Reap What You Sow 🌈

Chapter 37

Fifteen minutes later, Rory and Adam were standing in front of the apartment complex. Church wasn't over yet, but it wouldn't take much longer. Grace texted Adam that she hadn't seen his violin, but that it was probably in the common room where yesterday's party had been held. One of her roommates would answer the door. 

Rory rang the doorbell. A buzzer sounded and they walked upstairs. Adam was one giant piece of nervousness, and Rory grabbed his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Everything will be fine.

He hoped.

Frankly, he had no idea what Mateo was capable of. Probably of a lot, since he had ended up in jail because he stabbed someone. A shiver ran down his spine as he wondered if that meant the guy could also really hurt him if things got out of hand between them. Hopefully, they wouldn't run into each other again.

They reached Grace's apartment and rang the doorbell again. It was Sep who opened. Adam looked relieved when the guy held the violin in his hand. 

"I saw it lying there while cleaning up."

Adam bowed his head. A reddish glow trailed down his cheeks. "I wasn't quite... sober yesterday when we went home."

Rory wanted to say that Sep had quite an experience with that, too  — he could still smell the weed — but then got distracted. Looking past the boy, he saw someone sitting on the edge of the couch. His mouth dropped open. As soon as he was sure it was him, he raised his eyebrows. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm waiting for Grace," Jonathan replied. He still sounded as derogatory as the last time Rory had spoken to him, though he was overtly tense.

"Oh, I thought she dumped you." Jonathan had not been happy that Grace was going to college —in his opinion, that was the recipe for becoming a very sinful person. The word trust was apparently unknown to Jonathan. Grace had ended it pretty quickly since Jonathan demanded that she came home. She could become a stay-at-home mom, that had to be her purpose in life. Rory shook his head at the memory of the indignation that had radiated off her face. It was unbelievable that such a person had been his best friend. That he had never realized how narrow-minded he really was.

Jonathan's jaw was tight. "I'm here to make it up to her," he said.

"She really doesn't want you back, you know."

"I've changed."

Rory laughed scornfully. "Yeah right. If you had changed, you wouldn't be looking at my boyfriend and me like we're two filthy animals who could jump you at any moment."

Jonathan's gaze hadn't escaped his attention. The disgust in his eyes now that he looked from Adam to him infuriated him. Still, he squeezed his fingers together; he wouldn't lash out at him.

"Grace likes Adam," he said. "They played a duet yesterday." He grabbed his boyfriend by the hand; he could feel his discomfort. "So if you want her to look at you at all, you better start with being friendly to the people she likes." He turned his face to Adam. "That's Jonathan, Grace's ex. We used to be friends."

That explanation would be enough for Adam. He turned his gaze back to Jonathan, who didn't seem too sure what to say or do.

Rory didn't like the silence, but he also had little desire to have a conversation with Jonathan in front of Adam and Sep, and he knew his former friend well enough to know he didn't like Sep based on a series of preconceptions.

"Your performance was awesome yesterday," Rory said to Sep, since he hadn't gotten a chance to do so yesterday. "Your new guitarist was great; she seemed born for that stage. Do you guys have any CDs?" He liked the idea of sponsoring the band a little.  "Then I'd like one."