Page 80 of Grave Danger

“He’s here.”

“Here?” Cody looked around. “At the scene?” He guessed Ollie could be dressed as one of the crime scene techs and no one would be the wiser. Cody wouldn’t put it past him.

“No. He and Dave snuck into the cemetery. He’s over where the mayor and that lady from the woods were buried. He wants us to meet him there.”

“That’s interesting.” Demmy looked up at him, and Cody could see the interest and excitement in his eyes. “What do you think?”

“Does it matter what I think?”

“What?” Demmy pulled back as if Cody had physically struck him, and the red in his cheeks made it look that way. “Of course it does.”

“Forget it.” Cody gestured toward his truck. “Let’s go see what Ollie’s gotten himself into now.”

Agatha gave Cody a tight smile before getting into her truck. Cody headed for his own truck, feeling Demmy’s eyes on his back the entire way. He knew he shouldn’t have said it. It had been a passive-aggressive little snipe. But sometimes he just couldn’t help himself. So often he felt like he had no control over the direction his life was headed and the choices before him. It wasn’t going to change anytime soon, and making cracks about it in front of other people, even if Agatha had become a close friend, wasn’t the way to solve it.

But he had to admit, it had felt good. Though he was going to regret the outcome, because God knew Demmy would definitely want to talk about it once they were in the truck, it seemed like a weight had shifted inside him. Like he’d been carrying some of those Velcro strap-on ankle weights around inside his belly for a long time, and he’d finally had a chance to move them around to a more comfortable place. And he’d had to say something because, dammit, here they were, right smack dab in the middle of another fucking monster case. And when that happened, Demmy took the wheel and Cody was expected to just go along for the ride.

“Hey, what was that comment all about?” Demmy asked right on cue once they’d gotten in the truck.

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry about that.” Cody started the engine and pulled out after Agatha. “It’s just… here we go again, you know? We’re chasing something inexplicable, and now it’s ride or die, and I never seem to get a say in what happens or what we do.”

“That’s not true. You managed the town’s response to the werewolves.”

“After you made the decision to offer yourself up as a sacrifice.”

“Because that’s the only thing that would have worked,” Demmy said, obviously getting upset as his voice had gone up in pitch. “We discussed that at the flower shop.”

“No, you told me what you were going to do at the flower shop. I kept trying to talk you out of it.”

Demmy blew out a frustrated breath and looked away. He tapped his fingers on his thigh and bounced his right leg.

“Look, I’m sorry I said it,” Cody said. “It was stupid and passive-aggressive, I know that. And I also know that right now is not the time for us to get into it.”

“Yeah, it’s really not. It’s pretty shitty timing.”

The walls were going up inside Demmy, Cody could practically see them being built by the tiny little Demmys that lived inside him and worked to protect him from confrontation. They’d been raised in very different households, Demmy the only child of much older and less argumentative parents, and Cody the middle child of five boys, raised by parents who liked to overshare their feelings.

Later, when they were back home, Cody would need to poke and dig to get Demmy to open up. He’d learned how to do it as they’d grown up together. When he’d proposed, however, he’d hoped being married would bring some changes for them, that Cody being willing to be open with the world about his feelings for Demmy, would have allowed Demmy to be as open in return. It was better, a lot better, actually, but sometimes it all came back into play.

“Once again, I’m sorry I said it,” Cody said. “Let’s put it aside for now and discuss it later, okay?”

Demmy turned to him, turned on him, actually, and flung a hand out toward Agatha’s truck ahead of them. “Do you even want to go see what Oliver has uncovered? Or would you rather go home and forget about all of this?”

“I want to check in with Ollie and see what kind of bee he’s got in his bonnet now,” Cody said. “But if you’re asking me what I’d rather be doing, then, yes, I’d rather be going home and spending time with you, not traipsing around a cemetery trying to understand why people who are dead are suddenly climbing up out of their graves. I will always prefer being alone with you when given an option like that.”

The declaration deflated a bit of Demmy’s anger, and Cody felt a small glimmer of satisfaction at having known how to defuse the bomb. In his mind, it wasn’t manipulation, but rather having figured out how to handle certain types of situations.

“Fine. Good.” Demmy let out another breath, but it seemed as if there was less anger staining this one.

Agatha pulled off the road onto the grass. Cody eased to a stop behind her and shut the engine off. He held up the keys and looked at Demmy.

“In case something happens, I’m putting these in the center console.”

“For God’s sake, we’re just talking with Oliver.”

“From past experience, I know what happens when we ‘just talk with Oliver’.”

That earned a half grin from Demmy, and it looked to Cody like Demmy’s shoulders had lowered a bit. They’d have a lot to talk about later, but for now it felt like they were okay. Just to be sure, though, Cody leaned in, closing the distance between them by half. He waited, looking at Demmy’s profile and hoping to get the reaction he wanted, needed.