“Shh, it’s alright,” I whisper. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
Who the hell is hurting him in his dreams, though? That’s what I want to fuckin’ know. Is whatever he’s having nightmares about why he’s so touch-averse? Are night terrors memories, or are they conjured by the subconscious mind—like how I somehow always dream about falling from a hundred-story window?
It takes a bit, but his whimpering starts to slow. I can feel his body relaxing incrementally, so, little by little, I start to loosen my hold on him. I’ll slip out and leave before he even has to find out I’ve been here, but first, I want to make sure he’s really through this night terror. However, when I slowly start to shuffle myself back so I can observe him from the opposite edge of the bed, Gordy rolls over, facing me while still asleep. Before I can slide off the bed, he reaches out and pulls me back beside him, burrowing his face in the crook of my neck. I can still feel the wetness from the tears on his cheek dampening my shirt collar. He huffs out a ragged breath and clings to me, like I’m some sort of lifeline.
Well, then. All I can hope for now is that, come morning, he doesn’t straight-up unalive my ass, because there’s no way I can get out of this death-grip.
Thanks to Gordy’s thin walls, I managed to hear my alarm go off from the other room just a couple of hours later. I’m also thankful that he didn’t wake up before I was able to pry him off me, literally untangling myself from him so I could slip out and get ready for work—safe, sound, and one-hundred percent unscathed. I also got to see Gulligan before I left, and gave him directions on how to get to my houseboat, should he ever want to come see me at my new temporary domicile.
I managed to drop my bags off there, leave a donut treat out for my boy, and make it over to the Lobsta Mobsta all on time. Marcus and Caleb were visibly shooketh but didn’t rib me about it. Though both still managed to comment on the bags under my eyes. Jerks.
“You’re awfully quiet today,” Marcus notes on the trip back to shore, after putting in a solid ten hours. “Trouble in paradise?”
I snort. “Caleb’s quiet all the time, but I don’t hear you askinghimwhat’s wrong.”
Caleb flips me off, and I blow him a kiss back.
“Well, pardon me for giving a shit. Was just wondering if everything’s alright with you, Cap,” Marcus huffs.
I sigh. “Not really, no. I’m going to be alone for Christmas. I’m temporarily living out of my houseboat, since Gordy’s fuckin’ pissed at me. I went out on a date with a guy last night, had this whole big epiphany about my sexuality, but I totally flopped in the connection department. I just—gah, I want a drink so fuckin’ bad. I won’t, though. I need to stay sober for my girls. Set a good example and whatnot.”
Both men go wide-eyed and blink at me, stunned. One, into silence.
Finally Caleb puffs out a breath, shaking his head. He signs something to Marcus, too quickly for me to understand, as usual. Marcus grumbles, then leans over to yank his wallet from his back pocket, produces a twenty dollar bill, and slaps it in Caleb’s hand.
I roll my eyes. “Which one of those things did you lose a bet on?” I ask Marcus.
“The fact that you aren’t having some epic, dramatic existential crisis over your epiphany,” he replies matter-of-factly. “The rest was all pretty much inevitable. You’re stubborn as shit, so staying sober, despite the craving, is pretty much a given. You share custody, so that’s how holidays are usually run—you take turns. Gordy being pissed at you isn’t anything novel, since him being pissy is pretty much his entire personality—”
“That’s whatIsaid too!” I snicker.
“And you having some sort of revelation about your sexuality? I can’t say as I’m entirely shocked,” he continues, then turns to Caleb. “Did it surpriseyou?”
Caleb shakes his head.
“Yeah, no. There’s no surprise there,” Marcus reiterates with a chortle.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. You don’t think we can’t spot one of our own out in the wild?”
Caleb huffs out a breathy laugh, then signs "newbie." I recognize that particular pairing of gestures, because he taught me that when Wagner hired his new guy on last year when Walter retired.
“I just thought that you’d be more freaked out about it than this. Caleb apparently had more faith in you.”
I sigh again, rolling my eyes. “Whatever. Wait, doesone of our ownmean you’re hooking up too? Kinda suspected that about you, so I guess we’re even. Although—wait, don’t you both have girlfriends?” Then realization sinks in, and I gasp. “Ohdaaamn, you guys are cheating on your women,together?”
Marcus snorts. “We’re a throuple, Cap. Caleb and I arebothwith Lauren, andwe’retogether.” He swings a finger between them, gesturing at themselves.
I nearly spit my swig of water out. “Whoa, that’s fuckin’ wild. Nowthat, I had no clue about.”
“We don’t really advertise it, because… well, Ternbay.”
I nod. “I hear that.”
Marcus chuckles. “Youseriouslythought we both had separate girlfriends named Lauren? Wow.”
I scowl. “It’s not that uncommon of a name…”
