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“You smell different,” Demetrius said, and he leaned in again, drawing in a deep breath. “Why do you smell different?”
Cody shook his head and took a step closer. “Listen.”
“What?” Demetrius blinked and tried to focus on him.
Cody started to sing. Even though his voice was low, it sounded clear and beautiful to Demetrius, and he immediately felt completely relaxed.
“Oh my God. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you sing before. You’re amazing.”
Demetrius’s voice sounded faraway and dreamy, even to him. He stared up into Cody’s warm brown eyes and tried to make sense of the words Cody sang to him, but they didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered except for him to do what Cody suggested, because Cody would never do anything to hurt him.
“Hey!”
The shout startled them both. Cody stopped singing and snapped his head up, anger flaring in his eyes. Demetrius blinked and reached out to steady himself on Cody’s arm as he turned to look toward the bar. Jugs stood by the stool where Demetrius had been sitting, hands in fists on his hips as he glared at them.
A smile instantly bloomed on Demetrius’s face at the sight of him, and he shouted, “Jugs!”
He weaved a path through the tables, apologizing when he nearly knocked a couple’s drinks over. When he reached Jugs, Demetrius wrapped his arms around him and gave him a big hug.
“Uh,” Jugs said. “Didn’t we all have to take an online course about this earlier this year? I’m guessing you’ve had a few drinks.”
“Two,” Keira said. “He’s had two gin and tonics.”
“What a lightweight,” Jugs said, then pried Demetrius’s arms apart and moved him back a few steps. “Hey Demetrius. You doing okay?”
“I’m great. Everything’s great.”
Demetrius felt a little unsteady, however, so he moved slowly and carefully around Jugs and climbed onto his stool again. “Hey, what happened to my drink?”
“You drank it,” Keira said. “But here’s a big glass of water for you. It’ll help you feel even better.”
Jugs sat on the stool beside Demetrius. “Is there a reason you’re drunk?”
“Hey,” Cody said, coming up behind Demetrius and putting his big hands on Demetrius’s shoulders. “Sorry about him. We were just leaving.”
Jugs looked up at Cody. Demetrius could tell from Jugs’s expression he was hurt about something, but he couldn’t understand what it might be. He thought about it as he drank his water through the straw until he reached the bottom of the glass and made loud slurping noises.
“Why the hell haven’t you called me?” Jugs said to Cody. “I’ve been texting and calling you all morning.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry about that. My phone died.”
Demetrius swiveled to look at Cody and nearly toppled off the stool. Both Cody and Jugs grabbed an arm to steady him.
“Your phone was plugged in all night like usual,” Demetrius said between loud slurps on the straw. “It shouldn’t be dead already.”
Cody took the glass from him and set it on the bar. “Yeah, it’s been acting weird lately. I forgot to tell you.” He looked over the top of Demetrius’s head at Jugs. “We were just leaving. I’ll call you later.”
“Dude, no.” Jugs stood up, and Demetrius swiveled back his way, again nearly falling off the stool but was saved once again by both of them. Jugs didn’t take his eyes off Cody even as he steadied Demetrius. “What happened at the courthouse today? You know this affects my livelihood, too. I had hoped one of you would have called to give me an update.”
“Oh.” Demetrius looked over his shoulder at Cody. “You didn’t call him when you stormed out of the house so angry?”
“Angry?” Jugs and Cody said at the same time.
Cody shook his head and smiled. “No, I wasn’t angry. I just needed some time to think, you know?”
“Why were you angry?” Jugs said.
Demetrius looked up at Jugs and put a hand on his arm. “Jugs, he didn’t tell you? We lost our business license.”
