Page 72 of Coven of Corpses

“Uh huh. That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“Nothing else is going on?”

“Why do you think something else is going on?”

Ollie leaned in slightly. “You’re avoiding the question.”

“Am I?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“By answering my question with a question.”

“Really?”

“Jesus Christ,” Ollie breathed. “You’re getting really good at acting like Cody.” Then his expression shifted, lighting up as his goddamn reporter instincts kicked in. “Or you’re actually him.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Cody said. “How would that even work?”

Ollie seemed to back down from his guess. “I don’t know. There’s a witch running around town, so anything could happen. I guess I’m just talking out my ass.”

“Just an ass Muppet, like always,” Cody muttered.

“Ah ha!” Ollie shouted, pointing at him. “I knew it!”

“Knew what, babe?” Dave said, frowning as he came up for air from the raucous Bower family conversation.

Cody pressed his lips tight and gave Ollie a long, hard stare. He watched the elation in Ollie’s expression slowly evaporate, leaving confusion and a bit of concern. Good. After a second, during which Cody felt Demmy’s heart pounding hard, Ollie cleared his throat and smiled over at Dave. “Nothing important. Demetrius just confirmed Cody once had an STD when he was in college.”

“What?” Cody’s mom said, spinning around to stare at Demmy. “You what? Is that true?”

“What?” Demmy spluttered and stammered, a panicked expression on his face as he looked from Cody’s mom to Cody and back again. “No! That’s not true at all! I’ve never…” Demmy looked over at Cody again and cocked his head in a questioning manner. “Had an STD. Have I?”

Cody shook his head as he stared wide-eyed back at Demmy. Keeping his eyes on Demmy, he reached out and grabbed a fistful of Ollie’s shirt, then turned to fix him with a hard glare. For his part, Ollie just stood and looked at him with a grimly satisfied smirk.

“Nope,” Demmy said, looking back at Cody’s mother. “Never had an STD.” He glared at Ollie. “Why the fuck would you say that?”

Cody tightened his fingers in Ollie’s shirt and imagined himself burning a hole into his forehead. Ollie shrugged as he looked at Cody’s family standing all around them. “Sorry, I must have heard Demetrius wrong over here. I thought he said STD, but maybe he said something else.”

“What could he have possibly said to make you think it was that?” Cody’s father looked from Cody to Demmy. “Answer us, son. What the hell happened to you in college?”

“Nothing!” Demmy said, his voice rising in pitch. “I swear! I’ve never had an STD. I’ve always used a condom. Well, except with Demetrius… um, Demmy. But that was because he has an allergy to nonoxynol, and condoms treated with that were all we had the first time we⁠—”

“You can stop talking, Cody,” Cody said over Demmy’s unfiltered stream of consciousness ramble. He slowly pulled Ollie in closer. “I’m sure your family doesn’t want to know about our sexual history.”

“That’s for damn sure,” Roman said gruffly.

“Dudes, it’s all a healthy reflection of the people they are,” Grant said.

“Wait,” Brady, the youngest of Cody’s brothers, looked around at all of them. “Did Cody and Demetrius go to college together?”

A new debate about Cody’s college years kicked off, and he took the opportunity to finish reeling Ollie in, turning his head so they were almost nose to nose. “Knock it the fuck off.”

“I’m right, aren’t I? You’re Cody.”