Love, Like Ghosts: A Bay City Paranormal Investigations Story Read Free

It was cool.”
Adrian laughed. “Dad and Sam are leading a Haunted Auburn tour this weekend, aren’t they?”
“Yep. You know Dad, never waste a trip on one thing when you can do something else at the same time.”
“Sean, come on, you know he’d never consider any of your college games a waste of time.”
“I know that. I was just joking.” Sean tilted his head sideways. “What the hell are you doing, anyway?”
“A paper.”
Sean’s mouth fell open. “On Saturday night? Are you nuts?”
“I like quantum mechanics.” Adrian tried not to sound defensive, but it didn’t work. It never worked with Sean. They knew each other too well.
“Quantum mechanics. You’re spending Saturday night alone with a bunch of quarks and shit.”
“Entangled particles, actually.”
“Hell, I don’t even know what that means.” Sighing, Sean shook his head. “Speaking of tangling your particles, when’s the last time you got laid?”
Even though he had no intention of answering that question, Adrian couldn’t help thinking back to the last time he and Christian had sex. God, had it really been a year and a half? “Um…”
Evidently Sean could read minds. He groaned. “Jesus, Adrian.”
“Give me a break. It’s hard for me to meet guys here.”
“Are you kidding? There’s almost thirty thousand students there! It’s the size of a town, for Christ’s sake. And I know damn well there’s a lot of gay dudes there. So how does a smart, good-looking guy like you have trouble getting a date?”
Adrian smiled. “I appreciate your faith in me, but you know I have a harder time talking to people than you do.”
“It doesn’t take that much. Just smile and say hi, is all.”
“Easy for you to say. Everyone likes you.”
The second he said it, Adrian wished he could take it back. A lifetime of jealousy lay behind those three words, and they both knew it.
The easy smile vanished from Sean’s face. He leaned forward on his elbows, staring at Adrian with an intense determination that had become all too familiar over the years. “I know they do. But everybody would like you too, if you gave them the chance. You’re a great guy, Adrian. You just have to open up enough to let other people see that.”
Yeah, because everyone loves a guy who can move things with his mind.
Adrian shoved the bitter thought to the back of his brain and pretended keen interest in his keyboard so he wouldn’t have to meet Sean’s painfully sincere gaze. He hated being discussed, analyzed and advised, even by his beloved brother. Fortunately, he knew just how to make Sean stop.
Straightening his shoulders, Adrian forced himself to look into Sean’s eyes. “Actually, I kind of met someone today.”
Sean lit up like a spotlight. “Well why the hell didn’t you say so in the first place? What’s his name? How’d you meet him?”
“His name’s Greg Woodhall. We met today at Groome Castle. He’s a theater major. He’s playing the ghost of Lyndon Groome at that haunted house I told you about.” Adrian felt an uncharacteristically goofy smile spread over his face. “He was coming on to me like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Wow. Sounds promising.” Sean leaned closer, grinning. “Is he cute?”
Adrian couldn’t help mirroring his brother’s smile. Sean’s eagerness on his behalf was infectious. “Yeah, he’s cute.”
“You gonna ask him out?”
A sudden tension drew Adrian’s shoulders upward. If he could only bring himself to lie, Sean would go away happy, and Adrian would be left in peace. But he couldn’t do it. Lying just wasn’t in his nature. “I doubt it.”
Sean wrinkled his nose. “Why not?”
“It wouldn’t work, that’s all.”
“Again I say, why not?”
Yes, Adrian. Why not?
He tuned out the inner voice which prodded him now and then to expand his scope of experience. It rarely worked out for the best. Sometimes, yes. Like when he’d finally gone to bed with Christian and discovered sex for the first time. But the