Chapter 9 #2
The raccoons had set up house in a large shed behind a barn.
When the client, Angus DeWalt, had called, he’d told Demetrius he’d gone to clean it out to make a she-shed for his wife and discovered the masked intruders.
Now, he and Cody located the entry point—a vent at the bottom of the rear wall that had been pulled open—and blocked it with rags before setting up the traps inside.
Since Trevor had found his way to their house the year before, they’d become very familiar with the right bait to use for raccoons.
Shallow bowls of grapes and blueberries were arranged inside each.
“Wanna grab lunch?” Cody asked, wiping sweat from his forehead.
Demetrius checked the time, surprised to find it was just after eleven. “Yeah. Margie’s?”
“Sounds good to me.”
Demetrius let Angus know they’d return after lunch to check the traps then got into the truck.
Cody had the AC cranked to arctic, and the cold against his overheated and sweaty skin sent a full-body shiver through him.
The musky, sweaty scent of Cody filled the cab, and Demetrius bit his lower lip to keep from moaning aloud.
Even through his anger, Cody still turned him on, dammit.
Their usual booth near the back was open, and Margie smiled as she brought them iced teas. “Hi boys. Wow, you two look like you’ve been left out in the sun too long.”
“We’re in the middle of a raccoon eviction,” Cody said, then gulped half of his tea and lifted the glass. “Going to need a lot of refills.”
“I’ll keep a special eye on your glass, Cody.”
Cody’s chest lifted as he beamed at Demetrius. “I get a special eye from Margie.”
“She knows you need to be watched.”
Demetrius heard the sharpness in his tone. Silence shrouded the booth, engulfing Margie as well. She looked between them, her smile slipping before she got it back into place.
“Know what you want?”
They both ordered burgers, and when Margie left, Cody stared at his cup, one hand slowly spinning it in the puddle of condensation.
“I’m sorry,” Demetrius said. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“It’s all right.” Cody’s lips twitched into a smile, but Demetrius could see the hurt underneath.
They ate in silence. Cody broke it once to ask, “How’s your burger?”
“Good. Yours?”
“Good, yeah.”
And that was it. When they’d finished, Demetrius went up to pay the bill while Cody headed out to the truck.
“Something’s up with you two,” Margie said as she ran his credit card.
“We’re just dealing with a tough job today.”
“Seems more than that, but okay.”
A group of people in their twenties came through the door. They all seemed to be talking over each other without hearing what anyone else was saying. Demetrius’s jaw clenched, and he exchanged a glance with Margie.
“No, brah, this is where all of that happened,” a woman wearing a headband with werewolf ears on either side was saying.
“You can sit wherever you like, I’ll be right over,” Margie called to the group, then, in a low voice, “More monster lookie-loos. The money’s nice, but I’d like to see them make it through a werewolf or vampire attack without peeing their pants.
” She shook her head as she watched the group squeeze into a booth.
Demetrius grunted in agreement before stepping out in the heat.
When he got in the truck, Cody’s attitude was as chill as the air blasting from the vents, and they were silent on the drive back.
Five raccoons waited in the traps, and they loaded them in the truck.
Cody screwed the vent back into place as Demetrius rang the doorbell to collect payment.
Cody drove them to the usual spot out around Parson’s Pond.
They unloaded the cages and watched the furry bandits waddle off among the trees.
After they’d returned the cages to the truck, Demetrius boosted himself up onto the lowered tailgate.
It was still humid, but cooler in the shade of the trees and around the pond.
He removed his gloves and looked at Cody’s profile.
“I’m really sorry,” Demetrius said. “I was short with you at Margie’s, and I know I hurt your feelings.”
“Yeah, you did.” Cody glanced at him and lifted one shoulder in a quick half-shrug. “But I’m tough.”
“That you are.” He hesitated. “But I’m still mad. And I don’t like feeling that way about you.”
Cody threw his arms out to either side and practically shouted, “Neither do I!”
“But you went right out the following night and did the same thing you were mad at me for doing.” Demetrius felt the beat of his pulse in his neck.
“Okay, I know that looked bad. But I did not do it on purpose.”
“You accidentally went paranormal snooping?”
“Well, yeah. I didn’t plan to end up at that place.”
“And yet…”
Cody nodded, closing his eyes. “I know, I know.” He dropped his head and put his hands on hips.
After a beat, Cody stood in front of him.
He slowly parted Demetrius’s knees and stepped between his legs.
