Two minutes of making hissing sounds to get Mel’s attention passed before I heard a loud snuffling sound behind me.
“Please be Mel,” I mouthed. I felt another nip on my leg and, this time, I caught him in the face when I swiped backward. Mel stood there, panting happily when I glowered at him.
“Did you find anything?” I whispered. Mel shook his head, dropped his nose to the ground again and headed off back toward the center. I followed, keeping up with him easily. We moved through the trees for what felt like an hour and Mel made no indication that he’d found anything useful.
“What are you even looking for?”
Of course, he didn’t answer me. I felt somewhat stupid for asking, but I talk to animals all the time and know they won’t answer. Mel could at least answer me later, when he was back in human form.
Mel stopped sniffing, turning to face me and jerked his head to the side. I followed his indication and realized we’d circled the property enough that we’d almost made it back to the car.
“Nothing?” I asked. He shook his head, turned and bolted toward in the direction he’d gestured, a spring in his canine step. Sighing, I followed him at my own pace, unlocking my door and climbing in before I reached out to unlock and shove open his door. He hopped in and then moved to the back seat, shifting around wildly like a pig snorting for truffles.
“So you woke me up and bit my ass for nothing?” I asked as we cleared the Tough Love driveway, turning onto the main road.
“I wouldn’t say it was for nothing,” Mel said, startling me into a yelp and almost causing me to swerve out of my lane. “Your ass is pretty tasty.”
“Why are you human?” I demanded, trying to ignore the way my heart was pounding. Sneaking around had wound me up tighter than I’d realized, and my adrenaline still wasn’t entirely settled.
“Because I’m done being a wolf?”
“Don’t be a dick,” I growled. Mel just snorted, catching my eye in the rearview as he ran a hand through his hair, touched both his eyebrows.
“I didn’t want to go wolf any place where there might be surveillance cameras. It’s just good sense.”
“So why change now?”
“Maybe I missed talking to you.”
“Oh jeez,” I groaned.
“If you’d rather not talk, that’s fine too. I can stay naked for your benefit rather than mine.”
“Oh jeez,” I repeated, shaking my head and defiantly refusing to even look in the rearview mirror for the rest of the drive.
##
Mel led me into the house and into my room, still naked. I had decided about halfway up the walk (as he’d backed toward the house facing me and doing a shoulder-shaking, full body dance in what he probably thought was an enticing manner) that I really was okay with him being naked. It was a nice view and I didn’t exactly have to let him know I liked what I was seeing. I could just roll my eyes and cluck disapprovingly but sneak peaks here and there when he wasn’t looking.
As I toed off my shoes and moved into the bathroom to change back into my pajamas, Mel continued his dancing walk. He followed me to the foot of the bed, where I left my shoes, to the suitcase on the dresser, and to the bathroom. He followed me right up until I slammed the door in his face and locked it. Standing in the bathroom, I stared at the door as if I could intuit his actions through the solid wood. After a few seconds of hearing nothing, I turned, pulled my shirt off and then pushed down my pants.
Mel started making porn-music sounds from outside the door and I laughed, despite myself.
“Go away. I’m going back to bed. To sleep. Alone. Without you, because I am going to sleep.”
The porn sounds didn’t stop, so I just got my pajamas on, used the toilet in hopes it would make him uncomfortable enough to leave. He stopped making the sounds, but I couldn’t be sure he’d gone. After washing my hands and running a brush through my hair as a procrastination tactic, I pulled open the door, peeked out. Mel was nowhere to be seen. On a sigh of relief, I stepped out of the bathroom, turned off the light.
I got two steps before Mel appeared next to me, having at least put on pants.
“What are you doing?”
“Sleeping with you.”
“No. Get out. Go sleep on the floor with the puppies.”
He got a sappy look on his face and I got the feeling he’d have been perfectly happy to do so.
“No, we should practice.”
“For what?”
“On the drive back, I was thinking.”
“If it was about your dick, keep it to yourself.”
“Shh,” he said absently, as if shutting down my insults had become completely routine, and stepped around me to sit on the edge of the bed. I turned to face him, crossing my arms over my chest.
“We should stay at the facility for a night, snoop around inside the buildings. Maybe I’ll find something there. There was a door I wanted to check out; I can probably do it when no one’s around to notice.”
“They’re not just going to let us snoop. They’re going to be monitoring us, possibly locking our door so we can’t leave. I wouldn’t put it past Rhonda to drug us to make sure we get the proper amount of sleep. She seems like a tight-ass.”
“You give me so little credit,” Mel sniffed, surprising me by skating right by the chance to comment on the state of Rhonda’s butt.
“In everything. All the time.”
“You forget!” he said, raising his voice as if to combat the laugh that wanted to come through. “That I snoop for a living. I detect. I sleuth. You might even say I investigate.”
Abruptly, he grabbed me around my waist, yanked me close.
“How about I investigate your privates?”
“That just sounds completely unappealing and not just because it’s you.”
I could feel the heat of his thighs along the sides of my knees as he dropped his hands back into his lap. I didn’t move away as Mel shrugged off his own comment.
“That wasn’t one of my best, I admit. So, are you game?”
