Page 2 of Sleeping with the Dark (The Righteous 3)
With that he strode away from the small party and their celebration. As much as he wanted Cody to be set free, the ruling also meant that their time together had come to an abrupt end. He slipped out of the courthouse doors, his mind directed toward his next case. He was going to need something new to occupy his mind and distract him from Cody, and he had a couple of excellent prospects for that.
“Trevor, wait,” Cody called out, and he turned to see the object of his desire jogging toward him. “Dinner. We’re all going for dinner. Please join us. I wouldn’t be free to start my life over if it weren’t for you.”
Trev was tempted to say no—this was a terrible idea in the grand scheme of things, but he didn’t seem to have the heart to turn the smiling man down with his dimpled cheeks and happy eyes.
“Sure, I could eat.” Cody’s eyes lit up, and Trev had to look away from the enthusiastic stare. They settled on a posh Italian restaurant down the street from the court, and Trev’s stomach rumbled as the rich aroma of pasta and garlic reached him. It had been a few days since he’d taken the time to have a decent meal.
“God, I’m so relieved. This barely feels real,” Cody said as they sat down. “Although I could hold my own in lockup, I didn’t want to go back. I mean, I would have done any time they gave me, but….” Cody shook his head back and forth.
Renee reached out and squeezed her brother’s hand. “And you’re free of Tyson. Nothing is holding you to that life anymore,” Renee said, her voice clogging with emotion.
The glimmer in Renee’s eyes and the smile on Arek’s face made this victory all the sweeter for Trev.
The conversation was light, the wine delightful, and the food even more so, but it was the man beside him that kept drawing his attention. His mind drifted off into a sea of its own fanciful making—the simple act of Cody taking a sip of his wine made him lick his lips. The way he sucked in his bottom lip when he was finished drinking made him picture those lips doing something far less innocent. It didn’t help that every time Cody moved he’d get another whiff of the delicious musk cologne scent. The people and sound becoming nothing more than background noise as his mind drifted from one image to another. Cody laughed, putting his hand on Trev’s thigh. At the unexpected touch, Trev jerked and almost spat out his mouthful of wine. Heat seared through the thin material as he stared down at the large hand on his leg before daring a glance at Cody.
“Are you alright?” Cody said, his eyes filled with concern.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“We asked you a few questions, but you were zoned out. You weren’t responding at all.” Cody removed his hand, and Trev immediately felt the loss.
“My apologies, I must be more tired than I thought. I should be going, but thank you for the invite.” Trev pulled his wallet out, and Cody gripped his hand and shook his head no.
“Your money is no good tonight.”
“Are you sure about that? You haven’t received my bill yet,” Trev smiled teasingly. He had no intentions of charging Cody, but he loved the blush he received in return for his efforts. Trev caught the look Arek was giving him from across the table, and he suddenly felt very self-conscious. Trev pulled his hand away and stuffed the wallet into his coat.
“No matter what you charge me, it was worth every cent. Just to be able to wake up tomorrow and know that I’m not spending the rest of my life in a six by six cell—I can never repay you for that.”
Trev ignored the compliment. He needed to put space between himself and Cody before he said or did something unwise.
“Thank you all for the company, but I must get going.” Trev glared at Arek, a knowing look in his twin’s mischievous eyes.
Dammit. Sometimes he really hated how in tune they were with one another.
Trev bit into his toast and swore as his teeth nicked his tongue. That’s what he deserved for not paying attention to what he was doing. Taking a sip of his juice, he winced a little at the sting. He sat the rest of his breakfast aside as he continued to read.
The opioid crisis is worsening, and the police are no closer to shutting down the operation, killing thousands a month. Our politicians seem more concerned with being re-elected and protecting large corporations than making laws that help our citizens. The turmoil between those wearing a badge and the ever-increasing gang numbers has reached a critical high, with more innocent lives lost in the streets every day. Don’t expect pharmaceutical companies and doctors to back off on prescribing the dangerously addictive narcotics as they have never seen their ever fattening paychecks so high. Is there no one brave enough to stop the madness? Is there no one left that has not been paid off to sweep this epidemic under the rug?
Trev sighed as he continued to read. He and Arek were doing what they could, but even they felt like they were swimming upstream when it came to this issue.
Glancing up as the shadow of someone walked into the kitchen, his jaw hit the floor. Cody strolled in, looking all too scrumptious in nothing more than a pair of silk boxers. His mind drew a blank as his eyes openly roamed over the tight contours of Cody’s abs, and the glint of a nipple bar he didn’t know he had. Then as Cody passed, the heavily tattooed back and tapered waist greeted his eyes as Cody poured himself a coffee. Cody’s ass flexed under the shimmering material, and Trev unconsciously licked his lips.
“Morno,” Cody said. He turned to face Trev, and once more, Trev was greeted by the sight of a muscled chest and the red-eyed viper on Cody’s right peck. Cody blew on his coffee before taking a sip, and Trev cleared his dry throat.
“I beg your pardon?” Trev asked. His brain finally caught up to the fact Cody had spoken. How was any respectable person supposed to concentrate with that roaming around your house?
“Morno, you know morning.”
“Then why not just say morning or good morning or even how are you this morning?”
Cody’s brow furrowed, his eyebrow raised a moment before he broke out in a deep rumbling laugh that rolled over Trev’s skin. Little goosebumps rose the hairs on his arms, and he gripped his cappuccino to busy his hands. “If I spoke like that back at Ty’s, I’d be beaten to an inch of my life. I’ll take it you’re not much for slang?”
“Why would I be? Words were created for a reason. I don’t see the fascination in shortening everything down or making other words mean something else. They were fine for many generations just the way they were and then,” Trev snapped his fingers. “Just like that, the words created by our ancestors are no longer good enough. Tea, for example. Is it something I drink, or do I want to gossip? What an utterly disrespectful way to misappropriate a word. It makes no sense to me, simply illogical.” Trev averted his gaze and glared at the words on his tablet, no longer really seeing them. “What are you doing here anyway?”
His excellent peripheral vision tracked Cody’s movements as the man grabbed a peach off the island and then wandered in his direction. Trev worked hard not to notice the distinct outline of a very large cock swinging behind the soft material of those damn boxers, nor the way Cody’s arm flexed when he moved it to take a sip of his coffee. By sheer willpower alone, he managed not to fidget as his own cock stirred.
“Arek and Renee asked me if I wanted to move in and stay for a while after you left last night,” Cody took the seat across from him.