His thighs brushed Demetrius’s knees, and the smell of his sweat and deodorant curled around him.
Cody’s hands slid into the legs of Demetrius’s cargo shorts, and he gently squeezed Demetrius’s thighs, his damp touch hot as a brand.
“I understand how you ended up going by that abandoned house again, okay? I get it, because obviously I did the same thing last night.” He put a finger under Demetrius’s chin and lifted it to be able to look him in the eye.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you. I hate that I did it, and I shouldn’t have.
I’m just so goddamn afraid of losing you.
I’ve watched people perform CPR on you twice now, terrified I’d lost you, that you’d gone somewhere I couldn’t go to save you, that we hadn’t had nearly enough time together.
” His eyebrows lifted slightly and his eyes filled.
“I don’t know if I have a third time in me. ”
Demetrius took both of his hands and held them tight.
“I don’t want to lose you, either. But if we don’t do anything about these kinds of threats, we run a greater risk of losing each other and the other people we love.
We’re so much stronger and so much better when we’re connected and trust each other.
We have to allow each other the freedom to assess the danger of a situation and investigate if needed. ”
Cody’s voice was rough with emotion. “I want to protect you at all times.”
“You’re not my Secret Service detail, all right? You’re my husband, and we are in this together, equally. We protect each other.”
Cody dropped his gaze. “Yeah.” He pulled free of Demetrius’s grip and pressed his fingers into his eyes. After a moment, he took Demetrius’s hands again as one corner of his mouth curled up slightly. “But it would be pretty hot if I were your Secret Service detail.”
Demetrius grinned. “Yeah, it would.” Then he turned serious again, giving his hands a gentle shake. “I want to make sure we’re in agreement here, crystal clear. We will trust each other to gauge the dangerousness of a situation and investigate as we need to.”
“I agree. But we need to keep in touch.”
“Right, of course.”
“And don’t get mad when the other calls or texts to say they’re doing something a bit higher risk.”
Demetrius squinted a bit. “That applies to both of us, right?”
Cody leaned in, brushing his lips. “Of course.”
The drive home was better. They talked and laughed, their clasped hands resting on the center console. When they stepped inside the house, Cody pulled him in close for a kiss. It was long and hot, and Demetrius swooned a bit.
“Wanna shower together?” Cody said between kisses, his voice deep.
“Fuck, yes.”
Even after all the years they’d been together, stepping into the shower with Cody had Demetrius rock hard and, he was surprised to discover, a bit nervous.
Cody stood facing him, putting himself on display with his head tipped back so the cool spray ran down his long, broad torso.
His cock jutted out from the dark tangle of his bush, water running along its length and off the tip.
Demetrius ran his hands all over Cody’s big body, squeezing his thighs, pinching his nipples and pushing his arms up so he could press his nose into the wet hair of his pits, still gloriously fragrant with his scent.
When Cody lowered his arms again, Demetrius gently traced the marks across his chest with his fingertips and placed light kisses at the ends of each one.
“Demmy.” His name was a ragged, gasping breath, and when he looked into Cody’s face, he saw tears shining in his eyes.
“My brave and fiercely protective husband,” Demetrius said, and, with a hand on the back of his neck, pulled him down for a kiss.
After the kiss, Demetrius cupped Cody’s balls in a palm and rubbed either side of the base of his dick with his fingertips.
“Fuuuuck,” Cody moaned, eyes closed.
Demetrius moved in close, his cock pressing against Cody’s thigh, and Cody’s erection a long, hot line against his belly.
The water splashed over him as he took Cody’s nipple between his teeth and used his free hand to pinch the other.
A shiver went through the entire length of Cody’s body, and suddenly he gripped Demetrius by the upper arms and turned them so Demetrius stood beneath the spray.
Moving one hand to the back of Demetrius’s neck, Cody leaned down and plunged his tongue into Demetrius’s mouth.
Demetrius opened wide, surrendering to him, feeling himself swept up and away by the force of the kiss as water ran over him.
When Cody finally broke their embrace, Demetrius was panting and his cock throbbed, almost painfully hard.
“Scrub a dub time.”
Cody’s voice was a growl. He squeezed body wash into his palm and ran his hands all along Demetrius’s body, building up a generous lather.
He lingered around his groin and circled his hole with the tip of one finger before slipping inside.
Demetrius closed his eyes and gasped, and Cody took the opportunity to kiss him again.