Page 6 of Cover Up

“Hey. Look, if my sister—”

“It’s not her fault,” Felix interrupted. “Even on good days, my brain’s kind of like a can of condensed chicken noodle soup.”

Dei let out a small laugh. “That might be the grossest, most descriptive term I’ve ever heard. You got a brain injury, sugar?”

Felix’s cheeks burned at the endearment again, and he looked up through his fingers. “Sort of? I have epilepsy. I, uh…I guess I had it as a kid, but I stopped seizing when I was in elementary school. I don’t even really remember it.”

Dei leaned his arm on the counter. “Yeah?”

Felix nodded and licked his lips. “I’m sure the guys all told you about my…” He wriggled his fingers in the air between them. “Issues.”

Dei laughed and shook his head. “Issues. I guess we can call it that. Jer told me not to get too offended if you don’t recognize me in public.”

Felix felt his mouth curve into a grin and heard himself say, “You’re difficult to forget,” before he could stop himself. His jaw shut with a snap, but Dei just laughed again.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.” He stared for a minute longer. “But you know who I am, right?”

Felix nodded and laughed. “Yeah, I know you.” He cleared his throat as his tongue started to get all twisted in his mouth, and he thought through his words first. “A few years ago, I had a bad one.” He tapped his temple. “Grand mal. Lasted ten minutes. Then, I had a cluster of smaller ones for three days. The brain damage was pretty extensive. I have this…thing. Face blindness.”

Dei nodded. “Gotcha. So you really didn’t know who the hell I was standin’ at the door.”

Felix laughed and blushed. “Does it make me a shithead to say that I was able to recognize you from your, uh. Your missing…um…”

Dei’s face went stormy, and Felix started to panic before he boomed a laugh and reached out, clapping him on the wrist. “I’m messin’ with you, shug. This fuckin’ thing’s gotta be useful for something, right?” He gave the end of his very short stump a loud slap, and Felix flinched. Dei didn’t seem to notice or care as he dropped his hand, then pushed away from the counter. “Now, you look like you need tea.”

Felix didn’t know what someone looked like when they needed tea. He wasn’t a huge fan of leaf water. Just like he wasn’t a huge fan of bean water. “Nothing caffeinated, please.”

Dei winked at him, then turned and flipped the switch on a mint-green, very expensive-looking electric kettle in the corner by his stove. “Gettin’ serious for a minute, I really owe you one for tonight. Sofia’s got a lot going on right now, and most of it’s her fault, but that fuckin’ piece of shit…”

“Oh, I know,” Felix said. “I was pretty sure that guy was going to beat the shit out of me. The worst she did was try to proposition me.”

Dei spun around and almost lost his balance, catching himself on the counter before Felix could jump up to try and help. “She did what, now?”

Felix shrugged. “Uh. Well, she got a little handsy. She kind of…asked me if I wanted to—” He stopped and coughed. “You know. Have sex? I politely told her she’s not my type. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.”

“Jay-zus,” Dei breathed out.

Felix stared down at his hands. “I know. I’m sorry. I should have—”

“Darlin’, no. Don’t you dare apologize for anything that happened tonight. Most men would’a left her to deal with her shit on her own.”

Felix didn’t want to tell him he’d considered it for a few seconds. Not long enough that he felt guilty, but a small part of him had wanted to just wash his hands of her and go home. After seeing her boyfriend—or whatever he was—he was grateful he hadn’t.

“Is she going to be alright?” he asked as Dei turned back to the tea. “That guy obviously hit her earlier. She’s got a nasty bruise on her face.”

Dei bowed his head, his shoulders hunched. “I’m tryin’a stay out of lockup right now. Got a nice, clean record, and I don’t wanna fuck with my benefits or any of that shit. But I’m fixin’ to rearrange his face when he gets the nerve to show up here lookin’ for her.”

Felix tried to bite back his next question, but his filter had been bad even before the Incident, and now it didn’t much exist. “Why is she with him?”

Dei turned slowly, holding two mugs with his one hand. He slid them both onto the counter, then pushed one with a floral scent toward Felix. “She’s got some…” He stopped and shook his head. “Don’t seem fair to call them issues, you know. Wasn’t her fault. Our momma struggled when we was growin’ up. We spent a good few years as kids in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere West Virginia, where my papou immigrated and bought a farm. Then he died, so we moved to Georgia, and eventually, our momma got a job down here at a resort. She made enough to buy this place, but…” Dei blew out a puff of air and shook his head. “Shit happened.”

That didn’t answer Felix’s question, so he kept quiet because he’d come to realize that sometimes people needed to just talk. And the very least he could do for Dei was listen.

“Our momma got sick. She’d been sick for a while, but no one really noticed. I thought she was just forgetful—kind of quirky, you know?”

Felix did know. A little too well. “I’m familiar with it.”

Dei shot him an apologetic look. “Guess you do.” He passed his hand down his face, then snatched up his tea and took a long sip. “Turned out she had this version of Alzheimer’s that hits you real young, but she didn’t find out until I was deployed.”

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