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“Does that mean you miss me, too?” Cody smirked.
“Did I say that?”
Demetrius chuckled. “I’ll make sure he leaves soon, Zee. Thank you.”
“I won’t be here tomorrow morning, but I’ll leave a note for the doctor on duty to release you.” She touched his arm again, her skin cool, most likely from being inside the air-conditioning for so long.
Once she’d left the room, Cody pulled the chair close to the bed and sat, taking Demetrius’s hand in both of his. He kissed the top of his hand and pressed it to his forehead. When Cody lifted his head again, Demetrius saw tears in his eyes.
“Hey, babe,” Demetrius said. “It’s okay. I’m okay. We’re going to be okay.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. But I just…” He stopped and looked away, shaking his head slightly. A tear ran down his cheek, and Demetrius’s own eyes welled up. Cody finally looked back, smiled shakily, and said, “I watched you drown, Demmy.”
Demetrius closed his eyes and turned his head away as the memory flashed back to him. He’d followed what he’d thought had been Cody, though he’d seemed and smelled different, to the middle of the pond, hypnotized by the sound of his voice. How had he not known about Cody’s amazing singing voice? Then Cody had gone under, and Demetrius had waited and waited for him to come up again, and just as he’d started to worry, he’d felt the hands around his ankles and he’d been pulled under. It hadn’t taken long for his lungs to start aching, burning for air, and he’d tried to pull free, tried to kick, wanted to ask Cody why he was doing this, it wasn’t funny. The Cody imposter had held him tantalizingly close to the surface, letting his hands break the barrier between air and water as adrenaline rushed through him.
He didn’t remember the moment he’d actually drowned, but he did recall seeing Cody above him looking down, hands reaching for him, and Demetrius had wondered if Cody was above him, who was holding him under?
“I couldn’t help myself,” Demetrius said. “I knew deep down it wasn’t you, but when it started singing, there was nothing I could do. I was drawn in and couldn’t get free of it.” He shook his head and fought back tears. “I’ve been thinking about Devin Sykes and his wife, Claudia. How awful it must have been for them to feel that sense of betrayal as the person they trusted most in the world held them underwater and wouldn’t let them breathe.”
“That’s a really awful way to go,” Cody said. “If I hadn’t arrived when I did, I would have lost you for good. That would have devastated me.”
“How did you get out there so fast?” Demetrius asked. “How’d you figure it out?”
“It tried to get my grandmother,” Cody said, a muscle in his jaw tightening. “It disguised itself as me and tried to get her to go to the pond, but Lucia came by on patrol and must have scared it off. She got grandma back to the facility and called me. Jugs saw me drive past the Hollow Leg like a bat out of hell and called to ask me where you were. When I was with my grandma, Ollie called looking for you, and we all started to put it together and I knew where it would take you.”
“My smart and handsome husband.” Demetrius put a hand against his cheek, and Cody leaned into his palm. “I’m so glad we’re together.”
“Me, too.” Cody kissed his palm.
“Is your grandma okay?”
“Physically, yes. But she’s still scared of me.”
Demetrius squeezed his hand. “I’m so sorry. That’s got to be so hard for you.”
He blew out a breath and nodded. “Anyway, putting the latest monster case aside, what do we do now that we’re no longer allowed to catch critters?”
Demetrius shrugged. “No idea. But we’ll figure it out. We always do.”
“Yeah, we do.”
The door opened and Zenona stuck her head into the room. “Cody…”
“Ugh, fine.”
Cody got up and leaned over the bed. The familiar smell of him washed over Demetrius and he breathed it deep into his lungs, drawing comfort from it.
“I love you,” Cody whispered, leaning in.
A little tingle at the quick, soft kiss lingered on Demetrius’s lips, and he smiled. “I love you, too.”
“I need to get back home and figure out where that fucking raccoon is going to live.”
Demetrius laughed and pulled him down for another kiss. “Just not in the house.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that.” Cody headed for the door where Zenona stood holding it open. “I’ll text you later.”
“Okay. Sleep well.”
