Page 46 of Dark Obsession

CHAPTER NINE

When Cody returned home, Demmy was on the couch watching TV. Cody gave him a distracted greeting then got in the shower. He stood under the cool spray for a long time, letting it beat against the back of his neck as the water swirled around his feet. He had no idea how to put anything he’d experienced into words. Turning, he braced his hands against the tile and ducked his head, watching the water run over the slightly puckered marks across his chest.

He thought about Andy. As a kid, he’d always looked panicked when he’d spot Cody and the other members of the football team coming down the school hallways. When that happened, Andy would hug the walls as he scurried past, as if he wished he could disappear into the bricks. The man didn’t seem too far off from that kid, but he was braver than Cody would have expected. Andy had gone to what was most likely a vampire bar—which Cody wasn’t at all ready to look at very closely—all alone, wearing what might have been a thrift store leather jacket as he tried to find his sister.

After drying off and brushing his teeth, Cody dressed in sleep shorts and a t-shirt and forced himself to return to the living room. Dropping beside Demmy on the couch, he tried to follow the show, but his brain wasn’t able to focus. Intermixed with his conversation with Andy, he kept replaying his interactions with the bartender, Marlowe. Looking back on it, he felt as if there’d been more to their talk than he’d realized. She’d definitely dodged a few of his questions. And the fact she’d called him Stretch, the same nickname Eileen called him, still felt off.

“Are we okay?” Demmy asked, taking his hand.

Cody started. The TV was off—when had that happened? He thought he managed to call up a genuine smile. “Us? Always.” He lifted their hands and kissed Demmy’s knuckles. “I am really beat though, it’s been a long day.”

“You were gone for a while tonight.”

Cody hesitated. Demmy had given him an opening. But he wasn’t up to telling him about it or for the eventual argument that would follow. “Yeah. But it’s all good. Really.” He stifled a yawn. “I’ve got that job with Jugs tomorrow morning. I think I’m going to hit the sack early.”

“Yeah?”

“That okay?”

Demmy shrugged and pulled his hand free. “Of course. If you’re tired, go on in to bed. I won’t be much longer.”

Cody gave him a quick kiss and padded down the hall to the bedroom.

He didn’t sleep. He might have dozed off for an hour or two through the night, but dark and disturbing dreams of moonlit cornfields and dark rooms left him anxious and agitated. Demmy was restless beside him, tossing and turning, muttering in his sleep. Cody knew he needed to talk with him first thing in the morning to get everything out in the open, but he wasn’t looking forward to it.

He lay on his side facing the wall, watching the light in the room steadily brighten. When the alarm on his phone finally went off, Cody’s eyes felt puffy and dry, sleep crusted in the corners. He got up and made a stop in the bathroom before going to the kitchen and starting the coffee. Usually he wasn’t the first one up, but he couldn’t lie in bed any longer.

He’d just poured himself a cup and sat at the dining room table when Demmy appeared in the doorway. The back of his hair stood up, and he yawned as he scratched his belly underneath his t-shirt.

“You’re up early,” Demmy said.

“I didn’t sleep great.”

Demmy paused and turned his head slightly. “Oh?” He was definitely on edge.

“We’re okay,” he said. “I promise. But I need to talk with you about some serious stuff.”

“Okay.” Demmy dragged the word out. “Let me get some coffee.”

“I set out a mug for you.”

Demmy sat across from him, one hand curled around the steaming cup, the other in a loose fist on the table. Cody took a breath and released it. He hadn’t planned any of this out, but he knew how he wanted to begin.

“We both have a lot to get off our chests, I know. And you’re going to be mad when I tell you what I did last night, but I want you to know I didn’t do any of it to intentionally hurt you or get back at you.”

“You’re kind of scaring me right now. What’s going on?”

He told him all of it. The drive to Stone Hill to take a look at the missing woman’s house. Seeing Andy leave and following him to The Rusty Screw. His decision to go inside and check it out, along with the conversations he had, and the vaguely threatening air around the three bikers who rolled up to the bar after sundown.

“You did all of that last night?” Demmy’s voice was calm.

“Yeah, I know. But⁠—”

“You’ve been making me feel like shit for a couple of days now because I did the same thing. You realize that, right? The only difference is I didn’t have a run in with a creepy bartender, someone’s grieving and vengeful brother, or a bunch of biker thugs who may or may not have been vampires.” Demmy’s stare hardened and red slashed across his cheekbones. “Are you kidding me?”

“I know, okay? I get how it looks and how it feels, but I didn’t do any of it to hurt you or get back at you.”

“Are you sure? Because it really feels like you spent your evening giving me a couple of big middle fingers as you went off and did what you wanted.”