“No, get out.”
“I meant,” he said through a chuckle. “About sleeping at the facility. Get your mind out of the gutter.”
“It didn’t go there willingly. Your mind practically tied it up and dragged it there. You’re the bad boy here, not me.”
He laughed and being this close reminded me of the one night I’d spent at his house, when he’d fed me, gotten me drunk, and given me every opportunity to jump his bones. His laughter trailed off and we stared at each other, making eye contact in the low light of my room. I’m not sure how long the eye contact lasted and the necklace made it impossible for me to know what he was feeling about the situation. I just knew that he looked surprisingly vulnerable as he stared up into my face. I considered a few scenarios, in that moment and none of them involved making him leave. My heartbeat sped up and I was suddenly very aware of every pleasant cluster of nerves my body possessed.
I think we both realized the implications of our closeness and eye contact at about the same time. Unlike in the garden, where it had been a battle of wills, we both broke at the same time.
As we indulged in equally uncomfortable giggles, Mel grabbed my shoulders, pushed me deliberately back, and got to his feet. He paused in front of me for a moment, his eyes searching my face, before he turned and headed toward the door.
“Get some sleep. We’ve got a big day of fighting tomorrow.”
“Brush your teeth,” I said as he left. He glanced back, one brow up. I smirked, did my best to smear whatever intimacy we’d somehow stepped in. “You have dog breath.”
Chapter Nine
We stood on the grass, just like we had the day before, surrounded by the same couples. Doctor Howard was leading the group therapy session, giving a short speech about the importance of honesty. Mel grabbed my hand and dragged me to the corner of the yard, as far away from the action as we could get without raising suspicion. We followed the doctor’s orders and sat fac
ing each other, legs crossed, knees touching. Mel spent more time looking intently around the yard at the other couples than he did looking at me, but I didn’t mind.
The awkward moment beside my bed was still fresh in my mind.
“Now, hold hands and look into each other’s eyes,” Doctor Howard said. A ripple of nervous laughter and embarrassment washed through the couples and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Today, we’re going to be sharing secrets. I know, I know, married people don’t have secrets from each other, right? You tell each other everything.” More chuckling popped up here and there and I turned to share a private eye-roll with Mel, only to find him concentrating on one of the other doctors. Following his gaze, I poked at her with my empathy, trying to see what had caught her eye. She was wearing a long sleeved shirt, despite the warmth of the sun, and her posture was relaxed. Nothing looked suspicious about her, and I wondered for a moment if Mel was just scoping for tail.
“Have you all thought of a secret to tell? We’ll start small; think of something you may have done as a child or young adult that you’ve never shared. Maybe you were embarrassed or you just thought it wouldn’t matter. Bring your partner into your past, let them get to know you as a youth, strengthen that life-long bond you promised each other.”
There was another few seconds of quiet, as she looked out across the couples. Coontz finished weaving through the other pairs, before coming to stand near us. For a moment, he was content to stand uncomfortably close, his feet practically bumping my hip. Fixing a sarcastic smile on my face, I held a hand over my eyes to shield myself from the sun as I looked up toward him.
“Hey Gordo?” I asked. Coontz frowned, looking down at me with a spike of irritation. If I had a nickel for every one of those I enticed out of the people around me I’d have been able to buy and sell Bill Gates. I fought the urge to twitch at the feeling, and took my other hand out of Mel’s grip, jerking my thumb toward Doctor Howard.
“You wanna back off just a little? According to her, we’re about to share our deepest darkest secrets. I’d rather you not be in on them.”
Turning his head slightly as if he couldn’t quite bear to look at me head-on, he watched me for a moment. I felt something move around his psyche and it made me nervous and a little nauseated. I couldn’t be sure, but it didn’t really feel quite…human. Before I could investigate any further, he smiled, nodded.
“Of course. I’ll give you your privacy during the exercise, but we will be discussing what was said in our session this afternoon.”
“Sure, Doc,” I said, looking back to Mel, dismissing Coontz. Mel barely registered when I grabbed his hands again and rested our linked fingers on my knees. He was still watching the doctor whose name I hadn’t caught during our few days there. Hell, I only knew Howard because she’d introduced herself when we’d started.
“Now, let’s start with the husbands—Jeff, David, you can choose who goes first,” Doctor Howard said. The gay couple each shrugged a shoulder, the man facing me nodding and announcing he’d go first. Mel leaned in and I followed his lead, leaning close as well. When Doctor Howard instructed us to start, Mel hissed out a whisper.
“You get anything off Dr. Gomez?”
“Uhh, the one you were creeping on?”
“I wasn’t creeping, I was studying her intently.”
“That’s what serial killers say,” I hissed.
“No,” Mel said, distracted, and I felt his cheek hit mine as he shook his head slightly. “Something’s up.”
“I’m not interested in the state of your penis, man,” I mumbled, hoping he took it as a joke and not any indication that I’d been thinking about his genitals in any way. “Get back on track.”
Mel snorted out an almost silent laugh, dropping his head down to rest on my shoulder, trying to hide it. Doctor Howard started speaking again, moving on to encouraging the other halves of the couples to share.
