Boo

Ch. 33

Logan visited Roman for the next three days after that.

He had a new excuse every day, though he wasn't sure how many Roman believed. Logan wasn't a good liar, so what he came up with wasn't that believable.

"Hey, Roman! My car is on fire, do you think I could borrow some water?"

"Roman! I was walking my pet hamster and decided to say hello!"

"Hey Roman, I found this great recipe for banana bread! What is it? Oh...uh...I forgot."

Every time, though, Roman would invite him inside for some tea.

Today was no different, in that regard. Logan slowly sipped on his tea, whilst Roman talked idly about whatever he could think of.

That's when it happened.

Patton walked out of his room, expression blank.

"Pat!" Roman exclaimed, immediately forgetting whatever he was talking about. "You're out of your room!"

A smile found its way to Patton's face.

"Hey, Ro!" He giggled. "Sorry, I was just feeling a little down."

Logan's eyes widened, and he stiffened.

No. There was no way.

That voice. Logan couldn't forget it if he tried.

"Emile Picani. You know why I'm here, right?"

"I'm the one who...well, I suppose you could say I was responsible for what happened to Remus Prince last year."

"Orders are orders. Just like the orders I received to put a bullet in your head."

"Hey Logan!" Patton gave him a cheerful wave. "It's been too long since we've seen each other!"

Logan couldn't reply, his mouth frozen open as he stared. His mind was running a mile a minute.

They had the same cadence, the same pitch. It was the same voice. The voice that Logan couldn't get out of his head. The voice that haunted his nightmares.

There was no way, right? Sweet, lovable Patton could never hurt a fly.

It made sense, though. How else could someone sneak into an apartment building without being spotted? How else could they access Roman's room to get that blackmail photo.

They wouldn't need to, not if they already lived there.

But Patton was--he was Patton! The guy who made him cookies when he first moved in! The guy who was constantly trying to repair the relationship between his two friends!

"...I think I'm gonna be sick." Logan mumbled, paling.

Patton's expression became concerned. "What's wrong?" He asked, walking a bit closer.

What was he going to do? He was expecting it to be some criminal who had broken in. Someone he could arrest with good conscience. Someone he wouldn't care about.

It wasn't supposed to be Patton.

"Linus?" Roman pressed gently. "Do you need to lay down?"

Logan silently shook his head, his voice refusing to cooperate. He wanted to run, to leave and never come back. However, he knew that he needed to face his fears. If not for Roman, then for Remus.

He looked at Patton, searching his expression.

Logan wasn't sure how he hadn't seen it before. There was a look in Patton's eyes. A look that lacked empathy, there was no spark. If Roman were to drop dead, Logan wasn't sure if Pat would even care.