Chapter Twenty
SEEING MARCUS again had been like pouring salt into a wound that had just begun to heal. Their time apart had marginally dulled some of the pain caused by their breakup. And losing Raymond had ironically distracted him from the initial heartache in the same way breaking his arm would have distracted him from a headache.
Now alone in his house with no Raymond and no Marcus, all the grief flooded back in, consuming him and thrusting him into a state of deep depression. Finding the ring and Marcus’ lost wallet had offered a sliver of hope for a future that consisted of something more than utter loneliness, but as quickly as this hope had presented itself, it disappeared.
His perspective vacillated between angry self-pity to desperation. At times, he bemoaned his losses and a
