Page 88 of Brighter Shades of Light
Maybe Barry wanted to help us. Or maybe he was just being an ass. Only time would tell. And we had six months of it to find out.
Chapter 23
Sebastian
Time remained the same, passing at the same speed it always had. Seconds, minutes, hours. Days. It was theconceptof time that varied. A minute could seem as though it lasted hours. And a single second could last a lifetime.
Every second away from Cody felt that way—just an endless stretch of lifetimes, passing at the speed of light, going on forever until I saw him again.
The first few weeks after Cody left were the hardest. The fall semester didn’t start until the middle of August, so I had way too much time to think about the distance between us and miss him. As always when I needed an escape from reality, I threw myself into my work and only came up for air when Cody called or Skyped.
The Skype calls were bittersweet; I loved seeing his face as we spoke, but it also made me miss him more, because I couldn’t reach out and caress his jaw as he talked about his long day. I couldn’t lean in and kiss the base of his throat or feel his heart beating against mine.
Once, he even fell asleep while talking to me.
Cody had been explaining his training exercise for the day, which involved a five-mile endurance course he had to run over varying terrain, through multiple obstacles, while carrying a light combat load and rifle. Then…he just stopped talking, and his head lolled to the side. He was snoring within a minute.
I didn’t have the heart to wake him. I watched him a moment, wishing I was there to take care of him.
“Hey, Dr. Vale,” Tristen said, poking his head into the frame of the webcam. He looked exhausted, too. Cody started to lean over in the chair, and Tristen grabbed him to stop him from falling into the floor. “I’ll put him to bed.”
Cody grumbled something as Tristen led him away from the desk and onto the bottom bunk in the background. Cody rolled over and faced the wall.
Tristen came back over and gave me a sleepy smile. “Night, dude.”
“Goodnight.”
Then the screen went dark.
Sleeping without Cody proved more difficult than I imagined. It seemed the only way I could fall asleep was to grab one of Cody’s sweatshirts and hold it, letting his scent comfort me enough that I momentarily forgot about him not actually being here.
I didn’t visit Cody for about three weeks, which was a special type of torture after seeing him every day for the past several months. But I had wanted to give him space to settle in. And even though he had weekends off, he had a large homework load and had to clean all his gear and catch up on sleep.
When I finally flew out to see him, we fell into each other’s arms like no time had passed. He buried his face in the crease of my neck and held onto me just as tightly as I held him. His familiar scent surrounded me again, and I pressed against his warm body.
My world wasn’t as dark anymore, the fixed star in my universe now casting brighter shades of light.
I got a hotel room not far from Camp Barrett, and Cody stayed with me all weekend.
We hardly left the bed. He couldn’t keep his hands off me, and I didn’t want him to. His lips explored every inch of my bare skin, and he nipped at all my sensitive areas. The sex was incredible, but the intimacy was what I had missed most—hearing his panting breaths as he chased his release, feeling his fingers dig into my hips as he tugged me harder into him, and holding him afterward, my front to his back, as we fell asleep.
Two days with him wasn’t enough, so since my classes hadn’t started yet, I stayed another week at the hotel. Cody didn’t get a chance to visit me much Monday through Thursday, but he finished early on Friday and came to stay with me. We went sight-seeing, something he hadn’t had a chance to do yet, and explored Georgetown.
Tristen came with us. He was big into history and had researched the best historic sites. It was nice bonding with him, as well. He was important to Cody, and therefore, important to me. He left later in the evening to return to the barracks, and Cody came back to the hotel with me.
When I had to leave Sunday morning, it was nearly impossible to say goodbye.
“Just another minute,” Cody said, his arms snug around me as we stood in front of the line to security in the airport. “Please.”
My plane was about to board, but I couldn’t deny him the request. Not when I wanted the same. I cupped his cheek and gave him one last kiss to hold us over until I could see him again. Whenever that would be.
“I already miss you.” Cody nuzzled his face against my throat. “TBS isn’t what I expected. It’s easy in some areas, but fucking hard in others.”
“You can do this,” I said, resting my cheek against his.
“That double obstacle course is killing me.” Cody lightly chuckled. “Did I tell you a guy broke his leg on it? Fucking snapped it in two. I don’t think I can pass it.”
“Yes, you can. The remedial training will help. Stay focused, and do your best.”
