Page 92 of Missed Sunrise
Cody and Vinh made a formidable duo, and I was pleased to see evidence of the friendship that was forming between them, both in the way they stood near each other and in the easy familiarity of the quick look of solidarity they exchanged.
“Jinx,” Bree said around an amused smile.
“Do I owe you a sweet tea or a coffee, Cher?” Cody asked, mindlessly rubbing his foot up his shin.
Or perhaps, not so mindlessly, as I was instantly transported back to the Vietnamese restaurant. To the footsies that had been the highlight of my year.
I listened intently to their bantering as I finished lining up my tattoo supplies in a tidy row on the kitchen table. It was fully dark outside, and the overhead lights were on, but I also had a travel light on a boom stand ready to go beside me. I had to move said light out of the way before I swiveled to face them in the ergonomic office chair I’d brought out from my bedroom. I’d hoped to be a more active spectator for the rest of their conversation but was sad to realize it was already over and peace had settled between them that hinted at some sort of agreement.
Cody’s gaze swept down my body and slowly made its way back to my face before he repeated, solo this time, “Where, LL? Where have you been going these past two days?” His gaze stayed on me as his left hand slowly turned the bracelets on his right.
The same bracelets that had left tiny indents on my wrist after he’d held my hand in the rain.
I blinked hard as Bree’s rasp cut through the fog. “Stop grilling him,” she said, looking at Cody and Vinh in turn. “And as you can see”—she gestured to the supplies—“I have anappointment. If you want to stay here and chitchat, you’ll have to book your own tattoo.”
Cody scowled at her playfully, but then he shifted his gaze to the table and took in the setup—the sanitation supplies, the ink, and my gun.
“I’ll have to do that,” he murmured, and my skin sang at the idea.
When his gaze reached my sketch pad, he pushed off the threshold and strode forward, which had Bree jumping off the bench to snatch up the book.
“No, sir!” she yelled, bringing it to her chest and then retreating backward to her seat—presumably so he couldn’t see the outline of the tattoo on the back of her thigh—and plopping back down. “No looky-loos. I’ve told you that.”
Cody huffed and ran his hand through his hair. “That’s not fucking fair, Cher.”
She clutched the notebook tighter. “You only have to wait a few more hours.”
They engaged in a soundless standoff for several seconds while Vinh locked eyes with me. I pressed my lips together in silent communication that broadcasted, “These two,”while he lifted one shoulder in a way that seemed to say, “Best not get involved.”
“Cody and I are going out,” Vinh announced the next moment, walking past Cody and interrupting the stare down he had going with Bree. “Work for you?” Vinh added to Cody belatedly, but Cody agreed with a nod. My brother strode forward and leaned down to place a kiss on Bree’s hair before murmuring, “We’ll bring back treats.”
I got up to wash my hands in preparation and to keep myself from digging them into Cody’s hair and asking him to also give me a treat, so I didn’t hear her reply. After I dried my hands thoroughly, I pulled a disposable glove over my right hand. Theelastic band snapped against my wrist just as a wave of cherry-and-coconut-scented air wafted over me.
“Ti Bet,” Cody murmured quietly.
I turned to find his chest mere inches from me.
“What kind of treat do you want?” His hazel eyes searched mine intently, and a slight frown formed on his mouth. “I don’t know what you like.”
Yes, you do.
I slid the second glove onto my other hand and swallowed against the sudden dryness in my mouth. “I have a taste for most things, Dezi.”
His tongue peeked out between his lips, and my fingers twitched, releasing the glove to snap on my hand. Cody’s gaze followed the sound, taking in the black disposable gloves, and then he nodded, almost as if to himself, before he turned without a word and strode out of the kitchen.
It was only instinct that kept my gloved hands away from my body as I watched him go, the possibility that I’d overdone it chilling my blood. I made myself walk back to my chair so I could track his retreat fully and search for clues, and I may have found one when he stopped outside my open bedroom door and stared inside for a long moment. Then he snapped himself out of the reverie I was dying to know the contents of, took the last steps to the front door, slipped on his slides, and walked through it with my brother.
Waiting for Cody Desmond was turning out to be quite the delicious thrill, and my body wholeheartedly agreed even as my heart ached at the knowledge that he felt he needed to be anything other than who he was.
He was perfect.
I whirled to face Bree and beamed. “Ready?”
She was already watching me, and her contemplative look turned to excitement. “Ready,” she agreed as she sprawled ontoher stomach across the bench seat and rested her head on her crossed arms.
I breezed through the procedures and double-checked my ink, and within minutes, my mind zeroed in on the task at hand, the stakes feeling just as high as when I’d given Vinh his forearm piece.
Bree remained still as stone, having gotten used to the feel of the needle when I did the outline, and relaxed even more quickly this time. Her badassery shouldn’t have been surprising, and it wasn’t. Not really. This was the same girl who grew up in a casino and as an adult threw roulette balls and spun wheels for huge crowds.
