Page 99 of Coven of Corpses

"You know it," Demetrius said, nodding and quickly turning away, afraid his face might reveal too much of what churned beneath the surface—the decades of love that had transformed from something forbidden into something cherished. Tonight wasn’t about what they had become. It was about returning to what they’d once been, and making it better.

“Oh damn, I almost forgot.” Cody leaned over, elbow resting on Demetrius’s thigh as he popped the glove compartment open. He withdrew his iPhone and sat up, smiling as he tapped at it. “I know it’s from the future, but I made a playlist that hopefully counteracts the modern technology.”

Another couple of taps and “This Love” by Maroon 5 started to play from the phone’s speaker.

“Oh my God, this song was everywhere the summer we graduated,” Demetrius said. The music made him smile and he started to hum along.

Cody grinned, tapping the beat on the steering wheel. “I know. It’s a whole playlist.”

The light changed, and Cody cruised down Main Street, the Caddy gliding like a boat on calm waters. A few people recognized the car—hard to miss, as it had practically been a touchstone for the town for decades—and waved with the easy familiarity of small-town life. They waved back, and Cody tapped the horn a few times, the sound echoing against the storefronts.

As they left the town behind and cruised out Highway 118, heading for the Hollow Leg bar and, beyond that, Harriettville, Demetrius lowered his window halfway. The evening air rushed in, mild and fragrant, carrying scents of the land around them. He could smell the freshly tilled earth of the fields, rich with possibility, along with the heavy and familiar stench of manure—a staple odor all his life. These earthier scents nearly overwhelmed the sweet whisper of something recently bloomed, but Demetrius was able to detect its delicate notes. Beauty was everywhere, if you just knew where to look.

"We going to Harriettville to soap their school windows and TP the trees?" Demetrius asked.

Cody laughed—a sound so big and loud and easy that it seemed to fill the car. The warmth of it washed over Demetrius, buoying something a little dark and heavy that had been sitting in his chest for a long time.

"No, not tonight," Cody said, beginning to tap out a rhythm on the steering wheel with those long, familiar fingers.

"Going to Lou's for pizza?" Demetrius suggested, though something in Cody's expression told him otherwise.

"Nope." Cody smiled over at him. "Thought we'd find a place to park out on one of the old farm roads and just, you know, talk."

Demetrius's cock roared to attention. He licked his lips and looked away out his window, grateful for the darkness that hid his immediate reaction. Outside, the moon had risen lopsided and bright, transforming the turned earth of the fields into a landscape of silver and shadow.

"That okay with you?" Cody asked, his voice dipping lower, the question carrying more weight than its simple words suggested.

"Yeah." Demetrius glanced back at him, a nervous laugh escaping as he tried to maintain the pretense. "Sure. We never get a chance to talk."

They both laughed at that, and their laughter melded together in the confined space of the car. Cody resumed drumming the wheel, and Demetrius couldn't help watching those big hands move, hands he knew as well as his own. With a small jolt, he noticed Cody had removed his wedding ring. The sight of that naked finger sent a thrill through him, both unsettling and exciting.

Deciding to commit just as fully to their fantasy, Demetrius eased his own ring off and slid it into his front pocket. His finger felt cool and strangely vulnerable, but he resisted the urge to put it back on. Cody had put thought and effort into crafting this night for them. The least he could do was surrender completely to the game, to this chance to rediscover each other by returning to the boys they’d once been.

"Did you talk with Jugs after the game?" Demetrius asked, searching for something mundane to anchor himself.

"Yeah. He was crying about the calls the ref had made. Said they were being picked on. He's such a baby."

Demetrius chuckled. That response could have come from high school Cody or modern-day Cody. Some things never changed.

A road appeared on their right, and Cody slowed. It was two tracks of sand and dirt with a grass berm running down the middle. In the near distance, Demetrius could see it wound through a small cluster of trees, the perfect place to hide a car—to hide two people from the world. His stomach tightened with sudden nervous excitement, a flutter that belonged to a teenage version of himself he thought long buried. He was going to discover what it would have been like to have gone parking with Cody Bower. Almost twenty years late, but still…

The sand shifted beneath the Cadillac's tires with a soft hushing sound, but Cody kept the car steady on track. Across the field, the windows of a farmhouse gave off a golden glow like distant stars, and Demetrius could smell woodsmoke in the night air, earthy and primal. Cody slowed as they entered the trees, the headlights slicing through darkness to reveal a few spots just off the road where past cars had pulled off to park.

Tonight, however, they were the only ones. Cody eased the Cadillac off the dirt tracks, pine cones and small branches crackling under the tires as he slowed to a stop. He turned off the engine and the headlights, and they sat listening to “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers as the motor ticked and cooled, and crickets and frogs rose in a night chorus around them.

"Nice night," Demetrius said, feeling ridiculous over his nervousness. They were married for God’s sake. He glanced over to find Cody leaned forward, hands draped over the top of the wheel and head turned to look at him with an intensity that stole his breath. "Do you bring a lot of girls out here?" he asked.

Cody shrugged and looked away, shadows playing across his face. "A few. Not many. None who are important to me."

"Ah," Demetrius said and looked away, unable to hold the weight of those words. “Good idea not to go out to the pond. I hear that place is overused.”

Cody snorted a laugh. “Haunted more like it.”

More silence, then Demetrius asked, “So, how are you?"

"Want a beer?" The sudden shift felt like Cody throwing him a lifeline.

Demetrius looked at him in surprise. "You brought beer?"