Page 68 of Lust

Cody’s lips twist up, and he seems to actually be considering this, so I shut it down. “Not gonna happen.”

“Cody, why are you even thinking of that?” Seth asks.

“If he can control it,” Cody says, “he can get more information. He might even be able to find out where the Slasher’s at.”

“Again, you’re not lying on top of Luke while I’m inside him,” I say, “if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

Cody rolls his eyes. “Will everyone stop making it sound like I’m trying to instigate a threesome? If Luke has this power and can focus it while he’s under, then if we can find a way to get the vision to him, you know what that means he’ll be able to do.”

It’s a fair point, one I don’t like but have to consider.

“No,” Seth snaps. “He’s only known he can do this for a few days. It’s way too soon to be talking about something like this.”

“I’m not saying they need to strip down and get to it,” Cody says, “but you know I’m right.”

“It’s too soon.”

“For a conversation?”

Seth huffs.

Cody presses, “If Luke can manage this kind of control while he’s under without the consequences I experience—”

“He kicked you out, which we didn’t know was going to happen, and that was before he’d tapped into all this power.”

“People’s lives are at stake here, Seth.”

“Exactly! Who the hell knows what might happen if you do this too soon? He could fucking kill you. Hell, if Brad’s fucking him, then he could kill both of you, and then it’s just me and the guy who doesn’t know what he’s doing. What am I going to do? Push on the monster to stop and go back into the Rift? No. I let you guys rush that shit before, and look where it got us.”

He’s not wrong.

The room quiets.

Cody bites his bottom lip. “I know it sucks, but we can’t sit around and do nothing because it’s dangerous.”

Seth’s gaze wavers. “I get that, and I’m assuming he can breeze through the first three tasks now without issue.” He looks to me, and I nod, having already tested them during our fuck-fest over the weekend. “So he needs to have the Moment.”

Cody eyes me, and I figure we’re thinking the same thing even before he says, “That took me months. And you guys even longer.”

“Wait. What’s a moment?” Luke asks.

“Not a moment.TheMoment,” I explain. “Remember when I told you about the way we’re in sync with the Rift? We each remember that distinct moment when it happened. Think of it as an epiphany. It’s like you suddenly have another sense. It’s hard to explain beyond that, except to say you’ll know when it happens.”

Luke’s narrowed eyes suggest he doesn’t really get it, which I understand, since I doubt any of us would have before it happened.

“Cody couldn’t navigate his visions until then,” Seth explains. Seems like the first time he’s talked to Luke without being a total ass to him. He turns his attention to Cody. “Once he has the Moment, we’ll know he can at least do that, and then maybe it’s worth the risk.”

Now I’m getting pissed. “Are you even going to ask us howwefeel about it?”

Seth and Cody seem taken aback.

“As I mentioned before, Cody, you’re not gonna sit on Luke’s face while we’re doing that.”

“No, that would be too dangerous,” Cody says, clearly missing the point. “What if because he’s so strong, I won’t have to touch him like I do with you guys? What if I did it from here, on the pentagram, like that day after the pickup game? I mean, he could blow me away from the dorm showers, so it might be enough to give him the vision.”

“Worth a try.” That’s an experiment I’m far more comfortable with than Cody trying to sit in on one of our fuck sessions.

Seth’s jaw tenses. He’s not sold, and I don’t blame him. Thisisdangerous. And it’d be foolish to jump the gun. But given the stakes, can we simply sit around and do nothing when people’s lives are at risk?

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