Ascension by Bailey Bradford (desktop ebook reader txt) 📕

had Conner feeling all of his years then, the living ones along with his spirit years as well. Seeing so much pain in his friend’s expression, in Laine’s, too, changed something inside him.

Pranks didn’t seem nearly so interesting after that, and for a solid week he didn’t bother teasing anyone. Instead he sat back and observed the mourning process when Alma passed quicker than anyone had expected. She didn’t linger, her soul bright and vibrant as it shot up further than Conner could see, and he was too afraid to chase after it. He didn’t want to go wherever it was she went. The idea scared him to his core. Sev cried harder when Conner told him Alma wasn’t with him.

“At least she isn’t suffering anymore,” people told Alma’s loved ones at various times. Conner knew that was small comfort if it was any comfort at all. Sev seemed to have aged almost overnight, and Conner realized his friend had stopped bothering to color over the gray streaks in his hair.

Conner tried to shake Sev out of his funk, planting hair dye bottles in various places, but after Sev poured a bottle of it down the drain and stomped off, Conner gave up. He couldn’t help Sev, it seemed.

Nor could he ease Ro’s pain. Conner kept his distance, because he wanted so badly not to. He wanted to swoop in and hold Ro, to comfort him like Laine comforted Sev more and more now. But Ro seemed untouchable in his grief.

Conner had had to stop checking on Ro the third time he’d found him in the alley with a stranger. Conner hadn’t hung around long enough to see who it was, had just noted a dark shape grunting as he slammed into Ro’s ass over and over. Conner had felt sick and angry. He’d fled before he could do something he’d probably not regret, like using the trash can to beat the guy who was fucking Ro. With his luck, he’d accidentally have killed the asshole and ended up spending eternity fighting him in the afterlife.

After that, Conner forced himself to stay away from Ro like he had for years. He tried to, at least, but sometimes he slipped and would find himself watching Ro through the windows of Virginia’s Café, or visiting with Sev and Laine. Conner didn’t know how much time passed, but Sev seemed to recover somewhat from the loss of his sister. The gray streaks were once again dyed over, and eventually he began to laugh, that spark lighting his pretty eyes like it had before.

But Ro… He only seemed to grieve more. Conner couldn’t help but notice that Ro looked worn and thin, as if he weren’t sleeping at night or eating enough. It broke his heart, which alternately surprised him and shocked him. He hadn’t thought he’d truly felt so strongly for Ro. Maybe he had even thought he was too flighty to feel such strong emotions for someone besides Laine and Sev.

He thought about how it had hurt, losing Laine, not only when he’d died, but to another man. Granted, Conner had kind of pushed Sev and Laine together, but that was only after he’d concluded that he wanted Laine to be happy, and that Sev was the man to make him so. Didn’t mean it hadn’t hurt the first time the two had struck sparks off each other. Conner had been jealous, and careless, and he’d almost killed Sev in his confusion.

Conner didn’t want to feel like that again. If he stayed away from Ro completely, maybe he’d get over the guy. To that end, Conner tried to find someone else who turned him on. In the spirit world, there was no one. Stefan was cute enough, but Conner couldn’t shake the image of him as a little brother. The other spirits in the nearby vicinity were either straight or female, neither of which would work for him, obviously. It occurred to him that he didn’t have to stay right there in McKinton. While he seriously doubted there was a spirit-world version of a gay club where he could go and get laid, there had to be some way of hooking up with others like himself.

It was the idea of the gay club that guided him. Conner was considering it as he leaned against a tree on the outskirts of McKinton. Stefan found him there, lighting down beside him and grinning happily.

“What are you thinking about, Conner? You look so serious, and that’s just weird.”

Conner growled at Stefan right before he tickled the young man. Stefan squealed and batted at his hands, but Conner dug his fingertips in against Stefan’s ribs.

“Stop! Oh my God, I’m gonna pee!” Stefan laughed and Conner stopped tickling him long enough to cock an eyebrow at Stefan.

“You do know we don’t pee?”

Stefan huffed and tossed his head back as if he had a mane of flowing hair rather than the short, spiky tips he’d always had. “Duh, unless you want to pee, then you can.”

“What are you talking about?” Conner asked, feeling stupid. He’d been a spirit longer than Stefan, so he should have known more, which meant Stefan was pulling his leg.

“I’m not screwing with you. Just cuz we’re dead doesn’t mean we can’t do things like pee or beat off.” Stefan rubbed his palm over his crotch as if to emphasize those points. “It doesn’t mean our dicks don’t work.”

“You’re just messing with me,” Conner told him, but he had a bad feeling he’d just been willingly ignorant. He’d been able to get hard, once he’d bothered to give enough of a damn to do so. He was considering going and trying to find someone.

“Am not.” Stefan unzipped his pants and pulled out his cock.

“Stefan!” Conner wasn’t a prude but that was just…wrong.

“Stop being such an old fart.” Stefan aimed his shaft. “Now, I don’t really feel like I need to do this, but I guess I just always enjoyed taking a piss before, so