eyes
boring into the side of his head.
    “You can’t just drop that on me and not explain, Adam,” Tom
demanded.
    “I’m an adult. I don’t need you to approve my choices.”
    “I’m your friend and I’m worried.”
    The starch went out of Adam and he could feel himself droop,
deflated and defenseless. “He’s not from around here and he’s nervous.”
    “He’s straight.” The accusation in Tom’s words hit Adam in
the center of his chest.
    Adam nodded once before turning the key in the ignition.
“Straight and curious.”
    Renatus wasn’t looking for a relationship. He wanted to play
gay for a while and found a quiet, out-of-the-way place to do it. Adam tried to
pretend that was fine with him. He’d have a fling, a feel-good weekend with
another man and not expect more. Inside, he knew he was lying. Ren could do
more damage in a weekend than Darius had in two years.
    So why was he doing this?
    The image of Ren, his face flushed, lips parted and leaning
into that kiss that never happened was all the