Page 107 of Grave Danger

“Demetrius?”

The voice was tentative and shaky, but familiar, and it caused a burst of relief and joy within Demetrius that made him gasp.

“Amelia?”

She stepped down out of the truck and hurried toward him, a silhouette with a bob hair style and full hips in the glare of the high beam headlights. Demetrius grabbed her in a hug and couldn’t help the half-laugh, half-sob. She rocked him back and forth, some kind of padding protecting her body and keeping him from feeling her familiar shape.

“Are you all right?” Demetrius asked when he finally stepped back out of the hug. “What are you wearing?”

She turned toward the headlights and struck a pose to show off what looked like an umpire’s pad covering her torso. Some kind of padding had been secured around her arms, and Demetrius’s stomach dropped when he saw pieces missing that looked like bite marks.

“Oh my God. What’s happened?” Demetrius said. “Are you all right?”

“Oh, I’m fine. I’m fine. And Otis is, too. He’s out on another patrol.”

“Patrol?” Demetrius shook his head. “What do you mean?”

“We couldn’t get through to the sheriff, so we formed our own militia,” Simon said.

“I believe my nephew was asking me that question, Simon, thank you,” Amelia said, giving him a raised eyebrow. “We’ve discussed your habit of taking over a conversation.”

Simon stalked off, grumbling curses about women’s liberation.

“He’s effective, but very set in his ways,” Amelia said with a sigh. “Anyway, we couldn’t get through to the sheriff, so a group of us in the condos banded together. Most of the men have hunting rifles, and some who have a steadier hand own bows and arrows. Vincent Poole coaches little league and umpires some games, so we divvied up pads and masks and went out on patrols.” She shook her head. “Zombies. Can you believe it?”

“Amelia,” Cody said, coming up beside Demetrius. “It’s good to see you.”

“Oh, Cody. Oh, my dear boy.” Amelia grabbed him in a hug and they rocked back and forth for a bit. When she stepped back, Amelia put a hand to his cheek. “The nursing care building had a tough time of it. But we managed to fight them back.”

“Yeah?” Cody’s eyes were wet in the glare of the headlights. “Did you see her? Did you see Felicia?”

“I did. She’s okay. Troubled and a bit out of sorts, but okay.”

The worry and concern leaving Demetrius’s body was like a physical sensation. He put a hand on Amelia’s padded forearm as a way to steady himself and to make sure she was actually standing there talking with them.

“You both look done in,” Amelia said. “Let’s get you back to the condo. You can clean up and put on something of Otis’s while we wash your clothes. Are you hungry?”

“Starved,” Cody said.

“I’ve got a pot roast still warm in the crock pot. That’ll be just the thing.” Amelia looked down at Cody’s arm. “Oh, what happened? Are you all right?”

Cody looked back at Demetrius and his smile was tired, shaky, and relieved all at once. “I’m much better now that I know my number one girl is safe and sound.” He leaned down toward Amelia and lowered his voice, but Demetrius could plainly hear him say, “I gotta admit, I’m a little turned on by this Resident Evil dominatrix vibe of yours.”

“Oh, tulip trees, Cody Bower, how you go on.”

Amelia linked her arm through Cody’s and reached back with her free arm for Demetrius. He put her arm through his, and together the three of them headed toward the pickups.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Water beat against the back of Cody’s neck and shoulders. It eased some of the ache from his muscles, but more lurked underneath. More aches always seemed to be lurking somewhere these days. He stood beneath the shower, chin to his chest, staring down at the wound on his left forearm. The skin around the punctures had been cut away during an outpatient visit to the hospital a couple of weeks ago. The procedure had been painful and frightening, but Demmy had pampered him afterward, and had given him two blowjobs each day while he’d recovered.

Cody hadn’t fully recovered yet. And it was almost time for his evening blowjob.

He lathered up once more and turned into the spray to rinse before shutting off the water. The steady drip of the water made him think of rain hitting leaves as they’d walked along the Davenport Creek. It had been four weeks since that day, and his anxiety was ebbing a bit every day. Not much, but he figured by Christmas he should be close to seventy-five percent.

The blowjobs had definitely been helping.

After drying off, Cody wrapped a towel around his waist and padded into the living room. He was about to give the towel a tug and let it drop around his feet to initiate the evening blowjob festivities, but stopped just in time to avoid exposing himself to Dave and Ollie. They sat on the couch, eyebrows raised and half smiles on their sassy-ass faces.