The headache had better be gone. It was damn near dinnertime.
“Shit,” he muttered, sitting up slowly.
For the next few hours, he would be moving slowly, his body’s defense mechanisms firing on all cylinders, attempting to avoid anything that might cause another headache. He hated those damn things.
He took a shower and felt better for it despite his stomach rumbling like a freight train. Since the thought of food didn’t make him nauseous, he figured he’d see if Reese wanted to order something. Or maybe they could go to the diner. Reese deserved to have someone else cook after he’d spent the day taking care of him. Brantley would offer to do it, but he knew better. Reese would shoulder him out of the way and take over. Brantley didn’t blame him. He was good at many things, but cooking wasn’t one of them.
When he emerged from the bedroom, he was greeted by Tesha, who was waiting at the door. She did that when she heard someone moving around in the room.
“What’s up, girl?”
Her tail thumped happily against the hardwood as she sat up.
Brantley bent to scratch her head. “Where’s Reese?”
She stood and trotted down the hall, clearly expecting him to follow.
He found Reese on the couch, eyes closed, arm out, hand holding the remote.
Brantley smiled, his heart swelling in his chest as he took in the sight. Never had he loved anyone the way he loved this man.
Tesha let out an excited yip, which woke Reese instantly.
“Shh. You’ll wake—” Reese’s gaze slammed into him. “You’re awake.”
“And you’re not,” Brantley teased.
“Just dozin’.”
“You hungry?”
Reese nodded. “You want me to cook somethin’?”
“I was thinkin’ we could go to the diner so you don’t have to.”
“You sure you’re up for it?”
“Yeah.” Brantley had accepted that he would suffer through the migraines, but he wasn’t willing to allow them to stop him from living his life.
“How’d the day go?” Brantley asked when they were seated at the diner.
“Good.”
“Anything new?”
“Cases?” Reese shook his head. “No. I talked to Z.”
“How’d that go?”
“I tried askin’ him about Decker, but he blew me off. Said he was just glad we found him safe and sound and that he was back. I asked where he would be assigned now. Z said he wasn’t sure. It was obvious he didn’t want to talk about it.”
“Probably worried you’d ask too many questions.” Brantley was convinced Z had purposely sent them after Decker. He just couldn’t understand why.
Was it to get them out of Coyote Ridge? From what he could tell, nothing had happened while they were gone. Or so they could investigate the Kavanaghs? That seemed unlikely since Z hadn’t asked anything about their conversation with Ronan or Saoirse.
Or was it because Z wanted them to actually find Decker and see what he was doing? Brantley had no idea who Eddie was or how he played into this, but he got the feeling he was a big piece of the puzzle.
“What can I get you boys?”
