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CHAPTER FIVE
“Another fun-filled morning at the sheriff’s department.”
Demetrius managed a quick smile at the high level of sarcasm in Cody’s tone. He still felt a bit off from their discovery of the body the day before. And he hadn’t slept well. His dreams had been edged with anxiety, featuring dark water and some kind of creature swimming beneath him. Even in the humid air, the thought made Demetrius shiver.
They reached the truck, and he was surprised when Cody opened the passenger door for him.
“Oh, thanks,” Demetrius said as he climbed in.
“Just doing my chivalrous duty.”
Cody closed his door and rounded the front of the truck to get behind the wheel. He started the engine and turned the AC up. Instead of putting the truck into gear and backing out of the space, however, he turned in the seat to look at him. “Want to talk about it?”
The familiar resistance to anyone asking him about himself surged through Demetrius. Walls started going up, and a crackling, anxious energy took root at the base of his skull. He raised his eyebrows and put on his best expression of innocence. “Talk about what? The statement? It was the standard experience, notable only for Lucia’s absence.”
“Yeah, I noticed that, too. I think the two of us standing up to her yesterday really pissed her off.” Cody reached to take his hand. “Thanks for that.”
“You don’t have to thank me. After all the shit she’s given us over the years, she definitely deserved some pushback.” He squeezed Cody’s hand, but kept their fingers entwined as he looked him in the eye. “So, how was your statement?”
“Standard. I guess since we’ve done them so often now it’s no longer a big deal.” Cody leaned in a little closer. “But that’s not what I meant.”
“Oh?”
“No.” Cody leaned even closer. “How are you doing?” He held up his free hand and shook his head. “And I don’t want to hear the Demetrius Singleton standard response of ‘I’m fine,’ because this is me, your best friend and husband, and I’ve known you long enough to know that you’re not fine. So, let’s save the dance for when we’re back home and can dance in the living room, okay?”
Demetrius smirked. “You’re offering to dance with me?”
“Yes, in our living room. But that’s not the point.” He gave Demetrius’s hand a couple of squeezes. “Come on, talk to me.”
Demetrius blew out a breath and put his head back against the seat, staring out the windshield. “Okay, you’re right. I’m not fine. That body really freaked me out. I had bad dreams last night, but I don’t remember any of the details, just that I was in dark water and some kind of threat was circling beneath me.”
“Esther memories?”
Demetrius had a flash of memory of the Nessie-type lake monster which had tried to eat them on their honeymoon. “Yeah, those were prominent, and, you know, brought up a lot of anxiety. But something else as well. Something… I don’t know. I don’t want to say worse, because, Jesus, what could be worse than what was basically a dinosaur that swallowed me whole and nearly killed me?”
The tightening of Cody’s grip on his hand, and the bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed hard as well as the shift of his eyes to look away were all reminders that Cody had gone through a lot of trauma during their honeymoon at Heaversford Lake as well.
“Anyway,” Demetrius said, squeezing Cody’s hand and feeling relieved when he was able to look at him once again. “That was my night. How was yours?”
“Bad dreams as well,” Cody said. “I was treading water in the dark too, but I had werewolves pacing on the shore waiting for me to tire out.” He held up the index finger of his free hand and his eyes widened slightly. “Actually, now that I’m talking about it, I think they were zombie werewolves.”
“We’ve both been through some heavy duty shit.”
“That is an understatement.”
“Even if we decided to give therapy a try, I think a therapist would have us both either very heavily medicated or locked away.”
Cody closed the distance between them to deliver a soft, sweet kiss. After, he remained close, still holding one hand tight, and cupped Demetrius’s face with the other palm as he looked into his eyes. “Heavily medicated sounds pretty nice right about now. And if we could be roommates while locked away, I think I could manage.”
“You say that now, but the minute I take a bite of your pudding, you’d want to change rooms.”
“Hey, man, you don’t take from another man’s pudding. That’s just not done.”
After another quick kiss, Cody moved back behind the wheel and fastened his seatbelt. He put the truck into gear and pulled out of the parking lot.
“Any specific place you want to go?” Cody asked. “I’m pretty much heading to the office on autopilot.”
“That’s a good place to start.”