“What do you think it means?” I asked Mel. He was silent for a moment, but his whisper was even quieter when he spoke again.
“Have you been getting any weird vibes off anyone? Besides Coontz,” he said before I could answer predictably. I considered.
“Not really,” I admitted. Rhonda had a stick up her butt, but I was reasonably sure it was just a regular stick and not some supernatural preying mantis creature lodged up there puppeteering her into abduction or murder.
“So I’m the only non-human in the center?”
I paused to consider what he was asking. I hadn’t noticed any emotions that didn’t seem particularly human that I could think of. Other than Coontz giving me the willies and the woozy, hazy memory of having my blood drawn, everything seemed completely normal.
“Yeah, I think so. Even Creepy’s human. Not exactly normal, but human.”
“How do you mean he’s not normal?”
“All right everyone, sit up,” Doctor Howard announced. Mel and I separated and I noted that Coontz was watching us from his place near the deck. His gaze was a touch too intense and, when I reached out to read his emotions, curiosity washed over me in a wave, a bit of suspicion hitting me at the crest. I gave him my best harmless smile and then turned to look around at the other couples, as if I was just killing time while Doctor Howard was speaking.
When we ducked closer for another share session, Mel repeated his question. I thought about it before answering.
“I don’t know. He just doesn’t react…normally. He gets excited about weird things and irritated at stuff that shouldn’t bother him. And sometimes there’s just this… I don’t know, but it’s not normal.”
“But you’re sure he’s human?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t want to bring up Norma, but the truth was sometimes the feel of Coontz sort of reminded me of the succubus that had gotten her hooks in us. I’d felt Mel when she’d gotten done with him and there had been something extra swimming around in his head. It wasn’t the only time I’d felt it, though, and even when there’d been something extra in my own head after being captured by a demon, it hadn’t felt exactly like Coontz.
His emotions were definitely weird, but not as intently dissonant as Mel having Norma in his head or me having a demon in mine. With Coontz it was almost like his own brain didn’t get along with itself, sometimes. Before I could explain the extent of what I meant, Mel nudged me.
“You think we should share an actual secret?”
“Oh sure,” I mumbled sarcastically. “Tell me something juicy.”
“It’s been two months since I’ve had sex.”
I snorted, rolling my eyes and chuckling at the idea. Mel could have told me he was a Vegas Showgirl and I’d have sooner believed him. Mel barely went two days without sex. I was even sure he’d spent the last few days bedding someone in secret any time I wasn’t actively looking him in the eye. Hell, I was looking over his shoulder at the moment; who knew what was going on beneath my eye-line.
“Well, my big secret is that I’m Batman,” I countered. “But without the tacky codpiece.”
Doctor Howard announced that we should separate again, take some time to talk about our secrets, how they made each of us feel. I leaned back, found Mel watching me intently. His expression could have represented anything from irritation to interest. When I lifted a brow and pulled my hands out of his, he shook his head like he was waving the moment away.
“I don’t buy it. Batman has to keep in much better shape than you.”
“The muscles are all in the suit, just another part of the costume. It’s a brilliant disguise, don’t you think? You certainly didn’t suspect a thing.”
“So does that mean you and Catwoman?” he waggled his brows. I sniffed delicately, lifting my chin as I rolled my gaze away. On a heavy sigh, like the weight of Gotham rested on my un-muscled shoulders, I spoke.
“A lady never kisses and tells.”
##
The end of the day ended up nearly a twin of the previous afternoon. We ate bland food followed by ano
ther counseling session. While Mel spent most of lunch complaining about the state of the food, I mostly ignored him, looking forward to the lemonade and cookies I knew they would bring once we were back in the sitting room. It was probably just that they seemed extra delicious compared to the lame food they were feeding us, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if they were putting some sort of controlled substance into it. Other than sugar, of course: my one true addiction.
Mel was surprisingly good at talking without actually saying anything and I was starting to think that, either the doctor didn’t know Mel was bullshitting him or he just didn’t care. He asked about our secrets, Mel deflected, going on about how maybe I had been just a little too honest, even going so far as to use my honesty as a weapon.
When I felt the doctor start to get irritated or suspicious, I’d poke in, picking a fight about something or other. Mel never does the dishes, he bugs me too often for sex, he refuses to spend any time with my family. It didn’t matter what the subject was, I could take issue with it and Mel could engage in battle with the best of them.
Finally, as we trailed off through another screaming match, the doctor cleared his throat. He gestured to the clock on the wall and explained that it was the end of our time for the day. Before I could stand and escape the tiny room, however, he gestured to my arm.
“How’s your elbow?” I realized I’d completely forgotten about the blood draw.
“Um, fine I guess.” Mel frowned my way as I poked at the two, fat scabs in the fold of my elbow. I showed the wounds off to the doctor and he nodded, greasy glee splashing outward. It caught me a little harder than I expected, causing me to giggle.
Mel noticed, eyeballing me like he disapproved. I just shrugged, though it felt slow and strange, almost like what I’d felt in the exam room. Something was off, but I felt just addled enough that I didn’t have the state of mind to parse it.
Cold Feet (Empathy in the PPNW Book 3) Page 11