 Linden leaned back in his chair and continued to study Tyler. It was unsettling to say the least. Tyler had to put a lot of effort into meeting Linden’s gaze without wavering. If he flinched away from events in his past and didn’t set the record straight, Linden would never trust him or believe in him. Tyler desperately wanted Linden to believe in him, trust him, and be his friend, though he wasn’t sure why. “Tell me about Dimas Praede. You did have sex with him.” It wasn’t exactly phrased like a question, but Tyler nodded and whispered, “Yes.” The cold in Tyler’s chest was replaced by unexpected anger surging through him. “What did you come here for?” He slammed his palm on the table and noticed immediately that Linden didn’t so much as twitch. “You decided I was guilty before you walked through that door, so why not just arrest me now?” “I told you before, if I thought you should be arrested, you would have been. Are you guilty?” “No!” Tyler snapped. “I wasn’t then, and I’m not now.” “I’m trying to find out the truth about what happened to a man. Both of his former boyfriends are nowhere to be found, and the only link I have to them and him is you.” Linden glanced down for a few seconds before looking Tyler in the eye again. “Tell me everything from the beginning. Explain to me why you weren’t guilty when the law said you were.” He picked up Tyler’s bottle of beer and held it out to him. “If you did something wrong, you’ll pay. If not, I’m on your side.” Tyler slowly pulled one hand out from under the table and gripped the beer bottle, then took a sip. He nodded. “No one ever really wanted my side of the story. It was all pretty cut and dried at the time. I did it. I paid.” Linden reached out and squeezed Tyler’s wrist for a few seconds before turning back to his chili and digging his spoon in for more. The gesture was kind and completely took Tyler by surprise and threw him off guard. Maybe that’s exactly what it was meant to do. “Tell me,” Linden prompted again. “Okay.” Tyler took a few more deep breaths and a big swig of beer, then began. “There was this mom-and-pop food truck that was on my way home from school. I’d stop there two, three times a week for at least one meal. I’m standing in line, and I meet a guy.” “Dimas Praede?” “Yeah. We started to talk. Then I begin running into him once or twice a week. Eventually we start taking our food and sitting in a nearby park, eating together. He told me he was in school, but since he was eighteen, I thought he meant trade school or college. We’d been dating a few months before I found out he attended the school I was employed in as a teacher. It was a big enough school, and since I was part of the specialized program, I didn’t spend much time with the main student body.” “And it never once came up? You didn’t ask what school he went to? He didn’t ask where you worked?” “Dimas was eighteen, and I was twenty-four. We didn’t talk a lot. Did you talk a lot to your love interest at those ages?” Linden snorted a laugh and folded his hands together, resting his chin against his knuckles. He grinned and gave Tyler a mischievous look. “No. I did not.”     
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