Page 75 of Ride the Lightning

Marla tsked. “We’ll just have to agree to disagree. And for your information, I’ve amassed these amazing outfits over the years and want to wear them all again before I die.” Then she started a Reba-versus-Celine debate, which lasted at least thirty minutes. Typically, Jonah would’ve surrendered much quicker, but seeing her riled up was the best entertainment he’d had since leaving the hospital.

“Marla, I’m bored,” Jonah whined.

“Fine. I’ll talk about my recent weekend in Atlanta.”

“Okay.”

“I needed to atone for my stupidity and arrogance,” Marla said. “That’s what wise people do. You see, my family reacted badly to finding out I’m genderqueer, although we didn’t call it that back then. They eventually wanted to understand and even made attempts to set things right, but I rebuffed their efforts. It was too little, too late. I felt like they had rejected me, so I gave them a taste of their own medicine. For more than three decades, I deprived myself of spending precious time with my family because of my foolish pride. I should’ve given them time to come to terms with things and allowed them the opportunity to get to know who I am. Instead, I ran off and didn’t look back. It took a death sentence for me to acknowledge I’d made mistakes too.”

Marla smiled wistfully. “I got to meet my nieces and nephews and hug my mama and daddy. I tell you,” she said, covering her heart. “No one gives better hugs than my daddy.” Marla nudged Jonah’s shoulder. “You come really damn close though. You’ve been my family for the past three years, and I love you more than I can ever express.”

Jonah closed his eyes, but the tears still spilled down his cheeks. If he thought that would stop her, he didn’t know Marla very well.

“And my Amos…” Her voice wobbled, so she cleared her throat and continued. “The man has the patience of a dozen saints. For decades, I’ve felt unworthy of love and pushed that man away. He kept coming back time and time again. Amos’s love is unrelenting.” Marla patted his chest. “Your feelings for Avery are strong, and I know they scare you. Resolve whatever demons are haunting you, cut those fucking chains, and allow yourself to love and be loved in return. You deserve it, baby.”

Did he? God, he wanted to believe it was true.

Rocky and Felix showed up later that afternoon, saving Jonah from drowning in his misery. Felix was doing his best to run down leads because he wasn’t about to let Jude Arrow gain the upper hand on the investigation. Jonah liked to listen to The Straight Shooter’s segments on the evening news so he could rile Felix up with what he heard. Rocky was still caught up in the cheating spouse case but intensified his efforts to get dirt on Trexler after Jonah got injured. Both of them were keeping an eye on Avery for Jonah. The three of them agreed it wasn’t safe to investigate the case alone because someone wanted to keep the truth buried at all costs.

Later that night, Jonah was awoken by a solid thud. He just figured Kendall brought someone home again. He rolled over and buried his head under his pillow, hoping they’d finish soon so he could go back to sleep.

Someone suddenly opened his door and flipped on the light. “Jonah,” Kendall yelled out. “Are you okay?” Then he burst into laughter. “Oh, it’s you. I heard someone climbing on the roof outside Jonah’s window and figured they were coming to finish him off.”

“What the fuck?” Jonah groused, tossing the pillow aside and gingerly sitting up. Avery was sprawled on the floor beneath his open window. Jonah turned to Kendall. “Finish me off?”

Kendall shrugged. “I can see you don’t need my help. Goodnight.”

He was dreaming, right? Jonah rubbed his knuckles over his eyes. He looked down, and Avery was still there.

“I can explain,” Avery said as he sat up.

Jonah lifted a brow. “I can’t wait to hear it.”

Avery heaved a sigh. “I just needed to see for myself that you’re okay. You were sleeping when I stopped by earlier, and I didn’t want to wake you. Then you didn’t respond to any of the texts I sent.”

“Marla took my phone away. This was the most I slept at once. I must be healing.”

“Oh, good. I, um, will just head back home and let you get back to sleep.”

“Avery.”

“Yes?”

“Come here,” Jonah said, patting the pillow beside him.

Avery looked hopeful but also afraid to move. “Um, is that you talking or your medication?”

“I’m only taking ibuprofen,” Jonah replied, patting the pillow again. “I want you in my bed.”

The tension faded from Avery’s lithe body. He stood up and stripped down to his underwear before crossing the room to flip the light switch off.

Jonah sighed in relief when the bed dipped beneath his weight. “You’re a stealthy hacker, but you’d make a horrible cat burglar.”

Avery giggled. “Don’t quit my day job, huh?”

“Yeah,” Jonah whispered. “Avery?”

“Hmmm?”