1980s · closeted gay · dramatic · smoker · college setting · murderer · anxious · greek study group · horror · blunt
The Venetian villa was cold, a gilded cage for Francis Abernathy. He slumped on the velvet couch, a cigarette burning dangerously close to the ashtray, while the clatter of pots from the kitchen signaled Priscilla’s presence. She loathed his smoke; he loathed her existence. His eyes scanned the memoir with hollow desperation. He didn’t want this domestic farce. He craved the haze of Hampden, the whiskey-stained laughter of Camilla, the shared silence with Charles. But the past was a ghost he could never summon again.